PSYC 1101 Study Guide 2

Sensation

raw data that we collect from the 5 senses (passive bc we do not have to consciously sensing smth, it just happens)

Perception

this is my specific interpretation of the raw data, which is different for everyone

Sensory Transduction

the process by which sensory receptors in the body convert various forms of physical energy, such as light, sound, or pressure, into electrical signals that can be interpreted by the nervous system. This process allows us to perceive and make sense of the world around us.

Sensory Receptors

A sensory receptor is a nerve ending that sends signals to the central nervous system when stimulated, allowing the brain to receive information from various systems and body parts both internally and externally.

What does the thalamus have to do with sensory information?

it relays the sensory informations by taking in the information in the form of nerve signals from the 5 senses

At what frequency is visible to us on the electromagnetic spectrum?

10^-6 meters or 400 to 750 nanometers

Iris

a muscular disk that surrounds the pupil of the eye and controls the amount of light entering the eye by contraction or relaxation (color part)

Pupil

opening at the center of the iris which controls the amount of light entering the eye. Dilates and Constricts. (black part)

Cornea

the round, transparent area that allows light to pass into the eye. (in front of the iris)

Lens

the transparent structure that focuses light onto the retina. (white part of the eye)

Lens Accomodation

the human eye is the ability of the eye to focus on near and far objects. While focusing on the distant object and moving to a near object, the focus is not lost. As the lens in the eye flattens out and becomes thin, the eye uses less reflective power and can focus on a distant object

Rod & Cones (more of the former than latter)

cones - visual receptor cells that are important in daylight vision and color vision.

the cones work well in daylight, but not in dim lighting. This is why it is more difficult to see colors in low light.

most are located in the center of the retina...called the FOVEA, which is a tiny spot in the center of the retina that contains ONLY cones...visual acuity is best here.

SO...when you need to focus on something you attempt to bring the image into the fovea.

rods - visual receptor cells that are important for night vision and peripheral vision.

the rods are better for night vision because they are much more sensitive than cones.

in addition, the rods are better for peripheral vision because there are many more on the periphery of the retina. The cones are mostly in and around the fovea but decrease as you go out.

to see best at night, look just above or below the object

Optic Nerve

the connection that lets your eyes send signals to your brain describing what they detect

Blindspot

small portion of the visual field of each eye that corresponds to the position of the optic disk (also known as the optic nerve head) within the retina

Sclera

the white outer coating of the eye

Bottom up processing

taking in sensory information and processing it to form a coherent understanding of the task at hand.

Top down processing

involves using pre-existing knowledge and context to guide the understanding and execution of the task

Trichromatic Theory

eyes (retina) has 3 receptors (cones) that see different colors

Opponent Theory

color perception depends on the reception of pairs of antagonist colors. Each receptor can only work with one color at a time so the opponent color in the pair is blocked out. Pairs = red-green, blue-yellow, black- white (light-dark).

Gestalt Principle

our brains try to organize disconnected sensory fragments

Phi Phenomenon

we perceive motion in sensory motion

Figure-Ground Segregation

When we focus on one thing, the other is a background (becomes invisible)

Closure

our brain finds regions and shapes by closing gaps

Good continuation

we like to see a continuation

proximity

we group things based on its proximity

similarity

we group things based on similarity as well

Perceptual Constancy

the closer smth is, the more visual space they take

Audition

sound is produced by vibrating objects (they come in sound waves so that we can hear the sounds)

Pitch

The pitch of a sound depends primarily on the frequency of the sound wave.

high frequency = high # of sounds per second

high pitch is thin while low pitch is thick

Loudness

The loudness of a sound is self-descriptive. We can distinguish among very quiet sounds (difficult to hear), very loud sounds (painful to the ears), and sounds with loudness somewhere in between.

large wave = loud sound

low wave = quiet

high wave = loud

Basilar membrane and its relation to high and low frequencies

High frequencies are localized near the base, and low frequencies are localized near the apex

Pinna

outer part of the ear that funnels sound to the ear canal

ear canal

allows sounds waves to move to the eardrum

eardrum

can heal itself

oval window

opening in bone of cochlea

cochlea

snail shaped and contains the auditory processing mechanism

McGurk Effect

an auditory-visual illusion that illustrates how perceivers merge information for speech sounds across the senses

Proprioception

your body's ability to sense its own position and movements

Olfactory Bulb

a neural structure of the vertebrate forebrain involved in olfaction, the sense of smell

Iconic Sensory memory

a visual image in sensory storage. Although most people seem to believe that visual images last longer (this is based on intuition, not science), they do not - they last approximately 1/4 of a second.

Echoic Sensory memory

auditory image. These (as well as other senses) seem to last up to 3 seconds.

Anterograde Amnesia

cannot create new memories at all

Retrograde Amnesia

memories of older events are impaired (the memories that happened the closest to the accident are more sensitive than much older memories).

