AP Psychology Chapter 7 Cognition

Chapter 7: Cognition ● Overview o Natural concept: imprecise mental classification based on experiences o Artificial concept: precise concepts that are defined and have rules or characteristics (topics covered in school) o Dunning-Kruger Effect: the most incompetent are the most overconfident (poor performers lack the skill and the knowledge to know that they lack it) Memory (learning that has persisted over time, normally has been stored and can be recalled) ● Types of Memory o Sensory Memory: the first stop for external events, contains all of the information processed by senses for less than a second ▪ George Sperling’s Experiment: flashed a 3x3 grid for 1/20th of a second to participants who had to recall one of the rows immediately after; participants could recall any perfectly, demonstrating that the entire grid must be held in sensory memory for a split second o Iconic memory: a split second perfect photograph of a scene o Echoic memory: a brief (3-4 second) perfect memory for sounds ▪ Not all information in sensory memory is encoded into short term memory ▪ Selective attention determines which sensory messages get encoded o Short-Term/Working Memory: holds everything you are currently thinking/memories we are currently working with and aware of ▪ If we do nothing with short term memories, they usually fade in 10-30 seconds ▪ Capacity limited to seven items ▪ Chunking: can be used to expand this limit by grouping items (includes most mnemonic devices) ▪ To retain information: rehearse (repeat) it ▪ Explicit memory: consciously rehearsing information to retain it (facts, school stuff) ▪ Implicit memory: things that we naturally just take in, does not require active concentration or intention (I ‘member pants like I care, I think) ● Automatic processing: Non-conscious encoding of incidental information (such as time, space, frequency, definitions) and implicit is a kind of this o Long-Term Memory: our permanent storage, unlimited ▪ Episodic memory: memories of specific events, stored in a sequential series (like your first kiss!) ▪ Semantic memory: general knowledge of the world stored as facts, meanings, or categories ▪ Procedural memory: memory of skills and how to perform them, stored sequentially but difficult to describe with words ▪ Explicit memories: conscious memories of facts or events we tried to remember ▪ Implicit memories: unintentional memories that we might not even realize we have ▪ Eidetic (photographic) memory: very rare, seems to use very powerful and enduring visual images (TESSA) ▪ Deep processing: encodes meaning, not just the word ▪ Connecting to personal meaning, semantic meaning, and rehearsal helps it move to long-term ● Process: o External event o Sensory memory then encoding o Short term then encoding (rehearsal holds it there) o Long term then retrieved (back to short term/working) ● Levels of Processing Model of Memory o Principles: examines how deeply the memory was processed ▪ deeply (elaboratively) processed: more likely to remember ▪ shallowly (maintenance) processed: you will forget quickly o Retrieval: getting information out of memory so we can use it ▪ Recognition: the process of matching a current event or fact with one already in memory (which is the capital of Greece: Athens or Sparta?) ▪ Recall: retrieving a memory with an external cue (___ is the capital of Greece) ▪ Relearning: a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again (refreshing) ▪ Factors that influence retrieval: the order in which the information is presented ● primacy effect: predicts that we are more likely to recall items presented at the beginning of a list ● recency effect: demonstrated by our ability to recall the items at the end of a list ● serial position effect: recall of a list is affected by the order of items (you remember the first and last things b/c of primacy and recency) ● retrieval cues: little details that can lead you to remembering more (such as state, emotions, names, or sounds) ▪ Context ● tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: temporary inability to remember information ● semantic network theory: our brain forms new memories by connecting their meaning and context with meanings already in memory ● flashbulb memories: powerful because the importance of the events caused us to encode the context surrounding the event ● mood-congruent memory: the greater likelihood of recalling an item when our mood matches the mood we were in when the event happened ● state-dependent memory: recalling events encoded while in particular states of consciousness (easier to retrieve when in same mental state) ● context-dependent memory: memories that are easily retrieved when in the same context as when they were first encoded ● Constructive Memory o “Recovered Memory” Phenomenon: individuals claim to suddenly remember events they have “repressed” for years ▪ Elizabeth Loftus: often there are constructed or false memories of events; leading words led to constructed memories o Constructed (or reconstructed) memory: can report false details of a real event/a recollection of an event that never occurred ▪ Leading questions can influence us to recall false details ▪ Constructed memories feel accurate to the person recalling them o Misinformation effect: incorporating false information into one’s memory of an event o Source misattribution: forgetting or falsely recalling where a memory came from o Can