Psychology: Visual Cues, Perceptual Constancy, and Learning Theories

Binocular Cues

Visual input integrates from 2 eyes and each eye has a slightly different view of the same scene.

Monocular Cues

Visual input integrates from only 1 eye, used when objects are far away.

Retinal (Binocular) Disparity

Images produce different images on each retina.

Convergence

Turning inward of eyes toward nearby objects.

Relative Size

When 2 identical objects are present, the one that appears smaller is perceived as farther away.

Relative Clarity

When distant objects appear hazier/less distinct than closer objects.

Linear Perspective

Perception that parallel lines appear to converge as they recede into the distance.

Perceptual Constancy

Interpretation of changing sensations as perception that is relatively constant.

Color Constancy

Consistent perception of color of objects although the amount of light changes.

Lightness Constancy

Consistent perception of shade of objects although the amount of light changes.

Shape Constancy

Perception that an object's shape remains constant despite changing shape of retinal image.

Size Constancy

Perception that size of objects remains constant despite different sizes of images on the retina.

Classical Conditioning

Learning how to respond to a new stimulus that has been associated with another stimulus that normally produces the response.

Unconditioned Stimulus

Stimulus that automatically elicits a response without prior conditioning.

Unconditioned Response

Innate response to unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Stimulus

Previously neutral stimulus that now elicits a conditioned response due to its association with an unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Response

Learned response to a stimulus that did not originally elicit a response.

Acquisition

Stage of conditioning in which association between 2 stimuli is being learned.

Generalization

Conditioned response to stimuli that are not the conditioned stimulus but similar.

Discrimination

Conditioned response occurs only to a specific stimulus.

Extinction

Failure to exhibit conditioned response to conditioned stimulus because conditioned stimulus no longer predicts unconditioned stimulus.

Spontaneous Recovery

Reappearance of conditioned response to original conditioned stimulus after extinction.

Second-order (Higher-order) Conditioning

New neutral stimulus becomes associated with previously conditioned stimulus (becomes new conditioned stimulus).

Conditioned Aversion

Classically conditioned association between conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus that causes unpleasant response (mostly tastes and smells).

Operant Conditioning

Learning behaviors due to experiences with their consequences (aka instrumental learning).

Thorndike's puzzle box

A device used to study learning in animals, where an organism learns to escape from a box to receive a reward.

Law of Effect

The tendency of an organism to produce a behavior depends on the effect the behavior has on the environment.

Skinner box

An operant chamber used to study animal behavior, where a hungry animal presses a bar to receive a food pellet.

Reinforcement

A consequence of behavior that increases the probability that the behavior will occur.

Punishment

A consequence of behavior that decreases the probability that the behavior will occur.

Shaping

Reinforcing closer and closer approximations of the desired response by breaking up the wanted behavior into smaller steps.

Successive approximations

Responses that are increasingly similar to the desired response.

Positive reinforcement

The presentation of a pleasant stimulus after a behavior, which increases the probability of that behavior.

Negative reinforcement

The removal of an unpleasant stimulus after a behavior, which increases the probability of that behavior.

Positive punishment

An unpleasant stimulus that follows a behavior, decreasing the probability of that behavior.

Negative punishment

The removal of a pleasant stimulus after a behavior, which decreases the probability of that behavior.

Continuous reinforcement

Consequences are the same each time the behavior occurs.

Intermittent (partial) reinforcement

Consequences given only some of the times the behavior occurs.

Schedules of reinforcement

Reinforcement after the behavior is exhibited a certain number of times.

Fixed-ratio schedule

Reinforcement for a fixed proportion of responses emitted.

Variable-ratio schedule

Reward for some percentage of responses, but an unpredictable number of responses is required before reinforcement.

Fixed-interval schedule

Reinforcement for responses after a fixed amount of time.

Variable-interval schedule

Reinforcement for responses after an amount of time that is not constant.

Problems with punishment

May be difficult to identify which behavior is being punished, and can lead to fear of the punisher or model aggression.

