Unit 7

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Forgetting: caused by encoding failure, storage decay, retrieval failure, interference, motivated forgetting

Anterograde Amnesia: inability to form new memories

Retrograde Amnesia: inability to retrieve information from the past

Proactive Interference: disruptive effect of prior learning on recall of new information

Retroactive interference: disruptive effect of new learning on recall of old information

Repression: basic defense mechanism to banish any anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories (Freudian psycho-analytic theory)

Ebbinghaus studied memory and forgetting

Forgetting Curve: course of forgetting is initially rapid then levels of with time

Memory has many errors. False memories are persistent.

Memory can be improved by rehearsing repeatedly, making the material meaningful, activating retrieval cues, using mnemonic devices, minimizing interference, and testing knowledge.

Reconsolidation: every time a memory is recalled we slightly modify the original version

Positive Transfer: previously learned information helps learning as we process new information

Misinformation Effect: incorporating misleading information into memory

Source Amnesia: attributing the wrong source to a memory

Deja Vu: sense that you've experienced something before even though you haven't because of familiarity cues

Cognition: mental activities associate with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

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Concept: mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people used to simplify our thinking

Creativity: ability to produce novel and valuable ideas

Divergent thinking: expands the number of possible problem solutions

Convergent thinking: narrows solutions to determine the single best solution

Creativity requires expertise, imaginative thinking skills, a venturesome personality, intrinsic motivation, and a creative environment

Prototype: mental image that best represents a concept

Memory types

Working Memory: Short-term memory that focuses on active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and long-term recall

Explicit Memory

Implicit Memory

Processing

Effortful Processing: Encoding that requires conscious effort

Automatic Processing: Unconscious encoding including space, time and frequency as well as well-learned information

Non-declarative: Retention separate from conscious recall

Declarative: Memories we can consciously know

Iconic Memory: A moment in memory lasting a few tenths of a second of visual stimuli

Echoic Memory: Momentary auditory memory; if attention is elsewhere, can recall the last 3-4 seconds of auditory input

Memory reinforcements

Chunking: Organizing terms into manageable units usually automatically

Mnemonics: Memory aids (usually visual or vivid) for organization

Spacing Effect: Spacing out of studying over long amount of time creates better long-term retention

Testing Effect (aka: Retrieval Practice Effect or Test-Enhanced Learning): Enhanced memory and retention after retrieving rather that relearning/rereading

Shallow Processing: Encoding on a basic level

Deep Processing: Encoding semantically, tends to yield best retention

Explicit Memory

Implicit Memory

Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia

Amygdala

Basal Ganglia: Motor movement and skills

Cerebellum: Stores information from classical conditioning

Infantile Amnesia: Forgetting of memories before 3 Is bypassed for implicit memory

Flashbulb Memory: A clear memory of a significant event (traumatic/emotional)

Long-Term Potentiation: Increase in a cell's firing potential after rapid stimulation. Considered to be neural basis for learning and memory

Retention

Recall: Retrieving information

Recognition: Identifying previously learned items

Relearning: Learning something another time

Retrieval Cues: Cues (something said, done, seen (etc.)) that help with memory and remembering

Priming: Activation, sometimes unconsciously, of particular associations in memories

State-Dependent Memory

Mood-Congruent Memory: The tendency to recall memories that are similar to one's mood

Serial Position Effect: Our tendency to remember the first (Primacy Effect) and last (Recency Effect) items of a list

Problem Solving

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

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

insight- a sudden realization of a problems solution

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

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

Good vs. Bad decisions

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

Heuristics and overconfidence

representativeness heuristic- judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information

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

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

belief perseverance and framing

belief perseverance- clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

framing- the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgements

Language

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

phoneme- the smallest distinctive sound unit

morpheme- the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word

grammar- a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understanding others

productive language

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

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

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

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

the brain and language

aphasia- impairment of language, usually caused by left-hem damage either to Broca's area or to Wernicke's area

Broca's area- controls language expression that directs the muscle movement involved in speech

Wernicke's area- controls language reception

Language and thought

linguistic determination- Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think