PSY 200 - Chapters 4-6 TAFTMEDS

optic array

whole; the structural pattern of light falling on the retina

optic flow

part; changes in the pattern of light with movement of the
observer or aspects of the environment

focus of expansion

point towards which someone in motion is moving but
itself does not move

invariants

Gibson’s theory; constant properties of the optic array

affordances

what you can do with an object

efference copy

internal copy of a motor command as perceived by the
eyes

tangent point

point on a road to a driver at which the direct of its inside
edge appears to reverse

ideomotor apraxia

brain damage with impaired planning and carrying out
learned movements

mirror neuron system

neurons that respond to your own or someone else’s
actions; help in imitation

change blindness

failure to detect various changes in objects in the visual
environment

inattentional blindness

failure to detect an unexpected object appearing in the
visual environment

change blindness blindness

observers overestimate the extent to which they can
detect visual changes

proprioception

form of sensation making the person aware of their body
position and orientation

focused attention

attending to one visual or auditory thing and ignoring
others

divided attention

performing two tasks at the same time

cocktail party problem

difficult to listen to only one voice when others are
speaking at the same time

dichotic listening task

listening to only one message when each ear receives
different messages

shadowing

repeating only one message when each ear receives
different messages

split attention

looking at two objects simultaneously that are far apart

neglect

brain damage with impaired visual processing of the left
side of objects or objects presented in the left visual field

extinction

brain damage with impaired visual processing of an
object in the left visual field when there is another one
presented simultaneously in the right visual field

visual search

rapidly detecting a visual target within a display

cross-modal attention

coordinating attention across multiple senses

ventriloquism effect

incorrectly assuming sounds come from the same place
as a visual stimulus

underadditivity

brain activation for performing two tasks together is not
equal to the added activation of the two tasks separately

iconic memory

temporary store for visual information

echoic memory

temporary store for auditory information

phonological similarity effect

bad at recalling in order words that sound the same

word-length effect

bad at remembering longer words

Stroop task

harder to name ink color of words than to say word
names

crystallized intelligence

ability to use knowledge, skills, and experience

explicit memory

memory for things you can describe in words

implicit memory

memory for things you can’t describe in words

distinctiveness

how one memory trace is different from other memory
traces

testing effect

retrieving information after studying leads to better
retention than simply restudying

serial reaction time task

participants respond quickly to a repeated sequence

proactive interference

recalling old instead of new information

retroactive interference

recalling new instead of old information

encoding specificity principle

recalling information depends on match between
encoding and retrieval environment

consolidation

physiological changes that occur to store long-term
memories