Class 6

Question 1

What is an absolute threshold?

Answer 1

The lowest level of a stimulus we detect 50% of the time.

Question 2

What is a difference threshold?

Answer 2

The minimum difference between two stimuli we can detect 50% of the time.

Question 3

What is Weber’s Law?

Answer 3

Two stimuli must differ by a constant proportion, which varies by stimulus, but remains constant within a given stimulus.

Question 4

What is signal detection theory?

Answer 4

Proposes a method for quantifying a person’s ability to detect a given stimulus (the signal) amidst other, non-important stimuli (termed “noise”)

Question 5

What is bottom-up processing?

Answer 5

Starts with information from our sensory receptors and builds up to a final product in our brain; this type of processing assumes that we start with the details and end with a final representation in our mind.

Question 6

What is top-down processing?

Answer 6

Starts with a larger concept or idea and works down to the details; this type of processing assumes that we start with an idea…

Question 7

What is Gestalt psychology?

Answer 7

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Emphasizes our tendency to organize information into a meaningful whole.

Question 8

What are the 5 key Gestalt principles?

Answer 8

1. Law of proximity
2. Law of similarity
3. Law of continuity
4. Law of connectedness
5. Law of closure

Question 9

What is Baddeley’s model of working memory?

Answer 9

An explanation of how our three short-term sensory stores interact with the central executive, which controls the flow of information from/to the sensory stores.

Question 10

What are the three short-term memory groups?

Answer 10

1. Phonological loop
2. Visuospatial sketchpad
3. Episodic buffer

Pairs with:

1. Semantic verbal memory
2. Semantic visual memory
3. Episodic memory

Question 11

What are schemas?

Answer 11

A mental framework that allows us to organize our experience/stimuli and respond to new experiences/stimuli

Question 12

What are the four stages of Piaget’s cognitive development model?

Answer 12

1. Sensorimotor
2. Preoperational thought
3. Concrete operational
4. Formal operational

Question 13

What is a heuristic?

Answer 13

A mental rule-of-thumb, shortcut, or guideline that can be applied to problem solving.

Question 14

What is insight?

Answer 14

Occurs when we puzzle over a problem, the complete solution appears to come to use all at once.

Question 15

What is confirmation bias?

Answer 15

Occurs when we seek evidence to support our conclusions or ideas more than we seek evidence that will refute them; this also occurs when we interpret neutral or ambiguous evidence as supporting our beliefs.

Question 16

What is fixation?

Answer 16

Occurs when we have structured a problem in our mind a certain way, even if that way is ineffective, and then are unable to restructure it; you are then unable to see the problem from a fresh perspective.

Question 17

What is a mental set?

Answer 17

Our tendency to approach situations in a certain way because that method worked for us in the past.

Question 18

What is functional fixedness?

Answer 18

A mental bias that limits our perspective for how an object can be used based on how that object is traditionally used.

Question 19

What is the availability heuristic?

Answer 19

Occurs when we rely on immediate examples that come to mind when trying to make a decision or judgment. When you overestimate the probability and likelihood of something happening because you can think of example of it happening, you’ve committed this error.

Question 20

What is the representative heuristic?

Answer 20

Occurs when we estimate the likelihood of an event by comparing it to an existing prototype that already exists in our minds. Our prototype is what we think is the most relevant or typical example of a particular event or object.

Question 21

What is the behaviorist model of language acquisition?

Answer 21

Infants are trained to learn language through operant conditioning.

Question 22

What did Noam Chomsky propose about language?

Answer 22

Humans are born with an innate ability to learn language, an idea termed Universal Grammar.

The baby must be exposed to the language before a Critical Period.

Question 23

What is the classic evidence for no language acquisition after the critical period?

Answer 23

Genie who was isolated until age 11 never successfully acquired a first language.

Question 24

What is Broca’s area?

Answer 24

Inferior frontal gyrus of dominant hemisphere.

Associated with language production; coordinated movement of tongue and jaw.

Language comprehension is intact, but non-fluent aphasia inhibits language production.

Question 25

What is Wernicke’s area?

Answer 25

Posterior superior temporal grys.

Associated with understanding written and spoken language. Associated with fluent aphasia (can make language-like sounds) but it is gibberish and the person has impaired comprehension.

Question 26

What else do you know if you have a 45-45-90 triangle?

Answer 26

Relative lengths of sides = 1-1-sqr rt of 2
(multipliers)
sqr rt of 2 refers to the hypotenuse