Unit 5: Cognitive Psychology

Question 1

memory

Answer 1

the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information.

Question 2

recall

Answer 2

a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.

Question 3

recognition

Answer 3

a measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.

Question 4

relearning

Answer 4

a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again.

Question 5

encoding

Answer 5

the process of getting information into the memory system— for example, by extracting meaning.

Question 6

storage

Answer 6

the process of retaining encoded information over time.

Question 7

retrieval

Answer 7

the process of getting information out of memory storage.

Question 8

parallel processing

Answer 8

processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions.

Question 9

sensory memory

Answer 9

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

Question 10

short-term memory

Answer 10

activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as digits of a phone number while calling, before the information is stored or forgotten.

Question 11

long-term memory

Answer 11

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

Question 12

working memory

Answer 12

a newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.

Question 13

explicit memory

Answer 13

retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare.” (Also called declarative memory.)

Question 14

effortful processing

Answer 14

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

Question 15

automatic processing

Answer 15

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings.

Question 16

implicit memory

Answer 16

retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection. (Also called nondeclarative memory.)

Question 17

iconic memory

Answer 17

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.

Question 18

echoic memory

Answer 18

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds.

Question 19

chunking

Answer 19

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.

Question 20

mnemonics

Answer 20

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

Question 21

spacing effect

Answer 21

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.

Question 22

testing effect

Answer 22

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning.

Question 23

shallow processing

Answer 23

encoding on a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words.

Question 24

deep processing

Answer 24

encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention.

Question 25

semantic memory

Answer 25

explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is episodic memory).

Question 26

episodic memory

Answer 26

explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is semantic memory).

Question 27

hippocampus

Answer 27

a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit (conscious) memories— of facts and events— for storage.

Question 28

memory consolidation

Answer 28

the neural storage of a long-term memory.

Question 29

flashbulb memory

Answer 29

a clear, sustained memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Question 30

long-term potentiation

Answer 30

an increase in a cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory.

Question 31

priming

Answer 31

the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory.

Question 32

encoding specificity principle

Answer 32

the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it.

Question 33

mood-congruent memory

Answer 33

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood.

Question 34

serial position effect

Answer 34

our tendency to recall best the last (recency effect) and first (primacy effect) items in a list.

Question 35

anterograde amnesia

Answer 35

an inability to form new memories.

Question 36

retrograde amnesia

Answer 36

an inability to retrieve information from one’s past.

Question 37

proactive interference

Answer 37

the forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information.

Question 38

retroactive interference

Answer 38

the backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old information.

Question 39

repression

Answer 39

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.

Question 40

reconsolidation

Answer 40

a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again.

Question 41

misinformation effect

Answer 41

occurs when misleading information has distorted one’s memory of an event.

Question 42

source amnesia

Answer 42

faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined. (Also called source misattribution.) Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories.

Question 43

deja vu

Answer 43

that eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before.” Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.

Question 44

cognition

Answer 44

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Question 45

concept

Answer 45

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

Question 46

prototype

Answer 46

a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin).

Question 47

creativity

Answer 47

the ability to produce new and valuable ideas.

Question 48

convergent thinking

Answer 48

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.

Question 49

divergent thinking

Answer 49

expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions.

Question 50

algorithm

Answer 50

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier— but also more error-prone— use of heuristics.

Question 51

heuristic

Answer 51

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than an algorithm.

Question 52

insight

Answer 52

a sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions.

Question 53

confirmation bias

Answer 53

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

Question 54

fixation

Answer 54

in cognition, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem solving.

Question 55

mental set

Answer 55

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.

Question 56

intuition

Answer 56

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

Question 57

representativeness heuristic

Answer 57

estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information.

Question 58

availability heuristic

Answer 58

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common.

Question 59

overconfidence

Answer 59

the tendency to be more confident than correct— to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

Question 60

belief perseverance

Answer 60

clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

Question 61

framing

Answer 61

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is worded can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

Question 62

language

Answer 62

our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.

Question 63

phonemes

Answer 63

in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.

Question 64

morphemes

Answer 64

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix).

Question 65

grammar

Answer 65

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. Semantics is the language’s set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is its set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.

Question 66

babbling stage

Answer 66

beginning around 4 months, the stage of speech development in which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language.

Question 67

one-word stage

Answer 67

the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words.

Question 68

two-word stage

Answer 68

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements.

Question 69

telegraphic speech

Answer 69

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—“ go car”— using mostly nouns and verbs.

Question 70

aphasia

Answer 70

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding).

Question 71

Broca’s area

Answer 71

helps control language expression— an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

Question 72

Wernicke’s area

Answer 72

a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe.

Question 73

linguistic determinism

Answer 73

the strong form of Whorf’s hypothesis— that language controls the way we think and interpret the world around us.

Question 74

linguistic influence

Answer 74

the weaker form of “linguistic relativity”— the idea that language affects thought (thus our thinking and world view is “relative to” our cultural language).