Download Unit 7 "Cliff Notes" Review - Waterford Union High School

UNIT 7 – COGNITION
Unit 7 Overview
Module 31 – Studying & Building Memories
Module 32 – Memory Storage & Retrieval
Module 33 – Forgetting, Memory Construction & Memory Improvement
Module 34 – Thinking, Concepts & Creativity
Module 35 – Solving Problems & Making Decisions
Module 36 – Thinking & Language
31.1 – Defining Memory
Memory
•Memory is the basis for knowing your friends, your neighbors, the English language, the national anthem, and yourself.
•If memory was nonexistent, everyone would be a stranger to you; every language foreign; every task new; and even you yourself would be a
stranger.
•Memory is any indication that learning has persisted over time. It is our ability to store and retrieve information.
31.2 – Memory Models
Information Processing Models
Encoding–getting information into the brain
Storage–retaining information
Retrieval–getting information back out
Computers process information in speedy, a sequential process; the human brain is slower but does many things at once
Information Processing
The Atkinson-Schiffrin (1968) three-stage model of memory includes:
a) sensory memory–an immediate recording of information
b) short-term memory–activated memory that holds a few items briefly (info. is either stored or forgotten)
c) long-term memory–relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system
Modifications to the Three-Stage Model
1. Some information skips the first two stages and enters long-term memory automatically.
2. Since we cannot focus on all the sensory information received, we select information that is important to us and process it into
working memory–short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of information.
our
31.2 – Working Memory
31.3 – Dual-Track Memory
Explicit and Implicit Memories
•Some information (route to your school) is automatically processed. It skips encoding & jumps directly to storage. These are implicit memories.
•However, new or unusual information (friend’s new cell-phone number) requires attention and effort. These are explicit memories.
31.4 – Automatic Processing and Implicit Memories
Automatic Processing
We process an enormous amount of information effortlessly, such as the following:
1. Space: While reading a textbook, you automatically encode the place of a picture on a page.
2. Time: We unintentionally note the events that take place in a day.
3. Frequency: You effortlessly keep track of things that happen to you.
31.5 – Sensory Memories
Sensory Memories
The duration of sensory memory varies for the different senses.
Iconic 0.5 seconds long
Echoic 3-4 seconds long
Hepatic <1 second long
31.6 – Short-Term and Working Memory Capacity
Working Memory
Working memory has a limited capacity (7±2) and a short duration (20 seconds).
31.7 – Effortful Processing Strategies
Rehearsal
•Effortful learning usually requires rehearsal or conscious repetition.
•Hermann Ebbinghaus studied rehearsal by using nonsense syllables: TUV YOF GEK XOZ
•The more times the nonsense syllables were practiced on Day 1, the fewer repetitions were required to remember them on Day 2.
Memory Effects
1. Spacing Effect: We retain information better when we rehearse over time.
2. Serial Position Effect: Recall is generally better for first and last items on a list, but poor for middle items.
Chunking
Organizing items into a familiar, manageable unit.
Try to remember the numbers below.
1-7-7-6-1-4-9-2-1-8-1-2-1-9-4-1
If you are well versed with American history, chunk the numbers together and see if you can recall them better. 1776 1492 1812 1941.
The capacity of the working memory may be increased by “chunking.”
Try to remember the letters below.
F-B-I-T-W-A-C-I-A-I-B-M
FBI TWA CIA IBM
4 chunks
Mnemonics
Mnemonic techniques are memory aids that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.
Hierarchy
Complex information broken down into broad concepts and further subdivided into categories and subcategories
31.8 – Levels of Processing
Deep Processing and Encoding Meaning
•Semantic encoding, or processing the meaning of information by associating it with what we already know (or imagine), results in better
recognition.
•We have especially good recall for information we can meaningfully relate to ourselves.
•The amount remembered depends both on the time spent learning and on making it meaningful for deep processing.
32.1 – Long-Term Memory
Long-Term Memory
•Long-term memory capacity is essentially limitless
•Memories are not stored in just one location in the brain: many parts of the brain interact as we encode, store, and retrieve information
32.2 - Explicit Memory: Frontal Lobes & Hippocampus
Frontal Lobes & Hippocampus
•The brain network that processes and stores explicit memories includes your frontal lobes and hippocampus
•During sleep the hippocampus processes memories for alter retrieval
32.3 - Implicit Memory: Cerebellum & Basal Ganglia
Information Processing
•The cerebellum plays a key role in forming and storing the implicit memories created by classical conditioning
•The basal ganglia facilitate formation of procedural memories for skills
32.4 - Amygdala, Emotions & Memory
Stress Hormones & Memory
•Stress hormones provoke the amygdala to initiate a memory trace to boost activity in the brain’s memory-forming areas.
