Flashcards

  • Chapter 1 – Flashcards

    cognitive psychology

    A branch of psychology concerned with understanding the mental processes related to processes such as perception, memory, decision making and language through the study of behaviour.

    consciousness

    Inner subjective experience which includes thoughts and feelings and awareness of one’s own existence.

    empiricism

    A view that human knowledge comes primarily from experience.

    schemas

    A mental structure that helps to organise and interpret information.

    introspection

    A process that involves looking inwards to examine thoughts and feelings.

    behaviourists

    A movement that sought to explain things though directly observable behaviours.

    Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

    A form of therapy that helps people to manage problems by changing the way they behave and think.

    conditioning

    Where a stimulus is repeatedly paired with an imagined or expected response or behaviour.

    information processing

    The process by which information is encoded, stored and retrieved.

    short-term memory storage

    A store for holding a small amount of information in mind for a short period of time.

    connectionist models

    Computer based models that attempt to understand how people learn and remember at a neural level.

    functional magnetic resonance imaging

    A class of neuroimaging methods developed to measure localised brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow.

    position emission tomography

    A class of neuroimaging technique that uses tiny amounts of radioactive substances to detect localised brain activity via changes in metabolism.

    deductive reasoning

    A form of reasoning that starts with a hypothesis, and examines the possibilities to reach a logical conclusion.

    inductive reasoning

    A form of reasoning that involves making broad generalisations from specific observations.

    cognitive advantage

    The idea that speaking more than one language fluently brings cognitive benefits.

    eyewitness testimony

    Witnessing and then recalling the details of a crime, accident or other important event.

    free will

    The power or capacity to choose amongst alternatives or to act in a certain way.

  • Chapter 2 – Flashcards

    problems

    These are situations in which you have a goal, but you do not immediately know what you need to do to achieve it.

    thinking

    A mental process that involves the exploration of possible states of the world and possible actions. This mental process may often be supported by interactions with external materials, objects and representations.

    insight

    A person’s sudden sense of understanding of how to go about solving a problem for which they have been struggling to find a solution. Such insight is sometimes referred to as an “Aha!” experience.

    well-defined problems

    These are problems in which the initial state (the starting conditions), the goal state and the actions that are available to tackle the problem are all completely specified.

    ill-defined problems

    These are problems in which there is a lack of specificity about one or more of the initial state (the starting conditions), the goal state and the actions that are available to tackle the problem.

    semantically-rich problems

    These are problems that require specialist, prior domain knowledge for people to be able to solve them.

    semantically-impoverished problems

    These are problems such as puzzles that do not require specialist, prior domain knowledge for people to be able to solve them. All of the knowledge needed to solve these problems is presented as part of the problem statement.

    adversarial problems

    These are problems in which the problem solver has to compete with a rational opponent, as in board games where the aim is for one player to win.

    restructuring

    This usually involves a person changing their mental representation of a given problem. This representational change that restructures a problem can reveal a new understanding of the problem that can engender a sudden feeling of insight that a solution can readily be found.

    impasse

    The experience of feeling stuck or blocked when trying to solve a problem and not knowing how to proceed to find a solution.

    functional fixedness

    A difficulty in thinking of a novel way to use an object that is different to its usual function.

    incubation

    A period during which a problem is set aside. This may arise immediately after the person sees the problem or subsequent to the person spending some time trying to solve the problem but without success.

    semantic memory

    A form of long-term memory that consists of one’s interconnected general knowledge about the world, including concepts and words that make up language.

    functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

    A technique for providing information about the location and time-course of brain processes based on imaging blood oxygenation levels using an MRI machine.

    electroencephalography (EEG)

    A technique for recording the brain’s electrical potentials using an array of scalp electrodes.

    productive thinking

    Thinking that involves the systematic re-use of past experience and existing knowledge.

    analogising

    A process involving a comparison between two entities, objects, systems or problems that serves to identify similarities.

    heuristics

    Rules of thumb that are undemanding of cognitive resources and that often succeed in producing answers that are correct or approximately correct.

    problem space

    An abstract mental representation of a problem and possible solution states.

    planning

    The process of imagining an action sequence in advance of any physical, goal-directed activity.

