cognition- the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and

communicating

cognitive psychologists- study these mental activities including the logical and illogical
ways we create concepts, problem solve and form judgements

concept- a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas or people

-chair, highchair, dentists chair.. all are concepts of chair

we classify concepts by definition (shown a triangle has 3 sides, all 3 sided things are
triangles)

prototype- a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to the
prototype provides a quick and easy method for including items in a category (as when
comparing, feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin)

when discrimination doesn't fit our prototype we may not notice it

algorithm- a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular

problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier- but also more error-prone- use of
heuristics

Olivier Corneille- 70 faces test- 70% asian 30% white= asian

heuristic- a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve
problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone that algorithms

insight- a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem; it contrasts
with strategy-based solutions
-bird in concrete 10 year old cleverness

Beeman, Keunios, and Bowden- fMRI found insight occurs in the right temporal lobe

confirmation bias- a tendency to search for info that confirms ones preconceptions

Peter Watson- 3 ascending numbers, students didn’t notice simple rule because they
were stuck on their own

fixation- the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an impediments to

problem solving

mental set- a tendency t approach a problem in particular way that has been successful
in the past
 functional fixedness- the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual
functions; an impediment
to problem solving

representativeness heuristic- judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they
seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead one to ignore other
relevant info
-truck driver vs. Ivey league teacher

availability heuristic- estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in

memory; if instances become readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness) we
presume such events are common
-cognitively available events are more likely to recur
-effects: how recents you heard about it, its distinctiveness, its concreteness
-what we think the risks are can determine our views on diseases, smoking, gabling etc
can also effect social judgements

Ruth Hamill- welfare tragic case people paid more attention to even though it was less
common

overconfidence- the tendency to be more confident than correct- to overestimate the

accuracy of ones beliefs and judgements.
- overconfident people often very happy, being told when they’re wrong people learn to
assess their accuracy more realistically

Kahneman and Tversky- I am 98% sure that _____ but less than ______. Often wrong

Roger Beuhler- students always think projects won’t take long

framing- the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect
decisions and judgements (25% lean vs. 75% fat=less appealing) (scarier in numbers
than percents)

belief bias- the tendency for ones preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning,
sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or valid conclusions seem invalid

belief perseverance- clinging to one’s initial conception after the basis on which they
were formed has been discredited
- Charles Lord- people are more interested in studies that lean towards their opinions

Gigerenzer- San Diago or San Antonio bigger? Germans pick the one the recognize
 language- our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to
communicate meaning

phoneme- in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

- around 40 (i.e chat= ch-a-t)
- changes in phonemes=changes in meaning
- consonant phonemes carry more meaning than vowels
- signers even sign with an accent, may have trouble with different phonemes

morpheme- in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a
part of a word (prefix)

grammar- in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and

understand others

semantics- the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and
sentences in a given language; also, the study of meaning

syntax- the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in given
language

616,500 words out there, infinite sentence combos

babbling stage- beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which
the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household
language

one-word stage- he stage in speed development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a
child speaks mostly in single words
-learned that sounds carry meanings, may look at dog when someone says doggy

two-word stage- beginning at about age 2, the stages in speech development during
which a child speaks mostly two-word statements
-18 months go from 1 word a week to one a day, follows syntax order
- no 3 word stage, long sentences start to build

average person knows 60,000 words- 10 a day from age 1

in fantis= not speaking

receptive language- ability to comprehend speech

 productive language- ability to produce words

deaf infants tend to move hands more/parents who sign

without exposure to different languages we become functionally deaf to speakers

outside our native language (i.e asians with L vs. R sound)

Skinner- we can explain language development with familiar learning

principles, such as association (sights with sounds) imitation (words and syntax
modeled by others) ad reinforcement (praised for doing something right)

little reinforcement of speaking (i.e deaf parents)- kinda learn to talk slower but sign as a
normal time frame

Chomsky- didn't believe in Skinner’s view, thought language wasn’t totally inborn, kids
pick up things and can put together things they haven't learned
- we have a built in language acquisition device

surface structure- specific phonemes, morphemes, words, and sentences and rules of
how we combine them

deep structure- meaning of those sentences “easy to please Mario” vs “Mario is eager to
please” same surface, different deep

overgeneralization- overusing a syntax rule (holded, see-ed)

there is a universal grammar that underlies all human language. we start speaking
nouns mostly first

if not exposed to language a child won’t learn it, if a group of kids aren’t they will make
one up on their own, complete with grammar. Deaf kids make up their own too

Jenny Saffran- 8 month old kids recognized nonsense syllables in 3 patterns that were
repeated amongst a mess of letters and words, 7- month olds can learn simple
sentence structures. ABA pattern switch to ABB they will notice (oh-ga-oh vs. oh gaga)

critical period- age before we must learn language, age 7ish

people who learn a 2nd language as adults will always have an accent

Johnson and Newport- test of asian immigrants all been there 10 years different ages,
younger kids learn it better
deaf kids and cochlear implants, age 2 better than 4

late learning signers seem to use their right hemisphere less when signing

linguistic determinism- Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think
Hope have no past tense for their verbs, don’t so readily think of the past
- doesn’t determine, but does influence

Ross, Xun, and Wilson- people asked to describe themselves in different languages did
it differently, english more self- reflective

perceived difference grows when we assign different names to colors

kids of parents who sign tend to be smarter than kids who aren’t fluent in sign

bilingual advantage- Wallace Lambert- kids who know 2 languages are better able to
inhibit their attention to irrelevant info and focus on grammar

Liu Chi Kung- piano player imprisoned for 7 years but practices mentally so could still
perform amazing

mentally stimulating an action acitvates nrual networks that are also active when
performing the action

Georgia Nigro- darts test people who imagined threw better

outcome stimulation- Shelley Taylor- imagine yourself recieving that A

process stimulation- imagine yourself studying the amterial- kids studied sooner and
more in depth