AP Psychology U5 - Cognition

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Amplitude vs. Frequency

Amplitude determines the loudness of a sound (measured in decibels), while frequency determines the pitch (measured in Hertz).

Transduction in the Ear

Transduction occurs within the hair cells, where sound energy is converted into biological electrical signals (electrical impulses) that the brain recognizes as sound.

Anatomy of the Outer Ear

Consists of the earflap and ear canal; its primary function is to catch sound waves.

Anatomy of the Middle Ear

Includes the eardrum (tympanic membrane) and the ossicles (3 bones: hammer/malleus, anvil/incus, stirrup/stapes) which create vibrations and push sound energy into the inner ear.

Anatomy of the Inner Ear

Includes the cochlea (receives vibrations), basilar membrane (vibrating plate), and auditory nerves/nerve fibers (deliver signals to the brain's auditory cortex).

Place Theory

A theory used to explain high frequency sounds, stating that pitch is determined by the specific location where the basilar membrane vibrates.

Frequency Theory

A theory used to explain low frequency sounds, stating that pitch is determined by the speed/frequency of nerve firing in the auditory nerve fibers.

Conductive Hearing Loss

Hearing loss caused by mechanical damage to the outer or middle ear structures.

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Hearing loss caused by damage to the inner ear (cochlea/hair cells) or the auditory nerve, often due to noise exposure or aging.

Hearing Aids vs. Cochlear Implants

Hearing aids act as a filter system to make audio clear before it reaches the ear. Cochlear implants bypass damaged parts of the ear to send electrical signals directly to the brain.

Absolute Threshold

The minimum amount of stimulus energy needed to detect a stimulus 50\% of the time.

Top-down Processing

An explanation of how our expectations and prior knowledge influence how we understand and interpret sensory information.

Rods vs. Cones

Rods are photoreceptors that assist with night vision, while cones are photoreceptors that help with color perception and fine detail.

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory

A theory explaining how we understand color using three types of cones: red, green, and blue (RGB).

Opponent-Process Theory

A theory stating that specific colors cannot be perceived together because they exclude each other during neural processing.

Selective Attention

The process of focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus. Examples include the cocktail party effect and "cognitive radar" (when your name is called).

Inattentional Blindness

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere, essentially following the principle of "out of sight, out of mind."

Change Blindness

A form of inattentional blindness characterized by failing to notice changes in the environment.

Perceptual Set

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another; it is determined through experience as we form concepts or schemas to organize information.

Factors Influencing Perception

Context, motivation, and emotion can inform our perceptions and shape or color our views of reality (e.g., sad music evoking sad meanings).

Gestalt

An organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasize our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful

Figure-Ground Relationship

The first task of perception where the brain organizes the visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (ground)

Grouping

The innate perceptual tendency to organize individual stimuli into coherent, meaningful groups rather than disconnected parts

Depth Perception

The ability to see the world in three dimensions (3D), allowing us to judge distance even though the images on our retina are 2D

The Visual Cliff

A laboratory device used to test depth perception in infants and young animals, demonstrating that depth perception is largely innate

Binocular Cues

Depth cues that require the use of both eyes to judge distance and dimension

Retinal Disparity

A binocular cue where the brain compares slightly different images from both eyes to compute distance-the greater the difference, the closer the object

Convergence

A binocular cue that senses the inward rotation of the eyes; the more the eyes turn toward each other, the closer the object

Monocular Cues

Depth cues available to either eye alone, such as linear perspective (parallel lines meeting in the distance) or interposition (one object blocking another)

Stroboscopic Movement

An illusion of continuous motion created by viewing a rapid series of slightly varying still images, much like a flipbook or a movie

Phi Phenomenon

An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession, making it look like a single light is moving between them

Autokinetic Effect

The illusion that a stationary spot of light is moving when viewed in a dark room with no surrounding reference points

Perceptual Constancy

The ability to perceive objects as unchanging (stable) even when their illumination or retinal images change

Color Constancy

Perceiving familiar objects as having a consistent color, even if changing light alters the wavelengths reflected by the object

Brightness Constancy

Perceiving an object as having constant brightness despite varying illumination; this relies on relative luminance (comparing it to its surroundings)

Shape Constancy

Perceiving the form of a familiar object as constant even when our viewing angle changes (e.g., a door is always a rectangle)

Size Constancy

Perceiving an object as having a fixed size even when our distance from it varies

The Critical Period

A specific window of time in early life when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences is required for normal sensory and perceptual development to
occur

Perceptual Adaptation

The brain's ability to adjust to changed sensory input, such as learning to navigate the world through artificially displaced or even completely inverted (upside-down) goggles

Experience-Driven Development

The principle that our experiences don't just
"teach" us; they guide, sustain, and maintain the actual neural pathways in the brain that make perception possible

Sensory Constant Adjustment

The concept that humans are not "static" perceivers; we are constantly adjusting our internal maps to match the changing sensory information from our environment

Critical Period

If you don't "use it" during this window, you may "lose it" (e.g., vision restoration in adults doesn't always work if they were blind from birth)

Adaptation

Our brains are incredibly flexible; if the world shifts 20 degrees to the left, our brains eventually recalibrate "straight ahead."

