Thanks for the Memories!
You memorized your new gym locker combination this year, but now you can no longer remember your old combination from middle school because the new information is blocking the old.
What is retroactive interference?
Maya improved her long-term exam performance by actively evaluating herself with practice questions rather than simply re-reading her notes.
What is the testing effect?
Brainstorming dozens of unusual, creative uses for a simple paperclip relies on this style of open-ended thinking.
What is divergent thinking?
When called on while distracted, a student can still replay the last 3 to 4 seconds of their teacher's spoken voice in their mind to give the right answer.
What is echoic memory?
Marcus failed to store his AP Psychology notes because he was daydreaming and listening to music while reading, meaning the memory trace was never formed.
What is encoding failure?
Going straight to the condiment aisle to find mayonnaise rather than searching every single aisle sequentially in a grocery store is an example of this mental shortcut.
What is a heuristic?
After vividly imagining falling out of a tree as a child during a psychology experiment, participants later falsely remembered that the event actually occurred in real life.
What is imagination inflation?
A school counselor gives students a career interest inventory in September and administers the same inventory to the same students six weeks later. Because students' results remain relatively consistent, the counselor concludes that the assessment demonstrates what?
What is test-retest reliability
David retained his AP Psychology material far longer by studying 30 minutes every night for two weeks rather than cramming for five hours straight the night before.
What is the spacing effect?
A business owner spends $50,000 repairing an outdated machine. Even though buying a brand-new machine would be cheaper than continuing repairs, she spends another $20,000 because she "doesn't want the initial $50,000 to go to waste." What fallacy is this?
What is sunk-cost fallacy?
Repeatedly studying flashcards strengthens the synaptic connections between neurons, increasing signal transmission speed through this biological process.
What is long-term potentiation?
Recalling the exact date of the Declaration of Independence or explaining the rules of basketball requires this type of memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare”.
What is explicit memory?
Sarah remembered the word "amygdala" by linking it to a terrifying experience with a dog from her own childhood, making the concept personally meaningful.
What is the self-reference effect?
A mechanic always attempts to fix engine stalls by replacing the spark plugs because that solved the problem on his last three cars, even though the current issue is actually a failed fuel pump. What cognitive limitation is he exhibiting?
What is a mental set?
Witnesses to a car accident falsely remembered seeing a stop sign instead of a yield sign after being asked a misleading question using loaded language.
What is the misinformation effect?
A researcher develops a new test intended to measure anxiety. To determine whether the test actually measures anxiety rather than another characteristic, such as depression, the researcher examines how well the results reflect the psychological concept the test was designed to assess. What is the researcher evaluating?
What is construct validity?
After getting dumped on Friday, Liam spends his entire weekend vividly recalling every argument, setback, and sad moment from his past relationships while ignoring his happy memories.
What is mood-congruent memory?
After seven straight days of heavy rain, Sarah walks outside without an umbrella, assuming sunny weather is "due" today despite the rain forecast remaining independent of past days.
What is the gambler's fallacy?