lecture week 1 Flashcards
what is cognition
collection of mental processes and activities used in perceiving, remembering, thinking, and understanding, as well as the act of using those processes
how do we use cognition
we impose the meaning of arbitrary symbols. the word apple is a queue of memory we have learned
what does introspection do
help develop questions you can later test
how can the mind be understood
carefully looking inward and reporting on inner sensations and experiences. all you need to understand the mind is by understanding the internal perceptions
what is functionalism
where do things happen in the brain, and how do they function
what is the forgetting curve
you begin to forget early on
what is central tenet
particular responses to stimuli are learned through association, reward, and punishment
how is human behaviour shaped
through the forces of operant and classical conditioning
how does operant conditioning work
positive: adding stimuli
negative: subtracting stimuli
reinforcement: increases behaviour
punishment: decreases behaviour
how can we study mental processes scientifically if we can not observe them
empirical approach: measure behaviour and make careful inferences about the nature of the mental processes necessary to carry out that behaviour
what happens in laboratory research
- controlled setting
- minimize the influence of extraneous nuisance factors
- can control stimulus properties
- precise measures of behaviour
what is the problem with ecological validity
to what extent do lab settings mirror real-life situations
what do you need for successful learning
optimization of all three stages: acquisition, retention, retrieval
what is acquisition of information (encoding)
- role of repetition (rehearsal)
- encoding variability (interleaving)
results of mass vs distributed practice
if you mass study, you will remember around 65% of it after 24 hours, but after a week, you barely remember any of it. but if you distribute your studying time, you will have almost 80% of the information after one week
how does math relate to space vs mass
greater accuracy in test taking if you space out your studying
interleaving vs blocking
test accuracy shows that mixers will perform better than blockers
what is retention of information
- retrieval practice
- misunderstood role of forgetting
what does retrieval practice do
a critical learning tool that enhances long-term retention
does testing also enhance memory
it is better to study and test rather than study and study because you retain information
forgetting curve for newly learned information
if you begin to forget and then start to review the material again, over time you will forget less and less
what is metacognition
thinking about one’s own thinking, knowing about one’s own knowledge, understanding one’s own understanding
what explains why some students prefer non optimal learning
memory goes through monitoring, which goes to meta memory, moves down to control and back to memory
what can lead to the illusion of knowing
knowing things and not doing well because we didn’t know the right things, our ability to monitor the quality of our learning is influenced by many factors
what is speed of retrieval
a que that people use
what can the speed of retrieval be used for
can be used as a heuristic for judging the quality of learning
what is desirable difficulty
the things that you feel are difficult. what feels good is difficult, what feels bad is easy
what can be misguided by heuristics and lead to illusion of knowing
self regulation of learning
