Chapter 8 Key Concepts

Front 1

Describethe difference between pre-attentive and attentive processes. Give an example of each

Back 1

Pre-attentive processes allow a person to notice something effortlessly and immediately because it stands out becauseof its shape, size, color or movement. (ex noticing outside temp)

Attentive processes require searching through the item and series to locate it. (ex I Spy)

Front 2

Describe the relationship between “priming” and attention.

Back 2

Attention is the tendency to remember or respond to some stimulimore than others at any given time

Priming is the temporarily increased probability of using a word as a result ofrecently hearing or using it.

Front 3

How does the Stroop effect relate to priming and attention?

Back 3

The Stroop Effect is the tendency to read a word,especially if it is a color name, in spite of the instructions to disregard theword and state the color of the ink in which it is printed.

In the Stroop effect, one dominant responsethat is primed interferes with the less dominant response.

Front 4

What happens to information that gets presented during the attentional blink?

Back 4

The attentional blink is the brief period afterperceiving a stimulus during which it is difficult to attend to other stimulus.The information that gets presented does not registerat all.

Front 5

How do categories aid our cognition?

Back 5

Cognition is the process ofthinking, gaining knowledge and dealing with knowledge.

Categories aid cognition by allowing us to process things by placement in groups so that thebrain does not have to process each individual item separately and out ofcontext.

Front 6

How does the concept of a prototype relate to categorization? Give an example of a prototype

Back 6

A prototype is a familiar ortypical example of a category.

When the brain has an example of a prototype, itcan more easily identify something similar by comparing the new object to theknown prototype. (Ex: cup)

Front 7

Briefly describe the concept of a conceptual network. Draw a simple conceptual network that would correspond to the concept of “school.”

Back 7

A conceptual network is a mentallinking of words, concepts so that thinking of one of the concepts will bringto mind or prime the concepts linked to it through spreading activation.

Spreading activation is the process by which the activation of one conceptalso activates or primes other concepts that are linked to it.

Front 8

Briefly describe the four steps involved insolving a problem.

Back 8

(1) understanding the problem

(2) devising a plan

(3)carrying out the plan

(4) looking back.

Front 9

Describe the use of algorithms in generating a hypothesis, including their advantages and disadvantages. Give an example of each.

Back 9

algorithm: a mechanical, repetitive procedure forsolving a problem or testing one or many hypotheses. (ex trying different keys on a key ring)

advantage: allows you to methodically test different proposedsolutions and compare them objectively

disadvantage: usually brainstorming is better

Front 10

Describe the use of heuristics in generating a hypothesis, including their advantages and disadvantages. Give an example

Back 10

Heuristics: strategies for simplifying a problem or for guiding an investigation (ex: using mnemonic devices).

advantage: allow you to simplify the problem so the process of finding a solution is probably more efficient.

Disadvantage: not as good as algorithm for methodical solution-seeking

Front 11

What is the representativeness heuristic? Give an example of: (a) a correct use of the heuristic, and (b) an incorrect use of the heuristic

Back 11

representativeness heuristic: the tendency toassume that, if an item is similar to members of a particular category, it isprobably a member of that category itself.

Representativeness heuristics only work where the similarity matches the likelihood that the potential grouping is accurate.

Correct use: assuming a tree with a pinecone it is probably a form of pine orrelated species of tree (likelihood that the tree is a pine is extremely high when it meets these observed characteristics.)

incorrect use: teacher who assumed there was a riskthat an eighth grade Muslim student had a bomb in her backpack.

Hint 11

NOTE: Representativeness heuristics only work where the similarity matches the likelihood that the potential grouping is accurate.

Front 12

What is base-rate information, and how does it relate to the representativeness heuristic?

Back 12

Base-rate information: data about the givenfrequency of probability of a given item.

Hint 12

Where the base-rate data shows a high frequency of probability, making an assumption based on the representative heuristic is more likely to result in a correct conclusion.

Front 13

Define the availability heuristic, and give an example of its use.

Back 13

availability heuristic: strategy of assuming that how easily one can remember examples of one kind of event indicates how common the event actually is.

Hint 13

Example: a child gauging whether he can jump from one rock to another based on the ready availability of memories about how far he has been able to jump before.

Front 14

Describe illusory correlations and give an example of one. How do illusory correlations relate to the availability heuristic?

Back 14

illusory correlation: the assumption that a connection exists between two pieces of information. Can relate to availability heuristic in perceived connection that someone makes simply based on the traumatic (or impressive) level of a memory or the fact that the information has come up often.

Hint 14

example of illusory correlation is making the assumption that kidnapping is extremely common in the United States, based on the number of sensational news stories about kidnappings and tv dramas that use kidnapping as a plot.

Front 15

Describe the circumstances in which people tend to be overconfident and underconfident in their beliefs.

Back 15

Overconfidence: overestimationof the accuracy of one's opinions or predictions.

Occurs when a person believes their estimate is more accurate than itis (ex easy test question)

Underconfidence: underestimation of the accuracy of one's opinions or predictions. Occurs when a person is unsure about the subject of the estimation (taking hard test)

Front 16

What is “confirmation bias,” and how does it interfere with problem solving?

