psych chp 8-12

thinking, gaining knowledge, and using knowledge (organize thoughts into language begin with focusing on so mething and determining what it is)
-research in cognitive psychology relies on measurements of accuracy and timing of responses

tendency to respond to some stimuli more than others at any given time or to remember some more than others
-process of increasing the brain's response to selected stimuli

meaning that it STANDS OUT IMMEDIATLY we dont have to shift attention from one object to another (ex-finding a swan amongst black geese)

REQUIRES SEARCHING through the items in a series (where is waldo example)

tendency to read the word instead of saying hte color of the ink as instructed

if a display disappears but a signal immediately calls your attention to part of the display, you can say what had been there

(finding fault in movies=example) the frequent failure to detect changes in parts of a scene

attending to one thing distracts you from doing something else (example=chewing gum and walking same time; talking on cell phone & driving)

during a brief time after perceiving one stimulus, it is difficult to attend to something else.

characterized by easy distraction, impulsiveness, moodiness, and failure to follow through on plans (caused genetically and environmentally)

same but with excessive activity and fidgetiness (commonly treated by stimulant drugs)

NOT short attention span, problems with controlling or shifting attention (tested with the choice-delay task & stop signal task)

strategy for simplifying a problem and generating a satisfactory guess (quick and unconscious not deliberate)

assumption that an item that resembles members of some category is probably another member of that category (looks like a duck walks like a duck is a duck)

how common the two categories are (example=rare bird check to make sure not really a more common one)

strategy of assuming that how easily one can remember examples of some kind of item indicates how common the item itself is

careful evaluation of evidence for and against any conclusion

studied government officials and consultants, foreign policy professors, newspaper columnists, and others who made living by analyzing and predicting world events

accepting a hypothesis and then looking for evidence to support it instead of considering other possibilities

tendency to adhere to a single approach or a single way of using an item

experts can look at a pattern and recognize its important features quickly

ability to combine our words into new sentences that express an unlimited variety of ideas

system for converting a deep structure into a surface structure (deep structure meaning the underlying logic or meaning of the sentence) (surface structure meaning sequence of words as they are spoken or written)

genetic condition characterized by mental retardation in most regards but skillful use of language

built-in mechanism for acquiring language

condition characterized by difficulties in language production (speaks slowly and inarticulately) damage done in the Broca's area in frontal cortex

condition marked by difficulty recalling ht enames of objects and impaired comprehension of language (temporal cortex damage)

most people can identify the letter more accurately when it is part of a whole word than when it is presented by itself

unite of meaning )for example the noun thrills has two morphemes thrill and s s making it plural)

when your eyes are stationary and quick eye movements called saccades that take your eyes from one fixation point to another