Unit 2 test (copy)

Selective attention

The process of focusing on a particular object in the environment for a certain period while ignoring others.

Inattentional blindness

A psychological phenomenon in which an individual fails to perceive an unexpected stimulus in plain sight.

Change blindness

A failure to notice changes in a visual stimulus when it occurs during a brief disruption.

Perceptual set

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Memory

The faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information.

Gestalt psychology

A theory of mind that emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than its parts.

Figure-ground

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

Depth perception

The ability to judge distances and three-dimensional relations.

Binocular cues

Clues about distance based on the differing views of the two eyes.

Convergence

The degree to which the eyes turn inward to focus on an object.

Retinal disparity

The difference in images between the two eyes; a cue for depth perception.

Stroboscopic movement

The perception of motion when a series of images are presented in rapid succession.

Monocular cues

Depth cues available to either eye alone.

Perceptual constancy

The tendency to perceive objects as unchanging despite changes in sensory input.

Perceptual adaptation

The ability of the body to adapt to an altered sensory environment.

Encoding

The initial learning of information.

Storage

The process of maintaining information over time.

Retrieval

The process of accessing and bringing into consciousness information stored in memory.

Parallel processing

The ability of the brain to simultaneously process different aspects of information.

Sensory memory

The immediate, brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

Short-term memory

Activated memory that holds a few items briefly before the information is stored or forgotten.

Long-term memory

The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.

Working memory

A newer understanding of short-term memory that involves conscious, active processing of incoming information.

Explicit memory

Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare.

Implicit memory

Retention independent of conscious recollection.

Effortful processing

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

Automatic processing

Unconscious encoding of incidental information.

Iconic memory

A fleeting photographic memory for visual stimuli.

Echoic memory

A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli.

Chunking

The grouping of information into larger, more manageable units.

Mnemonics

Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

Hierarchies

Organization of information into a few broad concepts and then subdivided into narrower concepts.

Spacing effect

The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than massed study or practice.

Testing effect

Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading information.

Shallow processing

Encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words.

Deep processing

Encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words.

Self-reference effect

The tendency to better remember information relevant to oneself.

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage.

Cerebellum

A structure of the hindbrain that is involved in the coordination of movement and balance.

Basal ganglia

A group of nuclei in the brain that is involved in coordination and movement.

Infantile amnesia

The inability to retrieve memories from early childhood.

Amygdala

A neural cluster in the limbic system involved in emotion.

Flashbulb memory

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Long-term Potentiation (LTP)

An increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation.

Recall

The ability to retrieve information that was learned earlier.

Recognition

The ability to identify previously learned information.

Relearning

A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again.

Priming

The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory.

Context-dependent memory

The theory that information is better recalled in the same context in which it was learned.

State-dependent memory

The improved recall of specific information when the individual is in the same state of consciousness as they were when the memory was formed.

Mood congruent memory

The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current mood.

Serial position effect

The tendency to recall the first and last items in a list better than the middle items.

Anterograde amnesia

An inability to form new memories following an event.

Retrograde amnesia

An inability to retrieve information learned prior to an event.

Encoding failure

The inability to remember information due to the lack of encoding.

Storage decay

The gradual fading of memory traces over time.

Retrieval failure

The inability to access information due to various reasons.

Proactive interference

When prior learning disrupts the recall of new information.

Retroactive interference

When new learning disrupts the recall of old information.

Repression

The unconscious process of blocking out painful or unpleasant memories.

Misinformation effect

When a person's recall of an event is altered by misleading post-event information.

Source amnesia

Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined.

Déjà vu

The sensation that an event currently being experienced has already been experienced in the past.

Cognition

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

Concepts

Mental categories for grouping objects, events, and ideas.

Prototypes

A mental image or best example of a category.

Creativity

The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.

Convergent thinking

Thinking that proceeds toward a single answer.

Divergent thinking

Thinking that generates multiple and unique solutions to a problem.

Algorithms

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.

Heuristics

Simple thinking strategies that allow us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.

Insight

A sudden realization of a problem's solution.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information that confirms one's preconceptions.

Mental set

The tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.

Intuition

An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought.

Representative heuristic

Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes.

Availability heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory.

Overconfidence

The tendency to be more confident than correct—overestimating the accuracy of one's beliefs and judgments.

Fear factor

A number of psychological attributes that contribute to an individual's experience of fear.

Belief perseverance

Clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

Framing

The way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

Intelligence

The mental potential to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.

Spearman’s General intelligence

A general intelligence factor that Spearman believed underlies specific mental abilities.

Factor analysis

A statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (factors) on a test.

Thurstone’s 7 clusters

Seven different primary mental abilities identified by Thurstone.

Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences

The proposal that people have different kinds of intelligences.

Savant syndrome

A condition in which a person with a mental disability demonstrates profound and prodigious capacities in a specific area.

Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence

A theory that intelligence consists of three parts: analytical, creative, and practical.

Grit

Passion and perseverance for long-term goals.

Emotional intelligence

The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.

Alfred Binet’s mental age

A measure of intelligence represented by the age at which an average individual would score.

Stanford-Binet

A widely used intelligence test for children and adults.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

A measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet.

Achievement tests

Tests that measure what a person has learned.

Aptitude tests

Tests that measure the ability to learn or to develop proficiency in an area.

WAIS vs. WISC

WAIS is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, while WISC is the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children.

Standardization

Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pre-tested group.

Normal curve

A symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data.

Flynn effect

The phenomenon of a rise in average IQ scores over time.

Reliability

The consistency of a research study or measuring test.