For questions about definitions, names, and terms used in the cognitive sciences literature.
12
votes
2answers
901 views
Is it called something when I can't remember the word I want to say, but I can remember its first letter?
This happens to me frequently. I'll say, "Oh you know that guy... uhh... I can't remember his name. But he starts with a 'Z'." You can remember part of the word but not the whole word.
Is there a ...
6
votes
3answers
810 views
Difference between Instinct and Intuition
Sometimes I've heard people using the term gut feeling rather than their 'intuition or instinct' and I'm not sure which one do they mean. So, can both the terms be used interchangeably and simply ...
4
votes
1answer
54 views
Term for incentives working without conscious awareness
Is there a term that captures the idea that incentives work even when people deny their choices have been swayed by them?
For example, an individual amazon book reviewer may deny that a recent ...
5
votes
3answers
45 views
What is the field that studies community responses to incentives?
Having recently read Freakonomics I was particularly interested by the idea of the responses of a community to incentives - as an example, the tale of a school which tried to introduce a financial ...
1
vote
1answer
104 views
What is it called when a student tends to speak about what he knows?
Sometimes, a student who has a lack of knowledge, tries to change the topic of a question so that it will be about what he knows and can speak about. Is this a known phenomenon in psychology?
-2
votes
1answer
68 views
Is there a name for the tendency to use proper nouns often in conversation? [closed]
I think it may happen with people who have lack of confidence, for example shy people. So in conversation they often add proper nouns (eg. names of persons or countries) to give "evidence" and weight ...
3
votes
1answer
55 views
What is a test called that involves indicating whether a line has the same slope as a previous image?
I would like to know the name of the following test:
Participants were asked to memorize the slope of a line of a target image.
Then different images (lines with varying slopes) were presented ...
10
votes
1answer
81 views
Learning of new concepts being impeded by an error in previous work
Note: I'm framing this question in terms of tutoring math since that's what I tutor most, though it applies to a wide range of subject matters.
I do a decent amount of tutoring, and this is one ...
8
votes
0answers
73 views
What is the bias/thought process that results in distrust of “formal” knowledge in favor of “folk” knowledge?
An interesting effect I've noticed is that certain groups of people seem to accept "folk knowledge" and value it over significantly better founded "formal" or scientific knowledge. In particular this ...
2
votes
1answer
56 views
Is there sub-conscious error correction in interpreting heard language?
My personal experience suggests there is a background process taking place when interpreting a partially heard utterance. The sound is taken in, the conscious part of my mind begins the process of ...
3
votes
1answer
38 views
What is the proper term for the synchronization of eye movements?
In humans and most two eyed species, eye movements synchronize so that both eyes are focused on the same point. This facilitates 3D vision significantly, allowing bifocal cues. I remember reading a ...
1
vote
1answer
135 views
What is the scientific term or concept for inner thought control? [closed]
Usually when a thought arises, it seems that we quickly scurry after it, unconsciously getting caught up with whatever everyday thoughts come up. These can be invoked internally or externally.
(No ...
1
vote
1answer
57 views
What is the definition of pathology?
While trying to get more information for my previous question, I found several different definitions for the terms "pathology" and "pathological." While under normal circumstances I'd be inclined to ...
3
votes
0answers
55 views
Definition of Affective Cueing
In contrast to Affective Priming, what is Affective Cueing? I'm not sure how to differentiate between the two.
I found a good review on affective priming in Karl Christoph Klauer (1997) in the ...
6
votes
0answers
52 views
What is the scientific term for unexpected, spontaneous dream recall?
I'm interested if there's a term for spontaneous dream recall. I will try to define the phenomenon I'm talking about.
Over 10 years ago, I started to notice that I can spontaneously recall dreams, ...
5
votes
1answer
79 views
What's the difference between projecting and mirroring?
In Psychology 101, I learned about Projecting and Mirroring... I know one is where an individual sees his own problems in other people... I always forget the other concept and/or confuse the two. ...
6
votes
0answers
71 views
Is there a “foreplay” equivalent, priming activity for thinking or conversation?
