Cognition // Thinking Flashcards
Information Processing Model
Encoding —> Storage —> Retrieval
Atkinson Shiffrin Model
Sensory Memory, Working Memory, Long Term Memory
Sensory Memory
process everything; iconic (vision) and echoic (hearing)
Working Memory
few items encoded, decays quickly; 7±2
Long Term Memory
unlimited space, retrieval is key.
Explicit vs. Implicit
long term memory: w/ conscious vs. w/o conscious recall
Semantic and Episodic vs. Skills and Classical Conditioning
(facts and experiences) explicit vs. implicit
Rehearsal: Maintenance vs. Elaborative
simple repetition vs. adding organization
Mnemonics
categories, acronyms, acrostics, interactive images, methods of loci (assign something to something else), peg words (common list like nursery rhyme and visualize new item associated with it)
Flashbulb Memory
very detailed of event
Eidetic Memory
photographic memory, cannot pick out important stuff
State Dependent/Mood Congruent Memory
must be in same state/mood as when memory was encoded. (i.e. drunk, must be drunk to retrieve memory)
Context Dependent Memory
must be in same place as when memory was encoded. (i.e. encoded memory in classroom, remember when revisit classroom)
Prospective Memory
remembering to do things in future
Positive Transfer
easy to transfer knowledge (i.e. rollerblading -> ice skating)
Negative Transfer
current info gets in way of new info. (i.e. figure skating ≠ rollerblading)
Serial vs. Parallel Processing
(like physics circuits) sequential 1-at-a-time vs. all at once: self terminating search (looking for keys, stop when found) or exhaustive search (multiple choice test, must check all answer choices first)
Serial Position Effect
(graph) primacy effect vs. recency effect
Transience
7 sins: unused info decays
Absentmindedness
7 sins: temporarily forget b/c focus shifts to something more important
Blocking
7 sins: one info gets in way of another.
Proactive Interference: 1st interferes w/ 2nd
Retroactive Interference: 2nd interferes w/ 1st
Misattribution
7 sins: placing place/name/event where it doesn’t belong.
Conflation: 2 memories smushed into 1 (brain tries to help make things coherent)
Constructive Memory: unintentionally build false memory (brain tries to fill in gap in memory)
Suggestibility
7 sins: memory can be distorted. [LOFTUS]
- framing question
- eyewitness recall
- repressed/recovered memories
Hindsight Bias
7 sins: current belief affects how you remember something
Persistence
7 sins: bad memories hang around (like PTSD)
Amnesia Types
Retrograde: forget what happened before accident (usual)
Antereograde: cannot form new memories (almost always due to disease like tumors)
Motivated Forgetting
forget harmful memories to protect self; repression vs. suppression
Repression vs. Suppression
unconsciously repress vs. conscious coping method
Problem-Solving Steps
identify problem —> generate solutions —> pick best solution
Algorithm vs. Heuristic
rule that guarantees solution vs. (shortcut) faster way to solve b/c only consider most likely solutions.
i.e. algorithm: look at all titles in bookstore. heuristic: go to certain section to search for book.
Problems in Problem-Solving
mental set, fixation, functional fixedness
Mental Set
problem: use a previously successful strategy but it fails
Fixation
problem: habit of always using same methods to solve
Functional Fixedness
so used to thinking about something in its most typical use that we don’t use a different way to solve
Successful Problem Solving
transfer, incubation, metacognition, expertise, creativity
Transfer
good: we’ve done this before
Incubation
good: stop working on problem for a while and do something else
Metacognition
good: think about our thinking
Expertise
good: when you get good at something, you organize info differently than when you were a rookie
Creativity
good: developing new ways of thinking about a problem
9 Causes of Faulty Decisions
availability heuristic, representativeness heuristic, interference, overconfidence, illusion of control, confirmation bias, belief perseverance, self-serving bias, anchoring
Availability Heuristic
cause of faulty decision: thing that comes easiest to mind/seems most common is what you think.
i.e. safer to drive or fly?
Representative Heuristic
cause of faulty decision: make judgment based on stereotype
Interference
cause of faulty decision: too much info + not enough time = cannot process all
Overconfidence
cause of faulty decision: make some decisions based on self-assessment.
i.e. hire a plumber or fix it myself
Illusion of Control
cause of faulty decision: I KNOW I can drive well in snow. Can OTHERS? No.
Confirmation Bias
cause of faulty decision: remember/support what supports you bias
Belief Preservation
cause of faulty decision: make up mind about something, won’t change it.
Self-Serving Bias
cause of faulty decision: i.e. I studied hard (when I do well) vs. XXX is a bad teacher (when I fail)
Anchoring
cause of faulty decision: if reference point/anchor is given, answer will gravitate toward it
