Cognition
Memory, Thinking & Language
In this unit students learn how humans convert sensory input into kinds of information. They examine how humans learn, remember,
and retrieve information. This part of the course also addresses problem solving, language, and creativity.
 Compare and contrast various cognitive processes.
 Describe and differentiate psychological and physiological systems of memory.
 Outline the principles that underlie effective encoding, storage, and construction of memories.
 Describe strategies for memory improvement.
 Synthesize how biological, cognitive, and cultural factors converge to facilitate acquisition, development, and use of language.
 Identify problem-solving strategies as well as factors that influence their effectiveness.
 List the characteristics of creative thought and creative thinkers.
 Identify key contributors in cognitive psychology.
Myers: Chapter 9 - Memory
I. The Phenomenon of Memory
A. Info Processing
1. Encoding-Storage-Retrieval
B. Sensory Memory-Short-term Memory / Working Memory-Long-term Memory
II. Encoding
A. Automatic Processing
1. Space
2. Time
3. Frequency
B. Effortful Processing
1. Rehearsal
a. Next-in-line Effect
b. Sleep
c. Spacing Effect
2. Serial-positioning effect
C. Meaning
1. Visual
a. Imagery
b. Mnemonic
2. Acoustic
3. Semantic
D. Organization
1. Chunking
2. Hierarchies
III. Storage
A. Sensory Memory
1. Iconic v. Echoic Memory
B. Short-term Memory / Working Memory
1. Magic #7
C. Long-term Memory
D. Storing “Memories”
1. Synaptic Changes
a. Long-term potential (LTP)
2. Stress & Memory
3. Implicit v. Explicit Memory
a. Amnesia
b. Hippocampus and memory
c. Cerebellum and memory
IV. Retrieval
A. Terms
1. Recall-Recognize-Relearning
B. Cues
1. Priming-Context- State-dependent memory
a. Déjà vu
b. Mood-congruency
Myers: Chapter 9 – Memory (continued)
V. Forgetting
A. Terms
1. Absent-mindedness – Transience – Blocking
2. Misattribution – Suggestibility – Bias
3. Persistence
B. Encoding Failure
1. Storage Decay-Retrieval Failure-Interference-Repression
a. Proactive v. Retroactive Interference
VI. Memory Construction
A. Misinformation
B. Source Amnesia
C. Discerning True/False Memories
D. Children as Eyewitnesses
E. Repressed / Constructed Memories of Abuse
1. Strange Interlude
Myers: Chapter 10 – Thinking & Language
I. Thinking / Cognition
A. Concepts
1. Prototypes
B. Solving Problems
1. Algorithm-Heuristics-Insight
2. Obstacles to Problem Solving
a. Confirmation bias
b. Fixation
i. Mental Set
ii. Functional fixedness
C. Making Decisions & Forming Judgments
1. Representative v. Availability Heuristic
2. Overconfidence
3. Framing Decisions
D. Belief Bias
1. Belief Perseverance
2. Perils & Powers of Intuition
II. Language
A. Structure
1. Phonemes-Morpheme-Grammar-Semantics-Syntax
B. Development
1. Babbling – One-word – Two-word – Telegraphic speech
2. Explanation
a. Skinner: Operant Conditioning
b. Chomsky: Inborn Universal Grammar
c. Cognitive Science: Statistical Learning & Critical Periods
III. Thinking & Language
A. Language Influences Thinking
1. Linguistic Determinism
2. Thinking in Images
B. Animal Thinking & Language
1. Do Animals Think
2. Do Animals Exhibit Language
3. The Case of the Apes
Princeton Review: Chapter 10 – Cognition
I. Memory
A. Sensory Memory
1. Iconic v. Echoic
2. Partial Report
B. Short-term Memory (STM)
1. Maintenance v. Elaborative Rehearsal
2. Encoding
3. Decay-Interference (Proactive v. Retroactive)
4. Serial Positioning Effect: Primacy v. Recency
5. Chunking
C. Long-term Memory (LTM)
1. Semantic – Visual – Acoustic Encoding
2. Episodic – Semantic – Procedural Memory
3. Flashbulb Memory
4. Source Amnesia
II. Language
A. Components
1. Phonemes-Morphemes-Grammar-Syntax-Semantics
B. Acquisition
1. Cooing-Babbling-Holophrases-Telegraphic speech
2. Errors: overextension & overgeneralization
3. Chomsky: transformational grammar
a. Surface v. Deep Structure
4. Skinner: reinforcement model
5. Whorf-Sapir: Linguistic Relativity
III. Concepts, Cognition & Problem Solving
A. Concepts
1. Prototype
2. Basic v. Subordinate Concepts
B. Cognition
1. Deductive v. Inductive Reasoning
C. Problem Solving
1. Divergent v. Convergent Thinking
2. Availability v. Representative Heuristics
3. Algorithms
4. Insight
5. Mental Set v. Functional Fixedness
6. Confirmation v. Hindsight Bias
7. Belief Perseverance v. Framing
8. Creativity
Cognition People to Know
 Richard Atkinson & Richard Shiffrin
 Alan Baddeley
 Noam Chomsky
 Hermann Ebbinghaus
 Sigmund Freud
 Wolfgang Kohler
 George Miller
 Edward Sapir
 Daniel Schacter
 B.F. Skinner
 George Sperling
 Benjamin Lee Whorf
People from Past Quizzes/Tests
 Albert Bandura
 Pierre Broca
 Charles Darwin
 Enlightened Philosophers: John Locke
 Sigmund Freud
 John Garcia
 Greek Philosophers: Socrates-Plato-Aristotle
 Ernest Hilgard
 William James
 Abraham Maslow
 Ivan Pavlov
 B.F. Skinner
 Edward Thorndike
 Edward Tolman
 John B. Watson
 Carl Wernicke
 Wilhelm Wundt
Cognition
Memory, Thinking & Language
In this unit students learn how humans convert sensory input into kinds of information. They examine how humans learn, remember,
and retrieve information. This part of the course also addresses problem solving, language, and creativity.
