AP Psychology Chapter 7: Cognition Part 1/2
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
A field of study in which computer programs are designed to simulate human cognitive abilities such as reasoning, learning, and understanding language.
Retrieval Cue
A stimulus that provides a trigger to get an item out of memory.
Availability Heuristic
A tendency to estimate the probability of certain events in terms of how readily they come to mind.
Priming
Activating specific associations in memory either consciously or unconsciously.
Cognition
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering.
Long-Term Potentiation or LTP
An increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation and possibly the neural basis for learning and memory, involving an increase in the efficiency with which signals are sent across the synapses within neural networks.
Mental Sets
Barriers to problem solving that occur when we apply only methods that have worked in the past rather than trying new or different strategies.
Thalamus
Is involved in encoding sensory memory into STM.
Hippocampus
Is involved in putting information from STM into LTM.
Amygdala
Is involved in the storage of emotional memories.
Interference
Learning some items prevents retrieving others, especially when the items are similar.
Procedural Memory
Memories of perceptual, motor, and cognitive skills.
Retrograde Amnesia
Memory loss for a segment of the past, usually around the time of an accident.
Explicit Memory (Declarative)
Memory of facts and experiences that one consciously knows and can verbalize. Explicit memory is subdivided into semantic memory and episodic memory.
Semantic Memory
Memory of general knowledge or objective facts.
Episodic Memory
Memory of personally experienced events.
Sensory Memory
Memory system that holds external events from the senses for up to a few seconds.
Mnemonic Devices
Memory tricks or strategies to make information easier to remember.
Concepts
Mental representations of related things.
Semantic Networks
More irregular and distorted systems than strict hierarchies, with multiple links from one concept to others.
Recall
Retrieval of information from LTM in the absence of any other information or cues such as for an essay question or fill-in on a test.
Reconstruction
Retrieval that can be distorted by adding, dropping, or changing details to complete a picture from incomplete stored information.
Deep Processing
Semantic encoding involves forming an association or attaching meaning to a sensory impression and results in longer-lasting memories.
Phonemes
Smallest units of sound in spoken language.
Distributed Practice
Spreading out the memorization of information or the learning of skills over several sessions typically produces better retrieval than massed practice.
Shallow Processing
Structural encoding emphasizes structure of incoming sensory information.
Cognitive illusion
Systematic way of thinking that is responsible for an error in judgment.
Hierarchies
Systems in which concepts are arranged from more general to more specific classes.
Anchoring Effect
Tendency to be influenced by a suggested reference point, pulling our response toward that point.
Representativeness Heuristic
Tendency to judge the likelihood of things according to how they relate to a prototype.
Confirmation Bias
Tendency to notice or seek information that already supports our preconceptions and ignore information that refutes our ideas.
Mood Congruence (Mood-Dependent Memory)
Tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood.
State-Dependent Memory Effect
Tendency to recall information better when in the same internal state as when the information was encoded.
Levels of Processing Theory or Semantic Network Theory
The ability to form memories depends upon the depth of the processing.
Creativity
The ability to think about a problem or idea in new and unusual ways to come up with unconventional solutions.
Visual Encoding
The encoding of picture images.
Acoustic Encoding
The encoding of sound, especially the sound of words.
Selective Attention
The focusing of awareness on stimuli in sensory memory that facilitates its encoding into STM.
Forgetting
The inability to retrieve previously stored information. Forgetting results from failure to encode, decay of stored memories, or inability to access stored information.
Prototypes
The most typical examples of a concept.
Tip-Of-The-Tongue Phenomenon
The often temporary inability to access information accompanied by a feeling that the information is in LTM.
Retroactive Inference
The process by which new memories prevent the retrieval of older memories.
Proactive Interference
The process by which old memories prevent the retrieval of newer memories.
Retrieval
The process of getting information out of memory storage.
Encoding
The process of putting information into the memory system.
Storage
The retention of encoded information over time.
Insight Learning
The sudden appearance (often creative) or awareness of a solution to a problem.
Belief Bias
The tendency for our preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, making illogical conclusions seem valid or logical conclusions seem invalid.
Hindsight Bias
The tendency to falsely report, after the event, that we correctly predicted the outcome of the event.
Repression
The tendency to forget unpleasant or traumatic memories hidden in the unconscious mind according to Freud.
