Cognition and Language
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56 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Cognitive Processes | Mental processes such as thinking, knowing, problem solving, remembering, and forming mental representations. |
| Insight | The sudden realization of the relationship between elements in a problem situation, which makes the solution apparent. |
| Latent Learning | Learning that occurs without apparent reinforcement and is not demonstrated until the organism is motivated to do so. |
| Cognitive Map | A mental representation of a spatial arrangement such as a maze. |
| Observational Learning (Modeling) | Learning by observing the behavior of others and the consequences of that behavior; learning by imitation. |
| Model | The individual who demonstrates a behavior or whose behavior is imitated. |
| Modeling Effect | Learning a new behavior from a model through the acquisition of new responses. |
| Elicitation Effect | Exhibiting a behavior similar to that shown by a model in an unfamiliar situation. |
| Disinhibitory Effect | Displaying a previously suppressed behavior because a model does so without receiving punishment. |
| Inhibitory Effect | Suppressing a behavior because a model is punished for displaying the behavior. |
| Cognition | The mental processes that are involved in acquiring, storing, retrieving, and using information and that include sensation, perception, memory, imagery, concept formation, reasoning, decision making, problem solving, and language. |
| Reasoning | A form of thinking in which conclusions are drawn from a set of facts. |
| Deductive Reasoning | Reasoning from the general to the specific, or drawing particular conclusions from general principles. |
| Inductive Reasoning | Reasoning in which general conclusions are drawn from particular facts or individual cases. |
| Imagery | The representation in the mind of a sensory experience - visual, auditory, gustatory, motor, olfactory, or tactile. |
| Concept | A mental category used to represent a class or group of objects, people, organizations, events, situations, or relations that share common characteristics or attributes. |
| Formal Concept | A concept that is clearly defined by a set of rules, a formal definition, or a classification system; also known as an artificial concept. |
| Natural Concept | A concept acquired not from a definition but through everyday perceptions and experiences; also known as a fuzzy concept. |
| Prototype | An example that embodies the most common and typical features of a concept. |
| Exemplars | The individual instances of a concept that are stored in memory from personal experience. |
| Decision Making | The process of considering alternatives and choosing among them. |
| Systematic Decision Making | Making a decision after carefully considering all possible alternatives. |
| Elimination by Aspects | A decision-making approach in which alternatives are evaluated against criteria that have been ranked according to importance. |
| Heuristics | Rules of thumb that are derived from experience and used in decision making and problem solving, even though there is no guarantee of their accuracy or usefulness. |
| Availability Heuristic | A cognitive rule of thumb that says that the probability of an event or the importance assigned to it is based on its availability in memory. |
| Representative Heuristic | A thinking strategy based on how closely a new object or situation is judged to resemble or match an existing prototype of that object or situation. |
| Recognition Heuristic | A strategy in which decision making stops as soon as a factor that moves one toward a decision has been recognized. |
| Framing | The way information is presented so as to emphasize either a potential gain or a potential loss as the outcome. |
| Intuition | Rapidly formed judgements based on "gut feelings" or "instincts." |
| Anchoring | Overestimation of the importance of a factor by focusing on it to the exclusion of other relevant factors. |
| Problem Solving | Thoughts and actions required to achieve a desired goal that is not readily attainable. |
| Analogy Heuristic | A rule of thumb that applies a solution that solved a problem in the past to a current problem that shares many features with the past problem. |
| Working Backward | A heuristic strategy in which a person discovers the steps needed to solve a problem by defining the desired goal and working backward to the current condition; also called 'backward search.' |
| Means-End Analysis | A heuristic strategy in which the current position is compared with the desired goal and a series of steps is formulated and taken to close the gap between them. |
| Algorithm | A systematic, step-by-step procedure, such as a mathematical formula, that guarantees a solution to a problem of a certain type if applied appropriately and executed properly. |
| Functional Fixedness | The failure to use familiar objects in novel ways to solve problems because of a tendency to view objects only in terms of their customary functions. |
| Mental Set | The tendency to apply a familiar strategy to the solution of a problem without carefully considering the special requirements of that problem. |
| Artificial Intelligence | The programming of computer systems to simulate human thinking in solving problems and in making judgements and decisions. |
| Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) | Computer systems that are intended to mimic the human brain. |
| Expert Systems | Computer programs designed to carry out highly specific functions within a limited domain. |
| Language | A means of communicating thoughts and feelings, using a system of socially shared but arbitrary symbols (sounds, signs, or written symbols) arranged according to rules of grammar. |
| Psycholinguistics | The study of how language is acquired, produced, and used, and how the sounds and symbols of language are translated into meaning. |
| Phonemes | The smallest units of sound in a spoken language. |
| Morphemes | The smallest units of meaning in a language. |
| Syntax | The aspect of grammar that specifies the rules for arranging and combing words to form phrases and sentences. |
| Semantics | The meaning derived from morphemes, words, and sentences. |
| Surface Structure | The literal words of a sentence that are spoken or written (or signed). |
| Deep Structure | The underlying meaning of a sentence. |
| Pragmatics | The characteristics of spoken language, such as intonation and gestures, that indicate the social meaning of utterances. |
| Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis | The notion that the language a person speaks largely determines the nature of that person's thoughts. |
| Bilingualism | Fluency in at least two languages. |
| Babbling | Vocalization of the basic units of sound (phonemes). |
| Overextension | The application of a word, on the basis of some shared feature, to a broader range of objects than is appropriate. |
| Underextension | The restriction of a word to only a few, rather than to all, members of a class of objects. |
| Telegraphic Speech | Short sentences that follow a rigid word order and contain only three or so essential content words. |
| Overregularization | The act of inappropriately applying the grammatical rules for forming plurals and past tenses to irregular nouns and verbs. |
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