What is Naive Realism?

How does this relate to perception?

It is the belief that we see the world exactly as it is

Perception may alter our opinions on certain things (ex// farther away, seems smaller or flipped images look diff.)

Naive realism can make our perception seem true to us.

Why did I do that action?

Requires careful, reflection analysis

1) Biological

2) Psychological

3) Social culture influence

1) Behaviour hard to predict

2) Predictors are rarely independant (do something for alternate reasons)

3) People diff. from another

4) People influence one another

(peer pressure or Recipricol Determinism)

5) Behaviour is shape by culture (Emic vs. Etic)

When should we test a theory or case?

What is the approach Science takes?

Always. Even if it is common sense it is better to still test it.

An approach to evidence.

What is Psychological Psuedoscience?

What is confirmation bias?

What is belief preserverance?

It is a set of cliams but lack defenses from bias and belief.

It is when you seek evidence to only support your claim without looking for a counter-argument

It is our tendancy to stick to our beliefs even when there is evidence to contradict our belief.

1) Exaggeration (It'll change your life!)

2) Reliance on anecdotes (Talk bout ppl/evnt, no research)

3) No link to other research

4) No peer reviews (we released it but no you can't see it)

5) No self-correction (similar to belief preserverence)

6) Psychobabble (Maximal overload, kind of like exaggeration)

7) "proof" not evidence (proof isn't used in Science)

It is meaningful connections among unrelated phenomena.

ex// Co-incedences or assuming steroetypes and trying to verify them

1) Oppourtunity cost - forgo scientific route

2) Direct harm - literally

3) Block scientific thinking - avoid realistic outcomes

What is the opposite of Pseudo Science?

What is Scientific Skepticism?

The opposite is to think scientifically.

This means keeping an open mind when thinking scientifically.

1) Rule out other hypothesis (consider any alternates)

2) Correlation vs causation (did A cause B?)

3) Falsifability (can claim be disproven?)

4) Replicability (can we duplicate our results?)

5) Extraordinary claims (is evidence convincing or sound like it is made-up?)

6) Occam's Razor (is there a simpler explanation? - choose simpler over any other)

1) Universe operates according to certain laws

2) Laws are discoverable and testable

What is a Scientific Theory?

What is a Hypothesis?

Explanation for the finding in the world

A testable prediction, which is what you think will happen

1) Identify important questions

2) Develop testable hypothesis

3) Select research methods/tools

4) Analyze data then accept/reject

5) Seek scientific reviews and then publish

6) Build a theory

How to we measure a variable?

How must we prove our results?

We measure if X affects Y in a certain way by holding Z constant.

In order to prove the results we must do 2 tests, one with X and one without X

What are the variables you can use? (2)

How should we measure results?

1) Independant variable (IV) - what you can change

2) Dependant variable (DV) - what you are measuring (can only change indirectly through X's behaviour)

Measure using averages, they are more reliable.

What is Cognitive bias? What is it affected by?

What are Heuristics?

How do we avoid these two things?

Cognitive bias is what leads you to be confident in false conclusions - it is caused by heuristics

Heuristics are mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that we have (ex// use pen and pencils the same way, talking to all friends the same way.)

Test very specific hypotheses.

1) Descriptive - involves observation (can't indentify causes, can only see the results)

2) Experiemental - can see cause/effect relationships

1) Descriptions

2) Explanations

3) Predictions

4) Control

Provide some insight on what a Neuron is.

What are the elements of a Neuron? (5)

Neurons come in different shapes. there are approx. 86 billion. They communicate with each other in our bodies.

1) Cell body (soma) - centre of Neuron

2) Dendrite - branches to receive info

3) Axon - tails of Neuron that spread out and carry info

4) Axon terminal - end of Axon containing bags w/ Neurotransmitters (NT)

Synapse - space b/w Neurons where NTs travel

What are Glial Cells?

What are the types? (2)

Glial cells are known for making myelin and strengthening the blood brain barrier. They fix injury, debris and enhance our learning.

1) Astrocytes - abundant, move and control

2) Oligodendrocytes - promote connect, makes myelin sheath have cells that act as insulators

What is Resting and Action potential?

What is Neurotransmission?

Resting potential - when neuron is not being stimulated

Action potential - electrical pulse that travels down Axon (triggered by change in charges) in b/w is a refractory period.

It is when NTs are put into the right spots to relay info. Think of a key into a key hole.

Most common NTs

They are associated with learning and memory.

Glutamate is excitatory, increases change of communications, but it is dangerous to inhale it

GABA is inhibitory, dampens neural activity

It influences arousal (physiological), selective attention, sleep and memory (CNS)

Also triggers movement (PNS)

What are the types of Monoamines? (3)

What are the crucial roles?

What does each one do?

They are responsible for arousal, emotion and cognition.

1) Norepinephrine - arousal, mood hunger and sleep, flight or fight response - increases heart contractions

2) Dopamine - role in reward motivated behaviour, helps with decision making

3) Serotonin - regulates mood, appetite and sleep, also has cognitive functions. May have mixed feelings if low #. (Depression)

What are Endorphins?

What are Anandymenes?

Endorphins inhibit transmit pain signals, you may get euphoria from them.

Anadymenes influence eating, motivation, memory and sleep. (drug abuse person vs. production person)

To target NTs and either increase the amount or decrease, opiates mimc endorphins to increase

antagoninst decrease activity

1) Growth of dendrites/axons

2) Synaptogenisis (brain growth, mainly for youth)

3) Pruning (Killing some cells and making new)

4) Myelination (insulation)

What is CNS and PNS?

