Chapter 4 - Cognition, Consciousness, And Language

Front 1

cognition

Back 1

looks at how our brains process and react to information

Front 2

information processing model

Back 2

states that the brain encodes, stores, and retrieves information much like a computer

Front 3

cognitive development

Back 3

development of one's ability to think and solve problems across the lifespan

Front 4

Piaget's stages of cognitive development

Back 4

four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational

Front 5

sensorimotor stage

Back 5

birth to two years; child learns to manipulate his or her environment in order to meet physical needs; circular reactions; object permanence; representational thought

Front 6

preoperational stage

Back 6

two to seven years; symbolic thinking; egocentrism; centration; conservation

Front 7

concrete operational state

Back 7

seven to eleven years; understand conservation and consider the perspectives of others; able to engage in logical thought as long as they are working with concrete objects or information that is directly available; not yet developed the ability to think abstractly

Front 8

formal operational state

Back 8

eleven years; ability to think logically about abstract ideas; problem-solving

Front 9

schema

Back 9

can include a concept, a behavior, or a sequence of events; new information has to be placed into the different schemata (processed via adaptation)

Front 10

assimilation

Back 10

process of classifying new information into existing schemata

Front 11

accommodation

Back 11

process by which existing schemata are modified to encompass new information

Front 12

primary circular reactions

Back 12

repetition of a body movement that originally occurred by chance; repeated because the child finds it soothing

Front 13

secondary circular reactions

Back 13

manipulation is focused on something outside the body; repeated because the child gets a response from the environment

Front 14

object permanence

Back 14

understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of view

Front 15

representational thought

Back 15

creating mental representations of external objects and events

Front 16

symbolic thinking

Back 16

ability to pretend, play make-believe, and have an imagination

Front 17

egocentrism

Back 17

inability to imagine what another person may think or feel

Front 18

centration

Back 18

tendency to focus on only one aspect of a phenomenon

Front 19

conservation

Back 19

child in the preoperational stage will focus mainly on number rather than actual quantity

Front 20

fluid intelligence

Back 20

problem-solving skills; peaks in early adulthood; declines with age

Front 21

crystallized intelligence

Back 21

use of learned skills and knowledge; peaks in middle adulthood; declines with age

Front 22

activities of daily living

Back 22

eating, bathing, toileting, dressing, and ambulation

Front 23

dementia

Back 23

begins with impaired memory, but later progresses to impaired judgment and confusion; personality changes; most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer's disease

Front 24

delirium

Back 24

rapid fluctuation in cognitive function that is reversible and caused by medical (nonpsychological) causes

Front 25

mental set

Back 25

tendency to approach problems in the same way

Front 26

functional fixedness

Back 26

demonstrated by Duncker's candle problem; inability to consider how to use an object in a nontraditional manner

Front 27

trial and error

Back 27

various solutions are tried until one is found that seems to work; only effective when there are relatively few possible solutions

Front 28

algorithms

Back 28

formula or procedure for solving a certain type of problem

Front 29

deductive (top-down) reasoning

Back 29

starts from a set of general rules and draws conclusions from the information given

Front 30

inductive (bottom-up) reasoning

Back 30

seeks to create a theory via generalizations; starts with specific instances, and then draws a conclusion from them

Front 31

heuristics

Back 31

simplified principles used to make decisions; rules of thumb

Front 32

availability heuristic

Back 32

used when we try to decide how likely something is; we make our decisions based on how easily similar instances can be imagined

Front 33

representativeness heuristic

Back 33

involves categorizing items on the basis of whether they fit the prototypical, stereotypical, or representative image of the category

Front 34

base rate fallacy

Back 34

using prototypical or stereotypical factors while ignoring actual numerical information

Front 35

disconfirmation principle

Back 35

when a potential solution to a problem fails during testing, this solution should be discarded

Front 36

confirmation bias

Back 36

tendency to focus on information that fits an individual's beliefs, while rejecting information that goes against them

Front 37

overconfidence

Back 37

tendency to erroneously interpret one's decisions, knowledge, and beliefs as infallible

Front 38

intuition

Back 38

ability to act on perceptions that may not be supported by evidence

Front 39

recognition-primed decision model

Back 39

brain is actually sorting through a wide variety of information to match a pattern

Front 40

emotion

Back 40

subjective experience of a person in a certain situation

Front 41

multiple intelligences

Back 41

seven defined types of intelligence: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal

Front 42

intelligence quotient (IQ)

Back 42

intelligence is often measured with standardized tests that generate an intelligence quotient for the test-taker

Front 43

Stanford-Binet IQ test

Back 43

IQ = ((mental age)/(chronological age))*100%

Front 44

consciousness

Back 44

one's level of awareness of both the world and one's own existence within the world

Front 45

states of consciousness

Back 45

alertness, sleep, dreaming, and altered states of consciousness

Front 46

altertness

Back 46

state of consciousness in which we are awake and able to think; maintained by neurological circuits in the prefrontal cortex, which communicate with the reticular formation (located in the brainstem) to keep the cortex awake and alert; damage results in a coma

