AP Psychology Mega Review Guide Notes

AP Psychology Mega Review Guide

Exam Resources

• Exam Description Link
• AP Classroom Link
• Full Course Review Link
• Confusing Pairs Link
• Famous Psychologists Link
• Non-Content Vocab Link
• Other Resources
• Harry Potter Review Link
• FRQ Information Link
• Vocab List Link
• Lecture By Topic Options 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
• AP Classroom videos Link 1

Common Topics Review

• Common Topics Review Link
• Confusing Pairs Link
• Famous Psychologists Link
• Perspectives Link
• Biological Bases Link
• Neurons & Neurotransmitters Link
• Monocular Cues & Gestalt Laws Link
• Learning & Development Link
• Thinking, Intelligence, Language Link
• Erikson’s Stages Link
• Motivation, Stress, and Health Link
• Social Psychology Link
• Defense Mechanisms Link
• Clinical Psychology Link
• BLOOKET Link 2

Additional Resources

• Having Trouble with Stats Link
• Having Trouble with Methods Link
• Research Methods Practice Link
• Having Trouble with Neural Transmission Link
• Test Day Strategies Link
• Visuals Concept Maps (Print & Fill) Link
• Visuals & Diagrams to Redraw Link
• Common Graphs on the exam Link
• PowerPoint One Stop Shop (These are not mine, but the info is the same!):
  • Research
  • Biology
  • Sleep
  • Sensation
  • Perception
  • Cognition
  • Intelligence
  • Memory
  • Development
  • Learning
  • Social Psych
  • Personality
  • Motivation
  • Stress
  • Clinical

Approaches and Perspectives

• Introduction to Psychological Science (#) is out of 9 Multiple Choice AP Exams prior to 2019 [#] is appearances on old CED FRQ prior to 2023
• Psychological Perspectives: Represent different ways of thinking about how people behave (4)
  • Behavioral: Study on how all behavior is observable and measurable. Reinforcement, token economies, observational learning, etc. (6)
  • Psychodynamic: Study of the unconscious, childhood, and aggression, and how these affect the adult self. Freud’s theory (founder of psychoanalysis). (4)
  • Humanistic: Study how humans differ from animals, mainly that humans have free will and can reach their full potential. (3)
  • Cognitive: Study how we perceive, think, and solve problems. (5) [1]
  • Evolutionary: Study of the evolution of humans over time and how humans adapt to their environments.
  • Sociocultural: Study of how experiences like culture, gender, and family affect our life. (4)
  • Biological: Study the physiology of the body to explain behavior – neuroscience.
  • Eclectic Approach: Combining ideas from multiple theories: Biological, Psychological, and Socio-Cultural (1)
  • Order of Perspectives Chronologically: Psychoanalytic, Behavioral, and then Humanistic

Cognitive Biases

• Roadblocks to critical thinking (1) [2]
  • Confirmation Bias: The tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories. (Only researching your point of view on a topic). (1)
  • Hindsight Bias: Tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that we would have predicted it beforehand and may contribute to blaming the victim and forming prejudices against him/her.
  • Overconfidence: The tendency to be more confident than correct.

Branches of Psychology

• Psychiatrist: A branch of medicine that deals with mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders. Post-medical school degree – can prescribe medicine
• Clinical Psychologist: Diagnoses and treats people with emotional disturbances and mental illnesses. Work in offices, mental hospitals, prisons, and clinics
• Counseling Psychologist: Helps people with problems of living (family, work, school, etc.). Work in schools and industrial firms
• Developmental Psychologist: Study physical, emotional, cognitive, and social changes that occur throughout life. Study childhood through adulthood and dying (2) [1]
• IO Psychologist: (Industrial and organizational) study human behavior in the workplace/businesses.
• Psychometric Psychologist: Studying the measurement of our abilities, attitudes, and traits
• Positive Psychologist: Uses scientific methods to explore the building of a “meaningful life” that points beyond ourselves

