Exam 2 study (copy)

Gestalt

The word ***_____*** literally means form or pattern, but its use reflects the idea that the whole is different from the sum of its parts.

figure-ground relationship

When we segment our visual world into figure and ground. Figure is the object or person that is the focus of the visual field, while the ground is the background.

proximity

asserts that things that are close to one another tend to be grouped together

similarity

things that are alike tend to be grouped together

law of **continuity**

The law of continuity suggests that we are more likely to perceive continuous, smooth flowing lines rather than jagged, broken lines.

closure

we organize our perceptions into complete objects rather than as a series of parts.

**pattern perception**

our ability to discriminate among different figures and shapes.

**perceptual hypotheses**

educated guesses that we make while interpreting sensory information.

A message below that threshold is said to be ______ We receive it, but we are not consciously aware of it

subliminal

 refers to the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced. it involves both bottom-up and top-down processing.

Perception

is a physical process, whereas is psychological

Sensation, perception

 is the failure to notice something that is completely visible because the person was actively attending to something else and did not pay attention to other things

Inattentional blindness

Rods and cones

Photoreceptor cells

\

Cones

work best in bright light conditions. Are very sensitive to acute detail and provide tremendous spatial resolution. Are directly involved in our ability to perceive color. Are concentrated in the fovea

Rods

work well in low light conditions, and while they lack the spatial resolution and color function of the cones, they are involved in our vision in dimly lit environments as well as in our perception of movement on the periphery of our visual field.

Optic nerve

carries visual information from the retina to the brain. 

visual information is sent via a number of structures to the occipital lobe at the back of the brain for processing. Visual information might be processed in parallel pathways which can generally be described as the “what pathway” and the “where/how” pathway.

“What pathway”, “Where/how”

**optic chiasm**

is an X-shaped structure that sits just below the cerebral cortex at the front of the brain. At the point of the **optic** chiasm, information from the right visual field (which comes from both eyes) is sent to the left side of the brain, and information from the left visual field is sent to the right side of the brain.

pinna, auditory canal, tympanic membrane

The outer ear includes the **___**__,__ which is the visible part of the ear that protrudes from our heads, the  __*canal, and the*__ __________, or eardrum.

in the middle ears we can find the **ossicles,**

**malleus** (or hammer), **incus** (or anvil), and the **stapes** (or stirrup).

The **cochlea** 

is a fluid-filled, snail-shaped structure that contains the sensory **receptor** cells (hair cells) of the **auditory** system

auditory, tympanic membrane, ossicles, cochelea, hair cell

Sound waves travel along the \*\*\*\*\* canal and strike the \*\*\*\*\***,** causing it to vibrate. This vibration results in movement of the three \*\* **.** As the ossicles move, the stapes presses into a thin membrane of the \*\*\*\*\*\*\* known as the oval window. As the stapes presses into the oval window, the fluid inside the cochlea begins to move, which in turn stimulates *********** , which are **auditory** **receptor** cells of the inner ear embedded in the basilar membrane.

hair cells

The stimulation of the ___ ultimately leads to activation of the cell. As__ _____ become activated, they generate neural impulses that travel along the auditory nerve to the brain. Auditory information is shuttled to the inferior colliculus, the medial geniculate nucleus of the thalamus, and finally to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe of the brain for processing.

 **temporal theory**

 of pitch perception asserts that frequency is coded by the activity level of a sensory neuron. This would mean that a given hair cell would fire action potentials related to the frequency of the sound wave.

The **place theory**

 of pitch perception suggests that different portions of the basilar membrane are sensitive to sounds of different frequencies.

**Associative learning** 

occurs when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment.

classical conditioning

tends to involve unconscious processes 

operant conditioning

tends to involve conscious processes

 is a process by which we learn to associate stimuli and, consequently, to anticipate events.

**classical conditioning**

When an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar, it is called 

**stimulus discrimination**

when an organism demonstrates the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the condition **stimulus**, it is called 

stimulus generalization

**latent learning**

learning that occurs but is not observable in behavior until there is a reason to demonstrate it.

Suppose that Ravi’s dad drives him to school every day. In this way, Ravi learns the route from his house to his school, but he’s never driven there himself, so he has not had a chance to demonstrate that he’s learned the way. One morning Ravi’s dad has to leave early for a meeting, so he can’t drive Ravi to school. Instead, Ravi follows the same route on his bike that his dad would have taken in the car. This is an example of

latent learning

In **positive reinforcement**

a desirable stimulus is added to increase a behavior.

In **negative reinforcement**

an undesirable stimulus is removed to increase a behavior.

In **positive punishment**

you add an undesirable stimulus to decrease a behavior.

In **negative punishment**

you remove a pleasant stimulus to decrease behavior.

 A **fixed interval reinforcement schedule**

 is when behavior is rewarded after a set amount of time.

a **variable interval reinforcement schedule**

the person or animal gets the reinforcement based on varying amounts of time, which are unpredictable.

a **fixed ratio reinforcement schedule**

there are a set number of responses that must occur before the behavior is rewarded.

