Glossary • 403Partial report method Procedure used in Sperling’s experiment on the properties of the visual
icon, in which participants were instructed to report only some of the stimuli in a briefly
presented display. A cue tone immediately after the display was extinguished indicated which
part of the display to report. See also Delayed partial report method; Sensory memory;
Whole report method. (5)
Pegword technique A method for remembering things in which the things to be remembered
are associated with concrete words. See also Method of loci. (10)
Perception Conscious experience that results from stimulation of the senses. (3)
Perception pathway Neural pathway, extending from the occipital lobe to the temporal
lobe, that is associated with perceiving or recognizing objects. Corresponds to the what
pathway. (3)
Perceptual organization The process of organizing elements of the environment into separate
objects. (3)
Perceptual organization, laws of Rules proposed by the Gestalt psychologists to explain how
small elements of a scene or a display become perceptually grouped to form larger units.
These “laws” are described as “heuristics” in this book. (3)
Permission schema A pragmatic reasoning schema that states that if a person satisfies
condition A, then they get to carry out action B. The permission schema has been used to
explain the results of the Wason four-card problem. (13)
Perseveration Difficulty in switching from one behavior to another, which can hinder a
person’s ability to solve problems that require flexible thinking. Perseveration is observed in
cases in which the prefrontal cortex has been damaged. (5)
Persistence of vision The continued perception of light for a fraction of a second after the
original light stimulus has been extinguished. Perceiving a trail of light from a moving
sparkler is caused by the persistence of vision. See also Iconic memory. (5)
Phoneme The shortest segment of speech that, if changed, changes the meaning of a
word. (11)
Phonemic restoration effect When a phoneme in a word is heard even though it is obscured
by a noise, such as a cough. This typically occurs when the word is part of a sentence. (11)
Phonological loop The part of working memory that holds and processes verbal and auditory
information. See also Central executive; Visuospatial sketch pad; Working memory. (5)
Phonological similarity effect An effect that occurs when letters or words that sound similar are
confused. For example, T and P are two similar-sounding letters that could be confused. (5)
Phonological store Component of the phonological loop of working memory that holds a
limited amount of verbal and auditory information for a few seconds. (5)
Physical regularities Regularly occurring physical properties of the environment. For example,
there are more vertical and horizontal orientations in the environment than oblique (angled)
orientations. (3)
Physiological approach Studying the mind by measuring physiological and behavioral
responses, and explaining behavior in physiological terms. (1)
Physiological approach to coding Determining how a stimulus or experience is represented by
the firing of neurons. (5)
Positron emission tomography (PET) A brain imaging technique involving the injection of a
radioactive tracer. (2)
Post-identification feedback effect An increase in confidence of memory recall due to
confirming feedback after making an identification. This effect can occur after a person
identifies someone in a lineup. (8)
Pragmatic inference Inference that occurs when reading or hearing a statement leads a
person to expect something that is not explicitly stated or necessarily implied by the
statement. (8)
Pragmatic reasoning schema A way of thinking about cause and effect in the world that is
learned as part of experiencing everyday life. See also Permission schema. (13)
Pragnanz, law of Law of perceptual organization that states that every stimulus pattern is seen
in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible. Also called the law of good
figure and the law of simplicity. (3)
Preattentive stage The first stage of Treisman’s feature integration theory, in which an object is
analyzed into its features. (4)33559_14_glossary_p391-410.indd 40333559_14_glossary_p391-410.indd 403 13/04/10 5:47 PM13/04/10 5:47 PM
Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.