Perception
Selective Attention
our consciousness focusing on only one thing at a time
Executive Functions
cognitive skills that work together, enabling us to generate, organize, plan, and implement goal-directed behavior.
Tip-of-the-Tongue phenomenon
a state in which one can’t quite recall similar words
General intelligence
underlies all mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test. Lies at the heart of all of our intelligent behavior.
Growth mindset
a focus on learning and growing rather than viewing abilities as fixed
Inattentional Blindness
failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed somewhere else (e.g. not seeing your friend waving in a crowd but seeing everyone else)
Divergent Thinking
expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions
Rehearsal
The process of repeatedly practicing or reviewing information to retain it in memory
Standardized
uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group
Forgetting curve
the decline of memory retention in time
Retinal Disparity
a binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing retinal images from the two eyes, the brain computes distance — the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object. (e.g. floating finger sausage demo)
Functional Fixedness
when our prior experiences inhibit our ability to find creative solutions
Working Memory
a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory
Flynn Effect
the rise in intelligence test performance over time and across cultures
framing
the way an issue is posed; can significantly influence decisions and judgements.
Sunk-Cost Fallacy
phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial.
confirmation bias
a tendency to search for information that supports our perceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
Long-term Potentiation
an increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.
Psychometrics
the scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits.
top-down processing
Information processing guided by higher level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.
Brightness Constancy
perceiving objects as unchanging (ex: constant color brightness, shape, size) even as illumination and retinal images change
availability heuristic- two original examples
judging the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory (if an event comes to mind immediately, we assume the events are common).
Retroactive interference
disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of older info (backward acting)
Intelligence quotient (IQ) – a 10 year old with a mental age of 12
120; defined as the ratio of mental age to chronological age multiplied by 100.
method of loci
The Method of Loci is a memory technique where you associate information with specific locations in a familiar place and then mentally walk through those locations to recall the information.