AP Psych Midterm pt 2

Mean, Mode, Median

Mean- the "average" you're used to, where you add up all the numbers and then divide by the number of numbers. Mode- the value that occurs most often. If no number in the list is repeated, then there is no mode for the list. Median- the "middle" value in the list of numbers. To find the median, your numbers have to be listed in numerical order from smallest to largest, so you may have to rewrite your list before you can find the median.

Hubel and Wiesel

Sensation and perception; Discovered feature detectors, groups of neurons in the visual cortex that respond to different types of visual stimuli

Loftus and Palmer

They completed research that displayed how memory is easily distorted by questioning technique and information acquired after the event can merge with original memory causing inaccurate recall or reconstructive memory. (Eye Witness Testimony)

Kandel and Schwartz

They experimented on the Aplysia, or sea slug, and they observed its synaptic changes during learning in the neurons. They concluded that as the slug learned, it released more serotonin onto the neurons, which made them more efficient.

Transduction vs Accommodation

Transduction is the process of converting one form of energy into another. As it relates to psychology, transduction refers to changing physical energy into electrical signals (neural impusles) that can make their way to the brain. Accommodation is the cognitive process of revising existing cognitive schemas, perceptions, and understanding so that new information can be incorporated.

Pavlov

A Russian physiologist best known in psychology for his discovery of classical conditioning. During his studies on the digestive systems of dogs, Pavlov noted that the animals salivated naturally upon the presentation of food.

Absolute vs Difference Threshold (JND)

Absolute threshold is the smallest level of energy required by an external stimulus to be detectable by the human senses, including vision, hearing, taste, smell and touch. It is more precisely defined as the degree of intensity of a stimulus necessary to correctly detect that stimulus 50% of the time. Difference threshold, also known as the just noticeable difference (jnd), is the minimum difference in stimulation that a person can detect 50 percent of the time.

Efferent (motor) vs Afferent (sensory) Neurons

Afferent neurons are sensory neurons that carry nerve impulses from sensory stimuli towards the central nervous system and brain, while efferent neurons are motor neurons that carry neural impulses away from the central nervous system and towards muscles to cause movement.

Agonist vs. Antagonist

Agonist and antagonist act in opposite directions. When agonist produces an action, antagonist opposes the action. Agonist is a substance, which combines with the cell receptor to produce some reaction that is typical for that substance. On the other hand, antagonist is a chemical, which opposes or reduces the action.

Action Potential (-55 mv) vs. Resting Potential (-70mv)

An action potential is a transient, electrical signal, which is caused by a rapid change in resting membrane potential (-70 mV). This occurs when the threshold potential (-55 mV) is reached, this causes a rapid opening in the voltage-gated sodium channels leading to an influx of sodium ions into the cell.The resting membrane potential of a neuron is about -70 mV (mV=millivolt) - this means that the inside of the neuron is 70 mV less than the outside. At rest, there are relatively more sodium ions outside the neuron and more potassium ions inside that neuron.

Control vs Experimental Group

An experimental group is the group in an experiment that receives the variable being tested. One variable is tested at a time. The experimental group is compared to a control group, which does not receive the test variable. In this way, experimental groups are used to find answers in an experiment.

Dependent vs Independent Variable

An independent variable is the variable that is changed or controlled in a scientific experiment to test the effects on the dependent variable. A dependent variable is the variable being tested and measured in a scientific experiment.

Monocular vs Binocular Cues

Binocular cues include stereopsis, eye convergence, disparity, and yielding depth from binocular vision through exploitation of parallax. Monocular cues include size: distant objects subtend smaller visual angles than near objects, grain, size, and motion parallax.

Bottom Up vs Top Down Processing

Bottom-up processing refers to processing sensory information as it is coming in. Top-down processing, on the other hand, refers to perception that is driven by cognition.

Fixed vs Variable Interval Schedule

Fixed-interval schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where the first response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed. A variable interval schedule is a type of schedule in which reinforcement is given to a response after specific amount of time has passed (an unpredictable amount of time), but this amount of time is on a changing/variable schedule.

Fixed vs Variable Ratio Schedule

Fixed-ratio schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where a response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses. Variable-ratio schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses. This schedule creates a steady, high rate of responding.

+1.0 vs. -1.0 Correlation

For example, there is a positive correlation between smoking and alcohol use. As alcohol use increases, so does smoking. When two variables have a negative correlation, they have an inverse relationship. This means that as one variable increases, the other decreases, and vice versa.

Bandura

His Social Learning Theory posits that people learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and modeling. The theory has often been called a bridge between behaviorist and cognitive learning theories because it encompasses attention, memory, and motivation.

Hormones vs. Neurotransmitters

Hormones move slower because they move through the bloodstream while neurotransmitters travel through synapses. Neurotransmitters belong to the nervous system, whereas hormones belong to the endocrine system.

Successive Approximation vs Shaping

In successive approximation, each successive step towards the desired behavior is identified and rewarded. The series of rewards for different steps of the behavior increases the likelihood that the steps will be taken again and that they will lead to the desired end result being fulfilled. Shaping is a behavioral term that refers to gradually molding or training an organism to perform a specific response by reinforcing any responses that come close to the desired response.

Identical vs. Fraternal Twins

Monozygotic twins (also known as identical twins) occur when a single fertilized egg splits into two separate embryos which then implant into the uterus. Monozygotic twins share identical DNA at birth because they were originally the same single egg. Fraternal twins are siblings who develop from separate eggs and separate sperm cells, but during the same fertilization period. So they end up being conceived at the same time, developing at the same time, and being born at approximately the same time.