    algorithms

    Problem-solving methods that are guaranteed to succeed but may do so only at a very high cost in terms of the time and information-processing effort required.

    artificial intelligence (AI)

    Computer programs that can produce intelligent outcomes to attain specified goals.

    means-ends analysis

    A heuristic for solving problems that involves generating a sub-goal to reduce the difference between the current state and the goal state.

    maximisation heuristic

    A heuristic that functions like means-ends analysis to ensure that any move or decision enables as much progress to be made as possible toward the current goal state.

    progress monitoring heuristic

    A heuristic whereby during problem solving people continually track their degree of progress toward the goal state and will switch their approach if insufficient progress toward the goal is being made.

    working memory capacity

    A measure of how much information a person can store and process at any point in time.

    saccades

    Rapid eye movements that are separated by eye fixations that arise when the eye is relatively still at a point-of-regard. Conscious awareness is suppressed during saccades.

    problem isomorphs

    Problems that have the same underlying structure to one another but different surface characteristics.

    problem-solving schemas

    Generalised, abstracted representations of problems and associated solution methods that are stored in long-term memory, which can be applied to solve a class of problems that have similar underpinning structures.

  • Chapter 3 – Flashcards

    convergent thinking

    Thinking that is directed toward finding a single correct or effective solution to a problem.

    divergent thinking

    Thinking that is directed toward generating a range of potential ideas that meet a specified requirement or set of requirements

    alternative uses task (AUT)

    A task that requires participants to come up with as many uses as they can that are different from the normal use for a familiar object, such as a brick, within a limited time.

    semantic memory

    A form of long-term memory that consists of one’s interconnected general knowledge about the world, including concepts and words that make up language.

    positron emission tomography (PET)

    A brain-imaging technique that is based on the detection of positrons (or antielectrons). As a technique it has good spatial resolution to detect active brain regions but poor temporal resolution to detect changes in brain activity over time.

    default mode network (DMN)

    A network of brain regions that is active when the brain is in a resting state (albeit not sleeping) and when a person is engaged in mind wandering and imaginative thinking (e.g., remembering the past or thinking about the future).

    central executive network (CEN)

    A network of brain regions that is typically recruited by tasks that require executive control, inhibition and working memory.

    executive control

    Processes that function to organise, coordinate and control the workings of the cognitive system to achieve current goals.

    inhibition

    Processes that inhibit dominant responses so that other, less dominant responses can be attended to.

    working memory

    A limited-capacity system used for the processing and short-term storage of information.

    salience network

    A network of brain regions that underpins the decision to switch between the involvement of the default mode network and the central executive network at any point in time.

    creative synthesis task

    A task in which participants are required to combine presented shapes to make a novel and interesting combination that depicts a recognisable object or assemblage.

    incubation

    A stage during problem solving when the target problem is set aside for a while so as to work on other things. It is claimed that incubation can facilitate solution discovery for the target problem when work on it resumes.

    meta-analysis

    A form of quantitative analysis in which the statistical data from numerous previous studies on a particular topic are combined so that the overall evidence for particular effects can be determined.

    mind wandering

    Loose, associative thinking that is not overtly goal-directed or task-related.

    brainstorming

    A method to stimulate the production of unusual ideas by emphasising the quantity rather than the quality of idea generation and the deferment of any evaluation of ideas until a defined period of idea generation has occurred.

    semantically-rich problems

    Problems that require specialist, prior domain knowledge for people to be able to solve them.

    template

    In relation to chess, this is an abstract, schema-based knowledge structure that consists of a mixture of fixed and variable information about chess pieces and their relative configurations.

    deliberate practice

    A form of practice that is designed to improve performance by ensuring that learners are given tasks of moderate difficulty and are provided with informative feedback so that they have the chance to correct their errors.

    talent

    An individual’s pre-existing and presumably innate capacities, abilities and propensities that are relevant to acquiring skills in a domain of activity.

    long-term working memory

    A mechanism that is used by experts whereby domain-relevant information is rapidly stored in long-term memory such that it can be dynamically accessed using retrieval cues in working memory.

