Psych Midterm 2

Front 1

sensation

Back 1

detection of physical energy by sense organs

Front 2

perception

Back 2

brain's interpretation of raw sensory inputs

Front 3

transduction

Back 3

process of converting an external energy into neural activity

Front 4

sense receptor

Back 4

cell responsible for transduction for a specific sensory system

Front 5

sensory adaption

Back 5

activation is greatest when we first detect a stimulus, then the response declines in strength

Front 6

psychophysics

Back 6

study of how we perceive sensory stimuli based on their physical characteristics

Front 7

absolute threshold

Back 7

lowest level of a stimulus needed for the nervous system to detect a change 50% of the time

Front 8

just noticeable difference

Back 8

smallest change in the intensity of a stimulus that we can detect

Front 9

Weber's Law

Back 9

the stronger the stimulus, the bigger the change needed for a change in stimulus intensity to be noticeable

Front 10

Signal Detection Theory

Back 10

helps psychologists understand how we detect stimuli under uncertain conditions

Front 11

doctrine of specific nerve energies

Back 11

even though there are many distinct stimulus energies (light,sound,touch), the sensation we experience is determined by nature of sense receptor, not stimulus

Front 12

McGurk effect

Back 12

hearing the sound "ba" spoken while seeing a video of "ga" being spoken, leads us to perceive "da"

Front 13

bottom-up processing

Back 13

we construct a stimulus from its parts, stimulus-driven, results from activity in primary sensory cortex

Front 14

top-down processing

Back 14

conceptually driven and influenced by beliefs and expectations, typically correspond to activity in association cortex

Front 15

basics of perception

Back 15

our minds piece together what's in the sensory field, what was there a moment ago, what we remember from our past

Front 16

brightness

Back 16

intensity of reflected light that reaches our eyes

Front 17

white objects/black objects

Back 17

white reflect all light, absorb none
black absorb all light, reflect none

Front 18

hue

Back 18

color of light

Front 19

sclera

Back 19

white of eye

Front 20

iris

Back 20

colored part of eye, ring of muscles that control dilation of pupil

Front 21

pupil

Back 21

circular hole through which light enters eye

Front 22

cornea

Back 22

curved, transparent layer- curvature responsible for bending incoming light to focus it on the back of the eye

Front 23

retina

Back 23

membrane responsible for converting light into neural activity

Front 24

fovea

Back 24

central part of retina, responsible for sharpness of vision

Front 25

photoreceptors

Back 25

convert light energy into neural activity

Front 26

rods

Back 26

receptor cells in retina allowing us to see in low levels of light

Front 27

cones

Back 27

receptor cells in the retina allowing us to see in color

Front 28

optic chiasm

Back 28

after the optic nerves leave both eyes they come here, half cross and half stay on same side- within a short distance the optic nerves enter the brain turning into optic tracts-key role in reflexes

Front 29

simple cells

Back 29

cells in VI that display distinctive responses to lines of a specific orientation in a specific location

Front 30

complex cells

Back 30

orientation specific, but less restricted to one location

Front 31

Gestalt principles

Back 31

proximity, closure, similarity, good continuation, symmetry, figure-ground, bistable images, emergence

Front 32

proximity

Back 32

objects close to each other tend to be perceived as unified wholes

Front 33

closure

Back 33

when partial visual info is present, mind fills in what's missing

Front 34

similarity

Back 34

all things being equal, we see similar objects as comprising a whole

Front 35

good continuation

Back 35

we still perceive objects as wholes, even if other objects block part of them

Front 36

symmetry

Back 36

we perceive objects that are symmetrically arranged as wholes more often than those that are not

Front 37

figure-ground

Back 37

we make an instant decision to focus attention on what we think is the central figure, largely ignoring what we believe is the background

Front 38

bistable images

Back 38

an image we can perceive in one of two ways, when we look at them we typically perceive them only one way at a time