•Heightened emotions (stress-related or otherwise) make for stronger memories.
•Flashbulb memories are clear, vivid memories of emotionally significant moments or events.
32.5 – Synaptic Changes
Synaptic Changes
•Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) refers to an increase in a synapse’s firing potential after learning (Lynch, 2002).
•An increase in neurotransmitter release or receptors on the receiving neuron indicates strengthening of synapses.
32.6 – Measuring Retention
Measures of Memory
In recall, the person must retrieve information using effort. (A fill-in-the blank test requires recall.)
In recognition, the person must identify an item amongst other choices. (A multiple-choice test requires recognition.)
In relearning, the individual shows how much time (or effort) is saved when learning material for the second time.
32.7 – Retrieval Cues
Retrieval Cues
Memories are held in storage by a web of associations. These associations are like anchors that help retrieve memory.
Priming
To retrieve a specific memory from the web of associations, you must first activate one of the strands that leads to it. This process is called
priming.
Context Effects
Putting yourself back in the context where you experienced something can prime your memory retrieval.
Scuba divers recall more words underwater if they learned the list underwater, while they recall more words on land if they learned that list on
land (Godden & Baddeley, 1975).
Moods and Memory
We usually recall experiences that are consistent with our current mood (state-dependent memory). Emotions, or moods, serve as retrieval cues.
Our memories are mood-congruent.
33.1 – Forgetting
Encoding Failure
We cannot remember what we do not encode.
Storage Decay
•Poor durability of stored memories leads to their decay.
•Ebbinghaus’ research:
Retrieval Failure
Although the information is retained in the memory store, it cannot be accessed.
Tip-of-the-tongue is a retrieval failure phenomenon: Given a cue (What makes blood cells red?) the subject says the word begins with an
H(hemoglobin).
Interference
Amnesia
•Anterograde amnesia –can recall the past, but cannot form new memories
•Some people with anterograde amnesia can form new implicit memories (how to do something), but will have no conscious recall of learning the
new skill
•Retrograde amnesia –cannot recall the past (memories stored in long-term memory)
Repression
•Sigmund Freud suggested that we may banish unpleasant memories from our consciousness as a defense mechanism
•Current research indicates that this rarely, if ever, occurs
•Memories of traumatic experiences are often the most challenging to forget
33.2 – Memory Construction Errors
Memory Construction
•Memory is not precise: we infer our past from stored information plus what we imagined later, expected, saw, and heard
•Information acquired after an event alters memory of the event; we often construct memories as we encode them and every time we “replay”
them
Misinformation Effect
•When exposed to misleading information, we tend to misremember
•When it was falsely suggested to university students that they became ill as children after eating spoiled egg salad, they became less likely to
eat egg salad sandwiches
Misinformation
Elizabeth Loftus’s research:
Group A: How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?
Group B: How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?
Memory Construction
A week later they were asked: Was there any broken glass?
Group B (smashed into) reported more broken glass than Group A (hit).
Source Amnesia
•Attributing an event that we experienced, heard, read, or imagined to the wrong source.
•Source amnesia also helps explain déjà vu.
Eyewitness Testimony
•Memory construction helps explain why 79% of 200 convicts exonerated later by DNA testing had been misjudged based on faulty
eyewitness testimony
33.3 – Children’s Eyewitness Recall
Children’s Eyewitness Recall
•Children’s eyewitness recall can be unreliable if leading questions are posed.
•However, if questioned in neutral words they can understand, children often accurately recall what happened to them.
Consensus on Childhood Abuse
Leading psychological associations of the world agree on the following concerning childhood sexual abuse:
1. Injustice happens.
2. Incest and other sexual abuse happens.
3. People may forget.
4. Recovered memories are commonplace.
5. Recovered memories under hypnosis or drugs are unreliable.
6. Memories of things happening before 3 years of age are unreliable.
7. Memories, whether real or false, can be emotionally upsetting.
33.4 – Improving Memory
Improving Memory
1. Study repeatedly to boost long-term recall.
2. Spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking about the material.
3. Make material personally meaningful.
*mindlessly repeating someone else’s words while taking notes is relatively ineffective*
4. Use mnemonic devices:
a) associate with something already stored
b) make up a story
c) chunk —acronyms
5. Activate retrieval cues —mentally recreate the situation and mood.
6. Recall events while they are fresh —before you encounter misinformation.
7. Minimize interference:
a) Test your own knowledge.
b) Rehearse and then determine what you do not yet know.
34.1 – Cognition
Cognition
Cognition refers to a process that involves thinking, knowing, understanding, remembering, and communicating.
Concepts
The mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.
There are a variety of chairs but their common features define the concept of a chair.
