Glossary 2

Question 1

The number of digits a person can remember. Digit span is used a a measure of the capacity of short-term memory. (5)

Answer 1

Digit span

Question 2

Model of pain perception that proposes that pain signals are sent directly from receptors to the brain. (3)

Answer 2

Direct pathway model

Question 3

Occurs when one stimulus interferes with attention to or the processing of another stimulus. (4)

Answer 3

Distraction

Question 4

Occurs when a specific cognition activates many areas of the brain. (2)

Answer 4

Distributed representation

Question 5

Thinking that is open-ended, involving a large number of potential solutions. (12)

Answer 5

Divergent thinking

Question 6

The ability to pay attention to, or carry out, two or more different tasks simultaneously. (4)

Answer 6

Divided attention

Question 7

A situation in which a single dissociation can be demonstrated in one person and the opposite type of single dissociation can be demonstrated in another person (i.e., Person I: function A is present, function B is damaged; Person 2: function A is damaged, function B is present). (2)

Answer 7

Double dissociation

Question 8

The idea that there are two mental systems, one fast and the other slower, that have different capabilities and serve different functions. (13)

Answer 8

Dual systems approach

Question 9

Model of attention that explains selective attention by early filtering out of the unattended message. In Broadbent’s early selection model, the filtering step occurs before the message is analyzed to determine its meaning. (4)

Answer 9

Early selection model

Question 10

Brief sensory memory for auditory stimuli that lasts for a few seconds after a stimulus is extinguished. (5)

Answer 10

Echoic memory

Question 11

Rehearsal that involves thinking about the meaning of an item to be remembered or making connections between that item and prior knowledge. Compare to Maintenance rehearsal. (7)

Answer 11

Elaborative rehearsal

Question 12

Proposal that our knowledge of concepts is based on reactivation of sensory and motor processes that occur when we interact with an object. (9)

Answer 12

Embodied approach

Question 13

The process of acquiring information and transferring it into memory. (7)

Answer 13

Encoding

Question 14

The principle that we learn information together with its context. This means that presence of the context can lead to enhanced memory for the information. (7)

Answer 14

Encoding specificity

Question 15

A phenomenon that accompanies a mechanism but is not actually part of the mechanism. An example of an epiphenomenon is lights that flash on a mainframe computer as it operates. (10)

Answer 15

Epiphenomenon

Question 16

A component added to Baddeley’s original working memory model that serves as a “backup” store that communicates with both LTM and the components of working memory. It holds information longer and has greater capacity than the phonological loop or visuospatial sketch pad. (5)

Answer 16

Episodic buffer

Question 17

During learning in a connectionist network, the difference between the output signal generated by a particular stimulus and the output that actually represents that stimulus. (9)

Answer 17

Error signal

Question 18

An electrical potential, recorded with disc electrodes on a on’s scalp, that reflects the response of many thousands of neurons near the electrode that fire together. The ERP consists of a number of waves that occur at different delays after a stimulus is presented and that can be linked to different functions. For example, the N400 wave occurs in response to a sentence that contains a word that doesn’t fit the meaning of sentence. (5)

Answer 18

Event-related potential (ERP)

Question 19

The idea that many properties of our minds can be traced to the evolutionary principles of natural selection. See also Social exchange theory. (13)

Answer 19

Evolutionary perspective on cognition

Question 20

In categorization, members of a category that a person has experienced in past. (9)

Answer 20

Exemplar

Question 21

The approach to categorisation in which members of a category are judged against exemplars - examples of members of the category that the person has encountered in the past. (9)

Answer 21

Exemplar approach to categorization

Question 22

Emotion that a person predicts he or she will feel for a particular out come of a decision. (13)

Answer 22

Expected emotion

Question 23

The idea that people are basically rational, so if they have all of the relevant information, they will make a decision that results in the most beneficial result. (13)

