Unit 2.1-2.5 AP PSYCH STUDY GUIDE 2026

2.1 Perception

Basics

• Perception: Organizing and interpreting sensory info.

• Top-Down Processing: Using experiences, expectations, prior knowledge.

• Selective Attention: Focus on one stimulus; Cocktail Party Effect: hearing your name in a crowd.

• Inattentional Blindness: Missing objects because attention is elsewhere.

• Change Blindness: Failure to notice changes in a scene.

• Perceptual Set: Expectations, context, culture, emotion, and motivation influence perception.

Gestalt Principles

• Similarity: Group similar items.

• Closure: Fill gaps to perceive a whole.

• Proximity: Objects close together grouped.

• Interposition: Closer objects block farther ones.

• Texture Gradient: Detail decreases with distance.

• Figure-Ground: Objects (figure) stand out from background (ground).

Depth Perception

Visual Cliff: Tests infants’ depth perception.

Monocular Cues (1 Eye)

• Linear Perspective: Parallel lines converge in distance.

• Interposition: Overlapping objects → blocked object is farther.

• Relative Size: Smaller retinal image → farther away.

• Relative Height: Higher in visual field → farther.

• Relative Clarity: Distant objects blurrier.

• Texture Gradient: Near = detailed, far = smooth.

• Relative Motion (Motion Parallax): Close objects move faster across visual field.

• Light & Shadow: Shadows create depth; brighter = closer.

Binocular Cues (2 Eyes)

• Retinal Disparity: Slight differences in each eye’s image → depth.

• Convergence: Eyes turn inward more for close objects.

Key Difference: Monocular = far objects, 2D; Binocular = near objects, 3D.

Perceptual Constancies

• Color, Size, Shape Constancy → perceive as stable despite changes.

Motion Perception

• Stroboscopic Movement: Still images → motion.

• Phi Phenomenon: Lights blinking → movement illusion.

• Autokinetic Effect: Stationary light appears to move in dark.

Other Effects

• Optical Illusions: Misinterpretation of visual stimuli.

• Stroop Effect: Word meaning interferes with naming ink color.

2.2 Thinking, Problem Solving, Judgment & Decision Making

• Cognition: Mental processes (thinking, knowing, remembering).

• Metacognition: Thinking about your own thinking.

• Prototype: Best example of a category.

• Schema: Framework for organizing info.

• Divergent Thinking: Many solutions → creativity.

• Convergent Thinking: One correct solution.

Problem-Solving Strategies

• Algorithm: Step-by-step, guarantees solution.

• Heuristic: Shortcut, faster but error-prone.

Heuristics & Biases

• Representative Heuristic: Judge by similarity to prototype.

• Availability Heuristic: Judge by ease of recall.

• Gambler’s Fallacy: Past independent events affect expectation.

Other Thinking Errors

• Insight: Sudden realization (“aha!”).

• Functional Fixedness: See objects only in usual way.

• Confirmation Bias: Seek info that supports beliefs.

• Belief Perseverance: Stick to beliefs despite evidence.

• Mental Set: Solve problems same old way.

• Overconfidence: Overestimate knowledge/judgment.

• Hindsight Bias: “I knew it all along.”

• Framing: Decisions affected by presentation.

2.3–2.5 Memory

Memory Processes

1. Encoding → Getting info in.

2. Storage → Keeping info.

3. Retrieval → Accessing info.

Retention Measures

• Recall: Retrieve info w/o cues.

• Recognition: Identify learned info.

• Relearning: Quicker relearning = stronger memory.

Memory Strategies

• Mnemonics: Patterns/associations aid memory.

• Method of Loci: Associate info with locations.

• Chunking: Group into larger units.

• Hierarchies: Organize into categories.

• Spacing Effect: Distributed practice > cramming.

Levels of Processing

• Shallow Processing: Superficial (appearance/sound) → weak memory.

• Intermediate Processing: Categorization → moderate retention.

• Deep Processing: Semantic, meaningful → strongest memory.

Maintenance vs. Elaborative Rehearsal

• Maintenance: Repeat info → stays in STM, shallow.

• Elaborative: Connect to meaning → transfers to LTM, deep.

Memory Systems

Neurobiological Processes

• Neurogenesis: Formation of new neurons (hippocampus) → supports learning/memory.

• Long-Term Potentiation (LTP): Strengthening of synapses with repeated activity → faster retrieval (“neurons that fire together, wire together”).

Memory Effects & Phenomena

• Serial Position Effect: Primacy (first items), Recency (last items).

• Mood/State/Context Dependent Memory: Recall better when internal/external states match.

• Flashbulb Memories: Vivid memories of emotional events.

• Infantile Amnesia: Few memories before age 3–4.

• Memory Consolidation: hippocampus is a loading dock where brain registers & temporarily holds to-be-remembered information before memories are migrated to the cortex for storage