Unit 2 AP Psych

Kim WHS

selective attention

focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.

Inattentional blindness

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

change blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of inattentional blindness.

perceptual set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Gestalt

an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Figure-ground

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

Grouping

the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.

depth perception

the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance.

visual cliff

a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.

binocular cue

a depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes.

Convergence

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

retinal disparity

a binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing retinal images from the two eyes, the brain computes distance — the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.

monocular cue

a depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone.

stroboscopic movement

an illusion of continuous movement (as in a motion picture) experienced when viewing a rapid series of slightly varying still images.

phi phenomenon

an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.

autokinetic effect

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

perceptual constancy

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

color constancy

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

perceptual adaptation

the ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field.

Cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Metacognition

cognition about our cognition; keeping track of and evaluating our mental processes.

Concept

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

Prototype

a mental image or best example of a category.

Jean Piaget

studied the development of cognition in children, argued that our intellectual progression reflects an unceasing struggle to make sense of our experiences.

Schema

concepts or mental molds into which we pour our experiences

Assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.

Accommodation

(2) in developmental psychology, adapting our current schemas (understandings) to incorporate new information.

Creativity

the ability to produce new and valuable ideas.

convergent thinking

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.

divergent thinking

expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions.

Robert Sternberg

believed creativity has five components— expertise, imaginative thinking skills, a venturesome personality, intrinsic motivation, and a creative environment

executive functions

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

Algorithm

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier — but also more error-prone — use of heuristics.

Heuristic

a simple thinking strategy — a mental shortcut — that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than an algorithm.

Insight

a sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions.

Wolfgang Köhler

showed that humans are not the only creatures to display insight. He placed a piece of fruit and a long stick outside the cage of a chimpanzee named Sultan,

confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

Fixation

in cognition, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem solving.

mental set

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

Intuition

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

Amos Tversky

some intuitive mental shortcuts — the representativeness and availability heuristics — can lead even the smartest people to make dumb decisions.3

Daniel Kahneman

But as cognitive psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman (1974) showed, some intuitive mental shortcuts — the representativeness and availability heuristics — can lead even the smartest people to make dumb decisions.

Representativeness heuristic

judging the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information.

availability heuristic

judging the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common.

Overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct — to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

belief perseverance

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

Framing

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

Nudge

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

Memory

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

Recall

retention measure. a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.

Recognition

retention measure. a measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.

Relearning

a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again.

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Our response speed when recalling or recognizing information indicates memory strength, as does our speed at relearning. Pioneering memory researcher Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909) showed this in the nineteenth century using nonsense syllables.

Encoding

information processing model. Get information into the brain

Storage

information processing model. retain the information.

Retrieval

information processing model. later get the information back out of our brain.

parallel processing

processing multiple aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously.

Richard Atkinson

ANSWER IS RICHARD. To explain our memory-forming process, Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968, 2016) proposed the three-stage multi-store model (short term, long term, working)

Richard Shiffrin

To explain our memory-forming process, Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968, 2016) proposed the three-stage multi-store model (short term, long term, working)

sensory memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

short-term memory

briefly activated memory of a few items (such as digits of a phone number while calling) that is later stored or forgotten.

long-term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless archive of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

working memory

a newer understanding of short-term memory; conscious, active processing of both (1) incoming sensory information, and (2) information retrieved from long-term memory.

central executive

a memory component that coordinates the activities of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad.

phonological loop

a memory component that briefly holds auditory information.

visuospatial sketchpad

a memory component that briefly holds information about objects’ appearance and location in space.

Neurogenesis

the formation of new neurons.

Eric Kandel

Eric Kandel's primary discoveries involve the molecular mechanisms of learning and memory. His groundbreaking work with the sea slug Aplysia demonstrated that short-term memory involves changes in the strength of connections between neurons (synapses), while long-term memory requires gene expression and the growth of new synaptic connections. This research showed how experiences can lead to structural changes in the brain and helped establish the biological basis for how we learn and remember.

long-term potentiation (LTP)

an increase in a nerve cell’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory.

explicit memory

retention of facts and experiences that we can consciously know and “declare.” (Also called declarative memory.)

effortful processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

automatic processing

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of familiar or well-learned information, such as sounds, smells, and word meanings.

implicit memory

retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection. (Also called nondeclarative memory.)

Iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli- a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.

Echoic memory

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli- if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds.

George Miller

(1956) proposed that we can store about seven pieces of information (give or take two) in short-term memory.

Chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units- often occurs automatically.

Mnemonics

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

Spacing effect

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.

Testing effect

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information. Also referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning

Shallow processing

encoding on a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words.

Deep processing

encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words- tends to yield the best retention.

semantic

explicit memory of facts and general knowledge- one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is episodic memory).

Episodic

explicit memory of personally experienced events- one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is semantic memory).

Hippocampus

a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit (conscious) memories — of facts and events — for storage.

Memory consolidation

the neural storage of a long-term memory.

Flashbulb memories

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response.

Encoding specificity principle

the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it.

Mood congruent

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood.

Serial position effect

our tendency to recall best the last items in a list initially (a recency effect) and the first items in a list after a delay (a primacy effect).

Interleaving

a retrieval practice strategy that involves mixing the study of different topics.

Anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories.

Retrograde amnesia

an inability to remember information from one’s past.

Proactive (forward-acting) interference

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

Retroactive (backward-acting) interference

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

Repress

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.

Reconsolidation

a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again.

Elizabeth Loftus

Dr. Elizabeth Loftus is world renowned for her work in the field of eyewitness testimony. Before her work in the 70's, eyewitness testimony was considered rock solid. Her experiments proved that not only does memory NOT work like a tape recorder, it is in fact routinely altered before, during, and after an event!

Misinformation effect

occurs when a memory has been corrupted by misleading information.