Unit 2 Vocab 1
1. selective attention: focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.
2. inattentional blindness: failing to see visible objects when our attention is
direct- ed elsewhere.
3. change blindness: failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of
inattentional blindness.
4. perceptual set: a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.
5. gestalt: an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency
to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.
6. figure-ground: the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures)
that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).
7. grouping: the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.
8. 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.
9. visual cliff: a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and
young animals.
10. binocular cue: a depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the
use of two eyes.
11. convergence: a cue to nearby objects’ distance, enabled by the brain
combining retinal images.
12. 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.
13. monocular cue: a depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective,
avail- able to either eye alone.
14. stroboscopic movement: an illusion of continuous movement (as in a
motion picture) experienced when viewing a rapid series of slightly varying still
images.
15. phi phenomenon: an illusion of movement created when two or more
adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.
16. autokinetic effect: the illusory movement of a still spot of light in a dark room.
17. perceptual constancy: perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent
color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images
change.
18. color constancy: perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even
if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object.
19. perceptual adaptation: the ability to adjust to changed sensory input,
including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field.
20. cognition: all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing,
remembering, and communicating.
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AP Psychology – Unit 2 Terminology
21. metacognition: cognition about our cognition; keeping track of and
evaluating our mental processes.
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22. concept: a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.
23. prototype: a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new
items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into
categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as
a crow).
24. schema: a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.
25. assimilation: interpreting our new experiences in terms of our
existing schemas.
26. accommodation (in developmental psychology): in developmental
psychology, adapting our current schemas (understandings) to incorporate new
information.
27. creativity: the ability to produce new and valuable ideas.
28. convergent thinking: narrowing the available problem solutions to
determine the single best solution.
29. divergent thinking: expanding the number of possible problem solutions;
creative thinking that diverges in different directions.
30. executive functions: cognitive skills that work together, enabling us to
generate, organize, plan, and implement goal-directed behavior.
31. 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.
32. 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.
33. insight: a sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with
strategy-based solutions.
34. confirmation bias: a tendency to search for information that supports
our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.
35. fixation: in cognition, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective;
an obstacle to problem solving.
36. mental set: a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a
way that has been successful in the past.
37. intuition: an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as
contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.
38. 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.
39. 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.
40. overconfidence: the tendency to be more confident than correct — to
overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.
41. belief perseverance: the persistence of one’s initial conceptions even after
the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.
42. framing: the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can
significantly affect decisions and judgments.
43. nudge: framing choices in a way that encourages people to make
beneficial decisions.
44. memory: persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage,
and retrieval of information.
45. recall: a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve
information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.
46. recognition: a measure of memory in which the person identifies items
previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.
47. relearning: a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved
when learning material again.
48. encoding: the process of getting information into the memory system —
for example, by extracting meaning.
49. storage: the process of retaining encoded information over time.
50. retrieval: the process of getting information out of memory storage.
51. parallel processing: processing multiple aspects of a stimulus or
problem simultaneously.
52. sensory memory: the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information
in the memory system.
53. 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.
54. long-term memory: the relatively permanent and limitless archive of the
memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.
55. 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.
56. central executive: a memory component that coordinates the activities of
the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad.
57. phonological loop: a memory component that briefly holds auditory
information.
58. visuospatial sketchpad: a memory component that briefly holds
information about objects’ appearance and location in space.
59. neurogenesis: the formation of new neurons.
60. long-term potentiation (LTP): an increase in a nerve cell’s firing potential after
brief, rapid stimulation; a neural basis for learning and memory.
61. explicit memory: retention of facts and experiences that we can consciously
know and “declare.” (Also called declarative memory.)
62. effortful processing: encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.
63. 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.
64. implicit memory: retention of
learned skills or classically conditioned
associations independent of conscious recollection. (Also called nondeclarative
memory.)
65. 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.
66. 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.
67. chunking: organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs
automatically.
68. mnemonics: memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery
and organizational devices.
69. spacing effect: the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better
long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.
70. testing effect: enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading,
information. Also referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning.
71. shallow processing: encoding on a basic level, based on the structure or
appearance of words.
72. deep processing: encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words;
tends to yield the best retention.