**variable ratio reinforcement schedule**

the number of responses needed for a reward varies.

**observational learning** 

is the process of watching others and then imitating what they do.

 **Concepts** 

are categories or groupings of linguistic information, images, ideas, or memories, such as life experiences.

 A **prototype** 

is the best example or representation of a concept

**Natural concepts** 

are created “naturally” through your experiences and can be developed from either direct or indirect experiences.

**artificial concept**

is a concept that is defined by a specific set of characteristics.

A **schema** 

is a mental construct consisting of a cluster or collection of related concepts. When _____ is activated, the brain makes immediate assumptions about the person or object being observed.

A **role schema** 

makes assumptions about how individuals in certain roles will behave

An **event schema** (cognitive script)

is a set of behaviors that can feel like a routine.

a **heuristic** 

is a general problem-solving framework. You can think of these as mental shortcuts that are used to solve problems.

Working backwards; breaking a task into steps

are types of heuristics

A **mental set** 

is where you persist in approaching a problem in a way that has worked in the past but is clearly not working now.

**Functional fixedness**

 is a type of mental set where you cannot perceive an object being used for something other than what it was designed for.

**anchoring bias** 

occurs when you focus on one piece of information when making a decision or solving a problem. 

**confirmation bias** 

is the tendency to focus on information that confirms your existing beliefs.

**Hindsight bias**

 leads you to believe that the event you just experienced was predictable, even though it really wasn’t.

**Representative bias** 

describes a faulty way of thinking, in which you unintentionally stereotype someone or something;

**availability heuristic** 

is a heuristic in which you make a decision based on an example, information, or recent experience that is that readily available to you, even though it may not be the best example to inform your decision**.**

We get information into our brains through a process called 

encoding

**visual encoding**

input of images

**semantic encoding**

input of words and their meaning

**encoding**

input of information into the memory system

acoustic encoding

**input of sounds, words, and music**

**Atkinson-Shiffrin model**

\

memory model that states we process information through three systems: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory

three ways you can retrieve information out of your long-term memory storage system:

recall, recognition, and relearning.

recall

is what we most often think about when we talk about memory

recognition,

it means you can access information without cues.

relearning.

happens when you identify information that you have previously learned after encountering it again. It involves a process of comparison.

**Explicit memory** 

is sometimes referred to as declarative **memory**, because it can be put into words.

**Episodic memory**

 is information about events we have personally experienced

**Semantic memory**

 is knowledge about words, concepts, and language-based knowledge and facts. Semantic memory is typically reported as facts.

**Implicit memories**

 are long-term memories that are not part of our consciousness. They are learned outside of our awareness and cannot be consciously recalled, implicit memory is demonstrated in the performance of some task

Implicit procedural memory

stores information about the way to do something, and it is the memory for skilled actions, such as brushing your teeth, riding a bicycle, or driving a car.

Implicit emotional conditioning

is the type of memory involved in classically conditioned emotion responses. These emotional relationships cannot be reported or recalled but can be associated with different stimuli.

Implicit priming

is another type of implicit memory. During priming exposure to a stimulus affects the response to a later stimulus. Stimuli can vary and may include words, pictures, and other stimuli to elicit a response or increase recognition.

**Baddeley** and Hitch (1974) proposed the model

storing memories in short-term memory is like opening different files on a computer and adding information. The working memory files hold a limited amount of information. The type of short-term memory (or computer file) depends on the type of information received.

**arousal theory**

\

strong emotions trigger the formation of strong memories and weaker emotional experiences form weaker memories

During proactive **interference**,

previously learned information interferes with the ability to learn new information.

Continuous development

 views development as a cumulative process, gradually improving on existing skills. With this type of development, there is gradual change. Consider, for example, a child’s physical growth: adding inches to height year by year.

as discontinuous development

believe that development takes place in unique stages: It occurs at specific times or ages.

Freud propose that

that personality develops during early childhood. viewed development as discontinuous; and psychosexual development

 **psychosexual development**

According to **Freud**, children’s pleasure-seeking urges are focused on a different area of the body, called an erogenous zone, at each of the five stages of development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.

 **psychosocial development**

Erikson’s______ theory emphasizes the social nature of our development rather than its sexual nature. While

**Erikson** 

suggested that how we interact with others is what affects our sense of self, or what he called the ego identity.

Piaget

His theory of **cognitive development** holds that our cognitive abilities develop through specific stages, which exemplifies the discontinuity approach to development. As we progress to a new stage, there is a distinct shift in how we think and reason.

**cognitive development**

\

domain of lifespan development that examines learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity

**attachment** 

 as the affectional bond or tie that an infant forms with the mother

Kohlberg

identified three levels of moral reasoning: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional: Each level is associated with increasingly complex stages of moral development.