Unit 2 AP psychology vocabulary

Bottom-Up Processing

when the brain processes sensory information and uses clues to understand stimuli.

Top-Down Processing

perceiving things based on your prior experiences and knowledge.

Perception

the sensory experience of the world, which includes how an individual recognizes and interprets sensory information.

Schemas

Concepts or mental frameworks that organize and interpret information.

Gestalt Psychology

a psychological approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of the parts

Selective Attention

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Cocktail Party Effect

Ability to concentrate on one voice amongst a crowd

Inattentional Blindness

a failure to perceive objects that are not the focus of attention

Change Blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of inattentional blindness

Binocular Cues

depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes

Retinal Disparity

a binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance—the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.

Convergence

A binocular cue for perceiving depth; the extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object

Monocular Cues

depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone

Explicit Memory

memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare"

Episodic Memory

the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place

Semantic Memory

a network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world

Implicit Memory

retention independent of conscious recollection

Procedural Memory

the gradual acquisition of skills as a result of practice, or "knowing how" to do things

Prospective Memory

remembering to do things in the future

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

an increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

Working Memory

a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

Central Executive

the part of working memory that directs attention and processing

Phonological Loop

the part of working memory that holds and processes verbal and auditory information

Visuospatial Sketchpad

A component of working memory where we create mental images to remember visual information

Long-Term Memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

MultiStore Model

information-processing model that describes a sequence of mental structures through which information flows

Sensory Memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system

Iconic Memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

Echoic Memory

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds

Shallow Processing

encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words

Deep Processing

encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention

Automatic Processing

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings

Effortful Processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

Structural Processing

Thinking about the physical appearance of words to be learnt

Phonemic Processing

when we encode its sound

Semantic Processing

Thinking about the meaning of words to be learnt

Encoding

the processing of information into the memory system—for example, by extracting meaning.

Mnemonic Devices

techniques for using associations to memorize and retrieve information

Method of Loci

A mnemonic technique that involves associating items on a list with a sequence of familiar physical locations

Chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

The Spacing Effect

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice

Massed Practice

a practice schedule in which studying continues for long periods, without interruption ex: cramming

Distributed Practice

spacing the study of material to be remembered by including breaks between study periods

Serial Position Effect

our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list

Primacy Effect

tendency to remember words at the beginning of a list especially well

Recency Effect

tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well

Maintenance Rehearsal

A system for remembering involving repeating information to oneself without attempting to find meaning in it

Elaborative Rehearsal

a method of transferring information from STM into LTM by making that information meaningful in some way

Autobiographical Memory

the memory for events and facts related to one's personal life story

Retrograde Amnesia

an inability to retrieve information from one's past

Anterograde Amnesia

an inability to form new memories

Alzheimers Disease

a progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and, finally, physical functioning

Infantile Amnesia

the inability to remember events from early childhood

Retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage

Recall

A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.

Recognition

a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test

Retrieval Cues

Stimuli that are used to bring a memory to consciousness or into behavior

Context-Dependent Memory

The theory that information learned in a particular situation or place is better remembered when in that same situation or place.

Mood-Congruent Memory

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

State-Dependent Memory

The theory that information learned in a particular state of mind (e.g., depressed, happy, somber) is more easily recalled when in that same state of mind.

Testing Effect

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information

Meta Cognition

thinking about thinking

The Forgetting Curve

graphs retention and forgetting over time

Encoding Failure

failure to process information into memory

Proactive Interference

the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

Retroactive Interference

the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information

tip of the tongue phenomenon

the feeling that a memory is available but not quite retrievable

Repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

Misinformation Effect

incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event

Source Amnesia

attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined

Constructive Memory

a process by which we first recall a generalized schema and then add in specific details

Memory Consolidation

the neural storage of a long-term memory

Imagination Inflation

a memory phenomenon in which vividly imagining an event markedly increases confidence that the event actually occurred

Concept

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

Prototype

a mental image or best example of a category

Algorithm

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.

Heuristic

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms

Representativeness Heuristic

judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information

Availability Heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common

Mental Set

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past

Priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response

Framing

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

Gamblers Fallacy

the belief that the odds of a chance event increase if the event hasn't occurred recently

Sunk-Cost Fallacy

a framing effect in which people make decisions about a current situation based on what they have previously invested in the situation

Executive Functions

higher order thinking processes that include planning, organizing, inhibition, and decision-making

Divergent Thinking

expands the number of possible problem solutions (creative thinking that diverges in different directions)

Convergent Thinking

narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

Functional Fixedness

the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving

General Intelligence (g)

a general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 [thus, IQ = (ma/ca) x 100]. On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100.

Mental Age

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance

Standardization

defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group

Validity

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

Construct Validity

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

Predictive Validity

The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior.

Reliable

deserving trust, dependable

Test-Retest Reliability

a method for determining the reliability of a test by comparing a test taker's scores on the same test taken on separate occasions

Split-Half Reliability

A measure of reliability in which a test is split into two parts and an individual's scores on both halves are compared.

Flynn Effect

The rise in average IQ scores that has occurred over the decades in many nations

Achievement Tests

tests designed to assess what a person has learned.