Cog Psy Final Quiz Flashcards
What is long-term memory (LTM)?
The “archive” of information about past events and knowledge learned, ranging from moments ago to distant memories.
How does LTM interact with short-term/working memory (STM/WM)?
Information flows from LTM to STM/WM for active use (retrieval) and from STM/WM to LTM for storage (encoding).
What is the serial position curve?
A distinction between STM and LTM, showing better recall for words at the beginning (primacy effect) and end (recency effect) of a list.
What causes the primacy effect?
Items at the beginning of a list are rehearsed more frequently, making them more likely to enter LTM.
What causes the recency effect?
Items at the end of a list are still in STM, making them easier to recall.
What is coding in memory?
The form in which stimuli or experiences are represented in the mind, such as visual, auditory, or semantic coding.
What is visual coding?
A mental representation in the form of a visual image (e.g., visualizing a painting you saw).
What is auditory coding?
A mental representation in the form of a sound (e.g., replaying a song in your mind).
What is semantic coding?
A mental representation in terms of meaning (e.g., recalling the plot of a novel).
What did Wickens et al. (1976) find about semantic coding in STM?
Proactive interference occurs when previously learned information interferes with new learning, and switching categories reduces this interference.
What did Sachs (1967) find about semantic coding in LTM?
Participants remembered the meaning of sentences better than the exact wording, showing that LTM coding emphasizes meaning.
What does evidence from HM suggest about STM and LTM?
HM had intact STM but impaired LTM, showing separate mechanisms for STM and LTM.
What does evidence from KF suggest about STM and LTM?
KF had impaired STM but functional LTM, suggesting that STM and LTM rely on different brain mechanisms.
What did Ranganath & D’Esposito (2001) find about the hippocampus?
The hippocampus, traditionally associated with LTM, also plays a role in STM, as shown by its activation during short delays.
What is episodic memory?
Memory for specific personal experiences, involving mental time travel and “self-knowing.”
What is semantic memory?
Memory for general knowledge, facts, and concepts that does not involve mental time travel.
What did Tulving (1985) propose about episodic and semantic memory?
Tulving proposed that episodic and semantic memory are distinct types of explicit memory.
What evidence separates episodic and semantic memory?
Patient KC had no episodic memory but intact semantic memory, while patient LP had impaired semantic memory but intact episodic memory (double dissociation).
What is autobiographical memory?
Memory for specific experiences that includes both episodic (events) and semantic (facts) components.
How does semantic memory influence autobiographical memory?
Semantic knowledge shapes how events are experienced, which in turn influences the episodic memories formed.
What did Westmacott & Moscovitch (2003) find about autobiographical memory?
Recall was better for famous names with personal significance, showing how episodic experiences enhance semantic memory.
What happens to episodic and semantic memory over time?
Episodic details fade, leaving only semantic knowledge (semanticization of remote memories).
What is the remember/know procedure?
A method to differentiate episodic (recollection) and semantic (familiarity) memory.
What is procedural memory?
Memory for actions and skills, performed without conscious awareness (e.g., riding a bike).
Can people with impaired LTM form new procedural memories?
Yes, people like HM can learn new skills despite an inability to form new LTMs.
What is priming?
A phenomenon where exposure to a stimulus influences the response to a later stimulus, often without conscious awareness.
What is repetition priming?
When a test stimulus is the same or similar to a priming stimulus, leading to improved performance.
What did Perfect & Askew (1994) find about priming?
Participants rated previously seen ads as more appealing, even when they did not explicitly remember seeing them (propaganda effect).
How does classical conditioning relate to implicit memory?
It involves associating a neutral stimulus with a reflexive response, often without conscious awareness of the original pairing.
What distinguishes episodic and semantic memory?
Episodic involves personal experiences and mental time travel, while semantic involves general knowledge and facts.
How are STM and LTM separate but connected?
Evidence from brain-damaged patients shows they rely on separate mechanisms but interact during memory processes.
What are the types of implicit memory?
Implicit memory includes procedural memory, priming, and classical conditioning.
What is encoding?
The process of acquiring information and transforming it into long-term memory (LTM).
What is retrieval?
The process of transferring information from LTM back into working memory (consciousness).
