Cognitive Psychology Flashcards
Sir Frederick Bartlett
Investigated the role of schemata in memory; concluded that memory is largely a reconstructive process where prior knowledge and experiences influence recall
Raymond Cattell
Divided intelligence into fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence and looked at how they change throughout the lifespan
Noam Chomsky
Distinguished between the surface structure and the deep structure of a sentence
Studied transformational rules that could be used to transform one sentence into another
Allan Collins and Elizabeth Loftus
Devised the spreading activation model of semantic memory
Robert Craik and Fergus Lockhart
Developed the levels-of-processing theory of memory as an alternative to the stage theory of memory (superior memory for deep processing than shallow)
Hermann Ebbinghaus
Studied memory using nonsense syllables and the method of savings
Howard Gardner
Proposed a theory of multiple intelligences that divides intelligence into seven different types, all of which are equally important. Traditional IQ tests only measure two of the seven types
Guilford
Devised divergent thinking test to measure creativity
Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky
Investigated the use of heuristics in decision making
Studied the availability heuristic and the representativeness heuristic
Elizabeth Loftus
Studied eyewitness memory and concluded that our memories can be altered by presenting new information or by asking misleading questions
Luchins
Used the water-jar problem to study the effect of mental sets on problem solving
Eleanor Macoby and Carol Jacklin
Found support for gender differences in verbal ability (better verbal abilities in girls)
James McClelland and David Rumelhart
Suggested that the brain processes information using parallel distributed processing (rather than serial)
George Miller
Found that the capacity for short-term memory is seven (plus or minus two) items
Allan Paivio
Proposed the dual-code hypothesis
Edward Smith, Edward Shoben, and Lance Rips
Devised the semantic feature-comparison model of semantic memory
Charles Spearman
Suggested that individual differences in intelligence were largely due to differences in amount of a general factor called g
George Sperling
Studied the capacity of sensory memory using the partial-report method
Robert Sternberg
Proposed triarchic theory that divides intelligence into three types:
- componential
- experiential
- contextual
Louis Thurstone
Used factor analysis to study primary mental abilities - factors more specific than g but more general than s (i.e. verbal comprehension, number ability, perceptual speed, general reasoning)
Benjamin Whorf
Hypothesized that language determines how reality is perceived
Three General Research Methods of Cognitive Psychology
- Reaction time (elapsed time between stimulus presentation and subject’s response)
- Eye movements (an “on-line” measure of information processing, reading, language comprehension
- Brain imaging (used to associate various cognitive processes with various parts of the brain)
Method of Savings
Ebbinghaus
Research technique used to study memory by measuring the amount of time it takes to learn material and comparing it to the amount of time it take to relearn the same material later. The decrease in time indicates original learning, or savings.
Forgetting Curve
Ebbinghaus
Amount remembered decreases quickly at first, then plateaus
Encoding
Process involved in memory that involves putting information into memory
Storage
Process involved in memory that involves retaining information in memory
Retrieval
Process involved in memory that involves recovering the information in memory
Two Types of Retrieval
Recognition and recall
Generation-Recognition Model
At attempt to explain why you can usually recognize more than you can recall. Recalling information involves an extra step to remember as opposed to recognition (extra step is generating information)
Recall
Reproducing information you have previously been exposed to
Recognition
Realizing that a certain stimulus event is one you’ve seen or heard before
Recency Effect
Words presented at the end of a list are remembered best
Primacy Effect
Words presented at the beginning of a list are remembered second best
Clustering
When asked to recall a list of words, people tend to recall words belonging to the same category
Stage Theory of Memory
Three memory systems:
- Sensory
- Short-term (or working memory)
- Long-term
Sensory Memory
Fleeting impressions of sensory stimuli, lasts seconds at most.
Whole-Report Procedure
Used to measure capacity of sensory memory. Flashed a 3x3 matrix of letters and asked participants to recall them all. Participants could not, so early researchers claimed the capacity of sensory memory was four items (but really, memory was just decaying as they were being asked to recall)
Partial-Report Procedure
George Sperling
Used to measure capacity of sensory memory. Flashed a 3x3 matrix of letters and asked participants to recall one row. Participants could remember them all, concluded that capacity of sensory memory was nine items
Short-Term Memory
When we attend to sensory information, it enters the short-term memory. If nothing is done with information, it will decay in about 20 seconds. If rehearsed, can keep information in short-term memory.
Maintenance Rehearsal
Repeating information to keep it in the short-term memory
Long-Term Memory
Permanent storehouse of memory. Two types:
- Procedural
- Declarative
Elaborative Rehearsal
Organizing information and associating it with info already in long-term memory to get new info into long-term memory
Procedural Memory
aka Implicit Memory
Component of long-term memory that is concerned with remembering how to do things
Declarative Memory
aka Explicit Memory
Two types:
1. Semantic (remembering general knowledge)
2. Episodic (Remembering particular events you have personally experienced)
Encoding
Short-term: Encoding of verbal info based on phonology
Long-term: Encoding of verbal info based on semantics
Semantic Verification Task
Method used to investigate the organization of semantic memory by presenting participant with true or false statements. Response latency is measured
Spreading Activation Model
Collins and Loftus
Semantic memory is organized into a map of interconnected concepts. Distance between the concepts indicates how closely they are related
Semantic Feature-Comparison Model
Smith, Shoben, and Rips
Semantic memory contains feature lists of concepts. The key is the amount of overlap in the feature lists of the concepts (i.e. a robin is a bird vs. a turkey is a bird).
