An abstract version of the selection task where the subject is shown one face of each of four cards, but not the other face, and has to select those cards that must be turned over to find out if a particular rule is true.

A condition, described by German neurologist Carl Wernicke, where an inability to understand what words mean affects a persons ability to produce meaningful utterances.

As defined by Erik Erikson, this is the quality that results from the resolution of ego integrity and despair, which is achieved by the adult in old age, when he/she has been able to find a midway between the calm acceptance of a life lived and the fear of impending death.

One of the ‘Ethical Principles for Conducting Research with Human Participants’ endorsed by the British Psychology Society in which a subject retains the right to his/her ‘data’ and is able to withdraw consent at any time and have any data pertaining to them excluded from the study.

A development of the STS concept, comprising a central executive and two slave systems, the articulatory loop and the visuo-spatial scratch pad.

A temporary structure in memory which is invoked by the requirements of a particular situation and forms the configuration of self-views made salient by ongoing social events.

Those aspects of a child’s performance, described by the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, where she would not be able to achieve on her own, but only with the support, help and instruction of another person.