AP Psychology Cognition- Memory, Thinking, Language

Convergent Thinking

finding a single answer to a clearly defined question

Maintenance Rehearsal

A type of effortful processing: Repetition (shallow processing)

Spacing Effect

Studying over time

Framing

They way things are presented, affecting our decision making

Encoding

converting information into a format that your brain recognizes

Priming

"memoryless memories", unconsciously encoding something

Retroactive Interference

(backward acting): new learning, interferes with old learning ----- NO

Explicit Memories

(declarative) memories that you can say/ state

Proactive Interference

(forward acting): old learning interferes with new learning ----- ON

Hierarchies

A way to organize information. Broad topic>Subtopic>Sub-subtopic

Receptive Language

Ability to comprehend speech (4 months old)

Loss of Memory

Amnesia

Semantic Encoding

Encoding of meaning

Visual Encoding

Encoding of pictures/ images

Acoustic Encoding

Encoding of sounds

Storage Decay

Even after encoding something well, we may forget it later, what is this called?

B.F. Skinner

Father of operant conditioning, behaviorist- nurture... environment: reinforcement, punishment, neutral

Divergent Thinking

Generating many possible solutions to a problem

Recognition

Identifiying things previously seen (multiple choice)

Long- Term Potentiation

(LTP)

Functional Fixedness

Believing one thing only has one funciton

Recall

Retrieval and reproduction (fill-in-the-blank tests)

Echoic Memory

Sensory register- fleeting auditory perception... lasts for 3-4 seconds

Insight

A revelation, a sudden realization

Intuition

Automatic feeling of thought that does not use reasoning

Belief Perserverance

Cling to beliefs in the face of contrary evidence

Expertise, Venturesome Personality, Creative Environment, Intrinsic Motivation, Imaginative Thinking Skills

Creativity aspects

Outcome stimulation

Imaging the outcome of a situation

Process Stimulation

Imagining the work to get to the outcome

Representative Heuristic

Judging the likelihood of things based on how well they fit your prototype

Availability Heuristic

Making judgments based on most available memories

Prototype

Mental image that best exemplifies a category for ourself

Misattribution, Bias, Suggestibility

Name the sins of Distortion D(MBS)

Blocking, Absent- Mindedness, Transcience

Name the sins of memory in Forgetting F(BAT)

Transcience

One sin of forgetting- Decay over time (use it or lose it!)

Blocking

One sin of forgetting- cannot get to old info (you know it, but can't figure it out)

Absent-mindedness

One sin of forgetting- inattention to detal

Confirmation Bias

Only looking for information that supports your belief

Persistance

Only sin of Intrusion I(P)- Unwanted memories won't go away (tune of a song)- PTSD

Automatic Processing

Unconscious encoding of incidental information- Effortless processing (space, time, frequency, and well-learned info)

Source Amnesia

When we don't remember where we got the info from- also referred to as misattribution

Parallel Processing

many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions

Syntax

rules for the order in which we put words in sentences (English: adjective before noun)

Semantics

rules to derive meaning from morphemes, words and sentences (-s, -ed, re-)

Relearning

the 2nd time you learn something, you learn it faster

Implicit Memories

(nondeclarative) retention independent of conscious recollection- procedural memories

Telegraphic Speech

2 word utterances at 2 years (go car... want juice)

Retrieval Cues

Anchor points used to access the target information when you want to retrieve it later

Elaborative Rehearsal

At type of effortful processing: Making connections, applying etc. (deep processing)

Bias

Belief affects your recollection

Digits

Is Short-term memory better for remembering digits or letters?

Linguistic Determinism

Language shapes the way you think (affects your perception of reality)

Chomsky

Nature- not just reinforcement, language acquisition device, Universal Grammar, Critical Periods

Misattribution

One sin of distortion- information came from where? (did it come from TV, poster, friend...?)

Suggestibility

One sin of distortion- misinformation becomes truth (told something false, but it lingers in your brain, so you believe it is true)

Overconfidence

Overestimating accuracy of our knowledge and judgments

Algorithm

Problem solving technique- series of steps to arrive at a solution with 100% accuracy (example: a recipe)

Chunking

Putting similar things into categories

Long- Term Memory

Relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system; includes knowledge, skills, and experiences

Serial-Position Effect

Remembering the first (primacy) or last (recency) few words of a list

Storage

Retaining the information that was encoded

Heuristic

Rule of thumb that usually (not always) works (example: playing poker

Universal Grammar

Same linguistic building blocks (nouns, verbs etc.) Chomsky

Iconic Memory

Sensory register- fleeting visual imagery perception... lasts for 1/2 a second

Concepts

Similar things grouped into mental categories

Phonemes

Smallest units of sound (869 in human speech) (only 40 in english language)

Mental Set

Solving something only 1 way and then believing you can solve anything that way

Morphemes

Units of meaning (suffixes, prefixes)

Retrieval Failure

What is it called when learning some items may interfere with retrieving others, especially when the items are similar?

Encoding Failure

When we cannot remember the info we processed

Deja Vu

When you feel as if you've experienced something before

Consolidated

Your memories and learning becomes ______ when you sleep

Flashbulb Memories

clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

Short- Term Memory

holds a few items briefly, such as a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten

Sensory Memory

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

Misinformation effect

incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event

Mnemonic Devices

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

Hippocampus

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

Working Memory

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

Memory

persistence of learning over time through the store and retrieval of information

Mood-Congruent Memories

tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

Productive Language

Ability to produce words

Retrieval

Accessing information for use

Creativity

Ability to create novel and valueable ideas

Self- Reference Effect

Remembering things related to us better than things related to others

One-Word Stage

Stage at 12 months... sounds carry meaning

Babbling Stage

Stage at 4 months (Baby: na-na, da-da-da)

Grammar

System of rules to communicate and understand others

Thinking (cognition)

The mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating