Glossary
Acoustic Encoding
The encoding of sounds, especially the sound of words.
Example:
Remembering a song's lyrics by how they sound or rhyme is an example of acoustic encoding.
Algorithm
A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem, though it can be time-consuming.
Example:
Following a recipe step-by-step to bake a cake is an algorithm that guarantees a successful outcome if followed correctly.
Amnesia
Loss of memory, often due to brain injury, disease, or psychological trauma.
Example:
A person who suffers a severe head injury and can no longer form new memories is experiencing amnesia.
Automatic Processing
Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, without conscious effort.
Example:
You might automatically remember where you parked your car this morning without consciously trying to memorize the spot, which is a form of automatic processing.
Biases
Systematic errors in thinking that affect the decisions and judgments people make.
Example:
Believing that your own opinions are more common than they actually are is an example of a cognitive bias.
Chunking
Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically, especially to increase short-term memory capacity.
Example:
Instead of remembering a long string of numbers like 149217761812, you might remember them as historical dates: 1492, 1776, 1812, using chunking.
Creativity
The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas, often involving divergent thinking.
Example:
An artist who invents a new painting technique or a scientist who proposes a groundbreaking theory demonstrates high creativity.
Deep Processing
Encoding information based on its meaning, leading to better retention than shallow processing.
Example:
Instead of just memorizing definitions, you connect new psychology concepts to your own life experiences, engaging in deep processing for better understanding.
Divided Attention
The ability to attend to multiple stimuli or tasks simultaneously, often leading to reduced performance on each.
Example:
Trying to text while listening to a lecture means you are using divided attention, which often results in missing key information from the lecture.
Echoic Memory
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds.
Example:
When someone asks 'What did I just say?' and you can replay their last few words in your mind even if you weren't fully listening, that's due to echoic memory.
Effortful Processing
Encoding that requires conscious attention and deliberate effort, such as studying for an exam.
Example:
Actively reviewing flashcards and creating mnemonic devices to remember psychological terms is an example of effortful processing.
Explicit Memory
Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and 'declare,' also known as declarative memory.
Example:
Remembering the capital of France or what you ate for breakfast this morning are examples of explicit memory.
Fixation
The inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective, often due to a mental set.
Example:
Being stuck on a puzzle because you can't think outside the box and consider alternative solutions is an example of fixation.
Flashbulb Memory
A clear, vivid, and emotionally significant memory of an important event, often accompanied by a sense of great detail and accuracy.
Example:
Many people have a vivid flashbulb memory of where they were and what they were doing when they heard about a major historical event like 9/11.
Flynn Effect
The observed worldwide increase in intelligence test scores over a relatively short period of time across generations.
Example:
The fact that average IQ scores have risen significantly over the past century in many countries is known as the Flynn Effect.
Forgetting Curve
Hermann Ebbinghaus's concept illustrating the rate at which memories are lost over time, showing that most forgetting happens soon after learning.
Example:
After cramming for a test, you might notice that much of the information rapidly fades from memory within a few days, illustrating the Forgetting Curve.
Framing
The way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.
Example:
People are more likely to choose a surgery if told it has a '90% success rate' (positive framing) than if told it has a '10% failure rate' (negative framing).
Functional Fixedness
A type of cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used.
Example:
If you need to tighten a screw but only have a butter knife, and you don't think to use the knife's edge as a screwdriver, you are experiencing functional fixedness.
Heuristic
A simple thinking strategy or mental shortcut that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently, but is prone to error.
Example:
When trying to find a lost item, checking the most common places first (like your desk or bag) is a heuristic that often works quickly.
IQ
Intelligence Quotient; a score derived from standardized tests designed to assess human intelligence.
Example:
A student's IQ score might be used to indicate their general cognitive abilities compared to others of the same age.
Iconic Memory
A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.
Example:
The brief afterimage you see when a camera flash goes off is an example of iconic memory.
Implicit Memory
Retention independent of conscious recollection, including procedural memory for skills and classically conditioned associations.
Example:
Riding a bike or typing on a keyboard without consciously thinking about the movements involved are examples of implicit memory.
Insight
A sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem, which contrasts with strategy-based solutions.
Example:
After struggling with a difficult puzzle for hours, you suddenly have an 'aha!' moment and realize the solution, demonstrating insight.
Intellectual Disability
A condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life.
Example:
A person who struggles significantly with daily living skills and has a very low IQ score might be diagnosed with an intellectual disability.
Intelligence
The ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and adapt to new situations.
Example:
A student who quickly grasps complex concepts, finds innovative solutions to challenges, and adjusts well to new academic environments demonstrates high intelligence.
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
Noam Chomsky's theoretical construct suggesting that humans are born with an innate, biological predisposition to acquire language.
Example:
A baby quickly picks up the grammar rules of their native language, even without formal instruction, which Chomsky attributed to the Language Acquisition Device.
Learning
A relatively permanent change in an organism's behavior or knowledge due to experience.