What is the Forebrain?

CNS is the central nervous system - your brain and spine

PNS is the peripheral nervous system which are your other nerves aside from the brain and spine

The forebrain is used for your intellectual abilities, it has two cerebral hemispheres which allow communication. It is also connected by corpus callosum.

1) Frontal lobe - most brain functions (motor, language, memory), has Broca's area for speech assistance

2) Pariental lobe - used for touch and perception

3) Occipital lobe - used for vision

4) Temporal lobe - used for hearing and understanding. Has auditory cortex and Wernicke's area

1) Left - Fine tuned speech and action skills

2) Right - Basic speech, visuospatial skills

What are some of the parts of the limbic system? (4)

1) Hypothalmus - controls internal bodily states

2) Thalmus - relays information b/w sensory organs and cortex

3) Amygdala - has a key role in emotions (fear, arousal and motivation)

4) Hippocampus - crucial role is spatial memory

Which brain part allows you to function in a vegetative state?

What are some parts or systems it uses? (2)

Brain stem - back of brain, has basic functions

1) Reticular activating system - connect forebrain and cerebral cortex

2) Midbrain - tracks movement visually and reflexes

1) Cerebellum - affects sense of balance and co-ordinated movement

2) Pons - triggers dreams

3) Medulla - regulates heartbeats and breathing

What does the Spinal Cord do?

What kinds of nerves does it have? (3)

It contains a thick bundle of nerves which convey info from brain to body

1) Sensory nerves - info body -> brain

2) Motor nerves - info brain -> body

3) Interneurons - allow reflexes

What are the nerves not located in the CNS? (2)

What are the types of division for the second nervous system? (2)

1) Somatic - a nervous system that conveys info from CNS to muscles and body to control voluntary movements

2) Autonomic - nervous system that controls involuntary actions and our organs

1) Sympathetic - used when crisis or other bad situation

2) Parasympathetic - controls rest and digestion

*Only one may be active at a time

It is our detection of physical energy

1) Sight

2) Smell

3) Hearing

4) Taste

5) Touch

It is the process of converting stimulus into electrical signals within neurons

When we are transduced our brain pieces together information found to give meaning and relate it to past encounters.

How does the Sensation process occur in regards to Psychophysics? 

What did Gustav Fechner question about Sensation?

It begins with a detectable stimulus.

However before this, you need to determine who or what is doing the detecting.

He questioned what the weakest detectable stimulus is.

1) Threshold is the dividing point b/w energy w/o detecting a change in effect. Absolute threshold is the stimulus intensity that can be detected 50% of the time

2) Just notice difference (Jnd) - the smallest difference in the # of stimulation that a specific sense can detect

3) Weber's law - the Jnd size is proportional to the stimulus intensity size

4) Fechner's law - the magnitude of perception is proportional to the # of Jnds that the stimulus is above the Absolute threshold

1) Two presents is a hit (true positive)

2) Two absents is a correct reject (true negative)

3) Absent response and present condition is a miss

(false positive)

4) Absent condition and present response is a false alarm 

(false positive)

What is Cross-modal sense?

What are Phosphenes?

Our experiences are determined by the sense receptor.

Any sense can activate the sense receptor but our reaction will always be the same

Phosphenes are vivid sensations of light created by rubbing your eyes

What is the McGurk effect?

What is Synesthesia?

When the audio component of someone is linked with the visual component of another sound. (ex// Reading lips)

A condition in which people experience cross-modal sensations

(ex// different colours with different proportions of words)

What is Parallel processing?

What are the types? (2)

The ability to use multiple senses are once

1) Bottom-up - first time learning to start recognizing form

2) Top-down - emphasized by Gestalt, involves having a lot of practice and being able to skim through

What do the Gestalt Principles emphasize?

What are the actual principles? (5)

Gestalt Principles - We perceive objects as wholes

(ex// group together red colours)

1) Similarity (similar aspects)

2) Continuity (what you think is there)

3) Closure (mind tries close lines ex// moon behind cloud)

4) Symmetry

5) Figure-ground (darker = closer)

What are the main thoughts behind the Perceptual set theory? (3)

What is Perceptual Constancy?

1) Expectations influence our perception

2) Perception should be an active process

3) May notice only some sensory aspects, ignore other

The idea that the process by which we perceive stimuli is consistent in any condition

It is when sets can demonstrate same visual stimulus but very different results

(ex// 13 and B look similar when written down on paper)

What is a Reversible figure?

What is the Role of Attention?

It is an optical illusion that creates an unstable visual perception, it can have different meanings based on the context.

It is based on focus, there is selective attention for emphasizing some sensory inputs, other sensory inputs are processed at a lower level

What is Inattention blindness?

What is change blindness?

The inability to notice the changes in environment due to selective attention

The inability to notice the obvious changes in environment

What are Optical illusions?

What is Depth Perception and what cues does it have? (2)

A discrepancy between visual appearance and physical reality.

Depth perception is the ability to judge distance and three-dimension relations. This ability grows with age

(ex// Visual cliff)

1) Monocular depth size - rely on one eye

2) Binocular depth size - rely on both eyes

Monocular Depth Cue

1) Relative size

2) Texture

3) Interposition

4) Linear perspective

5) Height in plane

6) Light/shadow

Binocular Depth Cue

1) Binocular disparity

2) Binocular convergence