Psychology Exam 2

Sensation

process of sensory organs picking up energy in the environment and transmitting it to the brain

Transduction

conversion of stimulus (e.g., light, sound) into action potentials

Perception

brain’s interpretation of raw signals, what is consciously experienced

Cornea

thin, transparent covering of the eye

Iris

colored, circular muscle in the center of the eye that controls the size of the pupil

Retina

the rear part of the eyeball, which receives visual simulation and sends it to the brain via the optic nerve

fovea

small indentation in the retina that contains cones

Blind-spot

part of the retina that has no receptor cells and can’t sense light

Trichromatic theory of color vision

explanation of color vision based on the idea that cones are specialized to sense red, green, or blue, and all visible colors are perceived based on the combination of rate of firing across the 3 types of cones

Rods (rod cells)

specialized photoreceptors that work well in low-light conditions

Cones (cone cells),

are in the retina of the eye which are responsible for color vision as well as eye color sensitivity;

Depth perception

ability to perceive depth

Retinal disparity

a binocular cue used to perceive depth between two near objects

Audition

sense of hearing

Pinna

visible part of ear that protrudes from the head

Tympanic membrane (eardrum)

separates the outer ear from the middle ear.

Ossicles

three tiny bones containing malleus, incus, stapes

Cochlea

a fluid-filled, snail-shaped structure that contains the sensory hair cells of auditory system

Hair cells

also called sensory receptor cells, in cochlea

Sound localization

Ears allow you to identify where sound originates

Binaural cues

difference in level(loudness) and timing

pitch

frequency of waves (vibrations per second - hertz)

volume

height of waves(decibels)

Timbre

purity vs. complexity of waveform

Inattentional Blindness

failing to notice changes in the visual field because you expect otherwise

Change blindness-failing:

failing to notice changes in the visual field because you expect otherwise

Bottom-up processing

sensation becomes perception without the influence of expectations

Top-down processing

knowledge, previous experiences, and expectations influence what you perceive

Perceptual Set

tendency to perceive things a certain way because of the previous experiences

Sensory interaction

when your senses influence each other

McGurk Effect

what you hear is affected by lip movements seen

Afterimage

Specific cone cells in corresponding areas on the retina are getting fatigued ◦ When you look at something white, balance of cone firing is off, producing the afterimage based on the opponent colors

Sensory adaptation

the tendency of sensation/perception of a stimulus to decrease when a stimulus remains constant

Absolute threshold

minimum level of a stimulus a person can detect at least half the time

Difference threshold

the smallest possible change in a stimulus that can be detected half the time

Cocktail party effect

the brain’s ability to focus attention on certain auditory stimuli while ignoring other auditory stimuli

Selective attention

when the brain pays more attention to one sensory channel than others

Signal detection theory

ability to identify a stimulus when it is embedded in a distracting background

Classical Conditioning

when connections are formed between 2 stimuli that occur together because one predicts the other

Unconditioned Stimulus

causes a response automatically

Unconditioned response

the automatic response caused by an unconditioned stimulus

Neutral stimulus

a stimulus that causes no response

Conditioned stimulus

the response caused by a conditioned stimulus

Ivan Pavlov

a Russian scientist performed extensive research on dogs and is best known for his experiments in classical conditioning

John Watson

brought classical condition to US

Little Albert study

demonstrated how fears can be conditioned using classical conditioning.

Acquisition

when a neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus, Depends on prediction and closeness in time, If neutral stimulus always occurs after unconditioned stimulus, nothing is learned

Stimulus generalization

when stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus cause the same conditioned response

Stimulus discrimination

when stimuli that are different (even slightly) from the conditioned stimulus fail to cause the same conditioned response

Extinction

when a conditioned stimulus no longer causes the conditioned response ◦ Usually because the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without unconditioned stimulus ◦ Goal of treatment for phobias

Habituation

when we learn not to respond to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly without change

Spontaneous recovery

the return of a conditioned response that had become extinct after a period of inactivity

Higher-order conditioning

when a conditioned stimulus from a previous learning process serves as an unconditioned stimulus

Operant conditioning

a form of learning in which a voluntary behavior’s consequences make it more or less likely that the behavior will recur

B.F. Skinner & Skinner box

studied responses of animals in a Skinner box (cage that automatically delivered rewards and recorded behavior)

Reinforcement

a consequence that makes a behavior more likely to happen again

Punishment

a consequence that makes a behavior less likely to happen again

Positive reinforcement

giving a reward that makes repeating a behavior more likely

Negative reinforcement

taking something away, which makes a behavior more likely to happen again

Positive punishment

getting something, which makes a behavior less likely to happen again

Negative punishment

- taking something away, which makes a behavior less likely to happen again

Primary vs. secondary reinforcers

satisfies a biological need, rewarding because of a learned link to a primary reinforcer

Shaping

gradually learning a complex behavior through reinforcement of small steps that get closer and closer to the goal behavior

Extinction burst

when behavior initially gets more intense or frequent after a reinforcer is removed

Immediate vs. delayed reinforcement

how soon is reinforcer/punishment provided?
◦ When reinforcer/punishment is provided immediately, behavior is learned more quickly
◦ When reinforcer/punishment is delayed, it may be less effective

Continuous v. partial

behavior reinforced every time it occurs, behavior only sometimes reinforced

Fixed-ratio-

behavior reinforced/punished after certain, consistent number of occurrences

Variable-ratio-

behavior reinforced/punished after inconsistent, unpredictable number of occurrences

Fixed-interval

behavior reinforced/punished after certain, consistent time interval

Variable-interval

behavior reinforced/punished after inconsistent, unpredictable time interval

Observational learning

process of learning by watching the behaviors of others.

Albert Bandura (Bobo doll experiment)

Bandura researched modeling behavior, particularly children’s modeling of adults’ aggressive and violent behaviors

Biological preparedness

animal’s evolutionary predisposition to learn associations and actions relevant to survival of the species

3 steps of memory

encoding, storage, retrieval

Encoding

entering information into memory

Level of processing

Likelihood of encoding depends on level of processing

Automatic processing

when information enters memory without conscious awareness (e.g., situational/spatial details)

Effortful processing

when we intentionally process incoming information

Rehearsal

deliberately repeating information to enhance memory

Maintenance rehearsal

repeating in same form

Elaborative rehearsal

adding meaning or associations while rehearsing

Chunking

- grouping information together in a meaningful way

Long-term potentiation

changes in neuron connections that form the basis of memory

Sensory memory

when senses take in and briefly retain information

Echoic memory

auditory sensory memory (3-4 seconds)

Iconic memory

visual sensory memory (0.5 seconds)

Short-term memory

limited storage for new memories, Information either discarded or moved into long-term memory

Know capacity of short-term memory

magic number” (7 +/- 2)

Working memory

a workspace for processing briefly-held information

Long-term memory

- Limitless storage that is held for extensive amounts of time ◦ Information typically enters long-term memory when it is processed in short-term memory

Transience/Decay

loss of information from memory due to time passing

Recall v. Recognition

searching memory to find information, determining whether information in memory matches external cues

Retrieval cues

reminders that make retrieving memories easier

Encoding specificity

when it’s easier to remember something in the same context as when you encoded the memory

Priming

when experiences cue memory retrieval

Serial-position effect

the tendency to remember the first and last items in a series better than the items in the middle

Primacy effect

tendency to remember first items well

Recency effect

tendency to remember last items well

Explicit memory

memory you have conscious awareness of (also called declarative memory)

Semantic memory

– knowing facts, word meanings, general information