1. Difficult Topics Midterm 2 Psychology 100 Winter 2008

2. Decay and Interference Memory 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)

3. Punishment and Reinforcement Learning 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

4. Punishment and Reinforcement Learning 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

5. Punishment and Reinforcement Learning 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. Depth Perception Perception 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

9. Linear perspective

10. Relative Size

11. Interposition

12. Height in visual field

13. Texture Gradient

14. 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

15. 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 Hereda Course Assistant Psychology 100