Memory, Forgetting and Cognitive Processes: Thinking, Language, Problem Solving
Memory systems
Know the three-stage model: sensory memory, short-term/working memory (capacity about seven plus or minus two items, duration seconds), and long-term memory (unlimited, durable). Long-term divides into explicit (episodic, semantic) and implicit (procedural, priming). Encoding can be visual, acoustic, or semantic; semantic encoding is deepest. Retrieval involves recall and recognition; context and state dependency affect it.
Forgetting
Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve shows rapid early loss. Explanations include decay, interference (proactive: old disrupts new; retroactive: new disrupts old), retrieval failure, and motivated forgetting. Amnesia: anterograde (cannot form new memories) versus retrograde (cannot recall old).
Thinking and problem solving
Concepts and prototypes organise knowledge. Problem-solving strategies: algorithms (guaranteed but slow), heuristics (fast but error-prone), means-end analysis, working backward. Obstacles include functional fixedness, mental set, confirmation bias, availability and representativeness heuristics, and overconfidence.
Language
Language has phonemes, morphemes, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Theories: behaviourist (Skinner), nativist (Chomsky, language acquisition device), and interactionist. Critical period evidence comes from cases of delayed exposure.
Traps and rule of thumb
Questions often reverse proactive and retroactive interference. Rule: proactive means the past interferes forward; retroactive means the new interferes backward. Also distinguish algorithm (certain solution) from heuristic (rule of thumb).