Cognition Flashcards
Reaction time
Research method to study cognition. Elapsed time btw stimulus presentation and the subjects response to it
Edward Tichener
Structuralism. Break consciousness Down into its elements using introspection-asking subjects to report on their current conscious experiences.
Eye movements
Method to study cognition. An “on-line” measure of info processing
Brain imaging
Method to study cognition. Used to associate various cognitive processes with various parts of the brain
Hermann Ebbinghaus
Studied memory w nonsense syllables. Created a forgetting curve where there is a steep drop, and then plateaus
Encoding
Putting information into memory
Storage
Retaining information in memory
Retrieval
Recovering the information in memory. (Tip of the tongue phenom is a prob w retrieval).
Recall
Reproducing information you have previously been exposed to
Recognition
Realizing that a certain stimulus is one you’ve seen or heard before
Generation- recognition theory
An attempt to explain why you can usually recognize more than you can recall; model suggests that recall involves the Same mental process involved in recognition plus another process not required for recognition
Recent effect
Words presented at the end of a list are remembered best
Primacy effect
Words presented at the beginning of a list are remembered second best
Clustering
When asked to recall a list of words, ppl tend to recall words belonging to the same category
Stage theory of memory
Sensory memory, short term (working), long term
Whole report vs partial report procedure
Both had a 3x3 matrix of letters that flashed across the screen for a fraction of a second. Whole- asked to recall as many items as possible. 4 items seemed to be limit. Partial- asked to recall one row (didn’t know which one) recall was nearly perfect suggesting 9 item limit. Spelling. Decaying memory was problem in first set up
Short term memory
Miller found can hold 7 chunks of info at a time. Info can stay here for 20 (no rehearsal) or longer if we rehearse it (Maintenence rehearsal). Items encoded phonologically.
Long term memory
Permanent storehouse of experiences, knowledge, and skills. Get info into long term by organizing the info & associating it w info already in long term memory (elaborative). Items encoded by meaning
Procedural memory (long term)
Remembering how to do things
Declarative memory (long term)
Semantic- remembering general knowledge. Esp meaning of words and concepts
Episodic- remembering particular events you have personally experienced
Semantic verification task
Method used to investigate the organization of semantic memory
Spreading activation model
Collins and Loftus. Semantic memory organized into map of interconnected concepts; the key is the distance btw the concepts
Semantic feature comparison model
Smith, Shoben, and Rips. Semantic memory contains feature lists of concepts; the key is the amount of overlap in the feature lists of the concepts
Levels of processing theory
Craik and Lockhart. Challenges stage theory. What determines how long u remember material is not what memory system it goes into (only 1), but the way you process it. 1.physical (least effort) 2. Acoustical 3. Semantic (deepest level)
Paivio’s dual-code hypothesis
Info can be stored in 2 ways: visually (concrete info) & verbally (abstract info)
Schema
We interpret our experiences, and therefore remember them, in terms of our existing conceptual frameworks (schemata)
Decay theory
If info in long term memory is not used or rehearsed, it will eventually be forgotten. Drawback is it doesn’t take into account info you’ve learned in the meantime
Inhibition theory
Forgetting is due to activities that have taken place btw original learning & later attempt to recall. Proactive- info u learn first interferes w what u learn later
Retroactive- info u learn later interferes w info u learned first
Encoding specificity
Recall will be best if the context at recall is same as the context during original encoding
State- dependent learning
Recall will be better if your psychological or physical state at recall is same as time of encoding
The method of loci
A system of associating information w some sequence of places w which you are familiar. I.e on way from dorm to class
Bartlett
Found that prior knowledge and expectations influence recall
Elizabeth Loftus
Studies the in accuracy of eye-witness testimony, and later Inaccuracy of repressed memories
Zeigarnik effect
Tendency to remember incomplete tasks better than completed tasks
Luchins water- jar problem
Illuminated that we have mental sets , a tendency to keep repeating solns that worked in other situations, when it comes to problem solving. Can potentially be ineffective
Functional fixedness
The ability to use a familiar object in an unfamiliar way
Creativity- divergent thinking
Attempting to produce as many creative answers to a question as possible
Decision making- heuristics
Short cuts and rules of thumb we can use in making decisions
Availability heuristic
Making decisions about frequencies based upon how easy it is to imagine the items involved
Representativeness heuristic
Categorizing things on the basis of whether they fit the prototypical image of the category
Base-rate fallacy
Ignoring the numerical info about the items being referred to when categorizing them
Phonemes
The smallest sound units of language. Field contains 4 phonemes- f, ei, l, d.
Morphemes
Smallest units of meaning in a language. Walked contains 2- walk & ed
Semantics
Deals with the meaning of words and sentences
Syntax
Deals w the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences
Surface structure
The actual order of words in a sentence
Deep structure
An underlying form that specifies the meaning of the sentence
Transformational rules
Tells us how we can change from one sentence form to another (ie from active to passive voice)
Whorfian hypothesis
The hypothesis that language determines how reality is perceived
Macoby & jacklin
Found evidence of better verbal abilities in girls over boys
Spearman (intelligence)
General unitary factor called g
Louis thurstone
7 “primary mental abilities” e.g verbal comprehension, number ability, etc. used factor analysis with factors more specific than g, but more general than s.
Sternberg’s triarchic theory
3 aspects to intelligence- componential (test performance), experiential (creativity), and contextual (street smarts/ business sense).
Gardeners theory of multiple intelligences
Seven defined: linguistic, logical mathematical ability, spatial ability, musical ability, bodily, interpersonal, and intrapersonal
Fluid intelligence- Cattell
Increases through childhood & adolescence, levels off in young adulthood, and begins a decline w advanced age
Crystallized intelligence
Increases throughout the lifespan
Arthur Jensen
IQ almost entirely genetic in nature- can’t teach someone to score higher
Parallel distributed processing
Proposed that info processing is distributed across the brain and is done in a parallel fashion
Metacognition and metamemory
Refer to a persons ability to think about and monitor cognition and memory. Ability to reflect