Front 47

four characteristic EEG patterns correlated with different stages of waking and sleeping

Back 47

beta, alpha, theta, and delta waves

Front 48

beta waves

Back 48

high frequency and occur when the person is alert or attending to a mental task that requires concentration; neurons are randomly firing

Front 49

alpha waves

Back 49

occur when we are awake but relaxing with our eyes closed; somewhat slower than beta waves; more synchronized than beta waves

Front 50

theta waves

Back 50

as soon as you doze off, you enter Stage 1, which is detected by the appearance of theta waves; irregular waveforms with slower frequencies and higher voltages

Front 51

sleep spindles and K complexes

Back 51

as you fall more deeply asleep, you enter Stage 2

Front 52

delta waves

Back 52

as you fall even more deeply asleep, you enter Stages 3 and 4, also known as slow-wave sleep (SWS); low-frequency, high-voltage waves; difficult to rouse someone from sleep; SWS associated with cognitive recovery and memory consolidation, as well as increased growth hormone release

Front 53

non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep

Back 53

Stages 1 through 4

Front 54

rapid eye movement (REM) sleep

Back 54

interspersed between cycles of the NREM sleep stages; arousal levels reach that of wakefulness, but the muscles are paralyzed; also known as paradoxical sleep because one's heart rate, breathing patterns, and EEG mimic wakefulness, but the individual is still asleep; dreaming is most likely to occur; associated with memory consolidation

Front 55

sleep cycle

Back 55

single complete progression through the sleep stages; SWS predominates early in the night as the brain falls into deep sleep and then into more wakeful states; later in the night REM sleep predominates

Front 56

over the lifespan, the length of the sleep cycle

Back 56

increases from approximately 50 minutes in children to 90 minutes in adults; children spend more time in SWS than adults

Front 57

circadian rhythms

Back 57

our daily cycle of waking and sleeping is regulated by internally generated rhythms or circadian rhythms

Front 58

cortisol

Back 58

steroid hormone produced in the adrenal cortex; levels slowly increase during early morning because increasing light causes the release of corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) from the hypothalamus; CRF causes release of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from the anterior pituitary, which stimulates cortisol release; contributes to wakefulness

Front 59

most dreaming occurs during

Back 59

REM; however, soon after we enter Stage 2 sleep, our mental experience starts to shift to a dreamlike state

Front 60

activation-synthesis theory

Back 60

dreams are caused by widespread, random activation of neural circuitry; cortex then tries to stitch it together

Front 61

problem-solving dream theory

Back 61

dreams are a way to solve problems while you are sleeping

Front 62

cognitive process dream theory

Back 62

dreams are merely the sleeping counterpart of stream-of-consciousness

Front 63

neurocognitive models of dreaming

Back 63

seek the unify biological and psychological perspectives on dreaming by correlating the subjective cognitive experience of dreaming with measurable physiological changes

Front 64

dyssomnias

Back 64

disorders that make it difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep, or avoid sleep; include insomnia, narcolepsy, and sleep apnea

Front 65

parasomnias

Back 65

abnormal movements or behaviors during sleep; include night terrors and sleep walking

Front 66

insomnia

Back 66

difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep; most common sleep disorder

Front 67

narcolepsy

Back 67

lack of voluntary control over the onset of sleep; symptoms include cataplexy, a loss of muscle control and sudden intrusion of REM sleep during waking hours, usually caused by an emotional trigger; sleep paralysis, a sensation of being unable to move despite being awake; and hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations, which are hallucinations when going to sleep or awakening

Front 68

sleep apnea

Back 68

inability to breathe during sleep; obstructive sleep apnea occurs when a physical blockage in the pharynx or trachea prevents airflow; central sleep apnea occurs when the brain fails to send signals to the diaphragm to breathe

Front 69

sleepwalking

Back 69

also known as somnambulism; usually occurs during SWS

Front 70

sleep depravation

Back 70

can result from as little as one night without sleep, or from multiple nights with poor-quality, short-duration sleep

Front 71

REM rebound

Back 71

an earlier onset and greater duration of REM sleep compared to normal

Front 72

hypnosis

Back 72

state in which a person appears to be in control of his or her normal functions, but is in a highly suggestible state

Front 73

hypnotic induction

Back 73

hypnotist seeks to relax the subject and increase the subject's level of concentration

Front 74

meditation

Back 74

on EEG, meditation resembles Stage 1 sleep with theta and slow alpha waves

Front 75

depressants

Back 75

alcohol, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines; reduce nervous system activity, resulting in a sense of relaxation and reduced anxiety

Front 76

stimulants

Back 76

amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy; increase arousal in the nervous system; each drug increases the frequency of action potentials

Front 77

opiates and opioids

Back 77

ex. heroin; naturally occurring forms are called opiates; synthetic derivatives are called opioids; bind to opioid receptors in the peripheral and central nervous system, causing a decreased reaction to pain and sense of euphoria

Front 78

hallucinogens

Back 78

ex. lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD); complex interaction between various neurotransmitters, especially serotonin; cause distortions of reality, enhancement of sensory experience, and introspection

