AP Psych

Bottom-up processing

Analysis that begins with sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information.

Top-down processing

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, drawing on experience and expectations.

Perceptual set

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another based on expectations.

Gestalt

A German word meaning 'form' or 'whole'; the tendency to integrate pieces of information into an organized whole.

Selective attention

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, such as the cocktail party effect.

Inattentional blindness

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.

Retinal disparity

A binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the retinas in both eyes.

Perceptual constancy

The ability to perceive objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change.

Algorithm

A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees a solution to a problem.

Heuristic

A simple thinking strategy that allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently, without guaranteed solutions.

Representative heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events in reference to how closely they resemble a particular prototype.

Availability heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on how readily they come to mind.

Confirmation bias

A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and ignore contradictory evidence.

Functional fixedness

The inability to recognize novel uses for an item and only seeing it for its most common purpose.

Memory

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

Explicit memory

Retention of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare (declarative memory).

Implicit memory

Retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection.

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

An increase in a cell's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; the neural basis for learning and memory.

Spacing effect

The tendency for distributed study to yield better long-term retention than mass practice.

Serial position effect

Our tendency to best remember the items at the beginning (primacy effect) and end (recency effect) of a list.

Anterograde amnesia

An inability to form new memories following brain damage or injury.

Retrograde amnesia

An inability to retrieve past memories from before an injury or trauma.

Proactive interference

The forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information.

Retroactive interference

The backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old information.

General intelligence (g)

A general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman, underlies specific mental abilities and is measured by every task on an intelligence test.

Fluid intelligence

Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood.

Crystallized intelligence

Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.

Stereotype threat

A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.

Flynn effect

The historical finding that the average human IQ has steadily increased over time, requiring tests to be renormed.