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.