Example:
Through repeated practice, a student learns to solve complex algebra problems more quickly and accurately.
Linguistic Relativity
Benjamin Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think and perceive the world.
Example:
The idea that cultures with many words for 'snow' might perceive and categorize snow differently than cultures with only one word for it is an example of linguistic relativity.
Long-Term Memory
The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system, including knowledge, skills, and experiences.
Example:
Your ability to recall your first day of high school or ride a bicycle years after learning are examples of information stored in your long-term memory.
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.
Example:
When you repeatedly practice a new skill, the neural pathways involved become stronger and more efficient, a process explained by long-term potentiation.
Mental Age
A measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance.
Example:
If a 10-year-old child performs on an intelligence test at the level of an average 12-year-old, their mental age would be 12.
Mental Set
A tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.
Example:
If you've always used a specific method to solve math problems, you might stick to that mental set even when a simpler approach is available for a new problem.
Metacognition
Thinking about thinking; the awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes.
Example:
Before starting a complex assignment, you reflect on the best strategies to approach it and monitor your understanding as you work, which is an act of metacognition.
Misinformation Effect
Elizabeth Loftus's finding that incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event can alter the memory itself.
Example:
After witnessing a car accident, if someone asks you, 'How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?' you might later recall the cars going faster than if they had asked 'How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?', illustrating the misinformation effect.
Mnemonic Devices
Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.
Example:
Using the acronym 'ROY G. BIV' to remember the colors of the rainbow is a common mnemonic device.
Overgeneralization
The application of a grammatical rule in situations where it does not apply, often seen in young children learning language.
Example:
A child saying 'I goed to the store' instead of 'I went to the store' is an example of overgeneralization of the past tense rule.
Perception
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.
Example:
After feeling the warmth of the sun (sensation), you perceive it as a beautiful, sunny day perfect for a picnic.
Priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory, predisposing one's perception, memory, or response.
Example:
If you recently saw the word 'yellow,' you might be quicker to identify the word 'banana' in a word puzzle, due to priming.
Proactive Interference
The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.
Example:
If you've always typed on a QWERTY keyboard, learning to type on a Dvorak keyboard might be difficult because your old typing habits cause proactive interference.
Prototype
A mental image or best example of a category, serving as a quick and easy way to categorize new items.
Example:
When you think of a 'bird,' the image of a robin or a sparrow might come to mind as your prototype, rather than a penguin or an ostrich.
Recall
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.
Example:
When you answer an essay question on a test without any prompts, you are demonstrating your ability to recall information.
Recognition
A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.
Example:
Choosing the correct answer from a list of options on a multiple-choice exam is an example of recognition.
Rehearsal
The conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage.
Example:
Repeating a phone number over and over until you can dial it is a form of rehearsal.
Relearning
A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time.
Example:
Even if you haven't played the piano in years, you'll likely pick it up faster than someone learning for the first time, demonstrating the efficiency of relearning.
Repression
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.
Example:
Someone who experienced a traumatic event in childhood might have no conscious memory of it, which Freud would attribute to repression.
Retroactive Interference
The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information.
Example:
After learning a new phone number, you might find it difficult to remember your old phone number due to retroactive interference.
Savant Syndrome
A condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing.
Example:
A person with autism who can instantly calculate complex mathematical equations in their head, despite other cognitive challenges, might have savant syndrome.
Schema
A mental framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information, influencing how we perceive and remember.
Example:
Your schema for 'restaurant' includes expectations like menus, tables, waiters, and food, which helps you navigate new dining experiences.
Selective Attention
The ability to focus conscious awareness on a particular stimulus while ignoring others.
Example:
In a noisy cafeteria, you can still focus on and understand your friend's conversation, demonstrating selective attention.
Semantic Encoding
The encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words.
Example:
When you learn a new vocabulary word by understanding its definition and how it relates to other concepts, you are using semantic encoding.
Sensation
The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.
Example:
When you first step outside and feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, that initial feeling is a sensation.
Sensory Memory
The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.
Example:
When you briefly see a flash of lightning, the fleeting image that lingers for a fraction of a second is held in your sensory memory.
Serial Position Effect
The tendency to recall best the last (recency effect) and first (primacy effect) items in a list.
Example:
When trying to remember a list of groceries, you're most likely to remember the items at the beginning and end of the list due to the serial position effect.
Shallow Processing
Encoding information based on superficial characteristics, such as the sound or appearance of words, leading to poorer retention.
Example:
Simply rereading your notes without trying to understand the meaning or connect ideas is an example of shallow processing.
Short-Term Memory
A temporary memory store with a limited capacity (about 7 items) and a brief duration (around 15-30 seconds) where information is consciously processed.
Example:
When you look up a phone number and try to dial it immediately, you are holding it in your short-term memory before it's either forgotten or transferred to long-term memory.
Visual Encoding
The encoding of images and visual sensory information.
Example:
When you try to remember a new person's face by picturing it in your mind, you are using visual encoding.