Princeton AP Psych 22nd: Unit 2: Cognition

perception

the way in which we recognize, interpret, and organize our sensations

perceptual processes

how our mind interprets these stimuli

bottom-up processing

• Achieves recognition of an object by breaking it down into its components parts

• Relies heavily on the sensory receptors

• The brain’s analysis and acknowledgment of the raw data

top-down processing

• Occurs when the brain labels a particular stimulus or experience

• The expectation based on experience influences the perception of the subject

• Can be a factor in optical illusions when people see what they expect to see rather than what is actually in front of them

schema

• an organized unit of knowledge for a subject or event based on past experience

• guide our perception of the world around us

perceptual set

a mental predisposition or readiness to perceive stimuli in a particular way based on previous experiences, expectations, beliefs, and context

Gestalt approach

a school of psychology, and a theory of perception, that emphasizes psychologically processing entire patterns (and "configurations"), not merely individual components of situations or events separately

proximity

the tendency to see objects near each other as forming groups

similarity

the tendency to prefer grouping like objects together

symmetry

the tendency to perceive forms that make up mirror images

continuity

the tendency to perceive fluid or continuous forms, rather than jagged or irregular ones

closure

the tendency to see closed objects rather than those that are incomplete

Law of Pragnanz

suggests that we tend to see objects in their simplest forms

feature detector approach

positing that organisms respond to specific aspects of a particular stimulus

attention

the processing through cognition of a select portion of the massive amount of information incoming from the senses and contained in memory

selective attention

focusing on one thing while ignoring another

attentional resource theories

posit that we have only a fixed amount of attention, and this resource can be divided up as is required in a given situation

filter theories

propose that stimuli must pass through some form of screen or filter to enter into attention; Donald Broadbent

cocktail party phenomenon

wherein a person can carry on and follow a single conversation in a room full of them but also still have their attention quickly drawn to another conversation by a key stimulus, such as saying their name

shadowing

to repeat only one of the conversations

divided attention

trying to focus on more than one task at a time

inattentional/change blindness

when people focus too intently one specific stimuli, they can miss the bigger picture going on around them

binocular depth cues

the images taken in by both eyes to give depth perception, or stereopsis

retinal disparity

each eye sees a given image from a slightly different angle

stereoptic

making images appear three-dimensional

retinal convergence

a depth cue that results from the fact that your eyes must turn inward slightly to focus on near objects; the closer the object, the more the eyes must turn inward

binocular disparity

results from the fact that the closer an object is, the less similar the information arriving at each eye will be

visual perception

the ability to see and interpret one's visual environment

monocular depth cues

the qualities of a visual scene that let you know how close or how far things are from you, using just one eye

relative size

the fact that images that are farther from us project a smaller image on the retina than do those that are closer to us

texture gradient

textures appear to grow more dense as distance increases

interposition

occurs when a near object partially blocks the view of an object behind it

linear perspective

a monocular cue based on the perception that parallel lines seem to draw closer together as the lines recede into the distance

vanishing point

the place where the rails seem to join

relative clarity

a perceptual clue that explains why less distinct, fuzzy images appear to be more distant

visual cliff

a simple and inexpensive apparatus to test visual acuity and depth perception

constancy

we know that a stimulus remains the same size, shape, brightness, weight, and/or volume even though it does not appear to

motion detection

1. Records the changing position of an object as it moves across the retina

2. Tracks how we move our heads to follow the stimulus

apparent motion

an optical illusion of motion produced by viewing a rapid succession of still pictures of a moving object

phi phenomenon

an optical illusion that leads the brain to see a moving object from a series of images; blinking lights on a roadside arrow

stroboscopic effect

the optical effect where objects appear to move at a slower speed than reality

autokinetic effect

a phenomenon of visual perception in which a stationary, small point of light in an otherwise dark or featureless environment appears to move

concept

a way of grouping or classifying the world around us

typicality

the degree to which an object fits the average

prototype

the typical picture that we envision

exemplar

a person, a place, an object, or some other entity that serves as a predominant example of a given concept

superordinate concept

very broad and encompasses a large group of items, such as the concept of “food”

basic concept

smaller and more specific—-for example, “bread”

subordinate concept

even smaller and more specific, such as “rye bread”

heuristics

intuitive rules that may or may not be useful in a given situation

availability heuristic

the conclusion is drawn from what events come readily to mind (e.g. many people mistakenly believe that air travel is more dangerous than car travel because airplane crashes are so vividly and repeatedly reported

