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Unit 5 AP Psych
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| memory | the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information. |
| recall | a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test. |
| recognition | a measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test. |
| relearning | a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again. |
| encoding | the process of getting information into the memory system—for example, by extracting meaning. |
| storage | the process of retaining encoded information over time. |
| retrieval | the process of getting information out of memory storage. |
| parallel processing | processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions. |
| sensory memory | the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system. |
| short-term memory | activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as digits of a phone number while calling, before the information is stored or forgotten. |
| long-term memory | the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences. |
| working memory | a newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory. |
| explicit memory | retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare." (Also called declarative memory.) |
| effortful processing | encoding that requires attention and conscious effort. |
| automatic processing | unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings. |
| implicit memory | retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection. (Also called nondeclarative memory.) |
| iconic memory | a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second. |
| echoic memory | a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds. |
| chunking | organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically. |
| mnemonics [nih-MON-iks] | memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices. |
| spacing effect | the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice. |
| testing effect | enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning. |
| shallow processing | encoding on a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words. |
| deep processing | encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention. |
| semantic memory | explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is episodic memory). |
| episodic memory | explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is semantic memory). |
| hippocampus | a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process for storage explicit (conscious) memories of facts and events. |
| memory consolidation | the neural storage of a long-term memory. |
| flashbulb memory | a clear, sustained memory of an emotionally significant moment or event. |
| long-term potentiation (LTP) | an increase in a cell's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory. |
| priming | the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response. |
| encoding specificity principle | the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it. |
| mood-congruent memory | the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood. |
| serial position effect | our tendency to recall best the last (recency effect) and first (primacy effect) items in a list. |
| cognition | all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. |
| concept | a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. |
| prototype | a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin). |
| creativity | the ability to produce new and valuable ideas. |
| convergent thinking | narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution. |
| algorithm | a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier—but also more error-prone—use of heuristics. |
| heuristic | a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more errorprone than an algorithm. |
| insight | a sudden realization of a problem's solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions. |
| confirmation bias | a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence. |
| fixation | in cognition, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem solving. |
| mental set | a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past. |
| intuition | an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning. |
| representativeness heuristic | estimating the likelihood of events 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 (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common. |
| overconfidence | the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments. |
| 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 worded can significantly affect decisions and judgments. |
| language | our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning. |
| phoneme | in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit. |
| morpheme | in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix). |
| grammar | in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. Semantics is the language's set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is its set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences |
| babbling stage | beginning around 4 months, the stage of speech development in which an 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 two-word statements. |
| telegraphic speech | early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—"go car"—using mostly nouns and verbs. |
| aphasia | impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding). |
| Broca's area | helps control language expression—an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech. |
| Wernicke's area | a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe. |
| linguistic determinism | the strong form of Whorf's hypothesis—that language controls the way we think and interpret the world around us. |
| intelligence | the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. |
| general intelligence (g) | according to Spearman and others, underlies all mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test. |
| factor analysis | a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person's total score. |
| savant syndrome | a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing. |
| grit | in psychology, passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals. |
| emotional intelligence | the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions. |
| intelligence test | a method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores. |
| achievement test | a test designed to assess what a person has learned. |
| aptitude test | a test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn. |
| mental age | a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the level of performance typically associated with children of a certain chronological age. Thus, a child who does as well as an average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8. |
| Stanford-Binet | the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet's original intelligence test. |
| intelligence quotient (IQ) | defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ = ma/ca × 100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100. |
| Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) | the WAIS and its companion versions for children are the most widely used intelligence tests; they contain verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests. |
| standardization | defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group. |
| normal curve | (normal distribution) a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data; most scores fall near the mean (about 68 percent fall within one standard deviation of it) and fewer and fewer near the extremes. |
| reliability | the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternative forms of the test, or on retesting. |
| validity | the extent to which a test or experiment measures or predicts what it is supposed to. (See also content validity and predictive validity.) |
| content validity | the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest. |
| predictive validity | the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior. (Also called criterion-related validity.) |
| cohort | a group of people sharing a common characteristic, such as from a given time period. |
| crystallized intelligence | our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age. |
| fluid intelligence | our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease with age, especially during late adulthood. |
| cross-sectional study | research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time. |
| longitudinal study | research that follows and retests the same people over time. |
| intellectual disability | a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence test score of 70 or below and difficulty adapting to the demands of life. (Formerly referred to as mental retardation.) |
| Down syndrome | a condition of mild to severe intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21. |
| heritability | the proportion of variation among individuals in a group that we can attribute to genes. The heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied. |
Created by:
lores_cave