Development of Concepts
•We form some concepts with definitions. For example, a triangle has three sides.
•Mostly, we form concepts with mental images or typical examples (prototypes). For example, a robin is a prototype of a bird, but a penguin is
not.
34.2 – Creativity
Creativity
Our ability to produce novel and valuable ideas
Measuring Creativity
•High IQs can correlate with creativity
•But IQ tests require convergent thinking–the ability to determine the single best solution
•Creativity tests require divergent thinking –which expands the number of possible problem solutions
Components of Creativity
1.Expertise –furnishes the ideas, images, and phrases we use as mental building blocks
2.Imaginative thinking skills –allow us to redefine or explore a problem in new ways
3.A venturesome personality –seeks new experiences, tolerates ambiguity and risk, and perseveres in overcoming obstacles
4.Intrinsic motivation –focus on the pleasure and stimulation of the work itself
5.A creative environment –sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas
35.1 – Problem Solving Strategies and Obstacles
Problem Solving
Problem solving strategies include:
1. Trial and Error
2. Algorithms
3. Heuristics
4. Insight
Algorithms
Algorithms are methodical, logical rules or procedures for problem solving.
They are very time consuming and exhaust all possibilities before arriving at a solution.
S P L O Y O C H Y G
If we were to unscramble these letters to form a word using an algorithmic approach, we would face 907,200 possibilities.
Heuristics
•Heuristics are simple thinking strategies that allow us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.
•Heuristics are less time consuming, but more error-prone than algorithms.
•Heuristics make it easier for us to use simple principles to arrive at solutions to problems.
Insight
•Insight involves a sudden novel realization of a solution to a problem.
•Humans and animals have insight.
Obstacles in Solving Problems
Confirmation Bias: A tendency to search for information that confirms a personal bias.
Examples:
•People are prejudiced (partly) because they only notice facts which fit with their preconceived notions about other nations or ethnicities.
•People believe weird stuff about flying saucers, the JFK assassination, astrology, Egyptian pyramids and the moon landings because they only
look for confirmation not dis-confirmation.
35.2 – Forming Decisions
Intuition
•Intuition-an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought –can feed our gut fears and prejudices.
•Intuitive reactions can also enable us to react quickly and often adaptively.
Representative Heuristic
•Judging the likelihood of things or objects in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, a particular prototype.
If you meet a slim, short, man who wears glasses and likes poetry, what do you think his profession would be?
An Ivy league professor or a truck driver?
Probability that that person is a truck driver is far greater than an ivy league professor just because there are more truck drivers than such
professors.
Availability Heuristic
•Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind, we presume such events are
common.
•If statistical reality is pitted against a single vivid case, the memorable case often wins.
Overconfidence
Overconfidence is a tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.
Belief Perseverance
Clinging to an initial conception after the basis for the idea has been discredited
35.3 – Intuition
Intuition
•Intuition is valuable, but can be perilous if we overfeel & underthink
36.1 – Language Structure
Language
Our spoken, written, or gestured work, is the way we communicate meaning to ourselves and others.
Language transmits culture.
The Building Blocks of Language
•Phonemes–a basic set of sounds
•Morpheme–the smallest unit that carries meaning (most are combinations of two or more phonemes)
•Grammar–a system of rules that enable us to communicate with and understand others; includes semantics and syntax
36.2 – Language Development
When Do We Learn Language?
•Babbling Stage: Beginning at 4 months, the infant spontaneously utters various sounds, like ah-goo.
•Babbling is not imitation of adult speech.
One-Word Stage: Beginning at or around his first birthday, a child starts to speak one word at a time and is able to make family members
understand him.
The word doggy may mean look at the dog out there.
Two-Word Stage: Before the 2nd year, a child starts to speak in two-word sentences.
This form of speech is called telegraphic speech because the child speaks like a telegram:
“Go car,” means I would like to go for a ride in the car.
36.3 – Acquiring Language
Explaining Language Development
Inborn Universal Grammar: Noam Chomsky suggested that language acquisition is inborn, which helps explain why we pick up language so quickly
as children.
Critical Period
•Childhood is a critical period for fully developing certain aspects of language.
•Children never exposed to any language (spoken or signed) by about age 7 gradually lose their ability to master any language.
36.4 – The Brain and Language
The Brain and Language
36.5 – Language and Thought
Language Influences Thinking
•Linguistic Determinism: Whorf (1956) suggested that language determines the way we think.
•For example, he noted that the Hopi people do not have the past tense for verbs. Therefore, the Hopi cannot think readily about
Language Influences Thinking
•When a language provides words for objects or events, we can think about these objects more clearly and remember them.
•It is easier to think about two colors with two different names (A) than colors with the same name (B).
the past.