AP Psychology - Unit 2: Cognition Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards based on Mr. Sin's Unit 2 summary video for AP Psychology, covering key concepts related to cognition, perception, memory, intelligence, and testing.

Perception

The process of interpreting the information we obtain through our five senses.

Sensation

Raw data or information that we receive from our sensory receptors.

Top-down Processing

Processing that occurs when you use your prior knowledge and experiences to interpret information.

Proofreader Illusion

The phenomenon where you overlook spelling or grammar mistakes when proofreading your own paper because you already know what you intended to write.

Bottom-up Processing

Processing that occurs when the stimuli or experience is complex and not familiar, and you are building your perception from the ground up.

Schema

A mental framework that's built from our past experiences that guides our perception and helps us interpret and organize our environment.

Perceptual Set

A mental shortcut your brain uses to quickly interpret what you're experiencing, often influencing our immediate perception based on our expectations or emotions.

Selective Attention

When we focus on a particular stimulus, we often tune out other stimuli in our environment.

Cocktail Party Effect

The ability to focus on a specific conversation or sound in a noisy setting.

Inattentional Blindness

The failure to notice stimuli in our visual field due to our attention being focused elsewhere.

Change Blindness

A type of inattentional blindness where we fail to notice changes in the environment.

Apparent Movement

When we perceive motion even though nothing is actually moving; created by specific visual cues and contexts that trick our brain.

Stroboscopic Motion

The illusion of movement created by showing a series of images in rapid succession.

Phi Phenomenon

Occurs when lights blink on and off in a sequence, resulting in us perceiving objects as moving even though objects are stationary.

Induced Movement

When a stationary object appears to move because of the motion of surrounding objects.

Autokinetic Effect

When a stationary point of light in a dark environment appears to move because the eyes and brain have difficulty maintaining stable perception of the light's position.

Gestalt Psychology

Focuses on how humans naturally group elements together to form meaningful patterns, interpreting a stimulus as a unified whole.

Figure and Ground

Describes how our visual system separates what we see into the object of focus and the background.

Continuation

Our eyes naturally follow continuous lines or paths.

Closure Principle

Our brain subconsciously fills in missing information when viewing a familiar but incomplete object.

Similarity

We perceive a group of similar objects or patterns as one cohesive unit.

Proximity Principle

When objects are placed close to each other, they are often perceived as one single group.

Symmetry

Objects that are symmetrical to each other are perceived as one rather than individual separate elements.

Depth Perception

The ability to perceive relative distance of an object in one's visual field.

Binocular Cues

Cues that rely on both eyes working together to judge depth and spatial relationships.

Convergence

When we look at something close to us, our eyes move inward, and when we focus on something farther away, our eyes straighten out.

Retinal Disparity

When looking at an object, each of our eyes sees a slightly different view of the object, creating a sense of depth.

Monocular Cues

Cues that only require one eye to perceive depth on flat or two-dimensional surfaces.

Relative Size

Allows us to determine how close an object is to us, with closer objects appearing larger and farther objects smaller.

Interposition

Occurs when one object blocks another; the object being blocked is perceived as farther away.

Relative Height

Objects higher in our visual field appear farther away, while objects lower in our field of view seem closer.

Shading and Contour

Parts of an image that are hazy and have less detail appear farther away, while clearer, sharper parts are perceived as closer.

Texture Gradient

Objects that are clear in focus and full of detail appear closer than objects that lack details and appear more blurry.

Linear Perspective

Parallel lines seem to converge in the distance, giving us a sense of depth and positioning.

Motion Parallax

Objects closer to you appear to move quickly, while those that are farther away seem to move more slowly when in motion.

Perceptual Constancy

The ability to perceive objects as having consistent shape, size, color, and lightness even when their appearance changes due to varying conditions.

Size Constancy

Our brain's tendency to perceive objects as the same size, even when distance varies.

Color Constancy

We perceive the color of an object to remain constant even if the lighting changes.

Shape Constancy

A tendency of the brain to perceive an object's shape as the same even when it moves.

Lightness Constancy

Our ability to perceive the blackness, whiteness, and grayness of an object as constant even under different lighting conditions.

Cognition

All forms of knowing and awareness, such as perceiving, conceiving, remembering, reasoning, judging, imagining, and problem-solving.

Concepts

Mental categories that help us organize and understand the world.

Prototype

The most typical or basic example of a concept; serves as a mental image that illustrates the concept.

Schemas

More complex mental frameworks that organize and interpret information about the world, guiding our expectations and actions.

