Psychology: Sensation, Perception, Learning & Memory.

Exam 2

Sensation

Receiving information from your senses and sending to your brain. bottom up

Perception

Your brain interprets and recognizes the sensory information

Psychophysics

Study of the relationship between physical stimuli and our psychological experiences of them

Absolute & Low Threshold

Minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time; lower threshold equals more sensitivity

Difference Threshold

Minimum difference between two stimuli that you can detect 50% of the time. “Just noticeable difference”

Cones

6 million light-sensitive cells; color sensitive; pick up fine detail; located in the fovea; requires more light than rods

Rods

120 million light-sensitive cells; lower threshold for light; not color sensitive; located in periphery

Dual nature of color receptors

explains afterimages; opposing pairs (Red OR green; Blue OR yellow; Black OR white)

Trichromats

Normal color vision. 3 functioning color sensitive cones

Dichromats

2 functioning color-sensitive cones. Can't distinguish red-green

Monochromats

See no colors

Sensory adaptation

reduced sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation (strong perfume)

Bottom-up processing

Taking sensory information in and then assembling it into a complete perception

Top-down processing

Using your knowledge ideas and expectations to interpret information.

Figure vs. Ground

Organizing what we see into an object (figure) that stands out from its surroundings (ground) (black writing, white paper)

Gestalt grouping principles

Proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, and connectedness

Binocular cues

Depth cues that require two eyes. example is retinal disparity

Monocular cues

depth cues with one eye

Relative Size

Things that are smaller are perceived as being further away

Relative Height

Things that are higher are perceived as being further away

Interposition

Things that are partly blocked by another object are perceived as being further away

Relative Motion

nearby objects appear to move across your vision faster than distant objects (motion parallax)

Linear Perspective

Things closer to where parallel lines meet are perceived as being further away

Light and Shadow

Things that are dimmer are perceived as being further away

Perceptual Set

Your expectations influence what you perceive. top-down processing.

Learning

A relatively permanent change in behavior because of experience in an environment

Classical Conditioning

Learning based on associating one stimulus with another

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

Something that naturally triggers a response without learning (food)

Unconditioned Response (UR)

Natural response to the unconditioned stimulus (salivating)

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

Means nothing until paired with the US (bell)

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

The neutral stimulus after being paired with the unconditioned stimulus (bell after being paired with food)

Conditioned Response (CR)

The learned response to the CS (salivating)

Discrimination

Learning to tell the difference between stimuli and respond only to a particular one

Generalization

Mistaking similar things for the conditioned stimulus

Watson & Baby Albert US, UR, NS, CS, CR (Watson and Rayner paired a loud noise with a white rat. The noise naturally made Baby Albert cry; after repeated pairings, the rat alone triggered fear and crying.)

US = loud bang, UR = crying; NS = rat; CS = rat -> CR = crying

Extinction of the CR

CR weakens when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US

Spontaneous Recovery

Reintroducing the CS and CR after a pause brings the conditioned response back

Thorndike's Law of Effect

Behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely. Behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely.

Skinner's Reinforcement Theory

Behavior is influenced by its consequences. A consequence can change how frequently a behavior occurs.

Positive Reinforcement

Adding something good to increase behavior

Negative Reinforcement

Remove something bad to increase behavior

Positive Punishment

Add something bad to decrease behavior

Negative Punishment

Remove something good to decrease behavior

Continuous reinforcement

Consequence administered every time the behavior occurs

Fixed-Ratio

reinforcement after a specified number of behaviors

Variable-Ratio

reinforcement after an unpredictable number of behaviors occur

Fixed-Interval

Reinforcement after a set amount of time has passed.

Variable-Interval

reinforcement after an unpredictable time interval elapses

Cognitive Maps

Mental representations based on latent learning

Latent Learning

Learning that does not immediately manifest, but appears once reward is given

Criticism of Operant Conditioning

Focuses on extrinsic motivation and does not account for intrinsic motivation

Intrinsic Motivation

The desire to perform a behavior for its own sake

Extrinsic Motivation

The desire to perform a behavior due to promised rewards or threats

Modeling

The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

Emotional Contagion

Humans are prone to spontaneous imitation of behaviors and emotions

Over-imitating

Copying adult behaviors that have no function and no reward

Children with autism

Less likely to cognitively mirror and less likely to follow gaze

Bandura's Bobo Doll Study

Indicated that individuals learn through imitating others who receive rewards and punishments

Social learning is hardwired

Learning by observation begins early in life; mirror neurons

Mirror Neurons

Neurons that fire both when we do an action and when we watch someone else do it

Prosocial models

have positive, helpful effects

Information Processing Model

1. Encode, 2. Store, 3. Retrieve

Sensory Memory

Large capacity, brief duration (.25 sec)

Working (Short-Term) Memory

Limited capacity, 20 seconds, needs repetition

Long-Term Memory

relatively permanent duration

Conscious Attention

Awareness of ourselves and our environment

Inattentional Blindness

Not seeing something visible because our attention is elsewhere

Change Blindness

Not noticing a change in our environment

Encoding STM to LTM

Requires conscious effort and rehearsal

Spacing Effect

Studying spread out over time helps memory

Serial Position Effect

Better memory for first and last items (primacy and recency)

Automatic Processing

A small amount gets into LTM automatically: space, time, frequency

Encoding by Sensations

Acoustic, visual, spatial, and kinesthetic encoding

Semantic Encoding

Encoding by meaning

Mnemonics

Encoding by organization

Chunking

Grouping info

Hierarchy

Organizing information into levels. (Outlines or charts)

Visualizations

Using mental images to help remember information.(roman room method)

Long-Term Potentiation

Repetition strengthens connections between neurons chemically and physically

Hippocampus

explicit memories, such as facts

Cerebellum

implicit memories, such as procedural knowledge

Context Effects

Physical and emotional context (also called state dependent or mood congruent)

Encoding Failure

The information never got into long-term memory

Storage Decay

The memory fades over time

Retrieval Failure

The memory is stored but can't be accessed

Proactive Interference

Old information gets in the way of remembering new information

Retroactive Interference

New information gets in the way of remembering old information

Repression

Defense mechanism that blocks anxiety-arousing memories from consciousness

Retrograde Amnesia

Loss of memories from before the trauma

Anterograde Amnesia

Inability to form new memories after the trauma

Dissociative Amnesia

Memory loss from psychological stress/trauma

Misinformation / Imagination Effects

Misleading information or imagining an event changes the memory

Cognitive Interview (3 steps)

1) Set scene; 2) tell what happened without interruption; 3) follow up without leading info

Source Amnesia

Remembering something but forgetting where you learned it