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MCAT > 6B: Making sense of the environment > Flashcards

6B: Making sense of the environment Flashcards

1
Q

What is Attention?

A

Refers to concentrating on one aspect of the sensory environment (sensorium)

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2
Q

What is Selective Attention?

A

Focusing on one part of the environment while ignoring the other stimuli; if the stimulus is attended to, it’s passed through a filter and further analyzed

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3
Q

What is Divided Attention?

A

The ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time

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4
Q

What is Controlled Processing?

A

Providing undivided attention to a new or complex task

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5
Q

What is Automatic Processing?

A

The performance of familiar or routine actions which allow the brain to focus on other task with divided attention

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6
Q

What is the Information Processing Model?

A

It is the idea that our mind can convert, retain and recover information much like a computer

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7
Q

What are the three systems of information processing model?

A

Sensory, Short-Term and Long-Term Memory

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8
Q

What are Piaget’s Stage of Cognitive Development?

A

Sensorimotor,
Preoperational,
Concrete Operational,
Formal Operational

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9
Q

Sensorimotor Stage (Age and description)

A

Age: Birth to 2 Years Old

Child learns to manipulate his or her environment in order to meet physical needs

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10
Q

Sensorimotor Stage (Reactions)

A 
Primary = repetition of body movement
Secondary = manipulation of something outside that body
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11
Q

Object Permanence

A

Understanding that objects continue to exist when out of view, which marks the beginning of representational thought, marks the end of the sensorimotor stage

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12
Q

Preoperational Stage (Age and description)

A

Age: 2 to 7

Characterized by symbolic thinking, egocentrism and centration

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13
Q

Symbolic Thinking

A

the ability to pretend, play make-believe and have an imagination

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14
Q

Egocentrism

A

the inability to imagine what another person may think or feel

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15
Q

Centration

A

tendency to focus on only one aspect of a phenomenon or inability to understand the concept of conservation

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16
Q

Concrete Operational Stage (Age and description)

A

Age: 7 to 11
Children understand conversation and consider the perspective of others; able to engage in logical thought; make judgments

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17
Q

Formal Operational Stage

A

Age: (11+) Adolescence to Adulthood

The ability to think logically about abstract ideas and reason about abstract concepts as well as problem solve

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18
Q

What cognitive changes occur in late adulthood?

A 
Difficulty remembering information, 
Forgetting verbal information,
Reduction of blood flow to the brain,
Loss of neurons
Dementia
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19
Q

Characteristics of Dementia

A 
Cognitive Decline,
Memory degeneration,
Increased confusion
Loss of muscle control,
Shrinking of brain tissue
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20
Q

What is the role of culture in cognitive development?

A

The idea is that culture shapes and determines how individuals learn and perceive the world around them

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21
Q

What are the beliefs of cognitive development by Vygotsky & Piaget?

A

Vygotsky believed it varied across culture

Piaget believed it was universal

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22
Q

How does culture affect intellectual adaptation?

A

It affects reasoning, problem solving, speech, signs, symbols and attitude

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23
Q

How does heredity influence cognitive development?

A

Genetic makeup affects a persons qualities

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24
Q

How does environment influence cognitive development?

A

Physical and behavioral experiences affect a persons qualities

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25
Q

What do dizygotic twin studies show?

A

If intelligence is the same it is due to environment, if its different it is due to genetics

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26
Q

What do monozygotic twin studies show?

A

If intelligence is the same it is due to genetics, if its different it is due to the environment

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27
Q

What are the types of problem solving?

A

Trial & Error, Deductive and Inductive Reasoning, Means-end analysis, Lateral thinking, Reduction

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28
Q

Inductive Reasoning (Bottom-Up)

A

Starts with specific ideas and then draw conclusions from them; observation -> theory

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29
Q

Deductive Reasoning (Top-Down)

A

Starts from a set of general rules and draws conclusions from the information given; theory -> confirmation

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30
Q

Trial & Error

A

Various solutions are tried until one is found that seems to work

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31
Q

Means-end analysis

A

Set ultimate goal and then determine strategy to attain that goal

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32
Q

Lateral Thinking

A

Approach problems indirectly and creatively

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33
Q

Reduction

A

Find a solution of another problem to solve the original problem

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34
Q

What are the 4 barriers to problem solving?

