Cognitive Psychology

A systematic approach that involves trying various options until a solution is found, often through repeated attempts and adjustments.

A mental shortcut that helps us make decisions and solve problems quickly, even if they aren't always the most accurate.

A step-by-step procedure that will always lead to the correct answer, guaranteeing success.

A mental process that allows us to make complex decisions without needing to evaluate every single option.

A shortcut that can sometimes lead to inaccurate conclusions.

A psychological phenomenon where individuals experience discomfort when they hold conflicting beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors.

The process of thinking about thinking. It involves awareness and understanding of your own cognitive processes.

A memory disorder caused by damage to the hippocampus, resulting in severe anterograde amnesia, the inability to form new long-term memories.

The short-lived sensory memory that holds information from the senses, lasting only a fraction of a second.

The tendency to remember information presented at the beginning of a list better than information presented in the middle.

The tendency to remember information presented at the end of a list better than information presented in the middle.

The combined effect of the primacy and recency effects, where items at the beginning and end of a list are remembered better than items in the middle.

Short-term memory is primarily stored in this format, where the sound of words is emphasized.

Long-term memory is primarily stored in this format, where the meaning of words is emphasized.

A theory that explains how information is stored and retrieved from long-term memory based on semantic relationships.

Memories of specific personal events, often vivid and detailed.

General knowledge of the world, including facts, concepts, and vocabulary.

Memory for skills and procedures, such as riding a bike or playing the piano.

Consciously retrieved memories of facts or events we try to remember.

Unintentional memories that we may not be aware of.

A neurological condition that affects the ability to speak, understand, read, or write. This occurs when areas of the brain responsible for language are damaged, often due to stroke or injury.

A part of the brain located in the parietal lobe, primarily responsible for understanding both written and spoken language. It plays a crucial role in processing language and making sense of its meaning.

A type of aphasia characterized by fluent speech that is often nonsensical and lacking meaning. Individuals with this condition may be unaware that their speech is incomprehensible.

A sudden understanding or realization of how to solve a problem. This often involves a restructuring of the problem, leading to a new insight into the solution.

A psychologist known for his research on insight learning using chimpanzees. He studied how they learned to solve problems requiring a series of tools, often through sudden realizations (insight) rather than trial-and-error.

A mental shortcut that anchors our judgments to the first piece of information we encounter, even if it's irrelevant.

A mental shortcut where we base decisions on how easily we can recall examples or instances, often overestimating the frequency of easily remembered events.

A mental shortcut that compares new information to a mental prototype, leading us to make judgments based on how similar it is to our existing representation.

The smallest unit of sound in a language that distinguishes one word from another.

The smallest meaningful unit of language, either a word or a part of a word.

The set of rules that govern how we combine words into meaningful sentences.

The specific arrangement of words in a sentence.

The meaning conveyed by words and sentences.

A stage of language development where infants produce various sounds that are not yet specific to their native language.

A stage of language development where infants begin to associate sounds with meaning and utter single words, often to convey complete sentences.

A stage of language development where infants begin to combine two words, often nouns and verbs, into simple sentences.

The theory that language learning is primarily due to environmental factors, such as reinforcement and imitation.

A theoretical mechanism proposed by Noam Chomsky that suggests humans are born with an innate capacity to learn language.

The idea that the language we use shapes and influences our thinking, potentially limiting our cognitive abilities.

An area in the brain, typically located in the left temporal lobe, that is crucial for speech production.