I've noticed the following phenomenon and am trying to find out if it is indeed true and if there is a scientific term for it:
When I think about ideas, I notice that I can rarely jump straight into ...
6
votes
0answers
64 views
Is there evidence for a unique isolated internal representation of loved ones?
Some time ago, I've read that the most significant people in a person's life have their own internal representation/model of within the person's mind. For example:
An internal representation of a ...
12
votes
2answers
2k views
Is pedophilia a sexual orientation or a mental disorder?
There are some different claims being made that pedophilia is a sexual orientation rather than a mental disorder.
At the moment there seems to be a growing group of psychologists advocating that ...
4
votes
1answer
79 views
Is there a technical term for “fear of the unknown”?
I'm writing paper about climate change and its economic impacts on society. Is there a generally accepted technical term for "fear of the unknown" in psychology?
3
votes
1answer
56 views
What's the name of the quantifying preference for visual stimulus by varying size or distance as compared to a reference task?
Say that you enjoy looking at two beautiful paintings (A and B). But you really can't tell which one you like more, and you want to (quantitatively).
So, you compare them both to your favorite ...
4
votes
2answers
94 views
Is there an actionable branch of cognitive science?
I'm not sure what is the name of a branch of cognitive science that deals with the application of cognitive science to the real world.
I know that in Biology, there are fields like genetic ...
4
votes
1answer
62 views
A psychological theory that explains why people remember only the outcome?
I've read somewhere about a psychological theory that people often remember the end results or the outcome of a certain situation/discussion/conversation/etc, but not the details of it.
In other ...
4
votes
1answer
65 views
Phenomenon causing people to change their opinion when they are asked to hypothetically defend an opposing viewpoint?
I remember reading a case study on this years ago and I am trying to track it down.
The study involved asking people who held strong opinions on varied subjects to defend the opposite opinion in a ...
4
votes
1answer
160 views
Closure, an actual psychology term relating to filling in information?
I'm currently reading a book called "Understand Comics" and a term has come up called closure. I've understood this concept before and the book describes closure as the process the brain goes through ...
71
votes
6answers
3k views
How is it that taking a break from a problem sometimes allows you to figure out the answer?
As a computer programmer, I have noticed an interesting phenomenon: If I am stuck on a particular problem in my work, often if I stop thinking about the problem and do something else, the answer will ...
0
votes
1answer
75 views
Holding grudges for missing the boat
I am wondering if there's a term in psychology for a situation where you want something really bad, but you are not able to get it for the moment (or a goal that you are not able to achieve) and when ...
6
votes
2answers
81 views
What is the name of the phenomenon whereby someone steps-up and others follow?
Example: In class, when a teacher proposes some unreasonable assignment, students hesitate to express their objection until someone steps-up and then others find courage to talk.
I've tried searching ...
-2
votes
1answer
73 views
Is there a cognitive psychology theory for social curiosity? [closed]
Lets say there are two persons denoted $p_1$ and $p_2$ who share some common friends denoted $N$.
$p_1$ is told that $N$ of his friends are interacting with $p_2$. This generates an inherent ...
4
votes
0answers
107 views
'Model-free' learning in humans
In reinforcement learning, there is a stark distinction between model-based and model-free learning algorithms, where model-free methods don't make use any explicit information about the dynamics of ...
7
votes
2answers
118 views
What is the name of the effect whereby socialising in a group reinforces group beliefs?
Background:
There's this effect when you have some idea, i.e. that eating other people is (probably) cool, you join the group of like minded people, you talk about how tasty people are, everyone ...
6
votes
2answers
38 views
What term describes the discrepancy in reported intention to vote and actual voting behaviour?
I am interested in prediction markets, where traders have a monetary incentive to bet on who they think would win in an election. I think that the financial incentive in prediction markets makes them ...
14
votes
1answer
384 views
What is an effective metric of complexity for an Artificial Neural Network?
After asking the question What is the most complex neural network... I realized I don't really have a good metric of "complexity" in a general sense. The simplest measure would likely be count of ...