Front 39

emergence

Back 39

perceptual gestalt that almost jumps out from the page and hits us all at once

Front 40

phi phenomenon

Back 40

illusory perception of movement produced by the successive flashing of images

Front 41

trichromatic theory

Back 41

color vision is based on our sensitivity to 3 different colors- blue,green,red; possess three kinds of cones

Front 42

opponent process theory

Back 42

we perceive color as either red or green; or blue or yellow

Front 43

relative size

Back 43

two objects assumed to be same size, more distant objects look smaller than closer objects

Front 44

texture gradient

Back 44

texture of objects becomes less apparent as objects move farther away

Front 45

interposition

Back 45

closer objects block our view of objects farther away

Front 46

linear perspective

Back 46

outlines of rooms/buildings converge as distance increase

Front 47

height in plane

Back 47

in a scene, distant objects appear higher, and nearer objects lower

Front 48

light and shadow

Back 48

objects cast shadows, object covered by the shadow is perceived to be farther away from object in the light

Front 49

motion parallax

Back 49

ability to judge distance of moving objects from their sped, objects seem to move faster when nearer

Front 50

moon illusion

Back 50

moon appears larger when its near the horizon than high in the sky

Front 51

monochromats

Back 51

have only one type of cone (missing 2/3)

Front 52

dichromats

Back 52

have two types of cones (missing 1/3)

Front 53

visual agnosia

Back 53

deficit in perceiving objects, can describe an object but can't name/recognize it; damage to higher-level visual association cortex

Front 54

amplitude

Back 54

difference between peak and baseline of waveform (intensity/loudness of sound)

Front 55

wavelength

Back 55

distance from 1 peak to the next

Front 56

frequency

Back 56

Hz; longer wavelength=higher frequency

Front 57

cochlea

Back 57

converts vibration into neural activity

Front 58

perception of high-pitched tones

Back 58

place theory- a specific place along basilar membrane and in auditory cortex matches a tone w/ a specific pitch- cells at base are most excited by high pitched tones, cells at top are most excited by low-pitched tones

Front 59

frequency theory

Back 59

perception of low-pitched tones; rate at which neurons fire action potentials reproduces pitch

Front 60

volley theory

Back 60

sets of neurons fire at their highest rate slightly out of sync with each other to reach overall rates up to 5,000 Hz

Front 61

conductive deafness

Back 61

when the eardrum fails or the 3 middle ear bones fuse together

Front 62

nerve deafness

Back 62

when auditory nerve or hair cells are damaged, can happen w/ age or extended loud sound exposure

Front 63

how odor molecules reach olfactory receptions

Back 63

nostrils; an opening in the palate at back of mouth that allows us to "smell" our food as we eat it

Front 64

how does our brain process all our smells

Back 64

1. axons from neurons in nose go to olfactory bulb in brain 2. goes to olfactory cortex and limbic system

Front 65

5 main tastes

Back 65

sweet,sour,bitter,salty,umami

Front 66

how does our brain process tastes

Back 66

from taste buds: the info enters the brain and goes to gustatory cortex, somatosensory cortex, and limbic system

Front 67

gustatory cortex

Back 67

activated by tasting disgusting foods and viewing facial expressions of disgust in others

Front 68

mechanoreceptors

Back 68

nerve endings that help us sense light touch and deep pressure

Front 69

free nerve endings

Back 69

sense types of touch, temperature, and pain

Front 70

discrete emotions theory

Back 70

humans experience a small number of distinct emotions, even though they may combine in complex ways

Front 71

primary emotions

Back 71

happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, anger, disgust, contempt

Front 72

guilty knowledge test

Back 72

measures knowledge of the crime, creates multiple choice questions with only 1 true answer, measures physiological response after each option is given

Front 73

drive reduction theory

Back 73

behavior is motivated by need to minimize aversive states; can't explain motivation of artists/musicians because is not a physical need

Front 74

intrinsic motivation

Back 74

when people are motivated by internal goals; can be undermined if we think we are doing something because of an extrinsic motivator

Front 75

positive energy balance

Back 75

calories in are greater than calories out (weight balance)

