Download Unit Objectives and Vocab List

Unit 1: Cognition
(8-10%)
Textbook: Chapters 7A & 7B
Overview: In this unit, students learn how humans convert sensory input into kinds of information. They examine how
humans learn, remember, and retrieve information. This part of the course also addresses problem solving, language,
and creativity.
AP Learning Objectives:
€ Compare and contrast various cognitive processes:
- Effortful versus automatic processing;
- Deep versus shallow processing;
- Focused versus divided attention.
€ Describe and differentiate psychological and physiological systems of memory (e.g., short-term memory,
procedural memory).
€ Outline the principles that underlie effective encoding, storage, and construction of memories.
€ Describe strategies for memory improvement.
€ Synthesize how biological, cognitive, and cultural factors converge to facilitate acquisition, development, and
use of language.
€ Identify problem-solving strategies as well as factors that influence their effectiveness.
€ List the characteristics of creative thought and creative thinkers.
€ Identify key contributors in cognitive psychology (e.g., Noam Chomsky, Hermann Ebbinghaus, Wolfgang Kohler,
Elizabeth Loftus, and George A. Miller).
Key People:
George Sperling
George Miller
Alexandra Luria
Key Terms:
Memory
Information-processing model
Levels of processing model
Sensory memory
Iconic memory
Selective attention
Echoic memory
Short-term (working) memory
Chunking
Mnemonic devices
Rehearsal
Long-term memory
Episodic memory
Semantic memory
Procedural memory
Explicit (declarative) memories
Implicit (nondeclarative) memories
Eidetic (photographic) memory
Method of loci
Hermann Ebbinghaus
Noam Chomsky
Elizabeth Loftus
Benjamin Whorf
Wolfgang Kohler
Retrieval
Recognition
Recall
Primacy effect
Recency effect
Serial position effect
Tip-of-the-tongue
Semantic network theory
Flashbulb memories
State-dependent memory
Mood congruent memory
(Re)constructed memory
Relearning effect
Retroactive interference
Proactive interference
Anterograde amnesia
Retrograde amnesia
Long-term potentiation
Phonemes
Morphemes
Syntax
Overgeneralization
Language acquisition device
Linguistic relativity hypothesis
Concept
Prototypes
Images
Algorithm
Heuristic
Representative heuristic
Belief bias
Functional fixedness
Confirmation bias
Convergent thinking
Divergent thinking
Availability heuristic