How do flashbulb memories compare to normal memories?

for flashbulb memories, the vividness was much higher and never decreases compared to control memories, which in fact did decrease over time.

Schema

a pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among them.

Proactive Interference

old memories disrupt the retrieval of new memories

Retroactive Interference

new memories disrupt the retrieval and maintenance of old memories

Social Learning

a process by which people acquire knowledge and skills through social interactions (observing, instruction, etc.)

Encoding

the act of getting information into our memory system through automatic or effortful processing

Classical Conditioning

we learn to associate two stimuli. this helps us anticipate events

Unconditioned response

a natural (unlearned) response to an unconditioned stimuli

Unconditioned stimuli

a stimulus that naturally triggers the unconditioned response

stimulus

thing/event that evokes a reaction

conditioned response

a learned response to a previously neutral stimulus

conditioned stimulus

used to be neutral but after being associated with an unconditioned stimulus, it triggers a conditioned response

Learning

the process of acquiring information

Operant Conditioning

learn to associate our actions and its consequences

Reinforcers

event/thing to strengthen a response

Punisher

event/thing that decreases a response

Positive

given/produced

Negative

remove

Habituation

our behavioral response to a stimulus decreases

Sensitization

our behavioral response to stimulus increases

Shaping

rewarding successive approximations of behavior

Extinction recovery

a conditioned response weakens and eventually disappears because the conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the unconditioned stimulus

Spontaneous recovery

sudden reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a period of rest or no exposure to the conditioned stimulus (response was dormant)

Generalization

a learned response to occur in the presence of stimuli that are similar to, but not identical to, the original stimulus

Discrimination

ability to distinguish between different stimuli and respond appropriately, often by learning to differentiate between a relevant stimulus that signals a reward and irrelevant ones that do not.

The Law of Effect

behaviors followed by satisfying consequences are more likely to be repeated, while those followed by uncomfortable consequences are less likely to recur

Short-term memory

7 chunks of information less than 20 seconds (15-30 seconds); working memory (holds information just long enough to use it - formula, math, etc.)

Rehearsal

the mental or physical repetition of information to encode it and strengthen its presence in memory, primarily in short-term or working memory

Chunking

process of grouping individual pieces of information into larger, more manageable units or "chunks" to improve short-term memory

Working Memory

the mental system that temporarily holds and manipulates a limited amount of information for complex cognitive tasks such as learning, problem-solving, reasoning, and language comprehension

Long-Term memory

Unlimited capacity for storage; may last a lifetime

-Magic number = 7+-2 (people can memorize up to 9, but people are the most cozy with 5)

Episodic memory

information about events, people, places, etc., that include an autobiographical aspect as well as a time and place.

Semantic memory

mental models of the environment as well as procedures.

For example - knowledge of word meanings, language, strategies for problem solving, factual information (like laws), etc.

Procedural Memory

this is the most basic type of long term memory (very simplistic) and primarily involves memories of rudimentary procedures and behaviors.

Serial Position Curve

where memory recall is better for items at the beginning and end of a list

Primary Effect

better recall of early items

Recency Effect

better recall of recent items

Consolidation

sforms new, fragile memories into a stable, long-term state

Reconsolidation

process of modifying and updating existing memories after they have been recalled.

Somatosensation

body sensations

Kinesthesia

the sense that provides the perception of the body's movement and position, enabling us to know where our limbs are and how they are moving without having to look

Colored-Grapheme Synesthesia

we associate something with a certain color (ex: folder for math should be blue)

Nonassociative learning

Learning to adjust to a repeated stimulus

Associative Learning

Learning about the link between 2 stimuli or events that go together

Modeling

copying what someone is doing

Vicarious Learning

learning through other people’s experiences (teaches what behavior gets rewarded and punished)

Antecedents

stimuli and events that occur before the behavior (part of classical)

Behavior

the actions of the organism, both public and private (part of both classical and operant)

Consequences

the changes in the environment that occur after the behavior (part of operant)

Watson’s argument

psyc just looks at behavior, nothing else

Respondent Behavior

caused by an occurrence of a stimulus, something you didn’t have to learn to respond to

Memory

a series of systems about how we receive, store and retrieve information

Sensory Memory

Information from the world that's held in its original form only for an instant, not much longer than the brief time its exposed to the senses; it's rich and detailed, but information is quickly lost

Orienting Reflex

grabs my attention

Selective attention: Cocktail Party Effect

we can focus on one thing and forget/ignore our surroundings

Declarative/Explicit Memories

Non-Declarative/Implicit Memories

unconscious memories that influence our behavior and performance without our conscious thought or awareness. Unlike explicit memories, which involve consciously recalling facts and events, implicit memories are expressed through actions, habits, skills, and automatic responses (ex: riding a bike)