Chapter 8-Cognition and Language Flashcards
Information-processing system
Mechanisms for receiving information, representing it with symbols, and manipulating it.
Cognitive psychology
The study of the mental processes by which information from the environment is modified, made meaningful, stored, retrieved, used, and communicated to others.
Thinking
The manipulation of mental representations.
Reaction time
The time between the presentation of a stimulus and an overt response to it.
Evoked potential
A small, temporary change in EEG voltage in the brain that is caused by some stimulus.
Concept
A category of objects, events, or ideas that have common properties.
Natural concept (natural category)
A concept that has no fixed set of defining features but has a set of characteristic features.
Prototype
A member of a natural concept that possesses all or most of its characteristic features.
Proposition
A mental representation of the relationship between concepts.
Schemas
Generalizations about categories of objects, places, events, and people.
Script
A mental representation of a familiar sequence of activity.
Mental model
A representation of particular situations or arrangements of objects that guides our interaction with them.
Image
A mental representation of visual information.
Cognitive map
A mental model of familiar parts of the environment.
Reasoning
The process by which people generate and evaluate arguments and reach conclusions about them.
Formal reasoning
The process of following a set of rigorous procedures for reaching valid conclusions.
Algorithm
A systematic procedure that cannot fail to produce a correct solution to a problem if a solution exists.
Logic
A system of formulas for drawing valid conclusions.
Syllogism
An argument made up of two propositions, called premises, and a conclusion based on those premises.
Confirmation bias
The tendency to pay more attention to evidence in support of one’s hypothesis than to evidence that refutes that hypothesis.
Informal reasoning
The process of evaluating a conclusion, theory, or course of action on the basis of the believability of evidence.
Heuristic
A time-saving mental shortcut used in reasoning.
Anchoring heuristic (anchoring bias)
A mental shortcut that involves basing judgements on existing information.
Representativeness heuristic
A mental shortcut that involves judging whether something belongs in a given class on the basis of its similarity to other members of that class.
