Unit 7 Flashcards
Cognition
All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
Concept
Mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
Prototype
A mental image or best example of a category
Creativity
Ability to produce new & valuable ideas
Convergent thinking
Narrowing the problem solutions to determine the best solution
Divergent thinking
Expanding the number of possible problem solutions, creative thinking that goes in different directions
Algorithm
Methodical, logical, rule that guarantees solving a problem
Heuristic
Simple thinking strategy that allows us to make judgements & solve a problem efficiently (speedier, but more error prone than algorithm).
Insight
Sudden realization of a problem’s solution
Confirmation bias
Tendency to search for info that supports our preconceptions & ignore contradictory evidence
Fixation
Inability to see a problem from a new perspective, obstacle to problem-solving
Mental set
Tendency to approach a problem in one way, often a way that has worked in the past
Intuition
Effortless, immediate, automatic feelings or thought
Representativeness heuristic
Estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they match a prototype
Availability heuristic
Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory
Overconfidence
Tendency to be more confident than correct - we overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs
Belief perseverance
Clinging to one’s initial conceptions even after they have been discredited
Framing
How something is worded affects decisions and judgements
Language
Our spoken, written, or signed words & the ways we combine them to communicate meaning
Phoneme
The smallest distinctive sound unit
Morpheme
Smallest unit that caries meaning (word or prefix)
Grammar
A system of rules that enables us to communicate with & understand others
Noam Chomsky says that language and grammar comes natural
Babbling stage
Around 4 months, infants spontaneously utter various sounds
One-word stage
Age 1-2, a child speaks mostly in single words
Two-word stage
Around age 2, a child speaks mostly in two-word statements
Telegraphic speech
Speech stage where a child speaks like a telegram, using mostly nouns and verbs (“daddy fall over”)
Linguistic determinism
Whorf’s hypothesis - language controls how we think & interpret the world around us
Linguistic influence
Our thinking & world view is “relative” to our cultural language
Aphasia
Impairment of language, usually caused by damage to Broca’s area (speaking) or Wernicke’s area (understanding)
Broca’s area
Frontal lobe, left hemisphere, controls language & expression
Wernicke’s area
Left temporal lobe, language comprehension
Memory
The persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of info.
Recall
When a person has to retrieve previously learned info (fill in the blank)
Recognition
When a person has to identify previously learned info (multiple choice)
Relearning
The amount of time saved when learning material again
Encoding
Getting info into the memory system
Storage
Retaining info over time
Retrieval
Getting info out of memory storage
Parallel processing
Processing many things at once
Sensory memory
Immediate, brief recording of sensory info into memory system
Short-term memory
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly before info is stored or forgotten
Long- term memory
Relatively permanent & limitless storehouse of the memory system (knowledge, skills, experiences)
Working memory
Newer understanding of short-term memory and active processing of visual & auditory information
Explicit memory
(Declarative memory) retention of facts & experiences
Effortful processing
Encoding that requires attention & conscious effort
Automatic processing
Unconscious encoding of info, doesn’t require effort or attention
Implicit memory
(Nondeclarative memory) retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations
Iconic memory
Momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli
Recalled in no more than 1/10th of a second
Echoic memory
Momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli
Recalled within 3-4 seconds
Chunking
Organizing items into familiar, manageable units, often automatic
Mnemonics
Memory aids (ROYGBIV)
Spacing effect
Tendency for distributed study to work better than mass study
Testing effect
Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than rereading info
Shallow processing
Encoding on a basic level
Deep processing
Encoding semantically (explanation/definition), best retention
Semantic memory
Explicit memory of facts and general knowledge
Episodic memory
Explicit memory of personally experienced events
Hippocampus
Neural center in limbic system, helps process conscious memories for storage
Memory consolidation
The neural storage of long-term memory
Flashbulb memory
Clear, sustained memory of an emotionally significant moment.
Long-term potentiation (LTP)
Neural basis for learning & memory, increase in a cell’s firing potential after a brief, rapid, stimulation
Priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory
Encoding specificity principle
Cues and context specific to a memory are most effective in helping us recall it.
Mood-congruent memory
Tendency to recall, memories consistent with one’s good/bad mood.
Serial position effect
Our tendency to recall the first (primacy) and last (recency) items on a list
Anterograde amnesia
Inability to form new memories
Retrograde amnesia
Inability to retrieve info from one’s past
Retroactive interference
Disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of new info.
Backward-acting
Repression
Basic defense system that vanishes, anxiety, arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness (psychoanalytic theory)
Reconsolidation
Process where previously stored memories, when retrieved could be altered before being stored again.
Déjà vu
The sense that “I’ve experienced this before”
Proactive interference
Disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new info
Forward-acting
Source amnesia
Faulty memory for how, when, and where info was learned
Misinformation effect
When misleading info distorts a memory of an event
Semantics
Selecting the correct word to convey the meaning you intend
Syntax
Putting the words into the correct order according to grammatical standards of your language