Research Methods and Statistics

Experimental Research

• Hypothesis: A testable prediction, often induced by a theory, to enable us to accept, reject, or revise the theory.
• Falsifiability: Must be present in ALL hypotheses - the possibility that an assertion can be shown false. NOT meaning the results are false; MEANING that the research CAN be shown as false. The intent is to keep progressing science. (2) [7]
• Operational Definition: A clear statement of what a variable is in an experiment/how the variable is measured.
• Peer Review: Scientific experts evaluate a research article’s accuracy.
• Replication: Process of repeating research to see if the same results are obtained.
• Theory: An explanation that integrates principles, organizes, and predicts behavior or event. It must be a highly tested hypothesis. [1]
• Generalizability of Results: Results from sample population are applied to the greater population (1)
• Meta-Analysis: Combining significant results of multiple studies to strengthen results
• Population: The participants that can be selected for the sample.
• Sampling: The process by which participants are selected for the experiment.
• Sample Population: The small group of participants that a researcher studies (1)
• Representative Sample: The group that is studied measures the intended group of study. (1)
• Sampling Bias: Flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample
• Convenience Sampling: Collecting research from readily available participants (1) [1]
• Random Sample: Everyone has an equal chance of being selected for the experiment because the participants are chosen at random. How to avoid a non-representative sample (sampling bias)
• Experimental Methodologies: Manipulation of variables to establish cause and effect relationships (8) [2]
  • Independent Variable: A factor, manipulated by the experimenter, and whose effect is studied. (4) [6]
  • Dependent Variable: A factor that may change in response to the independent variable. (1) [2]
  • Confounding Variables: An additional factor that may influence results of the experiment. (Skew data) (1)
  • Experimental Group: The group that receives the treatment.
  • Control Group (or Condition): The group that does not receive the treatment or take part in the critical analysis of the hypothesis being studied. (1) [3]
  • Random Assignment: Randomly assigning the control and experimental groups. Limits bias in experiments.
  • Placebo Effect: Something administered that has no real effect on the person other than what they think mentally, like a sugar pill when they believe they have taken a drug. (Placebo is the fake treatment that creates the effect)
  • Variables of Interest: Any changing quantity in a study that may impact the dependent variable
    • The independent Variable
    • The Control Variables (what is given/not given to control group)
    • Confounding Variables
  • Single-Blind: The subjects do not know to what group they belong.
  • Experimenter Bias: The experimenter, either unconsciously or consciously, affects the outcome of the experiment. (2) [2]
  • Double-Blind: Neither the experimenter nor the subjects know to which group (experimental or control) the subjects belong.
  • Reliability: A study that is replicable and consistent.
  • Validity: A study that measures what is supposed to be measured.
  • Compare an experiment to a correlational study: Experiments need an experimental and control group. This allows for cause and effect to be found. Correlation is gathering data without these groups and is a relationship between variables.

Non-Experimental Research

• Non-Experimental Research: Collecting data based on variables that lacks manipulation of variables (4) [1]
  • Case Study: Researching a full and detailed picture of one participant or a small group of participants.
  • Longitudinal: A study that gathers data over a long period of time, usually many years. It is more expensive and participants may drop the study.
  • Cross-Sectional: A study that gathers data once from multiple age groups (cohorts). It is cheaper and less time-consuming than longitudinal studies.
  • Naturalistic Observation: Observing and recording behavior in the natural environment. The researcher is concealed or hidden. Less artificiality.
  • Survey: A technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes, opinions, or behavior of people in a questionnaire.
    • Most Common
    • Cheap
    • Fast Responses
    • Social Desirability Bias: When people respond in ways that they presume the researcher expects or wishes
    • Self Report Bias: When people do not accurately report their behavior
  • Correlations: A relationship between two variables. Cannot infer cause and effect. Know how to read a scatterplot.
    • NO Cause and Effect
    • Directionality Problem: Correlation does not imply causation because of directionality.
      • X and Y can be statistically related
      • Y and X may not be
      • A correlation of people who exercise may report being happier
      • This does not mean that being happier leads to exercising more
    • Third Variable Problem: Correlation does not imply causation because of third variables.
      • The reason a correlation is noted between X and Y may be explained by a third variable that hasn’t been accounted for
      • Affects BOTH variables
      • Lemonade sales and shark attacks both increase with warm weather (the third variable)
  • Scatterplots: A graph of participants’ scores on two variables– demonstrates the direction and strength of the relationship
  • Positive Correlation: As one variable goes up, the other variable goes up (Or both down).
  • Negative Correlation: As one variable goes up, the other variable goes down (Inverse). Know what the graphs look like.
  • Coefficients: Pearson “r” represents strength and direction of a correlation. 1 is a perfect correlation, 0 is no correlation. A correlation coefficient of -.09 (either direction, positive or negative) would be high.
  • Effect Size: The strength of the relationship between two variables. The larger the effect size, the more one variable can be explained by the other.
    • Can be explained through: Correlation coefficients
  • Regression: Variables that are extremely higher or lower than average (outliers) on the first measurement, move closer to the average on second measurement