Intrinsic motivation

Pursuit of activity for its own sake.

Extrinsic motivation

Pursuit of a goal for external rewards.

Overjustification effect

Too much reward undermines intrinsic motivation.

Observational learning

Learning by observing the behavior of others.

Modeling

Imitating others' behavior.

Bandura's Bobo doll study

Demonstrated that children learn aggressive behaviors by observing and imitating adults.

Prosocial Behavior

Positive behavior that can be learned by observing positive role models.

Encoding

The process of getting information into memory.

Storage

The process of maintaining encoded information over time.

Retrieval

The process of pulling previously encoded and stored information from memory.

Sensory Memory

A system that holds sensory information for a very brief time after the stimulus disappears.

Short-term Memory

Memory for information that is available to consciousness for about 20-30 seconds (capacity: 7 +/- 2).

Long-term Memory

A relatively permanent type of memory.

Iconic Memory

Visual sensory memory.

Echoic Memory

Auditory sensory memory.

Sperling's Study

A study where participants were shown a grid of letters for a very short time and could only remember 4-5 of the letters.

Explicit memory

Conscious recollection of material from long-term memory.

Implicit memory

Not brought to mind consciously, but expressed in behavior.

Semantic memory

Memory of general knowledge.

Episodic memory

Memory of personally experienced events.

Procedural memory

Memory for the performance of skills.

Priming

Prior exposure to a stimulus affects responses to a later stimulus.

Classically conditioned associations

Learned stimulus where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus that naturally triggers a response.

Recall

Producing memories using minimal retrieval cues.

Recognition

Knowledge of whether one has previously been exposed to information.

Relearning

Learning occurs more quickly the second time it is learned.

Chunking

Organizing information into smaller, meaningful pieces to facilitate memory.

Mnemonics

Strategies and tricks for improving memory.

Rehearsal

Repeating some information.

Maintenance rehearsal

Rote repetition of material.

Elaborative rehearsal

Thinking about the meaning of the information.

Levels of processing theory

Proposes that the depth at which information is processed during encoding determines how well it is remembered.

Shallow processing

Superficial features such as physical appearance.

Deep processing

Meaning.

Craik and Tulving's study

Participants were shown words like CHAIR, apple, honest, etc., one at a time and asked deep/shallow/intermediate questions to allow them to process the words.

Encoding Specificity

specific cues are encoded with the memory

Context-dependent memory

Environment in which something is learned serves as cue for retrieval.

State-dependent memory

Physical or mental state in which something is learned serves as cue for retrieval.

Encoding failure

Memory fails to form due to lack of attention or processing.

Storage decay

After memory has been stored, it may fade.

Retrieval failure

Stored memories cannot be accessed.

Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve

Illustrated how memory retention declines rapidly over time, with the steepest drop happening shortly after learning, followed by a slower more gradual decline.

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Retrieval failure.

Anterograde amnesia

Memory loss for information encountered after head injury.

Retrograde amnesia

Memory loss for information from before head injury.

H.M.'s memory impairment

Profound anterograde amnesia and partial retrograde amnesia.

Eyewitness testimony reliability

Not always reliable.

Loftus's (1974) study findings

The wording of a question significantly impacted people's answers.

Testing effects

The finding that long-term memory is improved when part of the learning period is spent actively retrieving information from memory.

Spacing effects

The phenomenon that learning and long-term retention are more effective when study sessions are spaced out over time.

Representativeness heuristic

Tendency to see someone or something as belonging to a particular group or category by evaluating how similar this person or thing is to a typical person or thing in that category.

Heuristics

Simple rules for making complex decisions/judgements.

Base rates

Frequency with which given events or cases occur in the population

Base-rate fallacy

Using the representativeness heuristic means ignoring base rates

Availability heuristic

Strategy for making judgements based on how easily specific kinds of information can be brought to mind

Simulation heuristic (counterfactual thinking)

Imagining alternative versions of actual events shapes emotional response