A

Confirmation Bias, Mental Set, Unnecessary Constraints and Irrelevant Information

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35
Q

Confirmation Bias

A

Unconscious corruption of an idea that leads to favoring a predetermined opinion in the process of problem solving

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36
Q

Mental Set

A

Inclination to attempt strategies that were repeatedly unsuccessful previously

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37
Q

Unnecessary Constraints

A

Subconscious mind fixes onto a particular way to solve a given problem

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38
Q

Irrelevant Information

A

Unrelated or unimportant information that makes it difficult to find solution

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39
Q

What are Heuristics? What are the types?

A

Simplified principles used to make decisions; based on experience and can speed up the process to find solutions by mental shortcuts;

  1. Educated Guess
  2. Intuitive Judgment
  3. Common Sense
  4. Rule of Thumb
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40
Q

What is Bias? Confirmation Bias?

A

It is a restriction into thinking a certain way that causes deviation from making good judgments and thinking rationally;

Confirmation Bias is the tendency to focus on information that fits an individuals belief while rejecting information that goes against them

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41
Q

What is intuition?

A

Ability to attain information through inner perception, occurs without a specific reason and it’s very difficult to verify or justify

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42
Q

What is emotion?

A

Conscious expression of biological reactions and mental states; associated with personality, environment influence, mood, temperament and motivation; additionally influenced by hormones

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43
Q

What is overconfidence?

A

It is a tendency to erroneously interpret one’s decisions, knowledge and beliefs as infallible; it is a bias that is established very well

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44
Q

What is belief perseverance?

A

An initial belief that persists even after the initial evidence is removed

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45
Q

What are Howard Gardner’s seven types of intelligence?

A 
Linguistic
Logical-Mathematical
Musical
Visuospatial
Bodily-Kinesthetic
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
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46
Q

What are some heredity influences on intelligence?

A

Traits are passed down each generation with variation

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47
Q

What are some environmental influences on intelligence?

A

Nutrition, stress, pressure, sociocultural (family, education)

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48
Q

Variations on Intellectual Ability are measured using

A

IQ tests

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49
Q

Formula for IQ

A

(Mental Age/Chronological Age) x 100

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50
Q

What are the states of consciousness?

A

Alert, Sleep, Dreaming and Altered

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51
Q

What is Alertness?

A

It is a state of active attention and ready to respond to stimuli

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52
Q

Which brain structures maintain alertness?

A

Reticular Formation in the Brainstem

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53
Q

Which hormone is involved with alertness?

A

Cortisol

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54
Q

What is sleep?

A

Natural state associated with inhibited sensory activity and most voluntary muscles

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55
Q

What are the stages of sleep?

A

NREM 1
NREM 2
NREM 3
REM

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56
Q

Non-REM Stage 1

A

Between sleep and awake
Muscles are active
Eyes move slowly
Sensation of falling

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57
Q

Non-REM Stage 2

A

Light sleep
Theta activity
Eye movement stops
More difficult to wake up

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58
Q

Non-REM Stage 3

A

Deep sleep stage
Slow wave sleep
Delta activity
Body repairs and regrows tissues, build bone and muscle

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59
Q

REM Stage 4

A

Occurs after 90 minutes
Intense dreaming
Increased HR and BR
Called paradoxical sleep because the EEG and physiology mimics an awake individual

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60
Q

Beta Waves

A

High frequency and occur when a person is alert or attending to a mental task that requires concentration - when neurons are randomly firing

61
Q

Alpha Waves

A

When a person is awake but relaxing with their eyes closed; slower than beta waves and more synchronized

62
Q

Theta Waves

A

Appear once a person falls asleep; slow frequencies and high voltage

63
Q

Delta Waves

A

Low frequency, high voltage and associated with cognitive recovery and memory consolidation and growth hormone release

64
Q

How is sleep controlled?

