Unit 7 - Cognition Flashcards
two types of thought
- concepts = mental groupings of similar objects… usually based on
- Prototypes = the model or best example of
“right way”, many facts and one right answer
convergent thinking
thinking creatively, get as many right answers as possible for the problem, “brainstorming”, one stimulus and many responses
divergent thinking
A rule that guarantees the right solution to a problem.
Often by using a formula.
They work but are sometimes impractical.
Algorithms
A rule of thumb that generally, but not always, can be used to make a judgment to solve a problem.
It is fast, but is prone to errors
Two major types…. (Richard Kahneman and Amos Tversky identified the two most common errors)
Heuristics
Judging a situation based on how similar the aspects are to the prototypes the person holds in their mind. (think stereotypes)
ex. Like thinking everyone from private schools is preppy, or someone with glasses is nerdy, or a blonde is not smart.
Representative heuristics
Judging a situation based on examples of similar situations that initially come to mind.
Vivid examples in the news often cause an availability heuristic.
ex. More Americans die from diabetes and stomach cancer than from homicide and car accidents, by a ratio of nearly 2:1. Many people guess homicide and car accidents, largely due to the publicity they receive and in turn, their availability in the mind.
Availability heuristics
Heuristics can lead to
Overconfidence.
Our confidence is not a good
indicator of how right we are.
ex. belief perseverance, belief bias
maintaining a belief even after it has been proven wrong.
Belief Perseverance
People will tend to accept any and all conclusions that fit in with their systems of belief, without challenge or any deep consideration of what they are actually agreeing with.
Belief Bias
The tendency to fall into established thought patterns.
Fixating on one particular way to solve a problem
Mental set
The inability to see a new use for an object.
Functional Fixedness
We look for evidence to confirm our beliefs and ignore evidence that contradicts them.
People are much more likely to believe people/sources that support their existing beliefs
Confirmation Bias
The way something is worded affects how it sounds
Framing
Learning that has persisted over time
Information that has been acquired, stored, and can be retrieved
Memory
remember the first and last items better than those in the middle
Serial position effect
remember the first thing
Primacy Effect
remember the last thing
Recency Effect
Remember something that sticks out
Semantic Distinctiveness
Remember something said multiple times
Rehearsal Effect
Make something up
Constructive Memory
Meaningful chunks make it easier to remember
Chunking
A mnemonic device that is used to memorize lists that need to be in order
peg words
Vivid memory of a major emotionally significant event
ex. JFK assassination, 9/11, Boston marathon bombing
Flashbulb Memory
Recall is stronger when a subject is present in the same environment in which the original memory was formed
ex. need to sharpen pencil, go downstairs to do it and forget, remember when you go back upstairs
Context Dependent Memory
Remember memories that align with the mood you are in
ex. you get into your top college, you are excited/happy, you remember the time you won the state championship
Mood Congruent Memory
The steps of the memory process
encoding, storage, retrieval
The processing of getting information into the memory system.
Encoding
The retention of encoded material over time.
Storage
The process of getting the information out of memory storage.
Retrieval
A split second holding tank for ALL sensory information.
- large capacity, contains sensory information, very brief retention of images
Iconic Memory - Visual (holds for 1-2 seconds)
Echoic Memory – Auditory (holds for 2-5 seconds)
Sensory Memory
The stuff we encode from the sensory goes to here.
Events are encoded visually, acoustically, or semantically (through meaning).
Holds about 7 (plus or minus 2) items for about 20 seconds.
AKA Working Memory
- limited capacity, brief storage of items, involved in conscious processing of information
Short term memory
Unlimited storehouse of information.
Explicit memories = the facts and experiences we can consciously know and declare (aka declarative memories)
Implicit memories (aka procedural memory) = automatic processing, happens without our awareness (aka non-declarative memories)
- unlimited capacity, storage thought by some to be permanent, information organized and indexed
Long term memory
Examples of encoding errors (using Snow White)
naming the 7 dwarfs = doc, dopey, grumpy, sneezy, sleepy, happy, bashful
Semantic encoding error - i.e. know there’s a very smart dwarf, but can’t remember it’s Doc
Acoustic encoding error – i.e. remember Dumpy or Bumpy but not Grumpy
Visual encoding error – i.e. all dwarfs have beards, but Dopey doesn’t
Structural encoding error – i.e. all dwarfs names ending in “y”
you must retrieve the information from your memory
ex. fill-in-the blank or essay tests
Recall
you must identify the target from possible targets
ex. multiple-choice tests
Recognition
Eyewitness recall
Humans are bad eyewitnesses
Elizabeth Loftus:
- Framing of questions can lead to false memories (“leading questions”)
- Reconsolidation = every time you retrieve/recall a memory it can change
Forgetting
Decay = what we learn we can quickly forget
Proactive interference = old interferes with new
Retroactive interference = new interferes with old
Mnemonic Device to remember types of forgetting
P.O.R.N.
Proactive
Old interferes w/ new
Retroactive
New interferes w/ old
How to help remember
- Chunking
- Mnemonics (ex. Peg words)
- Spacing effect
- Make things personally meaningful (shallow processing vs deep processing)
- Rehearsal (studying/going over it again)
Spacing effect
- do not cram
- learning is more effective when study sessions are spaced out
- shows that more information is encoded into long-term memory by spaced study sessions
memory loss before accident/event, more common, usually temporary
Retrograde amnesia
memory loss since accident/event (hippocampus damage - can’t form new memories post accident), less common
Anterograde amnesia
forget where you heard something from
Source misattribution/Source amnesia
storage decay over time
Transience
tip-of-tongue phenomenon
Blocking
not paying attention
Absentmindedness
Hippocampus and memory
Needed for new memories ( ex. Clive had hippocampus damage so can’t remember anything)
Part of limbic system
Lateralized (different parts = different functions)
Active during delta waves sleep while memories are processed
Neurons in hippocampus release acetylcholine, needed for memory, Ach enables learning and memory, Alzheimer’s is caused by Ach producing neurons deteriorate
Cerebellum and memory
In hind brain (looks like a leaf)
balance and coordination
Needed for conditioned responses and procedural memories (along parts of limbic system)
- Ex. Clive Wearing could still remember how to play the piano
Frontal lobes and memory
Works in conjunction with part of the limbic system
Needed to stimulate working memory (aka short term memory)
Left and Right lobes process
different memories
Amygdala and memory
Emotional limbic system
Big role in the formation and storage of unconscious memories
Especially very emotional/stressful ones can be seared into memory
Automatic memory processing
implicit memories (nondeclarative) without conscious recall
processed in cerebellum and basal ganglia
- ex. space and time and frequency (where you ate for dinner yesterday), motor and cognitive skills (riding a bike), classical conditioning (reaction to the dentist’s office)
Effortful memory processing
Explicit memories (declarative) with conscious recall
Processed in hippocampus and frontal lobes
- ex. facts and general knowledge (this module’s concepts), personally experienced events (family holidays)
our spoken, written, or gestured work, is the way we communicate meaning to ourselves and others.
Language
Phonemes
the smallest distinctive sound
ex. bat, has three phonemes
b · a · t
ex. chat, has three phonemes
ch · a · t
Morphemes
smallest unit that carries meaning
Milk = milk
Pumpkin = pump . kin
Nature of language
Language Acquisition– Noam Chomsky (linguist during the time of Genie, came up with the idea of critical period)
Mastery of language early w/out formal education
Infants have entire range of phonemes
Learn nouns first
Overgeneralizations – I goed to the park (instead of went)
Speed of learning (super high when you are young)
Nurture of Language
Learn parent’s language – “lose” phonemes not in language
- ex. A Christmas Story ( fararara instead of falalala due to Chinese language)
Models parent
Whorfian Hypothesis
Linguistic Determinism: Benjamin Lee Whorf
One’s language influences the way one thinks
- Today deemed to harsh, as we all think about things that have no words
an impairment in speech comprehension and/or production
Aphasia
Explicit memories
the facts and experiences we can consciously know and declare (aka declarative memories)
Processed in hippocampus and frontal lobes
- ex. facts and general knowledge (remember items on your shopping list or your friends’ birthdays), personally experienced events (family holidays)
Implicit memories
(aka procedural memory) automatic processing, happens without our awareness / without conscious recall (aka non-declarative memories)
processed in cerebellum and basal ganglia
- ex. space and time and frequency (where you ate for dinner yesterday), motor and cognitive skills (riding a bike), classical conditioning (reaction to the dentist’s office)