Statistics

• Descriptive Statistics: Describes data listed in a frequency distribution or graph.
• Inferential Statistics: Forming conclusions about the effect of the independent variable. (Making a prediction about why variables are related).
• Histogram: Height of bars indicates frequency distribution of a group of scores
  • Bar graph is used to represent categorical data (x could be grade level etc.).
  • Histogram is used to represent continuous numerical data (x axis is numbers).
• Mean: Average of the scores. Add the scores and divide by the total number of scores (know how to calculate). The mean is most affected by outliers. Middle line of the bell curve.
• Median: The middle score. First put all scores in numerical order.
• Mode: The most frequently occurring score in the distribution. Example application: A test with normally distributed results was returned to a class of 100 students. An error was made and the teacher added 10 points to each student’s score. This changed the mode, not the deviation.
• Outlier: A “far out number.” Really high or really low number compared to the other data points. Can skew data
• Frequency Distribution: Summary chart. Shows how frequently each of the various scores in a set of data occur
• Variance: How spread-out scores are from one another
• Range: The lowest score subtracted from the highest score.
• Percentile Rank: How your score compares to the rest of the population. The median is the 50th percentile– where 50% lie below and 50% lie above
  • If you score a 91/100 (despite being at a 91% which is an A-), it doesn’t necessarily mean you did “well” on the test.
  • What if it was an easy test and everyone else scored higher than you?
  • Percentiles help us compare how we did to others.
• Normal Distribution: A frequency distribution shaped like a symmetrical bell-shaped curve– normal distribution
• Standard Deviation: The average distance of scores around the mean. Know how to interpret SD from a bell curve. Example application: A test has a mean of 80 with an SD of 4. Which falls within 1 standard deviation of the mean? 75, 77, or 86? 77.
• Positive Skew: Long tail in the positive direction (Follow the whale tail). Contains MORE LOW SCORES
• Negative Skew: Long tail in the negative direction. Contains MORE HIGH SCORES
• Null Hypothesis: Opposite of your hypothesis (No relationship between variables).
• Statistical Significance: Cause and effect can be gathered from analysis. P Values determine significance.
• P Values: Must be less than 5% for significance (.05). 1% is even better.

Ethics

• Quantitative Research: Relies on numerical data
• Qualitative Research: Relies on in depth narrative data that is not translated into numbers
• Institutional Review: Federally mandated groups that evaluate risks and benefits of human participant research. Makes sure research is ethical
• Informed Consent: Subjects must be informed about the experiment before they participate. Psychologists cannot use coercion to make subjects give consent or stay (right to withdraw)
• Informed Assent: Young participants (12-18) may give assent to participate with parental authorization
• Protection from Harm: Subjects should not intentionally be harmed from participating.
• Confidentiality: Information about the subject remains private. (Anonymity)
• Deception in Research: Deception (telling the participant they are measuring one thing when really, they are measuring another) must be justified (Often using a research confederate: participant that is “in” on the experiment)
• Debriefing: Subjects must be told about the true intent (within reason) of the experiment before leaving (especially if deception is used).

