Term
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Definition
| How do certain actions effect the brain? |
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Term
Psychophysics (Sensation and Perception)
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Definition
Why do we see what we see and how do we function?
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Term
Quantitative (Math) Psychology
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Definition
Using math to predict behavior
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Term
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Definition
Deals with the brain and its functions (started after WWI)
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Term
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Definition
| People as a function of members of a group |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| - People in the workplace |
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Term
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Definition
| What makes people buy things |
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Term
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Definition
| Both research and applied psychotherapy |
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Term
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Definition
| Problems with daily life (i.e. marriage) |
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Term
| Educational and School Psychology |
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Definition
| How can we improve learning and produce/develop tools for studying |
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Term
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Definition
| Woman has a brain tumor that she had to have removed. In order to remove the tumor, she would have to have her whole brain extracted from her skull. When her brain was removed from her skull, it was put in a vat full of fluids/electricity to keep it hydrated and functioning. The question: Where do we locate ourselves and is it arbitrary? Are we in our body and sense organs or in our brain? |
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Term
| mind-body or mind-brain problem |
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Definition
| The philosophical question of how experience relates to the brain |
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Term
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Definition
| The mind is separate from the brain but somehow controls the brain and therefore the rest of the body. |
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Term
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Definition
| The mind is separate from the brain but somehow controls the brain and therefore the rest of the body. |
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Term
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Definition
| The view that conscious experience is inseparable from the physical brain. |
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Term
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Definition
| The belief that behavior is caused by a person’s independent decisions. |
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Term
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Definition
| The idea that everything happens has a cause, or determinant, that one could observe or measure. |
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Term
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Definition
| How do differences in behavior relate to differences in hereditary and environment? |
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Term
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Definition
Inductive Reasoning
Specific to General
Begin with a set of observations; find pattern; come up with a general rule (i.e. Freebirds)
Cannot be certain you are correct
The way scientists FORM theories |
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Term
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Definition
General to Specific
Begin with a set of premises and facts; apply general rules of logic; derive a conclusion (i.e. blondes)
You can have certainty w/ your conclusion
The way scientists test their hypothesis against data |
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Term
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Definition
| The obligation to present evidence to support one’s claim. |
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Term
| falsifiability of hypotheses |
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Definition
| A clear predictive statement stated in such clear, precise terms that we can see what evidence would count against it. |
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Term
| replicability of findings |
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Definition
| Findings that anyone can obtain, at least approximately, by following the same procedures. |
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Term
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Definition
| A preferred explanation due to its fewer, simpler, or more consistent assumptions when compared to other well-established theories. |
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Term
| devaluation of anecdotal evidence |
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Definition
| Experiences based on people’s reports of isolated events and often seem impressive, but they are not scientific evidence. |
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Term
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Definition
| The tendency of an experimenter (unintentionally, in most cases) to distort or misperceive the results of an experiment based on the expected outcome. |
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Term
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Definition
| Cues that tell participants what is expected of them and what the experimenter hopes to find. |
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Term
| Ways to maximize experimental objectivity |
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Definition
"blinds" on observers and participants
Blind observer: an observer who records data without knowing the researcher’s predictions.
placebos
A pill with no known pharmacological effects given to maximize the efficiency of the experiment’s results. |
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Term
| Naturalistic observations (definition) |
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Definition
| A careful examination of what happens under more or less natural conditions. |
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Term
| Case histories (definition) |
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Definition
| A thorough description of the person, including abilities and disabilities, medical condition, life history, unusual experiences, and whatever else seems relevant. |
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Term
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Definition
A procedure in which investigators measure the correlation between two variables without controlling either of them.
Does not justify a cause and effect conclusion. |
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Term
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Definition
| A measure of the relationship between two variables, helping us make useful predictions, but do not tell us the why these two variables are related. |
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Term
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Definition
| A measure explaining how and why two variables share a relationship. This is found through manipulation of one of the variables directly through experiment. |
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Term
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Definition
| A study in which the investigator manipulates at least one variable while measuring at least one other variable. |
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Term
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Definition
The item that an experimenter measures to determine how it was affected (effect).
How many questions people answer or how rapidly they respond to signals. |
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Term
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Definition
The item that an experimenter changes or controls (cause).
