Term
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Definition
Refers to schema-guided construction of episodic memories that alter and distort encoded memory representations.
Reconstruction levels by losing details, assimilates by normalizing to fit expectations, and sharpens by embellishing details. |
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Definition
War of ghost
people tend to remember events in a way that fits there cultural ideas |
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Definition
| fit the story to our preconceived notions |
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| we state details that weren't actually there but were implied |
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Term
| autobiographical memories |
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Definition
We tend to group memories of our past based on the time and location of the events.
This may lead to errors because we have general ideas about our life periods that may not accurately reflect a specific episode. |
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Term
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Definition
shocking events cause a cohort group to have vivid but not necessarily accurate memories
When thinking about the 9/11 tragedy, you probably remember where you were and what time of day it was when you heard that events were unfolding.
You link your actions to that time and place.
Very often, we shape our memories to fit what should have happened in this life period. |
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Term
| Bransford & Johnson (1972 |
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Definition
Participants read the passage about washing clothes on page 161.
Unlike The War of Ghosts, it prevents people from selecting a schema.
Participants who are given the topic, remember details.
Those who are not given the topic remember very little. |
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Term
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Definition
| selective encoding of information hat fits with prior knowledge |
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Term
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Definition
| inferences and suppositions are made to conform new material to activated schema |
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Definition
| combining features of different events into a unified memory representation |
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Term
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Definition
| selection, interpretation, integration |
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Term
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Definition
Source monitoring refers to evaluative processes that attribute mental experiences to either external (perceived) or internal (thought, imagined, or dreamed) sources.
Discriminating internal from external sources is essential to avoid false memories of events. |
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Term
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Definition
Verbal false memories occur when a list of semantically related words are perceived. A high associate of these words is often falsely remembered.
Conjunction errors
Confabulation |
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Term
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Definition
How is the recall of an eyewitness affected by reconstructive retrieval processes? Even when witnesses are confident of the accuracy of their testimony, false recall can cause distortions.
Approximately 8,500 wrongful convictions in the U.S. alone, with as many as half caused by incorrect eyewitness testimony. |
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Term
| causes of false testimony |
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Definition
Selective encoding due to perceptual factors (poor visibility, rapid and unexpected events).
Peripheral details, but not central features, are lost are under emotional duress.
Misinformation in the form of questions asked of an eyewitness after an event can distort its recognition and recall. When questioned after a traffic accident, the verb used to describe the collision(contacted, hit, bumped, collided, smashed) determined speed estimates.
Misinformation effects can be large. Poorly encoded details (e.g., was a stop sign or a yield sign?) are falsely recognized 80% of the time two weeks after receiving misleading information. |
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Term
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Definition
Memory implantation refers to the creation of a false memory through direct suggestion.
Preschool aged children are more susceptible than older children and adults.
Debate centers on whether only unimportant details are implanted or important events with possible clinical implications.
Delusional false memories reflect socio-cultural implantation. Beliefs create an illusion of an event having actually occurred. |
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Term
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Definition
| a defense mechanism that operates unconsciously to prevent conscious recollection of disturbing events |
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Term
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Definition
| a dissociation of consciousness during the experience that produces selective encoding aka. psychogenic amnesia |
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Term
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Definition
| through misinformation, implantation, or confabulation the recovered memory never really happened |
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Term
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Definition
Faces are encoded by a specialized module and well retained across decades.
However, attending to a weapon instead can cause errors due to selective encoding.
Lineups must include lures similar to the target to avoid false recognition. Sequential rather than simultaneous lineups also reduce false recognition.
Face identification is poorest across racial and ethnic categories. |
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Term
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Definition
Concepts are general ideas that enable the categorization of unique stimuli as related to one another.
Concepts are characterized by dimensions of variation among exemplars. |
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Term
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Definition
Examine the features of an item to determine whether it is a particular concept
A defining feature
Must have this to be considered a member
What are the defining features of a widow?
Problem with theory?
