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