Experience

Perception is a learned skill as much as it is a biological process

insight

The sudden realization of understanding of a solution to a problem

Accommodation

Poeple adjust their existing schemas or create new ones in order to incorporate new information that doesn't fit into any existing schemas

Algorithm

step-by-step procedure for solving a problem or accomplishing some end especially by a computer

Heuristic

a mental shortcut that helps us make decisions and solve problems quickly, often relying on limited information

Prototype

a mental image or best example of a category (It embodies the most typical features of something)

Aptitude Test

Test designed to assess an individual's potential to succeed in a certain area, even if they haven't received training or education in that field

Auditory localization

the brain's process of determining the origin of a sound in space

Dichotic listening

psychological technique used to study selective auditory attention, where different auditory stimuli are presented to each ear simultaneously

Divided attention

the ability to process two or more responses or react to two or more different demands simultaneously

Divergent thinking

a thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions

Availability heuristic

a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method or decision

Representativeness heuristic

a mental shortcut used when making judgments about the probability of an event under uncertainty

Relative size

the depth cue in which we perceive distance based on the comparison of sizes between objects (when two or more objects are similar, we assume that the smaller one is farther away)

Interposition

a monocular depth cue that refers to the partial occlusion or blocking of one object by another

Linear perspective

a visual cue that helps us perceive depth in a two-dimensional image by using converging lines and vanishing points

Framing

how the presentation or wording of information can influence decision-making and judgments

Proactive Interference

when previously learned information interferes with the learning or recall of new information

The primacy effect

another cognitive bias that results in better recall for items at the beginning of a list or sequence

Adaptation

the brain's ability to change and reorganize its structure and function in response to new experiences or damage

Conduction

type of hearing loss caused by problems in the outer or middle ear that prevent sound waves from efficiently reaching the inner ear (cochlea), blocking the mechanical transmission of sound

Convergence

the process by which the visual axes of the eyes come together to focus on a specific point or object in the visual field

Hindsight bias

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

Availability bias

a mental shortcut where people judge the likelihood or frequency of an event based on how easily examples or instances come to mind

Sunk-cost fallacy

the tendency for people to continue investing time, money, or effort into something simply because they have already invested in it, even when continuing would not be beneficial

Self-serving bias

the tendency to attribute positive events to one's own character but attribute negative events to external factors

Functional fixedness

a cognitive bias that limits a person's ability to use an object only in the way it is traditionally used

Convergent thinking

a problem-solving strategy that involves finding a single, correct answer to a problem

Kinesthetic

the body's ability to sense its own position, movement, and action

Auditory

the sense of hearing

Vestibular

provides information about balance and movement regarding our body's position in space through receptors located in inner ear canals filled with fluid

Olfactory

sensory input that is related to the sense of smell

Confirmation bias

the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses

Predictable-world bias

the human tendency to perceive or anticipate an order or pattern in random events where none exists

Closure

describes how humans fill in visual gaps in order to perceive disconnected parts as a whole object

Similarity

how much two people share common attitudes, backgrounds, interests or other characteristics

Proximity

that we group nearby figures together

Continuity

our brains prefer patterns and will perceive components in an image as continuous forming either an unbroken line or pattern rather than separately

Optic nerve

bundle of nerve fibers that carries visual information from the retina to the brain (It plays a crucial role in transmitting visual signals for processing and interpretation)

Visual cortex

the part of the brain responsible for processing visual information (It's located in the occipital lobe at the back of the brain)

Retina

the innermost layer of the eye that contains specialized cells called photoreceptors, which detect light and convert it into electrical signals to be sent to the brain for visual processing

Cornea

the transparent, curved, outermost layer of the eye that helps focus light onto the retina (It is the eye's primary refracting surface, bending and focusing light rays to enable clear vision)

Split-half reliability

a measure of internal consistency where a test is divided into two, often equal, halves (e.g., odd vs. even questions) to compare scores, ensuring the test produces consistent results throughout

Test-retest reliability

the consistency of a measure when it is administered to the same group of individuals at different points in time

Construct Validity

the extent to which a test or measurement accurately represents the concept or construct it is intended to measure

Predictive Validity

the extent to which a test or measurement can accurately forecast future performance or behavior based on its results

Perception

the process by which our brain interprets sensory information, giving us an understanding of our environment

Just-noticeable difference

The smallest change in stimulation that a person can detect 50% of the time

Shading

the technique used in drawing to create the illusion of depth and volume on a two-dimensional surface by manipulating light and shadow

Texture gradient

the gradual change in the visual texture of an object or surface as it recedes in depth from the observer

High pitch

Short wavelength and high frequency

Low pitch

long wavelength and high frequency

Action potential

brief electrical impulses that travel along the axon of a neuron

Transduction

the process by which sensory stimuli are converted into neural signals that can be interpreted by the brain

Reflex arc

is a neural pathway that controls a reflex action, consisting of a sensory neuron, an interneuron, and a motor neuron

Weber’s law

the relationship between stimulus and resulting sensation, stating that the Just Noticeable Difference is a constant proportion of the original intensity of the stimulus

Sensory adaptation

the process by which our sensory receptors become less responsive to constant stimuli over time