Final Exam Study Guide Flashcards
transcience
lose information across time (forgetting )
absentmindedness
everyday memory failures for remembering info/intended activities from insufficient attention (ex. you needed to get groceries but you drove past the grocery store)
blocking
temporary retrieval failure of episodic/semantic memory (ex. tip of the tongue)
misattribution
remembering a past experience correctly but connecting it to the wrong context (ex. remembering your baby taking their first steps at your house but it was actually at a friend’s house)
suggestibility
outside information that incorporates into our own recollection (ex. someone saying ‘That guy had an earring remember?’ and then you remember him with having an earring)
bias
our current beliefs influence our memory of past events (ex. remembering you did better on an exam than you did)
persistence
remembering facts/events including traumatic memories (failure to forget from intrusive recollection)
algorithm
specific rule that’s guaranteed to get the right answer if followed correctly
analogies
relationship between two similar concepts
capgras syndrome
the delusion that a friend/parent is replaced with an identical imposter
inattentional blindess
missing visual stimuli during a fixation
change blindness
failure to notice changes during a saccade (ex. magic trick)
cognition
mental processes involved in understanding, remembering and thinking
conditional reasoning
determination if the evidence supports/refutes or is irrelevant to the stated ‘if-then’ relationship (ex. if today is Sunday, then today is meal prep day)
gamblers fallacy
cant recognize the independence of chance events, leading to the belief that you can predict the outcome from the previous outcomes (ex. heads or tails in flipping a coin)
conjunction fallacy/rule
where we believe two events happening together is more probable than one event happening alone (ex. he and his son rode a rollercoaster. Is cliff more likely a man? or a man who is an adrenaline junkie?)
feature search
searching for a single feature
serial search
searching for stimuli one at a time
parallel search
searching for several stimuli at a time
consolidation
permanent establishment of memories (during sleep)
context-dependent learning
recall is better when you are in the same environment where you learned the information
state-dependent learning
recall better when your physiological state matches when encoded
decay
loss of information due to fading
distributed practice
studying in multiple shorter sessions
massed practice
studying in one long session (cramming)
dual coding
using different types of stimuli to encode more effectively (visual and verbal)
encoding specificity
better retrieval when the encoding context matches the retrieval context (ex. underwater/land study)
facilitation of return
returning to a previously fixated area (ex. going down a grocery aisle twice)
inhibition of return
mentally marking a fixated area so you do not return
filtering
ignoring specific information
forgetting curve
how learned info slips our mind over time if not rehearsed
free recall
recalling in any order
serial recall
recalling in the original order
functional fixedness
unable to use an object outside the ways it is meant to be used
Gestalt grouping principles (pattern recognition)
figure-ground: hidden images in the foreground and background
proximity: grouping objects together because they are close together
similarity: grouping objects together because they are similar in shape/colour
closure: look at closed figures rather than incomplete ones
good continuation: see a continuous image rather than separate pieces
common fate: grouping objects because they are moving together
prototypes
one member that possesses all characteristic features
graded membership
some objects are closer to the prototype than others
fuzzy boundaries
a member of a category is not clearly defined (ex. is a tomato a fruit or vegetable)
hemineglect
unable to focus your attention to one side (ex. when asked to draw a clock you only draw numbers on the right side of the circle)
visual sensory memory (iconic)
recall visual images for 250-500ms after it disappears
insight
the solution to a problem presents itself without warning (‘aha’ moment)
insight problem
change your perception of the problem and view it in a different way to get the solution
non-insight problem
a regular problem that needs only logical thinking to get the answer (ex. sudoku puzzle)
inference
drawing conclusions from behavioural pattern observations (ex. see someone make a weird face from food, so you assume they don’t like it)
introspection
studying ones own mental processes (william wundt)
intrusion errors
our own knowledge intrudes our ability to remember an event
JND (just noticeable difference)
when two stimuli differ just enough to be noticed (from noticing to not noticing)
- webers law (weight difference)
- fechners law
- steven powers law
hill-climbing strategy
making decisions that create a direct route to bring you closer to the goal
means-end analysis
an end goal is identified/fulfilled by creating subgoals that overcome obstacles along the way
steps:
1. create a goal/subgoal
2. look at differences between current situation and the goal/subgoal
3. look for operator that reduces differences
4. repeat steps 2-4 until goal is reached
sensation
awareness of sensory stimuli
perception
the interpretation of that sensory input
schema
describes whats typical in a situation
(ex. when asked to describe a car you may say it has 4 doors when all cars don’t have 4 doors)
sensory memory
memory held in raw sensory form
sensory threshold
minimum energy needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time
subliminal: detected less than half the time
supraliminal: detected more than half the time
serial position curve
graph of item-by-item accuracy of a recall task
situation models
- same object in 3 locations: 3 events/3 situation models causing interference and the fan effect
- 3 objects in the same location: 1 event/1 situation model causing no interference or fan effect
syllogism
start with a major premise of a general topic and then add a minor premise of a specific topic to create a conclusion
Categorical Syllogism:
ex. major: no insects are warm-blooded, minor: wasps are insects, conclusion: no wasp is warm-blooded)
syllogistic reasoning
understand how different premises can be combined to create logically true conclusions and what combinations of premises create false conclusions
agnosia
unable to recognize objects/people even with knowing the features
apperceptive agnosia
unable to detect the features of an object (identify through colors and texture) (cannot draw images)
