Psych 4 Flashcards
Cognition
How our brain processes and reacts to all the information we absorb
Components of the information processing model
encoding, storage and retrieval
Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational
Schema
organized patterns of behavior and thought
Adaptation and the two types
How new information is processed
assimilation: processing information into existing schema
accommodation: existing schema modified to encompass new information
Sensorimotor stage
0-2 years old; focuses on manipulating the environment to meet physical needs through circular reactions. Object permanence ends this stage
Primary circular reactions
repetition of body movement that occurs by chance because it is soothing (e.g. sucking thumb)
Secondary circular reaction
manipulation of something outside of the body and repeated due to a response that is elicited from the environment (e.g. throwing a toy on the ground so the parent will pick it up)
Preoperational stage
2-7 year old; preoperational stage focuses on symbolic thinking (ability to pretend, play make-believe and imagine), egocentrism (inability to imagine what others think or feel), and centration (only focusing on one aspect of a phenomena).
Concrete operational stage
7-11 years old; focuses on understanding the feelings of others and manipulating physical (concrete objects) e.g. 1 pizza vs 2 pizza
Formal operational stage
11-adolescence; focuses on abstract thought and problem-solving e.g. pendulum problem
What is alzheimer’s caused by
increased blood pressure and microscopic brain clots
What is normal cognitive decline with aging
increase in reaction time, decrease in time-based memory and decrease in fluid and crystallized intelligence
Lev Vygotsky
theorized that engine driving cognitive development is the internalization of culture
Fluid intelligence
problem-solving skills (peaks in early adulthood)
Crystallized intelligence
use of learned skills and knowledge (peaks in middle adulthood)
Delirium
sudden fluctuations in cognitive function (due to medical reasons)
Mental set
a pattern of approach for a given problem. Necessary for problem solving
Functional fixedness
tendency to use objects only in the way they are normally utilized, which may create barriers to problem-solving (e.g. Duncker’s candle problem)
Deductive reasoning
deriving conclusions from general rules. Top-down reasoning
Inductive reasoning
deriving conclusions from evidence. bottom-up reasoning
Representative heuristics
categorize items based on whether they fit the prototypical/representative image of a category
Availability Heuristics
Determining how likely something is to occur based on how easily similar instances can be imagined.
Heuristics
Shortcuts or rules of thumb used to make decisions.
Belief perseverance
inability to reject belief despite evidence
Confirmation bias
tendency to focus on information that fits individual’s beliefs, while rejecting information that goes against them.
Recognition-primed decision making
mechanism behind intuition where your brain sorts through past information to match a pattern
Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences
proposes seven areas of intelligence: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal
Alfred Binet
developed the IQ test
Consciousness
level of awareness of both the world and one’s own existence within that world.
Fibers from the _______ communicate with the ______ to keep the cortex awake
prefrontal cortex, reticular formation
Beta waves
Erratic high frequency waves, occur when awake and actively attending, causing neurons to fire randomly
Alpha waves
Slower than beta waves and more synchronized. Occurs when awake but relaxing with eyes closed
Theta waves
irregular waves with slow frequency but high voltage
Delta waves
low-frequency, high voltage with only a few waves a second
Stage 1 and Stage 2 sleep
light sleep dominated by theta waves, stage two is slightly deeper sleep. stage 2 includes theta waves, sleep spindle and k complex
Stages 3 and 4
deep slow-wave sleep (SWS). Delta waves predominate. Non rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.
When are declarative memories consolidated
During SWS NREM (stages 3 and 4)
When are procedural memories consolidated
REM sleep
Rapid eye movement sleep
mind is close to awake, rapid eye movement but person is asleep. Body is paralyzed
Which hormone causes sleepiness and where is it released? How is it controlled?
melatonin is released by the pineal gland. The retina is directly connected to the hypothalamus which controls the pineal gland.
Which hormone promotes wakefulness and where is it produced and controlled?
Cortisol is produced by the adrenal cortex and is controlled by the hypothalamus.
Activation-Synthesis theory
dreams happen when there is widespread firing of neural circuitry in the brain. The cortex then stitches these signals together to form a cohesive image.
