chap 5-6 Flashcards
When does learning of language begin?
In the womb
teratogen
an agent, like chemical or virus, that can reach the embryo/ fetus during prenatal development and cause harm
fetal alcohol syndrome
physical and mental abnormalities in children caused by a pregnants women heavy drinking
-signs include a small, out-of-proportion head and abnormal facial features
Newborn
-arrives with automatic reflex responses that support survival
-cries to elicit help and comfort
-searches for sights and sounds linked to other humans, especially mother
-smells and sees well and uses sensory equipment to learn
-possesses a biologically rooted temperament
Newborn habituation
-fetuses have adapted to a vibrating, honking device on mother’s abdomen
-gain familiarity with repeated exposure to sounds
Newborn prferences
newborns prefer face-like images and the smell of the mother’s body
infancy and childhood: physical development
-brain cells are sculpted by heredity and experience
-Birth: neuronal growth spurt and synaptic pruning
- 3-6 months: rapid frontal lobe growth and continued growth into adolescence and beyond
-early childhood: critical period for some skills
-throughout life: brain tissue changed by learning
infancy and childhood: Motor development
-develop as the nervous system and the muscles mature
-are primarily universal in sequence but not in timing
-are guided by genes and influences by the environment
-involve the same sequence throughout the world
back to sleep
-infants sleep on their backs
-position is associated with later crawling but not later walking
Jean Piaget
-noticed kids brain worked differently
-stage theorist
-Children are active thinkers
-mind develops through a series of universal stages
-children’s developing brains build schemas that are used and adjusted through assimilation and accommodation
maturation processes
biological development that is independent of experience/environment
schemas
organized structures that interprets information/ experience
-guides how you go about doing things
assimilation
forcing new info to fit
-interpreting one’s new experience in terms of one’s existing schemas
accommodation
essence of intellectual growth
-adapting one’s current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information
-changing cognitive structure in order to accept something from the environment
Piaget’s Theory: sensorimotor stage
-birth to nearly 2 years
-uses senses to explore world
Milestones:
-object permanence (when have it move to next stage)
-stanger anxiety
Object permanence
awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived
-move from sensorimotor stage to preoperational stage when they have this
Piaget’s Theory: Preoperational stage
-2-7 years
-learn to use language but can’t perform the mental operations of concrete knowledge- use intuitive rather than logical reasoning
-conservation
-theory of mind
Key milestones:
-egocentrism/curse of knowledge
-pretend play
conservation
quantity remains the same despite changes in shape
egocentrism/curse of knowledge
difficulty in taking another’s POV
Piaget’s Theory: concrete operational
-7-11 years
-children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events
-begin to understand the changes in form before changes in quantity
- they begin to understand simple math and conservation
Milestones:
-mathematical transformations
-conservation
Piaget’s Theory: Formal operation
-12-adulthood
-children are no longer limited to concrete reasoning based on actual experience
-able to think abstractly
Reflecting on Piaget’s theory
-children went through stages faster than he hypothesized
-milestones unfold basically as he proposed but is vague about when it goes from one stage to the other
-development is more continuous
-children may be more competent than revealed
attachment
emotional tie with another person
stranger anxiety
fear of strangers
-parallels object permanence
stange situation
experiments show that some children are securely attached and others are insecurely attached
secure
responsive to caregiver attempt to soothe; very trusting
-when babysitter left :insecure
-when babysitter came back: secure
insecure
abnormally upset, threw tantrum
-when babysitter came back baby was mad
avoident
don’t care if anyone is there
Erik Erikson
believed that securely attached children approach life with a sense of basic trust
-social development: 1st stage (trust vs. mistrust)
authoritarian
-parents are coercive
-they impose rules and expect obedience
-many rules, can’t violate them
-spanking used as a means of control
authoritative
-more accepting towards the child violating the rules
-many rules, but explain consequences
-best
permissibe
-parents are unrestraining
-make few demands
-set few limits
-use little punishment
-turn out bossy/spoiled
Negligent
-parents are uninvolved
-neither demanding nor responsive
-leads to neglect, form of abuse, more likely to be psychotic
self-concept
an understanding and evaluation of who we are
self concept stages
-6 months: self-awareness begins with self recognition in mirror
-15 to 18 months: schema of how the face should look
-school age: more detailed descriptions of gender, group membership, psychological traits, peer comparisons begin
-8 to 10 years: self-image becomes stable
adolescence
transition from puberty to social independence
early-maturing boys
more popular, self-assured, independent and at greater risk for alcohol use, delinquency, and premature sexual activity
early-maturing girls
mismatch between physical and emotional maturity may encourage relationships with older teens; teasing or sexual harassment may occur
Kohlberg
developed moral reasoning
moral intuition
-Haidt: much mortality is rooted in moral intuitions that are made quickly and automatically
-Greene: moral cognition is often automatic but can be overridden
