This document provides an overview of key concepts related to memory, cognition, and language. It discusses the main components of memory including encoding, storage and retrieval. It also explains different memory systems like sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. For cognition, it defines concepts and prototypes, and discusses problem solving techniques like algorithms and heuristics. It also covers biases and errors in judgment. For language, it defines key linguistic elements and outlines theories of language acquisition from infancy through childhood.

1. AP Psychology
Unit: Memory, Cognition, & Language
By Timothy D. Bradley, Jr.

2. Learning Objectives
• EQ 1: How do humans encode, store, and retrieve information from
memory?
• EQ 2: How can humans enhance memory?
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Sensory memory
Semantic memory
Episodic Memory
Procedural Memory
Recall
Recognition
Vocabulary

3. Memory
Definition: The persistence of learning
over time through the storage and
retrieval of information.

4. Take out a piece of paper…..
•Name the seven
dwarves…..
Now name them…..

5. Was it easy or hard?
• It may have depended on
several things….
• Have you ever seen the movie?
• Did you like the movie?
• When was the last time you
have seen the movie?
• Are you having difficulty
concentrating?

6. Explicit Memories
• the conscious, intentional recollection of previous
experiences and information.
• People use explicit memory throughout the day,
such as remembering the time of an appointment
or recollecting an event from years ago.
• Episodic Memories
– Specific Life Events
• Semantic Memories
– Facts, Words, Concepts

7. Implicit Memories
• a type of memory in which previous experiences aid
in the performance of a task without conscious
awareness of these previous experiences
• Procedural Memories
• Conditioned Memories

8. The Memory Process
1. Attention: (Many times this step is not included)
2. Encoding: The processing of information into the
memory system.
3. Storage: The retention of encoded material over time.
4. Retrieval: The process of getting the information out of
memory storage.

9. Encoding
• Encoding is translating sensory information into a
form in which it can be stored.
• Visual coding enables information to be stored as
pictures.
• Acoustic coding enables information to be stored
• as sounds.
• Semantic coding enables information to be stored as
meanings.

10. Storage
• Storage is the maintenance of encoded information
over time.
• Storage is achieved through two types of rehearsal:
– Maintenance rehearsal uses repetition to aid storage.
– Elaborative rehearsal aids storage by fitting new information
into an organizational system (giving meaning).
– Elaborative rehearsal is generally more secure than
maintenance rehearsal.

11. Memory Aids:
• Mnemonic Devices: techniques a person can use to
help them improve their ability to remember
something.
• Name mnemonics: ROY G. BIV = colors of the spectrum
(Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.)
• Word/Expression mnemonics: Order of the Planets
• "Mary Very Easily Makes Jam Saturday Unless No Plums."
• Ode/Rhymes: “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”
• Models
• Method of Loci
• Chunking: Organizing items into familiar, manageable
units.
1-4-9-2-1-7-7-6-1-8-1-2-1-9-4-1

12. Retrieval
• Retrieval is locating stored information and returning
it to conscious thought.
• context-dependent: retrieved more readily when the
person is in a similar situation or environment as
when the information was learned.
• state-dependent: retrieved more readily when the
person is in a similar emotional state as when the
information was learned.
– Mood Congruence Effect

13. Recall Versus Recognition
Recall
• you must retrieve the
information from your
memory
• fill-in-the blank or essay
tests
Recognition
• you must identify the
target from possible
targets
• multiple-choice tests

14. Memory Activity
1 2 3 4 5
Nine Swap Cell Ring Lust
Plugs Lamp Apple Table Sway
Army Bank Fire Hold Worm
Clock Horse Color Baby Sword
Desk Hold Find Bird Rock

15. Reading
• Read page 197 “The Primacy and Recency Effect”
• Complete the Graphic Organizer under Serial Position Effect.

16. Recalling Information
• Serial Positioning Effect
• Primacy Effect
• Recency Effect

17. Learning Objectives
• EQ 1: How do humans encode, store, and retrieve information from
memory?
• EQ 2: How can humans enhance memory?
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Sensory memory
Short Term Memory
Long Term Memory
Iconic Memory
Maintenance Rehearsal
Elaborative Rehearsal
Forgetting
Vocabulary

18. Three Box Model of Memory

19. Sensory Memory
• A split second
holding tank for ALL
sensory information
• Iconic Memory
• Echoic Memory

20. Short Term Memory
• The stuff we encode
from the sensory goes
to STM.
• Events are encoded
visually, acoustically or
semantically.
• Holds about 7 +/- 2
items for about 20
seconds.
• We recall digits better
than letters.
Short Term Memory Activity

21. Interference Theory
• Retroactive Interference: new information blocks out old
information.
Examples???
• Proactive Interference: old information blocks out new
information.
Examples???

