Cognitive (key terms from textbook) Flashcards
Control processes
Conscious decisions about what to attend to from the sensory information in our environment.
Attended information
Information that is given attention.
Rehearsal
Consciously rehearsing and repeating information.
Whole or partial report technique
Participants are asked to recall the whole array or part of the array such as a line.
Visual array
An arrangements of letters or digits.
Tachistoscope
A device used to present visual information in a controlled way, typically to test sensory memory.
Interference task
A task that prevents rehearsal, such as counting backwards.
Trigram
A set of three digits or letters.
Phonological similarity effect
Similar sounding words and letters are acoustically confused in short-term memory, making them more difficult to recall.
Digit span
How many digits can be retained and recalled in sequential order without mistakes.
Mnemonic
A system for remembering something such as an association or a pattern of letters.
Encephalitis
Inflammation of the brain causing damage to the structures of the brain.
Serial position effect
Recall of information at the beginning and end of a list is higher than the middle of the list.
Dual task experiment
Experiments that involve two tasks that either compete with each other for the same cognitive resource because they are similar tasks (two verbal or two visual tasks) or involve different cognitive resources because they are different tasks (one verbal and one visual).
Modality free
Able to process different forms of information (acoustic, visual, haptic etc.)
Neuroimaging
Images showing the structure or function of the brain using scanners such as an MRI or CAT
Broca’s area
An area of the left (typically) frontal lobe associated with the production of language.
Supramarginal gyrus
An area of the parietal lobe of the brain associated with the perception of language
Alzheimer’s disease
A neurological degenerative disease that impairs cognitive functioning causing memory loss and impairments in thinking and language.
Episodic buffer
A subcomponent of the working memory associated with interfacing with long-term memory and integrating information from other subcomponents.
Semantic memory
Memory for facts.
Episodic memory
Memory for events.
Temporal
Relates to when something occured.
Spatial
Relates to where something occurred.
Cue dependent recall
Recall that is prompted by a specific context or physiological or psychological state that was encoded with the original memory.
Anoxic episode
Lack of oxygen to the brain causing injury.
Repeated reproduction
A participant recalls information at increasing time intervals (e.g. after 10 minutes, a week, a month)
Reconstructive memory
The idea that we alter information we have stored when we recall it, based on prior expectations/knowledge.
Autobiographical memory
A memory for personal events.
Phonology
Speech sounds.
Comorbidity
The presence of more than one disorder in the same person at the same time.
Temporal lobe
An area of the brain located just below the ear
Hippocampus
A structure of the brain responsible for learning emotion and memory.
Anterograde amnesia
The loss of ability to make new memories, while memories before the injury remain relatively intact.
Retrograde amnesia
The loss of ability to recall events prior to the injury.
Medial
Situated in the middle.
Anterolateral
To the front and side of.
Lateral
Towards the side of.
Bilateral
Both hemispheres of the brain are involved.
Semantic dementia
A degenerative neurological disorder resulting in loss of semantic memory.
MRI scan
A brain scan that produces an image of the structure of the brain, a bit like an X-ray but with more detail.
Brain stimulation
The use of electrodes to stimulate regions of the brain and examine resulting behavioural or cognitive changes as a result.
Unilateral lobectomy
The surgical removal of parts of the brain from one hemisphere.
