【5】Cognitive Psychology

Intro to Memory

cognition = thinking/mentally processing concepts, language, concepts etc.; acquiring, organizing, remembering, and building knowledge about the world

automatic processing = unconscious processing of well-learned processing

effortful processing = actively engaging in processing info with sustained effort

shallow processing = has to do with info based on its surface characteristics

deep processing = processing info with respect to its meaning

metacognition = thinking about thinking; ability to evaluate a cognitive task to determine how to best accomplish it; being aware of your own thoughts

memory = persisted learning over a long period of time; info that can be stored or retrieved

Modal Model = splits memory into 3 categories

Modal Model created by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin

Each type of memory has 4 components:

• storage capacity
• duration of code
• nature of code
• way by which info is lost

Sensory memory = gateway between perception and memory; limited perceiving -> remember feeling

• iconic - visual info being stored; lasts for tenths of a second
• iconic info can't be easily manipulated
• echoic - auditory info being stored; lasts for 3 to 4 seconds
• info in sensory memory is constantly being replaced; very few things make it to short term memory
• visual persistence = sensory info remains briefly in your attention (ex. watch blades on a fan spin)
• George Sperling - psychologist who experimented with memory and created the partial report task to study the capacity of short-term memory.

• Partial report
1. people were given a matrix with 3 rows and 3 columns with 4 letters each
2. participants had 20 milliseconds to memorize
3. They were asked afterwards to recite the entire matrix/recall 1 of the rows
• participants were unable to recall the entire matrix
• however, they were able to recall a row when asked
• this means they had a mental image of the matrix stored (short-term memory)
• retention time is short 
• the further apart the rows were, the worse the participants did

Short-term memory = holds around 7(+-2) items for a few seconds to a minute; info is primarily acoustic encoded despite the original source

• rehearsal = keeps items in short-term memory
• maintenance rehearsal = simple repetition to keep an item in short-term memory until it's used
• elaborative rehearsal = organizing and understanding the info that is being encoded in order to transfer it to long-term storage 

• How we forget
• decay = forgetting over time
• interference 
• retroactive interference = new info pushes out old info
• proactive interference = old info makes new info hard to learn

• Items in short-term memory are stored in the form of a list
• serial position effect = we tend to remember things that are first and last on the list
• primary effect - remembering first items
• recency effect - remembering last items

Long-term memory = storage for all our long lasting knowledge and memory; info is usually connected; can last for the rest of our lives

• semantically encoding = in the form of word meanings
• visual encoding = remembering what things look like
• acoustic encoding = remembering how things sound

• Ways info's stored in long-term memory
• episodic memory = events we experience first hand
• semantic/explicit/declarative memory = conscious; about facts, figures, and general knowledge; memories that a person can consider and retrieve
• implicit/nondeclarative memory = unconscious; is beyond conscious consideration
• procedural memory = consists of skills and habits

Working memory = we can use and manipulate the info that we experience better than we can in sensory; lasts for ~30 seconds; allows you to think on the spot

• its position on the Modal Model is undecided

Encoding  = process where info is stored and can be recalled

• effortful (explicit) or automatic (implicit) processing of memories
• sensations (iconic, echoic)
• based on capacity of memory system (sensory, STM, LTM)

• Parallel processing = info around us gets split into different components for simultaneous processing
• Ex. sights, smells, tastes, emotions, temperature, sounds from our memories

• Effortful Processing Strategies
• Chunking = organizing info into manageable units (ex. letters, words, phrases)

• Mnemonic devices = techniques that make it easier to learn/remember something 
• Ex. acronyms, fake but pronounceable words, associating with pictures (imagery)
• Dual coding hypothesis = words are easier to remember if they're associated with images rather than words or images alone
• Method of Loci = imagining moving through a familiar place, and in each part put down a visual representation of a topic to be remembered

• Hierarchies = dividing concepts into subdivisions
• Ex. animal -> birds -> flamingos

Distributed Practice = info retention is best when encoding is done over time

• Spacing effect = the tendency for distributed study/practice to yield better long term retention than is achieved through cramming
• Testing effect  = enhancing memory after retrieving rather than just rereading info
• quizzing yourself and making up questions from your notes rather than just highlighting
• self-reference effect = when info has a personal connection to us we remember it better; deep and meaningful processing = easier to remember

Storage = ability to retain info; memories are stored in brain like a network

• the hippocampus and the frontal lobe is where explicit memories are stored
• left side - stores verbal info
• right side - stores visual info

• Memory Consolidation = memories move from hippocampus to other parts of the brain for long-term memory storage
• study/sleep/restudy research shows that sleep improves your ability to retain info (spacing effect)

