cognitive approach

Question 1

What is duration?

Answer 1

duration is the length of time material can be kept in a memory store.

Question 2

Sensory Memory (SM)

Answer 2

Memory stores for each of our five senses.
Capacity - very high
Duration - brief, one for each of our senses
Encoding - however long it takes to encode information from senses

Question 3

What is Encoding?

Answer 3

The process of converting information from one form to another so that it can be stored in the various memory stores and passed between them.

Question 4

What is Capacity?

Answer 4

the amount of material that can be kept in a memory store.

Question 5

Long-term memory (LTM)

Answer 5

Permanent memory
Capacity - unlimited
Duration - permanent
Encoding - semantic

Question 6

Short-term memory (STM)

Answer 6

Limited capacity memory store
Capacity - between 5 and 9
Duration - temporary store (up to 30 seconds)
Encoding - mainly acoustic

Question 7

Evaluation of three memory stores

Answer 7

+ knowledge of memory stores, e.g. limited capacity of STM can be increased through ‘Chunking’.
+ evidence showing there are three memory stores with different characteristics
- a lot of research is not typical of everyday memory

Question 8

What is remembering?

Answer 8

the activity of retrieving information from a memory store.

Question 9

What is recall?

Answer 9

in free recall the individual generates information without a cue. In cued recall, a cue assists retrieval of information

Question 10

What is person perception?

Answer 10

The mental processes we use to form judgements and draw conclusions about the characteristics and motives of other people.

Question 11

What are memory scripts?

Answer 11

General descriptions of what occurs and when it occurs in a particular situation which predicts expected rules and behaviours.

Question 12

What is recognition?

Answer 12

A form of memory retrieval where you identify something based on previous experiences

Question 13

What is a cue?

Answer 13

A trigger that allows us to access material in memory. Cues can be meaningfully linked to material or can be linked without meaning by being encoded at the time of learning.

Question 14

Memory scripts

Answer 14

Knowledge of behaviours, roles, outcomes etc. stored in memory tell us what to expect in a social situation and how to behave.

Question 15

What is fundamental attribution error (FAE)?

Answer 15

In explaining the reasons for other peoples behaviours, we focus on their personal characteristics and overlook the role of the situation.

Question 16

What is Hostile Attribution Bias?

Answer 16

A tendency to assume that someone elses behaviour has an aggressive or antagonistic motive when its actually neutral.

Question 17

What is confirmation bias?

Answer 17

We pay more attention to information that supports our existing beliefs. we may seek it out and ignore contradictory information.

Question 18

Cognitive Biases?

Answer 18

Errors in how we process information that affect our attention, memory and decision making.

Question 19

what are cognitive scripts?

Answer 19

information stored in memory that describes the behaviours typical in a given situation, which we retrieve to guide our behaviour.

Question 20

Associative priming?

Answer 20

we process a stimulus more quickly because we earlier encountered a stimulus that is often paired with it.

Question 21

Semantic priming?

Answer 21

we process a stimulus more quickly because we earlier encountered a stimulus related to it in meaning.

Question 22

Repetition priming?

Answer 22

we process a stimulus more quickly because we encountered it earlier.

Question 23

Cognitive priming?

Answer 23

we notice a stimulus more quickly when we see or hear a related stimulus.

Question 24

Stimulus that affects how you respond to a second stimulus.

Answer 24

Priming / prime

Question 25

Shortening?

Answer 25

when a part of a memory is left out, what remains is shorter.

Question 26

Reconstructive memory?

Answer 26

pieces of stored information are reassembled during recall. the process is guided by our schemas so that we produce a memory that makes sense.

Question 27

Rationalisation?

Answer 27

when parts of a memory are distorted to fit your schema, to make the memory meaningful.

Question 28

Confabulation?

Answer 28

When details are added to a memory to fill gaps to make recall meaningful.

Question 29

What is a schema?

Answer 29

Cognitive framework that helps us to organise and interpret information.

Question 30

Computer analogy?

Answer 30

The human mind can be compared to a computer with input, processing and output stages.