Habituation is the decreased response that occurs as a result of repeated exposure to a stimulus. When first exposed to a stimulus, such as a sound, the stimulus will get our attention and evoke a response (a ‘conditioned stimulus‘). However, after experiencing the stimulus repeatedly over a prolonged period of time, we may develop sensory […]
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Working memory refers to the parts of human memory dedicated to processing and utilizing temporary (or ‘short-term’) information. Working memory has very limited capacity and information is only held temporarily. The term “working memory” was first presented by Miller et al. (1960). In the past, many researchers used the term “short-term store” or “short-term memory.”
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Chunking is a memorization technique. It refers to grouping similar bits of information together to make them easier to remember. A simple everyday example of chunking is the digits on a credit card: they are grouped into sets of four (or a single ‘chunk’) to make them easier to memorize. Instead of remembering 16 individual
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The Gestalt principle of connectedness states that individual elements that are connected to each other via a line or shared border are perceived as being in the same grouping. The connectedness principle can be used to help demonstrate links between ideas and clusters of concepts. It’s effective in helping to ensure themes are visible in
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The Gestalt law of closure states that the human mind seeks to create coherence. If presented with a stimulus such as an image that contains missing elements, the mind will fill in those gaps to create the perception of a completed image. When we see an image such as a circle, it consists of one
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The Gestalt principle of continuity states that when individual elements of a visual image are aligned in a way that suggests a continuous line, they will be perceived as an integrated whole. So, a string of dots arranged sequentially will lead our eyes to follow that path, be it straight or curved, because it is
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Debriefing refers to the procedure for revealing the true purpose of a psychological study to a research participant at the conclusion of a research session. In order to examine authentic behavior, it is sometimes necessary to tell participants that the study is about one subject, when in fact it is about something else. This is
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Encoding refers to the processing and making meaning of raw inputs of information in the mind. It occurs through each sensory modality and is a necessary step for the brain to process information in working memory or commit to long-term storage. Encoding frequently occurs throughout our lives, but some obvious examples of encoding include when
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A Freudian slip is when a person is speaking and suddenly a word they did not intend to say aloud accidently slips out. Freud believed that these “slips of the tongue” (parapraxis), reveal the person’s inner thoughts and feelings or the impulses of the id. In some cases, they may reveal content of the individual’s
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Shaping is a technique that involves rewarding successive approximations to a goal behavior and/or phasing out a target behavior deemed to be undesirable. When the person or animal exhibits a behavior that is similar to the goal behavior, it is rewarded. This process is repeated as the behavior exhibited gets closer and closer to the
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