Cognitive Bases Flashcards
1
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cognitive psychology
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is the science of how the mind is organized to produce intelligent thought and how the mind is realized in the brain
2
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when is cognitive psychology traced back to
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early greeks
3
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Empiricism
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the position that all knowledge comes from experience in the world
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nativism
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the position that children come into the world with a great deal of innate knowledge
5
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introspection (wilhelm wundt)
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a methodology much practiced at the turn of the 20th century in Germany that attempted to analyze thoughts into its components through self-analysis
▪ To get a feeling for this method, try to come up with an association for each of the following words (coat, dot, book, bowl); after each association, think about the contents of your consciousness during the period between reading the word and making you association
6
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behaviorism
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the theory that psychology should be concerned only with behavior and should not refer to mental constructs underlying behavior (developed by Americans in response to a distaste for introspection)
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Gestalt psychology
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an approach to psychology that emphasizes principles of organization that result in holistic properties of the brain that go beyond the activity of the parts (developed by German immigrants in America, in contrast with behaviorism)
8
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the cognitive revolution and its three main influences
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AI, Information Theory, and Linguistics developed between 1950 and 1970 which ultimately overthrew behaviorism
Three main influences on modern cognitive development: research on human performance to understand soldier behavior in war, developments in computer science, and linguistics
9
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linguistics
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the study of the structure of language
10
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information processing approach
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the analysis of human cognition into a set of steps in which information is processed; has become the dominant approach in cognitive psychology. Attempts to analyze cognition as a set of steps for processing an abstract entity called “information”
11
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sternberg paradigm
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an experimental procedure in which participants are presented with a memory set consisting of a few items and must decide whether various probe items are in the memory set; time increased on recognition when more items were added to the set
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cognitive neuroscience
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the study of the neural basis of cognition
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neuron
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a cell in the nervous system responsible for information processing. They accumulate and transmit electrical activity
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dendrites
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the branching part of the neuron that receives synapses from axons of other neurons
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synapse
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the location at which the axon of one neuron almost makes contact with the dendrite of another neuron
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neurotransmitters
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chemical that crosses the synapse from the axon of one neuron and alters the electric potential of the membrane of another neuron
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excitatory synapse
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a synapse in which the neurotransmitters decrease the potential difference across the membrane of the neuron
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inhibitory synapse
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synapse in which the neurotransmitters increase the potential difference across the membrane of a neuron
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action potential
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sudden change in electric potential that travels down the axon of a neuron
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axon
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the part of a neuron that carries information from one region of the brain to another
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rate of firing
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the number of action potentials, or nerve impulses, and axon transmits per second
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image of neuron transmission
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(on paper)
23
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gyrus
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an outward bulge on the brain; contrast to the sulcus
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sulcus
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an inward crease of the brain; contrast to the gyrus
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occipital lobe
the region at the back of the cerebral cortex that controls vision
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parietal lobe
the region at the top of the cerebral cortex concerned with attention and higher-level sensory functions
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temporal lobe
the region at the side of the cerebral cortex that contains the primary auditory areas and controls the recognition of objects
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frontal lobe
the region at the front of the cerebral cortex that includes the motor cortex and the prefrontal cortex
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prefrontal cortex
the region at the front of the frontal cortex that controls planning and other higher-level cognition
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hippocampus
a structure within the temporal lobe that plays a critical role in the formation of permanent memories
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basal ganglia
subcortical structures that play a critical role in the control of motor movement and complex cognition
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corpus callosum
broad band of fibers that enables communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain
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split brain patients
patient who has had a surgery to sever the corpus callosum, which connects left and right hemispheres
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brocas area
region in the left frontal cortex that is important for processing language, particularly syntax in speech (word order, sentence structure, speaking)
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wernickes area
a region of the left temporal lobe important to language, particularly the semantic content of speech (understanding the meaning of speech)
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aphasia
an impairment of speech that results from a brain injury
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topographic organization
principle of neural organization in which adjacent areas of the cortex process information from adjacent parts of the sensory field
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Electroencephalography (EEG):
measurement of electrical activity of the brain, measures by electrodes on the scalp
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Event-Related Potentials (ERPs):
measurement of changes in electrical activity at the scalp in response to an external event
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Magnetoencephalography (MEG):
