AP Psychology – Midterm Study Guide
Sensation and Perception
Terms to Know
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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
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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
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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
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Locke
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Hubel and Wiesel
People to Know:
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Kant
Concepts to Know
1.
2. Contrast sensation and perception.
3. Explain bottom-up and top-down
processing.
4. Distinguish between absolute and
difference thresholds.
5. Explain transduction as it relates to neural
messages.
6. Define sound. Describe the physical
characteristics of sound, including
amplitude, wavelength, and frequency.
7. Name and describe the accessory structures
of the ear. Name and describe the types of
deafness.
8. Define and describe the accessory
structures of the eye, including the cornea,
pupil, iris, and lens.
9. Know how the Young-Helmholtz &
opponent process theories helps us
understand color.
10. Know how place and frequency theories
help explain pitch perception.
11. Describe the sense of touch.
12. Purpose of pain.
13. Describe the interplay between attention
and perception.
14. Gestalt psychology’s and how it contributes
to our understanding of perception.
15. How we organize stimuli into meaningful
perceptions.
16. Explain monocular cues and binocular cues.
17. Explain the perceptions of motion and how
they can be deceiving.
18. Describe the contribution of restored-vision
and sensory deprivation research in our
understanding of the nature-nurture
interplay in our perceptions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Memory
Terms to Know
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Acoustic encoding
Amnesia
Echoic memory
Effortful processing
Encoding
Explicit memory
Flashbulb memory
Hippocampus
Iconic memory
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Implicit memory
Long-term memory
Long-term potentiation
Mood-congruent
memory
Priming
Recall
Recognition
Rehearsal
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Semantic encoding
Sensory memory
Serial position effect
Short-term memory
Storage
Visual encoding
Working memory
People to Know
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Hermann Ebbinghaus
Concepts to Know
1. Define and be able to identify examples of encoding, acoustic encoding, semantic encoding, visual
encoding, storage, and retrieval in memory processes.
2. Define and be able to identify examples of episodic, semantic, and procedural memories.
3. Define and be able to identify examples of explicit and implicit memories.
4. Define mnemonics and explain why they improve memory. Be able to identify examples of the method
of loci.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Neuroscience
Terms to Know
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Acetylcholine
Action potential
threshold
Amygdala
Autonomic nervous
system
Axon
Biological psychology
Broca’s area
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Corpus callosum
Dendrites
Endocrine system
Endorphins
Limbic system
Myelin sheath
Nervous system (CNS) &
peripheral nervous
system (PNS)
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Neurons
Neurotransmitter
Parasympathetic
nervous system
Plasticity
Somatic nervous system
Sympathetic nervous
system
Synapse
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Thalamus
Wernicke’s area
PET scan
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fMRI
EEG
MRI
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Phrenology theory
Concepts to Know
1. Describe the parts of a neuron, and explain how its impulses are generated.
2. Explain how neurotransmitters affect behavior. Explain the effects of acetylcholine and the
endorphins.
3. Explain how drugs and other chemicals affect neurotransmission, and describe the contrasting
effects of agonists and antagonists.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Research Methods
Terms to Know
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Hypothesis
Operational definitions
Theory
Variables
Confounding variables
Random variables
Independent variables and dependent
variables
Types of Research Methods
A. Descriptive
o Naturalistic Observation
o Case Studies
o Surveys
o Experiments
o Quasi Experiments
o Selecting Participants
 Sampling
 Subject variables
Statistical Analysis of Research
o Measures of Central Tendency
o Measures of Variability
o Range, standard deviation
and average
o Correlation and Correlation
Coefficients
B. Inferential Statistics
o Statistically significant
Concepts to Know
1. Be able to name the 4 scientific goals of psychology.
2. Define and explain the role of independent and dependent variables and of experimental and control
groups in an experiment.
3. Describe the relationship between a double-blind experimental design and experimenter bias.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------History
Terms to Know
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Psychology
Introspection
Functionalism
Behaviorism
Approaches:
Biological
Psychodynamic
Behavioral
Cognitive
Humanistic
People to Know
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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?
9. Freud and Psychoanalysis. What is Freud’s
theory of personality based on?
10. William James and Functionalism. What did
William James contribute to the field of
psychology? (hint: consciousness)
11. John Watson and Behaviorism. How did
Watson influence the study of psychology?
Concepts to Know
1. Know the difference between structuralism and functionalism.
2. Know the seven main approaches to understanding and explaining behavior.
3. Know the major historical figures in psychology from the ancient Greeks through the theorists of the
1900s? (see the list above)