AP Psychology Unit 5: Cognitive Psychology

The persistence of learning over time though retrieval of information. How we recognize family, speak language, etc.

A quick, split second memory of a specific image, event, moment, etc. ex: Covid lockdown, 9/11, JFK Assassination, etc.

Initial process of information going into your memory system.

Immediate SENSORY recognition. Remembering initial temperature, smell, etc.

Processing information & rehearsing it, only remembered for a SHORT PERIOD of time. Ex: Trying to remember a phone number.

PERMANENT memory storage. ex: Knowledge, skills, experience, etc.

Permanent limitless information in our heard. Ex: Knowing how to cook/read.

Focuses on new & old information at one. ONLY in memory for the time we need it for. Ex: Driving & talking at the same time.

Our brain engages in parallel processing, being able to multitask, and we automatically process some information without any effort. (Automatic Processing).

Space: Automatically processing the space around us.

Time: Differentiating between 5 & 10 minutes.

Frequency: Keeping track of how many times we did something.

Well-Learned Information: Automatic information, ex: Reading words automatically.

Takes action & conscious effort. Make more durable & accessible memories.

Conscious repetition.

Herman Ebbinghaus: The amount remembered depends on the time spent learning it.

Spacing our rehearsal results in learning & retaining information better.

The ORDER in which things are that we remember.

- We remember the beginning & end much BETTER than the middle.

- Order affects how we remember things.

Enhanced memories for things at the beginning & end. Ex: Remembering beginning & ending items of a grocery shopping list.

Items most recent are remembered at the best. (Most recent).

Reading/Processing only PHYSICAL QUALITIES of something.

Encoding/Processing sound (what we hear), & sound of words.

Encoding/Processing the DEEPER MEANING.

- The longer/deeper the info. is processed, the longer the memory will last, & is easier to recall.

Linked to meaningful (Semantic) Encoding.

AKA Memory Aids: Ways to organize info. & help you remember. Ways to help you remember things.

Organizing info into meaningful clusters/chunks.

Ex: Phone Numbers (310 -), area codes, etc.

Dividing info into groups & subgroups.

Ex: Story outlines, grocery lists, A.B.C.D.E... etc.

Associating visual representations with info to help organize something.

- Literal locations/environments with meaning.

- Image with Meaning

Created mental images & links them to remember. Mentally associating images.

- Image w/Image.

Peg Word: Associating two sounds together. (One-sun) (Two-Shoe) (Three-Tree), etc.

How we store information in our brains.

A FLEETING photographic, visual memory. Lasting no more than a few seconds. (EYE-CONIC). What we've seen.

What we've HEARD 3-4 seconds earlier, even if our attention is focused on something else.

Limited in both duration & capacity, and store approximately 7 bits of info (+ or - 2).

We can remember random numbers better than random letters.

CIA, RUHS, FBI, etc.

LIMITLESS amount of space, our limit is the amount we're willing to keep.

Memories NOT STORED in one specific place, but rather a NEURAL IMPULSE strengthened by use, in our synaptic pathways.

The neural basis for learning memory. The more a memory is recalled, the stronger the neural pathway becomes.

Released when excited or stressed, & enhances memory.

Stronger emotional experiences = stronger, more reliable memory.

Prolonged Stress: Corrodes neural impulses & shrinks the hippocampus, blocking memories.

INITIAL memory storage, involved in learning & is a temporary holding spot for explicit memories.

IMPLICIT memory storage, basis of "how to do" things. Things without recall/practice needed to do.

Loss of Memory

Procedural muscle memories.

- "How to Do" Things, no conscious recall.

- Motor & cognitive skills, classic & operant conditioning effects.

Ex: Walking, writing, typing, etc.

Episodic "Declarative" Memory

- Personal & Experienced Events.

- Recall of facts & academic knowledge, with conscious recall.

- Semantic (meaningful) memory.

Ex: Previous facts, knowledge, family & friends, etc.)

Retrieving info. instantly from earlier.

Identifying items previously learned. Ex: Recognizing people in an image.

Relearning previous info. a second time, you remember faster.

Activates ASSOCIATIONS in memory.

Es: Remember you've been to this place before via context of the environment around you.

We remember things better when put in the same environment where we experienced them. (Context EFFECTS memory & recall).

Deja vu: The "I've experienced this before" effect, mainly due to retrieval of earlier experiences.

STATE OF MIND effects what you remember.

Ex: Laughing w/other people causes you to recall other jokes/memories.

MOOD filters how we remember something.

Angry Mood = Angry memories recall.

Ex: Feeling depressed filters their brain to speak of their childhood badly.

We fail to remember what we didn't encode. Possibly due to lack of effort and/or age.

Forgetting is RAPID AT FIRST, then levels off with time.

Info is encoded & stored, but CANNOT be accessed. Retrieval cues are not present.

NEW INFO gets in the way of OLD INFO.

Ex: New GF makes you forget old GF.

OLD INFO gets in the way of NEW INFO.

Ex: Calling GF by exe's name.

We repress painful memories to minimize anxiety & protect our self-concept. Can resurface later. (Freud).

We fill in gaps the way we imagine our memory to be.