Training or wording of instructions before an experiment begins |
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Term
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Definition
| Mathematical summaries of results in order to describe the general trends or averages. |
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Term
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Definition
| Statements about a large population based on an inference from a small sample through statistical tests. |
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Term
| Cerebrovascular accident (CVA) |
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Definition
Thrombotic/embolic stroke
Ruptured aneurysms
Hemorrhagic stroke (blood leaks out |
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Term
| Electroencephalography (EEG) |
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Definition
| Device that measures and amplifies slight electrical changes on the scalp that reflect brain activity |
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Term
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Definition
Pons and Medulla
Protective reflexes (sneezing, coughing)
Infant (“pathological”) reflexes
Rooting reflex: looking for something to grab
Babinski reflex: toes spread and curl
Morro reflex: reaching up to grab when being “dropped”
Orienting reflexes (when something new happens, we react/alert ourselves)
Cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive reflexes (yawning, etc.) |
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Term
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Definition
| balance (linked to semicircular canals of ears and trochlear nerve that moves the eyeballs) |
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Term
| What happens if inner cerebellum looses balance? |
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Definition
| Happens due to alcohol consumption and you adapt a wide center of gravity. |
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Term
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Definition
– rapid automatic movements, timing of movements and thoughts
* Tennis swing, muscle memory |
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Term
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Definition
Midbrain reticular formation
General arousal (any format of arousal including coma to responding to an alarm, but does not include sexual arousal)
Sleep / wake cycles (24.5 hrs.)
Pain perception (sensitivity to pain) |
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Term
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Definition
| saccades (saccadic movements: jerking our eyes around when there is no object to target) |
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Term
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Definition
Basal forebrain (hypothalamus & thalamus)
Hypothalamus: Control of
Pituitary gland >> thyroid (growth), adrenals (stress hormones and adrenaline), bone growth
Autonomic Nervous System: response to threat (ANS), immune system
Hunger, thirst, body temperature and induction of fever (pyrogens: raise your body temperature, create a fever)
Sexual orientation
Reward and punishment
Thalamus: sensory relay station (where we are, maintaining position, etc.) |
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Term
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Definition
more common in elders): caused by death of cells in the basal ganglia
Resting tremor
Rigidity
Slowed Movements
Confusion |
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Term
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Definition
Involuntary writhing movements
Impaired speech/swallowing
Staggering gait
Depression, irritability
Short-term memory loss |
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Term
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Definition
Involuntary writhing movements
Impaired speech/swallowing
Staggering gait
Depression, irritability
Short-term memory loss |
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Term
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Definition
Complex perception
Strategic movements
Higher intellectual functions
Social (“Machiavellian” - deceiving other people for your benefit) intelligence |
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Term
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Definition
Limbic (“border”) system – complex reaction patterns
* (“4 F’s”: fighting, feeding, fleeting, sex)
Basal ganglia
background postural (axial) movements
smooth pursuit eye movements (when there is a target, the basal ganglia are responsible for this smooth movement)
regulation of foreground/ background thinking (disrupted in OCD: brain “hijacked” and becomes locked) |
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Term
| Limbic system w/functions |
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Definition
Complex reaction patterns
The Four F’s
Fighting
Fleeting
Feeding
Sex |
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Term
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Definition
Hindbrain is in charge of it (pons and medulla)
When something new happens, we react/alert ourselves |
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Term
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Definition
- Rooting reflex: looking for something to grab
Babinski reflex: toes spread and curl
Morro reflex: reaching up to grab when being “dropped” |
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Term
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Definition
| Bridges the two hemispheres of the brain together for communication |
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Term
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Definition
| The question of how separate brain areas combine forces to produce a unified perception of a single object |
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Term
| Nonfluent (Broca's)aphasia |
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Definition
| Condition characterized by inarticulate speech and by difficulties with both using and understanding grammatical devices such as prepositions, conjunctions, etc. |
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Term
| fluent (Wernicke's) aphasia |
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Definition
| Condition marked by difficulty recalling the names of objects and impaired comprehension of language |
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Term
| fluent (Wernicke's) aphasia |
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Definition
| Condition marked by difficulty recalling the names of objects and impaired comprehension of language |
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Term
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Definition
| Damage in the right parietal lobe causing a lack of awareness of the left side of the body |
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Term
| Hemispheric lateralization |
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Definition
Two halves of the human brain are not exactly alike
Each hemisphere controls different aspects |
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Term
| Occipital Lobe (location: back bottom of the brain) |
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Definition
Visual pattern recognition (Optical “grasping”)
Help us make certain shapes and identify them
* Manipulating products to understand what they are |
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Term
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Definition
Complex visual/touch perception
(R) Body sense
(L) Arithmetic, left-right sense |
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Term
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Definition
Hearing & Language decoding
Long-term memory
Face/object identification |
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Term
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Definition
Strategic thinking
Social cognition
Short-term memory
Language/music production
Voluntary movements |
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Term
| Neurotransmitters w/ examples |
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Definition
