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Unit 2: Cognition
Cognition Essential Vocabulary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Accommodation | In Piaget's theory of cognitive development, the process of modifying existing cognitive structures in response to new information or experiences. |
| Achievement test | Test designed to assess what a person has learned or accomplished in a particular area, such as academic subjects or job-related skills. |
| Alfred Binet | French psychologist known for developing the first intelligence test, which aimed to measure children's mental abilities and predict their academic success. |
| algorithm | step-by-step procedure or formula for solving a problem, often involving repetitive operations. |
| Alzheimer's Disease | A progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by memory loss, language deterioration, and impaired ability to mentally manipulate visual information. |
| amnesia | A significant memory loss that is too extensive to be due to normal forgetting. |
| Amos Tversky | cognitive psychologist known for his collaboration with Daniel Kahneman on decision-making and heuristics. |
| anterograde amnesia | type of memory impairment characterized by the inability to form new memories after a specific event or injury, while memories from before the event remain intact. |
| aptitude test | test designed to assess a person's potential for learning or ability to perform in a particular area, such as intelligence tests or vocational aptitude tests. |
| assimilation | in Piaget's theory of cognitive development, the process of incorporating new information or experiences into existing cognitive structures or schemas. |
| attention | The cognitive process of selectively focusing on a specific aspect of information while ignoring other perceivable information. |
| autobiographical memory | A person's memory for events and issues related to oneself. |
| autokinetic effect | perceptual phenomenon where a stationary point of light appears to move in a dark environment due to small eye movements. |
| automatic processing | the unconscious processing of information that requires minimal attention and effort, such as routine tasks or well-learned skills. |
| availability heuristic | mental shortcut where people make judgments based on the ease with which examples come to mind, often leading to overestimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory. |
| belief perseverance | the tendency to maintain one's beliefs even in the face of contradictory evidence. |
| binocular cues | depth cues that rely on information from both eyes to perceive depth and distance, such as retinal disparity and convergence. |
| bottom-up processing | An approach to perception that starts with incoming stimuli and builds up to a final perception; involves analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information. |
| Carol Dweck | psychologist known for her research on motivation and mindset, particularly the concepts of fixed mindset and growth mindset. |
| Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory | contemporary theory of intelligence proposing that intelligence is composed of multiple distinct abilities, including fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, and various specific cognitive skills. |
| central executive | In Baddeley's model of working memory, the component responsible for coordinating and controlling cognitive processes, including attention, planning, and decision-making. |
| change blindness | A phenomenon in visual perception where changes in a visual stimulus are not noticed by the observer. |
| Charles Spearman | British psychologist known for his work on intelligence and the development of factor analysis, which identified a general factor of intelligence (g factor) underlying performance on cognitive tasks. |
| chunking | organizing information into smaller, more manageable units or chunks to improve memory and processing efficiency. |
| cocktail party effect | The phenomenon of being able to focus one's auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, like hearing your name in a noisy room. |
| cognition | the mental processes involved in acquiring, processing, storing, and retrieving information, including perception, thinking, memory, and problem-solving. |
| cohort | group of individuals who share a common characteristic or experience, such as age or generation, and are studied over time in longitudinal research. |
| color constancy | the perceptual phenomenon where the perceived color of an object remains relatively constant under different lighting conditions. |
| concept | mental category or representation of objects, events, or ideas that share common features or characteristics. |
| confirmation bias | the tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses while ignoring or discounting contradictory evidence. |
| constructive memory | The process of constructing a memory by integrating new information with existing knowledge. |
| construct validity | the extent to which a test or measure accurately assesses the theoretical construct or concept it is intended to measure. |
| content validity | the extent to which a test or measure adequately samples the domain of interest and includes all relevant aspects of the construct being assessed. |
| context-dependent memory | The improved recall of information when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same. |
| convergence | binocular depth cue where the eyes turn inward or converge to focus on nearby objects. |
| convergent thinking | a type of thinking characterized by narrowing down possible solutions to find a single correct answer, often associated with traditional problem-solving tasks. |
| creativity | the ability to generate novel and valuable ideas, solutions, or products that are meaningful or useful in a particular context. |
| cross-sectional study | research design that compares different groups of individuals at a single point in time to examine age-related differences. |
| crystallized intelligence | acquired knowledge and skills accumulated over a lifetime, often measured by vocabulary tests and general knowledge assessments. |
| Daniel Kahnman | psychologist known for his work on decision-making, heuristics, and biases, particularly in collaboration with Amos Tversky. |
| David Weschler | American psychologist known for developing intelligence tests, including the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). |