Biology

The Nervous System and Neural Transmission

• Nature versus Nurture: Nature = inherited traits. Nurture = environmental factors. Both contribute
• Darwin & Natural Selection: Among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will mostly likely be passed on to succeeding generations
• Eugenics: Applying principles of the evolutionary perspective in ways that discriminate against others
• Behavior Genetics: The study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior
• Twin Studies: Identical twins = monozygotic. Fraternal = dizygotic. Look at nature versus nurture when genetics are identical
• Central Nervous System: The brain and spinal cord.
• Peripheral Nervous System: Sensory and motor neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body. All the nerves to the “periphery” of the body.
  • Somatic Nervous System: The division of the PNS that controls the body’s skeletal muscles (voluntary actions).
  • Autonomic Nervous System: The part of the PNS that controls the glands and muscles of the internal organs, like the heart (involuntary “automatic” actions).
    • Sympathetic NS: Arouses the body (fight or flight). Heart rate, norepinephrine, respiration rise. Digestion decreases.
    • Parasympathetic NS: Calms the body (rest and digest; think “like a parachute”).
• Neurons: A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.
  • Sensory Neurons: Neurons that carry incoming information from the sense receptors (nose, ears, hands) to the central nervous system.
  • Interneuron: Central nervous system neurons that internally communicate and intervene between the sensory inputs and the motor outputs.
  • Motor Neurons: Neurons that carry incoming information from the Central nervous system to the muscles and glands.
• Reflex Arcs: Normally sensory neurons.
  • Go directly to the spinal cord first and then the brain (if at all)
  • This is why reflexes occur without processing
  • Survival Adaptation
  • Myasthenia Gravis: Immune system attacks the nerve-muscle junction
    • Leads to musculoskeletal weakness
    • Excessively weak muscles
    • Weak, drooping eyelids
    • Weak eye muscles, causing double vision
• Myelin Sheath: The fatty covering around the axon of some neurons, that speeds the neural impulse. Cases of multiple sclerosis- myelin is degenerated.
• Multiple Sclerosis: The immune system attacks the protective covering around the nerve fibers in the central nervous system. Breakdown of myelin
• Synapse/Cleft/Gap: The space between neurons. (Not a part of the neuron itself).
• Glial Cells: Non-neuronal cells that maintain homeostasis (balance) in the neuron. Form myelin. Provide support and protection for neurons in the central and peripheral nervous systems.
• Action Potential: A neural impulse that travels down the axon.
• Resting Potential: Neuron is waiting to fire ($-70mV$).
• Polarization: Negative inside the cell, positive outside
• Threshold: The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse ($-55 MV$).
• Depolarization: This occurs when positive ions enter the neuron, making it susceptible to fire an action potential (i.e. mixing of ions).
• All-Or-Nothing: When the depolarized current exceeds the threshold of a neuron, it will fire at full strength or not at all. (One directional for motor neuron)
• Refractory Period: After a neuron has fired an action potential, it pauses for a short period to recharge, until it will fire again.
• Reuptake: Neurotransmitters that can’t find an area across the synapse will be reabsorbed by the presynaptic (firing) neuron. This makes the cell more positive in hyperpolarization to go back to resting potential.
• Presynaptic Cell: The firing cell
• Postsynaptic Cell/Membrane: Dendrite receptors receiving neurotransmitters.

Endocrine System

• Endocrine System: System of hormones in the bloodstream; compared to neurotransmitters in the nervous system.
• Pituitary Gland: The endocrine system’s master gland, under the influence of the hypothalamus, regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands.
• Leptin: Regulates hunger and energy balance. Tells you when you are hungry and full
• Ghrelin: Sends signals from the stomach and small intestine to the brain to tell you your stomach is empty. Tells you when you are hungry
• Melatonin: Released when it is dark to make you sleepy
• Oxytocin: Facilitates childbirth, breastfeeding, and bonding

Neurotransmitters

• Neurotransmitters: Chemicals contained in terminal buttons that enable neurons to communicate; they fit into the receptor site of receiving neurons.
• Acetylcholine: Activates motor neurons and skeletal muscles, too little: Alzheimer’s.
• Norepinephrine: Affects fight or flight, memory, learning, and contributes to changes in mood, too little: depression.
• Dopamine: Contributes to voluntary movements and pleasurable emotions, too little: Parkinson’s, too much: schizophrenia.
• GABA: Inhibits (slows down) excitations and anxiety. Too little—seizures, tremors, and insomnia
• Glutamate: Makes neurons fire. Too little—under-stimulation of the brain. Exhaustion, insomnia
• Substance P: Pain Perception. Released from sensory neurons
• Serotonin: Involved in mood, regulation of sleep, appetite, and body temperature; too little: depression, too much: OCD and mania.
• Endorphins: Promote pain relief.
• Agonist: Drugs that excite and mimic neurotransmitters (i.e. morphine is synthetic endorphins).
• Antagonists: Drugs that inhibit and stop neural firing, by blocking neurotransmitters (i.e. Advil blocks Substance P from being received at a receptor site).
• Reuptake Inhibitors: Block reuptake. More neurotransmitters left in the synapse, so more can reach receiving dendrites