A chemical that activates receptors on other neurons
Glumate: brain’s main excitatory transmitter; essential for almost all brain activities (learning)
Dopamine: movement, memory, cognition
Endorphins: decreases pain and increases pleasure
Serotonin: modifies many types of motivated and emotional behavior |
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Term
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Definition
A single, long, thin, straight fiber with branches near its tip
Transmit messages throughout the body |
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Term
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Definition
| Widely branching structures that receive input from other neurons |
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Term
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Definition
The specialized junction between one neuron and another
A neuron releases a chemical that either excites or inhibits the next neuron
Pre-synaptic membrane + Post-synaptic membrane + Synaptic cleft = Synapse |
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Term
Resting potential
An electrical polarization across the membrane (or covering) of an axon |
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Definition
Action potential
An excitation that travels along an axon at a constant strength, no matter how far it must travel |
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Term
| Glial cells (glia) and functions |
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Definition
Support the neurons in many ways such as by insulating them, synchronizing activity among neighboring neurons, and removing waste products
Possibly, a slow second signal system (calcium waves), running in parallel, and interacting, with neurons
Blood-brain barrier
Support structure during neurogenesis
Myelin sheaths
Neurotrophic functions |
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Term
| Neurotransmitter reuptake |
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Definition
| A process in which a neurotransmitter could be reabsorbed by the axon that released it |
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Term
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Definition
| An action potential is a yes-no or on-off message (i.e. a standard light switch) |
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Term
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Definition
| After release into the synaptic cleft, neurotransmitters interact with receptor proteins on the membrane of the postsynaptic cell, causing ionic channels on the membrane to either open or close. When these channels open, depolarization occurs, resulting in the initiation of another action potential. |
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Term
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Definition
| blocks substance P and causes analgesia |
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Term
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Definition
| block reuptake of dopamine and causes ANS arousal, euphoria |
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Term
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Definition
| blocks acetylcholine (Ach) receptors and causes paralysis |
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Term
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Definition
| mimic endorphins and causes analgesia |
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Term
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Definition
| block dopamine and serotonin |
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Term
| SSRI’s (Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil) |
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Definition
| block reuptake of serotonin |
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Term
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Definition
| blocks anandamide and causes marijuana’s effects |
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Term
| Alcohol, Xanax, Klonopin, Valium |
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Definition
| facilitate GABA transmission and reduces anxiety |
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Term
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Definition
Subcortical structure deep within the temporal lobe that responds strongly to emotional situations
People with damage are slow to process emotional information (facial expressions and situations)
People with an easily aroused amygdala tend to be shy and fearful |
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Term
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Definition
Attach too much meaning to events and manufacture meaning to what appears to be meaningless
Obsession with detail and meaningfulness of trivia
Talkativeness and hypergraphia (excessive writing)
Interpersonal viscosity (“stickiness”)
Hypermorality and diminished sense of humor
Hyperreligiosity with expanded sense of personal destiny
Fetishism and sexual disinterest |
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Term
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Definition
Attach too much meaning to events and manufacture meaning to what appears to be meaningless
Obsession with detail and meaningfulness of trivia
Talkativeness and hypergraphia (excessive writing)
Interpersonal viscosity (“stickiness”)
Hypermorality and diminished sense of humor
Hyperreligiosity with expanded sense of personal destiny
Fetishism and sexual disinterest |
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Term
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Definition
| Melatonin controls sleepiness and onset of puberty |
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Term
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Definition
| Oxytocin controls milk release; Vasopressin controls blood pressure and urine volume |
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Term
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Definition
| Thyroid hormone controls metabolic rate |
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Term
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Definition
| Hormones that control pituitary gland |
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Term
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Definition
| Hormones that control other glands |
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Term
| Parathyroids (behind thyroid) |
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Definition
| Parathyroid hormone controls calcium and potassium |
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Term
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Definition
| Hormones that control metabolism and salt retention |
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Term
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Definition
| Insulin and glucagon control glucose storage and use |
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Term
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Definition
| Hormones that control sexual behaviors |
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Term
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Definition
| Mind (World of the Spirit) |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| Gustav Fechner Elemente der Psychophysik (1860) |
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Definition
| investigates the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they affect. Psychophysics has been described as "the scientific study of the relation between stimulus and sensation" |
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Term
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Definition
the weakest stimulus that can be detected reliably
Under-threshold: subliminal
Over-threshold: supraliminal |
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Term
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Definition
| the smallest difference between two stimuli that can be detected reliably |
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Term
| The four basic questions of psychophysics |
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Definition
Detection - “Is there anything?”
Recognition - “What is it?”
- Scaling - “How much of it is there?”
Discrimination - “Are these things different?” |
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Term
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Definition
| Ability of the stimulus to influence our behavior even when it is presented so faintly or briefly or along with such strong distracters that we do not perceive it consciously |
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Term
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Definition
| detects black and white (used for night/dark vision), peripheral vision |
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Term
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Definition
| detect color, used for day time vision |
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Term
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Definition
| Central part of the retina that has a greater density of receptors, especially cones, than any other part of the retina |
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Term
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Definition
Area where the optic nerve exits the retina
Part of the retina that has no more room for receptors (axons take up all the space) |
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Term
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Definition
Also known as Young-Helmholtz theory
Theory that color vision depends on the relative rate of response of three types of cones |
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Term
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Definition
Theory that we perceive colors in terms of a system of paired opposites:
red versus green
yellow versus blue
black versus white |
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Term
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Definition
| Concept that color perception results from the cerebral cortex’s comparison of various retinal patterns |
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Term
| Nature of "color-blindness" |
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Definition
Complete colorblindness is rare
Red-green color deficient people (sometimes only in one eye) have only two kinds of cones:
Short-wavelength cone
Either long-wavelength or medium-wavelength cone
Males are more likely to have it because they only have one X chromosome |
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Term
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Definition
| Loudness (intensity) is a perception that depends on the amplitude (magnitude, extent of a vibration) of sound waves |
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Term
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Definition
| Hearing loss that results when the bones connected to the eardrum fail to transmit sound waves properly to the cochlea |
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Term
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Definition
| esults from damage to the cochlea, the hair cells, or the auditory nerve |
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Term
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Definition
Ronald Melzack and PD Wall (1965)
The idea that pain messages must pass through a gate, presumably in the spiral cord, that can block the messages
In short, the activities of the rest of the nervous system facilitate and inhibit pain messages |
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Term
| Neurotransmitters involved in pain |
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Definition
All pains release glutamate
Intense pain releases substance P |
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Term
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Definition
Neurotransmitters that inhibit the release of substance P and thereby weaken pain sensations
Pleasant experiences also release endorphins |
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Term
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Definition
The study of people’s tendencies to make hits, correct rejections, misses and fire alarms
Hits and correct rejections are favored
Being able to detect alarms or significant noises |
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Term
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Definition
The ability to perceive something in more than one way
“A field that focuses on our ability to perceive overall patterns”
Belief that feature detectors are not enough
Bottom-up process
Tiny elements combine to produce larger items
Top-down process
- A process in which you apply your experience and expectations to interpret what each time must be in context |
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Term
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Definition
| Our tendency to perceive objects as keeping their shape, size, and color, despite certain distortions in the light pattern reaching our retinas |
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Term
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Definition
| Incorrectly perceiving an object as moving against a stationary background |
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Term
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Definition
| An illusion of movement created by a rapid succession of stationary images (film) |
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Term
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Definition
| Illusion of movement created when two or more stationary lights separated by a short distance flash on and off at regular intervals |
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Term
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Definition
| The difference in the apparent position of an object as seen by the left and right retinas |
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Term
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Definition
| The degree to which the eyes turn in to focus on a close object (the more the eyes pull, the closer the object must be) |
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Term
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Definition
| Retinal disparity and convergence depend on both eyes |
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Term
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Definition
Ability to judge depth and distance with just one eye
Object size
Linear perspective
Detail
Interposition
Texture gradient
Shadows
Accommodation |
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Term
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Definition
lasting about a day
Rising and setting of the sun provide cues to reset rhythms, but we generate the rhythm ourselves |
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Term
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Definition
Hormone secreted by the pineal gland
Important for the daily rhythm of sleep and certain animals’ annual rhythm of hibernation |
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Term
| REM (“Paradoxical Sleep”) vs. NREM sleep |
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Definition
Dual sleep: alternating throughout the night
NREM Sleep
Stage 1 – transition between wakefulness and clear sleep (limbo)
Stage 2 – first bona fide sleep stage; “point of no return” (Stage One to Stage Two transition) at onset
Delta – deepest, most restful type of sleep
a. Physiological relaxation
a. Slow, rolling eye movements
a. Mundane “talking” dreams (more recurring dreams)
a. Growth hormone secretions
a. Deficient thermoregulation (we get colder) |
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Term
| Repair/restoration Theories of sleep |
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Definition
| Sleep helps us recover something depleted during wakefulness |
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Term
| energy conservation theories of sleep |
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Definition
| Sleep keeps us from overheating and helps conserve energy (memory strengthened) |
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Term
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Definition
People sleep less as they get older, and the proportion of time in REM sleep decreases (about one hour)
Overall sleep gets lighter and wakefulness gets ‘sleepier.’