• Implicit memory systems
• cerebellum = stores implicit memory by classical conditioning
• basal ganglia = stores procedural memory such as motor movements
• amygdala = triggers during stress, memory formation, and storage
• we often remember memories that have vivid emotions

• flashbulb memory = clear sustained memory of an emotionally significant moment/event

Retrieval = recalling info from memory

• since memory is stored in a network, using retrieval cues can help trigger a memory
• priming = unconsciously activating particular associations in memory; effects our behavior
• Ex. seeing missing posters -> being wary of white vans

• Context dependent memory = putting yourself back in the situation you were in can help you remember things; retracing your steps
• Encoding specificity principle = cues and context specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us remember it
• State-dependent memory = memories are better retrieved when the person is in a similar state to when they first encoded the memory
• mood-congruent memory = tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current mood 

Forgetting & memory distribution

• Anterograde amnesia = inability to form new memories
• Retrograde amnesia = can't retrieve info from one's past

Encoding failure = being bombarded by senses -> what doesn't get noticed doesn't get encoded -> remembered

• as we age, our ability to encode declines

Forgetting curve = made by Ebbinghaus, the rate of forgetting is initially rapid, then levels off with time

Retrieval failure = failing to remember what we know

• tip-of-the-tongue effect = when we're unable to retrieve a certain word, but can recall words that are similar

Repression = defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-ridden thoughts, feelings, and memories from the consciousness

• people often repress painful or unacceptable memories

Reconsolidation =  a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again

Misinformation effect = wrong info distorts one's memory of an event

⭐Elizabeth Loftus

Source amnesia =  faulty memory for how, when, or where info was learned; happens with unintentional plagiarism

Deja vu = when a cue from current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier similar experience

Thinking and Problem Solving

concept = mental grouping of similar things, events, ideas, or people; formed from prototypes

prototype  =mental image/best example of a category

• matching new items with a prototype is a quick method for sorting

creativity = ability to produce new/valuable ideas

divergent thinking = expanding number of possible solutions; in different directions

convergent thinking = narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

⭐According to Robert Sternberg, creativity has 5 components

1. Expertise
2. Imaginative thinking skills
3. Venturesome personality
4. Intrinsic motivation
5. Creative environment

Problem Solving Techniques and Obstacles

• algorithms = methodical, logical procedure that guarantees solving a problem; depicted as a branching road map

   

• heuristics = simple thinking strategy that allows us to make quick judgements and solve problems efficiently
• insight = suddenly realizing the solution to a problem

Biases and errors in thinking

Confirmation bias = a tendency to search for info that supports our preconceptions and ignore/distort contradictory evidence

Fixation = inability to see a problem in a new perspective

Mental set = tendency to approach a problem in one way that used to work in the past

intuition = immediate and automatic feeling or thought with out extensive reasoning; "gut feeling"

Availability heuristic = estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; common things you do/experience might not be common for everyone else

Representative heuristic = estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to match our prototypes; often ignores relevant info; ex. racism

Overconfidence = overestimating accuracy of our beliefs/judgements; the tendency to be more confident than correct

Belief perseverance = clinging on to long-held beliefs despite being presented contradictory evidence

Framing = how an issue is worded/presented affects our decisions and judgements

Intelligence  = ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situation

Theories

• general intelligence (g)= if you're intelligent in one area, there's a high chance that you're above average in other areas as well; proposed by ⭐Charles Spearman
• factor analysis = statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related factors on a test. ex. Myer Briggs Personality test
• ⭐Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences = 8 or 9 different types of intelligences 

Savant syndrome = condition where someone has an exceptional specific skill but might have limited mental ability in most areas

Robert Sternberg's triarchic theory = 3 intelligences

Criticisms of multiple intelligence theories

• there's a correlation between g-factors and potential for success (talent + grit)
• ⭐K. Anders Ericson = professionals need ~11k hours and a minimum of ~3k hours to master something (10 year rule)

social intelligence = ability to understand and navigate social situations while managing ourselves successfully

emotional intelligence = ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

Psychometric Principles and Intelligence Tests

• intelligence test = assessing someone's mental aptitudes and comparing them with others using numerical scores
• achievement test = assesses what someone has learned
• aptitude test = predicts your ability to learn/predict a person's future performance

⭐Francis Galton = studied human "natural ability" and wondered what would happen if of 2 people with high ability were to birth a child

• did a study on this concept and didn't find a correlation
• nature v nurture

⭐Alfred Binet = was tasked by the French government to create tests for students who haven't been in a school system prior to avoid being sorted by bias