AP-Psychology unit 2 (cognitive)

Cognition

Our thoughts, thinking processes, memories, and mental learning.

Schemas

Cognitive frameworks that help people organize and interpret information.

Sensation

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive stimulus energies from our environment.

Perception

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

Bottom-up Processing

Starting with sensory input, the brain attempts to understand and make sense.

Top-down Processing

Guided by experience and higher-level processes, we see what we expect to see.

Selective Attention

Our tendency to focus on just one particular stimulus among many being received.

Cocktail Party Effect

The ability to focus attention on one voice amidst a lot of other noises.

Selective Inattention

Failing to see visible objects when our attention or focus is directed elsewhere.

Change Blindness

Failing to notice changes in the visual environment.

Perceptual Set

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Priming

The activation of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response.

Parallel Processing

Thinking about many aspects of a problem simultaneously.

Gestalt Psychology

A school of thought that believes the whole may exceed the sum of its parts.

Figure-ground

The organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).

Depth Perception

The ability to see objects in three dimensions, allowing us to judge distance.

Binocular Cues

Depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes.

Relative Height

We perceive objects higher in our field of vision as farther away.

Perceptual Constancy

Recognizing objects without being deceived by changes in their color, brightness, shape, or size.

Explicit Memory

Retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know.

Implicit Memory

Retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations in long-term memory independent of conscious recollection.

Memory Consolidation

The process by which memories are moved from the hippocampus to other parts of the brain for long-term storage.

Ebbinghaus' Forgetting Curve

Memory for novel information fades quickly, then levels out.

Retrieval Cues

Bits of information that can trigger the retrieval of other information stored in memory.

Context-Dependent Memory

Priming memory for retrieval by putting yourself back in the context where you earlier experienced something.

Flashbulb Memory

A clear, sustained long-term memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Emotional Intelligence

The ability to understand emotions and apply them to thinking and behavior.

g-Factor

A general intelligence factor that underlies all intellectual abilities.

Savant Syndrome

A person with otherwise limited mental ability has an exceptional specific skill.

Growth Mindset

The belief that intelligence is changeable.

Fixed Mindset

The belief that intelligence is unchangeable.