Psychoactive Drugs

• Psychoactive Drug: Chemical substance that alters perceptions
  • Physical Dependence: Physiological need for a drug. Marked by withdrawal symptoms
  • Psychological Dependence: Psychological need to use drug. Example– to relieve negative emotions
  • Tolerance: The diminishing effects with regular use of the same dose of a drug.
  • Withdrawal: The discomfort and distress that follows discontinuing the use of an addictive drug, usually causing a person to go back on drugs.
• Blood Brain Barrier: A chemical layer of protection that impedes passage of toxins into the CNS
• Depressants: Drugs that reduce neural activity and slow body functions: alcohol, barbiturates (sedatives). Produced lower inhibitions.
• Stimulants: Drugs that excite neural activity and speed up body functions: methamphetamines, cocaine, tobacco, caffeine.
• Hallucinogens: Psychedelic drugs that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of a sensory input: LSD, marijuana, ecstasy.
• Opioids: Used to reduce pain; common narcotics are Oxycontin and Vicodin. Heroin.

The Brain

• Brain Plasticity (Neuroplasticity): The brain’s ability to modify (reroute or re-wire) itself after some kind of injury/illness.
• Lesions: Cuts into or removal of parts of the brain. Often to remove tumors or look for a change
• Cerebrospinal Fluid: Fills hollow cavities and protects the brain and spinal cord
• Brainstem: Oldest structure in the brain. Automatic survival functions. Consists of the medulla and pons
  • Medulla: Connected to the base of the brain stem, controls our blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing (think medical).
  • Cerebellum: The mini motor movement “brain” (looks like a mini brain) attached to the rear of the brain stem and controls coordination, fires muscles movements, and controls balance (cere-balance).
  • Reticular Activating System (RAS): Screens incoming info and filters out irrelevant info; controls arousal and attention.
• Cerebral Cortex: The body’s control and information processing center. Splits into lobes. Made up of convulsions
• Thalamus: The brain’s sensory switchboard (thala-must pass through; except for smell).
• Limbic System: Associated with emotions like aggression and fear and drives such as hunger, thirst, and sex (Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, and Amygdala). This was the center that was severed from the prefrontal cortex in the case of Phineas Gage.
  • Amygdala: Part of the limbic system that is involved in emotions, aggression, and fear (Em-otions; Em-ygdala).
  • Hippocampus: Part of the limbic system that is involved in learning/forming new memories. Is NOT associated with storage; that is the cerebral cortex.
  • Hypothalamus: Controls the drives and the metabolic functions of body temp, sex arousal, hunger, thirst, motivation/emotions, and the endocrine system. Connects the central nervous system to the endocrine system.
• Frontal Lobe: Located behind the forehead, involved with complex cognitive functions.
• Parietal Lobe: Top back of the brain, discriminates between textures and shapes; pain and palate. -Association areas: link sensation to memory, such as neural networks categorizing animals or objects
• Temporal Lobe: The side of the brain above the ears, involved in memory, perception, and hearing. Auditory cortex
• Occipital Lobe: Lower back part of the brain involved with processing visual info.
• Central Sulcus: Splits the motor cortex and somatosensory cortex
• Motor Cortex: Controls voluntary movements.
• Somatosensory / Sensory Cortex: Receives information from the skin’s surface and sensory organs.
• Broca’s Area: Involved with speech (Broke-a, can’t talk-a).
• Wernicke’s Area: Involved in language comprehension and understanding.
• Split Brain Operation: The corpus callosum was cut, not allowing info to travel to the other side of the brain. What was perceived in the right eye was connected to the left hemisphere (verbal). Items perceived in the left eye were not verbal.
• Corpus Callosum: Responsible for higher thinking function, connects two sides of the brain.
• Contralateral: Left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and vice versa.
• Left Hemisphere: The language centers: Broca’s and Wernicke’s.
• Right Hemisphere: Processes facial recognition. Spatial awareness.