Back 16

Confirmation bias: the tendency to accept one hypothesis and then look forevidence to support it instead of considering other possibilities.

Hint 16

It interferes with problem solving because it limits the range of solutions and creative problem solving that the person will attempt. Basically, the person gets a certain idea in mind and then cannot see past it until confronted with a contrary result.

Front 17

Describe the concept of functional fixedness, and give an example.

Back 17

Functional fixedness: the tendency to adhere to asingle approach to a problem or a single way of using an item.

Hint 17

example: Lyme researchers who keep insisting it is arthritic and ignoring other symptoms.

Front 18

Explain the framing effect.” Give an everyday example

Back 18

framing effect: the tendency to answer aquestion differently when it is framed (phrased)

Example: 2 for 1 instead of $0.99 each

Front 19

Define the “sunk-cost” effect and give an everyday example.

Back 19

sunk cost effect: willingness to do somethingwe wouldn't otherwise choose to do because of money or effort already spent.

Hint 19

Example: not selling house or stocks when market is falling

Front 20

Define and compare the terms “maximizing” and “satisfying” in relationship to decision making.

Back 20

“Maximizing”: thoroughly considering everypossibility to find the best one.

“Satisficing”: searching only until you find something that is good enough

Hint 20

Which approach depends on motivation or attention span. Like buying a house vs buying eggs.

Front 21

Describe Chomsky’s concept oftransformational grammar. Describe surface structure and deep structure, andhow these are used together in creating a sentence.

Back 21

a system for converting adeep structure of a language (underlying logic or meaning of a sentence beyond just the meaning of the words) into surface structure. (sequence of words and they are actually spoken orwritten)

When the order ofthe words leaves the same meaning, it retains its surface structure,.

If the order or change in punctuation changes the meaning, it can make a sentence ambiguous.

Hint 21

Ex: To properly decode the sentence “Eats shoots and leaves” you would have to understand whether you are referring to a panda or a person

Front 22

Describe what is known about the relationship between language and general intelligence.

Back 22

Intelligence does not equal language. (ex elephant)

aphasia = intelligent but can't form language

Broca’s aphasia - inarticulate speech and bydifficulties with both using and understanding grammatical (prepositions, word endings, etc.) The person knows what they want to say but cannot form the sentences.

Wernecke’s aphasia = difficulty recalling the names ofobjects and impaired comprehension of language. think they are communicating but sounds are unintelligible or nonsensical.

Williams syndrome: retardation with fluency

Front 23

What are some of Chomsky’s ideas about language learning? How does language learning differ from other types of learning? Relate Chomsky’s theory to language acquisition device.

Back 23

Chomsky believed that children are born with the idea that words mean something. Children also maketheoretical distinctions that are essential to language, such as nouns vsverbs, singular vs plural, same vs different, etc. They have to learn how to express therelationships but they intuitively understand concepts that language is used toexpress.

Chomsky believes that humans are born with a built in language acquisitiondevice (a built-in mechanism for acquiring language) in the brain that enablesthem to learn to process thought into sound as language.

Front 24

Two brain areas seem particularly important for language. Name these areas, and describe the aspects of language for which each is responsible.

Back 24

1. Frontal cortex (Broca’s area)

-responsible for physical and intellectual formation of language, and especially use and understanding of grammatical devices in language.

2. temporalcortex (Wernicke’s area) - responsible for recall of names of objects and comprehension of language.

Front 25

Outline language development from birth to 3 years of age—what are some of the milestones?

Back 25

1. 3 months –random vocalizations

2. 6 months –more distinctive babbling

3. 1 year –babbling that resembles typical sounds of the family’s language; some wordsincluding “mama.” Language comprehension is much better than production.4. 1 ½ years - can say about 50 words, mostly nouns, few or no phrases.

5. 2 years –speaks in 2 word phrases

6. 2 ½ years –longer phrases and short sentences with some errors and unusualconstructions. Can understand much more.

7. 3 years –vocabulary near 1000 words. Longersentences with fewer errors.

Front 26

Describe the word-superiority effect and what it tells us about reading.

Back 26

word-superiorityeffect: identifying a letter more accurately when it is part of a whole word thanwhen it is presented by itself.

Hint 26

Tells us that reading is a process of picking up chunks of language instead of decoding individual letters.

Front 27

What is the difference between phonemes and morphemes?

Back 27

Phonemes: units of sound in speech, such as the sounds of individual letters or syllables.

Morphemes are the particular words and phrases used to make up a sentence.

Hint 27

Analogy: phonemes are to morphemes as morphemes are to paragraphs

Front 28

Describe the movements (saccades and fixations) that our eyes make during reading.

Back 28

Fixations : the eye remains steady (fixed) to take in the word group it is reading.

Saccedes: quick jumps in the focus of theeyes from one point to another.

Hint 28

We see during fixation, are virtually blind during saccedes.

allows the brain to process what the eyes have just observed during the fixed period.