AP PSYCHOLOGY-UNIT 2

Selective Attention

Focusing on only one part of a stimulus.

Inattentional Blindness

Only seeing something thing when our attention is focused on it.

Change Blindness

Not being able to notice changes when you are not looking for it.

Perceptual Set

Thinking something is true because you already expected it.

What influences how we interpret stimuli?

Context, Motivation, Emotions.

Gestalt

An organized whole that we focus on.

Figure-Ground

Separating subjects to backgrounds.

Grouping

The tendency to organize stimuli into groups.

Binocular Cue

Knowing the depth of something, like retinal disparity.

Depth Perception

The ability to judge distance.

Visual Cliff

A device for testing depth perception.

Convergence

A cue for distance, enabled by the brain combining images.

Retinal Disparity

A binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the two eyes-greater disparity=closer object.

Monocular Cue

A depth cue that you can use either eye for.

Stroboscopic Movement

The illusion of continuous movement you get when slightly different images move by quickly(animation smears).

Executive Functions

The cognitive skills that allow us to solve problems and make decisions effectively.

Algorithm

A problem solving method-trial and error.

Heuristic

A thinking strategy that makes judgements and solves problems faster, but is more error prone.

Insight

A sudden realization of a solution-no problem solving system.

Confirmation Bias

Ignoring information that doesn’t agree with our preconceived notions.

Fixation

The inability to see a problem from a new perspective.

Mental Set

A tendency to approach a problem in your style.

Intuition

Automatic feelings.

Representativness Heuristic

Using your own definition of something to match a subject to a description (if it looks like a duck and acts like a duck (fits your mental image of a duck), you call it a duck).

Availability Heuristic

Thinking correlations exist just because an event is fresh in your mind (ex: black people are dangerous).

Overconfidence

The tendency to overestimate how accurate our beliefs are.

Belief Perseverance

Thinking that our initial thought process is correct even after it’s been disproved.

Framing

How an issue is posed.

Nudge

Framing things in a way that people want to say yes.

Phi Phenomenon

An illusion of movement when two lights are blinking on and off fast.

Autokinetic Effect

The illusion of a light moving in a dark room.

Perceptual Constancy(Top Down Process)

Being able to recognize objects even if distance and retinal image changes

Color Consistency

Perceiving color as the same even if it’s surrounded by other wavelengths.

Perceptual Adaptation

The brain’s ability to adjust to changed sensory input.

Cognition

Mental associations with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communication.

Metacognition

Knowledge of our brain operating.

Concept

A mental grouping of similar objects, ideas, events, or people.

Prototype

A mental image for a concept.

Schema

A concept created by our experiences.

Assimilation

Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.

Accomodation

Adapting our current schemas to include new information.

Creativity

The ability to produce new ideas.

Convergent Thinking

Narrowing solutions to determine best solution.

Divergent Thinking

Thinking about creative solutions.

Memory

Learning over time with encoding, storage, and retrieval of information.

Recall

Fill in the blank-using past information to answer a question.

Recognition

Multiple choice-Identifying pre-learned knowledge.

What are the three steps of the Information-Processing Model?

Encoding, Storage, Retrieval.

Relearning

How much time you save when you learn something again

Encoding

Getting information into our brains.

Storage

Retaining the encoded information over time.

Retrieval

Using the memory.

Parallel Processing

Processing multiple parts of a stimulus at once.

Sensory Memory

The quick recording of a stimuli in your memory.

Short-Term Memory

A memory of the stimulus you paid attention to.

Long-Term Memory

Memory that is encoded, stored, and retrieved multiple times.

Working Memory

Using short and long term memories together.(ex:reading)

Central Executive

A part of memory that controls phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad.

Phonological Loop

Briefly holds auditory information(like the buzz in a cafeteria).

Visuospatial Sketchpad

Briefly holds information about an objects apperance and location.

Neurogenesis

The formation of new neurons.

Long-Term Potentiation(LTP)

The more often a stimulus is experiences, the less time needed to react.

Explicit Memories

Knowledge and facts that we memorized and can declare(ex:what is the USA’s capitol?DC.")

Effortful Processing

Encoding that requires attention and effort to remember.

Automatic Processing

Unconscious encoding of information(usually familiar information like words).

Implicit Memories

Knowing how to do things without needing to remember HOW(like riding a bike).

What do we process automatically?

Space, Time, Frequency.

Iconic Memory

A fleeting sensory memory of visual stimuli.

Echoic Memory

A fleeting sensory auditory stimuli(you can still remember some words from the past couple of seconds).

How long can we remember Short-Term memories?

Only a couple seconds without retrieval.

Chunking

Organizing items into smaller, manageable units-usually happens automatically.

Mnemonics

Memory aids.

Spacing Effect

Stretching our retrieval over a period of time instead of just one session.

Hierarchies

Webs that connect things to organize them(like the animal kingdom).

Testing Effect

Retrieving instead of just rereading.

Shallow Processing

Only processing basic information about a stimulus(like the word itself or the letters that make up the word)

Deep Processing

Encodes based on the meaning of the word(actually paying attention to the stimulus and what it is).

Intelligence

Our ability to solve problems and adapt.

General Intelligence(G)

The underlying of every mental task.(Spearman)

Factor Analysis

A procedure that identifies clusters of related items.

Fluid Intelligence(GC)

Our ability to reason fast.

Crystallized Intelligence(GC)

The verbal skills you gain as you get older.

Cattell-Horn-Carroll(CHC) Theory

Our intelligence is based on g and gc/gf.

Savant Syndrome

A condition where a person had an exceptional talent in a specific skill.

What are the three intelligences(Sternberg)?

Analytical, Creative, Practical.

What are the nine intelligences(Gardner)?

Musical, Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Linguistics, Mathematical, Naturalistic, Intrapersonal, Visual. (May Kenny's Ice Lolly Match Nelly's

Grit

Passion and perseverance for a long-term goal.

Emotional Intelligence

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

Gambler's Fallacy

Thinking that past results affect the current one.

Semantic Memory

Explicit memory of facts and general knowledge.

Episodic Memory

Explicit memory of personally experienced events.

What Are The Two Memory Systems?

Semantic and Episodic Memory.

Hippocampus/Frontal Lobes

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

Memory Consolidation

The neural storage for long-term memories.

Cerebellum

Stores implicit memories created by classical conditioning.

Basal Ganglia

Controls our classical conditioning movements(Implicit memories).

Flashbulb Memories

Clear memories of significant events.

Retrospective Memory

Memories from our past.

Prospective Memory

Our intended future action(remembering what you're going to do).

Priming

Outside influences affect our mental associations.