A

By circadian rhythms and sleep-wake homeostasis

65
Q

Which glands, molecules and structures are involved in the circadian rhythms?

A 
Melatonin
Cortisol
Retina
Pineal Gland
Suprachiasmatic Nucleus
66
Q

What are the theories of dreaming?

A

Activation-Synthesis
Problem-Solving
Cognitive Process

67
Q

What is the Activation-Synthesis Theory?

A

Dreams are caused by widespread, random activation of neural circuitry; Activation mimics incoming sensory information and leads to cortex activity

68
Q

What is the Problem-Solving Theory?

A

Dreams are a way to solve problems while you are sleeping; they are untethered by rules of the real world and allow interpretation of obstacles differently than during waking hours

69
Q

What is the Cognitive Process Theory?

A

Dreams are a sleeping counterpart of stream-of-consciousness; the content of a dream rapidly shift and change

70
Q

What are Sleep Disorders?

A

They are ailments that disrupt the sleep patterns

71
Q

What are sleep disorders classified as?

A

Dyssomnias or Parasomnias

72
Q

Dyssomnias

A

Make it difficult to sleep, stay asleep or avoid sleep

73
Q

Insomnia

A

A dyssomnia that causes difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep

74
Q

Narcolepsy

A

A dyssomnia that involves lack of voluntary control over onset of sleep

75
Q

Sleep Apnea

A

A dyssomnia that involves the inability to breathe during sleep; can be obstructive or central

76
Q

Parasomnias

A

Abnormal movements or behaviors during sleep and include night terrors or sleepwalking

77
Q

Night Terrors

A

Parasomnia that involve periods of intense anxiety that occur during slow-wave sleep

78
Q

Types of Treatment for Sleep Disorders

A

Medication, Rehabilitation, Behavior/Psychotherapeutic Treatment, Hypnosis

79
Q

Hypnosis

A

A state in which a person appears to be in control of his or her normal functions but is in a highly suggestible state; person can focus on taking suggestions

80
Q

Meditation

A

Produces a sense of relaxation and relief from anxiety and worrying can cause physiological changes such as decreased HR and BP

81
Q

What are the type of consciousness altering drugs?

A

Depressants (Alcohol, Barbiturates, Benzodiazepines)

Stimulants (Amphetamines, Cocaine, Ecstasy, Nicotine, Caffeine)

Opiates & Opioids (Morphine, Codeine, Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, Heroin)

Hallucinogens (Marijuana, LSD, PCP, Mescaline)

82
Q

How do Depressants affect the body? Which neurotransmitters are affected?

A

They reduce nervous system activity and result in a sense of relaxation and reduced anxiety;
Increases production of GABA and Decrease production of Acetylcholine

83
Q

How do Stimulants affect the body? Which neurotransmitters are affected?

A

They increase the arousal of the nervous system by increasing frequency of AP;
Blocks the uptake of dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin

84
Q

How do Opiates & Opioids affect the body? Which neurotransmitters are affected?

A

They bind to opioid receptors in the nervous system and cause decreased reaction to pain and a sense of euphoria; acts as a natural pain reducer

85
Q

How do Hallucinogens affect the body? Which neurotransmitters are affected?

A

Act on cannabinoid receptors, glycine receptors and opioid receptors; increases GABA and Dopamine activity causing neural inhibition and euphoria
Mimics serotonin and epinephrine

86
Q

Which brain pathway is involved in drug addiction?

A

Mesolimbic Reward Pathway; involved in motivation and emotional response - which accounts for positive reinforcement of substance use and produces psychological dependence

87
Q

Which brain structures are involved in drug addiction?

A

Nucleus Accumbens
Ventral Tegmental Area
Medial Forebrain Bundle

88
Q

What is Encoding?

A

The process of putting new information into memory

89
Q

What is Automatic Processing?

A

When information is obtained without effort

90
Q

What is Controlled Processing?

A

When information is obtained with effort, also known as active memorization

91
Q

What are the 3 types of encoding? Which of them is weakest or strongest?

