PSYCH unit 2- part 1

Perception

Organization and interpretation of meaningless sensations

Visual capture

Vision tends to dominate the other senses, most illusions are visually based as a result

Gestalt

Form or hole, our brain organizes our sensations into

Figure and ground

The brain creates a distinction between an object and the background/not an object in an image

Depth perception

Transforms 2D images to 3-D knowledge

Binocular cues

Both eyes helping us determine depth

Retinal disparity

Different images on each retina create depth in the brain

Convergence

How much our eyes turn inward to see depth

Monocular cues

Some depth is done with just one eye (what you see when one eye is closed)

Relative size

Two similar objects, larger one is closer (trees ex)

Interposition

Blocked view = the one blocking is closer (house blocking other house)

Texture gradient

The more distinct an image is, the closer we perceive it as (thread ex)

Linear perspective

Lines seem to converge with distance (train tracks)

Phi phenomenon

Close to each other blink on/off in a pat pattern and movement is perceived

Constancy

Perceived objects as unchanging, while actual sensory stimuli change

Size-distance relationship

Same size + perceived farther away = bigger, depth cubes caused this (monster image)

muller-lyer illusion

Lines between arrow tips create perceptions

Perceptual adaptation

We adjust to new, consistent sensory input (woman with upside down glasses)

Perceptual set

A mental pre-disposition affecting what we perceive (top-down processing at its finest)

Context effects

What surround a stimulus often impacts perception

Interference

With two conflicting stimuli, one will often prevail, selective attention at work

Concepts/schemas

mental grouping/ categories -very valuable to cognition (problem solving in brain- pros and cons list)

Prototypes

best example of a concept (tomato/soccer ball hacky sack)

Creativiity

being able to create something new, valuable items/ideas (art)

Convergent thinking

narrowing info to determine one answer

Divergent thinking

thinking in different directions -very important to creativity & problem solving

Elements of creativity

1. experise

2. imaginative thinking skills

3. verturesome personality

4. intrinsic motivation

5. creative environments

Executive functions

set of cognitive skills that help you plan, solve problems, manage emotions and more (goal setting and carrying out)

Gestalist rules of grouping

organize figures into meaning

1. proximity

2. similarity

3. continuity

4. closure

5. connectedness

Algorithm

Every possible step is taken, thorough and dependable/guaranteed answer, very inefficient (finding a lot combo on a safe)

Heuristics

Rules of thumbs/Shortcuts/trusted methods

Representativeness heuristic

Deciding course of action based on how close to a prototype, the problem is, act how you’ve acted before (doctors visit for sick kid)

Availability heuristic

What you were thinking about or know at the time dictates problem-solving (poop cruise/ dolphin chunk)

Insight

The “aha” moment, lightbulb just turns on

Confirmation bias

Only looking for ideas that support your claim/idea (talking to people you know will agree with you)

Mental set

Only repeating what worked in the past (old people mindset)

Functional fixedness

Seeing an object function as set and unchanging (activity in class using objects for different purposes)

Framing

How a problem is presented has a huge effect on how we choose to solve it (Kohls discounts)

Overconfidence

A persons belief that their judgment/abilities is greater than objective reality (someone bragging about not studying but then doing bad on the test)

Belief perseverance phenomenon

Even with contradicting information, we cling to our beliefs (old person attitude)

Phonemes

basic sounds necessary to a language

Morphemes

samllest unit of language w meaning

Grammer

a system of rules for language

Semantics

meanings of words/anguage

Syntax

order of words in sentences

babbling stage

variety of sounds made by babies (4 months)

one-word stage

one word/ morpheme statements (1 year)

two-word stage (telegraphic speech)

two word sentences, nouns + verbs (2 years)

B.F. Skinner

believed language and Grammer is learned (operant conditioning)

Noam Chomsky

believed some language abilities are inborn and just need to be developed/fulfilled (learning still important but not only thing)

Linguistic relativity/ linguistic determinism

our thoughts impact our language, our language impacts our thoughts