AP Psychology Unit 5

the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

according to Spearman and others, underlies all mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test

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.

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds.

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information.

encoding on a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words.

encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention.

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing.

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

passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals

a method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores.

a test designed to assess what a person has learned.

a test designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the level of performance typically associated with children of a certain chronological age

the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet’s original intelligence test

defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ = ma/ca × 100)

the most widely used intelligence tests; they contain verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests.

defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group

the bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes.

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

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to.

the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest.

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

a group of people sharing a common characteristic, such as from a given time period

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease with age, especially during late adulthood

research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time

research that follows and retests the same people over time

a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence test score of 70 or below and difficulty adapting to the demands of life

a condition of mild to severe intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21.

the proportion of variation among individuals in a group that we can attribute to genes. It may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied.

a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information

a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test

a measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test

a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again

the process of getting information into the memory system—for example, by extracting meaning

the process of retaining encoded information over time

the process of getting information out of memory storage

processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions

explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems

explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems

a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit (conscious) memories—of facts and events—for storage

the neural storage of a long-term memory

a clear, sustained memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

an increase in a cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory

the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it

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

our tendency to recall best the last (recency effect) and first (primacy effect) items in a list

an inability to form new memories

an inability to retrieve information from one’s past

the forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information.

the backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old information

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.

a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again

occurs when misleading information has distorted one’s memory of an event.

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

hat eerie sense that “I’ve experienced this before.” Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.

a mental image or best example of a category

the ability to produce new and valuable ideas

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions.

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

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system

activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as digits of a phone number while calling, before the information is stored or forgotten.

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

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.

retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare."

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings

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

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently

a sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions

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

in cognition, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem solving.

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

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

stimating 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

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.

the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is worded can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

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

in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix).

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.

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

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

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

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—“go car”—using mostly nouns and verbs.

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding)

helps control language expression—an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe.