Cognition Flashcards
Charles Spearman’s 2-factor theory of intelligence
After studying students’ grades in various subjects, Spearman concluded that there are two types of intelligence:
General global intelligence: relatively constant level of mental performance across diverse mental tasks
Specific intelligence: outstanding abilities in a specific subject
Intelligence (Ulrich Neisser)
The ability to understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experience, to engage in various forms of reasoning, and to overcome obstacles by taking thought.
Intelligence quotient
A person’s mental age (calculated by the test) / his, her chronological age (his, her actual age) x 100 (to avoid dealing with fractions)
Eugenics (literally ‘good genes’)
The goal of improving the genetic makeup of a population by reducing or eliminating allegedly inferior genes
Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism is the conflict between social groups which results in the most socially capable or fit group coming out on top as the winner, usually in terms of influence and wealth. According to social Darwinism, rich people would succeed and poor people would fail.
David Weschler
Created tests that were divided into 2 main areas: verbal-based questions and non-verbal tasks.
He also argued that a person’s educational and socioeconomic factors should be kept in mind when evaluating intelligence.
Fluid intelligence
The ability to learn new ways of doing things
Crystallized intelligence
The stockpile of knowledge accumulated throughout our lives
The Flynn effect
The gradual but persistent increase in intelligence test scores over the years
Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences
People have different ways of solving problems and different strengths.
1-Visual intelligence: picturing ideas, making mind maps
2-Linguistic intelligence: ability to write and speak well
3-Logical and mathematical intelligence
4-Musical intelligence: listening to something once and then playing it by ear
5-Bodily and kinesthetic intelligence: learning by doing, manipulating
6-Interpersonal intelligence: ability to work well with others
7-Intrapersonal intelligence: ability to reflect on your own emotions and thoughts
8-Naturalist intelligence: recognizing patterns in nature and classifying them
Analytical intelligence
The ability to answer questions that have s single correct answer
Divergent thinking
Coming up with multiple solutions to a single problem; linked to creativity.
Creativity
The ability to come up with new and valuable ideas.
Expertise in a given subject encourages creativity. People are usually experts on the topic for which they generate creative ideas, because these areas of expertise are of intrinsic interest to them. Creative people also possess willingness to take risks.
Language
System of communication that requires the ability to produce and understand spoken, signed, or written utterances.
Phonemes
The smallest units of sound (vowels and consonants)
Despite the fact that infants are able to distinguish between all possible phonemes, they recognize, at the age of one when they start speaking words, which ones are allowed in their native language and which ones are not.
Morphemes
The smallest units of meaning (like prefixes and suffixes).
Semantics is the study of how phonemes and morphemes produce meaning.
Broca’s area
Part of the brain involved in the production of language
Wernicke’s area
Part of the brain involved in the understanding of language
Noam Chomsky
Linguist who believed that people have a universal grammar hard-wired in their brains.
Stages of language development in children
Stage1: 2 months old; babbling syllables, which helps babies practice and get ready for producing speech.
Stage2: 6/7 months old; babbling repetitive syllables (including phonemes from their native languages); this helps them prepare physically for speech, but also to come to an understanding about what speech is for: communicating. Babies who learn sign language even babble with their hands.
Stage3: 12 months old; begin speaking words; holophrastic stage; produce 3-4 words; understand 30-40; tend to overextend the meanings of words (e.g.: ‘mama’ to all women).
Stage4: 18 months old; recognize and point to objects when they are named; can follow simple directions; speak in simple, 2-word sentences.
Stage5: 25 months old; begin to use complex sentences (3 or more words); by the age of 5, they know more than 10,000 words.
Memory (the 3 steps for taking information in)
Encoding: in a personal meaningful way (by association, self-referencing, acronyms…)
Storage: short-term memory –> long-term memory
Retrieval: use of the same association as used for encoding; same mood or place encourages retrieval
Memory categorization
Sensory memory (iconic memory + echoic memory) –> Short-term memory (info processed by working memory) –> Ignored / Put to use / On hold in long-term memory
Sensory memory: transfers environmental information received from the senses to the brain.
Short-term memory: can store between 5 to 9 items for 20/30sec; attention is crucial to maximizing it; chunking and rehearsal improve it.
Long-term memories
Declarative memory (explicit memory): divided into two parts: semantic memory (general factual info, knowledge) and episodic memory (personal experiences, specific events).
Procedural memory (implicit memory): memory of how to perform a task or skill; cannot be expressed verbally; used automatically.
For improving long-term memory: self-referencing, rehearsal, spaced repetition, mnemonic devices.
Information processing
Bottom-up processing: beginning by examining small details and piecing them together into a bigger picture.
Top-down processing: driven by previous knowledge; start with a big picture and direct your attention toward the details you are interested in.