| deep processing | type of encoding that involves elaborative rehearsal and meaningful analysis of information, leading to better long-term retention. |
| deja vu | feeling of familiarity or recognition of a current situation or experience as if it has been previously experienced, even though it is objectively new or unfamiliar. |
| depth perception | the ability to perceive the distance and three-dimensional spatial relationships of objects in the environment. |
| distributed practice | A practice schedule that involves intervals of rest between sessions of learning. |
| divergent thinking | A thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. |
| echoic memory | the sensory memory system responsible for the temporary storage and processing of auditory information, often referred to as "echoes" of sounds. |
| effortful memory | the intentional and conscious processing of information to encode, store, and retrieve it from memory, requiring cognitive effort and attention. |
| Elizabeth Loftus | cognitive psychologist known for her research on eyewitness memory, misinformation effect, and false memories. |
| emotional intelligence | the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions effectively in oneself and others. |
| encoding | the process of transforming sensory input into a form that can be stored in memory. |
| encoding failure | The failure to process information into memory. |
| encoding specificity principle | the principle that retrieval of information is most effective when the conditions at encoding and retrieval are similar. |
| episodic memory | type of long-term memory that involves the recollection of specific events, situations, and experiences with associated contextual details. |
| Eric Kandel | American neuroscientist known for his research on memory, particularly synaptic plasticity and the cellular basis of learning and memory. |
| executive functions | higher-level cognitive processes involved in goal setting, planning, problem-solving, decision-making, and self-regulation. |
| explicit memory | memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously recall and declare, also known as declarative memory. |
| factor analysis | statistical technique used to identify and analyze the underlying structure of correlations between variables, often used to identify the factors underlying intelligence. |
| figure-ground | gestalt principle of perception where we perceive objects as distinct from their background. |
| fixation | in problem-solving, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective, often due to mental set or functional fixedness. |
| fixed mindset | the belief that intelligence, abilities, and talents are fixed traits that cannot be changed or developed. |
| flashbulb memory | vivid and detailed memory of a significant and emotionally charged event, often recalled with high confidence and accuracy. |
| fluid intelligence | the ability to think logically and solve problems in novel situations, independent of acquired knowledge and experience. |
| Flynn effect | the observed trend of increasing average intelligence test scores over time, named after psychologist James Flynn. |
| forgetting curve | A graph showing the decline of memory retention over time. |
| framing | the way information is presented or framed can influence decision-making and judgment by highlighting certain aspects of the information while downplaying others. |
| Francis Galton | British scientist known for his contributions to the study of individual differences and intelligence testing, as well as his work in eugenics. |
| functional fixedness | A cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used. |
| gambler's fallacy | The mistaken belief that if something happens more frequently than normal during a given period, it will happen less frequently in the future, or vice versa. |
| general intelligence | hypothetical construct representing the general intelligence factor underlying performance on various cognitive tasks. |
| George A. Miller | American psychologist known for his contributions to cognitive psychology, including research on memory, language processing, and information processing. |
| gestalt | German word meaning "form" or "pattern," referring to the perceptual tendency to organize sensory information into meaningful wholes. |
| grit | a personality trait characterized by passion, perseverance, and a strong motivation to achieve long-term goals. |
| grouping | the perceptual tendency to organize elements into meaningful groups or categories based on similarity, proximity, continuity, or closure. |
| growth mindset | the belief that intelligence, abilities, and talents can be developed through effort, practice, and learning. |
| Hermann Ebbinghaus | German psychologist known for his pioneering research on memory, particularly the forgetting curve and the spacing effect. |
| heuristic | mental shortcut or rule of thumb that simplifies problem-solving and decision-making, often leading to efficient but not always accurate judgments. |
| hippocampus | brain structure located in the limbic system, involved in memory consolidation, spatial navigation, and learning. |
| Howard Gardner | American psychologist known for his theory of multiple intelligences, which proposes that intelligence consists of distinct abilities across various domains. |
| iconic memory | the sensory memory system responsible for the temporary storage and processing of visual information, often referred to as "iconic" images. |
| implicit memory | memory of skills, procedures, or associations that are expressed through performance or behavior without conscious awareness. |
| inattentional blindness | the failure to notice unexpected objects or events when attention is focused elsewhere. |
| infantile amnesia | The inability to retrieve memories from much before age 3. |
| insight | the sudden realization or understanding of a problem's solution that contrasts with more incremental problem-solving methods. |
| intelligence | mental ability consisting of the capacity to learn from experience, solve problems, adapt to new situations, and use knowledge to achieve goals. |
| intelligence quotient | numerical score derived from standardized intelligence tests, typically representing a person's relative intelligence compared to others of the same age group. |
| intelligence test | standardized assessment designed to measure a person's cognitive abilities, including reasoning, problem-solving, memory, and verbal comprehension. |
