Difficult TopicsMidterm 2

Psychology 100

Winter 2008

Decay and InterferenceMemory

Decay: gradual disappearance of mental representation of stimulus info fades until completely out of memory

Interference: either storage or retrieval of info is impaired by presence of other info. Retroactive interference: new info interferes with

old (old is what you can’t remember) Proactive interference: old info interferes with new

(new is what you can’t remember)

Punishment and ReinforcementLearning

Positive Reinforcer: rewards increase behavior (adding something good in order to increase the response) Examples:

Getting a pay check for going to work. Getting a sticker on a test for doing good A dog sits, he rewarded with a treat

Punishment and ReinforcementLearning

Negative Reinforcer: removal of an unpleasant stimuli (taking away something bad)

Negative Reinforcement is NOT punishment Examples of Negative Reinforcement

Aspirin takes away headaches Putting up an umbrella in order to avoid the rain

Check out the following website for an interactive activity: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/nru/nru_web.html

Punishment and ReinforcementLearning

Punishment: Adding something bad; taking away something good Examples of Punishment:

Hitting a child and taking away a toy Adding more chores and taking away driving privileges

for a week

Top-Down vs Bottom-Up Processing Perception

Top-down: Context to meaning Use previous knowledge to draw a conclusion

Someone says they see a bunny in the clouds, and then you look up and see it too

Bottom-up: Basic sensory input to meaning Pulling it apart and rebuilding it

Know it’s a soccer ball b/c of the black and white shapes and the circular appearance of the object

Models of Memory Memory

Levels-of-processing: how you encode it into your memory (deeper processing is better than shallow processing) Maintenance- repeating over and over (STM) Elaborative- relating info to info you already know (LTM)

Transfer appropriate: retrieval matches first encoding

Info-processing: info passing through sensory, STM/working, LTM

Parallel-distributed: neural networks and semantic activation; integrate with existing info

Depth PerceptionPerception

Interposition: who is closer…the closer object hides object in the back

Relative Size: larger are closer Height in visual field: higher are distant Texture gradient: clearer are closer Linear perspective: convergence of II (railroad

tracts) Check out pg. 166-167 for info on accommodation,

motion parallax, convergence, and binocular disparity

Linear perspective

Relative Size

Interposition

Height in visual field

Texture Gradient

Gestalt Grouping Principles Perception

Proximity: closer the objects are the more likely they are to be perceived as belonging together

Similarity: more similar more they go together Continuity: continuous form go together Closure: fill in gaps Common Fate: moving in the same direction and

at the same speed See page 162 for examples and discussion of

synchrony, common region, and connectedness

Message to Students

These are just a few topics that students had trouble with previous quarters. Be aware that

this is not all the information on these topics, instead they are just guidelines to help you study.

Good luck on the exam!Anne HeredaCourse Assistant Psychology 100