Cognition, Consciousness and Language Flashcards
Cognition
how brains process and react to all the info presented everyday
Dual Coding Theory
both verbal association and visual images are used to process and store information
Schema
can include a concept (what is a dog), a behaviour or sequence of events
Adaptation
a way to process new information. divided into assimilation (classifying new info into existing schema) and accommodation (existing schema is modified to encompass new Information
Piaget 4 stages of development
- Sensorimotor (0-2 years)
- Preoperational (2-7)
- Concrete Operational (7-11)
- Formal Operational (12+)
Sensorimotor
child can manipulate environment to meet physical needs.
- primary circular reactions- repeating behaviour that child finds soothing like thumb sucking
- secondary circular reactions- manipulation focused on something outside body, like throwing toy on floor and parent picking it up
Object Permanence
-understanding that objects continue to exist even if you can’t see them
- milestone that ends sensorimotor stage
Preoperational
- symbolic thinking (ability to pretend, play make believe and have an imagination)
- Egocentrism- can’t understand what another person can think or feel
- centration- tendency to focus on only one aspect of phenomenon or inability to understand conservation
Concrete Operational
logical thinking and can understand conservation
Formal Operational
Abstract thinking
Fluid Intelligence
problem solving skills
Crystallized Intelligence
use of learned skill and knowledge
Functional Fixedness
inability to consider other ways to use something other than the traditional method
Deductive Reasoning
type of problem solving
start with general rules and then draw conclusions
Inductive reasoning
starts with evidence and then make generalizations (like Sherlock Holmes)
Heuristics
shortcuts used to make decisions
called rule of thumb
Availability heuristic
mental shortcut that relies on first thing that comes to mind when thinking of something
representative heuristic
used to make decisions based on whether something fits typical image.
Belief Preserverence
still believing in something even after there’s evidence against it
Consciousness
level of awareness of both the world and one’s own existence within the world
States of consciousness
alertness
sleep
dreaming
altered state of consciousness due to drugs or sickness
Alertness
awake and able to think. use our prefrontal cortex that is kept alert by reticular formation
- beta and alpha waves
Stages of Sleep
Stage 1: light sleep with theta waves
Stage 2: slightly deeper with theta waves, sleep spindles and K complexes
Stage 3 and 4 (NREM): deep sleep (slow wave sleep) with delta waves
- most sleep disorders occur here and 25% dreaming
REM: mind looks awake but person is actually sleeping. dreaming occurs at this stage
information processing model
the brain encodes, stores and retrieves information like a computer
