Lecture Notes Review: Functionalism, Structuralism, Sensation, Perception, and Depth Cues

Flashcards covering key concepts from your lecture notes on psychology, including schools of thought, sensation, perception, signal detection, and depth perception.

What psychological school of thought, associated with William James, emphasized the purpose and utility of consciousness and behavior in helping organisms adapt to their environment?

Functionalism

Which psychological school of thought, associated with Wundt, focused on the structure of the mind and its basic elements, rather than its function in adaptation?

Structuralism

What is the process by which receptors in our sensory organs receive and detect stimuli?

Sensation

What is the process through which information about stimuli is organized, interpreted, and transformed into something meaningful?

Perception

What type of processing involves taking basic information about incoming sensory stimuli and processing it for further interpretation?

Bottom-up processing

What type of processing involves drawing on past experiences and knowledge to understand and interpret sensory information?

Top-down processing

What is the process of transforming stimuli (like light or sound) into electrical and chemical signals understood by the brain?

Transduction

What is the weakest stimuli that would be detected 50% of the time?

Absolute Thresholds

What is the minimum difference between two stimuli that can be noticed 50% of the time?

Difference Thresholds

What theory explains how internal and external factors influence our ability to detect weak signals in the environment?

Signal Detection Theory

Name an internal factor that can influence signal detection.

Hunger or motivation

Name an external factor that can influence signal detection.

Temperature or noise

What ability allows us to perceive three-dimensional objects and judge distance?

Depth Perception

What experimental setup was used to understand when young organisms begin to perceive and understand depth?

The Visual Cliff

What concept describes the natural tendency for the brain to organize stimuli into a whole rather than perceiving parts and pieces?

Gestalt principles

When two things contrast, what Gestalt principle describes how our brain makes one object the figure and the other the background?

Figure-Ground

What Gestalt principle describes the brain's tendency to complete an image, even if it's not complete?

Closure

What Gestalt principle describes how our brain likes to organize objects based on what is close together?

Proximity

What Gestalt principle describes how our brain likes to organize similar objects together?

Similarity

What type of depth and distance cues are gathered from both eyes?

Binocular Cues

What binocular cue refers to the difference between the images seen by the right and left eyes, where a greater difference indicates a closer object?

Retinal Disparity

What binocular cue refers to increased muscular tension as the eye muscles turn inward when an object is close, causing the object to be perceived as near?

Convergence

What type of depth and distance cues require the use of only one eye?

Monocular Cues

Linear Perspective

Occurs when two lines that are parallel at different distances start to converge

When looking at linear perspective

The closest to the observer looks wide, while the further away starts to converge

Relative Size

When two objects are the same actual size, but one appears smaller, it is perceived as being further away.

Texture Gradient

At different distances, textures begin to look like they are changing.

When looking at texture gradient

closer to the observer, small details in the texture can be seen, further away texture starts to converge

Learning

A relatively enduring change in behavior or thinking that results from experiences

How learning affects behavior

Learning leads to changes in how organisms responds to events

Habituation

A basic form of learning, evident when an organism does not respond as strongly or as often to an event following multiple exposures to it.

Reflex

Behavior you are born with

Examples of reflexes

include sucking, grasping, and blinking.

Classical Conditioning

A type of learning where two different stimuli are associated, leading to a response

Where have many principles of classical conditioning came from?

Animal Research

Stimulus

An event or occurrence that generally causes a response.

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

A stimulus that does not originally cause a relevant, automatic, or reflexive response.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

A stimulus that automatically triggers an involuntary response without any prior learning needed.

Unconditioned Response (UR)

A reflexive, involuntary response to an unconditioned stimulus.

Whats an example of an unconditioned response?

A natural reaction to a stimulus, such as salivating when food is presented.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that, after being paired with the unconditioned stimulus, comes to elicit a conditioned response.

Conditioned Response (CR)

A learned response to a previously neutral (now conditioned) stimulus

Why does the neutral stimulus turn into a conditioned response?

The neutral stimulus turns into a conditioned response because it becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus through repeated pairings, leading to a learned reaction.

Stimulus Generalization

After an association is forged between the CS and the CR, the learner often responds to similar stimuli as if they are the original CS

The learned response is extended to the stimuli

that resemble the conditioned stimulus.

Stimulus Discrimination

The ability to differentiate between a particular CS and other significantly different stimuli.

What is stimulus discrimination also referred to as?

stimulus differentiation

Operant Conditioning

Connects between behaviors and their consequences, where learning occurs based on the outcomes of actions.

Observational Learning

Learning occurs by watching and imitating others.