Moral action
-moral actions feeds moral attitudes
-Mischel: the ability to delay gratification is linked to more positive outcomes in adulthood
Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Thinking: preconventional morality
-before age 9
self-interest, obey rules to avoid punishment, or gain rewards
Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Thinking: Conventional morality
-early adolescence
uphold laws and rules to gain social approval or maintain social order
Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Thinking: postconventional morality
-adolescence and beyond
actions reflect belief in basic rights and self-defined ethical principles
Adolescence: parent relationship
important when it comes to education, discipline, charitableness, responsibility, orderliness, and ways with interacting with authority figures
Adolescence: peers
important for learning cooperation, finding the road to popularity, inventing styles of interaction among the people of the same age
emerging adulthood
-18- mid twenties
-characterized by not yet assuming adult responsibilities and independence and feelings of being in between
-may involve living with and still being emotionally dependent on parents
Physical development: early adulthood
muscular strength, reaction time, sensory keenness, cardiac output peak
Physical development: middle adulthood
-physical vigor is more closely linked to health and exercise than age
-physical decline is gradual
-gradual decline in fertility
Physical development: late adulthood
-life expectancy is 71
-immune system weakens
-neural processing lags
-sharpness declines
Aging and memory: early adulthood
peak time for learning and memory
Aging and memory: middle adulthood
greater decline in ability to recall rather than recognize memory
Aging and memory: late adulthood
better retention of meaningful then of meaningless information; longer word production time
Aging and memory: end of life
terminal decline; happens during last 4 years of life
Transtitions
-occur in the early forties
-social clock varies
-change events have a lasting impact
commitments
intimacy and generativity
sensation
process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from the environment
-sight is the most important
perception
process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events
bottom-up processing
analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain integration of sensory information
- start with this but we don’t do this anymore, takes too long
-ex: building images from senses
top-down processing
information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations
-what we do after getting experience
-making assumptions about what i am seeing
-based on experiences
transduction
transformation of stimulus energies such as sights, sounds, and smells into neural impulses the brain can interpret
psychophysics
studies the relationships between the physical energy we can detect and its effects on our psychological experiences
absolute threshold
minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time
-ex: can feel the slightest touch, can see a far away light
subliminal stimuli
input, below the absolute threshold for conscious awareness
-stimuli you can not detect 50% of the time
-fuels the fire though mood
priming (stimulus)
activating unconsciously associations in our mind
-setting us up to perceive, remember, respond to objects/events in a certain way
subliminal sensation
sensation that is too fleeting to actually know what you are feeling
subliminal persuasion
may produce a fleeting, subtle, but not powerful, enduring effect on behavior
perceptual set
a mental predisposition to perceive in thing and not another
What determines our perceptual set?
-schemas interpret unfamiliar information through experience
-pre-existing schemas influence top-down processing of ambiguous sensation interpretation, including gender stereotypes
wavelength
distance between peaks
short wavelength
high frequency
long wavelength
low frequency
frequency
number of complete wavelengths that can pass a point in a given time
-depends on the length of the wave
amplitude
-height of wave, from peak to trough (top to bottom)
-determines the intensity of sound waves
great amplitude
-bright colors
-louder
-very bright
small amplitude
-dull colors
-not loud
-not bright
eye: lens
to focus image in back of eyeball
eye:pupil
-black part contracts to let certain amount of light in
eye: Iris
sees color
eye: cornea
protective layer to protect eye
eye:retina
-light sensitive inner surface of the eye; contains receptor rods and cones
-point of transduction
eye: fovea
point of central focus
eye: blind spot
-point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye
-where no receptors are
-different places in both eyes
eye: optic nerve
nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain
eye: rods
- detect black, white, and gray (no colors)
-low light
-sensitive to movement
-perimeter of retina
-peripheral vision
eye: cones
-fovea
-function in daylight or well-lit conditions
-detect fine detail
-give rise to color sensations
-center of retina
path of transduction in the eye
- light hits the retina
- cones and rods sends neural impulse
- bipolar cell
- ganglion cell
- Optic nerve: neural impulse goes to the visual cortex via the thalmus
path of transduction in the eye
- light hits the retina
- cones and rods sends neural impulse
- bipolar cell
- ganglion cell
- Optic nerve: neural impulse goes to the visual cortex via the thalamus
Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory
proposes that the retina contains three different types of color receptors
Hering’s Theory
proposes that then cone’s responses are processed by opponent-process cells
-also called opponent-process theory
red is tied with