Difficult to specify necessary features
What is the defining feature of a monster? A wedding? A family? |
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Term
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Definition
specify the features and relations that define the category membership on all or none basis
defining features are related by a conjunctive rule |
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Term
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Definition
some things are better examples of concept than others
robin is more typical bird than a penguin |
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Term
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Definition
refer to natural kinds and artifacts that violate the classical view concepts
characertistic features are disjunctively related creating a family resemblance structure and fuzzy boundray |
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Term
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Definition
5-10 year olds exposed to category
Smelly mean old man with a gun that took TV because parents told him he could have it
Friendly and cheerful woman who took toilet without permission and no intention to return it
Which is a robber?
Not until close to age 10, did children see the cheerful woman as a robber |
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Term
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Definition
The best or most typical example of a category that serves in the mental representation of a concept.
The range of feature variation on a stimulus dimension and feature frequency of occurrence define in part the gradient of category membership.
The gradient creates typicality effects in categorization speed, acquisition order, and priming. |
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Term
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Definition
Deals well with fuzzy concepts
Fuzzy concepts are categories that cannot be easily defined (Monster, Games)
To categorize, simply compare to prototype |
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Term
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Definition
A schema is a cognitive structure that organizes related concepts and integrates past events.
Frames organize the physical environment (e.g., an office frame).
Scripts represent routine activities (e.g., a restaurant script). Cumulative recall of script events is linear whereas object exemplars follow a negatively accelerated curve. |
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Term
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Definition
Defined as a mental representation of another mental representation. Thinking about thinking requires meta-representation.
Pretending a banana is a telephone requires a meta-representation linking the two object concepts. Meta-representation thus affords flexible and creative cognition.
Between ages 2-4 the use of meta-representation develops. |
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Term
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Definition
Theory of mind refers to the human ability to infer that others, like ourselves, have mental states. It helps account for why we are not all adherents of solipsism.
By age 4 children can not only pretend but can predict the consequences of another having false beliefs. |
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Term
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Definition
Abstract means of mental representation.
Schematic and verbal.
Each proposition is an assertion that may be true or false.
Coded as a relation and arguments (e.g., Fred is tall). |
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Term
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Definition
Perceptual means of mental representation.
Concrete and nonverbal.
One image conveys multiple features and relations.
Can images be decomposed into propositions? |
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Term
| the nature of propositions |
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Definition
“Fred is tall” is a single proposition coded as a relation with two arguments (is, Fred, tall).
“The ants ate the sweet jelly that was on the table” expresses four propositions.
Latent Semantic Analysis is a mathematical procedure for extracting and representing the meanings of propositions expressed by a text. It represents the co-occurrence of words and their contexts. Using a database of co-occurrence relations, it can compute the similarity in meaning of two words or texts. |
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Term
| A major feature of the Collins and Quillian model |
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Definition
Cognitive economy
Stipulates features are represented only once in the hierarchy.
At the highest possible level to include all relevant subcategory members. |
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Term
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Definition
Stipulates features are represented only once in the hierarchy.
At the highest possible level to include all relevant subcategory members. |
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Term
| Support for Collins & Quillian Model |
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Definition
Sentence verification task
Indicate if the following sentences are true or false: Measure reaction time
Salmon are pink.
Animals breathe.
A dog has four legs.
A dalmatian has skin.
The more links traveled according to model, the longer the reaction time of truth verification |
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Term
| Collins & Loftus (1975) Semantic Network Model |
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Definition
Got rid of hierarchy
Got rid of cognitive economy
Allowed links to vary in length to account for typicality effects
Spreading activation
Activation is the arousal level of a node
Spreads down links
Used to extract information from network |
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Term
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Definition
A system of symbols used to communicate ideas among two or more individuals.
Must be learnable by children, spoken and understood by adults, and capable of expressing ideas that people normally communicate in a social and cultural context. |
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Term
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Definition
Communicative
Arbitrarily symbolic
Generative
Dynamic
Regularly structured
Structured at multiple levels |
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Term
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Definition
Phoneme
Smallest unit of speech
Sounds of language
/s/ /f/ /t/ /l/ /ae/ represent the sounds common in English
Different languages use different sets of phonemes
English has 46. |
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Term
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Definition
Phoneme
Smallest unit of speech
Sounds of language
/s/ /f/ /t/ /l/ /ae/ represent the sounds common in English
Different languages use different sets of phonemes
English has 46. |
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Term
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Definition
Semantics is the study of meaning, that is, how people mentally represent the meaning of words and sentences.
