Cognitive Psychology Vocab

Question 1

the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information

Answer 1

memory

Question 2

a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier

ex: fill in the blank test

Answer 2

recall

Question 3

a measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned

ex: multiple choice test

Answer 3

recognition

Question 4

a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again

ex: studying for midterms at school

Answer 4

relearning

Question 5

the process of getting information into the memory system

ex: someone gives you their phone number

Answer 5

encoding

Question 6

the process of retaining encoded information over time

ex: you remember the phone number for future reference

Answer 6

storage

Question 7

the process of getting information out of memory storage

ex: deciding to call the person and remembering their phone number to type

Answer 7

retrieval

Question 8

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

ex: when you see a car coming, you process its shape, color, and size all at once

Answer 8

parallel processing

Question 9

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

ex: feeling a raindrop, your memory records the sensation so that you can recognize it

Answer 9

sensory memory

Question 10

activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as digits of a phone number while calling, before the information is stored or forgotten

Answer 10

short-term memory

Question 11

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system (includes knowledge, skills, and experiences)

ex: a wedding, birthday, any important day/event

Answer 11

long-term memory

Question 12

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

ex: linking information you’re reading to information you already previously knew

Answer 12

working memory

Question 13

retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare”

ex: knowing how many continents there are, remembering how to solve a math problem

Answer 13

explicit memory

Question 14

retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection (also called nondeclarative memory)

ex: riding a bike, singing a familiar song, brushing your teeth

Answer 14

implicit memory

Question 15

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

ex: reading something and understanding or trying to memorize your class schedule

Answer 15

effortful processing

Question 16

unconscious encoding of incidental information and of well learned information

ex: space, time, frequency, word meanings

Answer 16

automatic processing

Question 17

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli, a picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

ex: seeing a billboard while driving by in a car, riding a train and seeing a cow pasture

Answer 17

iconic memory

Question 18

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3-4 seconds

ex: you’re in class and your attention drifts to thoughts of the weekend; suddenly your teacher says, “what did I just say?”; you can recover the last few words

Answer 18

echoic memory

Question 19

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

ex: you hear the number sequence 4-2-3-5 but memorize it as 42-35

Answer 19

chunking

Question 20

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

ex: in this sequence of words: bicycle, void, cigarette, inherent, fire; you are most likely to remember bicycle, cigarette, and fire because they have a visual image

Answer 20

mnemonics

Question 21

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

ex: Mia studies in each week, whereas Sarah studies the night before the test; Mia gets a better score

Answer 21

spacing effect

Question 22

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information; sometimes referred to as retrieval practice effect

ex: if you read a piece of text through twenty times, you will not learn it by heart so easily as if you read it ten times while attempting to recite it from time to time and consulting the text when your memory fails

Answer 22

testing effect

Question 23

encoding on a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words

ex: elementary level, bases words off letters or sounds

Answer 23

shallow processing

Question 24

encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention

ex: analyzing text and critical thinking

Answer 24

deep processing

Question 25

explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems ex: specific details like where George Washington lived, where Shakespeare was born, or what did people in Egypt eat in the 1400s

Answer 25

semantic memory

Question 26

explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems ex: where you parked your car this morning, the dinner you had with your friend last month, your mom's birthday

Answer 26

episodic memory

Question 27

a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit (conscious) memories- of facts and events- for storage ex: learning speeches or lines in a play

Answer 27

hippocampus

Question 28

the neural storage of a long-term memory

Answer 28

memory consolidation

Question 29

a clear, sustained memory of an emotionally significant moment or event ex: assassination of JFK, 9/11

Answer 29

flashbulb memory

Question 30

an increase in a cell's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory

Answer 30

long term potentiation

Question 31

the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory ex: a child sees a bag of candy next to a red bench; the next time they see a bench they think of/look for candy

Answer 31

priming

Question 32

the idea that cues and contexts specific to particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it ex: if you study for a test in a specific room, you will perform better on that test if you take it in the same room

Answer 32

encoding specificity principle

Question 33

the tendency to recall experience that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood ex: if we are happy, we will remember the positive things about that particular time

Answer 33

mood-congruent memory

Question 34

our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list

Answer 34

serial position effect

Question 35

an inability to form new memories

Answer 35

anterograde amnesia

Question 36

an inability to retrieve one's past

Answer 36

retrograde amnesia

Question 37

the forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information

Answer 37

proactive interference

Question 38

the backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old information

Answer 38

retroactive interference

Question 39

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

Answer 39

repression

Question 40

a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again

Answer 40

reconsolidation

Question 41

occurs when misleading information has distorted one's memory of an event

Answer 41

misinformation effect

Question 42

faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined; it is at the heart of many false memories

Answer 42

source amnesia

Question 43

the eerie sense that "I've experienced this before"; cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval from an earlier experience

Answer 43

deja vu

Question 44

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Answer 44

cognition

Question 45

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

Answer 45

concept

Question 46

a mental image or best example of a category (our assumptions or stereotypes of people)

Answer 46

prototype

Question 47

the ability to produce new and valuable ideas

Answer 47

creativity

Question 48

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

Answer 48

convergent thinking

Question 49

expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions

Answer 49

divergent thinking

Question 50

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem

Answer 50

algorithm

Question 51

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently

Answer 51

heuristic

Question 52

a sudden realization of a problem's solution

Answer 52

insight

Question 53

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

Answer 53

confirmation bias

Question 54

in cognition, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem solving

Answer 54

functional fixedness

Question 55

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past

Answer 55

mental set

Question 56

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning

Answer 56

intuition

Question 57

estimate the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information

Answer 57

representativeness heuristic

Question 58

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

Answer 58

availability heuristic

Question 59

the tendency to be more confident than correct-to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgements

Answer 59

overconfidence

Question 60

clinging to one's initial conception after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

Answer 60

belief perserverance

Question 61

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is worded can significantly affect decisions and judgements

Answer 61

framing

Question 62

our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

Answer 62

language

Question 63

in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit ex: the word cat contains three phonemes c-a-t

Answer 63

phoneme

Question 64

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word ex: cat is one morpheme (most words have 2-3 because it can be a prefix or suffix)

Answer 64

morpheme

Question 65

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others

Answer 65

grammar

Question 66

beginning around 4 months, the stage of speech development in which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language

Answer 66

babbling stage

Question 67

the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

Answer 67

one word stage

Question 68

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements

Answer 68

two-word stage

Question 69

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram- "go car"- using mostly nouns and verbs

Answer 69

telegraphic speech

Question 70

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speech) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding)

Answer 70

Aphasia

Question 71

helps control language expression- an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech

Answer 71

Broca's area

Question 72

a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe

Answer 72

Wernicke's area

Question 73

the strong form of Whorf's hypothesis-that language controls the way we think and interpret the world around us

Answer 73

linguistic determinism

Question 74

a powerful data reduction technique that enables researchers to investigate concepts that cannot easily be measured directly

Answer 74

factor analysis

Question 75

your ability to process new information, learn, and solve problems

Answer 75

fluid intelligence

Question 76

your stored knowledge, accumulated over the years.

Answer 76

crystallized intelligence

Question 77

the first commonly used intelligence test specifically designed for adults, which measures intelligence using both verbal and non-verbal tasks

Answer 77

WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale)

Question 78

early IQ test created by Terman that originally measured intelligence by dividing mental age by chronological age and multiplying by 100

Answer 78

Stanford-Binet

Question 79

a general mental ability that underlies multiple specific skills, including verbal, spatial, numerical and mechanical

Answer 79

Spearman's concept of g