arise from emotion, retelling, suggestions of outside sources, time passing ● Forgetting o Causes: we fail to encode, retrieve, or have storage decay ▪ Failed encoding: we failed to truly move it to long-term memory ▪ Decay: we do not use a memory or connections to it for a long time ▪ Interference: other information in your memory competes with what you’re trying to recall ● retroactive interference: learning new information interferes with the recall of older information ● proactive interference: older information interferes with the recall of newer information o Retrieval failure: can’t pull up memories (retrieval cues can help) o Relearning effect: relearning information takes less time and effort than learning it ● Physical Storage o Anterograde Amnesia: can’t encode new memories but can recall events already in memory, can learn new skills but won’t remember learning them ▪ caused by damage to the hippocampus ▪ suggests that procedural memory is located elsewhere in the brain o Retrograde Amnesia: can’t remember the past but can make new memories (more commonly known) o Long-Term Potentiation: neurons can strengthen connections between each other ▪ repeated firings strengthen connections, and the receiving neuron is more sensitive to messages from the sending neuron ▪ may be related to connections we make in long term memory Language ● Elements of Language o Phonemes: the smallest units of sound used in a language (English has about 44) o Morphemes: the smallest unit of meaningful sound (can be words or parts of words) o Language consists of phonemes that make up morphemes that make up words o Syntax: the order in which words are spoken or written (grammar) o Semantics: contextual meaning that allows deviation of a meaning ● Language Acquisition o Stages: ▪ Babbling: occurs around six months of age, represents experimentation with phonemes (they can use any of them) ▪ Holophrastic stage: babies speak in single words (holophrases) ▪ Telegraphic speech: toddlers will combine the words they can say into simple commands (meaning is clear, but syntax is absent: children begin to learn grammar and syntax rules but often misapply them, like overgeneralization) o Common errors: ▪ Underextension: limiting the definition of a word (ex: using “cat” for just MooMoo) ▪ Overextension: expanding the definition of a word (ex: calling all cats “MooMoo”) ▪ Overgeneralization: applying rules beyond what they apply to (ex: use of “go-ed” for went) ● Opposing views on how we acquire language o Behaviorists: language, like all behaviors, is learned through operant conditioning and shaping (when kids use language correctly, they are rewarded with a smile/encouragement) o Noam Chomsky: nativist theory of language acquisition- theorized that humans are born with language acquisition devices (ability to learn language rapidly as children) ▪ critical period for learning language may exist o Linguistic relativity hypothesis: Benjamin Whorf suggested the language we use might control, and in some ways limit, our thinking o Cognitive universalism: the theory that concepts are universal and not obstructed by language Thinking and Creativity ● Describing Thought o Concepts: the cognitive rules we apply to stimuli from our environment that allow us to categorize and think about the objects, people, and ideas ▪ may be based on prototypes ▪ Prototype: what we think is the most typical example of a particular concept ▪ Images: the mental pictures we create in our minds of the outside world, can involve any sense ● Problem Solving o Algorithms: a rule that guarantees the right solution by using a formula or other fool proof method (ex: try every possible solution) o Heuristics: rules of thumb that are generally true that we can use to make a judgment in a situation ▪ Availability heuristic: judging a situation based on examples of similar situations that come to mind initially, may lead to incorrect conclusions due to variability in personal experience ▪ Representativeness heuristic: judging a situation based on how similar the aspects are prototypes the person holds in his mind o Problems in judgments ▪ Overconfidence: the tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our judgments ▪ Belief bias: we make illogical conclusions in order to confirm our preexisting beliefs ▪ Belief perseverance: our tendency to maintain a belief even after the evidence we used to form it has been contradicted ● Gambler’s fallacy: the idea that independent events are not independent (ex: having a good slot streak and thinking it will continue) o Impediments to problem solving ▪ Rigidity (mental set): the tendency to fall into established thought patterns ▪ Functional fixedness: the inability to see a new use for an object ▪ Confirmation bias: the tendency to look for evidence that confirms our beliefs and ignore evidence that contradicts them ▪ Framing: the way the problem is presented can drastically change the way we view a problem ▪ Anchoring bias: tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of provided info when making decisions o Creativity: originality and appropriateness, new or unique trains of thought ▪ Convergent thinking: narrowing down to one solution ▪ Divergent thinking: thinking that searches for multiple possible answers to a question, associated with creativity ▪ Usually involves thinking of new ways to use what we are all familiar with or new ways to express emotions or ideas we share