Answer 23

Expected utility theory

Question 24

A mechanism that causes an organism’s neurons to develop so they respond best to the type of stimulation to which the organism has been exposed. (3)

Answer 24

Experience-dependent plasticity

Question 25

Person who, by devoting a large amount of time to learning about a field and practicing and applying that learning, has become acknowledged as being extremely skilled or knowledgeable in that field. (12)

Answer 25

Expert

Question 26

Memory that involves conscious recollections of events or facts that we have learned in the past. (6)

Answer 26

Explicit memory

Question 27

An area in the temporal cortex that is activated by pictures of bodies and parts of bodies, but not by faces or other objects. (2)

Answer 27

Extrastriate body area (EBA)

Question 28

Testimony by eyewitnesses to a crime about what they saw during commission of the crime. (8)

Answer 28

Eyewitness testimony

Question 29

The reasoning principle that to test a rule, it is necessary to look for situations that would falsify the rule. (13)

Answer 29

Falsification principle

Question 30

In considering the process of categorisation, the idea that things in a particular category resemble each other in a number of ways. This approach can be contrasted with the definitional approach, which states that an object belongs to a category only when it meets a definite set of criteria. (9)

Answer 30

Family resemblance

Question 31

Neurons that respond to specific visual features, such as orientation, size, or the more complex features that make up environmental stimuli. (2)

Answer 31

Feature detectors

Question 32

An approach to object perception, developed by Anne Treisman, that proposes a sequence of stages in which features are first analyzed and then combined to result in perception of an object. (4)

Answer 32

Feature integration theory

Question 33

Searching among distractors for a target item that involves detecting one feature, such as "horizontal." (4)

Answer 33

Feature search

Question 34

Model of attention that proposes a filter that lets attended stimuli through and blocks some or all of the unattended stimuli. (4)

Answer 34

Filter model of attention

Question 35

A technique, based on detection of how water diffuses along the length of nerve fibers, for tracing nerve pathways and determining connections. (2)

Answer 35

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)

Question 36

In perception and attention, a pausing of the eyes on places of interest while observing a scene. (4)

Answer 36

Fixation

Question 37

In problem solving, people's tendency to focus on a specific characteristic of the problem that keeps them from arriving at a solution. See also Functional fixedness. (12)

Answer 37

Fixation

Question 38

Memory for the circumstances surrounding hearing about shocking, highly charged events. It has been claimed that such memories are particularly vivid and accurate. See Narrative rehearsal hypothesis another viewpoint. (8)

Answer 38

Flashbulb memory

Question 39

The second stage of Treisman's feature integration theory. According to the theory, attention causes the combination of features into perception of an object. (4)

Answer 39

Focused attention stage

Question 40

An intense desire to eat a specific food. (10)

Answer 40

Food craving

Question 41

Decisions are influenced by how the choices are stated. (3)

Answer 41

Framing effect

Question 42

A procedure for testing memory in which the participant is asked to remember stimuli that were previously presented. See also Cued recall. (7)

Answer 42

Free recall

Question 43

The lobe in the front of the brain that serves higher functions such as language, thought, memory, and motor functioning. (2)

Answer 43

Frontal lobe

Question 44

An effect that occurs when the ideas a person has about an object's function inhibit the person's ability to use the object for a different function. See also Fixation (in problem solving). (12)

Answer 44

Functional fixedness

Question 45

A brain imaging technique that measures how blood flow changes in response to cognitive activity. (2)

Answer 45

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Question 46

An area in the temporal lobe that contains many neurons that respond selectively to faces. (2)

Answer 46

Fusiform face area (FFA)

Question 47

A sentence in which the meaning that seems to be implied at the beginning of the sentence turns out to be incorrect, based on information that is presented later in the sentence. (11)

Answer 47

Garden path sentence

Question 48

Memory for material is better when a person generates the material him or herself, rather than passively receiving it. (7)

