Unit 2: Cognition

21 terms. Say what each one means, then open the card to check.

• Top-down processing

  Perception guided by what we already know and expect, so that prior knowledge shapes how we read incoming sensations.

  Example. You read a message full of typos without noticing them because you expect the words that should be there.

• Perceptual set

  A readiness to perceive something in a certain way because of expectations, context or recent experience.

  Example. After a friend warns that the woods have bears, a hiker sees a dark stump at dusk as a bear.

• Retinal disparity

  A depth cue that uses both eyes: the closer an object is, the more the two eyes' images of it differ.

  Example. Hold a pencil near your nose and close each eye in turn; the pencil seems to jump far more than a distant door does.

• Inattentional blindness

  Failing to notice a clearly visible object or event because attention is focused on something else.

  Example. A driver looking for a parking space never notices a bright orange cone right beside the car.

• Availability heuristic

  Judging how likely or common something is by how easily examples come to mind.

  Example. After a week of news about a plane crash, a traveler decides flying is riskier than the drive to the airport.

• Representativeness heuristic

  Judging how likely something is by how well it matches a typical example, often ignoring how common each option really is.

  Example. Someone guesses a tall stranger is a basketball player, though far more tall people have other jobs.

• Confirmation bias

  The tendency to look for, notice and favor information that fits what we already believe, and to overlook what does not.

  Example. A fan sure that a referee is unfair remembers every bad call against his team and none against the other.

• Functional fixedness

  Seeing an object only in terms of its usual use, which blocks solutions that need it used in a new way.

  Example. A camper hunts for a hammer and never thinks of using a flat rock to drive in the tent stakes.

• Divergent thinking

  Thinking that spreads out to produce many different possible answers to an open question, a key part of creativity.

  Example. A student lists 25 uses for an empty soup can, from pencil holder to drum to seed planter.

• Working memory

  The active part of short-term memory where we hold and work with information for a few seconds, such as doing mental math.

  Example. You keep a total in mind while adding up the prices of the items in your cart.

• Chunking

  Grouping separate pieces of information into larger, meaningful units so more fits in short-term memory.

  Example. The letters F B I C I A N B A are easier to hold as three groups: FBI, CIA and NBA.

• Deep processing

  Encoding information by its meaning and links to what we know, which tends to produce longer-lasting memories than shallow processing.

  Example. Asking how the word kitten connects to your own pet helps you remember it better than noting how many letters it has.

• Long-term potentiation

  A lasting increase in how strongly one neuron signals another after repeated firing, thought to be a basis of learning and memory.

  Example. Practicing a new phone number many times strengthens the synapses that carry it, so it comes back more easily.

• Procedural memory

  An implicit memory for skills and habits that we perform without consciously recalling how we learned them.

  Example. Years after learning, you tie your shoes in seconds without thinking through any of the steps.

• Retroactive interference

  Forgetting that happens when newer learning disrupts the recall of older information.

  Example. After learning a new locker combination, a student can no longer recall last year's combination.

• Proactive interference

  Forgetting that happens when older learning disrupts the recall of newer information.

  Example. After moving, a man keeps giving his old address when asked for the new one.

• Misinformation effect

  The change in a memory that happens when misleading information given after an event is blended into the memory of it.

  Example. After a cafeteria spill, a student hears a friend say the boy carrying the tray was laughing. A week later she remembers seeing him laugh, though he never did.

• Testing effect

  The finding that practicing retrieval, such as quizzing yourself, strengthens long-term memory more than rereading does.

  Example. A student who covers her notes and tries to recall each point remembers more a week later than a friend who rereads.

• Reliability

  How consistent a test's results are, such as giving similar scores when the same person takes it again.

  Example. A student who scores 112 on a reasoning test in March and 110 in April is getting consistent results.

• Validity

  How well a test measures what it claims to measure or predicts what it is supposed to predict.

  Example. A driving test that checks only knowledge of road-sign colors would be a poor measure of driving skill.

• Stereotype threat

  Worry about confirming a negative stereotype about one's group, which can lower performance on a task.

  Example. Older adults told a memory test measures age-related decline may recall fewer words than they otherwise would.