Levels-of-Processing Theory
Craik and Lockhart
Challenge to stage theory of memory. Only one memory system. What determines how long you remember material is the way in which you process the material. Three levels with different amounts of mental effort:
- Physical (visual - appearance, size, shape)
- Acoustical (focus on sound combinations words have)
- Semantic (focus on the meaning of the word)
Dual-Code Hypothesis
Paivio’s theory of memory
Information can be encoded in two ways:
- Visually (concrete information)
- Verbally (concrete and abstract information)
Information is better remembered if it is encoded both visually and semantically
Schema
Conceptual frameworks used to organize knowledge. We remember things in terms of existing schemata, which can distort memories
Decay Theory
A theory of forgetting. If information in long-term memory is not used or rehearsed, it will eventually be forgotten (but does not take what we have learned between memory and retrieval into account)
Inhibition Theory
A theory of forgetting. Forgetting is due to the activities that have taken place between original learning and later attempted retrieval. Two types:
- Proactive inhibition
- Retroactive inhibition
Proactive Inhibition
What you learn earlier interferes with what you learn later
Retroactive Inhibition
What you forget what you learned earlier as you learn something new
Encoding Specificity
The assumption that recall will be best if the context at recall approximates the context during original encoding
State-Dependent Learning
A type of encoding specificity that suggests that recall will be better if your physiological or physical state at the time of recall is the same as your state when you encoded the material
Mnemonic Devices
Techniques we use to improve the likelihood that we will remember something (i.e. chunking)
Method of Loci
A system of associating information with some sequence of places with which you are familiar
Zeigarnik Effect
Tendency to remember incomplete tasks better than completed tasks
Mental Set
Tendency to keep repeating solutions that worked in other situations. Inappropriate sets can be impediments to effective problem solving
Functional Fixedness
Inability to use a familiar object in an unfamiliar way. Can impede effective problem solving
Creativity
A cognitive ability that results in new ways of viewing problems or situtions
Divergent Thinking
Guilford
Thinking that involves producing as many creative answers to a question as possible
Heuristics
Studied by Kahneman and Tversky
Short cuts and rules of thumb we can use in making decisions. Fast but can be inaccurate
Availability Heuristic
Making decisions about frequencies based on how easy it is to imagine the items involved
Representativeness Heuristic
Categorizing things on the basis of whether they fit the prototypical image of the category
Base-Rate Fallacy
Ignoring the numerical information about the items being referred to when categorizing them
Phonemes
Smallest units of language
Morphemes
Smallest units of meaning in language
Semantics
Meaning of words and sentences
Syntax
Grammatical arrangement of words in a sentence
Learning Theory of Language Development
Language is acquired through classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and/or modeling (B.F. Skinner)
Cognitive Developmental Theory of Language Development
Language has to do with child’s capacity for symbolic thought, which develops towards end of sensorimotor period and continues to develop according to cognitive level (Piaget)
Nativist Theory of Language Acquisition
Chomsky
Language acquisition device (innate ability)
Surface Structure of a Sentence
Chomsky
Actual word order in a sentence
Deep Structure of a Sentence
Chomsky
An underlying form that specifies the meaning of the sentence
Transformational Rules
Chomsky
How we can change one structure into another
Whorfian Hypothesis
Whorf (aka Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis)
Suggests that language determines how reality is perceived
Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
Sternberg
Three aspects to intelligence
- Componential (performance on tests, analytical)
- Experiential (creativity)
- Contextual (street smarts/business sense)
Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Gardner
Seven types:
- Linguistic ability
- Logical mathematical ability
- Spatial ability
- Musical ability
- Bodily-kinesthetic ability
- Interpersonal ability
- Intrapersonal ability
Western culture values first two most - only ones on IQ tests
Fluid Intelligence
Cattell
Ability to quickly grasp relationships in novel situations and make correct deductions from them.
Increases throughout childhood and adolescence, levels off in young adulthood and begins a steady decline in advanced age.
Crystallized Intelligence
Cattell
Ability to understand relationships or solve problems that depend on knowledge acquired as a reult of schooling or other life experiences.
Increases throughout lifespan.
Concepts
Categories or groupings of linguistic info, images, ideas, or memories that help keep information organized and accessible. Informed by semantic memory.
Prototypes
The best example/representation of a concept
Algorithm
A problem solving formula that provides you with step-by-step instructions on how to achieve a desired outcome (slow problem solving)
Convergent Thinking
Type of thinking where there is one single correct answer
Semantic Priming
Participants are quicker to respond to words that have been primed with semantically related words
Von Restorff Effect
Memory may be better for unusual or novel things
Flashbulb Memories
Memory may be better for emotionally charged events
