AP Psychology Cognitive Psych Unit 2

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Bottom-up processing

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information (sensation first)

Top-down processing

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes , as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experiences and expectations (experience first). It involves interpreting sensory information using existing knowledge and context.

Motivation

Like research bias, we see what we want to see.

Expectations

Through experience, we come to expect certain results. Those expectations may give us a perceptual set - a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Proximity

 group objects that are close together as being part of same group

Similarity

objects similar in appearance are perceived as being part of same group

Continuity

objects that form a continuous shape are perceived as same group

Connectedness

elements tend to be grouped together if they are connected by other elements and viewed as a single unit

Closure

like top-down processing, we fill gaps in if we can recognize it

Figure-ground

organization of the visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the background).

Selective attention

focusing our conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.

The cocktail-party effect

 the ability to focus one's attention a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli

inattentional blindness

Failing to see visible objects when are attention is focused elsewhere

change blindness

Failing to notice changes in the environment

Depth perception

Stroboscopic Effect

a rapid series of slightly varying images perceived as moving images

Phi Phenomenon

 illusion of movement created when two or more-lights next to each other blink on and off

Autokinetic Effect

perceptual phenomenon where a stationary point of light appears to move in a dark environment due to small eye movements

Cognition

the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Forming concepts

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

Forming schemas

 a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

Forming prototypes

a mental image or best example of a category which provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories and can help organize unfamiliar items by finding an appropriate category

Assimilation

Accepting information to match your perception/schema

Accommodation

Altering your schema to include the new information

Algorithm

Solving problems through trial and error, eliminating every option until only the correct solution remains.

Heuristic

A simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently, but does not guarantee a solution

Intuition

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought with explicit conscious reasoning to make decisions

Representative Heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events in reference to how closely they resemble a particular prototype

Availability Heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events on how readily they come to mind

Priming

a phenomenon in which exposure to one stimulus influences how a person responds to a subsequent, related stimulus

Framing

the way an issue is presented or worded can impact how people respond

Confirmation Bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

Overconfidence

Fixation

Belief perseverance

clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

Sunk cost fallacy

a cognitive bias that makes you stay in a situation despite losing resources or benefits

Gambler’s fallacy

a cognitive bias that adheres to the ideas that if something hasn’t happened recently it soon will

Executive functions

mental skills that help us learn, work, and manage daily life, including working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control.

Creativity

the ability to produce ideas that are both novel and valuable. Though we can understand what creativity is, it is difficult to teach or measure.

Divergent thinking

expanding the number of possible problem solutions

Convergent thinking

Narrows down the solutions to the single best option.

Encoding

the process of getting information into the memory system

Storage

The process of retaining information over time

Retrieval

The process of getting information out of memory storage

Explicit or declarative memory

the retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know

Semantic memory

general knowledge

Episodic memory

memories of life events

Implicit or non-declarative memory

retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection

Procedural memory

Involves how to do something

Prospective memory

involves remembering to do something in the future.

long-term potentiation

an increase in a cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation: learning something through repetition, practice makes perfect

Working memory

a newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory → sight-reading music.

central executive system

ore component of working memory, controls attention and coordinates the phonological loop (handling auditory information), and the visuospatial sketchpad (processing visual and spatial information).