AP Psychology - Modules 20, 21, 27, 32, 52

AP Psychology

Sensation

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.

Sensory receptors

sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli.

Perception

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

Bottom-up processing

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information.

Top-down processing

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.

Selective attention

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.

Cocktail party effect

Ability to focus on one voice among many others

Inattentional blindness

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.

Change blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of inattentional blindness.

Choice deafness

failing to notice changes in voices

Popout

strikingly distinct stimuli, people notice change

Senses function

receives sensory stimulation (using specialized receptor cells), transform stimulation (into neural impulses), deliver neural information ( to brain)

Transduction

conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret.

Psychophysics

the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.

Gustav Fechner

studied our awareness of faint stimuli, absolute thresholds, minimum stimulation to detect stimulus 50% of the time

Absolute thresholds

the minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time.

Signal detection theory

a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.

Subliminal

below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

Difference threshold

the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference (or jnd).

Subliminal sensations

stimuli so weak that we don't consciously notice them

Priming

Used by researchers to activate unconscious associations

Ernst Weber

perception; identified just-noticeable-difference (JND), Weber's law

Weber's law

the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount).

Sensory adaptation

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

What are sensation and perception?

Sensation is the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment. Perception is the process of organizing and interpreting this information, enabling recognition of meaningful events. Sensation and perception are actually parts of one continuous process.

What do we mean by bottom-up processing and top-down processing?

Bottom-up processing is sensory analysis that begins at the entry level, with information flowing from the sensory receptors to the brain. Top-down processing is information processing guided by high-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions by filtering information through our experience and expectations.

How does selective attention direct our perceptions?

We selectively attend to, and process, a very limited portion of incoming information, blocking out much and often shifting the spotlight of our attention from one thing to another. Focused intently on one task, we often display inattentional blindness (including change blindness) to other events and changes around us.

What three steps are basic to all our sensory systems?

Our senses (1) receive sensory stimulation (often using specialized receptor cells), (2) transform that stimulation into neural impulses, and (3) deliver the neural information to the brain. Transduction is the process of converting one form of energy into another. Researchers in psychophysics study the relationships between stimuli's physical characteristics and our psychological experience of them.

How do absolute thresholds and difference thresholds differ?

Our absolute threshold for any stimulus is the minimum stimulation necessary for us to be consciously aware of it 50 percent of the time. Signal detection theorypredicts how and when we will detect a faint stimulus amid background noise. Individual absolute thresholds vary, depending on the strength of the signal and also on our experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness. Our difference threshold (also called just noticeable difference, or jnd) is the minimum stimulus difference we can discern 50 percent of the time. Weber's law states that two stimuli must differ by a constant percentage (not a constant amount) to be perceived as different.

How are we affected by subliminal stimuli?

Priming shows that we can be affected by stimuli so weak that we don't consciously notice them, and we can evaluate a stimulus even when we're not consciously aware of it. While we can be primed by subliminal stimuli, however, research indicates that such stimuli cannot persuade us or change our behavior.

What is the function of sensory adaptation?

Sensory adaptation (our diminished sensitivity to constant odors, sights, sounds, and touches) focuses our attention on informative changes in our environment.

Perceptual set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Schemas

concepts formed through experience, organize and interpret unfamiliar information

What can shape our views of reality?

top-down processing, experiences, assumptions, expectations, context, motivation, emotions

Extrasensory perception (ESP)

the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.

Telepathy

mind to mind communication

Clairvoyance

perceiving remote events, such as a house on fire in another state

Precognition

perceiving future events, such as an unexpected death in the next month

Telekinesis/psychokinesis

mind moving matter

Parapsychology

the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis.

How do our expectations, contexts, motivation, and emotions influence our perceptions?

Perceptual set is a mental predisposition that functions as a lens through which we perceive the world. Our learned concepts (schemas) prime us to organize and interpret ambiguous stimuli in certain ways. Our motivation, as well as our physical and emotional context, can create expectations and color our interpretation of events and behaviors.

What are the claims of ESP?

Parapsychology is the study of paranormal phenomena, including extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis. The three most testable forms of ESP are telepathy (mind-to-mind communication), clairvoyance (perceiving remote events), and precognition (perceiving future events).

What have most research psychologists concluded after putting these claims to the test?

Skeptics argue that (1) to believe in ESP, you must believe the brain is capable of perceiving without sensory input, and (2) researchers have been unable to replicate ESP phenomena under controlled conditions.

Classical conditioning

forms associations between stimuli (CS and US signaled), involves respondent behavior

Respondent behavior

automatic responses to a stimulus

Operant conditioning

a type of learning in which a behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or less likely to recur if followed by a punisher.

Operant behavior

behavior that operates on the environment to produce rewarding or punishing stimuli

B. F. Skinner

behaviorism; pioneer in operant conditioning; behavior is based on an organism's reinforcement history

Edward L. Thorndike

Law of effect - rewarded behavior is likely to recur, punished behavior is unlikely to recur, was basis for BF Skinner's behavior control technology.

Law of effect

Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely.

Behavior control

Skinner teaching animals foreign behaviors

Behavior control

Operant chamber/Skinner box

operant conditioning research, chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal's rate of bar pressing or key pecking.

Reinforcement

operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.