  • Chapter 4 – Flashcards

    deductive reasoning

    Reasoning from given information that is assumed to be true to derive conclusions that necessarily follow from the information.

    inductive reasoning

    Reasoning from knowledge of specific instances and examples to derive generalisations that are probable but not certain.

    informal reasoning

    A type of everyday reasoning that is based on a person’s relevant knowledge and experience rather than on the formal rules of logic.

    conditional reasoning

    A type of deductive reasoning that is based on statements or propositions that take the form “If p…then q”.

    propositional logic

    A system of formal rules devised by logicians that enable valid arguments to be developed from simple statements (propositions) that are linked by logical relations such as if…then, and, or and not.

    premises

    Statements or propositions that are given and are assumed to be true, from which conclusions can be drawn that may be valid or invalid.

    inference rules

    Logical rules that can be applied to premises to determine whether an inference is valid or invalid. For example, modus ponens (from the Latin meaning “mode of affirming”) is a rule which states that given “If p then q” and given that “p” is true, we can infer that “q” is also true by way of a valid conclusion.

    mental models

    Mental representations of possible states of the world that capture the meaning of information in given premises. According to mental models theories of reasoning, people draw inferences based on these models of possibilities.

    principle of truth

    The idea that the mental models that people construct for given information only capture true possibilities and not false possibilities.

    syllogisms

    These are a type of reasoning problem that are composed of two premises and a conclusion. The premises and conclusion include the categorical expressions “all”, “no”, “some” and “some…not”, which are referred to as quantifiers.

    heuristic

    A rule of thumb that is undemanding of cognitive resources and that often succeeds in producing answers that are correct or approximately correct.

    matching bias

    The tendency on abstract versions of the Wason selection task for people to choose to turn over cards matching the items that are mentioned in the given conditional rule irrespective of the presence or absence of negations.

    deontic terms

    These are terms such as “must”, “should” and “may”, which when used in conditional rules specify obligations and permissions.

    belief bias

    In syllogistic reasoning this is the tendency to accept invalid but believable conclusions and to reject valid but unbelievable conclusions.

    atmosphere effect

    In syllogistic reasoning this is the tendency for people to endorse conclusions based on the quantifiers used in the premises rather than on the logic of the argument.

    figural bias

    In syllogistic reasoning this is the tendency for people to endorse conclusions based on the order of terms in premises rather than on the logic of the argument.

    meta-reasoning

    The monitoring and control processes that determine the processes and strategies that are deployed in reasoning as well as the amount of time and effort that is devoted to deriving a solution to a given problem or task.

    bounded rationality

    The idea that people’s rationality is limited by cognitive constraints and environmental constraints such that they are as rational as they can be when reasoning under these limitations.

    satisficing

    Finding a solution to a problem that is good enough to achieve a goal but is sub-optimal because humans have bounded rationality.

    normativism

    The idea that human reasoning should be judged as “correct” or “incorrect” according to how closely its outputs match established norm and standards such as those of logic or probability theory.

    myside bias

    In informal reasoning this is the tendency to interpret information in a way that aligns with one’s own beliefs or to generate justifications or arguments that support those beliefs.

  • Chapter 5 – Flashcards

    category

    Collections of items that we group together as being equivalent in some way.

    concept

    The mental representation of a category which includes information about the properties of the category such as ‘wings’, ‘beak, ‘feathers’.

    analogous reasoning

    Thinking that relies on comparing two or more things and highlighting their similarities (ie an analogy) to assist with information processing.

    cognitive economy

    The tendency for the processes involved in cognition to minimise the resources and effort used. For example, rather than storing the concept ‘wings’ for every type of bird a person knows (e.g., robin, sparrow, emu), ‘wings’ might instead be stored once with the concept ‘bird’.

    family resemblance

    This is where members of a category share clusters of features which are not shared by members of other categories. This leads to high similarity of items within a category and low similarity of items from different categories.

    spreading activation

    When a concept is activated such as cat, activation spreads through a semantic network of related concepts ‘fur, whiskers, paws, cat food’ so that these related concepts are readily available for use

    inductive reasoning

    Reasoning based on observations about the world.

    domain

    Higher level of category – the domain of living things, includes the categories of mammals, birds and plants.

    psychological essentialism

    The idea that certain categories (e.g., women, spiders etc.) have an underlying reality, true nature, or essence, that cannot be directly observed, but which informs our reasoning about members of that category.

    amodal

    Literally ‘without modality’ – in other words, a model or representation that is not based in modality such as vision or hearing.

    sensorimotor system

    The areas of the brain where our senses (touch, taste, smell etc) and movements are controlled.

