A comprehensive review of terminology for AP Psychology. Definitions are for triggering other information. (Pulled from other lists.)
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| 8375250391 | absolute threshold | intensity level at which one can detect a stimulus 50% of the time | 0 | |
| 8375250392 | acetylcholine (ACh) | a neurotransmitter involved in learning, memory and muscle movement | 1 | |
| 8375250393 | action potential | the electrical process by which information is transmitted the length of an axon | 2 | |
| 8375250394 | agonists | drugs which mimic the activity of neurotransmitters | 3 | |
| 8375250395 | all-or-nothing | description of the action of neurons when firing | 4 | |
| 8375250396 | amygdala | limbic system component associated with emotion, particularly fear and anger | 5 | |
| 8375250397 | anorexia (nervosa) | an eating disorder in which one starves oneself even though significantly underweight | 6 | |
| 8375250398 | anterograde amnesia | loss of memory for events that occur after the onset of the amnesia; eg, see in a boxer who suffers a severe blow to the head and loses memory for events after the blow | 7 | |
| 8375250399 | retrograde amnesia | loss of memory for events that occurred before the onset of amnesia; eg a soldier's forgetting events immediately before a shell burst nearby, injuring him | 8 | |
| 8375250400 | association areas | areas of the cerebral cortex which have no specific motor or sensory repsonsibilities, but rather are involved in thinking, memory and judgment | 9 | |
| 8375250401 | autonomic nervous system | division of the nervous system that control the glands and organs; its divisions arouse or calm | 10 | |
| 8375250402 | basic research | scientific investigations intended to expand the knowledge base | 11 | |
| 8375250403 | applied research | scientific investigations intended to solve practical problems | 12 | |
| 8375250404 | behavioral | perspective on psychology that sees psychology as an objective science without reference to mental states | 13 | |
| 8375250405 | binocular cues | retinal disparity and convergence which enable people to determine depth using both eyes | 14 | |
| 8375250406 | biological | perspective that stresses links between biology and behavior | 15 | |
| 8375250407 | blind spot | point in the retinal where the optic nerve leaves the retina so there are no rods or cones there | 16 | |
| 8375250408 | bottom-up processing | analysis that begins with sensory receptors and works its way up to the brain's integration of sensory information | 17 | |
| 8375250410 | case study | scientific investigation in which a single subject is studied in great detail | 18 | |
| 8375250411 | CAT scan | a method of creating static images of the brain through computerized axial tomography | 19 | |
| 8375250413 | Central Nervous System | consists of the brain and the spinal cord | 20 | |
| 8375250414 | cerebellum | brain structure that controls well-learned motor activities like riding a bike | 21 | |
| 8375250415 | cerebral cortex | the fabric of interconnecting cells that blankets the brain hemispheres; the brain's center for information processing and control | 22 | |
| 8375250416 | chunking | organizing units of information into manageable units such as memorizing a phone number as three groups of information 248-555-1212 | 23 | |
| 8375250417 | classical conditioning | method of learning in which a neutral stimulus can be used to elicit a response that is usually a natural response to a stimulus | 24 | |
| 8375250418 | cognitive | perspective on psychology that stresses the importance of mental activities associated with thinking, remembering, etc | 25 | |
| 8375250419 | conditioned response | in classical conditioning, the response elicited by the conditioned stimulus | 26 | |
| 8375250420 | conditioning | generally, learning in which certain experiences make certain behaviors more or less likely; there are two forms of this | 27 | |
| 8375250421 | cones | neurons in the retina that are responsible for color vision | 28 | |
| 8375250422 | confirmation bias | a tendency to search for information that supports one's preconceptions | 29 | |
| 8375250423 | control group | subjects in an experiment who do not receive application of the independent variable but are measured nonetheless for the dependent variable | 30 | |
| 8375250424 | corpus callosum | the fibers that connect the right and left hemispheres, enabling them to communicate | 31 | |
| 8375250425 | correlation | the degree of relationship between two variables | 32 | |
| 8375250426 | correlation coefficient | a positive one near 1.0 indicates two variable are positively related; a negative number indicates a negative relationship; zero indicates no relationship | 33 | |
| 8375250427 | debriefing | giving participants in a research study a complete explanation of the study after the study is completed | 34 | |
| 8375250428 | dependent variable | the variable that the experimenter measures at the end of the experiment | 35 | |
| 8375250429 | depressant | any agent that reduces the activity of the CNS | 36 | |
| 8375250430 | depth perception | an ability that we exercise by using both monocular and binocular cues | 37 | |
| 8375250431 | dopamine | a neurotransmitter that is associated with Parkinson's disease (too little of it) and schizophrenia (too much of it) | 38 | |
| 8375250433 | EEG | initials of a method of representation of brain waves | 39 | |
| 8375250434 | endocrine system | the slow messenger system of the body; produces hormones that affect many bodily functions | 40 | |
| 8375250435 | endorphins | neurotransmitters that give one a feeling of well-being, euphoria or eliminate pain | 41 | |
| 8375250436 | episodic | describes a type of memory that includes specific events that one has personally experienced | 42 | |
| 8375250437 | experiment | form of scientific investigation in which one variable is tested to determine its effect on another | 43 | |
| 8375250438 | extinction | in classical conditioning, the process of eliminating the previously acquired association of the conditioned stimulus and conditioned response | 44 | |
| 8375250439 | extrinsic | term that describes motivations that drive behavior in order to gain rewards from outside forces | 45 | |
| 8375250440 | general adaptation syndrome | Seyle's concept that the body responds to stress with alarm, resistance and exhaustion | 46 | |
| 8375250441 | gestalt | German word for "whole", it refers to our tendency to perceive incomplete figures as complete | 47 | |
| 8375250442 | heuristic | a useful, but unprovable, cognitive shortcut, such as a "rule of thumb" | 48 | |
| 8375250443 | hierarchy of needs | Maslow's theory of the most important motivations people have | 49 | |
| 8375250444 | hippocampus | limbic system component associated with memory | 50 | |
| 8375250445 | homeostasis | the steady, stable state that is the body's regulatory processes try to maintain | 51 | |
| 8375250446 | hunger | it is regulated by the lateral hypothalamus and the ventromedial hypothalamus | 52 | |
| 8375250447 | hypnosis | a social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain events or emotions will occur | 53 | |
| 8375250448 | hypothalamus | limbic system component that regulates hunger, body temperature and other functions | 54 | |
| 8375250449 | hypothesis | a prediction of how the an experiment will turn out | 55 | |
| 8375250451 | independent | type of variable manipulated by the experimenter | 56 | |
| 8375250452 | insight | in psychoanalysis, the basic understanding one develops of the underlying sources of emotion or behavioral difficulty | 57 | |
| 8375250455 | latent content | the hidden or disguised meaning of dreams | 58 | |
| 8375250456 | latent learning | a change in behavior due to experience acquired without conscious effort, s, for example, a student using a quote in an exam essay that the student had never tried to memorize, though eh had encountered it in studying | 59 | |
| 8375250457 | marijuana | a drug, often smoked, whose effects include euphoria, impairment of judgment and concentration and occasionally hallucinations; rarely reported as addictive | 60 | |
| 8375250458 | mean | numerical average of a set of numbers | 61 | |
| 8375250459 | median | the middle one of a set of numbers | 62 | |
| 8375250460 | memory | functions associated with this include encoding, storage and retrieval | 63 | |
| 8375250461 | mode | the most commonly occurring term in a batch of data | 64 | |
| 8375250462 | MRI | a technique that enables us to see static images of the brain's structures; uses magnetism to achieve this effect | 65 | |
| 8375250463 | narcolepsy | a disorder characterized by sudden sleep attacks, often at inopportune times | 66 | |
| 8375250464 | negative reinforcement | in operant conditioning, removing something unpleasant in order to elicit more of a particular behavior | 67 | |
| 8375250465 | neurotransmitter | a chemical that is released by a neuron for the purpose of carrying information across the gaps (synapses) between neurons | 68 | |
| 8375250466 | neutral | describes a stimulus in classical conditioning that would normally not elicit the response intended, such as the tone in Pavlov's experiments before it was associated with the food | 69 | |
| 8375250467 | night terrors | also called sleep terror disorder, these include the characteristic of waking abruptly in a state of panic, usually in children, less often in adults | 70 | |
| 8375250468 | occipital | this lobe contains the primary vision processing function | 71 | |
| 8375250469 | operant conditioning | a method of influencing behavior by rewarding desired behaviors and punishing undesired ones | 72 | |