What is maintenance rehearsal?
Repetition of stimuli to maintain information in memory without transferring it to LTM.
What is elaborative rehearsal?
Using meanings and connections to transfer information into LTM.
Who proposed the Levels of Processing theory?
Craik and Lockhart (1972).
What is shallow processing?
Focus on physical features with little attention to meaning, leading to poor memory.
What is deep processing?
Close attention to meaning and elaborative rehearsal, leading to better memory.
Give an example of shallow processing.
Determining if a word is in capital letters (e.g., “TABLE”).
Give an example of deep processing.
Determining if a word fits into a sentence (e.g., “He met a FRIEND in the street”).
How does visual imagery improve memory?
Forming mental images to connect concepts (Bower & Winzenz, 1970).
What is the self-reference effect?
Memory improves when information is related to oneself (Leshikar et al., 2015).
What is the generation effect?
Actively generating information improves memory compared to passively receiving it (Slameka & Graf, 1978).
How does organizing information improve memory?
Organizing information into meaningful categories creates retrieval cues (Bower et al., 1969).
What is retrieval practice?
Testing strengthens memory by engaging retrieval processes (Karpicke & Roediger, 2008).
What is the spacing effect?
Memory is better for multiple short study sessions compared to one long session.
Why is handwritten note-taking better than typing?
Handwriting promotes deeper processing and generative learning, while typing often leads to shallow encoding (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014).
What is the “illusion of learning”?
The false belief that familiarity with material equates to understanding.
What are retrieval cues?
Words, locations, or stimuli that help access information stored in memory.
What is the difference between free recall and cued recall?
Free recall involves recalling information without cues, while cued recall provides retrieval aids like category names.
What is the encoding specificity principle?
Memory retrieval is improved when the context at retrieval matches the context during encoding.
What is state-dependent learning?
Memory is better when a person’s internal state during encoding matches their state during retrieval (Eich & Metcalfe, 1989).
What is transfer-appropriate processing?
Memory improves when the type of processing at encoding matches the processing required at retrieval (Morris et al., 1977).
What is consolidation?
The process of transforming new memories from a fragile state to a more permanent state.
What are the two types of consolidation?
- Synaptic consolidation: Rapid, occurs at synapses. 2. Systems consolidation: Gradual, involves reorganization of neural circuits.
What did Müller and Pilzecker (1900) demonstrate about consolidation?
A delay between learning two lists improves memory for the first list due to consolidation.
What is long-term potentiation (LTP)?
Enhanced firing of neurons after repeated stimulation, strengthening synaptic connections.
What is the standard model of consolidation?
Hippocampus activity fades over time as cortical connections strengthen.
What is the multiple trace model of consolidation?
The hippocampus remains active during retrieval of both recent and remote memories.
How does sleep enhance memory consolidation?
Sleep reduces environmental interference and actively strengthens and prioritizes memories.
What did Gais et al. (2006) find about sleep and memory?
Students who slept after studying forgot less material compared to those who stayed awake.
What is reconsolidation?
The process of updating memories when they are reactivated and made fragile.
What did Hupbach et al. (2007) demonstrate about reconsolidation?
Reactivating List A while learning List B led to interference, with List B items being incorporated into List A.
What is language?
A system of communication using sounds or symbols to express feelings, thoughts, ideas, and experiences.
What makes human language creative?
The hierarchical and rule-based nature of language allows for combining existing elements in novel ways to create unique sentences.
What evidence supports the universality of language?
Language is universal across cultures, develops similarly, and includes shared features like nouns, verbs, negatives, and questions.
What did Paul Broca discover about language?
Broca identified the Broca’s area in the frontal lobe, which is responsible for language production.
What did Carl Wernicke discover about language?
Wernicke identified the Wernicke’s area in the temporal lobe, which is crucial for language comprehension.
What did B.F. Skinner propose about language acquisition?
Skinner argued that language is learned through reinforcement, where correct language use is rewarded, and incorrect use is punished.
What did Noam Chomsky argue about language?
Chomsky argued that language is innate and genetically programmed, highlighting the universal structure of language and critiquing Skinner’s approach.
What are the four principal aspects of psycholinguistics?