Answer 48

Generation effect

Question 49

A group of psychologists who proposed principles governing perception, such as laws of organization, and a perceptual approach to problem solving involving restructuring. (3)

Answer 49

Gestalt psychologists

Question 50

In a conversation, a speaker should construct sentences so that they contain both given information (information that the listener already knows) and new information (information that the listener is hearing for the first time). (11)

Answer 50

Given-new contract

Question 51

The highest level in Rosch's categorization scheme (e.g., "furniture" or "vehicles"). See also Basic level; Specific level. (9)

Answer 51

Global level

Question 52

In problem solving, the condition that occurs when a problem has been solved. (12)

Answer 52

Goal state

Question 53

Law of perceptual organization stating that points that, when connected, result in straight or smoothly curving lines are seen as belonging together. In addition, lines tend to be seen as following the smoothest path. (3)

Answer 53

Good continuation, principle of

Question 54

Disruption of performance due to damage to a system that occurs only gradually as parts of the system are damaged. This occurs in some cases of brain damage and also when parts of a connectionist network are damaged. (9)

Answer 54

Graceful degradation

Question 55

When amnesia is most severe for events that occurred just prior to an injury and becomes less severe for earlier, more remote events. (7)

Answer 55

Graded amnesia

Question 56

When people in a problem-solving group are encouraged to express whatever ideas come to mind, without censorship. (12)

Answer 56

Group brainstorming

Question 57

A "rule of thumb" that provides a best-guess solution to a problem. (13)

Answer 57

Heuristic

Question 58

Units in a connectionist network that are located between input units and output units. See also Connectionist network: Input units: output units. (9)

Answer 58

Hidden units

Question 59

As applied to knowledge representation, a model that consists of levels arranged so that more specific concepts, such as canary or salmon, are at the bottom and more general concepts, such as bird, fish, or animal, are at higher levels. (9)

Answer 59

Hierarchical model

Question 60

Organisation of categories in which larger, more general categories are divided into smaller, more specific categories. These smaller categories can, in turn, be divided into even more specific categories to create a number of levels. (9)

Answer 60

Hierarchical organisation

Question 61

Processing that occurs in a progression from lower to higher areas of the brain. (2)

Answer 61

Hierarchical processing

Question 62

A task that uses most or all of a person's resources and so leaves little capacity to handle other tasks. (4)

Answer 62

High-load task

Question 63

A subcortical structure that is important for forming long-term memories, and that also plays a role in remote episodic memories and in short-term storage of novel information. (6)

Answer 63

Hippocampus

Question 64

A model of semantic knowledge that proposes that areas of the brain that are associated with different functions are connected to the anterior temporal lobe, which integrates information from these areas. (9)

Answer 64

Hub and spoke model

Question 65

Brief sensory memory for visual stimuli that lasts for a fraction of a second after a stimulus is extinguished. This corresponds to the sensory memory stage of the modal model of memory. (5)

Answer 65

Iconic memory

Question 66

A situation, demonstrated in experiments by Anne Treisman, in which features from different objects are inappropriately combined. (4)

Answer 66

Illusory conjunctions

Question 67

A correlation that appears to exist between two events, when in reality there is no correlation or it is weaker than it is assumed to be. (13)

Answer 67

Illusory correlation

Question 68

The debate about whether thought is possible in the absence of images. (10)

Answer 68

Imageless thought debate

Question 69

The debate about whether imagery is based on spatial mechanisms, such as those involved in perception, or on propositional mechanisms that are related to language. (10)

Answer 69

Imagery debate

Question 70

A type of category-specific neuron that is activated by imagery. (10)

Answer 70

Imagery neuron

Question 71

Memory that occurs when an experience affects a person's behavior, even though the person is not aware that he or she has had the experience. (6)

Answer 71

Implicit memory

Question 72

Not noticing something even though it is in clear view, usually caused by failure to pay attention to the object or the place where the object is located. See also Change blindness. (4)

Answer 72

Inattentional blindness