measurement of magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the brain
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Positron Emission Tomography (PET):
method for measuring metabolic activity in different regions of the brain with the use of a radioactive tracer
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Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI):
method for determining metabolic activity by measuring the magnetic field produced by the iron in oxygenated blood
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Hemodynamic Response
the increased flow of oxygenated blood to a region of the brain that has greater activity—the basis of fMRI imaging
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Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS
a magnetic field is applied to the surface of the head to disrupt the neural processing in that region of the brain
-TMS is delivered by a coil on the surface of the head, which generates brief but powerful magnetic pulses that induce a temporary current in a small area on the surface of the brain. The current can interfere with processing of the brain with high temporal and fair spatial precision
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Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) Response
measure obtained in fMRI studies of the amount of oxygen in the blood
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visual agnosia
inability to recognize visual objects that results neither from general intellectual loss nor from loss of basic sensory abilities
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apperceptive agnosia
form of visual agnosia marked by the inability to recognize simple shapes such as circles and triangles, or to draw shapes they are shown
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associative agnosia
form of visual agnosia marked by the inability to recognize complex objects such as an anchor, even though the patient can recognize simple shapes and can copy drawings of complex objects
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fovea
area of the retina with the greatest visual acuity. When we focus on an object, we move the eyes so that the image of the object falls on this part of the retina
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edge detectors
cell in the visual cortex that response most to edges in the visual field
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bar detectors
cell in the visual cortex that responds most to bars in the visual field
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feature maps
representation of the spatial locations of a particular visual feature
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how does light travel through the eye
Light enters through the cornea; passes through the anterior chamber (also known as the aqueous humor), pupil, lens, and vitreous body (or humor); then strikes and stimulate the retina
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2 1/2 D sketch
Marr’s proposal for a visual representation that identifies where surfaces are located in space relative to the viewer
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3D Model
Marr’s proposal for an object-centered representation of a visual scene
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process of depth perception
image is input
primal sketch is created (blobs, lines, curves)
2 1/2 D sketch is created (some discontinuities in depth and surface orientation)
3D model representation is created
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Gestalt principles of organization
principles that determine how a scene is organized into components. The principles include proximity, similarity, good continuation (or continuation), closure, and good form (or good figure)
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good figure principle
objects grouped together tend to be perceived as a single figure, tendency to simplify
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similarity principle
objects tend to be grouped together if they are similar
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closure
visual connection or continuity between sets of elements which do not actually touch each other in a composition
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proximity
objects tend to be grouped together if they are close to each other
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continuation
when there is an intersection between two or more objects people tend to perceive each object as a single, uninterrupted object
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symmetry
the object tend to be perceived as symmetrical shapes that form around their center
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template matching
theory of pattern recognition stating that an object is recognized as a function of its overlap with various pattern templates sorted in the brain. Proposes that a retinal image of an object is faithfully transmitted to the brain, and the brain attempts to compare the image directly to various stored patterns, called templates
Best example I have🡪 seeing an object or letter in the clouds. The organization is abstract, but we have template for what the object looks like and we project it onto abstract stimuli
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feature analysis
theory of pattern recognition that claims that we extract primitive features and then recognize their combinations
-So not that we recognize the full object and then match to template, rather we recognize features (like a straight line) and then put it together with other feature like a horizontal line and match that to a letter (ex. L)
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recognition by components theory
Biederman’s theory stating that we recognize objects by first identifying the geons that correspond to their sub- objects
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geons
(geometric ions) one of Biederman’s 36 primitive categories of sub-objects that we combine to perceive larger objects
-Essentially the pieces of an object that are seen in other objects (ex. a cylinder is created by a circle as it moves along a straight line or axis that is perpendicular to its center; other shapes can be created by the varying generation process)
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prosopagnosia
neurological disorder characterized by the inability to recognize faces
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fusiform gyrus
region in the temporal cortex involves in recognition of complex patterns like faces and words
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phenomes
the minimal unit of speech that can result in a difference in a spoken message
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consonatal feature
constant-like quality in a phoneme
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voicing
property of a phoneme produced by vibration of the vocal cords
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place of articulation
place at which the vocal tract is closed or constricted in the production of a phoneme
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categorical perception
the perception of stimuli being in distinct categories without gradual variations
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top down processing
processing of a stimulus in which information from the general context is used to help recognize the stimulus (seeing farm as a whole then looking at the cow, chicken, barn, farmer)
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bottom up processing
processing of a stimulus in which information from a physical stimulus, rather than from general context, is used to help recognize the stimulus (seeing a chicken, than a cow, than a barn, than a farmer and putting together it is a farm)
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word superiority effect
superior recognition of letters presented in a word context than when the letters are presented alone
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fuzzy logical model of perception (FLMP)
Massaro’s theory of perception, which states that stimulus features and context combine independently to determine perception
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phoneme restoration effect
tendency to hear phonemes that make sense in the speech context even if no such phonemes were spoken
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change blindness
