Cognitive Psychology Flashcards

A student cramming for an exam repeats a list of key terms to themselves over and over. According to the levels-of-processing theory by Craik and Lockhart, this strategy involves which type of processing and is generally less effective for long-term retention?

Answer: Shallow processing

Shallow processing, such as maintenance rehearsal (rote repetition), focuses on superficial characteristics of a stimulus (like the sound of the words) rather than its meaning. The levels-of-processing theory posits that deeper, semantic processing, which involves linking new information to existing knowledge, leads to more durable memory traces.

During a lecture in a noisy hall, a student momentarily misses a word in the professor's sentence due to a loud cough nearby. However, they perceive the sentence as complete and can report the missing word. This perceptual phenomenon, where the brain fills in missing sensory information based on context, is known as:

Answer: The phonemic restoration effect

The phonemic restoration effect is a top-down process where the brain uses the surrounding linguistic context to fill in missing speech sounds (phonemes), making the speech seem uninterrupted. Listeners are often unaware that a sound was even missing.

A person who strongly believes in animal welfare and considers themselves an animal lover buys a new jacket made of real leather. They then experience a feeling of psychological discomfort. To reduce this discomfort, they might rationalize their purchase by saying, "The animal was raised for this purpose anyway, and it's a very durable, high-quality product." This scenario is a classic example of:

Answer: Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort experienced by a person who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values, or when their beliefs and actions contradict one another. To resolve this dissonance, the individual is motivated to change their attitude, belief, or behavior, as seen in the rationalization provided in the example.

Which of the following is the best description of the function of the sensory register in the Atkinson-Shiffrin (multi-store) model of memory?

Answer: It briefly holds a large amount of incoming information from the senses for a very short duration.

The Atkinson-Shiffrin model proposes that the sensory register is the first stage, which takes in a vast amount of sensory information but holds it for a very brief period (e.g., iconic memory for a fraction of a second, echoic for a few seconds). If the information is attended to, it moves to short-term memory; otherwise, it decays quickly.

An experienced chess player can immediately recognize complex patterns and potential moves on the board, whereas a novice sees only individual pieces. This ability to group information into meaningful, organized units of knowledge is based on the development of:

Answer: Schemas

A schema is a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information. Experts, like the chess player, have developed complex and elaborate schemas in their area of expertise, allowing them to process information more efficiently than novices.

After watching several news reports about dramatic and rare airline accidents, a person decides to drive instead of fly on their next long-distance trip, despite statistics showing that driving is significantly more dangerous. This decision-making error is most likely influenced by which heuristic?

Answer: The availability heuristic

The availability heuristic is a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person's mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method or decision. Because the dramatic plane crashes are recent and easily recalled (i.e., more 'available' in memory), their probability is overestimated.