Cognitive psychology Flashcards
Memory
the storage of information in the brain for later access
Encoding
the process of taking information from the world, as well as our internal thoughts and feelings, and creating a storage-ready version
Storage
The maintenance of encoded information in the brain for later access
Retrieval
The process of bringing to mind previously encoded and stored information
When vs. How
When: a personal life event, fixed in time
How: procedure, can use anytime (exists outside of when you learnt it)
Sensory memory
Information entering the brain, accomplished through sensory organs.
For a very brief period, usually less than 1 second, a very detailed memory is produced, quickly lost/ forgotten
Short-term memory
Further processing of an item in sensory memory (not all sensory memories are processed into short-term memory; many are forgotten).
Last less than 1 minute.
Long-term memory
Information in short-term memory is either forgotten or brought into long-term memory
Well-maintained memories in long-term storage can be retrieved multiple times
Storage in long-term memory may last for a few hours, decades, or anywhere in between
Active re-encoding…
alters but also strengthens memory
How do we know about memory phases?
Dissociation studies, looking at patients with impaired memory
Post-categorical processing
when information is processed at the level of its category
Digit span task
People tend to be able to remember 7 digits at a time, plus or minus 2. Tells us about verbal short term memory capacity
Working memory
short-term memory storage plus the manipulation of information
Serial positioning effect
Smile curve: words at beginning and end better remembered → primacy effect (long-term memory) and recency effect (short-term memory)
Amnesia
the loss of memory due to brain damage or trauma
Retrograde amnesia
access to memory prior to the traumatic event causing amnesia is hindered. New memories made after the event can be stored in long-term memory
Anterograde amnesia
The ability to encode information into long-term memory after the traumatic event causing amnesia is hindered. Old memories made before the event can be retrieved
Explicit memories
Purposely brought into awareness (episodic and semantic)
Episodic memory
the recollection of a personal experience, involving piecing together information such as time and place of that experience (managed by hippocampus)
Semantic memory
the recollection of knowledge about the world, including concepts and facts
Implicit memory
memories are used automatically, without conscious awareness
Procedural memory
related to the acquisition of skills, managed by cerebellum and basal ganglia
Priming
the increased ability to process a stimulus because of previous exposure
Classical conditioning
when a neutral stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus that produces a behaviour
Encoding specificity
Easier to retrieve memories in the same place they were encoded
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
A type of retrieval error characterized by a high level of confidence that the item is stored in memory
Encoding failure
We forget because we never properly encoded an item into long-term memory
We misjudge how much attention and effort it takes to make sure the item goes from short-term to long-term memory
Misinformation effect
the decreased accuracy of episodic memories because of information provided after the event
Judgment
a conclusion drawn from evidence we have at hand
Decision
a choice that affects how we behave
Choice overload
In certain cases, we have so many options available to us that making a rational decision is far too time consuming and/ or difficult
Bounded rationality
the idea that rational decision making is constrained by limitations in people’s cognitive abilities, available information, and time
Automatic system (1)
fast processing, intuitive, low mental effort and attention. Used more when we are tired, constrained for time, or overwhelmed (choice overload)
Controlled system (2)
slow processing logical/ deliberate, high mental effort and attention
Order of systems
Automatic system always engaged first, and we have to willfully switch to the controlled system when needed
Emotion and reason
We need our intuition and emotions to be a part of our decision-making process (not emotion vs reason)
How can decisions be manipulated?
Emotions play a critical role in our decisions
Since our emotions can be changed, our decisions can be changed as well
False memory
retrieval of an event that never occured
Imagination inflation
Boost in confidence with imagining the misleading info
source amnesia
can’t remember where memories came from
Source monitoring
When we forget whether the source of our facts was an article or a news feed
Reality monitoring
Forget whether we experienced or imagined an event
Deese-Roediger-McDermott false memory paradigm
Read a list of words and asked to recall –> will often remember related words never presented
Affect heuristic
Use +/- affect we associate to make judgments/ decisions. Lack of affective response makes it more difficult to know how to act. Ventromedial frontal cortex
Moral judgment
Shaped by affective response. Increasing how disgusted people feel amplifies how harshly they judge a morally ambiguous situation
Verbatim memory
The specific details of a memory
Representativeness heuristic
Shortcut to judge the likelihood of things in terms of how well they represent a category
