Cognitive psychologists study information processing aka thought cognitive revolution a shift from the external to internal focurs controlled cognitive processes the thought we are aware of and that takes some mental effort automatic cognitive processes the thought that happens subconsciously and without any real effort interferes if we are engaged in a difficult controlled process we will not have the power to do other intensive mental tasks o we can still carry out several automatic provesses because they do not require any mental resources cognitive load the extent to which our mind is engaged in controlled processing more load less capable of thinking stroop effect demonstration of interference in reaction time o name of color appears in a different color naming the color of the word takes longer and is more prone to errors we only think about what we deem important motivation determines allocation the importance of information determines what proportion of your available resources will be consumed about it o cocktail party effect loud room hear your name because your brain was subconsciously eavesdropping but didn t interrupt you until until important heuristics mental shortcuts that help us make deicisions quickly and with minimal cognitive effort o Availability heuristic the easier it is to think of instances of something the more often we assume that thing occurs murder v suicide o Representativeness heuristic applies to judgements about which category something belongs in o Confirmation bias if we agree it s a fact supports what we already believe to be true metacognition thinking about thinking comparative cognition humans v animals thought processes Intellegience Alfred Binet created the IQ test A general intelligence test o Charles Spearman 1863 1945 called this general intelligence the g factor some core level of intelligence that underlies all other specific abilities o Theory of multiple intelligence measure several different types of intelligences that are not correlated with each other o Linguistic intelligence a sensitivity to the meaning and order of words o Logical mathematical intelligence ability in mathematics and other complex logical systems o Musical intelligence the ability to understand and create music Musicians composers and dancers show a heightened musical intelligence o Spatial intelligence the ability to think in pictures to perceive the visual world accurately and recreate or alter it in the mind or on paper Spatial intelligence is highly developed in artists architects designers and sculptors o Bodily kinesthetic intelligence the ability to use one s body in a skilled way for self expression or toward a goal Mimes dancers basketball players and actors are among those who display bodily kinesthetic intelligence o Interpersonal intelligence an ability to perceive and understand other individuals their moods desires and motivations Political and religious leaders skilled parents and teachers and therapists use this intelligence o Intrapersonal intelligence an understanding of one s own emotions Some novelists and or counselors use their own experience to guide others o Naturalistic intelligence refers to the ability to recognize and classify plants minerals and animals including rocks and grass and all variety of flora and fauna The ability to recognize cultural artifacts like cars or sneakers may also depend on the naturalist intelligence emotional intelligence extent to which you are aware of and can effectively adjust to emotional intelligence intelligence exists to solve problems memory o encoding trandorming the data into a meaningful form such as an association with an existing memory or sound o storage holding onto info o retrieval bringing the memory out of storage and reversing the process of encoding return info to a form similar to what stored Sensory memory very brief and is the information we receive through our senses short term memory takes over the info in our sensory memory is transferred to out consciousness Lasts up to 30 secs We can remember 5 9 bits in our short term memory at a given time o working memory the process that takes place when we continually focus on material for longer than STM alone will allow o Displacement new information will push out part of the old information used when short term memory is full o reasons why info is stored here primacy effect information that occurs first is remembered better recency effect the last bit of info is remember better because its not as much in the past distinctiveness stands out easier to remember than that which is similar or usual frequency effect rehearsal associations we associate info to other info it become easier to remember reconstruction fill in the blanks with made up things for missing parts Long term memory permanent and practically unlimited in terms of capacity o declarative memory facts life events and info about our environment semantic memory factual knowledge like the meaning of words concepts and math discrete facts episodic memory memories for events and situations internal information nondeclarative memory stored due to extensive practice conditioning or habits procedural memories cognitive behavioral actions that are stored in a mor subconscious form why remember sensory memory comes from short terms memory with significance repetition somehow attach to something significant o iconic last 2 to 4 seconds o echoic lasts 3 4 seconds Miller s Magic Number George Miller s classic 1956 study found that the amount of information that can be remembered in one exposure is between five and nine items depending on the information o magic number is 7 o After about five or six tones subjects began to get confused and their capacity for making further tone judgments broke down o we can remember more depending upon our familiarity and the complexity of the subject Maintenance rehearsal repeating something over and over Elaborative rehearsal elaborate on info to add complexity and meaning by association state dependent memory o the sensory information from the environment in which you learn something can act as a memory aid o waking up after a night on the tiles not entirely sure about their recollection of everything that transpired o is that if you experience an event in one physiological state e g drunk your memory for the event is likely to be impaired if you later try to remember it in another physiological state Script sequences of behavior that we engages in
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