AP Psych unit 2

What is cognition?

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, communicating, and understanding a situation

What is priming?

exposure to one stimulus can alter our perception of another or subsequent stimulus

(ex: showing pictures of furry animals and then a picture of a duck/rabbit)

What is Bottom Up Processing?

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information; new information/understanding

(ex: perception of an image of a man and women in a ballroom vs. perception of an image of a seal and animal trainer)

What is Top Down Processing?

the brain recognizes the whole object and then the components based on these expectations; prior information/understanding

(ex: making a puzzle using the picture on the box since we use the information given to us to process the situation)

How can we build/create understanding?

through schemas and perceptual sets

What are schemas?

how we understand the world based on previous experiences/information

(ex: school experience differs throughout elementary, middle, and high school)

What are perceptual sets?

what we assume will happen next based on previous experiences/information; fill in the blanks so we can understand/respond

(ex: figuring out the relationship between two people in an image set in an office setting)

What three things impact our understanding?

• Context

• Experience/Expectations

• Culture

What is context?

the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed

(ex: tone of texting)

What are experiences/expectations?

how what we've seen, felt, or learned before and what we think will happen influences how we perceive and interpret information

(ex: a car being available, but when going to buy it, it's already sold off -> bad experience, low expectations)

What is culture?

the body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people

Gestalt Principles

• the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

• our brain brings information together

What are the five types of Gestalt Principles?

• Proximity

• Continuity

• Similarity

• Connectedness

• Closure

What happens when you don't pay attention?

when NOT paying attention correctly, your mind does NOT register/process the small things

(ex: Monkey Illusion)

What is inattentional blindness?

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

(ex: focusing on the white players and NOT noticing the gorilla walking by the curtain)

What is change blindness?

failure to notice a change in an environment due to selective attention

(ex: focusing on the white players and NOT noticing the curtain changing color, hence, environment)

What is another example of change blindness?

radiologists NOT finding a gorilla image when finding a cancer in a scan, but a normal person would find the gorilla immediately (since they're not trying to look for a cancer)

What is the cocktail effect?

the brain's ability to focus on one specific sound, like a single conversation, while filtering out all other background noise

(ex: hearing your name at a party when distracted by an ongoing conversation)

What are binocular cues?

cues or clues for understanding depth and distance; use of TWO eyes

What are the types of binocular cues?

• Convergence

• Retinal Disparity

What is convergence?

gives depth perception based on how much eyes are turned inward; the more closer an item is, the closer your eyes meet, but the farther an item is, the farther your eyes are from eachother

(ex: making your index fingers touch -> eyes will form a third finger image)

What is retinal disparity?

perceives 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

(ex: holding your thumb out and first closing your right eye and then your left eye -> thumb seems to move, but in reality, it does NOT)

What are monocular cues?

cues or clues for understanding depth and distance; use of ONE eye

What are the types of monocular cues?

• Linear Perspective

• Relative Size

• Relative Clarity

• Texture Gradient

• Interposition

What is linear perspective?

a type of perspective used by artists in which the relative size, shape, and position of objects are determined by drawn or imagined lines converging at a point on the horizon

(ex: a road that gets narrow as the imaginary lines meet the convergence point making it look like it truly narrows)

What is relative size?

when objects are equal size, the closer one will take up more of your visual field and the farther one will seem to be much smaller

(ex: two cars on the road; the one closest to you seems like the larger one, and the one farther from you seems to be smaller, but they're the same size)

What is relative clarity?

hazy objects appear farther away than sharp, clear objects; the more close an item it is, the more clear, but the more far, the more blurry

(ex: driving on a foggy morning -> nearby cars that are clear seem close, but distant cars look fuzzy or blurry seem far away)

What is texture gradient?

an area with a detailed pattern is perceived to be nearer than one with less detail

(ex: staring at a brick wall from the back of a class vs. the front)

What is interposition?

objects that occlude (block) other objects tend to be perceived as closer

(ex: a student sitting infront of a cabinet -> student seems closer, cabinet seems farther)

What are perceptual constancies?

things that seem to change although they stay the same

What are the types of perceptual constancies?

• Shape (ex: a door the shape of a rectangle being opened does NOT change)

• Color (ex: white bricks looking black when the lights are dimmed)

• Size (ex: a duck swimming far away in a pond looks smaller, but its actually its normal size)

• Brightness (ex: a yellow banana still looks yellow even under the sun or under a lamp)

What is apparent movement?

the perception that a stationary object is moving

What are the types of apparent movement?

• Stroboscopic Effect

• Phi Phenomenon

What is the Stroboscopic Effect?

perceiving motion or a sense of movement when shown a series of slightly varying images

(ex: used in animation especially before Toy Story 1)

What is the Phi Phenomenon?

an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

(ex: lights on holiday decorations)

What are concepts?

mental groupings based on sharp features and comes from experience; forms the basis of thought

(ex: dog -> think of a group of dogs)

What is a prototype?

an ideal example of any given concept

(ex: a specific type of dog -> shih tzu)

What do people form and modify schemas through?

assimilation and accommodation

What is assimilation?

taking in new information but NOT changing the schema in light of it; placing new information into an existing schema

(ex: looking at a capybara and initially thinking its a guinea pig)