Unit 6 - Cognitive Psychology Flashcards

1
Q

what is meant by the saying that “language evolves”

A

We re-define words to reflect how they are being used

ex: Literally

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2
Q

What are Pragmatics

A

Rules that govern the practicalities of language use
ex: gestures, intonation, turn-taking, closeness to conversation partner

*Change with different combinations of culture and language

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3
Q

What aside from speech, exists in spoken language?

A

-tone
-body language
-ect.

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4
Q

Is grammar learned implicitly or explicitly

A

Mostly Implicitly via exposure to the language

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5
Q

What is grammar?

A

Rules that govern how the parts of language combine to make meaning

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6
Q

What is syntax?

A

Grammatical rules that govern how sentences are formed

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7
Q

Do all English speakers use the same grammatical rules?

A

NO! We have over 100 dialects

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8
Q

What does it mean to be a flexible language?

A

It means you put more emphasis on word order

ex: In English
“Only I like chips” means something different from
“I only like chips”

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9
Q

Define the following parts of language:

-Phoneme
-Morpheme
-Words
-Phrases

A

Smallest unit that is an individual sound

Smallest unit with its own meaning

Combo of the above unit

Combo of the above unit

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10
Q

What is language?

A

Shared system of rules and symbols that are used for communication

*The rules govern how to use and combine the symbols

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11
Q

What are the two processing systems involved in dual processing?

A

The autonomic system

The controlled system

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12
Q

Explain the autonomic system

A

A fast, intuitive system that doesn’t use much mental effort or attention

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13
Q

Explain the controlled system

A

A slow but logical and deliberate process that uses lots of mental effort and attention

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14
Q

Are emotions really important for decision-making?

A

YES!
-Both intuition and emotions are important parts of the process

-A patient with no emotional responses struggles to make simple decisions, organize their time or make good choices

-We use a basic feeling of “good for me” or “bad for me” to guide our judgements of what will have a + or - effect on us

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15
Q

Why do marketing teams work hard to ensure their ads spark positive emotions?

A

Because our decisions can be manipulated by changing our emotions

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16
Q

What are the two theories for when we use the autonomic vs the controlled systems

A

Theory 1: Autonomic is used when we are overwhelmed, tired or short for time [we know that it is often used during these times]

Theory 2: Our brains always default to autonomic and we need to make the switch to controlled as needed

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17
Q

What is a heuristic?

A

A mental shortcut we use to make quick decisions without much effort

They seem intuitive but may sometimes be illogical or inaccurate

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18
Q

What is choice overload?

A

Where there are too many options to the point where it is impossible/hard/too time-consuming to make a rational decision and thus your decision-making ability is impaired

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19
Q

What are rational judgements?

A

When you come up with criteria for judging your options, rank each option based on this criteria and then rank how important each criteria is to you

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20
Q

What is bounded rationality?

A

Our rational decision-making is impaired by our available info, time and cognitive abilities

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21
Q

Explain the difference between a judgement and a decision

A

Judgement: A conclusion drawn from the evidence we have

Decision: A choice that affects our behaviour

Ex:
Judgement: Dark blue is an ugly colour, pink is a good colour on me, ect.

Decision: I will not wear a dark blue dress today, I will wear a pink shirt today, ect.

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22
Q

What do we use to make decisions?

What are these decisions guided by?

A

Judgements

Guided by:
-emotions
-intuition
-rational thinking

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23
Q

What is imagination inflation?

A

When we imaging the details of an event and this boosts our confidence that it actually happened (even though the event did infact not actually happen)

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24
Q

What does imagination inflation imply?

A

That eye witness testimony may not be accurate ex: weapon-focus

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25
Q

What is motivated forgetting?

A

The idea that we consciously or unconsciously forget memories we do not want to remember.

Likely a retrieval issue more so than an issue with the storage

26
Q

What is encoding failure?

A

When you forget something bc it was never encoded in the first place

-happens bc proper encoding needs effort and attention

27
Q

What is the tip-of-the-tongue phenomena?

A

When you are super confident a memory is stored somewhere in your brain but you can’t retrieve it

-We an actually see that you still have neural traces of it in your mind which suggests that it is infact still there even if you never retrieve it

28
Q

What is encoding specificity?

A

Memories are easier to retrieved in the same context that they were encoded in

ex: You will do better on a test in the classroom you did lectures in than in a new room (like PAC >:p)

29
Q

what kind of memory is the hippocampus responsible for?

A

Long-term episodic

30
Q

What kind of memory is the basal ganglia and cerebellum responsible for?

A

Long-term procedural memory

31
Q

How can someone with amnesia continue playing piano?
Hint: Which kind of memory is affected by amnesia?

A

Only explicit memory is affected by amnesia

*Sometimes only episodic memory

32
Q

What are the two main types of long term memory?

A

Explicit (needs mental effort) and Implicit (no mental effort)

33
Q

What are the types of Explicit Memory?