Front 79

marijuana

Back 79

active chemical in marijuana is known as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC); THC acts on cannabinoid receptors, glycine receptors, and opioid receptors; increases GABA activity (causing neural inhibition) and dopamine activity (causing pleasure)

Front 80

alcohol

Back 80

increases activity of the GABA receptor, which causes hyperpolarization of the membrane; generalized brain inhibition; diminished arousal; centers of the brain that prevent inappropriate behavior are depressed; increases dopamine levels, causing a sense of mild euphoria

Front 81

alcohol myopia

Back 81

one of the main effects of alcohol on logical reasoning is the inability to recognize consequences of actions, creating a short-sided view of the world

Front 82

Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome

Back 82

caused by a deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B1) and characterized by severe memory impairment with changes in mental status and loss of motor skills

Front 83

barbiturates and benzodiazepines

Back 83

used as anxiety-reducing (anxiolytic) and sleep medications; increase GABA activity, causing a sense of relaxation; both of these drugs can be highly addictive

Front 84

amphetamines

Back 84

increase release of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin at the synapse and decrease reuptake; increases arousal and causes a reduction in appetite and decreased need for sleep

Front 85

cocaine

Back 85

decreases reuptake of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin

Front 86

ecstasy (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine, MDMA)

Back 86

acts as a hallucinogen combined with an amphetamine

Front 87

mesolimbic reward pathway

Back 87

includes the nucleus accumbens (NAc), the ventral tegmental area (VTA), and the connection between them called the medial forebrain bundle (MFB); its activation accounts for the positive reinforcement of substance use

Front 88

attention

Back 88

concentrating on one aspect of the sensory environment, or sensorium

Front 89

selective attention

Back 89

focusing on one part of the sensorium while ignoring other stimuli

Front 90

cocktail party phenomenon

Back 90

you are at a party, talking to a friend; your ears perk up when you hear your name spoken halfway across the room

Front 91

divided attention

Back 91

ability to perform multiple tasks at hte same time

Front 92

automatic processing

Back 92

permits the brain to focus on other tasks with divided attention

Front 93

phonology

Back 93

actual sound of language; about 40 speech sounds of phonemes in English

Front 94

categorical perception

Back 94

ability to make a distinctions between different speech sounds and their meanings

Front 95

morphology

Back 95

structure of words; many words are composed of multiple building blocks called morphemes, each of which connotes a particular meaning

Front 96

semantics

Back 96

association of meaning with a word

Front 97

syntax

Back 97

how words are put together to form sentences

Front 98

pragmatics

Back 98

dependence of language on context and pre-existing knowledge; the manner in which we speak may differ depending on the audience and our relationship to that audience

Front 99

prosody

Back 99

rhythm, cadence, and inflection of our voices

Front 100

babbling

Back 100

children, including deaf children, spontaneously begin to babble during their first year

Front 101

9 to 12 months

Back 101

babbling

Front 102

12 to 18 months

Back 102

about one word per month

Front 103

18 to 20 months

Back 103

explosion of language and combing words

Front 104

2 to 3 years

Back 104

longer sentences (3 words or more)

Front 105

5 years

Back 105

language rules largely mastered

Front 106

errors of growth

Back 106

a child applies a grammatical rule in a situation where it does not apply

Front 107

nativist (biology) theory

Back 107

advocates for existence of some innate capacity for language

Front 108

transformational grammar

Back 108

syntactic transformations, or changes in word order that retain the same meaning; children make transformations effortlessly at a young age; thus, the ability must be innate

Front 109

language acquisition device (LAD)

Back 109

in the nativist (biological) theory, the innate ability of language

Front 110

critical period

Back 110

between two years and puberty; if no language exposure occurs during this time, later training is largely ineffective

Front 111

sensitive period

Back 111

time when environmental input has maximal effect on the development of an ability; before the onset of puberty for language

Front 112

learning (behaviorist) theory

Back 112

language acquisition by operant conditioning; language acquisition by reinforcement; that is, parents and caregivers repeat and reinforce sounds that sound most like the language spoken by their parents

Front 113

social interactionist theory

Back 113

interplay between biological and social processes; language acquisition is driven by the child's desire to communicate and behave in a social manner

Front 114

Whorfian hypothesis (linguistic relativity hypothesis)

Back 114

our perception of reality is determined by the content of language; language affects the way we think rather than the other way around

Front 115

Broca's area

Back 115

located in the inferior frontal gyrus of the frontal lobe; controls the motor function of speech via connections with the motor cortex; if damaged, speech comprehension is intact, but the patient will have a reduced or absent ability to produce spoken language (known as Broca's or expressive aphasia)

Front 116

Wernicke's area

Back 116

located in the superior temporal gyrus of the temporal lobe; responsible for language comprehension; if damaged, motor production and fluency of speech is retained but comprehension of speech is lost; known as Wernicke's receptive aphasia

Front 117

aphasia

Back 117

deficit of language production or comprehension

Front 118

arcuate fasciculus

Back 118

connects Broca's and Wernicke's areas; if damaged, patient is unable to repeat something that has been said; known as conduction aphasia