Cognition Vocabulary

Explicit memory

Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare"; also declarative memory.

Sensory Memory

The immediate, initial recording of sensory information in the memory system.

State-dependent memory

The improved retrieval of material when one is in the same mental, emotional or drug-induced state that was present when the material was originally learned.

Retrieval

The process of getting information out of memory storage.

Spacing effect

The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.

Belief perseverance

The tendency to hang onto beliefs in the face of contradictory information.

Productive vocabulary

What they can say.

Prototype

A mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to the prototype provides a quick/easy method for including items in a category (i.e. comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin).

Divergent thinking

Begin with a problem and come up with many different solutions.

Single use mnemonics

Designed to improve the recall of a particular bit of information (i.e. ROYGBIV, "spring forward, fall back", etc.)

Telegraphic Speech

Early speech stage in which the child speaks like a telegram- "go car"- using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting "auxiliary" words.

Representative heuristic

Essentially judging people by stereotypes.

Cerebellum

Evidence suggests that the _____ processes implicit memory.

Babbling

First stages in acquiring a language (6-18 months)

Repression Theory

Freud argues that painful memories are self-censored and stored in the unconscious mind.

Concepts

How we organize the world; unit of knowledge used to organize environment.

Misinformation effect

Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.

Gambler's fallacy

Belief that the odds of a chance event increases if the event hasn't occurred recently.

Deep processing

Coding by forming associations between new information and information already stored; makes information more meaningful; elaborative rehearsal.

The primacy effect

Enhanced ability to recall items from the beginning of a list.

Availability Heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind we presume such events are common.

Semantic memories

For general, factual knowledge (i.e. temperature water boils at).

Elizabeth Loftus

Identified several aspects of eyewitness testimony: A. The accuracy of eyewitness testimony can be influenced by the way questions are phrased B. Children are particularly susceptible to having false memories planted C. There is little correlation between witness certainty and witness accuracy.

Phoneme

In a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit; 40-60 in the English language; humans are capable of recognizing only about 100; most languages have 20-80.

Visual sensory register

Maintains an image of what we have seen for a few tenths of a second after the image appears; George Sperling studied recall of letters in a matrix; iconic memory.

Auditory sensory register

Maintains the sounds we have called for 3-4 seconds after stimulus; echoic memory.

Cognition

Mental activity associated with processing, understanding and communicating information.

Concept

Mental grouping of similar objects, events, or people (i.e. address, mall, etc.)

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.

Storage

The retention of encoded information over time.

Semantics

The set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words and sentences in a given language; also the study of meaning.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to seek information that supports one's decisions and beliefs while ignoring disconfirming information; seek out information to prove us right.

Functional fixedness

The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving.

Algorithm

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier- but also more error prone- use of heuristics.

Flashbulb memory

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Heuristics

A rule of thumb strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.

Insight

A sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; contrasts with strategy-based solutions.

Mental set

A tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, especially a way that has been successful in the past but may or may not be helpful in solving a new problem.

Short-term Memory

Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the 7 digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten.

Directed thinking

Aimed at a goal (i.e. how to solve a math problem).

Long-term potentiation

An increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

Critical period

An optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development.

Decay Theory

Argues that forgetting is caused by the passage of time.

Interference Theory

Argues that retrieval failure occurs when established associations conflict with what we are trying to recall.

Convergent thinking

Begin with a problem and come up with one solution.

Overextension

Child uses a word to describe a larger set of objects (i.e. turkey/flamingo)

Unnecessary constraints

Effective problem solving requires specifying all the constraints governing a problem without assuming any constraints that don't exist.

The recency effect

Enhanced ability to recall items from the end of a list.

Morpheme

In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning (i.e. a prefix).

Shallow processing

Involves simple repetition of the presented material; not an effective way to encode material; maintenance rehearsal.

Barriers to problem solving

Irrelevant information, functional fixedness, mental set, unnecessary constraints, confirmation bias, belief perseverance, overconfidence effect, framing

Non-directed thinking

Just thinking, day dreaming; usually image laden (i.e. what is the meaning of life?).

Mnemonic device

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

Peg Word

One is bun... two is shoe...

Serial Positions effect

Our tendency to recall best the last and first items on a list.

Irrelevant information

People focus on numerical information even if it is not relevant.

Overconfidence effect

People put too much faith in their own estimates, beliefs, decisions.

Ill-defined problems

Problems in which one or more elements among the initial state, the goal state and the constraints are incompletely and unclearly stated.

Well-defined problems

Problems in which the initial state, the goal state and the constraints are clearly specified.

Deductive reasoning

Process of drawing conclusions from evidence involving one or more general premises; philosophical; general premises --> conclusion.

Inductive reasoning

Process of drawing general explanatory conclusions based on evidence involving specific facts or observations; evidence --> conclusion.

Framing

Refers to how decision issues are posed or how choices are structured.

Implicit memory

Retention without conscious recollection (of skills and dispositions); also procedural memory.

Category

Something that has a set of members- given some label, have some defining attribute.

Cognitive Psychology

Study of these mental activities: concept formation, problem solving, decision making, judgment formation; study of both logical/illogical thinking.

Hippocampus

The _____ is where explicit memories are processed and stored in the cortex.

Retroactive interference

The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information.

Proactive interference

The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.

Reconstructive memory

The process of piecing together memories by fitting them to a meaningful plan or organization; accounts for much of the unaccuracy of our recollections- we fill in gaps with assumptions because we are uncomfortable with gaps.

Encoding

The processing of information into the memory system- for example, by extracting meaning.

Long-term Memory

The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.

Episodic memories

Those for personally experienced events (i.e. what you ate this morning).

Procedural memories

Those that relate to skills/habits (i.e. how to brush your teeth).

Compensatory

Type of decision-making in which we allow attractive attributes to compensate for unattractive attributes (i.e. list good/bad in decisions)

Non-compensatory

Type of decision-making in which you do not allow for some attributes to compensate for others.

Receptive vocabulary

What they understand.

Linguistic Relativity

Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think.

Context

You may recall more accurately in the same situation where the event originally took place; may trigger feelings of deja vu.