Fluid Intelligence
Attention.
Memory and Learning.
High functions, such as planning
Processing speed.
Declines with age.
Crystallized Intelligence
Knowledge accumulated over a lifetime.
Verbal abilities such as vocabulary.
Increases with age.
Dementia
a series of small strokes,brain tumoracochl dependence can couse mental erosian called dementia
Alzheimer's disease
Often begins with intermittent states of mental confusion, disorientation, and loss of recent memory.
Progresses to severe impairment in all realms of thinking, memory, language, and communication.
Individuals who are in the early stages of this disease s
Disengagement theory
Older people, because of the inevitable decline associated with aging, become less active and less engaged with the outer world and become more preoccupied with their inner lives
Activity theory
Active seniors are more satisfied and better adjusted than those who are not active.
An older person's self-concept is validated through participation in various life activities and roles. People should therefore replace lost roles with new ones to mainta
Socio-emotional Selectivity theory
Socioemotional Selectivity Theory claims older adults seek higher emotional satisfaction as they age by being more selective about their type of social networks
older adults report:
Better control of their emotions.
More mellowing of feelings.
Fewer negat
Sensation
the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment
Bottom-up process
analysis that begins with sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information
Top down process
in which you apply your experience and expectation to interpret what each item must be in contex
Perception
becoming aware of something via the senses
Psychophysics
the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them
Absolute threshold
the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time
Just noticeable difference (JND)
The smallest difference in the amount of stimulation that a specific sense can detect.
Signal-Detection Theory
a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus ("signal") amid background stimulation ("noise"). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, an
Transduction:
The process by which physical energy is converted into sensory neural impulses.
For example, in vision light is converted into neural impulses
Receptor cells
Receptor cells: Specialized cells that respond to a specific type of energy.
For example, applying pressure with your finger to your eye results in a visual experience
Sensory adaptation
Sensory adaptation: Our senses are designed to notice changes.
rodes
black and white, dim light, movement, periphual night vision
cones
retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations.
hue
the quality of a color as determined by its dominant wavelength
pupil
the adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters
iris
muscular diaphragm that controls the size of the pupil
lens
a transparent optical device used to converge or diverge transmitted light and to form images
retina
the light-sensitive membrane covering the back wall of the eyeball
optic nerve
the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain
blind spot
the point where the optic nerve enters the retina, the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there
fovea
the central point in the retina
feature detecture
nerve cells in the brain thjat responseto specific feathersof the stimuluss such as shape angle or movement
Hair cells
are receptors converting sound waves into neural signals. The hair cells are positioned in the inner ear, called the cochlea
Inattentionall blindnesss
Inattentional Blindness:
Inattentional blindness refers to the inability to perceive aspects of a situation when attention is directed elsewhere.
Awareness test
Unilaternal neglect
Unilateral neglect:
A consequence of damage to the posterior parietal lobe.
Unilateral neglect is a disorder involving difficulty in attending to stimuli in the visual field contralateral to brain injury.
Figure-ground separation:
Figure-ground separation:
We perceive a foreground object (figure) against a background.
Rubin's vase:
This separation is not
always clear
Perceptual constancy:
Perceptual constancy:
Our tendency to perceive objects as stable and unchanging despite changing sensory information.
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