PSYCH 111 midterm # 2

is the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.

is the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brains's integration of sensory information. Example: putting a puzzle together.

- information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations. Example in class on reading paragraph with first and last letter correct.

is conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret. Smell colors, hear colors.

is the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.

is the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time.

is a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.

is below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

is the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response. Because you know the word yellow easier to recognize bananas

is the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference.

is the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount). Example with how much two different people get when working, and then how but to notice raise

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

is the distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic wavelengths vary from the short blips of cosmic rays to the long pulses of radio transmission.

is the dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth.

is the amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave's amplitude

is the adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters

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

is the transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina.

is the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods, and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information. See color

is the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina.

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

are retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations.

is the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

is the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there

is the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster

are nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement.

is the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving

the theory that the retina conns three different color receptors-one most sensitive to red, one to green, one to blue-which, when stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any color

is the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green

the faculty of perceiving things by means other than the known senses, e.g., by telepathy or clairvoyance

is an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

is the organization of the visual field in to objects (the figures) that stand out form their surroundings (the ground.) The BYU Y sign.

is the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

is the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

is a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

are depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes.

is a binocular cue for perceiving depth; By comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance-the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.

are depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone.

is an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

is perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent shapes, size, brightness, and color) even as illumination and retinal images change

is perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object

in vision, is the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field.

is the sense or act of hearing

is the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (for example, per second).

is a tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency

is the chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer, anvil and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window.

is a coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear; sounds waves traveling through the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses

is the innermost port of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs

is hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness.

is hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sounds waves to the cochlea

is a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded in to the cochlea

says in hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated

is the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The "gate" is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain.

is the principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste.

in psychological science, the influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other states on cognitive preferences and judgments

in hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch.

people have high sensitivity,
found in 1/5 people
sometimes confused with shyness or introversion.
More aware of all the possibilities in a situation.
Process information from the environment more carefully and study it thoroughly before acting
Possess a more sensitive nervous system and thus are more aware of subtleties in their surroundings
Many are intellectually gifted, unusually creative and productive workers, and attentive and thoughtful in close relationships
More easily overwhelmed when in a highly stimulating environment.
Become exhausted when bombarded by multiple stimuli and they need more down time to recover

Founder of experiment psychology. Tried to promote the belief they every person, animal, and plant in the universe is composed of both matter and soul. Did experiment with sun- had an emotional collapse, when into dark then recovered and took a walk in the garden.

Methods of limits: Begins with a minimal stimulus and increases it until the participants can perceive it.
Method of right and wrong cases: present identical stimuli repeatedly- either singly stimuli at the threshold or pairs of stimuli that are very similar.
Method of adjustment: adjust a comparison stimulus until it appears identical to the standard stimulus.

Can affect how much we like some-one. Three different scents: lemon (good), sweat (bad), and ethereal (neutral)

refers to the intricate network of blood vessels that nourish the retina's nerve cells.

We localize sound by detecting small differences in the loudness and timing of the sounds received by the two ears

18 year-olds are at the peak of their hearing ability. Loud music (concerts) can cause hearing loss. Listening to sounds levels (85 decibels) eight hours a day, five days a week, will eventually cause permanent hearing loss in most people. 35 million Americans suffer from hearing loss (most common physical disability). Most 30¬year¬olds are unable to hear frequencies above 15,000 Hz; by age 50, hearing beyond 12,000 Hz is lost; by 70 years of age, the cutoff value falls to 6,000 Hz, a value within the range of nor¬mal speech. Men more hearing loss than women.

Ringing in the ears. Cause is loud noises, also certain drugs, ear infections, or food allergies. It is incapacitating making it hard to concentrate to complete a task

neural impulses from different parts of the skin, surface take different amounts of time to reach the brain. Ex: touch hand to lip

awareness of the position of one's body. Ian waterman (video on him and walking)

Reducers (don't feel) vs. augmenters (low pain tolerance

seek stronger stimulation, drink coffee, smoke more, more likely to abuse alcohol

is the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors

is learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning).

is any event or situation that evoked a response

is the acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language

is a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events.

is the view that psychology (1) should be an objective scones that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologist today agree with (1) but not with (2).

is classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning.

in classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (US) (such as food in the mouth).

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally-naturally and automatically-triggers a response (UR). (food)

in classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS). (drooling)

in classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR). (bell)

in classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response. Ex: when we hear a bell (because of school)

is a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus. For example, an animal that has learned that a tone predicts food might then learn that a light predicts the tone and begin responding to the light alone. (also called second-order-conditioning)

is the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS); occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced

is the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response.

is the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses

in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus. Being able to tell between a bell tone and other sounds like it

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

Thirndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

in operant conditiong research, a chamber (also known as Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal's rate of bar pressing or key pecking

in operant conditioning, any event that strengthen the behavior it follows. INCREASES

is an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desire behavior

increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response. Adding something: good on test candy bar

increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. Take away something: good on test you don't have to do chores

is an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need. Ex: Consuming food when hungry

A stimulus that gains reinforcing power through its association with the primary reinforce. EX: Money to purchase the food needed to satisfy hunger.

Consuming food, watching TV

paycheck, good grades

is a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; also known as a secondary reinforcer

is a pattern that defines how often a desire response will be reinforced

is reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

is reinforcing a response only part of the time, results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement.

reinforce (subway card example) You have a schedule of when you will be rewarded

provide reinforcement after an unpredictable amount of responses. (JACKPOT- vegas) never know when you will be rewarded.

Reinforce the first response after a specified amount of time has elapsed. (mail @ 4 o'clock). You know after a certain amount of time you will be reward.

reinforce the first response after a varying amount of time has past (email) You know you will be rewarded you just don't know when.

An event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows. Postive punishment is a reward- after school detention, and negative punishment "escape"- no TV for a week

Taste Aversions- Example- Frozen Chicken Dinners

The power of immediate reinforcement. Delay of 30 seconds- virtually no learning. "part of maturity is learning to delay gratification." Greater consideration of future consequences is positively linked to: Conscientiousness. Optimism. Hope. Internal locus of control. General concern for health. More likely to be environmentally conscientious

promising a reward for doing what one already likes to do. An already justifiable activity can become over justified by the promise of added reward. Weight Loss.

rewards lead people to think that an activity does not deserve doing in its own right.

a response that is accidentally reinforced.

Spell "Cat" Examples. "Wrong" punishment, "try against", Correction and Reinforcement (1) prompted the student to spell (2) identified the incorrect spelling and reinforced the child's effort (3) identified the location of the error and encouraged error correction (4) reinforcement error correction and prompted spelling again. (5) reinforcement the correct spelling a second time and repeated the correct spelling.

is behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus

is behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences

is a mental representation of the layout of one's environment. for example, after exploring a maze, rats act as if they have learned a cognitive map of it.

is learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it. Ex: karate kid

is a desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake. Ex: learning for myself- to better myself

is a desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment. Ex: going to school to become a doctor

is learning by observing others. Example with little boy and dogs

is the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

is frontal lobe neurons that some scientists believe fire when performing a certain actions or when observing another doing so. The brain's mirroring of another's action

is positive, constructive, helpful behavior. The opposite of antisocial behavior. To better society.

trained dogs. Classical Conditioning

Canned laughter, laugh more with others, advertisers do this "fastest growing" or "largest selling". Tip jars.

is the persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information

is a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test

a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.

is a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again.

the processing of information into the memory system-for example, by extracting meaning.

remember things off of sight (what the solar system looks like)

Remember something off of sound

remember off of feelings. (example in class with midget)

