AP Psychology Unit 2 Cognition

Vocab from unit 2 of AP Psychology, Cognition. Taken mostly directly from Mr. Stevens notes.

Perception

Process of selecting, organizing, interpreting sensory information, to give meaning to what we are sensing.

Inattentional Blindness

The inability to see an object or a person in our midst.

Change Blindness

A form of inattentional blindness; two-thirds of individuals don’t a change right in front of them. It occurs when attention is diverted away from the area where the change is happening

Perceptual Set

Is what we “expect” to see, which influences what we DO see. It is top-down processing.

Perceptual Context Effects

Experiences, beliefs, motivation, and context affect what we see.

Visual Capture

When vision competes with our other senses, vision usually wins.

Gestalt Psychology

This posits that the human mind perceives the world as a unified whole rather than individual, isolated parts, emphasizing patterns and configurations.

Ground-Figure Form Perception

Organization of the visual field into patterns of objects that stand out

Retinal Disparity

Images from the two eyes differ.

Convergence

Eyes can follow objects traveling toward and away from them.

Influences on Perception

This can bias our interpretation of neutral stimuli.

Motivation: Ex. a mountain seems steeper when carrying a heavy backpack and tired.

Emotion: Ex. hearing cheerful music makes an experience seem more fun.

Texture Gradient

Indistinct (fine) texture signals an increasing distance.

Algorithms

This is one method of problem solving. They are time consuming and exhaust all possibilities before arriving at a solution.

Heuristics

This is a method of problem solving that includes simple thinking strategies, gut instincts. They can be less time consuming, but more error prone than algorithms.

There are two types:

• Representative: stereotypes

• Availability: most recent memory

Insight

A sudden realization of a solution to a problem.

Confirmation BIas

We search for information that confirms our personal bias.

Fixation

An inability to see a problem from a fresh persepctive.

Mental Set

We approach a problem in a particular way, especially if that way was successful in the past.

Functional Fixedness

We think only of the familiar functions of an object. Ex. coat hanger to unlock car door.

Representative Heuristics

(stereotype) This is judging the likelihood of objects in terms of how well they seem to represent a prototype.

Prototype: a mental image or the best, most typical example of a category, used to categorize new information and make quick decisions.

Availability Heuristic

What comes to mind quickly is deemed significant - sometimes incorrectly.

Childrens Visual Schemas

These represent reality as well as their abilities to represent what they see.

Schemas: concepts that organize and interpret unfamiliar information. “brain files”

Perceptual Shape Constancy

Perceiving objects as unchanging even as angle of retinal images change.

Perceptual Interpretation

John Locke (1632-1704) argued that we learn to perceive the world through our experiences. Then we assign meaning to the selected information.

Perceptual Color Constancy

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color even when illumination changes.

Perceptual Adaptation

The brain’s relatively quick ability to adjust to changes in sensory input over time.

Phi Phenomenon

When lights flash at a certain speed they tend to present illusions of motion.

Stroboscopic Movement

illusion of continuous movement; like a movie or flip book.

Autokinetic Effect

Illusion of movement of a spot of light in a dark room.