Aging is often accompanied by chronic sleep deprivation due to: illness, pain, breathing problems, frequent need to urinate |
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Term
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Definition
| Sometimes after we wake up, we cannot step outside of the dream and our body is “stuck” in the mood/form |
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Term
| Airway (obstructive) apnea |
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Definition
Breathing problem caused by insomnia disorders
Oral tissues begin to sag during sleep, causing snoring
Treatments:
Weight loss
Tennis-ball shirt (“back sleep is bad sleep”)
Positive Airway Pressure (e.g., CPAP) pumps
Somnoplasty- uses radio frequency energy to shrink the tissue that is causing the problem
MMA (Maxillomandibular advancement) |
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Term
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Definition
Causes one to awaken screaming and sweating with a racing heart rate
Occur during stage 3 or stage 4, not REM, and their dream content is simple (usually a single image) |
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Term
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Definition
Sleep talking is the most common and least troublesome
Most common is stage 2, but can happen in any stage
Not related to mental or emotional disorders
Sleepwalking tends to run in families
Most common in children
Takes place during stage 4
Occurs when certain brain areas remain awake while others are asleep |
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Term
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Definition
Excessive and overwhelming daytime sleepiness
Irresistible daytime sleep attacks |
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Term
| Effects of sleep deprivation |
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Definition
Missing 1 night’s sleep results in sleepiness and slight cognitive impairment (no motor impairment)
Missing 2 or more nights’ sleep causes progressive cognitive and motor impairment.
“Microsleeps” begin to intrude upon wakefulness
Does not cause lasting mental illness
Can alleviate depression (temporarily) or trigger mania
Compromises immune function and increases risk of many illnesses
“REM rebound” on resuming sleep
But “sleep deprivation” refers to one’s habitual sleep times; some individuals never sleep |
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Term
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Definition
| A condition of increased suggestibility that occurs in the context of a special hypnotist-subject relationship |
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Term
| What hypnosis can and cannot do |
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Definition
Can do:
Inhibit pain
Alters emotional components to respond to pleasurable sensations
Can break of habits
Posthypnotic suggestion: a suggestion to do or experience something after coming out of hypnosis
Cannot do:
Does not enhance memory
Recall early childhood |
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Term
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Definition
Aristotle: “Experience determines what you know about the world”
Frequency
Intensity
Contiguity (occur together in time and space) |
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Term
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Definition
| Decrease in a person’s response to a stimulus after it has been presented repeatedly |
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Term
| Tabula rasa doctrine w/ rationale |
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Definition
John Locke (1690): Rights of life, liberty, and property
Blank slate
Doctrine argued that rulers were not born with any favored disposition or royal gifts
Knowledge comes from experience and perception |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| “Clockwork Orange” therapy |
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Definition
| Take unwanted habits and make new conditional reflexes to make them stop |
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Term
| Systematic desensitization |
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Definition
Time modern therapy that gets rid of phobias
Most common phobia - snake phobia
Rank phobias from 1-100 and then go through each step through relaxation |
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Term
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Definition
| being able to go out and challenge your fear |
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Term
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Definition
L. Thorndike
(S---R) Consequence: Eventually building a bond between stimulus and response as the person/animal becomes familiar with something. |
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Term
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Definition
| A way of learning and thinking in which one gets a certain insight to help him/her get an idea. |
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Term
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Definition
Operant conditioning
Gave people technology to show how behavior can be changed
Experiment: Skinner’s box (filled with rats) |
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Term
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Definition
Classical conditioning presupposes a passive creature
Instead, animals act to change their environments
Much of animal learning isn’t reflexive but adaptive and flexible
Such adaptive learning is controlled by its consequences
“The process of changing behavior by following a response with reinforcement” |
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Term
| "A-B-C's" of operant conditioning |
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Definition
Antecedent Stimulus
Behavior & Consequences: Contingency (B-C Rule)
Example: dancing at the party/pope audience |
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Term
| Reinforcement vs. punishment |
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Definition
If a consequence results in the increased likelihood of a behavior then consequence is the reinforcement of the behavior
If the consequence results in the decreased likelihood of a behavior then consequence is the preventer of the behavior |
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Term
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Definition
Occurs if responses stop producing reinforcements
You are in the habit of asking your roommate to dinner and then she says no, so you stop asking |
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Term
| conditioned taste aversions |
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Definition
Associating a food with illness
Example: if you go on a roller coaster and then throw up, you associate it with the food and will most likely not want to eat it again
Mostly with new food |
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