Front 76

negative energy balance

Back 76

calories in are less than calories out (weight loss)

Front 77

leptin

Back 77

produced when we store fat to let our brain know we can decrease food intake-obese individuals appear resistant to leptin effects

Front 78

habituation

Back 78

process of responding less strongly over time to repeated stimuli

Front 79

sensitization

Back 79

responding to stimuli more strongly over time; most likely to occur if emotionally aroused, or when stimulus is dangerous, irritating

Front 80

classical conditioning

Back 80

learning in which animals come to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic response

Front 81

Neutral stimulus (NS)

Back 81

a stimulus that initially doesn't trigger the reflex being studied

Front 82

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

Back 82

elicits an automatic (reflexive) response

Front 83

unconditioned response (UCR)

Back 83

automatic response to a UCS (non-neutral stimulus that doesn't need to be learned)

Front 84

conditioned stimulus (CS)

Back 84

initially neutral stimulus that now triggers a response

Front 85

Conditioned response (CR)

Back 85

learned response to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus

Front 86

aversive conditioning

Back 86

classical conditioning to an unpleasant UCS

Front 87

acquisition

Back 87

learning phase during which a conditioned response is established

Front 88

extinction

Back 88

gradual reduction and eventual disappearance of a CR when a CS no longer predicts the appearance of an UCS

Front 89

spontaneous recovery

Back 89

sudden reemergence of extinct CR after a delay in exposure to CS

Front 90

renewal effect

Back 90

sudden reemergence of a CR following extinction when the subject is returned to environment where CR was learned

Front 91

stimulus generalization

Back 91

tendency for a stimulus similar to CS to evoke similar responses

Front 92

stimulus discrimination

Back 92

displaying a less pronounced CR to CS that differs from the original CS

Front 93

higher-order conditioning

Back 93

developing a CR to a CS by association with another CS

Front 94

occasion setter

Back 94

refers to the setting in which the CS occurs

Front 95

latent inhibition

Back 95

difficulty in establishing classical conditioning to a CS we've repeatedly experience alone, that is without the UCS

Front 96

operant conditioning

Back 96

learning controlled by the consequences of the organism's behavior

Front 97

reinforcement

Back 97

outcome or consequence of a behavior that strengthens probability of behavior

Front 98

punishment

Back 98

decreases/weakens probability that an operant behavior will occur again

Front 99

positive reinforcement

Back 99

positive outcome or consequence of a behavior that strengthens probability of behavior

Front 100

negative reinforcement

Back 100

when something bad is removing, causing frequency of behavior to increase

Front 101

positive punishment

Back 101

when something bad that the person doesn't like is given following a behavior, causing frequency of behavior to decrease

Front 102

discriminative stimulus

Back 102

any stimulus that signals te presence of reinforcement

Front 103

fixed ratio

Back 103

pattern in which we provide reinforcement following a regular number of responses

Front 104

variable ratio

Back 104

pattern in which we provide reinforcement after a specific number of responses on average, w/ number varying randomly

Front 105

fixed interval

Back 105

pattern in which we provide reinforcement for producing the response at least once following a specified time interval

Front 106

variable interval

Back 106

pattern in which we provide reinforcement for producing the response following an average time interval, with the interval varying randomly

Front 107

shaping (by successive approximation)

Back 107

conditioning a target behavior by progressively reinforcing behaviors that come closer and closer to the target

Front 108

Premack Principle

Back 108

principle that a less frequently performed behavior can be increased in frequency by reinforcing it with a more frequent behavior

Front 109

token economies

Back 109

system for reinforcing appropriate behaviors and extinguishing inappropriate ones

Front 110

primary reinforcers

Back 110

items or outcomes that are naturally pleasurable

Front 111

secondary reinforcers

Back 111

were neutral objects, but get paired w/ primary reinforcers until we find them rewarding too

Front 112

applied behavior analysis

Back 112

used primarily to teach language and key concepts to autistic children and those with developmental disabilities, uses shaping techniques

Front 113

S-O-R psychology

Back 113

organism interprets the stimulus before producing a response, attempt to integrate classical and operant conditioning w/ a more thought base account

Front 114

latent learning

Back 114

learning that's not directly observable

Front 115

vicarious conditioning

Back 115

learning CR's by seeing consequences of other people's actions

Front 116

mirror neurons

Back 116

cells in PFC that become activated by specific motions when an animal both performs and observes that action

Front 117

insight

Back 117

Aha reaction

Front 118

conditioned taste aversion

Back 118

classical conditioning can lead us to develop avoidance reactions to taste of certain foods

Front 119

field memory

Back 119

seeing the world through your visual field

Front 120

observer memory

Back 120

memory in which we see ourselves as an outside observer

Front 121

span (capacity)

Back 121

how much information a memory system can retain

Front 122

duration

Back 122

length of time for which a memory system can retain information

Front 123

sensory memory

Back 123

info from senses, brief storage of perceptual information before passed to short term memory, may be attended to and processed in STM or LTP

Front 124

iconic memory

Back 124

visual sensory memory

Front 125

Echoic memory

Back 125

auditory sensory memory

Front 126

STM

Back 126

stores limited amount of info over limited time

Front 127

STM storage capacity

Back 127

Magic number- 7 plus or minus 2 pieces of information

Front 128

duration STM

Back 128

no longer than 20 sec

Front 129

Rehearsal

Back 129

extending duration of STM; repeating information mentally to keep information "alive" in our short-term memories

Front 130

maintenance rehearsal

Back 130

repeating something over and over

Front 131

elaborative rehearsal

Back 131

linking stimuli to each other in a meaningful way to improve retention of information in short-term memory

Front 132

visual processing

Back 132

hone in on how the sentence looks

Front 133

phonological processing

Back 133

focus on how the words in a sentence sound

Front 134

semantic processing

Back 134

emphasize the sentence's meaning

Front 135

retroactive inhibition/interference

Back 135

interference with retention of old information due to acquisition of new information

Front 136

proactive inhibition/interference

Back 136

old memory interferes with remembering NEW information

Front 137

von Restorff effect

Back 137

tendency to remember distinctive stimuli better than less distinctive stimuli

Front 138

explicit memory

Back 138

memories we recall intentionally and of which we have conscious awareness

Front 139

implicit memory

Back 139

memories we don't deliberately remember or reflect on consciously

Front 140

priming

Back 140

ability to ID a stimulus more quickly when we've previously encountered similar stimuli

Front 141

encoding

Back 141

process of getting info into our memory banks

Front 142

Pegword method

Back 142

used to recall lists of words

Front 143

Method of Loci

Back 143

relies on imagery of places

Front 144

keyword method

Back 144

depends on your ability to think of an English word that reminds you of the word you're trying to remember

Front 145

storage

Back 145

process of keeping info in memory

Front 146

Schemas

Back 146

organized knowledge structure or mental model that we've stored in memory- sometimes oversimplify which produce memory illusions

Front 147

retrieval

Back 147

reactivation or reconstruction of experiences from our memory stores

Front 148

encoding specificity principle

Back 148

we're more likely to remember something when conditions present at time of encoding are present at retrieval

Front 149

context-dependent learning

Back 149

superior retrieval of memories when the external context of original memories matches the retrieval context

Front 150

state-dependent learning

Back 150

superior retrieval of memories when the organism is in same physiological or psychological state as it was during encoding

Front 151

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

Back 151

gradual strengthening of connections among neurons from repetitive stimulation over time

Front 152

retrograde amnesia

Back 152

loss of memories from our past

Front 153

anterograde amnesia

Back 153

inability to encode new memories from our experiences

Front 154

cryptomnesia

Back 154

failure to recognize that our ideas originated with someone else

Front 155

seven sins of memory

Back 155

Suggestibility, Misattribution, Bias, Transience, Persistence, Blocking, Absentmindedness