Cognitive Psychology (Medin) 4Th Ed. Unit 2

Front 1

Adaptive control of thought (ACT)

Back 1

a theory that attempts to account for a wide variety of phenomena and data in memory, learning, language, problem solving, and reasoning within the same framework.

Front 2

Analog representation:

Back 2

a representation that mimics or simulates the structure of its referent in a more or less direct manner. In the case of spatial representations, continuous spatial information and spatial relationships might be the more relevant structure.

Front 3

Anterograde amnesia

Back 3

an inability to learn new information after some trauma.

Front 4

Chunking:

Back 4

combining several pieces of information into a single unit or code.

Front 5

Connection weights:

Back 5

in PDP models, the weights determining how much the activation of one unit affects the activation of another unit. These weights serve to encode long-term memories.

Front 6

Context effects:

Back 6

the improvement (or decrement) in memory of having the information occur with the same (or different) context

Front 7

Declarative memory:

Back 7

knowledge of factual information, including both episodic and semantic information, “knowing that”

Front 8

Dual-coding hypothesis:

Back 8

the idea that pictures are remembered better than words because pictures are encoded both verbally and as images

Front 9

Encoding:

Back 9

the initial processing of a stimulus that leads to a mental representation in memory.

Front 10

Encoding specificity effect:

Back 10

retrieval depends on the extent to which the retrieval cue matches the information available at encoding.

Front 11

Episodic memory:

Back 11

memory for autobiographical events, including the context (time, place, setting) in which they occurred.

Front 12

Explicit memory:

Back 12

uses of memory requiring the conscious recollection of an experience.

Front 13

Fan effect:

Back 13

the prediction in ACT theory that retrieval requires a node to reach a threshold level of activation, slowing down the retrieval of concepts attached to nodes with a high number of exiting links.

Front 14

Flashbulb memory:

Back 14

highly vivid, almost photograph-like, memory for the details of an event and the setting.

Front 15

Free recall:

Back 15

a test of memory in which the subjects are asked to reproduce from memory the as much of the presented material as possible.

Front 16

Hierarchical model:

Back 16

a model of semantic knowledge in which knowledge about objects is stored in a hierarchy or ranking, with instances connected to their superordinate by is-a links.

Front 17

Implicit memory:

Back 17

uses of memory in which some previous experience can affect performance without any conscious recollection of the experience.

Front 18

Incidental learning:

Back 18

learning that takes place without any intent to learn. In memory research, it usually involves a test of memory in which subjects are not aware during study that they will be tested for their memory of the material.

Front 19

Intentional forgetting:

Back 19

an experimental procedure in which subjects are sometimes signaled that they can forget the items presented so far on the list

Front 20

Levels of processing:

Back 20

the proposal that different encodings vary in how deeply the material is processed that deeper processings lead to the material being better remembered. The memory is established as a byproduct of the processing.

Front 21

Lexical decision task:

Back 21

An experimental technique in which a string of letters is presented (e.g. NURSE) and the participant must say whether the string forms a word.

Front 22

Links:

Back 22

in network models, the pointers designating the relation between two nodes

Front 23

Long-term memory:

Back 23

the term referring to the retention of information over long (i.e. more than 30 seconds) periods of time, with a large (unlimited?) capacity. Forgetting from long-term memory is usually thought to be due to retrieval failures caused by interference from other knowledge.

Front 24

Maintenance rehearsal:

Back 24

repeating by rote some information without any effort to develop meaning associations to it. This is an effective way of holding information in short-term memory but is not very effective for later remembering.

Front 25

Memory decay hypothesis:

Back 25

an idea about the cause of forgetting, in which items that are not recalled or studied for a period of time tend simply to lose strength in memory as a result of an automatic process of decay.

Front 26

Memory span:

Back 26

the number of items (usually digits or words) that a person can immediately repeat back accurately. In adults, a typical memory span would be about seven items.

Front 27

Metamemory:

Back 27

knowledge about one’s own memory and memory abilities, as well as about different memory strategies and their effectiveness for different situations.

Front 28

Method of loci:

Back 28

mnemonic technique for remembering a set of items in order by mentally moving along a familiar path and “dropping off” a to-be-remembered item at each landmark.

Front 29

Mental rotation:

Back 29

subjects are asked to determine if two objects differ only in rotation. Results from these studies have been used to argue for the existence of analog representations.

Front 30

Misinformation effect:

Back 30

when misinformation provided after the events leads people to be less likely to choose the correct alternative on a later test.

Front 31

Mnemonics:

Back 31

strategies or procedures for remembering material, many of which rely on visual imagery.

Front 32

Nodes:

Back 32

in network models, a unit that represents a particular concept or idea.

Front 33

Parallel distributed processing (PDP):

Back 33

the models consist of a large number of interconnected units. Concepts are represented as patterns of activations over these units, and learning proceeds by changes in the weights of the connections between the units.

Front 34

Phonological loop:

Back 34

a subsystem of working memory that accounts for much of the auditory temporary storage capabilities. It consists of a phonological store to hold acoustic or speech-based information for about 2 seconds and an articulatory control process, which produces inner speech.

Front 35

Picture-superiority effect:

Back 35

empirical generalization that pictures are remembered better than words.

Front 36

Primacy effect:

Back 36

the superiority in memory for items in the first part of the list compared to items in the middle part of the list.

Front 37

Proactive interference:

Back 37

memory loss for recently acquired information that is caused by interference from memories acquired earlier.

Front 38

Procedural memory:

Back 38

memory about how to do something, “knowing how”. Usually thought to be gradually acquired through practice and not easily communicated verbally to others.

Front 39

Propositional representation:

Back 39

representation that takes the form of abstract language-like propositions that are not tied to any particular sensory modality.

Front 40

Propositions:

Back 40

smallest unit of meaning about which one can reasonably assert truth of falsity.

Front 41

Recency effect:

Back 41

the superiority in memory (usually in free recall tests) for the items at the end of the list relative to items in the middle of the list.

Front 42

Reconstructive memory:

Back 42

remembering by integrating partial information from the event with other information, such as schemas or beliefs.

Front 43

Release from PI:

Back 43

an experimental procedure for studying what type of information about the stimulus is being encoded by examining the extent of proactive interference when different types of information are changed.

Front 44

Repetition priming:

Back 44

the finding that a recent exposure to a stimulus affects its subsequent processing.

Front 45

Representation:

Back 45

internal model linked to external (real-world) objects and events so as to preserve functionally relevant information.

Front 46

Retrieval plan:

Back 46

an organized set of cues to be used in helping to retrieve information.

Front 47

Retroactive interference:

Back 47

memory loss for previously learned information that is caused by interference from recently acquired information.

Front 48

Retrograde amnesia:

Back 48

a loss of memory for events that occurred prior to some trauma.

Front 49

Route knowledge:

Back 49

spatial knowledge in the form of the appropriate procedure for navigating from one point to another.

Front 50

Savings in relearning:

Back 50

improvement in learning performance for material learned earlier.

Front 51

Schema:

Back 51

a generalized knowledge structure used in understanding. A schema tells what to expect and what unstated information may nonetheless be inferred as present.

Front 52

Script:

Back 52

a knowledge structure containing information about the sequence of events in routine or stereotypical situations, such as going to restaurant.

Front 53

Semantic memory:

Back 53

memory for general knowledge of the world and language; the type of knowledge often found in encyclopedias and dictionaries but not knowledge about particular events.

Front 54

Serial position effect:

Back 54

recall of an item in a list depends on where in the list it was presented, with middle items recalled worse than items at the beginning or end.

Front 55

Short-term memory:

Back 55

the term referring to a limited amount of information being retained over a brief period of time; sometimes thought of a separate memory store for information before it is transferred to long-term memory or as the activated portion of long-term memory.

Front 56

Slot:

Back 56

component of a frame that is filled in by particular information.

Front 57

Spacing effect:

Back 57

the result that repeating items are better remembered if their repetitions occur apart from each other, rather than being massed or successive.

Front 58

Spatial neglect:

Back 58

deficit associated with brain injury in which the person acts unaware of objects and events on the neglected side of space and may include neglect of the limbs and body surface.

Front 59

Spreading activation:

Back 59

a process in network models in which nodes are activated (made available for processing) by their links to other nodes, as if the activation were spreading from node to node through the links.

Front 60

State-dependent recall:

Back 60

the improvement (or decrement) in recall of information learned when the person’s internal state is similar to (or different from) the current state.

Front 61

Survey knowledge:

Back 61

spatial knowledge that preserves relevant information about spatial relationships, as in a map.

Front 62

Transfer appropriate processing:

Back 62

a framework with the main assumption that memory performance is greater, the more the cognitive processes required at test overlap with the cognitive processes required at learning.

Front 63

Type-token distinction:

Back 63

a representation distinction in network modes in which the nodes representing general concepts (types) are connected to but distinct from the nodes representing particular instances of that concept (tokens).

Front 64

Typicality effect:

Back 64

in category verification tasks, the finding that typical instances of a category (e.g., robin-bird) are verified more quickly than less typical instances (e.g., penguin-bird.)

Front 65

Visuospatial sketchpad:

Back 65

a subsystem of working memory that allows us to maintain and manipulate visual and spatial images

Front 66

Working memory:

Back 66

a cognitive system that provides temporary storage and manipulation of information that is necessary for a wide variety of complex cognitive tasks. Consists of a central executive control process and two subsystems: phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad.