AP PSCYH UNIT 2

Placebo Effect: A psychological phenomenon where a patient experiences perceived or actual improvement in their condition after receiving a treatment with no therapeutic effect, due to their belief in the treatment's efficacy.

Just-noticeable Difference (JND): The minimum difference in stimulation that a person can detect 50% of the time. Also known as the difference threshold.

Weber's Law: States that the just-noticeable difference between two stimuli is proportional to the magnitude of the original stimulus.

Top-down Processing: Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, such as prior knowledge, experiences, and expectations, to interpret sensory input.

Schemata: Plural of schema; cognitive frameworks or concepts that help organize and interpret information.

Schema: A mental structure that organizes knowledge and guides cognitive processes and behavior.

Perceptual Set: A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another, influenced by expectations, experiences, emotions, and culture.

Bottom-up Processing: Analysis that begins with sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information.

Figure-ground Relationship: The organization of the visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (ground).

Gestalt Psychology: A school of thought that emphasizes our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Proximity: A Gestalt principle that states objects close to each other are perceived as a group.

Similarity: A Gestalt principle that states objects that are similar in appearance are perceived as part of the same group.

Continuity: A Gestalt principle where we perceive smooth, continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones.

Closure: A Gestalt principle that describes the tendency to fill in gaps in order to perceive a complete, whole object.

Visual Cliff: A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.

Monocular Depth Cues: Depth cues that are available to either eye alone, such as linear perspective, interposition, and texture gradient.

Binocular Depth Cues: Depth cues that depend on the use of both eyes, including retinal disparity and convergence.

Linear Perspective: A monocular cue for perceiving depth; the more parallel lines converge, the greater their perceived distance.

Relative Size Cue: A monocular cue in which smaller objects are perceived as farther away if we assume objects are similar in size.

Interposition Cue: A monocular depth cue where one object partially covers another, indicating that the covered object is farther away.

Texture Gradient: A monocular cue where a gradual change in texture signals increasing distance.

Retinal Disparity: A binocular cue for perceiving depth; the brain compares images from the retinas in both eyes to compute distance.

Binocular Disparity: Same as retinal disparity; refers to the slight difference in images between the two eyes.

Convergence: A binocular cue for depth perception; the extent to which the eyes turn inward when looking at an object.

Prototypes: A mental image or best example of a category, used to quickly sort and categorize items.

Algorithm: A methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.

Heuristic: A simple thinking strategy that allows for quick judgments and problem-solving but is more error-prone than algorithms.

Availability Heuristic: Estimating the likelihood of events based on how easily examples come to mind.

Representativeness Heuristic: Judging the probability of an event based on how similar it is to a prototype.

Gambler's Fallacy: The erroneous belief that past random events affect the likelihood of future random events.

Sunk-cost Fallacy: Continuing a behavior or endeavor as a result of previously invested resources (time, money, effort), despite new evidence suggesting the cost outweighs the benefit.

Mental Set: A tendency to approach problems in a particular way, often one that has been successful in the past.

Functional Fixedness: The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions, inhibiting problem solving.

Framing: The way an issue is posed; framing can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

Creativity: The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.

Three-box/Information-Processing Model: A model of memory that includes sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Levels of Processing Model: A theory that suggests memory retention depends on the depth of processing (deep vs. shallow).

Multi-store Model: Another term for the information-processing model, including three memory stores: sensory, short-term, and long-term.

Sensory Memory: The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

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; sounds and words can still be recalled within 3-4 seconds.

Short-term Memory: Activated memory that holds a few items briefly before the information is stored or forgotten.

Selective Attention: The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.

Cocktail Party Effect: The ability to focus on one voice among many in a noisy environment, and the tendency to notice personally relevant information.

Inattentional Blindness: Failing to see visible objects when attention is directed elsewhere.

Change Blindness: Failing to notice changes in the environment.

Working Memory: A newer understanding of short-term memory involving conscious, active processing of incoming information and retrieval from long-term memory.

Central Executive: The part of working memory that directs attention and processing.

Visuospatial Sketchpad: A component of working memory responsible for handling visual and spatial information.

Auditory Loop (Phonological Loop): A component of working memory that deals with auditory information and language.

Maintenance Rehearsal: Repetition of information to maintain it in short-term memory.

Elaborative Rehearsal: Linking new information with existing memories and knowledge to store it in long-term memory.

Effortful Processing: Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

Long-term Memory: The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.

Storage: The process of retaining encoded information over time.

Episodic Memory: Memory of specific events or episodes in one’s life.

Semantic Memory: Memory of general knowledge, facts, and concepts.

Procedural Memory: Memory of how to perform different actions and skills; a type of implicit memory.

Explicit Memories: Memories that require conscious recall, such as episodic and semantic memories.

Implicit Memories: Memories that are retained without conscious awareness, such as procedural memory.

Prospective Memory: Remembering to perform a planned action or intention at the appropriate time in the future.

Shallowly Encoded: Processing information based on surface features (e.g., appearance or sound), resulting in weaker memory retention.

Deeply Encoded: Processing information by its meaning, leading to better retention.

Long-term Potentiation (LTP): A long-lasting strengthening of synapses between nerve cells, believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

Encoding: The process of getting information into the memory system.

Primacy Effect: The tendency to remember the first items in a list better than the middle items.

Recency Effect: The tendency to remember the last items in a list best.

Serial Position Effect: The tendency to recall the first and last items in a list better than the middle items.

Serial Position Curve: A graph depicting both the primacy and recency effects in recall.

Method of Loci: A mnemonic technique that involves associating items to be remembered with specific physical locations.

Spacing Effect: The tendency for distributed study to yield better long-term retention than massed practice.

Massed Practice: Cramming; learning that takes place in one long session, less effective for long-term retention.

Chunking: Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.

Mnemonic Devices: Memory aids, especially techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

Anterograde Amnesia: An inability to form new memories after a brain injury.

Retrograde Amnesia: An inability to retrieve information from before a brain injury.

Retrieval: The process of bringing information out of long-term memory storage.

Recognition: A measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned.

Recall: A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier.

Retrieval Cues: Stimuli that help you retrieve a certain memory.

Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon: The feeling that a memory is available but not quite retrievable.

Context-Dependent Memory: Improved recall of specific information when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same.

Mood-Congruent Memory: The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current mood.

State-Dependent Memory: The theory that information learned in a particular state of mind is more easily recalled when in that same state.

Constructed Memory: A memory of an event that never occurred, which is created unconsciously to fill in gaps.

Misinformation Effect: Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.

Retroactive Interference: When new information interferes with the recall of old information.

Proactive Interference: When old information interferes with learning new information.

Standardized: Uniform procedures for administering and scoring a test.

Reliability: The extent to which a test yields consistent results.

Split-half Reliability: A measure of reliability in which a test is split into two parts and an individual’s scores on both halves are compared.

Test-retest Reliability: A method for determining the reliability of a test by comparing a test taker's scores on the same test taken on separate occasions.

Validity: The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to.

Predictive Validity: The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict.

Construct Validity: The extent to which a test truly measures the theoretical construct it is intended to measure.

Aptitude Tests: Tests designed to predict a person’s future performance or capacity to learn.

Achievement Tests: Tests designed to assess what a person has learned.

Intelligence: The ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.

Fluid Intelligence: The ability to reason quickly and abstractly, tends to decrease with age.

Crystallized Intelligence: The accumulation of knowledge and verbal skills, tends to increase with age.

Mental Age: A measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that corresponds to a given level of performance.

Stanford-Binet IQ: A widely used intelligence test that revises Binet’s original test; calculates IQ as (mental age/chronological age) x 100.

Chronological Age: The actual age of the individual.

Heritability: The proportion of variation among individuals that can be attributed to genetic factors.

Flynn Effect: The observed rise over time in standardized intelligence test scores, attributed to environmental factors.