- Comprehension, 2. Representation, 3. Speech Production, 4. Acquisition.
What is the word frequency effect?
High-frequency words are recognized and processed faster than low-frequency words due to past exposure.
What did Rayner and Duffy (1986) find about eye movements and word frequency?
Readers spent more time fixating on low-frequency words compared to high-frequency words while reading.
What is speech segmentation?
The ability to perceive individual words in continuous speech, even when there are no pauses between spoken words.
What is lexical ambiguity?
When a word has multiple meanings, such as “rose” (a flower) or “rose” (the action of standing up).
What did Tanenhaus (1979) find about lexical priming?
Listeners briefly access all meanings of a word before using context to determine the correct meaning.
What is meaning dominance?
The frequency with which a meaning of an ambiguous word is used.
What is the difference between biased and balanced dominance?
Biased dominance occurs when one meaning is more frequent, while balanced dominance occurs when meanings are equally frequent.
What is parsing in language processing?
The mental grouping of words into phrases to derive meaning from sentences.
What is the garden path model of parsing?
A model that processes sentences incrementally, using heuristics like minimal attachment and late closure, which can lead to temporary ambiguity.
How does the constraint-based approach differ from the garden path model?
It considers syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic constraints simultaneously, with predictions based on probabilistic weighting of constraints.
What did Tanenhaus and Trueswell (1995) demonstrate with the visual world paradigm?
Eye movements during sentence comprehension show that context (e.g., visual scenes) helps resolve syntactic ambiguity in real time.
How do readers create coherence when understanding stories?
Readers make inferences to connect sentences and construct situation models, which include mental simulations of the described events.
What are the three types of inferences in reading?
- Anaphoric Inference: Linking pronouns to entities, 2. Instrument Inference: Inferring tools/methods, 3. Causal Inference: Connecting events logically.
What is a situation model in story comprehension?
A mental simulation of people, objects, locations, and events described in a story, including perceptual and motor characteristics.
What is the given-new contract in conversation?
A principle where speakers provide given information (shared knowledge) and new information, helping listeners integrate and understand the message.
What is common ground in conversation?
Shared knowledge, beliefs, and assumptions between conversational participants, established through interaction.
What is syntactic priming?
When one person’s use of a grammatical structure increases the likelihood of another person using the same structure, reducing computational effort.
What skills are necessary for effective conversations?
Understanding theory of mind and interpreting nonverbal communication, such as gestures, facial expressions, and tone of voice.
What is a problem?
An obstacle between a present state and a goal, where the solution is not immediately obvious.
How does Gestalt psychology view problem solving?
Problem solving involves restructuring the mental representation of a problem, often leading to insight or an “Aha!” moment.
What is functional fixedness?
The tendency to see objects as functioning only in their usual way, which hinders problem-solving.
What is mental set?
A preconceived notion about how to approach a problem, often based on past experiences, which can inhibit finding simpler solutions.
What did Metcalfe and Wiebe (1987) find about insight problems?
Insight problems are solved suddenly, while non-insight problems are solved gradually.
What is the candle problem?
A task requiring participants to mount a candle on a wall without dripping wax, often hindered by seeing the box only as a container and not as a potential tool.
What is the two-string problem?
A problem requiring participants to tie two strings together, often hindered by failing to see pliers as a weight.
What did the water jug problem (Luchins, 1942) demonstrate about mental set?
Participants who developed a formulaic approach (B-A-2C) were less likely to use simpler solutions when they became available.
What is the information-processing approach to problem solving?
Problem solving involves moving through a problem space from an initial state to a goal state, using operators to transition between states.
What is means-end analysis?
A problem-solving strategy that reduces differences between the initial and goal states by creating subgoals.
How does problem representation affect solving the mutilated checkerboard problem?
Problems are solved more easily when their representation highlights key elements, such as pairing in the checkerboard problem.
What is analogical transfer?
Applying the solution to a source problem (e.g., the fortress story) to solve a target problem (e.g., the radiation problem).
What are the steps in analogical problem solving?
- Noticing the relationship, 2. Mapping the correspondence, 3. Applying the mapping to generate a solution.
What is analogical encoding?