Assimilation

When we fit new information into existing schemas.

Accommodation

When we change a schema to incorporate new information.

Executive Functions

Cognitive processes that help individuals generate, organize, plan, and carry out goal-directed behaviors, as well as engage in critical thinking.

Algorithms

Tackling a problem step by step in a systematic way.

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts based on past experiences used to solve problems.

Representative Heuristics

Involves making judgments based on how much something resembles or is a representation of a typical case or stereotype.

Availability Heuristics

Involves making judgments based on how easily examples come to mind.

Mental Set

A cognitive framework that relies on past experiences and successful strategies to solve new problems.

Priming

The phenomenon where exposure to one stimulus influences how we respond to a later stimulus.

Repetition Priming

Occurs when you are exposed to a specific stimulus that makes it easier to recognize that same or similar stimulus later.

Semantic Priming

Involves the influence of one word on the interpretation of another related word.

Framing

Refers to how information is presented, which can shape how we interpret and react to it, often influencing our decisions and judgments.

Divergent Thinking

When a person explores many possible solutions, expanding the range of options for solving a problem.

Convergent Thinking

Involves narrowing down the possibilities to identify the single best solution.

Functional Fixedness

Limits a person to using an object only in its traditional way.

Gambler's Fallacy

The mistaken belief that if an event occurs more frequently than normal during a given period, it'll happen less frequently in the future, or vice versa.

Sunk Cost Fallacy

The tendency to continue to pursue an action in which you've already invested money, time, or resources into, regardless of its future value.

Memory

The information that persists over time, acquired through various experiences, and can be stored and retrieved later.

Metacognition

The awareness of your own cognitive processes.

Explicit Memory

Involves information that we consciously recall, requiring effort and thought.

Episodic Memory

Relates to personal experiences or events.

Semantic Memory

Involves knowledge, facts, and general information.

Implicit Memory

Consists of information or skills we learn without being fully aware of it.

Procedural Memory

Helps us recall how to perform tasks such as motor skills and routines.

Prospective Memory

Involves remembering to perform future actions.

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

The process of strengthening the synaptic connections between neurons in the brain through repeated activation.

Working Memory Model

Explains how our primary memory system processes and temporarily holds information for different cognitive tasks.

Visual-Spatial Sketchpad

Handles visual and spatial information, allowing us to visualize objects and their locations.

Phonological Loop

Deals with verbal and auditory information.

Phonological Store

Holds spoken words and sounds for a short period of time.

Articulatory Rehearsal Process

Helps you repeat and rehearse verbal information to keep it active in your working memory.

Central Executive

Acts as the control center of working memory, managing and coordinating the other components.

Episodic Buffer

Explains how long-term memory integrates with working memory and how different types of information are combined.

Multi-Store Model of Memory

Explains how information is processed, stored, and retrieved, focusing on three key systems that information must pass through if it's going to be remembered.

Iconic Memory

Our visual sensory memory that only lasts for a fraction of a second.

Echoic Memory

Our auditory sensory memory, which lasts anywhere between 1 to 4 seconds.

Automatic Processing

The information is gathered with little or no conscious effort.

Maintenance Rehearsal

When you repeatedly go over the information to prevent forgetting.

Elaborative Rehearsal

When you connect new information to something you already know, which makes it easier to remember.

Encoding

The process of moving information from working memory to long-term memory.

Levels of Processing Model

The model where memory is encoded on three levels: structural, phonemic, and semantic.

Structural Processing

Focuses on the physical appearance or structure of the information.

Phonemic Processing

Focuses on how the information sounds.

Semantic Processing

Focuses on the meaning of the information.

Visual Encoding

When we encode information by the visual elements we observe.

Acoustic Encoding

When the different sound elements help with the encoding process.

Tactile Encoding

When we use the feeling of touch when encoding the information.

Organizational Encoding

When we process information in terms of a specific sequence.

Elaborative Encoding

When you pair new information with prior knowledge.

Semantic Encoding

When you focus on the meaning or context of the information.

Mnemonic Devices

Help people remember information more easily by organizing it in a way that's easier to recall, often using patterns like acronyms, visual images, rhymes, or associations.

Method of Loci

Helps you remember information by associating it with specific locations in a familiar setting.

Chunking

Involves grouping individual pieces of information into larger, more manageable units.

Distributed Practice

Spacing out our studying to let your brain better encode and store information.

Testing Effect

When we take tests, it assesses your understanding of the information, but it helps improve your memory as well.

Serial Position Effect

Refers to how the order in which information is presented affects our ability to remember it.