ap psychology unit 3-4

Absolute threshold - minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time (like 50% can view a light on a mountain some n miles away)

Afterimage - visual illusion in which retinal impressions persist after the removal of a stimulus

Classical conditioning - process of repeatedly pairing an original unconditioned stimulus, which naturally produces a reflexive unconditioned response (like seeing a cookie and salivating) with a new neutral stimulus such that the new stimulus produces the same conditioned response. remove the US and u will still get that CR

Difference threshold - minimum difference between 2 stimuli required 50% of the time, we experience the difference threshold as just a noticeable difference

Discrimination - ability to differentiate between different stimuli

Higher order conditioning - second order conditioning; in classical conditioning when a neutral stimulus becomes linked to a conditioned stimulus—all that’s required for this process is for the neutral stimulus to become associated with a prior conditioned stimulus

Intrinsic motivation - desire to perform effectively for its own sake

extrinsic motivation - desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid punishment

Law of effect - the idea that responses that lead to positive effects are repeated, while responses that lead to negative effects are not repeated

Learned helplessness - hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid aversive events; give up; when a person starts to believe that their actions have no affect on the environment

Mirror neurons - frontal lobe neurons that some scientists believe fire when performing certain actions or when observing another organism do so; imitation and empathy

modeling - process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

Nociceptors - sensory receptors that detect hurtful temperatures, pressures, or chemicals

Observational learning - learning by observing others; also known as social learning

Operant conditioning - type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

Opponent process theory - theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision; some cells are inhibited by red and stimulated by green, others opposite

Parallel processing - processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; brains natural mode of info processing for many functions including vision (recognize that its a bird while also recognizing the birds color, shape, size, wing span, etc)

Perceptual set - a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Place theory - our brain interprets a particular pitch by decoding the place where a sound wave stimulated the cochlea’s basilar membrane; different areas of the cochlea respond to different frequencies; higher tones excite areas closest to the opening of the cochlea, near the oval window; lower tones excite areas near the narrow tip of the cochlea at the opposite end

Punishment - event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows

reinforcement - any event that strengthens the behavior that it follows

Reinforcement schedules - pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforces

Retina - light sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual info

rods - retinal receptors that detect black, white, gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision when cones don’t respond

cones - retinal receptors that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well lit conditioners; detect fine details and give rise to color sensations

Sensory adaptation - reduction in sensitivity to a stimulus after constant exposure to it; while it reduces our awareness of a stimulus, it helps free up our attention and resources to attend to other stimuli in our environment

Spontaneous recovery - comeback of a conditioned response after extinction when the unconditioned stimulus is presented again (CR is fear and US is noise)

Vestibular sense - the sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance

Volley principle - groups of neurons of the auditory system respond to a sound by firing action potentials slightly out of phase with one another so that when combined, a greater frequency of sound can be encoded and sent to the brain to be analyzed

sensation - process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

perception - process of organizing and interpreting sensory info, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

sensation v perception - sensation is input about the physical world obtained by our sensory receptors and perception is the process by which the brain selects, organizes, and interprets these sensations

bottom-up processing - analysis that begins with sensory receptors and works up to the brain integration of sensory info

top-down processing - info processing guided by higher level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

selective attention - focusing of conscious awareness of a particular stimuli

inattentional blindness - failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

change blindness - failing to notice changes in the environment

transduction - conversion of one form of energy into another; in sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neutral impulses our brain can interpret; process of converting energy of a stimulus into neutral activity; the stimulus is recoded as a neutral pattern

signal detection theory - the detection of a stimulus depends on both the intensity of the stimulus and the physical or psychological state of the individual

subliminal - below ones absolute threshold for conscious awareness

priming - activation, often unconsciously of certain associations thus predisposing ones percentpion, memory, or response

weber’s law - principle that, to be perceived as different, 2 stimuli must different by a constant minimum % (rather than a constant amount)

extra sensory perception - controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognitoin

parapsychology - study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokenesis

wavelength - distance from the peak of 1 wave to the peak of the next

hue - dimesion of color determined by wavelength

intensity - amount of energy in a wave which we perceived as brightness or loudness; as determined by amplitude

pupil - adjustable opening in the center of the eye thru which light enters

iris - ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of eye around pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening

lens - transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina

optic nerve - nerve that carries neutral impulses from the eye to the brain

bind spot - point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a “blind spot” because no receptor cells are located there

fovea - central focal point in the retina around which the eyes cones cluster

bipolar cells - cells in visual system that connect the rods and cones to ganglion cells

path of light thru eye:

1) light entering eye triggers photochemical reactions in rods and cones at back of retina

2) chemical reaction in turn activatesbipolar cells

3) bipolar cells then activate the ganglion cells, the axons of which converge to form the optic nerve; this nerve transmits info to the visual cortex (via thalamus)

ganglion cells - that relay