A process in which two problems are compared to identify similarities, which helps abstract and apply problem-solving strategies.
What is the analogical paradox?
People apply analogies effectively in real-world settings but struggle to do so in controlled laboratory tasks.
What are the differences between well-defined and ill-defined problems?
Well-defined problems have clear start and goal states with known methods, while ill-defined problems lack clear definitions and solutions.
What are knowledge-lean problems?
Problems that do not require specific prior knowledge, as most information is provided in the problem statement.
What are knowledge-rich problems?
Problems that require extensive domain-specific knowledge, such as those often studied in expertise research.
How do experts differ from novices in problem solving?
Experts have more organized, principle-based knowledge and spend more time analyzing problems before solving them.
What did Chase and Simon (1973) find in their chess study?
Chess masters excelled at recalling meaningful game positions but performed no better than novices with random positions.
How is expertise domain-specific?
Expertise is limited to a specific field, and experts perform like novices outside their area of specialization.
What is reasoning?
Reasoning involves gathering information, analyzing it systematically, and drawing conclusions based on evidence, logic, and prior knowledge.
What is decision-making?
Decision-making is the process of selecting a course of action from multiple alternatives, often based on goals, preferences, or outcomes.
What is inductive reasoning?
Drawing general conclusions based on specific observations or evidence, often probabilistic rather than guaranteed.
What factors influence the strength of an inductive argument?
- Representativeness of observations, 2. Number of observations, 3. Quality of evidence.
What are heuristics?
Mental shortcuts or “rules of thumb” that allow for quick judgments but can lead to errors in reasoning.
What is the availability heuristic?
Judging the probability of an event based on how easily examples come to mind, often influenced by memorable or recent experiences.
What are illusory correlations?
Perceived relationships between events that are either nonexistent or much weaker than assumed, often reinforcing stereotypes.
What is the representativeness heuristic?
Judging the probability of an event based on how much it resembles a typical example, often ignoring base rates or statistical principles.
What is base rate neglect?
Ignoring statistical likelihoods (base rates) when making judgments based on descriptive details.
What is the conjunction rule?
The probability of two events occurring together cannot be higher than the probability of either event occurring alone.
What is the law of large numbers?
Larger sample sizes are more representative of a population, while smaller samples are more prone to variability and error.
What is myside bias?
Interpreting evidence in a way that supports preexisting beliefs and dismissing opposing evidence.
What is confirmation bias?
Seeking out or favoring information that supports a hypothesis while ignoring evidence that refutes it.
What is deductive reasoning?
Drawing specific conclusions from general principles or premises, where conclusions follow logically if the premises are true.
What is a categorical syllogism?
A logical argument with two premises and a conclusion that describes relationships between categories using terms like “all,” “some,” or “none.”
What is the difference between validity and truth in syllogisms?
A syllogism is valid if the conclusion logically follows from the premises, but it is only true if the premises themselves are factually correct.
What is belief bias in evaluating syllogisms?
Judging a syllogism as valid if its conclusion is believable, even when the reasoning is invalid.
What is the mental model approach to reasoning?
A method where people create mental representations of a problem, test for exceptions, and accept conclusions only if no exceptions are found.
What is a conditional syllogism?
A syllogism that follows the structure: “If p, then q.” The validity of the conclusion depends on the premises being true.
What is the Wason Four-Card problem?
A reasoning task where participants test the rule “If p, then q” by flipping cards to find evidence that falsifies the rule.
What is expected utility theory?
A theory assuming people make rational decisions that maximize utility (desirable outcomes), often measured in monetary terms.
What did the jelly bean experiment show about decision-making?
Participants irrationally chose bowls with more red beans but lower probabilities, showing they were influenced by perceptual factors rather than logic.
How do emotions influence decision-making?
Emotions, such as fear (e.g., avoiding flying after 9/11) or excitement, often override rational calculations and lead to biased decisions.
What is the framing effect?
The way choices are presented (e.g., gain vs. loss framing) influences decision-making, with people being risk-averse for gains and risk-seeking for losses.
What does the ultimatum game reveal about decision-making?
People often reject unfair offers, showing that emotions and perceptions of fairness play a stronger role than rational utility maximization.
