utilization deficiency

the inability of individuals to improve task performance by using strategies that they have already acquired and demonstrated the ability to use because they are not spurred to do so by memory. Although historically utilization deficiency has been most frequently studied in children, current research suggests that it may occur at any age as a by-product of diminished working memory capacity. Compare mediational deficiency; production deficiency.

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Psychology term of the day

May 9th 2024

cognitive ethology

the study of mental experiences, including consciousness and intentionality, in nonhuman animals and of the influence of these experiences on the animals’ behavior as they interact with their natural environment. Whether, and which, animals actually possess consciousness and intentionality remains a subject of controversy. [proposed in 1978 by U.S. zoologist Donald Redfield Griffin (1915–2003)]