Unknown APCR Psych Terms

Closure

When you fill in the blanks, the brain can see the big picture even if an element is missing; ex: the alphabet

Similarity

We perceive elements as a group if they have similar characteristics ex: if you have 5 dogs of all different breeds and 5 cats of all different breeds, you will group the dogs together and the cats together

Proximity

Elements that are close together are more related than elements further apart

Continuity

Our brains tend to see objects as continuous or smooth rather than disjointed or discontinuous; ex: a movie, just millions of pictures put together but smooth and continuous

Transference

When feelings directed at one person become redirected to another; often occurs in therapy; ex: a patient carries over feelings from a past relationship (often parent-child) into the relationship with their therapist

Structuralist school of thought

Breaking down of mental processes into their most basic components; Wundt and Titchener

Standard deviation

A measure of variability; average distance from the mean; ex: if the IQs of a group have a standard deviation of 10, that means most of the group will have an IQ within about 10 points of the mean

Confounding variable

A variable that was not accounted for initially affects the dependent variable; ex: in a study about caffeine, it is possible that the group receiving caffeine also get more sleep than the control group

Elaborative encoding

A type of mnemonic in which new information is made memorable in order to be able to recall it more easily.

Method of loci

Uses mental images to associate with material that needs to be remembered; mental pictures.

Self reference

The tendency to recall information best when it is put into a personal context.

Retroactive interference

When new information causes someone to forget old information.

Proactive interference

Old information inhibits the formation of new memories.

Overlearning

The practice of continuing to study and learn material even after it has been initially mastered.

Recency effect

Enhanced memory of items at the end of a list.

Elaborative rehearsal

A type of memory rehearsal that is useful in transferring information into long-term memory; uses relation of concepts already stored in the long-term memory.

Distributed learning

Spaced repetition; practice is broken up into sessions

Maintenance rehearsal

Repetition of a piece of information to keep it within your active short-term memory.

Association network

Interconnected mental structures or pathways that are activated when we think, learn, and retrieve information.

Echoic memory

The brief sensory memory of audible sounds; ex - the brain retains spoken syllables in order for the brain to process them into intelligible speech.

Lateral inhibition

The process where neighboring neurons inhibit each other's activity, enhancing contrast and making edges more detectable.

Failure of source monitoring

A failure in the process of determining the origins of one's memories, knowledge, or beliefs; ex - learning about an event from a friend, but later report having learned about it on the local news

Consolidation

The process by which the brain turns short-term memories into long-term memories.

Long-term potentiation

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

Action potential

Travels the length of the axon and causes release of neurotransmitter into the synapse; ex - when we smell a scent, the olfactory neurons in the nose fire action potentials as a response, thus, action potentials are the result of a stimulus.

Availability heuristic

Judging how likely a certain event is to happen based on how easily information regarding this topic is available.

Representativeness heuristic

A mental shortcut in which one thinks of the best example or a prototype of a given category.

Gambler’s fallacy

A failure to recognize the independence of chance events, leading to the mistaken belief that one can predict the outcome of a chance event on the basis of the outcomes of past chance events.

Counterfactual thinking

Mental representations of alternatives to past events, actions, or states.

Flynn effect

The trend that there is an increase in intelligence testing scores over time.

Executive functioning

The higher cognitive functions that allow a person to plan, set goals, focus attention, and control impulsive behavior; these are not present at birth but develop over time.

Test-retest reliability

Checks if repeated tests or administrations lead to similar scores or results.

Inter-item reliability

Checks if items in an assessment correlate.

Split-half reliability

Checks if both halves or parts of a test measure the same thing.

Internal-consistency reliability

The degree to which different items on a test are related to one another.

Linguistic determinism

There are certain ways of thinking and certain concepts that can only be understood by people who have a word for them in their language.

Personal fable phenomenon

The mistaken belief that one's feelings and experiences are uniquely different from those of others.

Imaginary audience phenomenon

The belief that others are constantly focusing attention on them, scrutinizing behaviors, appearance, and the like.

Moratorium

A period of time in the development of identity in which a person delays making a decision about important issues but actively explores various alternatives.

Identity foreclosure

People that have blindly accepted and committed to values and beliefs taught to them by their family, community, or significant others without exploring alternatives; ex - a woman that grows up tall is expected to be a supermodel

Identity diffusion

The constant search for meaning and identity without committing oneself to a set of personal beliefs or occupational path.

What does it mean if heritability of a trait is 0.7?

70% of the trait is caused by genetics, 30% is due to the environment

Reciprocal Determinism

Environment, behavior, and an individual all influence and impact each other

Feedback Loop

How the different parts of the body work together; ex - if you are hungry, your body releases hormones that tell you you’re hungry, once you are full, your body will tell you you’re full

Synapse

The junction between a sending and receiving neuron

Synaptic Gap

How neurons talk to each other; space between axon terminal and dendrite; where neurotransmitters are released

Mirror Neurons

Type of neuron that makes you mirror the actions of another or yourself; ex - when you see someone else yawn, you yawn

Resting Potential

When a neuron has mostly negative ions inside and positive ions outside

Threshold

The minimum intensity of a stimulus needed to trigger an action potential (-55mV)

Brain Regions

Hindbrain - Back and bottom

Midbrain

Forebrain - Top and front