cognitive psychology

Question 1

input

Answer 1

how we take incoming information in, for example, eyes (detecting light, colour and movement), ears (detecting sound), skin 9detecting pressure

Question 2

processing

Answer 2

how information is dealt with, for example thinking and decision-making in the brain and brain functions such as short-term and long-term memory

Question 3

output

Answer 3

how we send information out, for example voice and body (such as hands for writing, drawing, moving)

Question 4

individual differences

Answer 4

stable and enduring ways in which people vary in terms of emotion, behaviour or cognition. these can result in differences such as in personality, abilities or mental health. They may be the consequence of environment or genetics (or both).

Question 5

primary task

Answer 5

the activity we are supposed to be concentrating on, even though we may be doing something else as well, such as doodling

Question 6

attention

Answer 6

the concentration of mental effort on a particular stimulus. It may be focused or divided

Question 7

divided attention

Answer 7

the ability to split mental effort between two or more simultaneous tasks (called ‘dual tasks’), for example driving a car and talking to a passenger

Question 8

concurrent task

Answer 8

an additional activity with a cognitive demands that we can perform at the same time as a main (primary) task

Question 9

focused attention

Answer 9

the picking out of a particular input from a mass of information, such as many items presented together, or a rapid succession of individual items, for example, concentrating on your teacher’s voice even when there’s building work outside and the learner next to you is whispering

Question 10

daydreaming

Answer 10

a mildly altered state of consciousness in which we experience a sense of being ‘lost in our thoughts’, typically positive ones, and a detachment form our environment

Question 11

arousal

Answer 11

the extent to which we’re alert, for example responsive to external sensory stimuli. It has physiological and psychological components and is mediated by the nervous system and hormones

Question 12

control group

Answer 12

a group of participants often used in an experiment, who do not receive the manipulation of the independent variable and can be used for comparison with the experimental group or groups

Question 13

false memory

Answer 13

a piece of stored information an individual believes to be an accurate memory but which is the consequence of later additional and untrue information, such as a question about an event seen by an eyewitness

Question 14

eyewitness testimony

Answer 14

evidence provided by an individual who has seen (or heard) a crime being committed. This information is used by the legal system

Question 15

line-up

Answer 15

a source of evidence used by the legal system. A witness is shown a line of people or array of photographs of faces and is asked to attempt to identify the perpetrator of the crime (although they may not be present)

Question 16

false positive response

Answer 16

giving an affirmative (positive) but incorrect answer to a question. For example, mistakenly picking out a person in a line-up when the real culprit is not there.

Question 17

autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

Answer 17

a diagnostic category (previously including autism and Asperger syndrome). Symptoms, appearing in childhood, present a range of difficulties with social interaction and communication and restricted, repetitive, or inflexible behaviours or interests

Question 18

ceiling effect

Answer 18

this occurs when a test is too easy and all participants in a condition achieve a very high score. This is problematic as it does not allow the researcher to differentiate between results

Question 19

basic emotions

Answer 19

feelings such as happy, sad, angry, afraid and disgust. They are understood worldwide, and by very young children, and can be recognised without the need to attribute a belief to the person

Question 20

complex emotions

Answer 20

require an understanding of someone else’s cognitive state, that is the attribution of a belief or intention to the person. They are therefore harder to identify

Question 21

autism spectrum quotient test (AQ)

Answer 21

a self-report questionnaire with scores ranging from 0 to 50. A higher score suggests that the person completing it has more autistic traits.

Question 22

quasi-experiment

Answer 22

quasi means ‘almost’, and refers to the fact that these experiments often have lots of control over the procedure, but not over how participants are allocated t conditions

Question 23

IQ (intelligence quotient)

Answer 23

a measure of intelligence that produces a score representing a person’s mental ability. The average range of IQ is between 85 and 115.

Question 24

diagnostic and statistical manual (DSM)

Answer 24

published by the American Psychiatric Association, it’s used as a classification and diagnostic tool by doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists across the globe

Question 25

international classification or disorders (ICD)

Answer 25

publishes by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and although similar to the DSM, it has a wider scope and covers all health-related conditions, not only mental health and psychological conditions

Question 26

foil

Answer 26

something that is used as a contrast to something else. In Baron-Cohen et al.’s study the ‘foil words’ were the (incorrect) alternative words participants could choose to describe the eyes