E. Mavis Hetherington,
University of Virginia
Ross D. Parke,
University of California
Mark Schmuckler,
University of Toronto at Scarborough
Below are this chapter's featured key terms. The textbook's full glossary is also available for online searching.
| affordances | The reciprocal relation, or fit, between the physical capabilities of an actor, and the physical properties of the environment that enable an action.
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| automatization | The process of transforming conscious, controlled behaviours into unconscious and automatic ones.
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| differentiation theory | The notion that the child learns to identify and discriminate the important features of objects and relations from the rich source of information sensory input provides.
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| elaboration | A memory strategy in which one adds to information to make it more meaningful and, thus, easier to place in long-term memory.
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| encoding | The transformation of information from the environment into a lasting mental representation.
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| enrichment theory | The notion that the child acquires additional information about an object from each repeated experience with it, further modifying and enriching these data with information in existing schemata.
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| executive control structure | According to Case, a mental blueprint or plan for solving a class of problems.
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| generalization | The application of a strategy learned while solving a problem in one situation to a similar problem in a new situation.
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| hierarchical categorization | The organization of concepts into levels of abstraction that range from the specific to the general.
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| information processing approach | A perspective on cognition and cognitive development in which the human mind is likened to a computer, processing information from the environment through perception and attention (input), encoding it in memory (storage and retrieval), and applying to the solution of problems (software).
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| level of processing model | An information processing model that proposes that the intensity of processing applied to information determines how long it will be retained.
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| long-term memory | The encyclopedic mental processing unit in which information may be stored permanently and from which it may be later retrieved.
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| mediation deficiency | Inability to use strategies to store information in long-term memory.
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| memory span | The amount of information one can hold in short-term memory.
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| mental map | A cognitive representation of the spatial layout of a physical or geographical place.
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| mental representation | Information stored in some form (e.g., verbal, pictorial) in the cognitive system after the person has encountered it in the environment.
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| metacognition | The individual's knowledge and control of cognitive activities.
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| metamemory | Thinking about how and why memory works.
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| neo-Piagetian theories | Theories of cognitive development that are grounded in Piagetian theory but reintepret Piaget's concepts in information processing context.
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| production deficiency | Inability spontaneously to generate and use memory strategies that one knows.
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| prospective memory | Memory for information that one plans to use at a given future time.
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| reciprocal teaching | A method of instruction in which a teacher and a small group of students take turns leading discussions of text passages and which makes use of four specific cognitive strategies: predicting, questioning, summarizing, and clarifying.
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| rehearsal | A memory strategy in which one repeats a number of times, either mentally or orally, the information one wants to remember.
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| script | A mental representation of an event or situation of daily life, including the expected order in which things happen and how one should behave in that event or situation.
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| semantic organization | Organizing information to be remembered by means of categorization and hierarchical relationships.
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| sensory register | The mental processing unit that receives information from the environment and stores it fleetingly.
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| short-term memory | The mental processing unit in which information may be stored temporarily; the "work space" of the mind, where a decision must be made to discard information or to transfer it to permanent storage, in long-term memory.
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| store model | A model of information processing in which information is depicted as moving through a series of processing units-sensory register, short-term memory, and long-term memory-in each of which it may be stored, either fleetingly or permanently.
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| strategies | Conscious cognitive or behavioural activities that are used to enhance mental performance.
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| subitizing | A preattentive process in sets of four items or fewer are counted or understood effortlessly, accurately, and quite rapidly.
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| transitive inference | The mental arrangement of things along a quantitative dimension.
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| utilization deficiency | Inability to use an attentional strategy that one knows.
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| world knowledge | What a child has learned from experience and knows about the world in general.
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education