AP Psychology – Midterm Study Guide
Sensation and Perception
Terms to Know
- Sensation
- Perception
- Bottom- up & top-down processing
- Psychophysics
- Absolute threshold
- Signal detection theory
- Subliminal
- Priming
- Difference threshold
- Weber’s law
- Sensory adaptation
- Transduction
- Wavelength and hue
- Intensity
- Pupil
- Iris
- Lens
- Accommodation
- Retina
- Acuity
- Nearsightedness
- Farsightedness
- Rods and cones
- Optic nerve
- Blind spot
- Fovea
- Feature detectors
- Parallel processing
- Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory
- Opponent-process theory
- Color constancy
- Audition
- Pitch and frequency
- Middle ear
- Cochlea
- Inner ear
- Place theory
- Frequency theory
- Conduction hearing loss
- Sensorineural hearing loss
- Cochlear implant
- Gate-control theory
- Sensory interaction
- Kinesthesis
- Vestibular sense
- Selective attention
- Inattentional blindness
- Visual capture
- Gestalt
- Figure-ground
- Depth perception
- Visual cliff
- Binocular cue
- Retinal disparity
- Convergence
- Monocular cue
- Phi phenomenon
- Perceptual constancy
- Perceptual adaptation
- Perceptual set
People to Know:
- Kant
- Locke
- Hubel and Wiesel
Concepts to Know
- Contrast sensation and perception.
- Explain bottom-up and top-down processing.
- Distinguish between absolute and difference thresholds.
- Explain transduction as it relates to neural messages.
- Define sound. Describe the physical characteristics of sound, including amplitude, wavelength, and frequency.
- Name and describe the accessory structures of the ear. Name and describe the types of deafness.
- Define and describe the accessory structures of the eye, including the cornea, pupil, iris, and lens.
- Know how the Young-Helmholtz & opponent process theories helps us understand color.
- Know how place and frequency theories help explain pitch perception.
- Describe the sense of touch.
- Purpose of pain.
- Describe the interplay between attention and perception.
- Gestalt psychology’s and how it contributes to our understanding of perception.
- How we organize stimuli into meaningful perceptions.
- Explain monocular cues and binocular cues.
- Explain the perceptions of motion and how they can be deceiving.
- Describe the contribution of restored-vision and sensory deprivation research in our understanding of the nature-nurture interplay in our perceptions.
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Memory
Terms to Know
- Acoustic encoding
- Amnesia
- Echoic memory
- Effortful processing
- Encoding
- Explicit memory
- Flashbulb memory
- Hippocampus
- Iconic memory
- Implicit memory
- Long-term memory
- Long-term potentiation
- Mood-congruent memory
- Priming
- Recall
- Recognition
- Rehearsal
- Semantic encoding
- Sensory memory
- Serial position effect
- Short-term memory
- Storage
- Visual encoding
- Working memory
People to Know
- Hermann Ebbinghaus
Concepts to Know
- Define and be able to identify examples of encoding, acoustic encoding, semantic encoding, visual encoding, storage, and retrieval in memory processes.
- Define and be able to identify examples of episodic, semantic, and procedural memories.
- Define and be able to identify examples of explicit and implicit memories.
- Define mnemonics and explain why they improve memory. Be able to identify examples of the method of loci.
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Neuroscience
Terms to Know
- Acetylcholine
- Action potential threshold
- Amygdala
- Autonomic nervous system
- Axon
- Biological psychology
- Broca’s area
- Corpus callosum
- Dendrites
- Endocrine system
- Endorphins
- Limbic system
- Myelin sheath
- Nervous system (CNS) & peripheral nervous system (PNS)
- Neurons
- Neurotransmitter
- Parasympathetic nervous system
- Plasticity
- Somatic nervous system
- Sympathetic nervous system
- Synapse
- Thalamus
- Wernicke’s area
- PET scan
- fMRI
- EEG
- MRI
- Phrenology theory
Concepts to Know
- Describe the parts of a neuron, and explain how its impulses are generated.
- Explain how neurotransmitters affect behavior. Explain the effects of acetylcholine and the endorphins.
- Explain how drugs and other chemicals affect neurotransmission, and describe the contrasting effects of agonists and antagonists.
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Research Methods
Terms to Know
- Hypothesis
- Operational definitions
- Theory
- Variables
- Confounding variables
- Random variables
- Independent variables and dependent variables
Types of Research Methods
- Descriptive
- Naturalistic Observation
- Case Studies
- Surveys
- Experiments
- QuasiExperiments
- Selecting Participants
- Sampling
- Subject variables
Statistical Analysis of Research
- Measures of Central Tendency
- Measures of Variability
- Range, standard deviation and average
- Correlation and Correlation Coefficients
- Inferential Statistics
- Statistically significant
Concepts to Know
- Be able to name the 4 scientific goals of psychology.
- Define and explain the role of independent and dependent variables and of experimental and control groups in an experiment.
- Describe the relationship between a double-blind experimental design and experimenter bias.
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History
Terms to Know
- Psychology
- Introspection
- Functionalism
- Behaviorism
- Approaches:
Biological
Psychodynamic
Behavioral
Cognitive
Humanistic
People to Know
- Socrates
- Aristotle
- Descartes
- Carl Rogers
- Abraham Maslow
- B.F. Skinner
- Margaret Floy Washburn
- Wundt and the Structuralism of Titchener. How did Wundt want to study consciousness?
- Freud and Psychoanalysis. What is Freud’s theory of personality based on?
- William James and Functionalism. What did William James contribute to the field of psychology? (hint: consciousness)
- John Watson and Behaviorism. How did Watson influence the study of psychology?
Concepts to Know
- Know the difference between structuralism and functionalism.
- Know the seven main approaches to understanding and explaining behavior.
- Know the major historical figures in psychology from the ancient Greeks through the theorists of the 1900s? (see the list above)