inability to detect a change in a scene when the change matches the context (looking at a whole picture of a street and in the next picture a color of a car may change but you don’t see it because the general context of the picture has stayed the same)
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primal sketch
level of visual processing in Marr’s model in which the visual features have been extracted from a stimulus
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serial bottlenecks
point in the path from perception to action at which people cannot process all the incoming information in parallel
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early selection theory
theory of attention stating that serial bottlenecks occur early in information processing
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late selection theory
theory of attention stating that serial bottlenecks occur late in information processing. An example is Deutsch and Deutsch’s theory, according to which all sensory information can be processed, but our ability to respond to that information has attentional limitations
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attention
allocation of cognitive resources among ongoing processes
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goal directed attention
allocation of processing resources in response to one’s goals
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stimulus driven attention
allocation of processing resources in response to a salient stimulus
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dichotic listening tasks
task in which participants in an experiment are presented with two messages simultaneously, one to each ear, and are instructed to repeat back the words from only one of them
Results- right ear is favored as that travels to left side of brain with Broca and Wernike
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filter theory
Broadbent’s early-selection theory of attention, which assumes that, when sensory information has to pass through a bottleneck, only some of the information is selected for further processing, on the basis of physical characteristics such as the pitch of a speaker’s voice
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attenuation theory
Treisman’s theory of attention, which proposes that we weaken some incoming sensory signals on the basis of their physical characteristics
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the binding problem
question of how the brain determines which features in the visual field go together to form an object
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feature integration theory
Treisman’s proposal that on must focus attention on a set of features before the individual features can be synthesized into a pattern
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illusory conjunctions
the illusion that features of different objects actually came from a single object
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object based attention
allocation of attention to chunks of visual information corresponding to an object
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space based attention
allocation of attention to visual information in a region of space
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inhibition of return
decreased ability to return our attention to a location or an object that we have already looked at
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perfect time sharing
the ability to pursue more than one task at the same time; contrast to central bottleneck
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central bottleneck
the inability of central cognition to pursue multiple lines of thought simultaneously
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automaticity
the ability to perform a task with little or no central cognitive control (breathing)
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stroop effect
phenomenon in which the tendency to name a word will interfere with the ability to say the color in which the word is printed
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executive control
direction of central cognition, which is carried out mainly by prefrontal regions of the brain
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dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
upper portion of the prefrontal cortex thought to be important in cognitive control🡪 directs central cognition
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anterior cingulate cortex
medial portion of the prefrontal cortex import in control and dealing with conflict (midline structure)
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motor cortex
controls hands
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parietal cortex
attends to locations and objects
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extrastriate cortex
processes visual information
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auditory cortex
processes auditory information
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mental imagery
the processing of perceptual-like information in the absence of an external sources for the perceptual information (rotating a shape in your head; like mental tetris; organizing a closet without moving objects)
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epiphenomenon
secondary mental event that has no functional role in the information processing
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mental rotation
process of continuously transforming the orientation of a mental image
These mental tasks are like actual perception, but weaker activation left cortex still shows increased blood flow even when people are imagining verbal jingle (left temporal) and spatial route (left parietal)
-Temporal lobe: visual; auditory when imagining
-Parietal lobe: when imaging spatial
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fusiform face area
part of the temporal cortex that is especially involved in fine discriminations, particularly of faces
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parahippocampal place area
region adjacent to the hippocampus that is active when people re perceiving places
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image scanning
scanning mental images for critical information (asking through the house visually and scanning each rooms for windows)
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cognitive maps
mental representation of the locations of objects and places in the environment
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route maps
representation of the environment consisting of the paths between locations; contrast to survey maps (straight until the light, then turn left, two blocks later at the intersection turn right)
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survey maps
representation of the environment consisting of the position of locations in space (actual image of the map)
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egocentric representation
representation of the environment as it appears in a current view; contrast with allocentric representation
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allocentric representation
representation of the environment according to a fixed coordinate system
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mnemonic technique
method for enhancing memory performance by giving the material to be remembered a meaningful interpretation
*We remember meaning, not detail
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what do prefrontal and posterior regions of the brain represent
Prefrontal regions process pictures and sentences: Posterior regions represent concepts
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propositional representation
representation of meaning as a set of propositions
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proposition
smallest unit of knowledge that can stand as a separate assertion
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relation
element that organized the arguments of a propositional representation
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arguments
element of a propositional representation that corresponds to a time, place, person, or object
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amodal symbol search
proposal that information is represented by symbols that are not associated with a particular modality; contrast to perceptual symbol search
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perceptual symbol search
Barsalou’s proposal that all knowledge is represented by information that is perceptual and tied to particular modalities
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dual code theory
Pavio’s theory that there are separate visual and verbal representations of knowledge
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embodied cognition
viewpoint that the mind can only be understood by taking into account the human body and how it interacts with the environment
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mirror neurons
neuron that fires either when the animal is performing the action or when it observes another animal performing the action
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multimodal hypothesis
theory that knowledge is represented in multiple perceptual and motor modalities
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amodal hypothesis
proposal that meaning is not represented in a particular modality; contrast to multimodal hypothesis
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categories and limitations
-We remember the world in terms of categories (ex. We remember what subject a teacher teaches, not what they wore)
-By categorizing, we gain the ability to predict which gives us great economy in representation and communication (makes us faster)
-Limitations: stereotyping
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semantic networks
the network of the meaning structure of linguistic units
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isa links
particular link in a semantic network or schema that indicates the superset of the category
-Properties that are true of higher-levels categories are also true of lower-level categories (if animals can breathe, then canaries can breathe)
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schema
representation of members of a category based on the type of objects that they are, the parts that they tend to have, and their typical properties. A slot-value structure is used to represent this information (We have a schema for a house: building, rooms, materials that built it such as stone and wood)
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slot
element of a schema that indicated different attributes of a concept (a slot in a schema of a house would be one of its attributes such as “building”; but alone being a building does not equal house as a building could also be a store or a school)
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default values
typical value for a slot in a schema representation
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scripts
schema representation proposed by Schank and Abelson for event concepts (ex. script for going out to dinner: entering, ordering, eating, exiting)
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abstraction theories
hold that we actually abstract the general principles of a category from the specific instances we have studied and that we store these abstractions (we work off of generalizations of instances)
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exemplar theories
hold that we store only the specific instances and the we infer the general properties from these instance (we work only from what we have experienced)
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brain structures involved in creation and storage of memories
Prefrontal regions are responsible for the creation of memories. The hippocampus and surrounding structures in the temporal cortex are responsible for the permanent storage of these memories.
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anterograde amnesia
loss of the ability to learn new things after an injury; contrast with retrograde amnesia
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partial report procedure
experimental procedure in which participants are cued to report only some of the items on display
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whole report procedure
procedure in which participants are asked to report all the items of a display
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visual sensory store (iconic memory)
memory system that effectively holds all information in a visual array for a very brief period of time (about a second)
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auditory sensory store (echoic memory)
memory system that effectively holds all the information heard for a brief period of time
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short term memory
proposed intermediate memory system that holds information as it travels from sensory memory to long-term memory
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memory span
amount of information that can be perfectly retained in an immediate test of memory
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depth of processing
theory that memory for information is improved if the information is processed at deeper levels of analysis
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working memory
information that is currently available in memory for working on a problem
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visuospatial sketchpad (working memory)
part of Baddeley’s proposed system for rehearsing visual information; we can temporarily store visual or spatial information
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phonological loop (working memory)
part of Baddeley’s proposed system for rehearsing verbal information; we have the ability to store verbal information
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central executive (working memory)
Baddeley’s proposed system for controlling various slave rehearsal systems, such as the articulatory loop and the visuospatial sketchpad
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articulatory loop (working memory)
part of Baddeley’s proposed system for rehearsing verbal information
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adaptive control of thought
Anderson’s theory of how declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge interact in complex cognitive processes
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activation
state of memory traces the determines both the speed and the probability of access to a memory trace
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spreading activation
proposal that activation spreads from items currently or recently processed to other parts of the memory network, activating the memory traces that reside there
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associative spreading
facilitation in access to information when closely related items are presented (when you are up late at night thinking about something embarrassing you did that day and then all the sudden you are remembering a montage of your lowest moments in 6th grade)
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strength (memory)
property of a memory trace that determines how active the trace can become. It increases with practice and decays with time
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power function
function in which the independent variable X is raised to a power to obtain the dependent variable Y, as in Y=AXb
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power law of learning
phenomenon that memory performance improves as a power function of practice
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long term potentiation
increase in responsiveness of a neuron as a function of past stimulation (occurs in hippocampus and cortical areas)
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elaborative processing
embellishment of a to-be-remembered item with additional information (participants who studied the sentence “the doctor hated the lawyer” remembered the sentence at 57%, but participants who added to the sentence stating, “the doctor hated the lawyer because a malpractice suit” remembered the information at 72%)
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method of loci
mnemonic technique used to associate items to be remembered with locations along a well-known path (e.g. memorizing words by associating them with a part of the body)
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flashbulb memories
particularly good memory for an event that is very important and traumatic
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model of memory
model of memory that includes an intermediate short-term memory. Information coming in from the environment is held in a transient sensory store from which it is lost unless attended to. Attended information goes into an intermediate short-term memory with a limited capacity to hold information The information must be rehearsed before it can move into a relatively permanent long-term memory.
