cognitive psych test 2 Flashcards
(115 cards)
1
Q
Learning
A
permanent change in behavior that results from experience
2
Q
Memory
A
the mechanism that allows us to retain and retrieve information over time
3
Q
Short term memory
A
the memory that contains our moment-moment conscious thoughts and perceptions, reflects our conscious awareness
4
Q
Memory encoding
A
information from the environment is sorted into a form of information that can be stored
5
Q
Memory storage
A
information from the environment is retained in the brain
6
Q
Memory retrieval
A
information is retrieved from storage
7
Q
Short term memory loss
A
damage to the brain can cause anterograde amnesia and extremely short attention spans
8
Q
Digit span
A
assessment used to test short memory that tests memory span for digits (numbers)
9
Q
Ebbinghaus experiment
A
used to determine the capacity of short term memory
people are asked to remember a list of nonsense syllables and the number of times they needed to look at the list was measured
for 1-7 syllables, people only had to look once
10
Q
chunking
A
grouping information into related units, fit together as a pattern distinct from the surrounding information
11
Q
Brown-Peterson Task
A
standard method of calculating the duration of STM
involves remembering a set of letters and numbers while also doing simple math
12
Q
Retroactive interference
A
difficulty remembering old info due to new info getting in the way
13
Q
Proactive interference
A
difficulty remembering new info due to old info getting in the way
14
Q
rehearsal
A
repeating information over and over to retain it in STM
15
Q
maintenance rehearsal
A
saying it repeatedly
16
Q
elaborative rehearsal
A
thinking about the meaningful relationship between the items to be learned
results in enhanced long term recall
17
Q
Sternberg task
A
used to test retrieval from STM
participants given grocery list then asked if certain items were on list
18
Q
Serial Exhaustive Search Theory
A
theory that we search every item in our STM in response to a question
19
Q
Serial position effect
A
items at the beginning and the end of a list are easiest to remember
20
Q
Recency effect
A
improved recall of words at end of list because they are most recently encountered
21
Q
Primacy effect
A
improved recall of words at beginning of list because they were first ones committed to memory
22
Q
Negative recency
A
after 30 seconds, ability to recall last words on a list diminishes
23
Q
Speed effect
A
the more quickly a list of words is presented, the harder it is to remember items at beginning of list
24
Q
Modality effect
A
recall of list of items is different depending on how they were presented
last few items are better recalled when presented auditorily
25
Working memory
a limited capacity system that allows us to store and manipulate information temporarily to perform every day tasks, allows us to do cognitive tasks like reasoning, listening and making decisions
26
Miller, Galanter and Pribram theory
STM helps us interact with the world and accomplish our goals through working memory
27
Baddeley and Hitch model
process oriented model of working memory, includes phonological loop, episodic buffer, visuospatial sketchpad and central executive system
28
Phonological loop
system dedicated to the temporary storage of phonological information, connected to area for language processing
29
phonological state
acoustic representation of a stimulus
30
articulatory control process
resfreshes and maintains the elements in the phonological state
31
Visuospatial sketchpad
stores visually presented information or remembers motor movements, in right side of brain
32
visual cache
temporarily stores visual information and contains information about the form and color of what we percieve
33
inner scribe
refreshes all the stored information in the visuospatial sketchpad
34
Episodic buffer
integrates information from the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad into a coherent sequence of events
35
Central executive system
a control system in prefrontal cortex that coordinates the activities of the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad and the episodic buffer
guides attention and allocates resources to maximize performance
36
executive functions
higher order, goal directed abilities
Working memory (retain and manipulate many pieces of info at the same time), Inhibition (override a dominant impulse) and Cognitive flexibility (shifting attention between two things)
EF skills are related to social-emotional competence and academic performance
37
Paced auditory serial addition task
measures EF skills in adults, participants add the numbers they hear and announce the sum (use all three executive functions)
38
phonological confusions
memory is worse for items that sound alike
39
word length effect
STM span decreases when the lengths of words increases
40
irrelevant speech effect
