AP Psych 1-3

perception

processing, what we think happens

sensation

what we actually feel/take in

What captures our limited attention?

things we deem important

cocktail party effect

hear stuff we deem important in busy room

prosopagnosia

face blindness

Stroop Effect

we can only focus on one thing at a time

difference threshold

how much it takes for us to notice a difference at least 50% of time

sensory adaptation

when we get used to certain sensory stimuli

perceptual set

context in image or diagram determines our perception

bottom-up processing

sensation to perception

top-down processing

perception to sensation

selective attention

when we choose to focus on what we deem important

inattentional blindness

blind to stuff we aren’t paying attention to

transduction

reception, transform, deliver

absolute threshold

the minimum for us to feel something at least 50% of time

signal detection theory

Weber’s Law, how much it take for us to notice something

sensory receptors

nerve endings that respond to stimuli

change blindess

form of inattentional blindness, failure to notice environment’s changes

psychophysics

relationships between physical characteristics and our psych experience of them

subliminal

below absolute threshold

accomodation

when lens focuses light

cones

detect light, specifically color, located at retina’s center

feature detectors

in visual cortex, respond to stimuli to organize neural firings

hue

color determined by wavelength

iris

muscle that contracts around the pupil, colored

lens

transparent and helps focus images

optic nerve

nerve that carries neural impulses of images to brain

fovea

central focal point of retina (20-20 vision)

cornea

clear protective layer

blind spot

point where optic nerve leaves hole in vision

intensity

amount of energy in wave (amplitude)

opponent process theory

opposing retinal processes (red-green, black-white, blue-yellow)

parallel processing

multiple aspects processed simultaneously

pupil

where light enters

retina

light-sensitive area containing rods and cones

rods

detect black and white, night vision

wavelength

distance between peaks of waves

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory

3 types of cones (red, green, blue)

extasensory perception (ESP)

perception not from sensory input; telepathy

parapsychology

study of paranormal phenomena

gestalt

an organized whole

figure-ground

objects that stand out from their surroundings

grouping

tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

depth perception

ability to see objects in 3d, judge distance

visual cliff

device for testing depth perception on infants

binocular cue

depth cue requiring both eyes

retinal disparity

binocular cue for depth

monocular cue

depth cue for one eye

phi-phenomenon

illusion when 2 or more lights blink in quick succession

perceptual constancy

perceiving objects as unchanging

color constancy

perceiving consistent color

perceptual adaptation

the ability to adjust to changed sensory input by filling in the blanks

stroboscopic movement

experience when viewing filmed images where they all look continuous

audition

sense or act of hearing

amplitude (sound)

how loud or soft something is

wavelength (sound)

high pitch/low pitch

auditory canal

funnels sound to eardrums

outer ear

captures sound waves

ossicles

tiny bones that vibrate from eardrums

ear drum

(tympanic membrane) vibration

cochlea

snail shape, gets info from ossicles

sensorineural

damage to cochlea’s hairs or auditory nerves

conduction

damage to eardrum or ossicles

cochlear implant

converts sound to electricity to stimulate auditory nerve through the cochlea when it can’t naturally

How can we locate where sound comes from?

sound strikes one ear sooner

place theory

cochlea has specific regions that detect specific sound frequencies (pitch)

frequency theory

the rate of nerve impulses matches tone frequency, which allows us to determine pitch

gate-control theory

spinal cord acts as a gate that either blocks or lets through pain signals (small fibers open, large fibers close it)

olfaction

sense of smell

kinesthesia

our sense of movement/system for sensing position and movement for individual body parts

vestibular sense

our sense of body movement that enables balance

sensory interaction

one sense can influence another

embodied cognition

influence of our sensations, gestures, or states on cognitive preferences or judgements

Scientific Attitude

curiosity, skepticism, humility

Humility

"The rat is always right"

Hindsight bias

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it

operational definition

definition you are working on

naturalistic observation

observing in natural habitat

case study

observes causation

correlation

between -1-1, does not equal causation

confounding variable

variables not taken into account

dependent variable

variable that is being measured

independent variable

variable that is manipulated

Socrates/Plato

mind and body are separate

Aristotle

mind is shaped by environment

Rene Descartes

I think therefore I am

Francis Bacon

empiricism

Dualism

mind and body are separate

John Locke

tabula rasa

Sigmund Freud

psychoanalysis, psychosexual development

Freud's 3 Parts

id, ego, superego

William James

functionalism

Charles Darwin

evolutionary psychology

Wilhelm Wundt

first psych lab, structuralism

introspection

self-observation

structuralism

structure of brain

functionalism

function of brain (survival)

B.F. Skinner

behaviorism

operant conditioning

rewards and punishments

Carl Rogers

humanistic psychology