associative agnosia
unable to make connections between what you are seeing and your stored knowledge (can draw the object but not name it)
prosopagnosia
unable to recognize faces, even their own (identify people through what they are wearing)
word frequency effect
words shown more frequently are processed quicker than infrequent words
primacy effect
tendency to remember the first info better compared to what is presented later on
recency effect
tendency to remember the info at the end compared to what was presented first
phonological similarity effect
when letters/words sound similar to where it can get confusing
cocktail party effect
focusing your attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli
semantic congruity effect
where the decision is faster when the stimulus matches our common knowledge
similar stimuli = slower/less accurate response
distinct stimuli = faster/more accurate response
symbolic distance effect
response time depends on how different the stimuli are
problem-solving set (Einstellung)
beliefs/habits or strategies used to solve a problem
negative set
tendency to solve a problem in a particular way using a single approach when a different approach may be more effective
typicality effect
typical items are more easily judged as members of a category than atypical items (ex. a robin is a more typical member of the bird category compared to a chicken)
misinformation effect
misleading info presented after a person witnesses an event can change how the person describes that event later
word length effect
difficult to remember longer words compared to short words
generation effect
information you create yourself is easier to remember
self-reference effect
you remember information better when you relate it to yourself
serial positive effect
positive relationship between the frequency of rehearsal and the rate of recall
serial position effect
tendency to remember the first and last items in a list compared to the middle
framing effect
presenting an option as a loss (negative) or a gain (positive)
ex. choosing between 80% lean beef or 20% fat beef
- positive framed: 80% lean
- negative framed: 20% fat
fan effect
increase in response time when there is an increased number of associations
counterfactual reasoning
imagining alternatives to past/future events in a ‘what if…’ way
prototype theory
human categories made using a mental prototype
template theory
a pattern stored in memory to compare incoming stimuli
standard theory of memory (MODAL MODEL)
- sensory memory: input stage for external stimuli (encoding)
- short term memory: holds information that’s in use and transfers it
- long term memory: takes info from STM store and creates long-lasting memories
signal detection theory
to respond to a stimuli a decision is made if the sensory activation is real/fake
4 responses:
1. Hit: you heard it and you know you did
2. Miss: you didn’t hear it and you know you didn’t hear it
3. Correct Rejection: your right that it was wrong
4. False Alarm: thought you saw it but you didn’t
process model/information processing theory
the specific mental processes that take place during a task
lexical design task
timed task where people decide if what they are presented with is a word or not
- stimulus is presented
- decides if its a word or not
- response
- accuracy/response time is recorded
sequential/serial processing
mental tasks occur in orderly stages
parallel processing
multiple processes occurring at the same time (ex. driving)
conceptually driven processing (top-down)
mental processes are guided by existing knowledge
exemplar theory
how we categorize objects
ex. apples: lots of different types of apples
RBC theory
recognizing different geons leads to object recognition
data-driven processing (bottom-up)
mental processes guided by what is perceived in the environment
script
expected knowledge about certain events expected in a specific setting
ex. how you act on the first day of school
memory error
having a recollection of an event that never happened
high prototypicality
members closely resemble the prototype
low prototypicality
members that don’t closely resemble the prototype
family resemblance
features are shared by many of the category members but all features may not be present in all members
ex. turning non-chairs into chairs (rocks)
exemplar
using each member of a group to compare
flashbulb memory
a memory so powerful you remember it vividly
ex. close family member dying
reminiscence bump
superior memory for life events between ages 15-25
ex. first times (kiss, driving etc)
autobiographical diaries
write down memories as they occur
depths of processing
- shallow processing: little attention given
- deep processing: close attention given
judgement of learning
assessments people make of how well they have learned the information
anterograde amnesia
can’t form new memories but remember the past
retrograde amnesia
can’t recall memories before a specific date
law of large numbers
a larger sample is more representative of its population than a smaller sample
transfer appropriate retrieval
memory is more likely to transfer from one situation to another when encoding/retrieval situations match
retrieval induced forgetting
failure to recall items from retrieval in long term memory
maintenance rehearsal
holds info without storing permanently
ex. repeating a phone number in your head and then forgetting it as soon as you write it down
elaborative rehearsal
uses the meaning of the informatin to store/remember
savings score
reduction in trials for relearning information compared to originally learning the info
boundary extension
misremembering an image by seeing the boundaries extended further out compared to what you actually saw
representational momentum
thinking a moving object stopped further than where it actually did
articulatory suppression
poorer memory for a set of words when asked to say something while trying to remember those words (interference)
connectionism
knowledge is represented through simple interconnected units
problem solving
setting a goal and taking the steps to acheive that goal
- initial state
- goal state
- operators
- path constraints
well defined problems
clear specifications of three elements
- initial state (problem situation)
- set of operators (rules)
- goal state (solution)
ex. finding the shortest path between two points on a map
ill defined problems
lacks information to get to the solution (multiple ways it can be done and don’t know how to approach it)
ex. tackling the opioid epidemic
category
mental representation in semantic memory of a class of concepts
concepts
objects, events or abstract ideas
single concepts = multiple categories
ex. wine: alcohol, spirit, beverage
