Chap 4: Cognition, Consciousness, and Language

• Dual Coding Theory states that both verbal association and visual images are used to process and store information.
• Dual coding theory is associated with Paivio.
• Cognitive development is the development of one's ability to think and solve problems across the life span.
• A schema can include a concept, behavior, or a sequence of events.
• Piaget believed adaptation comes from assimilation and accommodation.
• Assimilation is the process of classifying new information into existing schemata.
• Accommodation is the process by which existing schemata are modified to encompass new information.
• Sensorimotor Stage: 0-2 years.
• Primary circular reactions are repetitions of body movements that originally occurred by chance.
• Secondary circular reactions occur when manipulation is focused on something outside the body.
• A key point in sensorimotor stage is object permanence.
• Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of view.
• Representational thought is when a child has begun to create mental representations of external objects and events.
• Preoperational Stage: 2-7 years.
• The key points of preoperational stage are symbolic thinking and egocentrism.
• Centration is the tendency to focus only on one aspect of a phenomenon.
• Concretate Operational Stage: 7-11 years.
• Key points of concrete operational stage are conservation and logical thought.
• Formal Operational Stage: 11 and up
• Key points of formal operational stage are abstract thought and problem solving.
• Lev Vygotsky proposed that the engine that drives cognitive development is child's internalization of his or her culture, including interpersonal and societal rules, symbols and language.
• Fluid Intelligence consists of solving new or novel problems, possibly using creative methods.
• Crystallized intelligence is more related to solving problems using acquired knowledge.
• Delirium is rapid fluctuations in cognitive function that is reversible and caused by medical causes.
• Functional fixedness is the inability to consider how to use an object in a nontraditional manner.
• Trial and Error is a type of problem solving in which various solutions are tried until one if found that seems to work.
• Algorithm is a formula or procedure for solving a certain type of problem.
• Deductive reasoning starts from a set of general rules and draws conclusions from the information given.
• Deductive reasoning is also known as top-down reasoning.
• Inductive reasoning starts with specific instances, and then draws conclusions from them.
• Inductive reasoning is also called bottom-up reasoning.
• Heuristics are simplified principles used to make decisions.
• Availability heuristic is used when we base the likelihood of an event on how easily examples of that event come to mind.
• Representative heuristic involves categorizing items on the basis of whether they fit the prototypical, stereotypical, or representative image of the category.
• Using prototypical or stereotypical factors while ignoring actual numerical information is called base rate fallacy.
• Disconfirmation principle is the evidence obtained from testing demonstrated that the solution does not work.
• Confirmation Bias is the tendency to focus on information that fits an individual's beliefs, while rejecting information that goes against them.
• Overconfidence is the tendency to erroneously interpret ones decisions, knowledge, and beliefs are infallible.
• Hindsight bias is the tendency for people to overestimate their ability to predict the outcome of events that already happened.
• Belief perseverance refers to the inability to reject a particular belief despite clear evidence to the contrary.