Brain Imaging

• EEG: An amplified recording of waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain’s surface, these waves are measured by electrodes placed on the skull. Often used in sleep studies.
• PET: A visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a certain task. The brain activity plays back like a video.
• MRI: A technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce a computer-generated image that distinguishes between the types of soft tissue in the brain (fMRI is a video; combines MRI and PET capabilities).
• fMRI: Combines PET and MRI scans. Structures of the brain in a “movie”. Detects blood flow changes (activity) in real time

States of Consciousness

Sleep

• Consciousness: Our awareness of ourselves and our environment.
• Circadian Rhythm: Body’s sleep-wake and digestion cycle; occurs daily. Hypothalamus, pineal gland, photoreceptors all affect rhythms. Can be affected by things like night shift work and jet lag
• Stage 1: Alpha waves begin; onset of sleep; hypnic jerks may occur.
• Stage 2: Alpha waves; small bursts of activities; sleep spindles occur; hypnic jerks may occur.
• Stage 3: Deep sleep delta waves, hard to wake up. Sleepwalking, bed wetting, and night terrors may occur.
• REM Sleep: Rapid eye movement, paradoxical sleep (brain active; body paralyzed). Gets longer throughout the night
• Beta Waves: Alert, awake. REM is closest to awake BETA waves
• Alpha Waves: Slow, Relaxed | Stages 1-2
• Delta Waves: Large, Deep & Delta | Stage 3
• Hypnic Jerks: Stage 1-2; sensation of jerking awake when nearing sleep
• Sleep Spindles: Bursts of activity; second and spindles
• Hypnagogic Hallucinations: Vivid sensory phenomena can occur during transition from wakefulness to light sleep. Occur waking from stage 1 sleep

Theories of Sleep

• Restorative Theory of Sleep (Restoration Theory): Sleep Helps repair. Brain tissue and increases immune responses
• Memory Consolidation Theory: Sleep helps store memories. Dreams help sort memories and process information acquired throughout the day.
• Activation Synthesis Theory: Dreams are caused by physiological changes. The random bursts of activity turn into the dream storyline. (Making sense out of nonsense)

Sleep Disorders

• REM Rebound: Increased REM sleep length after periods of sleep deprivation. Takes less time to get to REM sleep
• Insomnia: Recurring problems falling asleep or staying asleep. Sleeping pills may prevent REM sleep. Alcohol prevents REM sleep
• Sleep Apnea: Temporary stoppage in breathing forcing the person to wake up
• Narcolepsy: Uncontrollable sleep attacks. Amphetamines are a common treatment
• Parasomnias: Sleep Disorders characterized by brain activity during sleep
  • Somnambulism: Sleepwalking. During Stage 3
  • REM Behavior Disorder: Physically or vocally acting out vivid dreams. Loss of muscle atonia that should occur. Can be treated with anti anxiety medications

Sensation and Perception

Sensation

• Transduction: The conversation of physical stimuli to neural stimuli. (Physical world to the brain).
• Absolute Threshold: Minimum amount of a stimulus to detect its presence.
• Just Noticeable Difference: Minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time.
• Weber’s Law: The ratio of the increment threshold to the background intensity is constant. You only need to whisper in a quiet room to be heard.
• Sensory Adaptation: After a while of constant stimulation, it will stop detecting sense.
• Synesthesia: Stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to automatic involuntary experiences in a second sensory pathway

Vision

• Cornea: Outer covering of the eye.
• Iris: Muscle that controls the pupil’s size; colored part of the eye.
• Pupil: Opening that adjusts to let in light. No light: large; bright light: small.
• Lens: Flexible part of the eye that focuses light rays on the retina (accommodation).
• Accommodation: Tension of the muscle that changes the focal length of the lens of the eye. Brings into focus objects at different distances.
• Retina: The back of the eye that contains rods and cones; transduction occurs here.
• Photoreceptor Cells: Ganglion cells in the eye that translate to vision; rods and cones.
  • Rods: Detects black, white, and gray vision (peripheral and night vision). More abundant than cones.
  • Cones: Detects color (and fine detail) (mainly located in fovea) (green, blue, and red). Less abundant than rods. Need brighter light to be interpreted.
• Ganglion Cells: Type of neuron located near the inner surface of the retina. Ganglion cells receive visual information from the photoreceptors via the bipolar cells (then transduction occurs)
• Pathway of Visual Input: Photoreceptors→ Bipolar Cells→ Ganglion Cells→ Transduction→ Optic Nerve (Pirates Bring Giant Telescope Optics)
• Fovea: Sharpest vision: contains cones.
• Optic Nerve: Carries neural impulse to the brain; cross lateralized.
• Blind Spot: The optic disc point at which there are no rods or cones
• Nearsighted: When the eyeball is too long. Can see near objects clearly
• Farsighted: When the eyeball is too short. Can see far objects clearly
• Visual Cortex: Brain region where neural impulses are transformed into visual sensations of color, form, boundary, and movement. Through parallel processing– the simultaneous processing of several aspects of a stimulus
• Frequency/Wavelength: Hue of a color; the pitch/tone.
  • Long Wavelength: Reds; deep sounds.
  • Short Wavelength: Blues; high pitch sounds.
• Intensity/Amplitude: Brightness of a color; loudness of a sound (decibels).
• Tri Color Theory: We have three types of cones in the retina: red, blue, green (primary colors); we get other colors by mixing and lightening/darkening colors.
• Dichromatism: Color deficiency: 2 cones functional. Red/green (most common), Blue/yellow
• Monochromatism: Color deficiency: 1 or no cones functional. Complete color blindness
• Afterimage: The firing of the cones used after viewing something steadily (The Castle Video).
• Opponent Process Theory: The sensory receptors arranged in the retina come in pairs: red/green, yellow/blue, and black/white; bonds break when you stare at an image and look away. Theory behind afterimage.
• Blindsight: A neurological condition where someone can perceive the location of an object despite being cortically blind
• Prosopagnosia: Face blindness

Hearing

• Process of Hearing: Outer ear→ Middle ear→ Cochlea→ Transduction→ Auditory Nerve→ Thalamus→ Temporal Lobe

• Cochlea: Snail shaped membrane filled with fluid that changes vibration on the hairs of the basilar membrane into an electric impulse; transduction occurs here.

• Place Theory: Pitch is determined by the placement of the hairs. Some are in a place for high pitches, others for low pitches.

• Frequency Theory: Pitch is determined by vibration coming in. Some hairs move quickly, some slowly.

• Volley Theory: Groups of neurons in the cochlea individually fire at frequencies of sounds being heard

  • A stream of nerve impulses occurs (like a volley of arrows randomly coming down)
  • The out of phase action potentials are then transduced

• Sound Localization: The ability to determine the location of a sound based on intensity and timing.

• Conduction Deafness: An inability to hear, resulting from damage to the structures of the middle or inner ear. You can replace the bones or get a hearing aid to help.

• Sensorineural Deafness: An inability to hear, linked to a deficit in the body’s ability to transmit impulses from the cochlea to the brain.

  • The hair cells in the cochlea get damaged.
  • Loud noises can cause this type of deafness.
  • NO WAY to replace the hairs.
  • Cochlea implant is possible.

Chemical Senses

• Gustation: Sense of taste; intensity decreases with age
• Types of Taste: Sweet, sour, bitter, salty. Umami - savory. Oleogustus - fatty (the gross olive oil drink at Starbucks that gave people diarrhea)
• Super Taster: High density of taste buds. More sensitive gustation.
• Olfaction: Smelling is determined in olfactory bulbs. Skips thalamus. Connection to memory
• Sensory Interaction: How our senses work together

Skin and Vestibular Senses

• Touch: Receptors located in skin. Respond to temperature (warm and cold)
• Gate Control Theory: Pain is determined by the A-Delta (fast) and C (slow) fibers which control pain “gates”. If gates are closed, then less messages get through, and you are less likely to experience pain. (Advil will block (antagonist) pain; this controls the gate).
• Phantom Limb: Sensation that an amputated or missing limb (even an organ!) is still attached to the body and is moving appropriately with other body parts
• Vestibular Sense: Sense of balance with body position and movement
• Kinesthetic Sense: Ability to be aware of the motion of YOUR OWN body parts in relation to another
• Semicircular canals: Hairs in semicircular canals detect movement and determine balance
• McGurk Effect: Interaction of hearing and vision

Perception

• Bottom-Up Processing: Analysis of the stimulus begins with the sense receptor and works up to the brain.
• Top-Down Processing: Information processed guided by higher level mental processes. Constructing perceptions
• Schema: A cognitive framework that helps organize and interpret information
• Perceptual Set: A mental predisposition to see one thing rather than another. Everyone’s perceptual set is different and based on experiences. Contexts, experiences, cultural expectations
• Attention: Interaction of sensation and perception: voluntary and