A morpheme is the minimal unit of speech used to code a specific meaning. (e.g., pill and kill are morphemes; so are –s and –ed.
Morphemes taken together comprise a mental lexicon, the dictionary of long-term memory. |
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Term
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Definition
Grammatical rules that specify how words and other morphemes are arranged so as to yield acceptable sentences.
Implicit knowledge provides linguistic intuitions of ungrammatical strings and equivalency of meaning of different grammatical constructions. |
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Term
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Definition
The manner in which speakers communicate their intentions depends on the social context.
Direct speech acts (e.g., command: “Open the window!”) may be socially awkward. Indirect speech acts assume the guise of a different speech act to achieve the same result (e.g., inform: “It is really hot in here.”) |
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Term
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Definition
The cooperative principle guides conversations so that speakers utter appropriate statements. We speak audibly, use language understood by the listener, and follow the rules.
Listeners draw appropriate inferences called conversational implicatures. For example, if I say “I am out of gas” you might say “There’s a gas station around the corner.” |
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Term
| Contrasts to Animal Communication |
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Definition
Only language uses symbols to represent objects. Words are detached from their referents unlike the calls of a bird or chimpanzee. Displacement in space and time is thus possible with language.
Productivity is ability to create novel sentences that can be understood by other speakers of the language. Although chimpanzees can learn ASL and sign novel expressions, there is a vast difference in productivity. |
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Term
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Definition
Genetically determined knowledge of language allows rapid acquisition, in theory. At issue is whether a general learning process is sufficient.
A Language Acquisition Device (LAD) requires parameter setting from exposure to examples but restricts range (e.g., SOV, SVO, VSO, VOS in a pinch but not OVS or OSV). |
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Term
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Definition
| Broca’s aphasia is an inability to speak fluently without effort and correct grammar. |
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Term
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Definition
True discourse is referentially coherent, meaning the words of each sentence refer unambiguously to the others sentences.
Local cohesion helps provide this (e.g., anaphora).
Global frameworks representing the theme or topic also help. |
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Term
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Definition
| Macropropositions are the schema-based generalizations that summarize main points or the gist of the text. |
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Term
| Eye Movements and Reading Comprehension |
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Definition
Fixations (200-350 ms) and rapid eye movements or saccades provide snapshots of 4 characters to the left and up to 15 characters to the right of each fixation point.
80% of content and 20% of function words are fixated. With time to build mental structures, 250-300 wpm is a normal reading rate. |
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Term
| Speed Reading is Trained Skimming |
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Definition
Start fixations at the right of first word and take the last fixation prior to the end of the sentence.
Focus on content words and infer function words.
Avoid regressive eye movements.
Avoid subvocalization |
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Term
| Spatial cognition includes… |
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Definition
Mental Imagery
Navigation
Wayfinding
Mental Rotation
Cognitive Mapping
“Dead Reckoning”
Map use
Giving and receiving directions |
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Term
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Definition
Spatial memories are often procedural but semantic and episodic is also possible.
Spatial memory (procedural) tends to be very good in comparison to more declarative knowledge.
Spatial memory abilities tend to express themselves differently in different individuals and cultures. |
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Term
| Schemas in spatial memory |
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Definition
When a spatial cognition researcher refers to schemas, they are talking about your basic knowledge of geography (U.S., state, city, etc.)
This is just the way that you have organized spatial information. |
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Term
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Definition
Internal representation of environment that is spatial or visual in nature
Kosslyn proposes images are used to help solve certain types of problems
How many chairs are there in your house?
Do bunnies have whiskers? |
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Term
| Functional Equivalence Hypothesis |
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Definition
Visual imagery, while not identical to perception, is mentally represented and functions the same as perception.
An image is isomorphic to the referent object (second-order), meaning spatial relations are analogous.
An image is an analog representation of the object, as shown by mental rotation and image scanning. |
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Term
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Definition
Men adapted to be hunters of animals.
Women adapted to be gatherers of vegetation. |
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Term
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Definition
Testosterone may play a role in spatial memory.
Women tested at times of the menstrual cycle with increased testosterone and decreased estrogen show better performance at spatial tasks. |
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Term
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Definition
| New research suggests that men are not necessarily better in most spatial domains. They just use different strategies for the same tasks. |
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Term
| Cognitive Maps: Historically |
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Definition
Internal representations of our physical environment based on spatial relationships.
