Exam 3 Study Guide

Question 1

What is the “Sensitive period”?

Answer 1

The optimal language learning time. (age 0-6)

Question 2

Mirror Neruons

Answer 2

Active when we see others perform an action and we perform the same action.

Question 3

Child-directed speech

Answer 3

Changes in adult speech patterns are characterized by high pitch, changes in voice volume, simpler sentences, emphasis on the here and now as well as the use of emotion.

Question 4

Sociocultural

Answer 4

Development of vocabulary as a function of the socioeconomic status of the family. Influenced by things such as culture, birth order, school, peers, television, and parents.

Question 5

Verbal Behavior

Answer 5

Type of operant behavior. Argues that language exists because it is reinforced and shaped.

Question 6

Chomsky’s theories of language

Answer 6

Skinner’s model could not account for the speaker’s ability to produce and understand new sentences that are not like anything they’ve ever heard before. “Death of behaviorism”

Question 7

Relational Frame theory (RFT)

Answer 7

An extension of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior. Stimulus equivalence explains how people learn without direct reinforcement/ punishment contingencies.

Question 8

Contributions of Whorf & Sapir

Answer 8

Proposed that language creates thought as much as thought creates language. Our language determines our way of thinking and our perceptions of the world.

Question 9

Cognition

Answer 9

The mental processes involved in acquiring, processing, and storing knowledge.

Question 10

Confirmation bias

Answer 10

The tendency to selectively attend to information that supports one’s general belief while ignoring information that contradicts one’s belief.

Question 11

Heuristics

Answer 11

(shortcuts) Mental shortcuts for making complex and uncertain decisions and judgements.

Question 12

Availability Heuristic

Answer 12

A shortcut in which we make decisions based on the ease with which estimates come to mind or how available they are to our awareness.

Question 13

Representative Heuristic

Answer 13

A strategy used to estimate the probability of one based on how typical it is of another event.

Question 14

Conjunction Fallacy

Answer 14

Logical error when people say that the combination of two events is more likely that either event alone.

Question 15

Dual Process theory

Answer 15

Two systems

Question 16

System 1 of dual processing theory

Answer 16

Automatic effortless, and fast cognitive processes that are difficult to stop control, or change.

Question 17

System 2 of dual processing theory

Answer 17

Effortful, directed, and slow cognitive processes that can be changed or modified at any point.

Question 18

Social Intuitionist Model

Answer 18

Intuitions come first, and strategic reasoning second. Basically dual process theory is applied to moral decision making.

Question 19

Example of the Social intuitionist model

Answer 19

In the social intuitionist model, one feels a quick flash of revulsion at the thought of incest and one knows intuitively that something is wrong. Then, when faced with a social demand for a verbal justification, one becomes a lawyer trying to build a case rather than a judge searching for the truth.

Question 20

Rational choice theory

Answer 20

When given a choice between two or more options humans will choose the one that is most likely to help them achieve their goals.

Question 21

Prospect theory

Answer 21

Developed by Kahneman and Tversky. More sensitive to potential loss than potential gain.

Question 22

Sensation

Answer 22

A physical process is the stimulation of our sense organs features of the outer world.

Question 23

Perception

Answer 23

A psychological process is the act of organizing and interpreting sensory experiences.

Question 24

Difference Threshold

Answer 24

The smallest amount of change between two stimuli that a person can detect 50% of the time.

Question 25

Perceptual set

Answer 25

The effect of frame of mind on perception, or a tendency to perceive stimuli in a certain manner. “We see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear.”

Question 26

Example of Perceptual set

Answer 26

A simple example of perceptual set would be if researchers asked ten participants to describe the same bouquet of flowers. The participants would likely give ten different descriptions, even though they would all be looking at the same flowers.

Question 27

Bottom up Proccesing

Answer 27

Perception is a process of building a perceptual experience from smaller pieces (data-driven)

Question 28

Example of bottom up processing

Answer 28

stubbing your toe on a chair, the pain receptors detect pain and send this information to the brain where it is processed.

Question 29

Top down processing

Answer 29

Perception of the whole guides perception of smaller elemental features (uses previous experiences and expectations)

Question 30

Example of top down processing

Answer 30

An example of this is if you see the chair you have stubbed your toe on before and you avoid it to make sure it does not happen again.

Question 31

Memory

Answer 31

Ability to store and use information. Storage of what has been learned and remembered from the past.

Question 32

Three phases of creating memories

Answer 32

Sensory memory, short term/ working memory, long term memory.

Question 33

Sensory memory

Answer 33

holds information in its original sensory form for a very brief period, usually about half a second or less.

Question 34

Iconic memory

Answer 34

Brief visual record ex) july sparklers drawing your name

Question 35

Echoic memory

Answer 35

Short term retention of sounds ex) hearing the fire alarm after it’s off.

Question 36

Short term/ working memory

Answer 36

Attends to and solves immediate problems; works through attending, storing, and rehearsing. Hold about 7 things on average.

Question 37

Baddeley’s model of working memory:

Answer 37

Visuospatial sketchpad, Episodic buffer, Phonological loop, central executive

Question 38

Visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 38

Storage area for visual or spatial information

Question 39

Episodic buffer

Answer 39

Storage area for specific events/ experiences

Question 40

Phonological loop

Answer 40

Storage area for specific sounds/ linguistic information.

Question 41

Central executive

Answer 41

Decides where to focus attention and selectively hones in on specific aspects of a stimulus.

Question 42

Long term memory parts

Answer 42

Encoding, Consolidation, Storage, Retrieval

Question 43

Encoding

Answer 43

The brain tunes to , takes in, and integrates new information, automatic processing, effortful processing

Question 44

Automatic processing example

Answer 44

carrying out familiar tasks like reading, driving, cycling, playing a game, or observing things

Question 45

Effortful processing example

Answer 45

looking through flash cards and trying to remember what they say.

Question 46

Consolidation

Answer 46

Processing, making sense of, and solidifying the experience. Biological connections are made ex) memory consolidation when sleeping

Question 47

Storage

Answer 47

Connect experiences to formulate rules.

Question 48

Example of storage

Answer 48

you eat an apple, the apple tastes good. A year later you eat a jackfruit, and the jackfruit is good. Therefore, you store in your memory that ‘fruit is delicious’.

Question 49

Retrieval

Answer 49

The recovery of information (use it or lose it, say it out loud, teach it to others).

Question 50

Implicit memory

Answer 50

“Knowing how” like tying your shoes or riding your bike.

Question 51

Explicit memory

Answer 51

“Knowing facts” like declaring words.

Question 52

Serial position effect

Answer 52

People are better able to recall the things at the beginning and end of lists; they tend to forget the items in the middle.

Question 53

What is a false memory?

Answer 53

The event that never occurred but you believe with 100% confidence that it did.

Question 54

Suggestibility

Answer 54

Memories are implanted based on leading questions, comments, or suggestions.