the ability of inconsequential background speech to interfere with silent verbal rehearsal
41
Long term memory
the aspect of our memory system that consists of all the experiences and knowledge we gather throughout our lifetime
42
Explicit memory
includes both personal experiences and general knowledge, includes all memories that we consciously seek to store and retrieve
43
Semantic memory
retains conceptual knowledge, discrete facts
| Temporal lobe
44
Episodic memory
stores and connects the specific times, places and events in an individual's life
autobiographical
Frontal lobe
45
Retrospective memory
memory for the past
46
Prospective memory
remembering to do things in the future, future action s are triggered by external factors (turn off oven when timer goes off) or self-initiated (take medicine at 5)
47
Hemispheric Encoding retrieval model
model of what parts of the brain are involved in episodic memory encoding and retrieval
48
Implicit memory
includes mental functions that are performed automatically in the background
includes things we learn and store without being consciously aware
49
Procedural memory
stored knowledge that allows us to perform a certain skill without remembering the individual steps of that skill
50
Perceptual memory
perceptually based memories are difficult to describe but easy to recall (smell of home)
51
Perceptual memory
perceptually based memories are difficult to describe but easy to recall (smell of home)
52
Process-dissociated memories
learning conditions affect certain memories but not others
53
Gollin test
incomplete image is more easily solved the second time it is viewed, even in people with amnesia
54
forgetting
inability to retrieve information from memory
55
Semantic code
word meanings are stored as packages or collections of meaningful elements
56
Metamemory
our awareness of our memory system that allows us to judge whether or not we know something
"feeling of knowing"
57
tip of the tongue phenomenon
temporary inaccessibility of a word or piece of information in memory, occurs more in adults
58
encoding specificity
ability to retrieve information from LTM is affected by whether the questions asked match the way the information was coded
educational implications
59
subjective organization
each person has a unique way of encoding and organizing events
60
context-dependent retrieval
associating the learning environment with the learning experience, retrieval is better in same context
61
state-dependent retrieval
the emotional response to an event serves as the retrieval cue
true for mood and state (drunk/sober)
62
Autobiographical memory
memory for your past personal experiences, you are central actor
Essential elements: ability to reflect our own mental states, the feeling that our thoughts and actions belong to us, the understanding that time unfolds as a series of events
63
Amnesia
inability to recall or encode memories due to a critical event that affected the brain (stroke, surgery, accident)
64
Retroactive amnesia
inability to remember old memories/info
65
Proactive amnesia
inability to form new memories
66
Infantile amnesia
inability to retrieve autobiographical memories for early childhood experiences (before age of 3)
happens because the brain mechanisms needed to maintain info over many years are not developed during infancy and because children don't pay attention to the context of their life events
67
Reminiscence bump
when older adults look back on their lives and recollect autobiographically relevant events, their recollections are organized by periods in their life
68
hippocampus
small structure in the temporal lobe that is important in the storage of new info, damage results in amnesia
69
flashbulb memories
detailed, perfect memories of a distinctive, surprising or significant event
70
Korsakoff's syndrome
lack of B1 thiamine in the brain usually due to alcohol consumption, malnutrition or an eating disorder, results in improper balance, abnormal eye movements, confusion and memory loss
71
Prevaricating
making up answers to questions rather than indicating that you don't remember
72
Amygdala
area of the temporal lobe associated with emotion
| damage causes emotional component of memories to be lost
73
Loftus and Burns experiment
participants were shown videos of staged criminal acts, when they experienced high levels of emotional arousal, they better remembered what happened
74
Pollyanna principle
the tendency to remember events in the past as more pleasant than unpleasant
occurs because the emotion paired with negative events fades more quickly over time
75
Eyewitness memories
memories associated with emotional events
| the way questions are asked affect the accuracy of eye witness reports
76
Source monitoring
our ability to tell the difference between something we actually observed or just heard about and our ability to remember the source
77
Cognitive interview
