Cognition - AP Psychology

Humans have the greatest number of synapses in infancy, connecting around 86 billion neurons. As we age, synaptic pruning occurs and unused synapses are systematically eliminated.

Functional fixedness is the inability to see the different functions of an object (use as a step stool) other than its conventional use (bucket).

The three answer choices about risks and losses/gains explain aspects of prospect theory (people take on risks when avoiding potential loss and avoid risks to achieve potential gain), rather than functional fixedness. Functional fixedness is a theory of creativity, whereas prospect theory is a explanation of decision-making.

Panic disorders are quite common. During a panic attack, an individual will have a higher heart rate along with physiological symptoms that may make them feel physically ill. Fear of future anxiety attacks also may trigger worse symptoms.

In multiple-choice exams, all the answers to a given question are provided; however, it is up to the exam-taker to be able to identify, or "recognize," the correct answer. Multiple-choice exams test an exam-taker's recognition of the subject material.

In fill-in-the-blank exams, it is up to the exam-taker to be able to remember, or "recall," information learned in the past to be able to correctly answer questions. Fill-in-the-blank exams test an exam-taker's recall ability—how well they can correctly remember information without it being overtly presented to them.

Cognitive neuroscience is an interdisciplinary science that touches on cognitive psychology, neuroscience, computer science, psycholinguistics, and any area of research that is involved in the study of the connection between the brain and mental processes.

A representativeness heuristic is the idea that a small sample of known individuals can provide defining characteristics for a larger population. All of the birds that Kevin correctly identified are small and can fly; because the ostrich is large and cannot fly, it does not display the characteristics that Kevin believed all birds must have.

Intelligence quotient (IQ) is a score derived from a cognitive battery that reflects a person's intelligence. IQ scores are standardized, with 100 being the average score and 15 as the standard deviation. IQ scores fall on a normal curve, such that extremes can be easily classified. 68.26% of the population will fall within one standard deviation of the mean (IQ between 85 and 115). IQ scores below 70 and above 130 (two standard deviations from the mean) can help identify mental retardation and exceptional giftedness, respectively.

Belief perseverance is the distinct phenomenom in which we tend not to let go of our previous beliefs despite compelling or truthful evidence that contradicts them. For instance, we may believe that our spouse is faithful, but then find compelling evidence that contradict this. In spite of the evidence, we may continue to believe our spouse is faithful out of our inability to let go of our beliefs. Instead of confronting the problem, due to belief preserverance, we keep believing what makes us comfortable.

Developed by Freud, free association is a technique used in psychoanalysis as a path to the unconscious mind. When prompted, individuals are instructed to say whatever comes to their mind first. By blurting out uncensored words and phrases, Freud hoped to logically discover an individual's unconscious thoughts, fears, and conflicts.

The four stages of creative thinking, in the appropriate order, are: preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification.

This kind of thinking can be applied to almost any problem or project, whether it's figuring out a scientific mystery or writing a great work of literature. First, the preparation is done. What are the different pieces you want to pull together? What are some relevant pieces of information or ideas? Incubation is when you leave the idea alone and your unconscious problem-solving mechanism kicks in. Illumination is when you've realized your vision or solved your problem: you got it, you know what it was you were searching for. Verification is perhaps the most difficult part, which is executing the solution (putting words on paper, drawing the painting, explaining and expanding on the idea).

Our unconscious mind is used for many different tasks and is much more powerful than we often suspect. Incubation, for instance, is a stage of creativity during which we allow our unconscious mind work on the task for us while we ignore it. Later on, the problem or inspiration will come to us from our subconscious, creating the classic "Aha!" moment.

Precognition is a term that depicts the correct prediction of future events. For example, if a child predicts that a certain team will win her soccer league and that prediction occurs, then the child has exhibited precognition of this event.

A fill-in-the-blank test is the only type of test listed that purely relies on a student's ability to retrieve learned information with no context clues (e.g. multiple choices or use of notes).

The correct answer is: Retrograde Amnesia, which describes a memory-loss associated with a specific traumatic event. The memory lost precedes the accident. Anne cannot recall certain events that occurred before her accident.

Anterograde Amnesia refers to the inability to form new memories after a traumatic event.

The other answer choices are irrelevant.

Availability heuristic is the tendency to assume that events remembered more easily (shark deaths on the news) actually occur more frequently.

"Someone is more afraid of bees than sharks because they know bees cause more deaths annually" is the opposite of availability heuristic since the person is relying on actual probability rather than perceived probability based on vividness of memory. "Someone decides whether to be more afraid of bees or sharks by creating an algorithim" is also incorrect because an algorithim (a rule based on a formula) is the opposite of a heuristic (an unscientific rule of thumb). "Someone who already fears sharks a lot looks for evidence that confirms that fear" is an example of confirmation bias and "someone goes to a therapist who encourages them to look at pictures and watch videos of sharks to get over their phobia of sharks" is an example of exposure therapy.

When learning about the cognitive errors associated with heuristics (unscientific rules of thumb), it is easy to start to assume that heuristics are always wrong or are useless in some way. However, small life decisions, such as which route to take to work when there is a little extra traffic, would take way too long if algorithims (rules based on formulas) were used for everything. Therefore, heuristics tend to be faster and algorithims more accurate, but the situation determines which is going to be best to use.

The difference between the positive perception of a 70% success rate and the more negative perception of a 30% failure rate is an example of the framing effect-- the way a situation is presented affects our perception of it. Sunk cost fallacy describes our tendency to move forward in an undesirable investment because of past costs, availability heuristic is the tendency to think that events that are easier to remember happen more frequently, representativeness heuristic is making a probability judgment by comparing something to the perceived prototype (instead of using probability), and functional fixedness is the inability to see the possible functions of an object beyond its usual function.

A heuristic does not guarantee a correct answer, but it typically leads to one. It is like a "rule-of-thumb" that is helpful in solving a problem, but may not provide the correct result. The two main kinds of heuristics are Availability Heuristics (basing one's assessment on prior comparable experiences, rather than judging that situation individually) and Representativeness Heuristics (basing one's assessment on common knowledge, stereotypes, or prototypes).