| interleaving | learning technique that involves mixing or alternating different types of practice or study tasks to enhance learning and retention. |
| intuition | the ability to understand or know something immediately without conscious reasoning or analysis. |
| Jean Piaget | Swiss psychologist known for his influential theory of cognitive development, which describes the stages of intellectual growth in children. |
| L. L. Thurstone | American psychologist known for his contributions to psychometrics and the development of factor analysis, as well as his critique of Charles Spearman's theory of general intelligence. |
| Lewis Terman | American psychologist known for his work on intelligence testing, particularly his adaptation of Alfred Binet's intelligence test into the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales. |
| long-term memory | the relatively permanent storage of information, including facts, experiences, and skills, with potentially unlimited capacity and duration. |
| long-term potentiation (LTP) | process of strengthening synaptic connections between neurons, believed to be a cellular mechanism underlying learning and memory. |
| longitudinal study | research design that follows the same individuals or groups over an extended period to examine changes or development over time. |
| massed practice | A practice schedule in which studying continues for long periods, without interruption. |
| memory | the ability to retain and retrieve information over time, involving encoding, storage, and retrieval processes. |
| memory consolidation | the process of stabilizing and strengthening newly acquired memories over time through the reorganization of neural circuits. |
| mental age | measure of intellectual development based on performance relative to average performance for a given chronological age, often used in intelligence testing. |
| mental set | tendency to approach problems in a particular way, often based on past experiences or familiar strategies, which may impede problem-solving. |
| metacognition | awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes, including knowledge about when and how to use particular cognitive strategies. |
| method of loci | A mnemonic technique involving the visualization of familiar spatial environments to enhance the recall of information. |
| misinformation effect | the distortion of memory caused by exposure to misleading information after an event, leading to inaccuracies or false memories. |
| mnemonics | memory aids or techniques used to improve encoding and retrieval of information, such as acronyms, rhymes, or visual imagery. |
| monocular cue | depth cues that require only one eye to perceive depth and distance, such as relative size, interposition, and linear perspective. |
| mood-congruent memory | the tendency to recall information or experiences that are consistent with one's current mood or emotional state. |
| multistore model of memory | A model proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin, describing memory as consisting of three stores: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. |
| neurogenesis | the formation of new neurons, particularly in the hippocampus, believed to play a role in learning, memory, and mood regulation. |
| normal curve | a bell-shaped curve representing the distribution of scores or measurements in a population, with the majority of scores clustered around the mean. |
| nudge | a subtle suggestion or reinforcement designed to influence people's behavior or decisions without restricting their freedom of choice. |
| overconfidence | the tendency to overestimate one's abilities, knowledge, or judgment, often leading to errors in decision-making or problem-solving. |
| parallel processing | the simultaneous processing of multiple aspects of a stimulus or problem, allowing for efficient cognitive functioning and perception. |
| perception | The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events. |
| perceptual adaptation | the ability to adjust to changed sensory input, such as adapting to new eyeglasses or a reversed visual field. |
| perceptual constancy | the perceptual phenomenon where an object is perceived as maintaining its size, shape, color, or brightness despite changes in the sensory input. |
| perceptual set | a mental predisposition or expectation that influences perception, often based on prior experiences, motives, or context. |
| phi phenomenon | the illusion of movement created by the sequential flashing of lights in adjacent locations. |
| phonological loop | a component of working memory responsible for the temporary storage and rehearsal of verbal and auditory information. |
| predictive validity | the extent to which a test or measure accurately predicts future performance or outcomes. |
| primacy effect | The tendency to remember the first items in a series better than the middle items. |
| priming | the activation of particular associations in memory, often unconsciously, which can influence subsequent behavior or cognition. |
| proactive interference | the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information. |
| procedural memory | A type of long-term memory involving how to perform different actions and skills. |
| prospective memory | Remembering to perform a planned action or recall a planned intention at some future point in time. |
| prototype | a mental image or representation of the typical features or essential characteristics of a category or concept. |
| psychodynamic theory | A view developed by Freud that emphasizes unconscious psychological processes and contends that childhood experiences are crucial in shaping adult personality. |
| psychometrics | the field of study concerned with the theory and techniques of psychological measurement, including the development and validation of psychological tests. |
| recall | the retrieval of previously learned information without the aid of external cues, often tested by free recall or cued recall tasks. |
| recency effect | The tendency to remember the most recently presented information best. |
| recognition | the identification of previously encountered information from among alternatives, often tested by multiple-choice or matching tasks. |
| reconsolidation | the process by which previously consolidated memories may be modified or altered when retrieved and then stored again. |
| rehearsal | The conscious repetition of information to encode it for storage. |
