Ap psych cognition unit 2

• focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus is known as selective attention
• failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere is called inattentional blindness
• failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of inattentional blindness is known as change blindness
• a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another is a perceptual set
• an organized whole, our tendencies to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes is known as gestalt principles
• figure-ground- the organization of the visual field into objects(figures) that stand out from their surroundings(ground)
• grouping

  the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.
• 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.
• visual cliff

  a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.
• binocular cue

  a depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes.
• monocular cue

  a depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone.
• convergence

  a cue to nearby objects’ distance, enabled by the brain combining retinal images.
• retinal disparity

  a binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing retinal images from the two eyes, the brain computes distance — the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.
• stroboscopic movement

  an illusion of continuous movement (as in a motion picture) experienced when viewing a rapid series of slightly varying still images.
• perceptual constancy

  perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change.
• concept

  a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.
• prototype

  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 crow).
• schema

  a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.
• assimilation

  interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.
• accommodation

  in developmental psychology, adapting our current schemas (understandings) to incorporate new information.
• creativity

  the ability to produce new and valuable ideas.
• convergent thinking

  narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.
• divergent thinking

  expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions.
• executive functions

  cognitive skills that work together, enabling us to generate, organize, plan, and implement goal-directed behavior.
• algorithm

  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.
• heuristic

  a simple thinking strategy—a mental shortcut — that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than an algorithm.
• representativeness heuristic

  judging the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information.
• availability heuristic

  judging 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.
• framing

  the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.
• mental set

  a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.
• memory

  persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information.
• recall

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

  a measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.
• encoding

  the process of getting information into the memory system — for example, by extracting meaning.
• storage

  the process of retaining encoded information over time.
• retrieval

  the process of getting information out of memory storage.
• proximity

  we group nearby figures together
• closure

  we fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object
• interposition

  if on object is partially blocking our view of another, we perceive it as closer
• relative size

  if we assume two objects are similar in size, most people perceive the one that casts the smaller retinal image as farther away