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| A type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli. A neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus (US) begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for the unconditioned stimulus. |
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| A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event. |
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| A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage. |
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| The study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience. |
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| The diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS); occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced. |
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| The processing of information into the memory system – for example, by extracting meaning. |
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| Retention independent of conscious recollection. |
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| The tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses. |
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| An observational technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles. |
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| Simple, automatic, inborn responses to sensory stimuli, such as the knee-jerk response. |
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| The middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half are below it. |
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| The “little brain” attached to the rear of the brainstem; its functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance. |
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| An experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant (blind) about whether the research participants have received the treatment or a placebo. Commonly used in drug-evaluation studies. |
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| An early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind. |
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| just noticeable difference |
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| The smallest difference in the amount of stimulation that a specific sense can detect. |
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| The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands. |
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| The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied. |
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| Chemical messengers that traverse the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, these travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse. |
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| The portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears; includes the auditory ears, each of which receives auditory information primarily from the opposite ear. |
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| The scientific study of behavior and mental processes. |
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| A random error in gene replication that leads to a change. |
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| The school of psychology that focused on how mental and behavioral processes function – how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish. |
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| The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes the visual areas, which receive visual information from the opposite visual field. |
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| A newer understanding of the short-term memory that involves conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory. |
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| An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior. |
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| The portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgments. |
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| A type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher. |
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| The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable. |
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| The view that (a) knowledge comes from experience via the senses, and (b) science flourishes through observation and experiment. |
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| In classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus. |
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| A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable). By random assignment of participants, the experimenter aims to control other relevant factors. |
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| Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation. |
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| A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon. This impulse is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axon's membrane. |
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| The brain's sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla. |
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| In classical conditioning, the learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS). |
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| sympathetic nervous system |
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| The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations. |
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| In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed. |
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| Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically. |
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| The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information. |
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| Increasing behaviors by stopping of reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. Occurs when an undesirable stimulus is removed following a response, and the response is therefor strengthened. |
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| Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and “declare.” |
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| An event that decreases the behavior that it follows. |
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| The process of getting information out of memory storage. |
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| In classical conditioning, a stimulus that naturally or automatically triggers a response. |
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| The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information. |
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| In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses. |
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| Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food. Occurs when a desirable stimulus is presented following a response, and therefore the response is strengthened. |
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| The conscious repetition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage. |
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| A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next. |
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| The brain and the spinal cord |
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