type of interview strategy that allows witnesses to report everything they recall without implanting false memories or asking questions in a way that affects their response
78
Framing
the way a question is asked can affect the recollection of an event
79
Images
perceptual experiences that we have without the presence of an external source for the perception
80
Motoric imagery
contains movement
81
Haptic imagery
includes touch
82
benefits of imagery
can help answer questions, achieve goals, remember things, solve problems
83
Kosslyn study
participants imagine a rabbit next to an elephant or a rabbit next to a fly, animal focused on was more easily pictured and described
84
Way finding
navigating and finding your way through recall, imagery and landmarks
85
Analog code
type of cod used to create a mental image like a mental map or moving picture
86
Propositional code
type of code used to create a mental image that is word like
87
semantic satiation
if you repeat a word once a second five or six times, it loses meaning
88
dual code hypothesis
abstract words have one code while more concrete words have two: an image and a verbal semantic code
89
droodles
abstract drawings that re not encoded with multiple codes and have no compelling interpretation and therefore are more difficult to recall
90
imagery value
rating based on how vivid the mental image associated with the word is
concrete nouns have higher ratings than abstract ones
91
Picture superiority effect
pictures are better remembered than words because pictures are represented both imaginally in an analog code and verbally in a propositional code
92
dual task method
if two tasks are difficult to perform simultaneously, they are encoded through the same mechanism and share cognitive resources/pathways
93
Brooks study on dual task method
when participants were asked to scan pictures or letters, a visual response (pointing) was better and when asked to scan a sentence, a verbal response was better
94
Cooper and Shepard study on mental rotation
found that larger degrees of rotation of the letter R took participants longer to rotate in their mind
95
Isomorphic
ability to mentally rotate 2D figures continuously in a manner that is similar to the way we physically rotate 2D objects (like pictures)
96
Symbolic distance effect
the more discriminable two objects are, the more quickly a person can judge which is bigger/smaller
97
Imagery in the blind (Kerr study)
people with congential blindness are still able to create mental pictures and manipulate them
98
Reality monitoring
the ability to discriminate between genuine memories acquired from perceiving the world and memories generated by imagination
actually doing something versus imaging yourself doing something
99
Source monitoring
comparing features of a memory to the typical features of your entire history of memories
100
Source errors
occur when the features of an imagined memory are similar to the features for a real memory
101
Visual imagery
visual appearance of an object such as its shape and color
102
Spatial imagery
the representation of the spatial relationships between parts of an object and its location in space
103
Form Board Test
participant is given a set of objects that can be rearranged to form a figure, assesses spatial imagery and mental rotation
104
Visualizers
more visually inclined
have vivid dreams and imaginations
can have high or low spatial abilities
105
Verbalizers
more word-oriented
| like to learn new words, speak very fluently
106
Visualizer-verbalizer spectrum
the degree to which people use visuospatial representations or words while performing cognitive tasks
107
Environmental spatial ability
ability to navigate in new places, includes ability to create accurate mental representations of large-scale environments
108
Eidetic memory
the ability to maintain a mental image that has the quality of reviving an earlier perceptual event with great clarity (photogenic memory)
1 in a million adults
109
Motoric imagery
activates specific areas of the motor cortex
| explains why athletes use visualization/imagery techniques to improve motor skills
110
Mnemonics
visual aids for retrieval that are well learned and stored in long term memory, help us remember things that would otherwise be stored in short term memory
111
Method of loci
mnemonic technique used to remember large amounts of information, involves imagining items to be remembered as objects and forming a schema in long term memory
112
Method of story
linking images in a thematic relationship and fitting them into a story
113
Peg-word method
committing a memory to a fixed set of visual images that can be recalled quickly, new items are "hung" on pegs
114
key-word method
forming a bridge between a foreign word and one in your own language
115
Ridiculous image story technique
creating a story with distinct events associated with images to recall information more easily
helps people with amnesia
