Content Category 6B: Making sense of the environment

Estimated Read time: 2 minutes

The way we think about the world depends on our awareness, thoughts, knowledge, and memories. It is also influenced by our ability to solve problems, make decisions, form judgments, and communicate. Psychological, sociocultural, and biological influences determine the development and use of these different yet convergent processes. 

Biological factors underlie the mental processes that create our reality, shape our perception of the world, and influence the way we perceive and react to every aspect of our lives. The content in this category covers critical aspects of cognition ― including consciousness, cognitive development, problem solving and decision making, intelligence, memory, and language. 

Topic Human Physiology
Cognition (PSY)*
  • Information-processing model
  • Cognitive development
    • Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
    • Cognitive changes in late adulthood
    • Role of culture in cognitive development
    • Influence of heredity and environment on cognitive development
  • Biological factors that affect cognition (PSY, BIO)
  • Problem-solving and decision-making (PSY, BIO)
    • Types of problem solving
    • Barriers to effective problem solving
    • Approaches to problem solving
    • Heuristics, biases, intuition, and emotion
      • Overconfidence and belief perseverance
  • Intellectual functioning
    • Multiple definitions of intelligence
    • Influence of heredity and environment on intelligence
    • Variations in intellectual ability
  • Ch. 8 The Central Nervous System, pp. 273-276
Consciousness (PSY)*
  • States of consciousness
    • Alertness (PSY, BIO)
    • Sleep
      • Stages of sleep
      • Sleep cycles and changes to sleep cycles
      • Sleep and circadian rhythms (PSY, BIO)
      • Dreaming
      • Sleep disorders
    • Hypnosis and meditation
  • Consciousness altering drugs
    • Types of consciousness altering drugs and their effects on the nervous system and behavior
    • Drug addiction and the reward pathway in the brain
  • Ch. 8 The Central Nervous System, pp. 266-269
Memory (PSY)*
  • Encoding
    • Process of encoding information
    • Processes that aid in encoding memories
  • Storage
    • Types of memory storage (i.e., sensory, working, long-term)
    • Semantic networks and spreading activation
  • Retrieval
    • Recall, recognition, and relearning
    • Retrieval cues
    • The role of emotion in retrieving memories
  • Forgetting
    • Aging and memory
    • Memory dysfunctions (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease, Korsakoff’s syndrome)
    • Decay
    • Interference
    • Memory construction and source monitoring
  • Changes in synaptic connections underlie memory and learning (PSY, BIO)
    • Neural plasticity
    • Memory and learning
    • Long-term potentiation
  • Ch. 8 The Central Nervous System, pp. 273-276
Language (PSY)*
  • Theories of language development (e.g., learning, Nativist, Interactionist)
  • Influence of language on cognition
  • Different brain areas control language and speech (PSY, BIO)
  • Ch. 8 The Central Nervous System, pp. 269-270