UGC NET Psycology Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory and Forgetting Syllabus

What is the phi phenomenon?

An illusion of apparent movement created when two stationary lights flash in rapid succession, perceived as a single light moving; studied by Wertheimer and foundational to Gestalt psychology.

What is stroboscopic motion?

The perception of continuous movement produced by a rapid series of slightly different stationary images, as in motion pictures and animation.

How do motivation and emotional needs influence perception? (perceptual defense/accentuation)

Needs, values, and emotions bias perception: hungry people perceive ambiguous stimuli as food (accentuation), valued objects are judged larger, and threatening words have higher recognition thresholds (perceptual defense). Studied under the 'New Look' movement.

What is perceptual set (perceptual expectancy)?

A predisposition or readiness to perceive stimuli in a particular way based on expectations, context, past experience, motivation, or culture, shaping what and how we perceive.

What is the core claim of Signal Detection Theory (SDT)?

SDT holds that detecting a stimulus is a decision under uncertainty involving both sensory sensitivity and a response criterion (bias); there is no fixed absolute threshold—detection depends on separating signal from background noise.

In Signal Detection Theory, what are the four possible outcomes?

Hit (signal present, says yes), Miss (signal present, says no), False Alarm (signal absent, says yes), and Correct Rejection (signal absent, says no).

In SDT, what do d' (d-prime) and the criterion (β) represent?

d' measures sensitivity—the separation between the noise and signal-plus-noise distributions (perceptual ability); β (beta/criterion) is the decision threshold reflecting response bias toward saying 'yes' or 'no'.

What is subliminal perception?

The processing of stimuli presented below the threshold (limen) of conscious awareness that can still influence thoughts, feelings, or behavior to a limited degree.

What factors affect subliminal perception?

Stimulus intensity/duration, the individual's threshold, attention and arousal, personal relevance/motivation, and the context; effects are generally weak, short-lived, and strongest for already-primed needs.

What is the information-processing approach to perception?

It views perception as a sequence of stages—sensory input, feature detection/encoding, comparison with stored representations, and recognition—analogous to a computer processing data, emphasizing limited capacity and serial/parallel stages.

How does culture influence perception?

Culture shapes perceptual habits: e.g., Western (carpentered-world) people are more susceptible to the Muller-Lyer illusion; cultures differ in analytic vs holistic perceptual styles and susceptibility to pictorial depth cues.

What are field dependence and field independence (Witkin's perceptual styles)?

Field-dependent perceivers rely on the surrounding context/field and have difficulty separating items from their background; field-independent perceivers analyze items independently of context (measured by the Rod-and-Frame and Embedded Figures tests).

What is pattern recognition?

The cognitive process of matching incoming sensory stimuli to stored representations in memory to identify and categorize objects, letters, or sounds.

Compare template, prototype, and feature-detection theories of pattern recognition.

Template theory: input matched to exact stored templates (rigid). Prototype theory: matched to an idealized average representation (flexible). Feature theory: stimuli decomposed into distinctive features (e.g., lines, angles) that are detected and combined to recognize the whole.

What is Selfridge's Pandemonium model of pattern recognition?

A feature-based hierarchical model with layers of 'demons': image demons record the input, feature demons detect specific features, cognitive demons respond to feature combinations, and a decision demon selects the loudest-shouting cognitive demon as the recognized pattern.

What is Gibson's ecological (direct) theory of perception?

Gibson argued perception is direct and bottom-up: the rich optic array in the environment provides sufficient information (invariants) for accurate perception without inference, and organisms directly perceive affordances—action possibilities offered by objects.

What is an 'affordance' in Gibson's ecological perspective?

An affordance is the action possibility that an object or environment offers an organism (e.g., a chair affords sitting), perceived directly without mediation by memory or inference.

What is classical (Pavlovian) conditioning?

A form of associative learning in which a neutral stimulus, after repeated pairing with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), comes to elicit a conditioned response (CR); learning by stimulus-stimulus association.

Define UCS, UCR, CS, and CR in classical conditioning.

UCS: unconditioned stimulus (naturally elicits a response, e.g., food); UCR: unconditioned response (e.g., salivation to food); CS: conditioned stimulus (formerly neutral, e.g., bell); CR: conditioned response (learned response to CS, e.g., salivation to bell).

Define acquisition, extinction, and spontaneous recovery in classical conditioning.

Acquisition: initial learning of the CS-UCS association; Extinction: weakening of the CR when CS is repeatedly presented without UCS; Spontaneous recovery: reappearance of an extinguished CR after a rest period.

Distinguish stimulus generalization and discrimination in conditioning.

Generalization is responding to stimuli similar to the CS; discrimination is learning to respond only to the CS and not to similar stimuli that are not reinforced.

What is instrumental/operant conditioning and how does it differ from classical conditioning?

Instrumental (operant) conditioning is learning in which behavior is controlled by its consequences (reinforcement/punishment). Unlike classical conditioning (involuntary responses to stimuli, S-S learning), operant involves voluntary responses shaped by their outcomes (R-S learning).

State Thorndike's Law of Effect.

Responses followed by satisfying consequences are strengthened (more likely to recur), while responses followed by discomfort are weakened; the basis of instrumental learning, demonstrated with cats in puzzle boxes.

Distinguish positive vs negative reinforcement and positive vs negative punishment.

Positive reinforcement: adding a pleasant stimulus to increase behavior; Negative reinforcement: removing an aversive stimulus to increase behavior; Positive punishment: adding an aversive stimulus to decrease behavior; Negative punishment: removing a pleasant stimulus to decrease behavior.

Distinguish primary and secondary reinforcers.

Primary reinforcers satisfy biological needs and are innately reinforcing (food, water, sex); secondary (conditioned) reinforcers acquire reinforcing value through association with primary reinforcers (money, praise, tokens).

Name the four schedules of reinforcement and the one producing the most resistance to extinction.

Fixed-ratio, Variable-ratio, Fixed-interval, and Variable-interval. The variable-ratio schedule produces the highest, steadiest response rate and the greatest resistance to extinction.

What are the cognitive approaches to learning (Tolman, Kohler, Bandura)?

Cognitive theories stress mental processes: Tolman's latent learning and cognitive maps (learning without reinforcement), Kohler's insight learning (sudden problem solving in apes), and Bandura's observational/social learning (learning by modeling).

What is Bandura's observational learning, and its four component processes?

Learning by observing and imitating models. The four processes are Attention, Retention (memory), Reproduction (motor reproduction), and Motivation (reinforcement/incentive).

What is verbal learning, and name its three classic methods.

Verbal learning is acquiring associations among verbal items. Methods: serial learning (recall items in order), paired-associate learning (learn stimulus-response pairs), and free recall (recall items in any order).

What is the serial position effect in verbal learning?

In free recall, items at the beginning (primacy effect, due to long-term memory rehearsal) and end (recency effect, due to short-term memory) of a list are recalled better than middle items.

What is discrimination learning?

Learning to respond differently to two or more stimuli, distinguishing the one associated with reinforcement (S+) from those that are not (S-); involves differential reinforcement of responses to similar stimuli.

What are the three stages/structural stores of memory in the Atkinson-Shiffrin model?

Sensory memory (very brief, large capacity, modality-specific), Short-term/working memory (~7±2 items, ~15-30 sec without rehearsal), and Long-term memory (vast, relatively permanent store).

What are the three core memory processes?

Encoding (transforming information into a storable form), Storage (retaining encoded information over time), and Retrieval (accessing and bringing stored information into awareness).

What is Baddeley and Hitch's working memory model and its components?

It replaces passive STM with an active system: the Central Executive (attentional controller) coordinating the Phonological Loop (verbal/auditory), the Visuospatial Sketchpad (visual/spatial), and the Episodic Buffer (integrates information across systems and with LTM).

Distinguish declarative (explicit) and procedural (implicit) long-term memory.

Declarative/explicit memory is consciously recalled knowledge of facts (semantic) and events (episodic); procedural/implicit memory is unconscious memory for skills, habits, and conditioned responses ('knowing how').

Distinguish episodic and semantic memory (Tulving).

Episodic memory stores personally experienced events tied to time and place (autobiographical); semantic memory stores general world knowledge, facts, concepts, and meanings independent of personal context.

What does decay theory say about forgetting?

Decay (trace) theory holds that memory traces fade and disintegrate over time due to disuse if not rehearsed, especially in short-term memory; forgetting results from the passage of time itself.

Distinguish proactive and retroactive interference as causes of forgetting.

Proactive interference: old learning disrupts recall of new information; Retroactive interference: new learning disrupts recall of previously learned information.

What is retrieval-failure (cue-dependent) theory of forgetting?

Forgetting occurs because the appropriate retrieval cues are absent at recall, even though the memory is stored; explains context-dependent and state-dependent forgetting and the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.

What is motivated forgetting (repression) in Freudian theory?

The unconscious blocking of anxiety-provoking, painful, or threatening memories from awareness as a defense mechanism; a motivated rather than passive form of forgetting.