Cognition, Consciousness, and Language

• Hindsight bias - the tendency for people to overestimate their ability to predict the outcome of events that have already happened
• Confirmation bias - the tendency for people to rely on evidence of what one already believes and to reject evidence which challenges these beliefs
• Selective perception - the tendency to overlook or more quickly forget stimuli which are emotionally uncomfortable
• The halo effect describes when one's overall impression of someone influences their judgements about specific aspects of that person
• Inductive reasoning - goes from specific to general, starting with a specific observation and drawing conclusions about a general phenomenon
• Deductive reasoning - goes from general to specific, starting with a general idea and drawing conclusions about a specific phenomenon
• Interruption in the flow of neurons from the reticular formation to the prefrontal cortex will lead to unconsciousness
• Conservation - the concept that the amount of matter or the quantity of the object does not change just because the shape, container, or appearance of the object changes
• Availability heuristic involves making judgements on the basis of what easily comes to mind
• Representativeness heuristic involves making judgements on the probability of an event based on how similar it is to something we already know
• Opiate (Example: Heroin) - produces pain relief and feelings of euphoria
• Stimulant (Example: Cocaine) - increase pleasure and are involved in the fight-or-flight reaction
• Depressant (Example: Alcohol) - reduces anxiety and stimulation
• The first step of Nativist language acquisition is the ability to recognize phonemes
• Phonemes - distinct units of sound
• Semantics - the study of the meaning of words
• Morphemes - the smallest units of words such as the prefix and root
• Syntax - the arrangement of words and phrases into sentences
• Primary circular reactions are those involving repetitive behavior on the child's body
• Secondary circular reactions are those involving repetitive behavior on the child's environment