A

Visual Encoding = visualizing information (weakest)
Acoustic Encoding = storing the way information sounds
Semantic Encoding = putting information into a meaningful context (strongest)

92
Q

What is the self-reference effect?

A

The tendency to better recall information that we can put into the context of our own lives

93
Q

What are some processes that aid in encoding memories?

A

Grouping information into meaningful context
Maintenance rehearsal
Mnemonics

94
Q

What is Maintenance Rehearsal?

A

It is the repetition of a piece of information to keep it within working memory or to store it in short term and eventually long term memory

95
Q

What are Mnemonics?

A

These are ways to memorize information using acronyms or rhyming phrases in order to memorize large bits of information

96
Q

What are the types of memory storage?

A

Sensory, Short Term, Working and Long Term

97
Q

Describe Sensory Memory

A

It is the storage of memory through our senses; It’s the most fleeting kind of memory, results in quick loss of information; consists of Iconic and Echoic

98
Q

Describe Short-Term Memory

A

Fades quickly, <30 seconds, 7 +-2 rule limits to about 7 items

99
Q

Describe Working Memory

A

Enables us to keep a few pieces of information in our consciousness simultaneously and manipulate that information; it is the processing of short term memories for effecting behaviors

100
Q

Describe Long-Term Memory

A

It is the storage of information that can last from days to a lifetime

101
Q

What are the kinds of long term memory?

A

Implicit & Explicit Memory

102
Q

What is Implicit (Procedural) Memory?

A

Consists of skills and conditioned responses; also known as nondeclarative

103
Q

What is Explicit (Declarative) Memory? What are the two types?

A

Memories that require conscious recall;
Semantic (facts we know)
Episodic (our experiences)

104
Q

What are semantic networks?

A

This involves the memory of meanings, concepts, words or perceptual features are linked together based on similar meaning; each thing is like a node that activates another node

105
Q

What is spreading activation?

A

The unconscious activation of other linked concepts

106
Q

What is retrieval?

A

It is the process of demonstrating that something has been learned or has been retained

107
Q

What is recall?

A

The retrieval and statement of previously learned information

108
Q

What is recognition?

A

The process of identifying a piece of information that was previously learned

109
Q

What is relearning?

A

It is a way demonstrating that information has been stored in long-term memory

110
Q

What are retrieval cues?

A

These are ‘tricks’ that help facilitate recall which can be visual, auditory or olfactory

111
Q

What is the serial position effect?

A

It’s a retrieval cue that appears while learning lists - it shows that there is higher recall for the first few items on a list and the last few items on a list

112
Q

What is the primacy effect?

A

Tendency to remember early items

113
Q

What is the recency effect?

A

Tendency to remember later items

114
Q

What role does emotion have in retrieving memories?

A

Neutral words give less of an impact than positive or negative words; Emotional words or sounds are more memorable than neutral sounds; Louder, enthusiastic speeches are more memorable phrases

115
Q

What is forgetting?

A

Loss of memorized information

116
Q

What are some memory disorders?

A

Alzheimers, Korsakoffs, Agnosia

117
Q

Alzheimers Characteristics

A

Thought to be linked to a loss of acetylcholine in neurons that link to the hippocampus; progressive dementia, retrograde memory loss, plaques and tangles

118
Q

Korsakoffs Characteristics

A

Memory loss caused by thiamine deficiency in the brain; associated with excessive alcohol consumption

119
Q

What are the types of amnesia?

A

Retrograde = loss of previously formed memories

Anterograde = inability to form new memories

120
Q

What is confabulation?

A

The process of creating vivid but fabricated memories, which is thought to be an attempt by the brain to fill in memory gaps

121
Q

What is agnosia?

A

Loss of the ability to recognize objects, people or sounds

122
Q

What is decay?

A

The natural loss of memories overtime as the neurochemical trace of a short term memory fades; long term memory is more resistant to being forgotten

123
Q

What is Interference? What are the types?

A

A retrieval error caused by the existence of other (usually similar) information; There is proactive and retroactive

124
Q

What is proactive interference?

