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All 10 Flashcards — Cognitive models
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Question
What is a cognitive model?
Answer
A simplified representation of how a mental process works, used to describe, predict and test it.
Question
Why do psychologists use models?
Answer
Because mental processes can't be seen directly; a model makes them concrete and testable.
Question
What are the three stores of the multi-store model?
Answer
Sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.
Question
What links sensory to short-term memory?
Answer
Attention — we transfer what we attend to.
Question
What moves short-term to long-term memory?
Answer
Rehearsal (repetition).
Question
How are models judged?
Answer
By usefulness — whether they predict findings and guide research — not only by being fully true.
Question
One strength of cognitive models?
Answer
They turn invisible processes into testable predictions and generate experiments.
Question
One limitation of cognitive models?
Answer
They oversimplify and can treat the mind too much like a computer.
Question
Is a model the same as the brain?
Answer
No — the boxes and arrows are a useful description, not real physical parts.
Question
Which concept does this link to?
Answer
Measurement — a model makes an invisible process concrete enough to study.
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Topic 2.2 hub
Cognitive approach
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