Chapter 9- Complex Cognitive Processes

Question 1

executive control processes

Answer 1

processes such as selective attention, rehearsal, elaboration, and organization that influence encoding, storage, and retrieval of information in memory, also known as metacognitive skills

Question 2

metacognition

Answer 2

knowledge about knowing your own thinking processes, awareness of your own cognitive machinery and how the machinery works, higher order knowledge about your own thinking, as well as your ability to use this knowledge to manage your own cognitive processes such as comprehending and problem solving, involves application of declarative, procedural, and self-regulatory knowledge, three essential skills: planning, monitoring, evaluating

Question 3

KWL

Answer 3

a strategy to guide reading and inquiry: before- what do I already Know, what do I Want to know? after- what have I Learned? goal is to look within and identify what they bring to each learning situation, where they want to go, and what they actually achieve

Question 4

learning strategies

Answer 4

a special kind of procedural knowledge- knowing how to approach learning tasks, flexible, some are general and taught in school others can be subject specific, can be unique to the individual, requires less intentional effort over time (eg summaries, underlining and highlighting, taking notes, visual tools), help students focus attention, invest effort, and monitor their understanding, applying learning strategies requires appropriate tasks, valuing learning, and effort and efficacy

Question 5

production deficiencies

Answer 5

failing to activate a learning strategy- a production- when it is appropriate and useful to use the strategy, problem for students with learning disabilities

Question 6

problem solving

Answer 6

creating new solutions for problems, often set and reach subgoals as you move toward the final solution, formulating new answers, going beyond the simple application of previously learned rules to achieve a goal, what happens when no solution is obvious, there are both general and specific solving strategies, you have to focus attention on relevant information, understand the words of the problem, and activate the right schema to understand the whole problem, explore solutions

Question 7

schema-driven problem solving

Answer 7

recognizing a problem as a “disguised” version of an old problem for which one already has a solution, depends on how you represent the problem

Question 8

algorithm

Answer 8

step-by-step procedure for solving a problem; prescription for solutions, usually domain specific, used to solve well-defined and well-structured problems

Question 9

heuristic

Answer 9

general strategy used in attempting to solve problems, means end analysis, working backward strategy, analogical thinking, verbalization, automatically applied, solves ill-defined, poorly structured problems

Question 10

means-ends analysis

Answer 10

heuristic in which a goal is divided into subgoals

Question 11

working backward strategy

Answer 11

heuristic in which one starts with the goal and moves backward to solve the problem

Question 12

analogical thinking

Answer 12

heuristic in which one limits the search for solutions to situations that are similar to the one at hand, must focus on meaning and not surface similarities

Question 13

verbalization

Answer 13

putting your problem-solving plan and its logic into words, giving reasons for selecting it can lead to successful problem solving

Question 14

functional fixedness

Answer 14

inability to use objects or tools in a new way, people may miss a good solution because they fixate on conventional uses for materials, example of negative transfer

Question 15

response set

Answer 15

rigidity; the tendency to respond in the most familiar way, example of negative transfer

Question 16

representativeness heuristic

Answer 16

judging the likelihood of an event based on how well the events match your prototypes- what you think is the representation of the category

Question 17

availability heuristic

Answer 17

judging the likelihood of an event based on what is available in your memory, assuming those easily remembered events are common, if instances of events come to mind easily, we think they are common occurrences

Question 18

belief perserverance

Answer 18

the tendency to hold on to beliefs, even in the face of contradictory evidence

Question 19

confirmation bias

Answer 19

seeking information that confirms our choices and beliefs, while disconfirming evidence, most people seek evidence that supports their ideas more readily than they search for facts that might refute them

Question 20

argumentation

Answer 20

the process of debating a claim with someone else

Question 21

critical thinking

Answer 21

reasonable, reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do
“the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, and communication, as a guide to belief and action”
doesn’t transfer- its beneficial to build critical thinking and argumentation into a variety of subjects

Question 22

transfer

Answer 22

influence of previously learned material on new material; the productive (not reproductive) uses of cognitive tools and motivations, whenever something previously learned influences current learning or when solving an earlier problem affects how you solve a new problem, transfer has occurred, positive or negative, several dimensions
negative: attempts to apply familiar but inappropriate strategies to a new situation
automatic transfer benefits from practice in different situations
thoughtful transfer has two processes: initial learning and reusing or applying

Question 23

overlearning

Answer 23

practicing a skill past the point of mastery, can ensure greater transfer, helps develop automated, basic skills

Question 24

expert reversal effect

Answer 24

what works for experts is the reverse of what works for beginners, students with advanced knowledge improve when they solve new problems, not when they focus on already worked examples

Question 25

near transfer

Answer 25

transfer to similar situations

Question 26

far transfer

Answer 26

transfer to dissimilar situations

Question 27

low road transfer

Answer 27

results from practice and automatization of knowledge
positive transfer: from tennis to racquetball (strengthens with transfer)
negative transfer: when pilots switch to a different aircraft, differences in cockpit design have been known to result in unsafe actions (weakens with transfer)

Question 28

high road transfer

Answer 28

results from mindful abstraction (deliberate identification of a principle, main idea, strategy, or procedure that is not tied to one specific problem or situation but could apply to many)