ap pysch unit 2

selective attention

the act of focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

inattentional blindess

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

change blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment (form of inattentional blindness)

perceptual set

mental predisposition to perceive one thing & not the other; affects top-down processing; affects hearing, sight, & smell

schema

concepts that organize & interpret unfamiliar information; stereotypes color perception

context (for perception)

circumstances of a situation that affect perception

motivation (for perception)

energy we have to work towards a goal that can bias our interpretations of neutral stimuli

emotion (for perception)

when our emotions shove our interpretations in one direction or another

gestalt

“organized whole” ; emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

figure ground

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

grouping

perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent group

depth perception

ability to see obejcts in 3D, although the images that strike retina are 2D; allows us to judge distance

visual cliff

labratory device for testing depth perception in infants & young animals

binocular cues

depth cue that depends on using 2 eyes

convergance

cue to nearby objects’ distance, enabled by brain combining retinal images

retinal disparity

binocular cue for perceiving depth; compares retinal images from both eyes & computes distance

greater disparity=closer object

monocular cues

depth cue available to either eye alone

stroboscpoic movement

illusion of movement experiences when viewing rapid series of slightly varying still images

(e.g. animation)

phi phenomenon

illusion of movement when 2 or more adjacent lights blink on & off in quick succession

(e.g. christmas lights)

autokinetic effect

illusory movement of a still spot of light in a dark room

perceptual constancy

perceiving objects as unchanging (consistent color, brightness, shape & size) even as illumination & retinal images change

(includes top down processing)

color constancy

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

(includes top down processing)

perceptual adaptation

ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including artifically displaced or even inverted visual field

cognition

all mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, & communicating

meta cognition

keeping track of & evaluating our mental processes

concepts

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

prototype

best example of a category

(e.g. comparing a feathered creature to a prototypical bird, like a crow)

schemas

concept that organizes & interprets information

assimilation

interpretin our new experiences in terms of our existin schemas

accomodate

adapting our current schemas to incorporate new information

creativity

ability to produce novel and valuable ideas

convergent thinking

ability to provide a single correct answer

(aptitude tests like the SAT require this kind of thinking)

divergent thinking

ability to consider many different options & to think in novel ways

5 components of creativity

expertise, imaginative thinking skills, venturesome personality, intrinsic motivation (indulging for the passion rather than a reward), and a creative environment

ways to boost creativity

develop expertise, allow time for incubation (e.g. sleeping on an idea), and setting time aside for the mind to roam freely

executive functions

cognitive skills that work together, enabling us to generate, organize, plan, & implement goal-directed behavior

algorithm

methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem; time consuming yet provides the correct answer almost every time

(e.g. mathematics)

heuristic

simple thinking strategy that allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently; shortcut yet doesn’t always guarantee the correct answer

insight

sudden realization of a problem’s solution (usually comes spontaneously)

confirmation bias

tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions & to ignore or distort contradictory information

fixation

inability to see a problem from a new perspective (obstacle to problem solving)

mental set

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

intuition

effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought

representative heuristic

judging likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes

(e.g. thinking a tall man plays basketball professionally based on his height)

availability heuristic

judging the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory

(e.g. thinking shark attacks happen often because you saw one report of one when in reality they are incredibly rare)

overconfidence

tendency to be more confident than correct

belief perseverance

persistence of one’s initial conceptions even after basis on which they were formed has been discredited

framing

the way an issue is proposed that can significantly affect decisions & judgements

(e.g. picking between two frozen yogurt tubs, with one saying “20% fat” & the other saying “80% fat free,” when really they are the same product)

nudge

framing choices in a way that encourages people to make beneficial decisions

memory

persistence of learning over time through encoding, storage, and retrieval of information

encoding

getting information into brain

storing

retaining information

retreival

to get the information back out of brain when necessary

recall

retreiving information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but was learned at an earilier time

recognition

identifying items previously learned

relearning

learning something quicker when you learn it a second or later time

parallel processing

processing multiple aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously