AP Psychology Unit 4 Flashcards

Advanced Placement Psychology
Enterprise High School, Redding, CA
All terms from Myers Psychology for AP (BFW Worth, 2011)

Terms : Hide Images [1]

7313793620	sensation	the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.	0
7313793621	perception	the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.	1
7313793622	bottom-up processing	analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information.	2
7313793623	top-down processing	information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.	3
7313793624	selective attention	the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.	4
7313793625	inattentional blindness	failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.	5
7313793626	change blindness	failing to notice changes in the environment.	6
7313793627	psychophysics	the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.	7
7313793628	absolute threshold	the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time.	8
7313793629	signal detection theory	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.	9
7313793632	difference threshold	the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. Also called the just noticeable difference (jnd).	10
7313793633	Weber's law	the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant percentage (rather than a constant amount).	11
7313793634	sensory adaptation	diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.	12
7313793635	transduction	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 brains can interpret.	13
7313793643	accomodation	the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina.	14
7313793650	parallel processing	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.	15
7313793651	Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory	the theory that the retina contains 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.	16
7313793659	place theory	in hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated.	17
7313793660	frequency theory	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.	18
7313793664	kinesthesis	the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts.	19
7313793665	vestibular sense	the sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance.	20
7313793667	sensory interaction	the principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste.	21
7313793668	gestalt	an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes	22
7313793669	figure-ground	the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).	23
7313793671	depth perception	the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance.	24
7313793672	visual cliff	a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.	25
7313793673	binocular cues	depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes.	26
7313793674	retinal disparity	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.	27
7313793675	monocular cues	depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone.	28
7313793676	phi phenomenon	an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.	29
7313793677	perceptual constancy	perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent shapes, size, lightness, and color) even as illumination and retinal images change.	30
7313793678	color constancy	perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object.	31
7313793679	perceptual adaptation	in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field.	32
7313793680	perceptual set	a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.	33
7313793681	extrasensory perception (ESP)	the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.	34
7313793682	parapsychology	the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis.	35