Belief Perseverance
The tendency to hold onto a belief after the basis for the belief is discredited.
Overconfidence Bias
The tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.
Echoic Memory
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli.
Iconic Memory
A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli.
Baddeley's Working Memory Model
A more complex model than just passive STM; includes a phonological loop, visuospatial working memory, and the central executive.
Parallel Processing
A natural mode of information processing that involves several information streams simultaneously.
Heuristic
A problem-solving strategy used as a mental shortcut to quickly simplify and solve a problem, but that does not guarantee a correct solution.
Script
A schema for an event.
Serial Position Effect
Better recall for information that comes at the beginning (Primacy Effect) and at the end of a list of words (Recency Effect).
Neural Network or Parallel Processing Model
Clusters of neurons that are interconnected (and computer models based on neuronlike systems) process information simultaneously, automatically, and without our awareness.
Language
Communication system based on words and grammar; spoken, written, or gestured words and the way they are combined to communicate meaning from person to person and to transmit civilization's accumulated knowledge.
Rehearsal
Conscious repetition of information to either maintain information in STM or to encode it for storage.
Overlearning
Continuing to practice after memorizing information makes it more resistant to forgetting.
Convergent Thinking
Conventional thinking directed toward a single correct solution.
Massed Practice
Cramming the memorization of information or the learning of skills into one session.
Effortful Processing
Encoding that requires our attention and conscious effort.
Information Processing Model of Memory
Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval.
Feature Extraction (Pattern Recognition)
Finding a match for new raw information in sensory storage by actively searching through long-term memory.
Schemas
Frameworks of basic ideas and preconceptions about people, objects, and events based on past experience.
Brainstorming
Generating lots of possible solutions to a problem without making prior evaluative judgments.
Chunking
Grouping information into meaningful units increasing the capacity of STM.
Memory
Human capacity to register, retain, and remember information.
Recognition
Identification of something as familiar such as multiple choice and matching questions on a test.
Anterograde Amnesia
Inability to put new information into explicit memory resulting from damage to hippocampus; no new semantic memories are formed.
Misinformation Effect
Incorporation of misleading information into memories of a given event.
Context-Dependent Memory
Physical setting in which a person learns information is encoded along with the information and becomes part of the memory trace.
Algorithm
Problem-solving strategy that involves a step-by-step procedure that guarantees a solution to certain types of problems.
Confabulation
Process of combining and substituting memories from events other than the one you're trying to remember.
Cerebellum
Processes implicit memories and seems to store procedural memory and classically conditioned memories.
Self-Reference Effect or Self-Referent Encoding
Processing information deemed important or relevant more deeply, making it easier to recall.
Incubation
Putting aside a problem temporarily; allows the problem solver to look at the problem from a different perspective.
Deductive Reasoning
Reasoning from the general to the specific.
Inductive Reasoning
Reasoning from the specific to the general.
Long-Term Memory
Relatively permanent storage with unlimited capacity, LTM is subdivided into explicit (declarative) memory and implicit memory.
Elaborative Rehearsal
Repetition that creates associations between the new memory and existing memories stored in LTM.
Maintenance Rehearsal
Repetition that keeps information in STM about 20 seconds.
Implicit Memory (Nondeclarative)
Retention without conscious recollection of learning the skills and dispositions.
Encoding Specificity Principle
Retrieval depends upon the match between the way information is encoded and the way it is retrieved.
Framing
The way an issue is stated. How an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.
Connectionism
Theory that memory is stored throughout the brain in connections between neurons, many of which can work together to process a single memory.
Metacognition
Thinking about how you think.
Divergent Thinking
Thinking that produces many alternatives or ideas.
Atkinson-Shiffrin model
Three memory systems—sensory, short-term, and long-term.
Trial and Error
Trying possible solutions and discarding those that fail to solve the problem.
Automatic Processing
Unconscious encoding of information about space, time, and frequency that occurs without interfering with our thinking about other things.
Peg Word System
Uses association of terms to be remembered with a memorized scheme ("One is a bun, two is...").
Method of Loci
Uses visualization with familiar objects on a path to recall information in a list.
Flashbulb Memory
Vivid memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.
Functional Fixedness
When we are not able to recognize novel uses for an object because we are so familiar with its common use.
Short-Term Memory
Working memory, 20 seconds before forgotten; capacity of seven plus or minus two items.