unit 2 ap psych cognition

Perception

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

Illusion

(n.) a false idea; something that one seems to see or to be aware that really does not exist

Visual Capture

Visual system overwhelms all others (nauseous in an IMAX theater - vision trumps vestibular)

Gestalt

an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes. (whole> sum, first and last letter)

Gestaltists rule of grouping

organizing figures into meaning. color, movement, and light/darkness happen right away. grouping happens in cortex

Proximity

(n.) nearness, closeness

Similarity

the tendency to perceive things that look similar to each other as being part of the same group

Continuity

we perceive smooth, continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones

closure

we fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object

connectedness

Gestalt grouping principle; when objects uniform (in color or texture) are linked (no space exists between them) we perceive them as a single unit. the effect of perceiving spots, lines, or areas as a single unit

form perception

organization of sensations into meaningful shapes and patterns. how our brain determines form of something

figure and ground

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

depth perception

the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance. visual cliff experiments have shown this

binocular cues

depth cues, such as retinal disparity and convergence, that depend on the use of two eyes

retinal disparity

a binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance—the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object. 3d movies are based on this

convergence

A binocular cue for perceiving depth; the extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object

monocular cues

depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone. one eye.

relative size

perception that occurs when objects that a person expects to be of a certain size appear to be small and are, therefore, assumed to be much farther away

interposition

if one object partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer

relative clarity

a monocular cue for perceiving depth; hazy objects are farther away than sharp, clear objects

texture gradient

the tendency for textured surfaces to appear to become smaller and finer as distance from the viewer increases

relative heights

we perceive objects that are higher in our field of vision to be farther away than those that are lower

linear perspective

A monocular cue for perceiving depth; the more parallel lines converge, the greater their perceived distance.

relative brightness

a monocular cue, objects up close appear brighter than objects farther away

motion perception

objects traveling towards us grow in size and those moving away shrink in size

phi phenomenon

an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession. makes "movement"

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

size constancy

the tendency to interpret an object as always being the same actual size, regardless of its distance

color constancy

perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object (color stays same in mind, even tho light energy is different)

size distance relationship

Given an object's perceived distance and the size of its image on our retinas, we instantly and unconsciously infer the object's size. depth cues cause thism

muller lyer illusions

A famous visual illusion involving the misperception of the identical length of two lines, one with arrows pointed inward, one with arrows pointed outward.

nature vs nurture

nature: color, figure/ground seem to be innate

nurture: touched objects/shapes are "learned", we can learn to perceive one thing over another. due to our visual cortex development

perceptual adaptation

in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field. top down processing. once our brain is going one way it is hard to change direction.

senses

we perceive things through our senses, tied to our brain and perceptions.

schemas/concepts

mental catagories/conceptual frameworks a person uses to make sense of the world

context effects

Describes how the context in which a stimulus occurs can contribute to how people perceive that stimulus.

interference

with 2 conflicting stimuli, one will often prevail. selective attention.

cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

prototype

a mental image or best example of a category

creativity

the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas

convergent thinking

narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

divergent thinking

expands the number of possible problem solutions (creative thinking that diverges in different directions)

5 components of creativity

1. Expertise

2. Imaginative thinking skills

3. A venturesome personality

4. Intrinsic motivation

5. A creative environment

expertise

specialized skill or technical knowledge; know-how; expertness

venturesome personality

seeks new experiences, tolerates ambiguity and risk, and perseveres in overcoming obstacles

intrinsic motivation

a desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake

executive functions

higher order thinking processes that include planning, organizing, inhibition, and decision-making. goal setting and carrying out. develop over time, tend to decline with old age.

trial and error

A problem-solving strategy that involves attempting different solutions and eliminating those that do not work.

algorithms

very specific, step-by-step procedures for solving certain types of problems. very inefficient

insight

a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem

hueristics

mental rules of thumb that subjects develop to help make sense of the world around them. mental shortcuts

representativeness heuristic

judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information. act how you've acted before with that concept or problem

conjunction fallacy

when people think that two events are more likely to occur together than either individual event, because they "should be"

availability heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common.

fixation

the inability to see a problem from a new perspective. stuck in one way to solve problems

confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

mental set

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

functional fixedness

the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving

heuristic misuse

shortcuts that lead to mistakes

overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

framing

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

belief perseverance

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

language

main indicator of our ability to think

phonemes

in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

morphemes

The smallest units of meaning in a language.

grammer

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others

sematics

Meaning of words and sentences

syntax

The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

babbling stage

beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language

one word stage

the stage in speech development, from about age 1, during which a child speaks mostly in single words. morpheme statements

2 word stage

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in 2 word statements. nouns and verbs. aka telegraphic speech

BF Skinner

All language and grammar is learned based on principles of operant conditioning

Noam Chomsky

theorist who believed that humans have an inborn or "native" propensity to develop language. language development; disagreed with Skinner about language acquisition, stated there is an infinite # of sentences in a language, humans have an inborn native ability to develop language

linguistic relativity

view that characteristics of language shape our thought processes. different languages result in different perspectives on reality. different usage of language results in different perceptions/thinking.

visualization

Formation of mental visual images. Process where someone sees the solution or images themself doing something

memory

the persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information

multi-store model of memory

The memory model that visualises memory as a system consisting of multiple memory stores through which a stream of data flows for processing.

sensory memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system. iconic (eyes) and echoic (ears)

short term/working memory

The part of your memory system that contains information you are consciously aware of before it is stored more permanently or forgotten. long term memories that are retrieved . lasts for 10-30 seconds if not worked with

long term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

three processes of memory

encoding, storage, retrieval

encoding

the processing of information into the memory system—for example, by extracting meaning. sensory-stm-stm-ltm

storage

the retention of encoded information over time

retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage. ltm-stm. recalfl, recognition, relearning

the working memory model

short term memory is composed of multiple memories that manipulate and maintain memory

phonological loop

the part of working memory that holds and processes verbal and auditory information

visual spatial sketchpad

manipulation and storage of visual and spatial information

central executive

the part of working memory that directs attention and filters information between phonological loop and visual spatial sketchpad

prospective memory

remembering to do things in the future

flashbulb memories

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

hyperthymesia

superior memory of autobiographical events

mnemonists

people with highly developed memory to remember long lists of items and information

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