representativeness heuristic

we judge objects and events in terms of how closely they match the prototype of that object or event (e.g. many people view high school athletes as less intelligent)

algorithms

systematic, mechanical approaches that guarantee an eventual answer to a problem

confirmation bias

the search for information that supports a particular view, hinders problem-solving by distorting objectivity

hindsight bias

the tendency after the fact to think you knew what the outcome would be, also distorts our ability to view situations objectively

belief perseverance

a person sees only the evidence that supports a particular position, despite evidence presented to the contrary

framing

the way a question is phrased, can alter the objective outcome of problem-solving or decision-making

subliminal perception

a form of preconscious processing that occurs when we are presented with stimuli so rapidly that we are not consciously aware of them

priming

a phenomenon in which exposure to one stimulus influences how a person responds to a subsequent, related stimulus (e.g. word association (recognizing "nurse" faster after seeing "doctor"), color cues (thinking of a banana after seeing yellow), and pricing anchors in stores)

gambler’s fallacy

• thinking that a certain event is more or less likely based on a series of events

• leads to errors because each event should be considered independent and does not influence other events

sunk cost fallacy

the tendency for people to continue doing something even when abandoning it would be more beneficial

executive functions

the cognitive processes in the brain that allow people to generate, organize, plan, and carry out goal-directed behaviors

divergent thinking

a creative thought process that generates multiple unique ideas or solutions from a single starting point in a free-flowing, non-linear manner

convergent thinking

requires narrowing of many choices available

creativity

the process of producing something novel yet worthwhile

declarative/explicit memory

a memory a person can consciously consider and retrieve, such as episodic and semantic memory

episodic memory

our memory for events that we ourselves have experienced

semantic memory

comprises facts, figures, and general world knowledge

nondeclarative/implicit memory

beyond conscious consideration and would include procedural memory, priming, and classical conditioning

procedural memory

consists of skills and habits; because these memories are stored in the striatum, these memories are less likely to be lost to injury or damage

prospective memory

refers to remembering that one has to do something in the future

long-term potentiation

the persistent strengthening of connections between brain cells (neurons) when they are used repeatedly; involves both presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons

working memory

a workbench of sorts where our brains are actively manipulating sensory data for immediate use or encoding into long-term storage

iconic

information in sensory memory that is visual

echoic

information in sensory memory that is auditory

visual persistence

an optical illusion where the human brain and retina briefly hold an image for a fraction of a second (about 1/16 to 1/30 of a second) after the light source or object has gone

semantically encoded

encoded in the form of word meanings

visually encoded

the process of translating raw data or sensory input into visual elements, such as positions, shapes, sizes, and colors, so the human brain can process and remember it easily

acoustically encoded

processed in the brain through sound, tone, or rhythm

effortful processing

when we make a conscious effort to retain information

automatic processing

can occur unconsciously when we are engaged with well-practiced skills, like riding a bicycle

levels of processing model

a memory framework proposed by psychologists Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart in 1972. It states that the durability and strength of a memory depend on the depth of cognitive analysis during encoding, rather than on how long information stays in separate short- or long-term memory stores

recognition memory

• a more superficial level of remembering

• Faces, names, voices, patterns

• the strategy behind multiple choice tests

recall memory

deeper level processing and is the strategy underlying short answer or essay tests

mnemonic device

compressing information into a format that’s easier to recall, whether that’s a rhyme or a bunch of short words or phrases that represent longer strings of information

dual-coding hypothesis

indicates that it is easier to remember words with associated images than either words or images alone

method of loci

involves imagining moving through a familiar place, such as your home, and in each place, leaving a visual representation of a topic to be remembered. For recall, then, the images of the places could be called upon to bring into awareness the associated topics

self-reference effect

it is easier to remember things that are personally relevant

chunking

grouping items of information into units

spacing effect

describes how the time between study sessions can increase retention

distributed practice

where information is studied over time with intervals in between, leads to better recall than massed practice

massed practice

where material is encoded all at once

testing effect

refers to the finding that testing ourselves (or being tested) on material leads to better recall than simply restudying alone

metacognition

being aware of one’s own thinking processes

primacy effects

remembering the first items on a list

recency effects

remembering the last items on a list

serial position effect

our tendency to remember the first few and last few items in a list better than the ones in the middle

maintenance rehearsal

simple repetition to keep an item in short-term memory until it can be used

elaborative rehearsal

involves organization and understanding of the information that has been encoded in order to transfer the information to long-term memory

context-dependent memory

states that information is more likely to be recalled if the attempt to retrieve it occurs in a situation similar to the situation in which it was encoded