You will remember beginning and last more easily

is the retention of encoded information over time

is the process of getting information out of memory storage

is the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

is activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten

is the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences

is a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

(declarative) is memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare." In testing center trying to remember. Episodic- recall of events/experiences. Semantic- recall of facts

is encoding that requires attention and conscious effort

is unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings

(non-declarative) is retention independent of conscious recollection. We retain things without knowing. Like you brushed your teeth.

is a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photo-graphic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second. something you see. Viking Picture

is a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds. something you hear "what did I just say"

is organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically. chuck into three sections

is memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices. first-letter technique, keyword, chunking, peg-wrod system, method of loci (location)

is the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice

is enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply reading, information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning.

is encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words

is encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention.

is a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage.

is a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event like you took a photo but you remember that one moment. Ex: where were you during 9/11.

is an increase in a cell's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

is the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood.

is our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list.

ability to remember because of practice. Ex: the 12 days of christmas

We remember pleasant things first

Over 30 different plausible explanations. Biological- a neurochemical event alters the relay time of one of many pathways to the processing center of the brain. Aren't aware we are remembering past events. Brief, more indoor, more with education and decreases with age. Generates a positive response.

is an inability to form new memories

is an inability to retrieve information form one's past.

is the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information. Learn two things and you can't recall second because of the first thing.

is the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information. New information makes in difficult to remember old information.

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety- arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.

is the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

is a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

is a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin)

is a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier-but also more error-prone-use of heuristics.

is a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms. mental shortcuts. Ex: example of girl and do you think they is feminist and what not.

is a sudden realization of a problem's solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions. Provides a sense of satisfaction

is a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

is a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past. Ex: you do something so you do it that way all the time.

is an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning

We judge the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent or match a particular prototype. (linda feminist)

The tendency to ignore or underuse base-rate information and instead to be influenced by the distinctive features of the case being judged. (rudy's job)

is estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common. Fear of flying vs. fear of driving.

The human tendency to use initial information as the standard, or "anchor," for judgement and decision making. Social Security numbers and how much someone was willing to pay.

"throwing good money after bad"

is the tendency to be more confident than correct- to over-estimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgement

is clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

is the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgements

is our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

The ability to produce and understand utterances we have never heard before. (new sentences)

really intelligent words for common stuff. EX: Oral hygienic appliance- toothbrush

is a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit. syllables like a "ca" sound.

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix, and suffixes)

is in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. Ina given language, semantics is the set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is the set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences

is beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language.

is the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

is beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements

is early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram-"go car"-using mostly nouns and verbs.

is impairment of language, usually caused by left-hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding).

controls language expression- an area of the frontal love, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech

controls language reception- a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe

is Whorf's hypothesis that language determines the way we think.

is a method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores

a general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test.

is a statistical procedure that identifies cluster of related times (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person's total score

is a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing

is the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas

is the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

is a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance. Thus, a child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8.

is the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binets's original intelligence test

defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ= ma/ca times 100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100

is a test designed to assess what a person has learned.

is a test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn.

is the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance nonverbal) subtests.

is defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group.

is the symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes

is the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, or on retesting

is the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to. (See also content validity and predictive validity.)

is the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior. (Also called criterion-related validity.) to all people

is the content valid; how you gather info

1) emotional intensity- they take hold of our feelings both positive and negative. 2) Vividness- they have an intensity and clarity that highlights what matters to us. 3) Repetition- on average they occur 1/week-1/month 4) Connections- they tend to be part of script, a series of memories that overlap in plot and themes. 5) Lasting Goals and Unresolved conflicts- they alert us to what matters most in our lives

basically the differences in human viewing. Like the dress

is the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The "gate" is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain.

If someone is threaten by a stereotype it can affect their performance.

Linguistic, Logical-mathematical, musical, bodily, spatial, intrapersonal, interpersonal, naturalist.

Analytical, Creative, & Practical

is a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound. (formerly referred to as mental retardation)

is a condition of mild to severe intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosomes 21.

is the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes. The heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied