principals of psych 2

Sensation

Detecting physical energy (a stimulus) in the environment and converting it to neural energy.

Perception

Process of organizing and interpreting sensory information.

Absolute threshold

Minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time.

Difference threshold

Minimal difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time.

Transduction

Converting one form of energy into another.

Sensory adaptation

The process by which sensory receptors become less responsive to constant stimuli over time, leading to a decrease in awareness of the stimuli.

Perceptual set

Predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Context effects

How immediate context can change perception.

Binocular cues

Depth cues that require two eyes, such as retinal disparity.

Monocular cues

Depth cues available to either eye alone, such as relative size and interposition.

Figure vs ground

The tendency to divide visual scenes into a figure (object) and ground (background).

Closure

The tendency to fill in gaps to create whole objects.

Rods

Photoreceptors in the retina responsible for vision in dim light.

Cones

Photoreceptors in the retina responsible for color and detail in bright light.

Dark adaptation

The process of adjusting to dim light.

Light adaptation

The process of adjusting to bright light.

Gestalt

An organized whole; our tendency to integrate pieces into a meaningful whole.

Illusory conjunction

A perceptual mistake where features from multiple objects are incorrectly combined.

Priming

Activation of particular associations often unconsciously.

Spontaneous recovery

Reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a pause.

• It suggests that learning is not completely erased but can resurface under certain conditions.

Classical conditioning

an unconscious process where an automatic, conditioned response becomes associated with a specific stimulus through repetition.

Operant conditioning

a learning process that uses rewards and punishments to modify behavior

Law of Effect

Behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely.

Positive reinforcement

The presentation of a stimulus that increases the likelihood of a behavior.

Negative reinforcement

The removal of an aversive stimulus that increases the likelihood of a behavior.

Positive punishment

adding a negative consequence to discourage an unwanted behavior.

Negative punishment

The removal of a pleasant stimulus to decrease a behavior.

Sensory memory

Short-lived, fast-decaying memory store.

Working memory

What we are consciously thinking about right now, lasting about 10-15 seconds.

Long-term memory

Essentially unlimited memory capacity for storing information.

Episodic memory

Memory of personally experienced events.

Semantic memory

Memory of general knowledge and facts.

Implicit memory

Non-declarative memory for skills and conditional responses.

Retrieval cues

Any piece of information that aids the retrieval of memories.

Context-dependent memory

Improved recall when the retrieval context matches the encoding context.

Proactive interference

Old information interferes with the learning of new information.

Retroactive interference

New information interferes with the recall of old information.

Misinformation effect

Incorporating misleading information into memory of an event.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to search for and favor information that confirms preexisting beliefs.

Functional fixedness

Inability to see alternative uses for an object.

Availability heuristic

Judging the likelihood of something based on how easily it comes to mind.

Representativeness heuristic

Judging likelihood based on how well it matches a prototype.

Framing

The way information is presented can influence decisions.