| 8375250470 | operational definition | a description of an experimental variable in such a way that the variable can be measured and the procedure can be replicated | 73 | |
| 8375250471 | optic chiasm | the point in the brain where the visual field information from each eye "crosses over" to the appropriate side of the brain for processing | 74 | |
| 8375250472 | optic nerve | the axons of the ganglion cells form this | 75 | |
| 8375250473 | parasympathetic | the branch of the nervous system that automatically calms us down when the reason for arousal has passed | 76 | |
| 8375250474 | peripheral nervous system | the subsystem of the nervous system that does not include the CNS | 77 | |
| 8375250475 | PET scan | method of brain imaging using positron emissions | 78 | |
| 8375250476 | place theory | the idea that different sound frequencies stimulate different locations on the basilar membrae | 79 | |
| 8375250477 | placebo | an inert substance given to the control group in an experiment | 80 | |
| 8375250478 | placebo effect | phenomenon that some people get better even though they receive not medication but an inert substance which should have no medical effect | 81 | |
| 8375250479 | refractory period | resting time; occurs in both neuron firing and in human sexual response | 82 | |
| 8375250480 | reinforcer | in operant conditioning any event that strengthens the behavior it follows | 83 | |
| 8375250481 | reliability | in testing, the characteristic of a test that produces consistent scores through retesting or alternate halves or other methods | 84 | |
| 8375250482 | reticular formation | a network of cells in the brainstem that filters sensory information and is involved in arousal and alertness | 85 | |
| 8375250483 | rods | responsible for black and white vision | 86 | |
| 8375250484 | selective attention | this term describes the situation when you are focused on certain stimuli in the environment while other stimuli are excluded | 87 | |
| 8375250485 | self-actualization | the highest of Malow's needs; "the full use of talent" | 88 | |
| 8375250487 | serotonin | a neurotransmitter; associated with improved mood and other positive emotions | 89 | |
| 8375250488 | set point | the point at which one's body tries maintain weight | 90 | |
| 8375250489 | signal detection | this theory predicts how and in what circumstances we can detect a stimulus; assumes there is no single threshold | 91 | |
| 8375250490 | sleep apnea | a disorder characterized by cessation of breathing during sleep | 92 | |
| 8375250491 | socio-cultural | a perspective on psychology that emphasizes effects on behavior and thinking of one's culture and the people around one | 93 | |
| 8375250492 | social learning | a theory that suggests we learn social behaviors by watching and imitating others | 94 | |
| 8375250493 | somatic | a division of the nervous system that controls voluntary muscle movements | 95 | |
| 8375250494 | split brain | a condition in which the two brain hemispheres are isolated by cutting the corpus callosum | 96 | |
| 8375250495 | spontaneous recovery | in classical conditioning the re-occurence of conditioning after it had appeared to be extinct | 97 | |
| 8375250496 | standard deviation | a computation of how much scores vary around a mean | 98 | |
| 8375250497 | sympathetic | part of the nervous system that controls the "flight or fight" response | 99 | |
| 8375250498 | thalamus | the sensory switchboard | 100 | |
| 8375250499 | theory | this organizes data and is used to make predictions | 101 | |
| 8375250500 | threshold | in a neuron, reaching this causes the neuron to fire | 102 | |
| 8375250501 | unconditioned response | in conditioning the behavior elicited by the unconditioned stimulus | 103 | |
| 8375250502 | unconditioned stimulus | in conditioning it elicits the UCR | 104 | |
| 8375250503 | resting potential | the inside of a neuron is negatively charged | 105 | |
| 8375250506 | algorithm | a step by step process to problem solving | 106 | |
| 8375250507 | mirror neurons | neurons that fire as the result of observation | 107 | |
| 8375250508 | wernicke's area | part of the brain that interprets language | 108 | |
| 8375250509 | broca's area | part of the brain that produces speech | 109 | |
| 8375250510 | discrimination | being able to tell the difference between similar stimuli | 110 | |
| 8375250511 | generalization | applying a learned concept on to multiple stimuli | 111 | |
| 8375250512 | reflex | immediate reaction to a stimulus triggered by the spinal cord | 112 | |
| 8375250518 | statistical inference | applying the data from a sample to the entire population | 113 | |
| 8375250519 | subliminal | a stimulus that is registered less than 50% of the time | 114 | |
| 8375250520 | validity | does the test measure what it is supposed to | 115 | |
| 8375250521 | industrial organizational | focuses on applying psychological principles to business | 116 |