4
votes
0answers
39 views
Do the motivations and fears behind Enneagram have any scientific reasoning?
Background
The Enneagram personality typing system defines set of motivations and basic fears for its nine personality types among people.
The system seems to be aimed at personal development of a ...
3
votes
0answers
60 views
What conditions are associated with more intense feelings and stronger reactions to stimuli? [closed]
What conditions are associated with more intense feelings and stronger reactions to stimuli?
i.e., where someone may normally feel small amounts of happiness, pleasure, sadness, grief, etc., someone ...
10
votes
3answers
237 views
What is the term for a psychological effect which does not have a neurobiological/genetic basis?
When a psychological condition is the result of irregular brain structures or neurotransmitter imbalances we say the condition has a neurobiological basis; this is analogous to the classic Nature in ...
4
votes
0answers
79 views
When one activity makes you less distracted doing another activity? [closed]
Background: When I'm coding, I sometimes make tea, and as long as I'm drinking the tea, I find myself more focused. Drinking tea seems to make me focus more. Thus, it seems that while doing something ...
3
votes
1answer
43 views
What is the name of a test presenting words in different colors?
What's the name of this psychological test where you.
Read and pronounce words in three colors (red, blue, green). - Words and colors match. - Say word and color (which are the same).
As above - ...
14
votes
2answers
464 views
Is there a term for individuals who can “visualize” numbers and advanced mathematics?
I recently saw an episode of 60 Minutes about Jacob Barnett, a 13 year old boy who is currently attending advanced physics classes at a local university and was portrayed by the show as being a child ...
8
votes
1answer
102 views
Hearing first but understanding later?
I have experienced this phenomenon several times and checked with other people as well.
It goes like this: you hear something, but it's just a sound with no meaning. Some seconds later, you ...
11
votes
1answer
443 views
What was the experiment where you pour liquid from a tall container to a short one and ask a child which has more?
From Developmental psychology 101 I remember an experiment where the person conducting the experiment would pour liquid from a tall, narrow container into a short, narrow container and ask a child if ...
1
vote
3answers
240 views
Is this optical illusion the visual equivalent of binaural beats?
The optical motional illusion shown below, makes your brain see some motion, where there is none.
In my opinion it's fascinating, although after a while you get a headache. It reminds me of ...
2
votes
1answer
159 views
The feeling a person gets when they finish a series
Take for example, a person reading a good book series that they enjoy. While they are reading it, they typically look forward to finishing each volume, as well as the whole series. However, when they ...
10
votes
2answers
199 views
What is the term for human beings' tendency to obey without thinking?
I'm wanting to read more about a certain human behavior, but I am not sure what the proper term for it is, so some of the things I am finding aren't what I am looking for. I'm interested in how Humans ...
7
votes
2answers
201 views
Study on commitment and follow-through
I'm faced with a UX problem of looking for ways to position a website to increase attendance at future "real world" events, and I'm remembering a study once conducted along these lines (details a bit ...
7
votes
0answers
90 views
Bias towards purchasing tangible vs virtual goods
People have very little hesitation in spending $3 on a coffee once a week, but when it comes to buying things online, such as virtual goods or services, they are often much more reluctant. There is a ...
6
votes
1answer
123 views
Face-Blindness: Have I seen you before?
Sometimes when I meet new people, I feel like I have seen them before. Their faces might look similar to people's faces, I have really have met before.
The wiki article on Difficulties with Facial ...
11
votes
1answer
318 views
Subconscious vs Unconscious
From what I know, we use the term 'subconscious' to refer to the things that we can bring into our conscious. and, we use the term 'unconscious' for things that we can't know, they come automatically ...
10
votes
4answers
374 views
Do people have a tendency to stick to one opinion after they formed it?
Scytale's assessment, from the science fiction novel "Dune Messiah" (1969)
When a creature has developed into one thing, he will choose death
rather than change into his opposite.
While ...
6
votes
2answers
106 views
What's the name of this visual search task?
I recall a visual search task where participants would search for a single item with either one or two distinct features. For example one would look for an X in a set of Os as "one feature" or instead ...