  • Chapter 6 – Flashcards

    judgements

    The internal capacity for thoughts, opinions and evaluations of events and people.

    decision making

    The behaviour of choosing between alternative options.

    normativism

    The idea that human thinking reflects a normative system against which it should be measured and judged.

    descriptive approach

    An approach concerned with how we in fact reason and think rather than how we should do so.

    risk

    A decision making situation where the decision involves the possibility of an adverse consequence or outcome.

    framing

    A cognitive bias where people decide on options based on whether the options are presented in a positive or negative way.

    heuristics

    Simple rules that can be used instead of more complex decision making processes.

    availability heuristic

    A mental shortcut where people make judgements about the likelihood of an event based on how easily previous instances come to mind.

    subadditivity effect

    A tendency to judge the probability of the whole as being less than the probability of its constituent parts.

    representativeness heuristic

    A mental shortcut that describes judgements that tend to be based on how similar an event is to a prototypical example of that category.

    conjunction fallacy

    A faulty line of reasoning that infers that the combination of two or more attributes is more probable than either attribute on its own.

    bayesian inference

    An approach to applying probability to statistical problems that involves updating beliefs about events in light of new data or existing evidence about those events.

    base-rate information

    The underlying general prevalence or relative probability of a type of event occurring.

    base-rate neglect

    The tendency to underweight or ignore base-rate information in favour of other types of information when making judgements.

    anchoring and adjustment heuristic

    A mental shortcut that describes judgements that are heavily influenced by the initially presented set of information.

    natural sampling

    A process by which experiences about events is acquired naturally and forms the basis of probability judgements.

    fast-and-frugal heuristics

    A type of heuristic that is simple to execute because they limit information search and do not involve much computation.

    recognition heuristic

    A mental shortcut that describes that when making a judgement about two items, the individual will judge the most easily recognised item as having the higher value.

    System 1 thinking

    Used to describe an intuitive reflex system which triggers an automated mode of thinking.

    System 2 thinking

    A form of analytical, deliberate and rational thinking process, characterised by logical thought and a mental search for additional information.

  • Chapter 7 – Flashcards

    saccade

    A rapid eye movement lasting 20-60ms during reading which moves the focus of the eye from one word or point in the sentence to another.

    fixation

    A period during reading when the eyes are still and focused on a word or point in the sentence. It lasts 200-250ms and this is when we acquire information from the text.

    perceptual span

    The area that readers can retrieve visual information from in a fixation.

    regression

    A backward saccade or eye movement which takes place during reading. These are more common when the material being read is challenging.

    computational model

    A model that uses computer software to simulate a complex system such as processes involved in reading. Different parameters within the model can be adjusted to reflect how the processes might operate. The model can then be tested using data from experiments with humans.

    semantics

    The meaning of words and phrases.

    orthographic

    Relating to the visual representation or spelling of words (orthography). Words are made up of orthographic units called graphemes.

    phoneme

    The smallest sound unit that combines with other sound units to make words. ‘Ship’ has 3 phonemes: /ʃ/, /ɪ/, /p/. The symbols used are from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and are used by phoneticians (experts in phonetics) to accurately transcribe the sounds used in different languages.

    grapheme

    A grapheme is a written unit which consists of one or more letters which map onto a single phoneme. ‘Ship’ has 3 graphemes: ‘sh’, ‘i’, ‘p’.

    phonology

    Which speech sounds are used and how they are organised in specific languages.

    syntax

    Rules for combination of words into meaningful phrases and sentences.

    garden path sentence

    A sentence in which the structure appears to unfold in one way (sending you down one path) but then a word or clause makes the first interpretation meaningless and so you have to reparse the sentence.

