About This Chapter
Who's it for?
This unit of our AP Psychology Homeschool course will benefit any student who is trying to learn about memory and cognition. There is no faster or easier way to learn about memory and cognition. Among those who would benefit are:
- Students who require an efficient, self-paced course of study to learn about cognition, language acquisition, information processing and perceptual development.
- Homeschool parents looking to spend less time preparing lessons and more time teaching.
- Homeschool parents who need an AP psychology curriculum that appeals to multiple learning types (visual or auditory).
- Gifted students and students with learning differences.
How it works:
- Students watch a short, fun video lesson that covers a specific unit topic.
- Students and parents can refer to the video transcripts to reinforce learning.
- Short quizzes and the Memory and Cognition unit exam confirm understanding or identify any topics that require review.
Memory & Cognition Unit Objectives:
- Define deductive and inductive reasoning, cognition and syllogisms.
- Explore language and its acquisition.
- Track perceptual development through a human's lifespan.
- Illustrate how schema can cause memory distortion.
- Find out how long and short term memory may be improved.
- Define the term 'concept' and the prototype method used in concept development.
- Provide definitions for basic, subordinate and superordinate concepts.
1. What is Cognition?
People think in different ways, and thoughts are an important part of who you are. In this lesson, we'll look at cognition, including two common types of cognition: reasoning and heuristics.
2. What Is Language?
Have you ever wondered how human language is constructed to form meaning? Why is language more complex than animal calls? In this lesson, we'll take a look at the basic units language and learn how meaning is formed.
3. Language Acquisition: Definition, Theories & Stages
Have you ever wondered how humans are able to learn, process, comprehend and speak a language? In this lesson on language acquisition, we'll take a look at some distinctions between languages and learn how babies come to understand and speak a language.
4. Information Processing: Encoding, Storage & Retrieval
How does your brain remember information and recall it later? In this lesson, you'll look at the steps your brain takes as it processes data from short-term memory and stores it as long-term memory.
5. Categories of Memory: Sensory & Long-Term
Did you know that there are several types of memories? How does your brain keep track of them all? In this lesson, as you observe your surroundings at an art museum, you'll come to understand how your brain categorizes memory so you can remember your experiences.
6. Attention and Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Processing
Are you a big-picture person or do you get caught up in the details? Explore two ways that you can use your cognitive resources to focus your attention. This lesson provides both the details and the big picture for top-down and bottom-up processing.
7. Perceptual Development in Infants
Why are some senses more developed than others for a newborn? You'll learn which senses are initially important for infants to bond with and recognize their mothers and which one is still in development after birth.
8. George Miller's Psychological Study to Improve Short-Term Memory
Wouldn't it be nice to improve your short-term memory? According to one psychological study, there are, in fact, ways you can organize sets of new information to make them easier to remember. Based on the study, this lesson examines a method that can increase your short-term memory.
9. Using Psychology to Improve Long-Term Memory
What are some tips for improving your memory? This memorable lesson on memory covers self-referencing, mnemonic devices, spaced repetition and rehearsal. You won't want to cram for exams once you learn these better ways to improve your long-term memory!
10. Memory Distortion: Source Amnesia, Misinformation Effect & Choice-Supportive Bias
With all the information we learn and process every day, it can be difficult to remember things accurately. Because of this, our memory can become distorted. In this lesson, we'll learn how our brain can trick us into falsely remembering details of our past experiences.
11. Types of Heuristics: Availability, Representativeness & Base-Rate
Did you know that our brain uses strategies to process information and draw conclusions? Although we're able to reach conclusions through these mental strategies, sometimes, our reasoning can be off. Read on to discover how our brain draws these conclusions and why they can be wrong.
12. Using Concepts to Classify the World
What has wings, feathers, and lives in a nest? That's not a riddle; it's a concept. Watch this lesson to find out more about what concepts are, what a prototype is, and how typicality influences the way you think about the world.
13. Types of Concepts: Superordinate, Subordinate, and Basic
When I say 'home,' what do you picture? Mansion, apartment, or shack? Home, like many other things, is a concept. In this lesson, we'll explore what a concept is and the three general levels of concepts: superordinate, basic, and subordinate.
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Other chapters within the AP Psychology: Homeschool Curriculum course
- Development of Modern Psychology: Homeschool Curriculum
- Psychology Research Methods: Homeschool Curriculum
- Intelligence Testing: Homeschool Curriculum
- Biology in Psychology: Homeschool Curriculum
- Sensation & Perception: Homeschool Curriculum
- Sleep & States of Consciousness: Homeschool Curriculum
- Learning & Conditioning: Homeschool Curriculum
- Emotion & Motivation: Homeschool Curriculum
- Childhood Development: Homeschool Curriculum
- Personality Development Theories: Homeschool Curriculum
- Social Psychology: Homeschool Curriculum
- Abnormal Psychology: Homeschool Curriculum
- Treatment Methods for Disorders: Homeschool Curriculum
- AP Psychology - Test Strategy: Homeschool Curriculum