 Compare and contrast various cognitive processes.
 Describe and differentiate psychological and physiological systems of memory.
 Outline the principles that underlie effective encoding, storage, and construction of memories.
 Describe strategies for memory improvement.
 Synthesize how biological, cognitive, and cultural factors converge to facilitate acquisition, development, and use of language.
 Identify problem-solving strategies as well as factors that influence their effectiveness.
 List the characteristics of creative thought and creative thinkers.
 Identify key contributors in cognitive psychology.
Memory Terms
Amnesia: __________________________________________________________________________________
Cerebellum: ________________________________________________________________________________
Chunking: _________________________________________________________________________________
Decay: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Déjà vu: ___________________________________________________________________________________
Encoding: _________________________________________________________________________________
Flashbulb Memories: ________________________________________________________________________
Hippocampus: ______________________________________________________________________________
Iconic v. Echoic Memory:_____________________________________________________________________
Implicit v. Explicit Memory: __________________________________________________________________
Long-term Memory LTM): ____________________________________________________________________
Long-term Potential (LTP): ___________________________________________________________________
Memory: __________________________________________________________________________________
Misinformation Effect: _______________________________________________________________________
Mnemonic: ________________________________________________________________________________
Mood-congruent:____________________________________________________________________________
Priming:___________________________________________________________________________________
Proactive v. Retroactive Interference:____________________________________________________________
Recall: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Recognize:_________________________________________________________________________________
Rehearsal: _________________________________________________________________________________
Relearning: ________________________________________________________________________________
Repression: ________________________________________________________________________________
Retrieval: __________________________________________________________________________________
Sensory Memory: ___________________________________________________________________________
Serial Positioning Effect: _____________________________________________________________________
Short-term Memory (STM): ___________________________________________________________________
Memory Terms (continued)
Source Amnesia: ____________________________________________________________________________
Spacing Effect: _____________________________________________________________________________
Storage: ___________________________________________________________________________________
Visual-Acoustic-Semantic Encoding: ____________________________________________________________
Working Memory: __________________________________________________________________________
Thinking Terms
Algorithm: _________________________________________________________________________________
Belief Bias: ________________________________________________________________________________
Cognition: _________________________________________________________________________________
Concepts:__________________________________________________________________________________
Confirmation Bias: __________________________________________________________________________
Fixation: __________________________________________________________________________________
Framing: __________________________________________________________________________________
Functional Fixedness: ________________________________________________________________________
Heuristics: _________________________________________________________________________________
Insight: ___________________________________________________________________________________
Intuition: __________________________________________________________________________________
Mental Set: ________________________________________________________________________________
Overconfidence: ____________________________________________________________________________
Prototypes: ________________________________________________________________________________
Representativeness v. Availability Heuristic: ______________________________________________________
Language Terms
Babbling Stage: _____________________________________________________________________________
Grammar: _________________________________________________________________________________
Language: _________________________________________________________________________________
Linguistic Determinism: ______________________________________________________________________
Morpheme: ________________________________________________________________________________
One-Word Stage: ___________________________________________________________________________
Phonemes: _________________________________________________________________________________
Semantics: _________________________________________________________________________________
Syntax: ___________________________________________________________________________________
Telegraphic Speech: _________________________________________________________________________
Two-Word Stage: ___________________________________________________________________________