Cognitive Psychology (13%-17%) Flashcards
Prototype
Mental image or the best example of a specific concept
Convergent thinking
Focuses on coming up with the single well-established answer to a problem
Divergent thinking
Exploring many possible solutions
Trial and error
Trying a number of different solutions in ruling out those that do not work
Algorithms
Set of step by step procedures that provide the correct answer to a particular problem
Heuristic
Educated guess based on prior experiences, mental shortcut
Representative heuristic
Comparing present situation to most representative mental prototype
Availability heuristic
Decisions on examples and information that immediately spring to mind
Mental set
People use solutions that have worked in the past
Functional fixedness
View problems only in their usual manner
Overconfidence
Tendency to overestimate our own knowledge, skill or judgment
Hindsight bias
I knew it all along, view events as more predictable than they really are
Framing
The acquired response to a formally neutral stimulus
Alfred Binet
French psychologist invented the first practical IQ test
G factor
General intelligence factor that underlies all intelligent activity
Charles Spearman
Fluid intelligence
Ability to reason think flexible, diminishes with adult aging
Crystallized intelligence
Accumulation of knowledge, fax/skills, increases with age
Howard Gardner
Theory of multiple intelligences, eight distinct types
Wechsler intelligence scales
Intelligence was made up of a number of different mental abilities rather than a single general intelligence factor
Flynn affect
IQ scores have been rising worldwide
Achievement test
Measures a persons level of skill/knowledge in a specific area
Aptitude test
Assesses what a person is capable of doing or to predict
Reliability
Tendency of a test to produce the same scores again and again each time is given to the same people
Test retest reliability
Best for intelligence, administering a test twice at two different points in time
Split half reliability
Comparing results of 1/2 of a test with results from the other half
Validity
The degree in which a test actually measures what it supposed to measure
Content validity
Test measures all aspects of what it is designed to measure
Predictive
Test accurately forecast performance on a future measure
Normal distribution
Bell shaped curb in which the majority of scores line near or around the average score
One standard deviation
68%
Two Standard deviations
95%
Three standard deviations
99.7%
Recall
Being able to access the information without being cued, fill in the blank without a word bank
Recognition
Identifying information after experiencing it again, multiple choice test
Relearning
The process by which we learned something for the second time. This learning process often occurs faster than the first time
Encoding
The process of putting information into the memory system
Storage
The creation of a permanent record of the encoded information
Retrieval
Calling back of stored information on demand when it is needed
Iconic memory
Visual
Echoic memory
Auditory
Haptic memory
Touch
Maintenance rehearsal
Straight repeating of information in order to memorize it
Chunking
Process of taking individual pieces of information and grouping them into larger units
Working memory
System in your brain that allows you to temporarily retain and manipulate the stored information involved in complex processes
Miller’s magic number
Number of items a person can remember and repeat back using attention and short-term memory
7 plus/minus 2
Implicit memory
Information that you remember unconsciously and effortlessly
Procedural memories
How to perform a specific task
Explicit memory
Information you have to consciously work to remember
Semantic memory
Memories of facts, concepts, names and other general knowledge
Episodic memory
Long-term memory that involves the recollection of specific events, situations and experiences
Prospective memory
Remembering to complete a task in the future
Long-term potentiation
Strengthening of a synaptic connection that happens when synapse of one neuron repeatedly fires and excites another neuron
Forgetting curve
Exponential loss of information shortly after learning it
Ebbinghaus
Retrograde amnesia
Cannot remember things that happened before their event that caused their amuseia
Anteriorgrade amnesia
Condition in which a person is unable to create new memories after an amnesia inducing incident
Serial position effect
When we try to retrieve a long list of words we usually recall the last words (recency effect) and the first words best (primary effects) forgetting the words in the middle
Encoding failure
Occurs when a memory was never formed in the first place
Proactive interference
Older memories interfere with the retrieval of newer memories
Retroactive interference
Newer memories interfere with the retrieval of older memories
Flashbulb memory
Vivid and detailed memories that people create during times of personal tragedy, accident, or emotionally significant world events
Elizabeth Loftus
Extensive research on memory construction and how false memories and how memory is changeable, it is not always accurate
Misinformation affect
Exposed to misleading information we tend to remember
Method of loci
Association of words in a list with visualization of places on a familiar path
Context dependent memory
Easier recall of information while in the same context of environment and which it was acquired
State dependent memory
Memories that are triggered or enhanced by a persons current mood because of the relationship to the memories formed when you were in a similar state