| relearning | the process of learning something again more quickly or efficiently after it has been previously learned and forgotten. |
| reliability | the consistency or stability of a measurement or test over time or across different administrations. |
| representativeness heuristic | mental shortcut where judgments or decisions are based on how well an individual or event matches a particular prototype or stereotype. |
| repression | defense mechanism involving the unconscious exclusion or suppression of anxiety-provoking thoughts, memories, or impulses from conscious awareness. |
| retinal disparity | binocular depth cue resulting from the slightly different images projected onto each retina, allowing for depth perception and stereoscopic vision. |
| retrieval | the process of accessing and bringing into consciousness previously stored information from memory. |
| retrieval cues | Stimuli that help you retrieve a certain memory. |
| retroactive interference | the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information. |
| retrograde amnesia | memory loss for events that occurred before a specific event, injury, or trauma. |
| Richard Atkinson | American psychologist known for his work on memory, particularly the development of the modal model of memory with Richard Shiffrin. |
| Richard Shiffrin | American psychologist known for his contributions to memory research, particularly the development of the modal model of memory with Richard Atkinson. |
| Robert Sternberg | American psychologist known for his research on intelligence, creativity, and love, particularly his triarchic theory of intelligence. |
| savant syndrome | rare condition in which individuals with developmental disorders such as autism display exceptional abilities or talents in specific areas, such as music, art, or mathematics. |
| schema | cognitive framework or mental structure that organizes and interprets information about the world, guiding perception, memory, and problem-solving. |
| selective attention | the ability to focus awareness on a particular stimulus or aspect of the environment while ignoring others. |
| semantic encoding | the process of encoding the meaning or significance of information into memory, leading to better retention and recall. |
| sensation | The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment. |
| sensory memory | the brief and initial stage of memory processing where sensory information is briefly registered and preserved in its original sensory form. |
| serial position effect | the tendency to recall items from the beginning (primacy effect) and end (recency effect) of a list more accurately than items from the middle. |
| shallow processing | type of encoding that involves surface-level processing of information based on its physical characteristics, leading to poor retention. |
| short-term memory | the temporary storage system responsible for holding and manipulating information for brief periods, typically lasting seconds to minutes. |
| source amnesia | forgetting the source of a memory, such as where or how the information was acquired, while retaining the memory itself. |
| spacing effect | the phenomenon where information is better remembered when it is distributed over time with intervals between study sessions, compared to massed practice or cramming. |
| split-half reliability | The internal consistency of a test, assessed by comparing the results of two halves of the test. |
| standardization | the process of establishing uniform procedures for administering and scoring a test to ensure its reliability and validity. |
| Stanford-Binet | widely used intelligence test originally developed by Lewis Terman at Stanford University, now in its fifth edition (SB-5). |
| state-dependent memory | The improved recall of information when the individual is in the same state of consciousness as they were when the memory was formed. |
| stereotypes | Oversimplified and generalized beliefs about a particular group of people. |
| stereotype threat | the phenomenon where individuals feel at risk of conforming to negative stereotypes about their social group, leading to decreased performance on tasks requiring intellectual ability. |
| Steven Pinker | Canadian-American cognitive psychologist known for his research on language, cognition, and evolutionary psychology, as well as his popular science books. |
| storage | the retention of encoded information over time in memory. |
| stroboscopic movement | perceptual phenomenon where a rapid series of slightly different images or frames create the illusion of continuous motion, as seen in motion pictures. |
| sunk cost fallacy | The fallacy of making decisions based on past investments (time, money, resources) rather than on current and future benefits and costs. |
| testing effect | the finding that retrieval practice, or actively recalling information from memory, enhances long-term retention more effectively than simply re-studying the material. |
| test-retest reliability | The consistency of a measure when the same test is administered to the same people at two different points in time. |
| tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon | The experience of knowing that we know something but being unable to access the information at that moment. |
| top-down processing | An approach to perception that is guided by higher-level knowledge, experience, expectations, and motivations; involves the use of contextual information in pattern recognition. |
| validity | the extent to which a test or measure accurately assesses the construct or concept it is intended to measure. |
| visual cliff | an experimental apparatus used to test depth perception and visual-motor coordination in infants and animals, typically consisting of a glass-covered platform with a drop-off. |
| visuospatial sketchpad | component of working memory responsible for the temporary storage and manipulation of visual and spatial information. |
| Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale | widely used intelligence test designed for adults, assessing various cognitive abilities including verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed. |
| Wolfgang Kohler | German psychologist known for his research on problem-solving and insight learning with chimpanzees on the island of Tenerife. |
| working memory | limited-capacity system responsible for the temporary storage and manipulation of information needed for complex cognitive tasks, often referred to as the "mental workspace." |
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