Successive approximations

small steps in behavior, one after the other, that lead to a particular goal behavior

Shaping

operant conditioning procedure, reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.

Discriminative stimulus

operant conditioning, stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement (in contrast to related stimuli not associated with reinforcement).

Positive reinforcement

increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.

Negative reinforcement

increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing aversive stimuli. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (Negative reinforcement is not punishment.)

Positive reinforcement (description)

Add a desirable stimulus

Negative reinforcement (description)

Remove an aversive stimulus

Primary reinforcers

innately reinforcing stimulus, satisfies a biological need.

Conditioned/secondary reinforcers

stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through association with a primary reinforcer

Reinforcement schedules

pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced.

Extinguished behavior

behavior which stops when reinforcement is gone

Spontaneous recovery

tendency of a learned behavior to recover from extinction after a rest period

Continuous reinforcement

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs.

Partial (intermittent) reinforcement schedules

reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement.

Fixed-ratio schedules

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.

Variable-ratio schedules

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses.

Fixed-interval schedules

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed.

Variable-interval schedules

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals.

Fixed Ratio

Every so many: reinforcement after every nthbehavior, such as buy 10 coffees, get 1 free, or pay workers per product unit produced

Fixed Interval

Every so often: reinforcement for behavior after a fixed time, such as Tuesday discount prices

Variable Ratio

After an unpredictable number: reinforcement after a random number of behaviors, as when playing slot machines or fly fishing

Variable Interval

Unpredictably often: reinforcement for behavior after a random amount of time, as when studying for an unpredictable pop quiz

Punishment

an event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows.

Positive punishment (description)

Administer an aversive stimulus.

Discrimination

occurs in operant conditioning when an organism learns that certain responses, but not others, will be reinforced.

Generalization

Occurs in operant conditioning when an organism's response to similar stimuli is also reinforced.

Drawbacks of physical punishment:

Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten. This temporary state may (negatively) reinforce parents' punishing behavior. Punishment teaches discrimination among situations. Punishment can teach fear. Physical punishment may increase aggression by modeling violence as a way to cope with problems.

Skinner's critics said

Skinner dehumanized people by neglecting their personal freedom and seeking to control their actions

Skinner's rebuttal to critics

External consequences already haphazardly control people's behavior.

Negative punishment (description)

Withdraw a rewarding stimulus

What is operant conditioning?

Operant conditioning is a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher.

Who was Skinner?

B. F. Skinner was a college English major and aspiring writer who later entered psychology graduate school. He became modern behaviorism's most influential and controversial figure.

How is operant behavior reinforced and shaped?

Expanding on Edward Thorndike's law of effect, B. F. Skinner and others found that the behavior of rats or pigeons placed in an operant chamber (Skinner box) can be shaped by using reinforcers to guide closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.

How do positive and negative reinforcement differ?

Reinforcement is any consequence that strengthens behavior. Positive reinforcement adds a desirable stimulus to increase the frequency of a behavior. Negative reinforcement reduces or removes an aversive stimulus to increase the frequency of a behavior.

What are the basic types of reinforcers?

Primary reinforcers (such as receiving food when hungry or having nausea end during an illness) are innately satisfying—no learning is required. Conditioned (or secondary) reinforcers (such as cash) are satisfying because we have learned to associate them with more basic rewards (such as the food or medicine we buy with them). Immediate reinforcers (such as a purchased treat) offer immediate payback; delayed reinforcers (such as a paycheck) require the ability to delay gratification.

How do different reinforcement schedules affect behavior?

A reinforcement schedule defines how often a response will be reinforced.

In continuous reinforcement (reinforcing desired responses every time they occur), learning is rapid, but so is extinction if rewards cease. In partial (intermittent) reinforcement (reinforcing responses only sometimes), initial learning is slower, but the behavior is much more resistant to extinction. Fixed-ratio schedules reinforce behaviors after a set number of responses; variable-ratio schedules, after an unpredictable number. Fixed-interval schedules reinforce behaviors after set time periods; variable-interval schedules, after unpredictable time periods.

How does punishment differ from negative reinforcement?

Punishment administers an undesirable consequence (such as spanking) or withdraws something desirable (such as taking away a favorite toy) in an attempt to decrease the frequency of a behavior (a child's disobedience). Negative reinforcement (taking an aspirin) removes an aversive stimulus (a headache). This desired consequence (freedom from pain) increases the likelihood that the behavior (taking aspirin to end pain) will be repeated.

How does punishment affect behavior?

Punishment can have undesirable side effects, such as suppressing rather than changing unwanted behaviors, encouraging discrimination (so that the undesirable behavior appears when the punisher is not present), creating fear, teaching aggression, and fostering depression and low self-esteem.

Why did Skinner's ideas provoke controversy?

Critics of Skinner's principles believed the approach dehumanized people by neglecting their personal freedom and seeking to control their actions. Skinner replied that people's actions are already controlled by external consequences, and that reinforcement is more humane than punishment as a means for controlling behavior.

Semantic

explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is episodic memory).

Episodic

explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is semantic memory).

Hippocampus

a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process for storage explicit (conscious) memories of facts and events.

Memory consolidation

the neural storage of a long-term memory.

Explicit memory

Frontal lobes, hippocampus

Implicit memory formation

Cerebellum, basal ganglia