Tolman – Rats
von Frisch – Bees
Thorndyke – Humans |
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Term
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Definition
The hippocampus is the location for all cognitive mapping
“Place Cells” are specialized neurons that are active only when an organism is in a learned location. |
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Term
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Definition
Wayfinding
Using two types of knowledge
Route
Knowing a sequence of turns
Usually includes use of landmarks
Survey
global map-like view
May use sun, stars, and cardinal directions |
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Term
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Definition
| the ability to mentally and physically navigate through one’s environment to reach a desired location. |
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Term
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Definition
Knowing a sequence of turns
Usually includes use of landmarks |
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Term
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Definition
global map-like view
May use sun, stars, and cardinal directions |
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Term
| creating cognitive maps cont'd |
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Definition
The creation of a cognitive map typically begins with route knowledge and leads to survey knowledge over time (Siegel & White, 1975).
Having survey knowledge, a person can make successful shortcuts through an environment. |
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Term
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Definition
Cognitive maps more like cognitive collages
Constructionist view of creating cognitive maps
Distortions can occur when using heuristics (mental short-cut strategies) |
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Term
| Heuristics Affecting Cognitive Maps |
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Definition
Rotation heuristic
Alignment heuristic
density heuristics
right angle bias
symmetry heuristics |
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Term
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Definition
| Tend to ‘regularize’ tilted landmarks in maps to appropriate E-W or N-S axis |
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Term
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Definition
Students view two maps of the Americas
One a correct map, and a second map which was altered (South America was moved westward with respect to North America)
A majority of students thought the altered map was the correct one |
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Term
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Definition
| More landmarks (and turns) between two points, the greater the distance we estimate |
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Term
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Definition
| Streets are drawn at 90-degree angles (even when they are not) |
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Term
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Definition
| Irregular geographic boundaries are made regular (e.g., Americans straighten out the Canadian border) |
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Term
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Definition
orientation specific representations
orientation free representations |
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Term
| orientation specific representation |
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Definition
| A path or object layout is remembered only from the viewpoint in which it was seen. |
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Term
| orientation free representation |
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Definition
A path or object layout is remembered without the restrictions of the initial viewpoint.
This is a type of mental rotation. |
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Term
| Shelton & McNamara (2004) |
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Definition
They have shown that we form both orientation-specific and orientation-free representations of an object layout.
When tested on memories for a layout, participants showed the best performance for orientation-specific views.
When giving descriptions of the layout, participants adapted their description for the other person’s orientation. |
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Term
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Definition
A.K.A Path Integration
A.K.A Dead Reckoning
The Necessity of Homing
Return to shelter after:
Foraging for food
Finding a mate
Collecting nest building materials
Being frightened by a predator
All animals and insects that maintain some type of dwelling or preferred location must possess this ability. |
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Term
| what is involved in homing |
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Definition
Keeping a running tally of distance and direction traveled after leaving starting point.
Upon satisfying goals, a direct path is taken back to the starting point.
The farther one travels away from the starting point, the more error that accumulates when returning. |
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Term
| Extraordinary Animal Abilities |
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Definition
Bees and ants
Have the ability to see the polarized band of light in the sky
With only 30% of sky visible, they can accurately navigate. |
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Term
| The Future of Spatial Cognition Research |
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Definition
Virtual Environments
Advantage Complete control over environmental variables, no participant familiarity effects
Disadvantage Sometimes hard for participant to determine the scale of distance, not as detailed as a real environment |
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Term
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Definition
| Conjunction errors occur when part of a word is falsely linked to a part of another word. |
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Term
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Definition
| Confabulation involves a false narrative account of autobiographical events and is seen in severe pathological states of confusion. |
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Term
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Definition
| Mindblindness is an inability to understand that others possess mental representations. This seems to underlie the failures in social communication found in autism. |
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Term
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Definition
Speech is halting and agrammatic.
Wernicke’s aphasia is a comprehension dysfunction. Speech is fluent and effortless but also semantically vacuous |
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Term
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Definition
| Micropropositions are the individual propositions of a sentence. |
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