Psych Exam 2

Perceptual set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Priming

a technique where introducing one stimulus influences how people respond to the next.

Just noticeable difference

the minimal change in a stimulus that can just barely be detected

Weber's law

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage.

Absolute threshold

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

Difference threshold

the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time

Bipolar cells

eye neurons that receive information from the retinal cells and distribute information to the ganglion cells

Corena

The clear tissue that covers the front of the eye

Retina

the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information

Ganglion cells

In the retina, the specialized neurons that connect to the bipolar cells; the bundled axons of the ganglion cells form the optic nerve.

Presbyopia

farsightedness caused by loss of elasticity of the lens of the eye, occurring typically in middle and old age.

Optic nerve

the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

Perceptual constancy

perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change

Shape constancy

the tendency to interpret the shape of an object as being constant, even when its shape changes on the retina

Color constancy

perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object

Audition

the sense or act of hearing

Wavelength

The distance between two corresponding parts of a wave

Gate control theory

the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The "gate" is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain.

Endorphins

"morphine within"--natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.

Gustation

sense of taste

Olfaction

sense of smell

Vestibular sense

the sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance

Nonassociative learning

responding after repeated exposure to a single stimulus, or event

Habituation

decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.

Sensitization

an increase in behavioral response after exposure to a stimulus

Associative learning

learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning).

Social learning

Learning through observing others.

Fear conditioning

the process of classically conditioning animals to fear neutral objects

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

Behaviorism

the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).

Punishment

an event that decreases the behavior that it follows

Reinforcement

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

Spanking

hitting a child with an open hand without causing physical injury

Premack principle

more probable behaviors will reinforce less probable behaviors.l

Biological preparedness

a propensity for learning particular kinds of associations over others

Shaping

an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

Partial reinforcement extinction effect

the greater persistence of behavior under partial reinforcement than under continuous reinforcement

schedules of reinforcement

specific patterns that determine when a behavior will be reinforced

Second-order conditioning

conditioning where the unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus that acquired its ability to produce learning from an earlier procedure in which it was used as a conditioned

Modeling

the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

Latent learning

learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it

Observational learning

learning by observing others; also called social learning

Vicarious punishment

process where the observer sees the model punished, making the observer less likely to imitate the model's behavior

Vicarious reinforcement

process where the observer sees the model rewarded, making the observer more likely to imitate the model's behavior

Taste aversion

a learned avoidance of a particular food

Encoding

the processing of information into the memory system—for example, by extracting meaning.

Storage

the retention of encoded information over time

Retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage

Iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

Echoic memory

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds

Working memory

active maintenance of information in short-term storage

Amygdala

two lima bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotion.

Mood-congruent memory

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

Semantic memory

a network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world

Episodic memory

the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place

Automatic processing

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings

Effortful processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

Chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

Serial position effect

our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list

Levels of processing

a continuum of memory processing from shallow to intermediate to deep, with deeper processing producing better memory

Maintenance rehearsal

A system for remembering involving repeating information to oneself without attempting to find meaning in it

Elaborative rehearsal

a method of transferring information from STM into LTM by making that information meaningful in some way

Memory consolidation

the gradual, physical process of converting new long-term memories to stable, enduring memory codes

Long-term potentiation

an increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

Source amnesia

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

Encoding specificity

phenomenon of remembering something better when the conditions under which we retrieve information are similar to the conditions under which we encoded it

principle

a truth, a rule, or a law

Anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories

Retrograde amnesia

an inability to retrieve information from one's past

Encoding failure

failure to process information into memory

Retrieval failure

the inability to recall long-term memories because of inadequate or missing retrieval cues

Repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

Reconsolidation

a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again

Memory construction

Occurs during retrieval. Memory is a construct of the mind and therefore can be updated with new info and experiences.