A

Old information interferes with new learning

learning a new address being interfered with by an old address

125
Q

What is retroactive interference?

A

New information causes forgetting of old information

professors learning new sets of students name forgetting the old ones

126
Q

What is memory construction?

A

Memories are heavily influenced by our thoughts and feelings both while the event is occurring and later during the recall

127
Q

What is the misinformation effect?

A

Recent information causes the recall of episodic memories to be less accurate; misinformation influences the memory of an individual

128
Q

What is source amnesia?

A

A memory construction error that involves confusion between semantic and episodic memory; remembering factual knowledge but not the context of how, when or where the knowledge was acquired

129
Q

What is neuroplasticity?

A

The rapid formation of neural connections in response to stimuli as our brain develops

130
Q

What is synaptic pruning?

A

Weak neural connections are broken while strong ones are reinforced

131
Q

What is Long Term Potentiation?

A

It is the strengthening of synaptic activity due to repeated stimulus that allow neurons to become more efficient at releasing their neurotransmitters and an increase in the receptor site density on the post-synaptic neuron

132
Q

How are learning and memory related?

A

Learning is acquiring knowledge or skill and Memory is acquiring information; they’re dependent on each other

133
Q

What are the theories of language development?

A

Learning/Behaviorist Perspective
Nativist/Biological Perspective
Social Interactionist Perspective

134
Q

Describe the learning/behaviorist perspective of language development

A

B.F. Skinner argued that language is acquired through operant conditioning; speech is shaped by association, imitation and reinforcement; reinforcing words help children to imitate speech by babbling the sounds

135
Q

Describe the nativist/biological perspective of language development

A

Noam Chomsky argued that humans are born with biological programming to learn language and there is an innate capacity for language; there is a language acquisition device, critical period and sensitive period

136
Q

What is the Language Acquisition Device?

A

A theoretical pathway in the brain that allows infants to process and absorb language rules

137
Q

What is the critical period?

A

Language acquisition between two years and puberty; if no language exposure occurs during this time, later training is ineffective

138
Q

What is the sensitive period?

A

It is a time when environmental input has a maximal effect on the development of an ability

139
Q

Describe the social interactionist perspective

A

Lev Vygotsky argued that language develops through collaborative learning; there is an interplay between biological and social processes; driven by the child’s desire to communicate and behave in a social manner

140
Q

What is the Whorfian Hypothesis?

A

It states that language determines one’s thoughts; it suggests that our perception of reality is determined by the content of language

141
Q

Which areas of the brain are associated with language and speech?

A

Broca’s Area (Speech)
Wernicke’s Area (Language Comprehension)
Arcuate Fasciculus

142
Q

Describe Wernicke’s Area

A

It is located in the superior temporal gyrus;
Responsible for the understanding of written and spoken words (language comprehension);
Damage results in Wernicke’s Aphasia

143
Q

Describe a patient with Wernicke’s Aphasia (also known as Receptive Aphasia)

A

This patient would have retained motor production and fluency of speech but comprehension is lost; patient speaks nonsensical sounds and inappropriate word combinations devoid of meaning; they are unaware that they are not making any sense

144
Q

Describe Broca’s Area

A

It is located in the inferior frontal gyrus;
Responsible for controlling motor function of speech so it connects to the motor cortex;
Damage results in Broca’s Aphasia

145
Q

Describe a patient with Broca’s Aphasia (Expressive Aphasia)

A

This patient would have a reduced or absent ability to produce spoken language; difficulty forming words; sentences are mostly verbs and nouns; language comprehension still intact; they are aware of their symptoms

146
Q

Describe the Arcuate Fasciculus

A

It is a bundle of axons that connect broca’s and wernicke’s areas which allows for association between language comprehension and speech production; Damage results in Conduction Aphasia

147
Q

What is Conduction Aphasia?

A

It is the inability for a patient to repeat something that has been said because the connection between the regions has been lost

148
Q

What are the 5 components of language?

A 
Phonology (sound)
Morphology (structure)
Semantics (meaning)
Syntax (sentences)
Pragmatics (context)

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