sensory store -> attention -> short term memory -> rehearsal -> long term memory
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brain regions active during retrieval
Prefrontal regions active when information is retrieved; hippocampal regions (internal) active during retrieval
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power law of forgetting
the phenomenon that memory performance deteriorates as a power function of the retention interval
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decay theory
theory that forgetting is caused by the spontaneous decay of memory traces over time; contrast to interference theory
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interference theory
theory that forgetting is caused by other memories interfering with the retention of the target memory
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fan effect
phenomenon that the retrieval of memories takes longer as more things are associated with the items composing the original memories
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eyewitness testimony and the false memory controversy and inference
*Inference is usually helpful as it fills in gaps. When a pregnant woman says she went for an ultrasound, we can infer that the doctor was in the room. But inference is problematic in eyewitness testimony as we use inferences to creates memories and sometimes inferences (or assumptions used to fill the memory scape) lead to false recollections or details.
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loftus and false memory research
Loftus is lead in false memory research: she asked participants who witnessed a traffic accident about the car’s speed when it passed a yield sign. Although there was no yield sign, many participants remembered one mainly because Loftus’s questions inferred there was one on the scene. This is why interrogations and suggestive interview techniques are problematic.
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false memory syndrome
term used to describe the condition of false memories of childhood abuse
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Deese-Roediger McDermott paradigm
paradigm for creating false memories of words by presenting associatively related words
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mood congruence
phenomenon that one’s memory is better for studies material whose emotional content matches one’s mood at test
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state dependent learning
phenomenon that memory performance is better when we are tested in the same emotional and physical state as we were in when we learned the material
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encoding specificity principle
Tulving’s principle that memory is better when the encoding of an item at study matches the encoding at test
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amnesia
memory deficit due to brain damage
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korsakoff syndrome
amnesia resulting from chronic alcoholism and nutritional deficit
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retrograde amnesia
loss of memory for things that occurs before an injury
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anterograde amnesia
loss of the ability to learn new things after an injury; contrast with retrograde amnesia
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explicit vs implicit memory
Explicit Memory: knowledge that we can consciously recall
Implicit Memory: knowledge that we cannot consciously recall but that nonetheless manifests itself in our improved performance on some task (limitation: implicit bias; unconscious but we can interfere by consciously weighing the bias and subsequent action/inaction non-biased)
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dissociations
demonstration that a manipulation has an effect on performance of one task but not another. Such demonstrations are thought to be important in arguing for different cognitive systems
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priming
enhancement of the processing of a stimulus as a function of prior exposure
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procedural knowledge
knowledge of how to perform various tasks; requires little cognition so usually falls under the category of implicit memory after it is practiced and stored into long-term memory; contrast to declarative knowledge
Ex. Riding a bike; this type of knowledge is spared in amnesic patients because it does not seem to be associated with the hippocampus rather the basil ganglia
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declarative memory
explicit knowledge for various facts; associated with the hippocampus
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episodic memory
includes information about where and when they learned (memory of 9/11)
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semantic memory
reflect general knowledge of the world (like what a dog is or what a restaurant is
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subgoals
a goal set in service of achieving a larger goal
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operator
term used in problem-solving research to refer to a particular action that will transform the problem state into another problem state. The solution of an overall problem is a sequence of these known operators
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acquisition of operators (three ways of acquiring)
at least three ways to acquire new problem-solving operators🡪 by discovery, by being told about them, or be observing someone else use them
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discovery
learning new problem-solving operators through exploration (ex. find a new auto repair has opened nearby and so learn by discovery a new operator for repairing our car)
Although operator discovery can involve complex reasoning in humans, it is the only method that most other creatures have to learn new operators
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learning by being told or by example
these are examples of social learning
-Learning by being told is uniquely human because it depends on language
-Seeing by example is often as effective as being told what to do
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problem space
a representation of the various sequences of problem-solving operators that lead among various states of a problem (also called state space)
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state
term in problem solving used to refer to a representation of the problem in some degree of solution
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goal state
state in a problem space in which the goal is satisfied
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search
process by which one finds a sequence of operators to solve a problem
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search trees
a representation of the set of states that can be reached by applying operators to an initial state