A

Episodic: A personal experience
Semantic: Meaning/knowledge

Not talked abt in class but the text also mentioned Prospective : Memory of what we need to do in the future [same basis in brain as episodic thus also DEC with age]

34
Q

Which type of memory DEC with age?

A

Episodic

35
Q

What memory is in lateral and anterior temporal lobes?

A

Semantic

36
Q

What kind of memory is used in the statement
“the DC library is always full of quiet students”

A

Episodic and semantic

Multiple episodic memories created a semantic memory.

37
Q

What are the 3 types of implicit memories?

A

Procedural: Skills you’ve practiced many times. Often maintained by amnesiacs

Priming: INC in ability to process stimuli bc you have previously been exposed to it. *Mostly acts on sensory regions of the brain that aren’t responsible for meaning

Classical Conditioning:
-The association of a neutral stimuli with another stimuli that produces a behaviour.
-Must happen over MULTIPLE SESSIONS

38
Q

What brain regions are essential to memory?

A

-Amygdala
-Parts of the frontal lobe
-Hippocampus

39
Q

What is amnesia?

A

The loss of memory due to brain damage or trauma

40
Q

What is the difference between retrograde and anterograde amnesia?

A

Retrograde: Can’t remember things prior to the event but can build new memory

Anterograde: Can’t encode new info into long-term memory after the event but can retrieve old memories

41
Q

What is the serial positioning effect?

A

People are more likely to remember the words at the start of a list (primacy effect - associated with long-term memory) and at the end (recency effect - associated with short term memory)

42
Q

What can help you to actively encode information and retrieve things from long-term memory?

A

Chunking
Add meaning by relating to prior knowledge
Use Visuo-spatial system
Speech repitition

43
Q

What is essential to move things towards long-term memory?

A

Paying attention to them!!
Actively working with the memory!!!

44
Q

What is working memory?

A

An executive function thag lets hs Manipulating/organizing info in short-term memory

Done by the control center (Central executive)

45
Q

What is executive function?

A

Tools the central executive uses to solve problems and handle information

Includes for ex: The ability to focus on tasks, filter out distractions and have cognitive control(goal-oriented behaviour)

46
Q

What is post-categorial processing?

A

Processing info at the level of its category

(when we give information meaning)

ex: Sensory memory sees curly fur, big brown eyes, 4 legs and a tail
short memory condenses info into: dog

47
Q

What does the digit span task (asking ppl to memorize string of numbers in order) tell us about memory?

A

It is easier to memorize a string of numbers in numerical order than a random order because the later uses only short term memory but the former uses both short and long-term (bc it relates to prior knowledge)

48
Q

What supports the idea that short and long term memory have diff storage mechanisms in the brain and may occur in different brain regions?

A

Behaviour dissociation

Steve has bad short term memory but if given enough processing time, long-term memory is great

Alex has bad long term memory but can hold things in short term for a little while

49
Q

What is long-term memory?

A

Memory with no capacity or duration limits so long as it is well-maintained.

If short-term memories don’t make it here, they will be forgotten

50
Q

What is short term memory

A

Select Sensory memories that have undergone further processing
-Last less than a minute
-Lost accuracy but still has more detail than long-term
-Post-categorial and thus easier to process

51
Q

What is sensory memory?

A

the raw data that entered the brain from your sensory organs
very detailed but only exists for less than a second
essential for encoding to occur
Created all the time but will only become short term memories if they get enough attention

52
Q

What does capacity mean in terms of memory?

A

Level of detail

53
Q

What is rehersal?

A

Holding info in memory via mental repetition

54
Q

What is source memory?

A

the ability to remeber the context knowledge was aquired in

55
Q

What is source amnesia?

A

When we can’t remeber when or how or where we learned a fact

Very common. do YOU remember when you learned to tie your shoes???

56
Q

What impairs encoding?
Does this also impair retrieval?

A

Dividing attention between tasks

NO!

57
Q

Define the following terms:

Memory
Storage
Encoding
Retrieval

A

The storage of info for later access

Maintained encoded info for later access

Taking info from your feelings/thoughts/the world and making the storage-ready versions

Bringing previously encoded info back to your mind (accessing storage). This re-encodes it into the brain.

58
Q

Do memory suggestibility and the misinformation effect suggest that our memory sucks?

A

NO! they reflect our memory’s dynamic ability to be updated with newly acquired info

59
Q

What is the misinformation effect?

A

A DEC in accuracy of episodic memory due to info we get after the experience

ex: stop and yield sign experiment

60
Q

What 2 things combine to make memory?

A

Past experiences (knowledge) and current stimuli (context)

ex: curtains vs diamond in a square experiment

61
Q

What is memory suggetibility

A

the fact that other ppl’s reports and or expectations can influence memory

62
Q

Why do we make memories?
Why don’t we bother making them perfectly accurate?

A

To preserve meaning

We don’t want to devote too many ressources.