Unit 2 - Cognition Flashcards
accomodation
In Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, the process of modifying existing cognitive structures in response to new information or experiences.
achievement test
A test designed to assess what a person has learned or accomplished in a particular area, such as academic subjects or job-related skills.
Alfred Binet
A French psychologist known for developing the first intelligence test, which aimed to measure children’s mental abilities and predict their academic success.
algorithm
A step-by-step procedure or formula for solving a problem, often involving repetitive operations.
Alzheimer’s Disease
A progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by memory loss, language deterioration, and impaired ability to mentally manipulate visual information.
Amnesia
A significant memory loss that is too extensive to be due to normal forgetting.
Amos Tversky
A cognitive psychologist known for his collaboration with Daniel Kahneman on decision-making and heuristics.
anterograde amnesia
A type of memory impairment characterized by the inability to form new memories after a specific event or injury, while memories from before the event remain intact.
aptitude test
A test designed to assess a person’s potential for learning or ability to perform in a particular area, such as intelligence tests or vocational aptitude tests.
assimilation
In Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, the process of incorporating new information or experiences into existing cognitive structures or schemas.
Attention
The cognitive process of selectively focusing on a specific aspect of information while ignoring other perceivable information.
Autobiographical Memory
A person’s memory for events and issues related to oneself.
autokinetic effect
A perceptual phenomenon where a stationary point of light appears to move in a dark environment due to small eye movements.
automatic processing
The unconscious processing of information that requires minimal attention and effort, such as routine tasks or well-learned skills.
availability heuristic
A mental shortcut where people make judgments based on the ease with which examples come to mind, often leading to overestimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory.
belief perserverance
The tendency to maintain one’s beliefs even in the face of contradictory evidence.
binocular cue
Depth cues that rely on information from both eyes to perceive depth and distance, such as retinal disparity and convergence.
Bottom-Up Processing
An approach to perception that starts with incoming stimuli and builds up to a final perception; involves analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information.
Carol Dweck
A psychologist known for her research on motivation and mindset, particularly the concepts of fixed mindset and growth mindset.
Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory
A contemporary theory of intelligence proposing that intelligence is composed of multiple distinct abilities, including fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, and various specific cognitive skills.
central executive
In Baddeley’s model of working memory, the component responsible for coordinating and controlling cognitive processes, including attention, planning, and decision-making.
Change Blindness
A phenomenon in visual perception where changes in a visual stimulus are not noticed by the observer.
Charles Spearman
A British psychologist known for his work on intelligence and the development of factor analysis, which identified a general factor of intelligence (g factor) underlying performance on cognitive tasks.
chunking
Organizing information into smaller, more manageable units or chunks to improve memory and processing efficiency.
Cocktail Party Effect
The phenomenon of being able to focus one’s auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, like hearing your name in a noisy room.
cognition
The mental processes involved in acquiring, processing, storing, and retrieving information, including perception, thinking, memory, and problem-solving.
cohort
A group of individuals who share a common characteristic or experience, such as age or generation, and are studied over time in longitudinal research.
color constancy
The perceptual phenomenon where the perceived color of an object remains relatively constant under different lighting conditions.
concept
A mental category or representation of objects, events, or ideas that share common features or characteristics.
confirmation bias
The tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs or hypotheses while ignoring or discounting contradictory evidence.
construct validity
The extent to which a test or measure accurately assesses the theoretical construct or concept it is intended to measure.
Constructive Memory
The process of constructing a memory by integrating new information with existing knowledge.
content validity
The extent to which a test or measure adequately samples the domain of interest and includes all relevant aspects of the construct being assessed.
Context-Dependent Memory
The improved recall of information when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same.
convergence
A binocular depth cue where the eyes turn inward or converge to focus on nearby objects.
convergent thinking
A type of thinking characterized by narrowing down possible solutions to find a single correct answer, often associated with traditional problem-solving tasks.
creativity
The ability to generate novel and valuable ideas, solutions, or products that are meaningful or useful in a particular context.
cross-sectional study
A research design that compares different groups of individuals at a single point in time to examine age-related differences.
crystallized intelligence
Acquired knowledge and skills accumulated over a lifetime, often measured by vocabulary tests and general knowledge assessments.
Daniel Kahnman
A psychologist known for his work on decision-making, heuristics, and biases, particularly in collaboration with Amos Tversky.
David Weschler
An American psychologist known for developing intelligence tests, including the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC).
deep processing
A type of encoding that involves elaborative rehearsal and meaningful analysis of information, leading to better long-term retention.
deja vu
A feeling of familiarity or recognition of a current situation or experience as if it has been previously experienced, even though it is objectively new or unfamiliar.
depth perception
The ability to perceive the distance and three-dimensional spatial relationships of objects in the environment.
Distributed Practice
A practice schedule that involves intervals of rest between sessions of learning.
Divergent Thinking
A thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions.
echoic memory
The sensory memory system responsible for the temporary storage and processing of auditory information, often referred to as “echoes” of sounds.
effortful memory
The intentional and conscious processing of information to encode, store, and retrieve it from memory, requiring cognitive effort and attention.
Elizabeth Loftus
A cognitive psychologist known for her research on eyewitness memory, misinformation effect, and false memories.
emotional intelligence
The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions effectively in oneself and others.
Encoding
The process of transforming sensory input into a form that can be stored in memory.
Encoding Failure
The failure to process information into memory.
encoding specificity principle
The principle that retrieval of information is most effective when the conditions at encoding and retrieval are similar.
episodic memory
A type of long-term memory that involves the recollection of specific events, situations, and experiences with associated contextual details.
Eric Kandel
An American neuroscientist known for his research on memory, particularly synaptic plasticity and the cellular basis of learning and memory.
executive functions
Higher-level cognitive processes involved in goal setting, planning, problem-solving, decision-making, and self-regulation.
explicit memory
Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously recall and declare, also known as declarative memory.
factor analysis
A statistical technique used to identify and analyze the underlying structure of correlations between variables, often used to identify the factors underlying intelligence.
figure-ground
A gestalt principle of perception where we perceive objects as distinct from their background.
fixation
In problem-solving, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective, often due to mental set or functional fixedness.
fixed mindset
The belief that intelligence, abilities, and talents are fixed traits that cannot be changed or developed.
flashbulb memory
A vivid and detailed memory of a significant and emotionally charged event, often recalled with high confidence and accuracy.
fluid intelligence
The ability to think logically and solve problems in novel situations, independent of acquired knowledge and experience.
Flynn effect
The observed trend of increasing average intelligence test scores over time, named after psychologist James Flynn.
Forgetting Curve
A graph showing the decline of memory retention over time.
framing
The way information is presented or framed can influence decision-making and judgment by highlighting certain aspects of the information while downplaying others.
Francis Galton
A British scientist known for his contributions to the study of individual differences and intelligence testing, as well as his work in eugenics.
Functional Fixedness
A cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used.
Gambler’s Fallacy
The mistaken belief that if something happens more frequently than normal during a given period, it will happen less frequently in the future, or vice versa.
general intelligence
A hypothetical construct representing the general intelligence factor underlying performance on various cognitive tasks.