Olds and Milner

Olds and Milner discovered the reward mechanisms (the reward center) in the brain involved in positive reinforcement, and their experiments led to the conclusion that electrical stimulation could serve as an operant reinforcer.

Skinner

One of the most influential of American psychologists. A behaviorist, he developed the theory of operant conditioning -- the idea that behavior is determined by its consequences, be they reinforcements or punishments, which make it more or less likely that the behavior will occur again.

Biological Predisposition

Pavlov and Watson believed that laws of learning were similar for all animals. However, behaviorists later suggested that learning is constrained by an animal's biology.

Proactive vs Retroactive Interference

Proactive interference occurs when, in any given context, past memories inhibit an individual's full potential to retain new memories. Retroactive interference is a phenomenon that occurs when newly learned information interferes with and impedes the recall of previously learned information.

Variable-Interval Schedule

Reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals, which produces slow, steady responses.

Fixed-Ratio Schedule

Reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.

Variable-Ratio Schedule

Reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.

Fixed-Interval Schedule

Reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed.

Reliability vs Validity vs. Standardization

Reliability- a measure of the test's consistency. A useful test is consistent over time. Validity- is a measure of a test's usefulness. Standardization- the process of trying out the test on a group of people to see the scores which are typically obtained.

Rods vs Cones

Rods are responsible for vision at low light levels (scotopic vision). They do not mediate color vision, and have a low spatial acuity. Cones are active at higher light levels (photopic vision), are capable of color vision and are responsible for high spatial acuity. The central fovea is populated exclusively by cones.

Shaping vs Modeling

Shaping is the process of reinforcing successively closer and closer approximations to a desired terminal behavior. Modeling is when people learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and modeling.

Extinction vs. Spontaneous Recovery

Spontaneous recovery is a phenomenon that involves suddenly displaying a behavior that was thought to be extinct. Extinction is the gradual weakening of a conditioned response that results in the behavior decreasing or disappearing. In other words, the conditioned behavior eventually stops.

Stimulus Generalization vs Discrimination

Stimulus generalization is the tendency for the conditioned stimulus to evoke similar responses after the response has been conditioned. Stimulus discrimination involves the ability to distinguish between one stimulus and similar stimuli. In both cases, it means responding only to certain stimuli, and not responding to those that are similar.

Taste Aversion

The mind develops a resistance towards a certain food. In simpler terms, eating certain types of food can cause a bad reaction. This is a form of classical condition when the body uses a natural instinct as a means of protection. This is also called a survival mechanism. It warns the body if a type of food (berries or mushrooms) is harmful.

Next in Line vs Serial Position Effect

The serial position effect is the psychological tendency to remember the first and last items in a list better than those in the middle. The next-in-line effect is the phenomena of people being unable to recall information concerning events immediately preceding their turn to perform.

UCS, UCR, CS, CR

Unconditioned response (UCR): automatic response to a ucs. Neutral stimulus (NS): agent that initially has no effect. Conditioned stimulus (CS): a former ns that comes to elicit a given response after pairing with a ucs. Conditioned response (CR): a learned response to a cs.

Kinesthetic vs. Vestibular

Vestibular sense is our sense of balance. Kinesthetic sense deals with our actual movements, like lifting a leg or an arm, vestibular sense has more to do with our movement in relation to the external world.

Broca vs Wernicke Area

Wernicke's area is the region of the brain that is important for language development. It is located in the temporal lobe on the left side of the brain and is responsible for the comprehension of speech, while Broca's area is related to the production of speech.

Recency vs Primacy in Serial Position Effect

When asked to recall a list of items in any order (free recall), people tend to begin recall with the end of the list, recalling those items best (the recency effect). Among earlier list items, the first few items are recalled more frequently than the middle items (the primacy effect).

Wundt

Wundt, who noted psychology as a science apart from philosophy and biology, was the first person ever to call himself a psychologist. He is widely regarded as the "father of experimental psychology". In 1879, Wundt founded the first formal laboratory for psychological research at the University of Leipzig. Helped develop structuralism.

Modeling

a form of learning where individuals ascertain how to act or perform by observing another individual.

Secondary (conditioned) Reinforcement

a learned reinforcer that gets its reinforcing power through association with the primary reinforcer.

Observational Conditioning

a process in which an individual learns an emotional response after observing similar responses in others; happens in higher animals who learn without direct experience by watching and imitating others. This involves cognitive learning where mental information guides behavior.

Operant Conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher. This involves operant behavior, a behavior that operates on the environment, producing rewarding or punishing stimuli.

Classical Conditioning

a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events. This involves respondent behavior that occurs as an automatic response to a certain stimulus.

Short-Term Memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly before the information is stored or forgotten

Watson

an American psychologist who established the psychological school of behaviorism. Watson promoted a change in psychology through his address Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it, which was given at Columbia University in 1913.

Primary Reinforcement

an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need; a stimulus like food or drink.

Encoding Technique- Mnemonics

any organization technique that can be used to help remember something. One example is a peg-word system, in which the person "pegs" or associates the items to be remembered with other easy-to-remember items.

Shaping

learning that results from the reinforcement of successive steps to a final desired behavior; In children, reinforcing good behavior increases the occurrence of these behaviors. Ignoring unwanted behavior decreases their occurrence.

Chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

Eye Witness Testimony

refers to an account given by people of an event they have witnessed; false memories may occur here

Rosy-Retrospection

refers to the psychological phenomenon of people sometimes judging the past disproportionately more positively than they judge the present.

Retrieval

the process of bringing to mind information that has been previously encoded and stored

Encoding

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

Long-Term Memory

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