Matteo’s Notes (11) Flashcards
What is Amnesia?
A condition characterized by memory loss due to trauma or other processes
Amnesia differs from forgetting, which is a natural inability to recall information.
What is Anterograde Amnesia?
The loss of ability to encode new memories after the onset of amnesia
What is Retrograde Amnesia?
The loss of old memories, or memories prior to the onset of amnesia
Who is H.M.?
A person who underwent bilateral temporal lobe resection in the 1950s to treat epilepsy, resulting in anterograde amnesia
What part of H.M.’s brain was affected by surgery?
A portion of his hippocampus was removed
What is a Morpheme?
The smallest unit of meaning in a language
What is a Phoneme?
Distinct units of sound in a language
What are Critical Periods in language development?
Abilities that MUST be learned at a certain time or else they will be difficult or impossible to acquire
What are Sensitive Periods in language development?
Periods where learning is possible but may be difficult
At what age can infants distinguish phonemes, including foreign ones?
3 months
What is Fast Mapping?
The ability to map (encode) a word to meaning after just one exposure
What is Metalinguistic Awareness?
The ability to reflect on the nature of language and describe it
Who proposed that humans have a Language Acquisition Device (LAD)?
Noam Chomsky
What is Broca’s Area responsible for?
Production of language
What is Broca’s Aphasia?
Difficulty to produce language/fluent speech even though comprehension is intact
What is Wernicke’s Area responsible for?
Language comprehension
What is Wernicke’s Aphasia?
Can produce speech but cannot comprehend it, also known as fluent aphasia
What is Problem Solving?
Active efforts to discover what must be done to solve a problem/achieve a goal that is not immediately obvious
What is Functional Fixedness?
The tendency to perceive an object only for its common use
What are Heuristics?
Mental shortcuts that help with thinking, but can lead to issues with problem solving
What are Biases in problem solving?
Systematic errors that result from heuristics or other processes
What is System 1 in Dual Process Theory?
Fast, implicating, heuristic-driven problem solving
What is System 2 in Dual Process Theory?
Slow, deliberate, rational problem solving
What did Binet and Simon develop?
The Stanford-Binet Test to determine which children needed extra school support
What does Intelligence Quotient (IQ) measure?
Expressed as Mental Age/Chronological Age x 100
What is the WAIS?
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
What is the WISC?
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, for ages 6-16
What constitutes an Intellectual Disability?
Deficits in general mental ability accompanied by deficits in adaptive skills, originating before age 18
What is the difference between Entity Theory and Incremental Theory of Intelligence?
Entity Theory states intelligence is unchanged, while Incremental Theory suggests intelligence can be affected by study/work
Does brain size significantly correlate with intelligence?
Very weak positive correlation
