Cognitive Psych Flashcards
What is cognition?
A form of knowing and awareness.
What does psychology study?
Behaviors and mental processes.
What is attention in cognitive processes?
Allows people to focus on a specific stimulus in the environment.
What does language involve?
The use of voice, gestures, and symbols for expression and communication.
Define learning in cognitive psychology.
Taking in new information, synthesizing it, and integrating it with prior knowledge.
What connects the cerebrum with the spinal cord?
Brainstem.
What are the main functions of the midbrain?
Controls movement, hearing, and responses to environmental changes.
What is the role of the pons?
Connects the midbrain and medulla, housing cranial nerves.
What vital functions does the medulla control?
Breathing, heart rate, and blood flow.
What is the function of the cerebellum?
Coordinates voluntary muscle movements and maintains posture, balance, and equilibrium.
What are the functions of memory?
Allows people to encode, store, and retrieve information.
What is perception?
The process of becoming aware of objects, relationships, and events by means of the senses.
What factors can affect cognition?
Age, attention issues, cognitive biases, genetics, memory limitations.
Who is considered the father of Cognitive Psychology?
Ulric Neisser.
What was the focus of the Cognitive Revolution?
Increased focus on memory, attention, and language.
What is Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy?
A form of cognitive behavior therapy focusing on self-defeating beliefs.
What does Cognitive Behavioral Therapy integrate?
Theories of cognition and learning with treatment techniques from cognitive and behavior therapy.
What does neuropsychology study?
The behavior of people with brain damage.
What does electrophysiology measure?
Electrical responses of the nervous system.
What is gray matter composed of?
Soma.
What does white matter consist of?
Axon.
What part of the brain is the largest?
Cerebrum.
What are the main functions of the frontal lobe?
Involved in personality characteristics, decision-making, and movement.
What is the role of the parietal lobe?
Identifying objects and understanding spatial relationships.
What is the primary function of the occipital lobe?
Involved with vision.
What does the temporal lobe manage?
Short-term memory, speech, musical rhythm, and smell recognition.
What is the ‘master gland’ of the brain?
Pituitary Gland.
What does the hypothalamus regulate?
Body temperature, sleep, hunger, thirst, memory, and emotion.
What role does the amygdala play?
Regulates emotion and memory.
What is the function of the hippocampus?
Supports memory, learning, navigation, and spatial perception.
What does the pineal gland secrete?
Melatonin to regulate circadian rhythms.
What is the Circle of Willis?
A loop of blood vessels connecting major arteries in the brain.
Name two cranial nerves responsible for eye movement.
Oculomotor and Trochlear.
What is split brain (Callosal Syndrome)?
A brain where the two cerebral hemispheres are separated.
What is the corpus callosum’s function?
Connects the brain hemispheres.
What is agnosia?
Loss or impairment of the ability to recognize sensory stimuli.
What is prosopagnosia?
Impaired ability to recognize faces.
What does the Trichromatic Theory propose?
Color vision is based on three types of cone photoreceptor cells.
What is the Müller-Lyer Illusion?
An illusion consisting of two sticks framed by closed and open fins.
What is the definition of sustained attention?
Ability to focus on one thing for a continuous period.
What is selective attention?
Choosing and attending to certain stimuli while ignoring others.
What does Broadbent’s Model explain?
Filtering information right after noticing it at the sensory level.
What is signal-detection theory (SDT)?
Explains how people pick out important stimuli from distractions.
What is the difference between controlled and automatic processes?
Controlled processes require full awareness; automatic processes require little awareness.
What is the definition of memory?
The ability to retain information or a representation of past experience.
What is encoding in memory?
Converting information for retention.
What is recall method?
Evaluating memory based on the amount of learned material reproduced.
What does the serial position effect refer to?
The effect of an item’s position in a list on recall.
What is the difference between explicit and implicit memories?
Explicit memories are available in consciousness; implicit memories are mostly unconscious.
Fill in the blank: The _______ Theory states that the brain interprets color based on surrounding context.
Retinex
What is the Feeling of Knowing (FOK) Judgments?
Predictions an individual makes of being able to retrieve specific information
FOK relates to the subjective experience of knowing something but being unable to recall it at the moment.
What is the Recall Method?
A technique of evaluating memory in terms of the amount of learned material that can be correctly reproduced
This method is often used in essay exams or when reproducing a list of words.
What is the Serial Position Effect?
The effect of an item’s position in a list on how well it is remembered
It shows best recall of the first items (primacy effect) and good recall of the last items (recency effect).
What is Encoding Failure?
Forgetting because the memory was never formed (encoded) in the first place
This can occur when attention is not adequately focused during the learning process.
What is Memory Decay?
The fading or weakening of memory traces over time
This process is natural and can lead to the loss of information if not reinforced.
What is Cue-Dependent Memory?
Memories may be forgotten because retrieval cues are missing when the time comes to retrieve
This highlights the importance of retrieval cues in accessing stored information.
What is Interference in memory?
The tendency for new memories to impair retrieval of older memories
This can occur in both proactive and retroactive forms, affecting recall.
What is Repression?
The process of holding memories out of consciousness
This is often associated with traumatic memories that an individual may not want to confront.
What is Suppression?
An active, conscious attempt to put something out of mind
Unlike repression, suppression involves a deliberate effort to forget.
What is Short-Term Memory?
The reproduction, recognition, or recall of a limited amount of material after a period of about 10 to 30 seconds
It is often measured in terms of how many items can be held at once.
What is the Magical Number Seven?
The number of objects an average human can hold in working memory is 7 ± 2; 5-9 bits
This concept was introduced by George Miller in his famous paper on memory capacity.
What are Information Chunks?
Information bits grouped into units
Chunking helps increase the amount of information that can be held in short-term memory.
What is Maintenance Rehearsal?
Silently repeating or mentally reviewing information to hold it in STM
This technique helps to keep information active in short-term memory.
What is Elaborative Encoding?
Encoding that links new information with existing memories and knowledge
This approach enhances memory retention and understanding.
