Penn State PSYCH 100 Exam 2

sensation

data input, 5 senses

perception

interpretation and recognition

absolute threshold

minimum simulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time

difference threshold

minimum difference between two stimuli needed to detect change 50% of the time

low threshold

more sensitive (high or low threshold)

cones

color sensitive

picks up fine detail

located in the center of the retina

requires more light than rods

(6 million)

rods

light sensitive

not color sensitive

low acuity

located in the periphery

(120 million)

3 pairs of color receptors

cones:

red or green

blue or yellow

black or white

trichromats

normal color vision

dichromats

can't distinguished red-green

monochromats

see no colors

sensory adaptation

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant simulation (after image)

bottom-up processing

taking sensory information and then assembling and integrating it (what am I seeing?)

top-down processing

using models, ideas, and expectations to interpret sensory information (is it something I have seen before?)

gestalt organizing principles

proximity, similarity, continuity, and connectedness

crawling age

when do babies develop depth perception?

learning

a relatively permanent change in one's behavior because of experience in an environment or context

affected by nature but dependent on nurture

step 1 of classical conditioning

unconditioned stimulus --> unconditioned response

US --> UR

step 2 of classical conditioning

neutral stimulus + unconditioned stimulus --> unconditioned response (aquisition)

NS + US --> UR

step 3 of classical conditioning

conditioned stimulus --> conditioned response

CS --> CR

extinction

the diminishing of a conditioned repsonse

acquisition

the initial stage of learning/conditioning when the NS and US are associated

spontaneous recovery

a return of the CR despite a lack of further conditioning

law of effect

operant conditioning law that states behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and vice versa

positive reinforcement

if you do your homework, you get extra dessert

negative reinforcement

if you do well on all your quizzes, you don't have to take the final

positive punishment

if you don't do your homework, you have to do an extra chore

negative punishment

if you don't do your homework, you don't get halloween candy

fixed ratio

predictable number of behaviors have occured

variable ratio

unpredictable number of behaviors have occured

fixed interval

predictable amount of time has passed

variable interval

unpredictable amount of time has passed

cognitive maps

mental representations are based on latent learning

latent learning

learning that does not immediately manifest itself in behavior, but instead appears once reward is given

intrinsic motivation

the desire to perform a behavior for its own sake

extrinsic motivation

the desire to perform a behavior due to promised rewards or threats of punishment

emotional contagion

humans are prone to spontaneous imitation of behaviors and emotions

stages of memory

encode --> storage --> retrieval

sensory memory

large capacity memory, brief duration, external event (input)

working (short-term) memory

limited capacity memory, short duration, only about 7 plus or minus 2 things can be stored, requires attention

long-term memory

large capacity memory, long duration, requires conscious processing

consciousness

awareness of ourselves and our environment

uninttentional blindness

an example is not seeing the moon walking bear behind the teams passing the basketballs

change blindness

an example is the person asking for directions changes when the people with the door walk through, but the person giving directions does not notice

unconscious processing

space, time, frequency

long-term potentiation

repetition of the chemical connections in our brains overtime strengthens the connection both chemically and physically

hippocampus

the area of the brain where explicit memories (declarative knowledge) are stored

cerebellum

the area of the brain when implicit memories (procedural knowledge) is stored

retrieval

to get info out, access the network

forgetting

an inability to retrieve information due to encoding failure, storage decay, retrieval failure, repression, or amnesia

encoding failure

failure to consciously process short-term memory

storage decay

poor durability of stored memories leads to decay

retrieval failure

proactive interference or retroactive interference getting in the way of remembering

repression

a defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings and memories from consciousness

proactive interference

older memory is getting in the way of newer memory

ex: studying french can interfere with your ability to study spanish

retroactive interference

newer memory is getting in the way of older memory

ex: studying math right before a psych exam

dissociative amnesia (fugue)

like repression but a longer time frame