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analogy
process by which a problem solver maps the solution for one problem into a solution for another problem
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backup avoidance
the tendency in problem solving to avoid operators that take one back to a state already visited
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difference reduction
tendency in problem solving to select operators that eliminate a difference between the current state and the goal
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hill climbing
the tendency to choose operators in problem solving that transform the current state into a new state more similar to the goal
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means end analysis
creation of a new goal (end) to enable a problem-solving operator (means) to apply in achieving old goal
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general problem solver
GPS: a problem-solving simulation program created by Newell and Simon that embodies means-ends analysis
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tower of hanoi problem
a problem-solving task in which disks are moved among pegs (means end analysis)
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functional fixedness
tendency to see objects only as serving conventional problem-solving functions and thus failing to see that they can serve novel functions (thinking a hammer can only be used to hammer nails, but can actually be used as a paperweight or door stopper)
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set effects
biasing of a solution to a problem as a result of past experiences in solving that kind of problem
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einstellung effect
the term used by Luchins to refer to the set effect, in which people repeat a solution that has worked for previous problems even when a simpler solution is possible
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incubation effects
phenomenon that sometimes a solution to a particular problem comes more easily after a period of time in which one has stopped trying to solve the problem
-The basic argument is that incubation effects occur because people “forget” inappropriate ways of solving problems
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insight problems
problem in which the subject is not aware of being close to a solution
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three stages of skill acquisition
cognitive, associative, and autonomous
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cognitive stage
first of Fitts’s stages of skill acquisition, in which the declarative encoding of a skill is developed and used; they commit to memory a set of facts relevant to the skill
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associative stage
second of Fitts’s stages of skill acquisition, in which the declarative representation of a skill is converted into a procedural representation
-Errors in the initial understanding are gradually detected and eliminated
-Connections among the various elements required for successful performance are strengthened
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autonomous stage
the third of Fitts’s stages of skill acquisition, in which the performance of a skill becomes automated; central cognition is gradually no longer needed to complete the task as we become more skilled at it
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proceduralization
process by which declarative knowledge is converted into procedural knowledge
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tactical learning
learning of sequences of action that help solve a problem
Ex. Repetition of the hobbits and orcs problem🡪 can eventually get them across the river one they learn and recall the sequence
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strategic learning
learning of how to organize one’s problem solving for a specific class of problems
Tactical learning involves learning new pieces of skill, whereas strategic learning is concerned with putting them together
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problem perception
as they acquire expertise, problem solvers lean to perceive problems in ways that enable more effective problem-solving procedures to apply
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pattern learning and memory for experts
experts seem to display a special enhanced memory for information about problems in their domains of expertise
Ex: When beginner, Class A, and Master chess players were asked to memorize chess boards🡪 Masters had superior memory for actual game positions, but all three classes (masters, beginner, and class A) had low memory for random positions, with the masters having the worst memory
The Master’s remembered the game positions at a higher rate because those positions were associated with skill, while the randomized positions had no association to actual game play
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deliberate practice
the kind of practice that Ericsson postulated to be critical for the development of expertise. This practice is highly motivated and includes careful self-monitoring
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theory of identical elements
the theory that there will be transfer from one skill to another only to the extent that the skills have the same knowledge elements in common
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negative transfer
poor learning of a second task as a function of having learned a first task
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componential analysis
an approach to instruction that begins with an analysis of the individual elements that need to be learned
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mastery learning
the effort to bring students to mastery of each element in a curriculum before promoting them to new material in the curriculum
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intelligent tutoring systems
a computer system that combines cognitive models with techniques from artificial intelligence to create instructional interaction with students
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ventromedial prefrontal cortex
the portion of the cortex in the front and center of the brain. It seems to be involved with decision making and self-regulation, including activities like gambling behavior (think about the behavior of Phineas Gage)
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Baye's theorem
a theorem that prescribes how to combine the prior probability of a hypothesis with the conditional probability of the evidence, given the hypothesis, to assess the posterior probability of the hypothesis, given the evidence
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prior probability (base rate)
in Baye’s theorem, the probability that a hypothesis is true before consideration of the evidence
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conditional probability