    electroencephalography (EEG)

    The use of electrodes placed on the scalp to record electrical activity in the brain. EEGS are non-invasive and relatively inexpensive as imaging techniques go. It is good at picking up activity as it happens (it has good temporal resolution) but is not able to be precise about the spatial location of the activity (it lacks spatial resolution).

    inner speech

    The sensation we experience of ‘hearing’ words in our head. When we read silently it is the words in the text we hear and when we replay recent conversations and imagine what we might have said differently, it is the voice we hear speaking.

    articulatory suppression

    A technique used where participants are required to repeat a word or sound during an experiment to prevent them using their articulatory loop (see Chapter 10) to rehearse stimuli they are presented with sub-vocally (using inner speech).

    lexicon, plural lexica

    Mental store of information about word representations. Many models of word recognition refer to lexica for specific types of knowledge. For example, an orthographic lexicon contains information about the spelling of words.

    situation model

    An integrated mental representation of the meaning of a piece of text or other description of a situation (for example, playing, a telephone call and so on etc).

    skim reading

    This is where you allow your eyes to pass quickly over a piece of text whilst trying to get the gist of what you are reading.

    rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP)

    A technique in which the stimuli (words in this chapter) are presented very quickly, one after another. In reading research, this prevents participants from being able to look back at preceding words.

  • Chapter 8 – Flashcards

    co-articulation

    Individual phonemes or basic speech sounds are pronounced differently according to the phonemes immediately preceding or following them speech perception.

    phoneme

    The smallest sound unit that combines with other sound units to make words. ‘Ship’ has 3 phonemes: /ʃ/, /ɪ/, /p/. The symbols used are from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and are used by phoneticians (experts in phonetics) to accurately transcribe the sounds used in different languages.

    acoustic

    Related to sound or hearing.

    speech perception

    The ability to distinguish speech sounds from other sounds such as background noise

    hypotheses

    A hypothesis (plural, hypotheses) is a prediction about the outcome of an experiment, based on theory and/or previous research. The results from an experiment can then either provide support for or against the hypothesis.

    McGurk effect

    An auditory illusion which occurs when a person’s lip movements and the sounds they produce do not match up. For example, if the lips are making the shape that corresponds to ‘ga’ but the sound being made is ‘ba’, the listener will typically hear ‘da’.

    aphasia

    Problems with language or speech, usually caused by damage to the left side of the brain following a head injury, stroke or other damage.

    paraphasia

    Error in language output causes by aphasia.

    lemma

    A modality neutral representation of the syntactic and semantic properties of a word.

    pragmatics

    The study of meaning that goes beyond the literal level and focuses on what is inferred from the context in which an utterance is made.

    lexica

    Lexica is the plural of lexicon, meaning store of words.

    cognate

    Words that share the same origins (or etymology) and meaning such as classification in English and clasificación in Spanish. When learning a language, these are useful but beware of false friends which look the same but mean different things, une journée in French, which means day and not journey.

    homograph

    A word that is spelt the same as another word (e.g., bank meaning building where you deposit money and bank meaning side of the river). Often these are also homophones – they sound the same, like bank, but some can be pronounced differently, like lead (the metal) and lead (the opposite of to follow).

  • Chapter 9 – Flashcards

    sensory memory

    Memory stores for holding information from the senses for brief periods of time

    short-term memory

    A store for holding a small amount of information in mind for a short period of time

    long-term memory

    Memory stores for retaining a large amount of information for a long period of time

    iconic memory

    the sensory memory store for retaining visual information

    echoic memory

    the sensory memory store for auditory information

    haptic memory

    the sensory memory store for information acquired by touch

    recency effect

    the finding that the last few items in a list are remembered better than those from the beginning or middle of a list

    primacy effect

    the finding that the first few items in a list are remembered better than items in the middle of the list

    levels of processing theory

    an influential theory of memory suggesting that material is remembered as a function of the extent of elaborative processing

    self-reference effect

    the tendency for individuals to have better memory for information that relates to oneself

    transfer appropriate processing

    information is more likely to be recalled if the type of processing used during retrieval matches the type that was used during encoding

