Unit 5: Cognitive Psychology

smallest unit of sound

smallest units of meaning (ex. "readers" has 3)

Chomsky's concept of an innate mechanism in the brain that allows children to acquire language naturally

controls language expression from an area of the frontal lobe that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

controls language comprehension in left temporal lobe

expands the number of possible problem solutions

narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

Sternberg's 5 components of creativity

a mental grouping of similar things

a mental image or best example of a category (ex. typical four-legged chair)

very specific, step-by-step procedures for solving certain types of problems

mental shortcuts

a sudden realization of a problem's solution

judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to match prototypes (ex. a person who wears a suit and a briefcase must be a lawyer)

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory and how vivid it is (ex. shark attacks seem more likely than heart disease)

a tendency to fixate on initial information

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

I knew it all along

umbrella term for mental sets and functional fixedness

problem solving strategies that have worked in the past

the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions

the way an issue is posed can affect decisions (ex. comparing medicine that has 10% death rate vs 90% survival rate)

mental age/chronological age x 100

the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

general intelligence underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test

Gardner’s 8 types of intelligence that are independent from each other

Sternberg’s 3 types of intelligences

uniform procedures in test administration to ensure that all participants take the same test under the same conditions and are scored by the same criteria, which in turn ensures that results can be compared to each other

The rise in average IQ scores that has occurred over the decades (probably due to more access to education and nutrition)

the processing of information into the memory system

the process of retaining encoded information over time

the process of getting information out of memory storage

preserves brief sensory impressions

preserves recently perceived events for less than a minute without rehearsal

unlimited storage information to be maintained for long periods

unconscious (ex. remembering what you ate yesterday)

needs rehearsal or conscious repetition

information is lost over time when there is no attempt to retain it

retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection

a type of implicit memory that involves motor skills and behavioral habits

a type of implicit memory formed from classical conditioning

a type of explicit memory based on experienced events

a type of explicit memory consisting of knowledge and concepts

inattention to details leads to encoding failure

faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined

memory error in which unused memories fade with the passage of time

a failure to retrieve information that is available in memory even though you are trying to produce it

PO (old memories interfere), RN (new memories interfere)

effects of misinformation from external sources that leads to the creation of false memories

memory error in which you confuse the source of your information

the continual recurrence of unwanted memories

an inability to form new memories

an inability to retrieve information from one's past

the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory (ex. SO__P)

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

recall memories that correspond with the same physiological or psychological state of mind (ex. sleepy, drunk, awake, depressed)

3 stages of memory: sensory, working, long-term

language influence the way we think about reality

apply previously learned knowledge to solve a new task

solve new tasks for which there is no prior knowledge

criticized Spearman’s g-factor and proposed 7 mental abilities: verbal comprehension, reasoning, perceptual speed, numerical ability, word fluency, associative memory, and spatial visualization

conclusion can be made based on available evidence and past experience

researcher starts with a hypothesis and examines possibilities in order to reach a specific conclusion