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United StatesPsychology

Unit 2: Cognition

8 dot points across 8 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How is information encoded into memory, and what makes encoding effective?

Topic 2.4 Encoding Memories: explain the processes of encoding information into memory, including effortful and automatic processing, levels of processing, and mnemonic strategies.
A focused answer to AP Psychology Topic 2.4, covering automatic and effortful processing, the levels-of-processing effect, semantic encoding, mnemonic devices, chunking, the spacing effect, and the self-reference and testing effects that strengthen encoding.
11 min answer →

Why do we forget, and how can memory be distorted or constructed inaccurately?

Topic 2.7 Forgetting and Other Memory Challenges: explain the causes of forgetting, including encoding failure, decay, interference, and retrieval failure, and how memory can be distorted.
A focused answer to AP Psychology Topic 2.7, covering encoding failure, storage decay (Ebbinghaus forgetting curve), proactive and retroactive interference, retrieval failure, amnesia, the misinformation effect, source amnesia, and constructed false memories.
11 min answer →

How is intelligence defined, measured, and influenced by heredity and environment?

Topic 2.8 Intelligence and Achievement: explain theories of intelligence, how intelligence and achievement are measured, and the role of heredity, environment, and bias in testing.
A focused answer to AP Psychology Topic 2.8, covering theories of intelligence (general intelligence, multiple intelligences, triarchic theory), the construction and standardization of intelligence tests, reliability and validity, the normal curve, and the influence of heredity, environment, and test bias.
12 min answer →

What are the major models and systems of human memory?

Topic 2.3 Introduction to Memory: describe the major models of memory, including the three-stage information-processing model and the different memory systems.
A focused answer to AP Psychology Topic 2.3, introducing the three-stage information-processing model (sensory, short-term, long-term memory), working memory, the multi-store and levels-of-processing models, and the distinction between explicit and implicit memory.
11 min answer →

How does the brain organize and interpret sensory information into meaningful perceptions?

Topic 2.1 Perception: explain bottom-up and top-down processing, perceptual organization and constancies, depth and gestalt principles, and the influence of attention and set.
A focused answer to AP Psychology Topic 2.1, covering bottom-up and top-down processing, gestalt grouping principles, depth cues, perceptual constancies, selective attention, perceptual set, and how prior knowledge shapes what we perceive.
11 min answer →

How do we retrieve stored memories, and what cues and effects influence retrieval?

Topic 2.6 Retrieving Memories: explain the processes of retrieval, the difference between recall and recognition, and the cues and effects that aid or distort retrieval.
A focused answer to AP Psychology Topic 2.6, covering recall versus recognition, retrieval cues and priming, context-dependent and state-dependent memory, mood congruence, the serial position effect, and the reconstructive nature of retrieval.
11 min answer →

How and where are memories stored in the brain, and what types of long-term memory exist?

Topic 2.5 Storing Memories: describe how memories are stored, the types of long-term memory, and the brain structures and processes involved in memory storage.
A focused answer to AP Psychology Topic 2.5, covering the types of long-term memory (explicit, implicit, semantic, episodic, procedural), the roles of the hippocampus, cerebellum, and amygdala, long-term potentiation, and how flashbulb memories are stored.
11 min answer →

How do people think, solve problems, and make judgments, and what biases distort these processes?

Topic 2.2 Thinking, Problem-Solving, Judgments, and Decision-Making: explain concepts and prototypes, problem-solving strategies, and the heuristics and biases that shape judgment.
A focused answer to AP Psychology Topic 2.2, covering concepts and prototypes, algorithms and heuristics, insight and fixation, and the judgment biases (availability, representativeness, anchoring, framing, confirmation bias) that distort decision-making.
12 min answer →