Incorporating misleading info. into ones' memory of an event, leading questions can ALTER someones' memory.

Memories not necessarily accurate or trust, but seem true.

Imagine Events: Seem more familiar & real.

Tested this idea via historical & personal events.

Attributing to the WRONG SOURCE an event that we have experienced.

Ex: Remembering you broke you leg, when you brother (source) is the one who actually broke his left.

- Wrong source info could be from books, other peoples' experiences, etc.

Loosing memories before an event has happened. Could be due to a medical situation, causing real memory loss.

Ex: Post surgery patience doesn't remember anything from BEFORE the surgery.

- Loss of explicit (meaningful & semantic) memory.

- Inability to form new memories, although can still recall things from before you lost your memory.

- Remembers life prior, but not current events.

Ex: Dory from Finding Nemo, memory loss every 7 Mins, although remembers personal info.

Line of questioning could affect a witnesses memory recall (Misinformation Effect).

- Children are especially susceptible to memory change due to lines of questioning & other memory interference.

Mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, & communication.

Mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas or people.

Organizing things in groups or hierarchies to help make sense of things.

The mental image (aka "icon") that our brain automatically associates to, that classifies an entire category of things in our brain.

Ex: A Crow representing a bird when you thinking of birds.

Trying until finding the solution.

Ex: Going down a supermarket isle.

Logical, step by step procedure that garuntees a solution.

Ex: Going down every isle until you find what you're looking for.

Simple, thinking strategy that helps us solve problems efficiently.

Ex: Looking at isle labels to see what's in each isle, instead of going down each one. Once you find what you're looking for on the isle label, you go down that isle to find it.

When a solution "comes to you." An "AHA!" moment.

Ex: Finding what you're looking for in the supermarket right in front of you, without the need of searching for it down each isle.

We tend to search for info that confirms our pre-conceptions. Looking for the answer that makes us right.

The inability to solve a problem because we won't look from a new perspective, being "fixed" on one approach.

Being fixed on solving a problem in one way, and one way only.

Being fixed on one function of an object, rather than considering other functions. Limits our resources to their original function.

Ex: Only using a piece of paper to do homework, rather than making paper airplanes instead!

Judging the likely hood of things based on HOW WELL THEY REPRESENT THE PROTOTYPE.

- Misjudging using our stereotypes instead of logic.

Judging the likely hood of things BASED OFF THE AVAILABILITY OF THE INFO IN OUR MEMORY.

- If it comes to our mind quickly, we assume the event is common.

- Ex: People avoid planes despite car accidents having a higher accident rate. (We remember more plane crashes than car crashes).

We overestimate our accuracy of our knowledge often. We are more confident than correct. Happens naturally.

The way we present an issue.

Ex: 95% Effective sounds better than 5% Ineffective.

We believe illogical things if they bring back up our beliefs. (Holding onto our beliefs).

- We cling to theories despite contradicting evidence.

- Our belief PERSERVEARS despite contradicting evidence shown, regardless if we're right or not.

- Coming up with MANY SOLUTIONS to solve a problem, generating many ideas about the same topic.

- Coming up with a SINGLE, BEST ANSWER to a problem. Taking all questions into consideration.

Designing & programming computer programs to do intelligent things to stimulate human though processes. (Not necessarily human though).

Computer circuits that mimics the brains' interconnected cells. - Learn from experience.

Our spoken, written, or signed words & the ways we combine them to communicate.

- Allows us to pass knowledge down though generations & to build a civilization.

The smallest sound units.

(Read vs. Read, Tear vs. Tear).

The smallest sound that CARRIES MEANING.

A system of rules that help us communicate.

Helps us make MEANING of morphemes. Ex: UN-kindly, Friend-LY, etc.

Combining words into sensible phrases, varies by english dialects, adjectives, nouns, etc.

- We develop language through associations, imitation, reinforcement, etc. We learn through nurture & environment. Via modeling & watching other people.

- Children are BIOLOGICALLY PREPARED to learn words & grammar.

- We have an inborn universal set of language, filled when actually learning language. We adapt to that language we're exposed to.

- Our brain develops learning grammar & language in the early stages of life.

- It's best to learn language during the CRITICAL PERIOD: Approximately 7 years old. Language becomes more difficult to learn after this period.

- Stage of development where babies utter various sounds, babies can tell when a face matches a sound.

Ex: "Ba ba ba, baaaa"

- 3-4 Months

A stage of development when a child speaks in mostly single words.

- Approximately 1 Years old.

A stage of development when a child speaks in mostly in two words. Ex: "Mama home" "Give me toy"

- Approximately 2 Years old.

- Benjamin Lee Whorf's Theory, language determines the way we think. (And vise versa).

- Different languages = different way of thinking.

- Language can define a culture, expanding language is to expand thinking ability.

- Language can help define what we feel, we associate what we feel to certain terms & emotions.

- Thinking in images: Thinking of something visually put can't put it into words.

- Mental Practice: Visualizing ideas and/or success can make significant progress.

Synesthesia: Associating colors with imagines. Ex: Blue with math.

Animals have insight & can problem solve & learn. Animals communicate, but it is not considered to be a language. They communicate through other ways.