    encoding specificity

    memories are more likely to be recalled if contextual information presented during encoding is also present during retrieval

    phonological loop

    the component of working memory responsible for storing verbal information

    visuo-spatial sketchpad

    the component of working memory responsible for storing visual ad spatial information

    central executive

    the supervisory system that controls information within working memory

    episodic buffer

    the component of working memory capable of binding information from subsidiary working memory components and long-term memory

    the perceptual representation system

    a long-term memory system allowing us to identify words and objects

    procedural memory

    a long-term memory system for actions or movements

    episodic memory

    the long-term memory system for retaining events or episodes

    semantic memory

    our long-term memory for general world knowledge

    non-declarative memory

    long-term unconscious memory, such as that for skills

    declarative memory

    long-term memories that can be consciously recalled, comprised of episodic and semantic memory

    interference

    the interaction between old and new material which can result in forgetting

    decay

    the fading of memories due to the mere passage of time

    consolidation

    processes which make memory traces more stable and less like to be forgotten

    directed forgetting

    a reduction in long-term memory as a result of instructions to forget some material that was presented for learning

    retrieval- induced forgetting

    an impaired ability to recall some items following earlier retrieval of related items

    think/ no-think paradigm

    a memory task in which participants are told not to retrieve a memory even when a cue is present

  • Chapter 10 – Flashcards

    Autobiographical memory

    a memory system for storing episodes from an individual’s life, based on personal experiences, people, objects, and events

    Generative retrieval

    the process by which memories are actively and intentionally constructed in response to a cue

    Direct retrieval

    the process by which memories come to mind spontaneously without any effort to retrieve them

    Infantile amnesia

    the inability to recollect autobiographical memories before the age of 2-4 years, and the reduced likelihood of recollecting memories before the age of 7

    Reminiscence bump

    the tendency to have an increased recollection of events that occurred between the ages of 15-30

    Flashbulb memories

    detailed and vivid memories for events, usually associated with important historical or personal occasions

    Highly superior autobiographical memory

    The phenomenon of remembering a remarkable level of detail of experienced events

    Confirmation bias

    the tendency to seek or interpret information that is consistent with our preconceptions

    Schemas

    organized patterns of thoughts and behaviours which help us interpret incoming information

    Weapon focus

    the directing of attention towards a weapon, which tends to decrease recall of other aspects of a crime scene

    Unconscious transference

    the misidentification of a bystander as a criminal due to familiarity with the bystander from another context

    Verbal overshadowing

    the negative effect of providing verbal descriptions on later recognition of an individual in a police line-up

    Cognitive interview

    a successful method of questioning eyewitnesses and victims about their memories of a crime scene, based on principles of cognitive psychology

    False memories

    memories of events that did not actually occur or occurred differently from how they are reported

    DRM paradigm

    a procedure used to study false memory, in which a list of related words are presented for later recognition or recall, and participants are highly likely to recall related but non-presented words

    Source monitoring

    identifying the source of memories and mental experiences, for example whether they were experienced or talked about by someone else

    Retrospective memory

    memory for information and events encountered or experienced in the past

    Prospective memory

    memory which involves remembering to perform an action at a future point in time

    Preparatory attentional and memory processes (PAM) theory

    a theory of prospective memory proposing roles for attention and retrospective memory

  • Chapter 11- Flashcards

    Focused attention

    The ability to attend to one source of information whilst ignoring others

    Divided attention

    the ability to attend to two or more tasks simultaneously

    The cocktail party phenomenon

    The finding that people can attend to just one source of auditory information amongst multiple streams

    Dichotic listening

    A technique involving the simultaneous presentation of two different spoken messages, one to each ear

    Late selection

    The idea that the filter for attention occurs late in the stream of information processing

    Early selection

    The idea that the filter for attention occurs early in information processing

    Endogenous attention

    attention controlled by our goals and intentions (sometimes called top-down attention)

    Exogenous attention

    attention captured by encountered stimuli (sometimes referred to as bottom-up attention)

    Spatial cuing paradigm

    A paradigm in which a cue is used to direct attention before relevant targets are presented

    Zoom-lens model

    a theory of visual attention assuming that an individual can increase or decrease the area of focussed attention at will, in a similar manner to adjusting a zoom lens

