Cognition Chapter 1

Metacognition

Knowledge and control of cognitive processes; metacognition helps to supervise the way one selects and uses memory strategies. The general term, metacognition, includes metamemory, metacomprehension, and metalinguistics. It is also related to both the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon and the feeling of knowing.

Theme 5

Many cognitive processes rely on both bottom-up and top-down processing.

Computer Simulation

Programming a computer to perform a specific cognitive task in the same way that humans actually perform this task. Also called COMPUTER MODELLING.

Computer Modelling

Programming a computer to perform a specific cognitive task in the same way that humans actually perform this task. Also called COMPUTER SIMULATION.

Empirical Evidence

Scientific evidence obtained by careful observation and experimentation.

Brain Lesion

Specific brain damage caused by strokes, tumors, blows to the head, accidents, or other traumas.

Individual Differences

Systematic variation in the way that groups of people perform on the same cognitive task.

Working Memory

The brief, immediate memory for the limited amount of material that a person is currently processing. Part of working memory also actively coordinates ongoing mental activities. In current research, the term WORKING MEMORY is more popular than a similar but older term, SHORT-TERM MEMORY.

Theme 1

The cognitive processes are active, rather than passive.

Theme 4

The cognitive processes are interrelated with one another; they do not operate in isolation.

Theme 2

The cognitive processes are remarkably efficient and accurate.

Theme 3

The cognitive processes handle positive information better than negative information.

Bottom-Up Processing

The kind of cognitive processing that emphasizes stimulus characteristics in object recognition and other cognitive tasks. For example, the physical stimuli from the environment are registered on the sensory receptors. This information is then passed on to higher, more sophisticated levels in the cognitive system.

Top-Down Processing

The kind of cognitive processing that emphasizes the importance of concepts, expectations, and memory in object recognition and other cognitive tasks.

Long-term Memory

The large-capacity memory for experiences and information accumulated throughout one's lifetime. Atkinson and Shiffrin proposed that information stored in long-term memory is relatively permanent and not likely to be lost.

Sensory Memory

The large-capacity storage system that records information from each of the senses with reasonable accuracy.

Imagery

The mental representation of stimuli when those stimuli are not physically present. Sensory receptors do not receive any input when a mental image is created.

Cerebral Cortex

The outer layer of the brain that is essential for the cognitive processes.

Short-term Memory

The part of memory that holds only the small amount of information that a person is actively using. The more current term for this type of memory is WORKING MEMORY.

Memory

The process of maintaining information over time.

Atkinson-Shiffrin Model

The proposal that memory involves a sequence of separate steps; in each step, information is transferred from one storage area to another.

Gestalt Psychology

The theoretical approach emphasizing that: 1. Humans actively organize what they see. 2. They see patterns. 3. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Cognition

mental activity, including the acquisition, storage, transformation, and use of knowledge

Cognitive Psychology

1. Synonym for cognition 2. The theoretical approach to psychology that focuses on studying people's thought processes and knowledge

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

A branch of computer science that explores human cognitive processes by creating computer models. These models demonstrate "intelligent behavior" and also accomplish the same tasks that humans do.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

A method of measuring brain activity, based on the principle that oxygen-rich blood is an index of brain activity. A magnetic field produces changes in the oxygen atoms in the brain while a person performs a cognitive task. A scanning device takes a "photo" of the changes.

Social Cognitive Neuroscience

A new discipline that uses neuroscience techniques to explore the kind of cognitive processes used in interactions with other people.

Consciousness

A person's awareness of the external world and of her or his own perceptions, images, thoughts, memories, and feelings.

Semantic Memory

A person's organized knowledge about the world, including knowledge about words and other factual information.

Ecological Validity

A principle of research design in which the research uses condition that are similar to the natural setting where the results will be applied.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET Scan)

A procedure for measuring blood flow in the brain by injecting the participant with a radioactive chemical, just before this person performs a cognitive task. A special camera makes an image of this accumulated radioactive chemical in the regions of the brain active during the task.

Event-Related Potential (ERP) Technique

A procedure for recording the very brief, small fluctuations in the brain's electrical activity in response to a stimulus such as an auditory tone.

Major Depression

A psychological disorder characterized by feeling sad, discouraged, and hopeless; fatigue and lack of interest in leisure activities are also common This disorder can interfere with the ability to perform daily cognitive and physical tasks.

Recency Effect

A tendency for items at the end of a list to be recalled better than items in the middle of a list.

Cognitive Approach

A theoretical orientation that emphasizes people's thought processes and their knowledge.

Connectionist Approach

A theory describing cognitive processing in terms of networks that link together neuron-like units. These networks perform operations simultaneously and in parallel, rather than one step at a time. See PARALLEL DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING APPROACH (PDP).

Neural-Network Approach

A theory describing cognitive processing in terms of networks that link together neuron-like units. These networks perform operations simultaneously and in parallel, rather than one step at a time. See PARALLEL DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING APPROACH (PDP).

Information-Processing Approach

A theory of cognition proposing that: 1. Mental processes are similar to the operations of a computer. 2. Information progresses through the cognitive system in a series of stages, one step at a time.

Parallel Processing

A type of cognitive processing in which a person performs many operations simultaneously, in contrast to SERIAL PROCESSING.

Serial Processing

A type of cognitive processing in which a person performs operations one item at a time, rather than simultaneously, in contrast to PARALLEL PROCESSING.

Computer Metaphor

A way of describing cognition as a complex, multipurpose machine that processes information quickly and accurately.

Pure AI

An approach that designs a computer program to accomplish a cognitive task as efficiently as possible, even if the computer's processes are completely different from the processes used by humans.

Behaviorism

An approach to psychology that focuses on objective, observable reactions to stimuli in the environment.

Cognitive Neuroscience

An approach to studying mental activity that uses the research techniques of cognitive psychology, along with various neuroscience techniques for assessing the structure and function of the brain.

Introspection

An early approach to studying mental activity, in which carefully trained observers systematically analyzed their own sensations and reported them as objectively as possible, under standardized conditions.

Cognitive Science

An interdisciplinary field that tries to answer questions about the mind. Cognitive science includes cognitive psychology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, philosophy, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, and economics.

Schema

Generalized, well-integrated knowledge about a situation, an event, or a person. Schemas allow people to predict what will happen in a new situation. These predictions are generally correct.

Gestalt

In perception and problem solving, an overall quality that transcends the individual elements in the stimulus.

Operational Definition

In psychology research, a precise definition that specifies exactly how researchers will measure a concept.

Discourse

Interrelated units of language that are longer than a sentence.