Unit 7: Cognition

Question 1

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

Answer 1

Memory

Question 2

The processing of information into the memory system–for example, by extracting meaning.

Answer 2

Encoding

Question 3

The process of retaining encoded information over time.

Answer 3

Storage

Question 4

The process of getting information out of memory storage.

Answer 4

Retrieval

Question 5

The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.

Answer 5

Parallel Processing

Question 6

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

Answer 6

Sensory memory

Question 7

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

Answer 7

Short-term memory

Question 8

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

Answer 8

Long-term memory

Question 9

A newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spacial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.

Answer 9

Working Memory

Question 10

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

Answer 10

Explicit memory

Question 11

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

Answer 11

Effortful processing

Question 12

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

Answer 12

Automatic processing

Question 13

Retention independent of conscious recollection.

Answer 13

Implicit memory

Question 14

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

Answer 14

Iconic memory

Question 15

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

Answer 15

Echoic memory

Question 16

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

Answer 16

Chunking

Question 17

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

Answer 17

Mnemonics

Question 18

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

Answer 18

Spacing Effect

Question 19

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

Answer 19

Testing Effect

Question 20

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

Answer 20

Shallow Processing

Question 21

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

Answer 21

Deep Processing

Question 22

A neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage.

Answer 22

Hippocampus

Question 23

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Answer 23

Flashbulb Memory

Question 24

An increase in a cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

Answer 24

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

Question 25

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

Answer 25

Recall

Question 26

A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.

Answer 26

Recognition

Question 27

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

Answer 27

Relearning

Question 28

The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response.

Answer 28

Priming

Question 29

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

Answer 29

Mood-Congruent Memory

Question 30

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

Answer 30

Serial Position Effect

Question 31

The inability to form new memories.

Answer 31

Anterograde Amnesia

Question 32

The inability to retrieve information from one’s past.

Answer 32

Retrograde Amnesia

Question 33

The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.

Answer 33

Proactive Interference

Question 34

The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information.

Answer 34

Retroactive Interference

Question 35

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

Answer 35

Repression

Question 36

Incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event.

Answer 36

Misinformation Effect

Question 37

Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined. At the heart of many false memories along with the misinformation effect.

Answer 37

Source Amnesia

Question 38

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

Answer 38

Déjà Vu

Question 39

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

Answer 39

Cognition

Question 40

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

Answer 40

Concept

Question 41

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

Answer 41

Prototype

Question 42

The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.

Answer 42

Creativity

Question 43

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

Answer 43

Convergent Thinking

Question 44

Expands the number of possible problem solutions (creative thinking that diverges in different directions).

Answer 44

Divergent Thinking

Question 45

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

Answer 45

Algorithm

Question 46

A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgeemnts and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than *algorithms. *

Answer 46

Heuristic

Question 47

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

Answer 47

Insight

Question 48

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

Answer 48

Confirmation Bias

Question 49

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

Answer 49

Mental Set

Question 50

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

Answer 50

Intuition

Question 51

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

Answer 51

Representative Heuristic

Question 52

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.

Answer 52

Availability Heuristic

Question 53

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

Answer 53

Overconfidence

Question 54

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

Answer 54

Belief Perseverance

Question 55

The way an issue is posed; how an issue is ____ can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

Answer 55

Framing

Question 56

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

Answer 56

Language

Question 57

In a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.

Answer 57

Phoneme

Question 58

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

Answer 58

Morpheme

Question 59

In a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. In a given language, *semantics *is the set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and *syntax *is the set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.

Answer 59

Grammar

Question 60

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

Answer 60

Babbling Stage

Question 61

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

Answer 61

One-Word Stage

Question 62

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

Answer 62

two-word stage

Question 63

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

Answer 63

telegraphic speech

Question 64

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

Answer 64

aphasia

Question 65

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

Answer 65

Broca’s Area

Question 66

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

Answer 66

Wernicke’s area

Question 67

Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think.

Answer 67

Linguistic Determinism