    Multiple spotlight theory

    a theory of visual attention which assumes we can split attentional focus, focussing on two or more regions of space that are not adjacent

    Feature integration theory

    a theory of visual attention suggesting that individual features of objects (such as size or colour) are processed preattentively, but that attention is required to integrate these features into complete objects

    Ventriloquism effect

    a demonstration of the effect of lip movements on auditory perception, involving someone trying to speak without moving their lips, resulting in the perception that speech is being produced by a nearby dummy

    Central capacity theory

    a theory of divided attention suggesting that we cannot complete two tasks simultaneously because they compete for a limited capacity attentional resource

    Multiple-resources account

    a theory of divided attention assuming that different tasks can employ separate pools of resources, so two tasks can sometimes be completed simultaneously

    Controlled processes

    Cognitive processes which require attention, and therefore for which there is a limited capacity

    Automatic processes

    Cognitive processes which do not require attention and therefore for which there is no capacity limitation

    Attentional blink

    The finding that participants often fail to report the second of two targets that appear within 200ms to 500ms of each other, therefore demonstrating temporal limitations with attention

    Inattentional blindness

    The failure to detect an unexpected object or event in a visual display, occurring when there are several stimuli and an individual becomes selectively focussed on only one

  • Chapter 12 – Flashcards

    Constructivist approach

    An approach that assumes that we construct our perception of the world by using our existing knowledge.

    Ventral stream

    The part of the visual system that is involved in processing object features, shape, and form

    Dorsal stream

    The part of the visual system that is most involved in visually guided action

    Negative afterimages

    The finding that if you focus on a given colour and then look at something white, you will see an afterimage of a different colour.

    Perceptual constancy

    The tendency for objects to be perceived as having standard colours, sizes and sizes, regardless of our angle of perspective, distance of lighting

    Geons

    Simple 2D or 3D forms such as rectangles, circles and cylinders, which according to recognition-by-components theory allow us to recognising objects

    Holistic processing

    Processing that involves integrating information rather than processing individual features

    Cross-age effect

    The finding that people are better at recognising faces of their own age than other ages

    Own-race bias

    Thew finding that people are better at recognising own-race than other-race faces

    Heading

    Heading describes the perception of direction of self-motion

    Steering

    This describes travelling along curved paths

    Biological motion

    The visual systems ability to perceive the movement of a human or animal

    Mirror neurons

    Neurons that respond to actions performed by oneself as well as performed by others

    Interaural time difference

    The difference in the timing of sound waves that reach each ear

    Interaural level difference

    The difference in the intensity of sound waves that reach each ear

  • Chapter 13 – Flashcards

    Qualia

    Subjective or qualitative properties of experiences that are accessible to introspection

    Consciousness

    The state of being awake and aware of the one’s own internal states such as feelings and memories

    Quantum physics

    A theoretical explanation of how things work at an atomic and subatomic level

    Phenomenological

    Focused on an individual’s lived experiences within the world.

    Binocular rivalry

    Presentation of images to each eye which cause a perceptual alternation between the two images rather than a perceptual fusion of both images

    Cerebral networks

    Interconnected brain regions involved in functions such as information processing which are revealed by neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI and PET.

    Blindsight

    A neurological condition whereby patients are able to respond to visual stimuli without consciously perceiving them

    Unilateral neglect

    A condition characterised by a failure to response to people or objects presented to the side opposite a brain lesion

    Prosopagnosia

    A neurological condition characterised by the inability to recognise the identity of faces

    Neural correlates of consciousness (NCC)

    A specific pattern of brain activity that correlates with conscious experience.

    Inattentional blindness

    A failure to notice a fully visible object because attention is engaged elsewhere

    Transcranial magnetic stimulation

    A non-invasive method that involves externally applying weak electric currents leading to temporary changes in neuronal activity. The technique can be used to selectively activate or inhibit targeted brain structures.

    Vegetative state

    A vegetative state is when a person is awake but is showing no signs of awareness; they may open their eyes, wake up and fall asleep at regular intervals and have basic reflexes; they’re also able to regulate their heartbeat and breathing without assistance

    General anaesthesia

    A state of controlled unconsciousness induced through medicines to ensure that you are unaware and unable to feel pain during surgery.