22. Long Term Memory
• Unlimited storehouse of
information.
• Explicit (declarative)
memories
• Implicit (non-
declarative) memories

23. Forgetting

24. Storage
• Rehearsal: the
conscious repetition
of information,
either to maintain it
in consciousness or
to encode it for
storage.
Ebbinghaus' Retention Curve: Ebbinghaus found that the more times
he practiced a list of nonsense syllables on day 1, the fewer repetitions
needed to relearn them on day 2. In other words, the more time we
spend learning new information, the better we retain it.
Spacing Effect: the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield
better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or
practice (i.e., cramming doesn't work well)

26. Forgetting

27. Three Box Model of Memory

28. Constructive Memory
• Memories are not always what they seem.
• Elizabeth Loftus
• A constructed memory is a created memory.
• Misinformation effect

30. Thinking
• Cognition
• mental activity associated with processing,
understanding, and communicating information
• Cognitive Psychology
• the study of these mental activities
• concept formation
• problem solving
• decision making
• judgment formation
• study of both logical and illogical thinking

32. Thinking
• Concept
• mental grouping of similar objects, events, or people
• address
• country, city, street, house
• zip codes
• Prototype
• the best example of a category
• matching new items to the prototype provides a quick
and easy method for including items in a category (as
when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical
bird, such as a robin.)
• Prototype is a mental image or best example of a
category-formed on the basis of frequently experienced
features.

33. Types of Concepts
• There are two types of concepts
• Natural concepts: imprecise mental classifications that
develop out of our everyday experiences.
• Most of the concepts in our everyday life
• Artificial concepts: concepts defined by a set of rules or
characteristics, such as dictionary definition or
mathematical equations.
• Most of the concepts learned in school

34. Cognitive Maps
• As we saw before, cognitive maps are mental
representations of a given place or situation.
• Just the mental image is not enough however. Along with
the visual cortex, the frontal lobe of the brain provides us
with information on the episode, the context and
stimulus of a situation.
• Ex. Answering the phone at a friends house

35. Making Inferences
• To help us figure out the episode, the context and stimulus
of a situation we do have tools:
• Schema: General frameworks that provide expectations about
topics, events, objects, people and situations.
• Assimilation vs. Accommodation
• Assimilation: The process by which people translate incoming information
into a form they can understand
• Accommodation: The process by which people adapt current knowledge
structures in response to new experiences
• Script: Schemas about sequences of events and actions expected
to occur in particular settings.

36. Problem Solving
• When we are faced with a problem, we have a few options
for figuring out a solution.
• Algorithms: Problem solving procedures or formulas that
guarantee a correct outcome if correctly applied
• Heuristics: Simple, basic rules that serve as shortcuts to
solve complex mental tasks.
• They do not guarantee a correct solution

37. Thinking
• Algorithm
• methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees
solving a particular problem
• contrasts with the usually speedier – but also more error-
prone use of heuristics

38. Friendship Algorithm
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0xgjUhEG3U

39. Thinking
• Heuristic
• rule-of-thumb strategy that often allows us to make
judgments and solve problems efficiently
• usually speedier than algorithms
• more error-prone than algorithms
• sometimes we’re unaware of using heuristics

40. Thinking
Unscramble
S P L O Y O C H Y G
• Algorithm
• all 907,208 combinations
• Heuristic
• throw out all YY combinations
• other heuristics?

41. Thinking
• Insight
• sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem
• contrasts with strategy-based solutions
• Confirmation Bias
• tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions
• E.g. MMR Vaccines cause Autism
• Fixation
• inability to see a problem from a new perspective
• impediment to problem solving

42. Thinking- Insight
• Wolfgang Kohler’s experiment on insight by a
chimpanzee

43. The Matchstick Problem
• How would you
arrange six matches
to form four
equilateral triangles?

44. The Candle-Mounting
Problem
• Using these
materials, how
would you
mount the
candle on a
bulletin board?

45.  One problem with heuristic are mental sets.
 When faced with problems, we have a tendency to approach
it in a familiar way.
• Mental Set
• tendency to approach a problem in a particular way
• especially a way that has been successful in the past but may or may not
be helpful in solving a new problem
Problems with Heuristics

46. Problems With Heuristics
• Another problem with relying on heuristics is called
functional fixedness, a sort of mental set issue.
• Functional Fixedness:
• The inability to perceive a new use for an object associated with a different purpose.
• tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions

47. The Matchstick Problem
• Solution to the
matchstick
problem

48. The Candle-Mounting
Problem
• Solving this
problem requires
recognizing that
a box need not
always serve as a
container

49. ProblemsWith Heuristics
--Judgingand Decisionmaking
• Along with mental sets, bias can make heuristics a faulty decision making tool.
• Confirmation bias: a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that
confirms one's preconceptions, leading to statistical errors
• Hindsight bias: Tendency to second guess a decision after the event has happened.
• Representative bias: rule of thumb for judging the likelihood of things in terms of how
well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes
• may lead one to ignore other relevant information
 Availability bias: Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in
memory. If instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we
presume such events are common
• Example: airplane crash

50. Thinking
• Overconfidence
• tendency to be more
confident than correct
• tendency to overestimate
the accuracy of one’s
beliefs and judgments

51. Thinking
• Framing
• the way an issue is posed
• how an issue is framed can
significantly affect decisions and
judgments
• Example: What is the best way to market
ground beef- As 25% fat or 75% lean?

52. Thinking
• Belief Bias
• the tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical
reasoning
• sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or
valid conclusions seem invalid
• Belief Perseverance
• clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the
basis on which they were formed has been
discredited

53. CREATIVITY
• Convergent Thinking: It generally means the ability
to give the "correct" answer to standard questions
that do not require significant creativity, for
instance in most tasks in school and on
standardized multiple-choice tests for intelligence.
• Divergent Thinking: a thought process or method
used to generate creative ideas by exploring many
possible solutions

54. Artificial Intelligence
• Artificial Intelligence
• designing and programming computer systems
• to do intelligent things
• to simulate human thought processes
• intuitive reasoning
• learning
• understanding language

55. Artificial Intelligence
• Artificial Intelligence
• includes practical applications
• chess playing
• industrial robots
• expert systems
• Efforts to model human thinking inspired by our current
understanding of how the brain works

56. Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Neural
Networks
• computer circuits that
mimic the brain’s
interconnected neural
cells
• performing tasks
• learning to recognize
visual patterns
• learning to recognize
smells

57. Language
• Language
• our spoken, written, or gestured works and the way we combine them to
communicate meaning
• Phoneme
• in a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
• Morpheme
• in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning
• may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)
• Grammar
• a system of rules in a language that enables us to
communicate with and understand others

58. Language
• Semantics
• the set of rules by which we derive meaning from
morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language
• Also, the study of meaning
• Syntax
• the rules for combining words into grammatically
sensible sentences in a given language

59. Language
 We are all born to recognize speech sounds from all the
world’s languages
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Percentage able
to discriminate
Hindi t’s
Hindi-
speaking
adults
6-8
months
8-10
months
10-12
months
English-
speaking
adults
Infants from English-speaking homes

60. Language Acquisition
• One of the defining characteristics of humans is the use
of complex language-our ability to communicate.
• Newborn children know zero words in English, or any
other language. Yet they have innate abilities to become
fluent speakers of any language they hear spoken, or
signed regularly.

61. Innateness-Theory of Language
• According to the innateness-theory of language, children acquire
language not only by imitating but also by following preprogrammed
steps to acquire language.
• Noam Chomsky-Language Acquisition Device-LAD: a mental structure that
facilitates the learning of language because it is preprogrammed with
fundamental language rules.
• Globally, all children follow the same pattern
of language acquisition.
• LAD is flexible-any language is possible

62. Language
• Babbling Stage
• beginning at 3 to 4 months
• the stage of speech development in which the infant
spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to
the household language
• One-Word Stage
• from about age 1 to 2
• the stage in speech development during which a child
speaks mostly in single words

63. Language
• Two-Word Stage
• beginning about age 2
• the stage in speech development during which a child
speaks mostly two-word statements
• Telegraphic Speech
• early speech stage in which the child speaks like a
telegram – “go car” – using mostly nouns and verbs and
omitting “auxiliary” words

64. Language
Summary of Language Development
Month
(approximate)
Stage
4
10
12
24
24+
Babbles many speech sounds.
Babbling reveals households
language.
One-word stage.
Two-world, telegraphic speech.
Language develops rapidly into
Complete sentences.

65. Language
• Genes design the mechanisms for a language, and experience fills
them as it modifies the brain
Genes
Environment
spoken language
heard
Brain
Mechanisms for
understanding and
producing language
Behavior
Mastery of
native
language
provides
input to
design

66. Language
• Learning a new
language gets
harder with age
100
90
80
70
60
50
Native 3-7 8-10 11-15 17-39
Percentage
correct on
grammar
test
Age at school

67. Language
• Linguistic Relativity
• Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think