Benjafield Cognition Chapter 14

Front 1

problem-centered versus method-centered

Back 1

Cognitive psychology can be so concerned with doing methodologically correct studies that it loses sight of the practical problems that need to be addressed. However, a problem-centered cognitive psychology runs the risk of methodological sloppiness. Applied cognitive psychology requires a delicate balance between being problem-centered and being method-centered

Front 2

activation-trigger-schema theory (ATS)

Back 2

there can be several different schemas for different kinds of action, and more than one schema can be activated at any one time. Schemas may be inappropriately activated, resulting in attentional errors

Front 3

oops I did it again effect

Back 3

a habitual sequence of action continues to operate without much attention, and a newer, intended action sequence never gets activated (forget to pick up milk)

Front 4

mode errors

Back 4

carrting out an action that would be appropriate for one situation, but not the situation in which we find ourselves

Front 5

description errors

Back 5

errors that occur because we do not have a detailed enough understanding of our situation
(unbuckle watch when car stops)

Front 6

capture errors

Back 6

errors that occur when a familiar schema captures behavior in the place of an unfamiliar one (stroop task)

Front 7

anticipation error

Back 7

response occurs earlier in sequence than attended

Front 8

spoonerisms

Back 8

you have wasted two terms -> you have tasted two worms

Front 9

ergonomics

Back 9

study of people in relation to their working environment

Front 10

asymmetry between understanding and prediction

Back 10

one can understand something extremely well and yet not be able to predict its future occurrence. Conversely, one can predict something reasonably well, without having a very good understanding of why those predictions work

Front 11

cleopatra's nose problem

Back 11

one can invent any number of hypothetical events that might have changed the course of history w/o any certainty of being able to predict any future occurances (If Cleopatra had an ugly nose, would Marc Antony have fallen in love with her?)

Front 12

user interface

Back 12

the relationship between the person and the machine being used to perform a task

Front 13

cognitive ergonomics

Back 13

the combination of cognitive psychology and ergonomics used to understand the person/machine interface

Front 14

Fitts's law

Back 14

specifies the difficulty of moving a stylus to a target. Obviously, this difficulty will vary as the distance to the target varies. The farther the stylus has to be moved, the more difficult the task. It will also vary as the size of the target varies. The narrower the target, the more difficult it will be to hit it.

Front 15

Textish

Back 15

Because the keypad on a mobile phone is so difficult to use for typing text, text messages are often written in a special code

Front 16

concurrent process

Back 16

many different processes going on at the same time but terminating in different times
(difficult to describe in words)

Front 17

statistical graphics

Back 17

presenting data in a visual form that is not only readily understood but also enables the user to draw the correct inferences

Front 18

population impact number

Back 18

number of people in the population among whom one event will be prevented by an intervention within that entire population, e.g. that ratio of mammography preventing death from breast cancer is 1:1000

Front 19

informavores

Back 19

a species that hungers for information in order to gather it and store it as a means for adapting to the world

Front 20

information foraging

Back 20

a process analogous to that engaged in by animals when they forage for food. A successful foraging strategy will return the most task-relevant information with a minimum of effort

Front 21

information scents

Back 21

just as predators follow the scents of their prey, people follow imperfect clues to the information they seek

Front 22

information diet

Back 22

created by initially examining a large number of possible sources of information in a cursory manner and rejecting those that do not look promising

Front 23

recognition

Back 23

the degree to which a user can reorganize what process is occuring

Front 24

modularity

Back 24

the degree to which a representation indicates the chunks into which the process can be decomposed

Front 25

consistency

Back 25

the degree to which a user need only understand a part of the interface in order to generate the whole range of possible interactions w/ the system

Front 26

rampant featurism

Back 26

the tendency of the features of interfaces to expand beyond necessity

Front 27

importance of inconsistency

Back 27

the requirements of the specific work situation that make it necessary to make modifications in consistent system to suit the needs of individual users

Front 28

spacing effect

Back 28

the distribution of learning over several different sessions, which leads to better results than does cramming all learning into a single session - metacognitive advantage

Front 29

random practice

Back 29

a skill can be acquired faster when learned systematically, but performance in the long run is better if the skill is acquired through random practice

Front 30

periodic feedback

Back 30

a skill learned through periodic feedback will be better suited to real-world conditions

Front 31

illusions of competence

Back 31

people often believe they will perform better than they in fact do

Front 32

judgements of learning

Back 32

the judgment, often wrong, that you have learned something and will be able to recall it later

Front 33

foresight bias

Back 33

the tendency to believe that you will be able to recall something later if it is present now

Front 34

region of proximal learning

Back 34

the theory that people will choose to work on material of moderate difficulty