    Self awareness

    An awareness of one’s own body and internal mental states such as feelings and desires

    Natural selection

    An evolutionary mechanism whereby organisms that can successfully adapt to their environment are more likely to survive and pass on their genes.

    Repetition priming effect

    Improved processing (eg faster, easier) of a stimulus when it is repeated compared to when first encountered

    Errorless learning

    An approach where errors are eliminated as much as possible while learning new information.

    Errorful learning

    An approach where errors are not reduced during the learning of new information

    Preferential looking

    A visual technique for assessing the perceptual and memory capabilities of nonverbal individuals such as human infants and animals

    Secondary task

    A task that is peripheral to the central or main task but that requires some attentional resources to complete

    Replication crisis

    A concern, not just limited to psychology, that the results of some scientific studies are difficult to replicate or cannot be reproduced at all

    Cognitive control

    The ability to focus on goals or plans to achieve a desired behaviour whilst inhibiting information that is not relevant

    Subliminal primes

    Stimuli that are exposed to an individual below a threshold for conscious perception of those stimuli

    Free will

    The ability to freely choose between different possible courses of action

    Human-computer interfaces

    The means by which a person interacts with a computer and exchanges information and instructions

  • Chapter 14 – Flashcards

    Cognitive decline

    This is a normal process of aging where some mental abilities are preserved but others gradually decline (eg reasoning and memory).

    Cognitive workload

    The level of mental resources required of a person at any given time.

    Replacement position

    A radical version of embodied cognition where cognition is distributed across the brain, body and environment with minimal need for internal mental representations.

    Motor evoked potentials

    Electrical signals that are recorded from motor pathways or muscles following stimulation of motor pathways in the brain.

    DHA

    An omega-3 fatty acid that is a key component of all cell membranes and is found in the brain and retina in large quantities.

    Neuronal plasticity

    The ability of the brain to change structure or function in response to experience or injury

    Systematic review

    An approach that identifies, appraises and synthesises all empirical evidence in an area, using methods to minimise bias and produce reliable findings to inform decision making.

    Observational studies

    Studies where researchers observe the effects of a variable without trying to influence who is and isn’t exposed to it.

    Global cognitive function

    An overall measure of cognition often reflecting the average of performance across individual cognitive tests.

    White matter lesions

    Degeneration of myelin sheaths that cover nerve fibres in the brain that may be a predictor of risk of stroke, cognitive decline and related illnesses.

    Randomised controlled trial

    Where eligible participants are randomly assigned to groups either receiving an intervention or a control.

    Limbic system

    A collection of structures involved in emotion and memory which includes the amygdala and hippocampus.

    Dehydration

    A state where you use or lose more fluid that you take in, such that you body doesn’t have enough water and related fluids to carry out normal functions.

    Comorbidity

    The simultaneous presence of two or more diseases or medical conditions in a patient.

    BDNF

    Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is a protein that is important for neuronal survival and growth.

    BMI

    Body mass index is a measure of your weight compared to your height used to determine if a person is overweight.

  • Chapter 15 – Flashcards

    Replicable

    experimental methods that when repeated will generate the same results

    Reproducibility

    obtaining consistent results from a data set when using the same analysis procedure

    Within subjects design

    an experimental design whereby all participants take part in each condition of an experiment

    Between subjects design

    an experimental design whereby each participant takes part in just one condition of an experiment so that different participants complete each condition

    Mixed design

    an experimental design which uses a mix of between and within subjects variables

    Crowdsourcing

    Using the internet to recruit a large number of people to fund projects, contribute ideas, or in the case of experiments, take part in studies. There are specific websites set up to facilitate crowdsourced data collection.

    Open-source software

    individuals can access the code underpinning the software, change it, use it, distribute it and all for free. This makes research much more egalitarian, and it also facilitates collaboration and sharing of knowledge.

    Type 1 error

    incorrectly rejecting the null hypothesis and concluding that there was a significant effect of the variable being measured when there wasn’t (a false-positive).

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