in the context of Baye’s theorem, the probability that a particular piece of evidence will be found if a hypothesis is true
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posterior probability
in Baye’s theorem, the probability that a hypothesis is true after consideration of the evidence
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prescriptive model
model that specifies how people ought to behave to be considered rational; contrast with descriptive model
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descriptive model
model that states how people actually behave
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probability matching
the tendency to choose an alternative with a probability that matches the frequency with which the alternative occurs in experience
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base rate neglect
when people do not grasp the importance of the prior probabilities (basically failing to ask the right questions or getting all the appropriate evidence before jumping to a conclusion)
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gamblers fallacy
the belief that, if a string of probabilistic events has turned out one way, there is an increased probability that the next event will now turn out the other way (ex. in a coin toss, if you consistently keep getting heads than you become more likely to guess tails on the next toss)
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recognition heuristic
if one can be recognized and another cannot, people view the recognized item to be bigger and more important than the unrecognized item
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subjective utility
value that someone places on something
The value we place on money is not linear to the face value of money. There appears to be a point when one has enough money, as people do not view a major difference between 1 million and 2.5 million when asked what they would do to obtain the money
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subjective proability
probability people associate with an event, which need not be identical to the event’s objective probability
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framing effects
tendency for people to make different choices among the same alternatives, depending on the statement of alternatives and where they perceive themselves to be on the subjective utility curve
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availability heuristic
describes our tendency to use information that comes to mind quickly and easily when making decisions
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what do children develop as they age
As children develop, they gain increasingly sophisticated understanding about what properties of objects are conserved under which transformations
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neural development before and after age 2
Neural development is a more important contributor to cognitive development before age 2 than after
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debate around acquired knowledge
There is considerable debate in cognitive science about the degree to which our basic knowledge is innate or acquired through experience
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some changes that happen cognitively with aging
Qualitative and quantitative development changes take place in cognitive development because of increases both in working-memory capacity and in rate of information processing
Increased knowledge and maturity sometimes compensate for age-relayed declines in rates of information processing
Performance abilities such as reasoning and problem-solving decreases dramatically as people age
Verbal intelligence such as vocabulary and language comprehension also decrease, but not nearly as much
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piagets stages of development
sensory motor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, formal operational stage
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sensory motor stage
the first stage of Piaget’s four stages of development, during which a child lacks basic schemas for thinking about the physical world and experiences it in terms of sensations and actions
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preoperational stage
the second of Paget’s four stages of development, during which a child has unsystematic schemes for thinking about the physical world
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concrete operational stage
the third of Piaget’s four stages of development, during which a child has systematic schemes for thinking about the physical world
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formal operational stage
the fourth of Piaget’s four stages of development, during which a child has abstract schemes for reasoning about the world
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conservation (Piaget)
a term used by Piaget to refer to the particular properties of objects that are preserved under certain transformations
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psychometric tests
a test of various aspects of a person’s intellectual performance
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intelligence quotients (IQs)
measure of general intellectual performance that is normed to have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15
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factor analysis
: in the context of intelligence tests, a statistical method that tries to find a set of factors that will account for performance across a range of tests
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crystallized intelligence
Cattel’s term for the factor in intelligence that depends on acquired knowledge
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fluid intelligence
Cattel’s term for the factor in intelligence that depends on the ability to reason or solve problems
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Flynn effect
refers to the observed rise over time in standardized intelligence test scores
- could be access to nutrition or education
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high verbal ability
People of high verbal ability are able to rapidly retrieve meanings of words and have large working memories for verbal information
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high spatial ability
People with high spatial ability can perform elementary spatial operations quite rapidly and often choose to sole a task spatially rather than verbally
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correspondence of verbal, reasoning and spatial abilities
Individual differences in general factors such as verbal, reasoning, and spatial abilities appear to correspond to the speed and ease with basic cognitive processes are performed
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cognitive performance and aging
-Verbal intelligence does not decline until very old age
-But working memory declines faster as we get older