green
-most common
blue is tied with
yellow
black is tied with
white
Gestalt principles
form perceptions
-figure-ground
-grouping
-depth perception
Gestalt principles: Figure-ground
organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings
Gestalt principles: Grouping
perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into meaning groups
-see patterns and objects
Gestalt principles: depth perceptions
-ability to see objects in 3D although the images that strike the retina are two dimensional
-allows us to judge distance
binocular cues
depth cue that depends on the use of two eyes
retinal disparity
-binocular cue for perceiving depth
-brain calculates distance by comparing images from the two eyes
monocular cues
depth cue that is available to either eye alone
monocular cue: light and shadow
-nearby objects reflect more light than distance objects
-shadows show shape
monocular cue: relative motion
objects closer move faster and in opposing direction then those objects rather far away
monocular cue: linear perspective
know parallel lines converge in the distance even if they are the same distance
monocular cue: interposition
objects that occlude (block) other objects tend to be perceived as closer
monocular cue: relative height
see higher objects as it to be further away than those that are lower
motion perception
when large and small objects move at the same speed, the large objects appear to move more slowly
phi phenomenon
illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession
perceptual constancy
objects are perceived as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change
-have consistent color, brightness, shape, and size
-“I know from my experience”
color constancy
perceiving familiar objects as having a consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object
size constancy
-perception of having constant size even when our distance from them varies
-perception of the form of familiar objects as constant even when the retina receives changing images
hearing: length/frequency
determines the pitch
hearing: sound
is measured in decibels (dB)
eardrum
what the sound waves strike causing it to vibrate
cochela
-coiled, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear
-what tiny bones in the middle ear transmit the vibrations to
hair cells
-line the surface of the inner ear
-ripples in the fluid of the cochlea bends this
-produces sound by moving
-triggers impulses in the nerve cells
auditory cortex
where axons from the nerve cells transmit a signal to
semicircular canals
-doesn’t play a role in hearing
-plays a role in balance and orientation
oval window
gateway to inner ear
auditory nerve
send the sounds to temporal lobe
Sensorineural hearing loss (nerve deafness)
damage to cell receptors or associated nerves
conduction hearing loss
damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea
cochlear implant
device that converts sounds into electrical signals, stimulants sounds through electrodes to the brain
what pitch do you lose first
the high pitch
place theory in hearing
theory that links the pitch heard with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated
-best explains high pitches
frequency theory (temporal theory) in hearing
theory that the rate at which nerve impulses travel up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone which allows the pitch to be sensed
-best explains low pitches
nonvisual senses: touch
mix of pressure, warmth, cold, pain
sensory adaptations
constant pressure will not be felt after a while, adapts to the feeling
hypnosis
-heightened state of influence over senses
-tell them to perceive things differently
The pain circuit
-sensory receptors respond to potentially damaging stimuli by sending an impulse to the spinal cord
-spinal cord passes the message to the brain which interprets the signal as pain
-gates in spinal cord can open gates to relaxation, so you sense pain as good like a massage
Controlling pain: placebo
-reduced CNS attention and responses to pain
-ex: give half patients pill that works other half pill that doesn’t to see how they react
Controlling pain: distraction
-draws attention away from painful stimulation
-virtual reality play reduces the brain’s pain-related activity
Hypnosis: social influence theory
dual-processing state sensory information does not reach areas where pain-related information is processed
Hypnosis: Dissociation theory
a split between different levels of consciousness
hypnosis is also
selective attention
hypnosis: posthypnotic suggestion
made during hypnosis session to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotized
survival functions of basic tastes: sweet
energy source
ex: candy
survival functions of basic tastes: salty
sodium essential to physiological processes
ex: salt
survival functions of basic tastes: sour
potentially toxic acid
ex: toxins
survival functions of basic tastes: bitter
potential poisons
ex: toxins
survival functions of basic tastes: umami
proteins to grow and repair tissue
ex: chicken
how many taste buds are there on the tongue
200 taste buds
olfaction system
-smell
-tied to memory; can trigger
-chemical sense
-80% of taste is smell
Body position/movement: kinesthesia
-our movement sense
-system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts
-interacts with vision
Body position/movement: Vestibular sense
-balance sense
-sense of body movement and position
embodied cognition
influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other states on cognitive preferences and judgements
ex: physical warmth may promote social warmth
ex: social exclusion can literally feel cold
ex: political expressions may mimic body positions
Most relevant ESP (Extra sensory perception) claims
-telepathy
-clairvoyance
-precognition
-psychokinesis
ESP: telepathy
mind-to-mind communication
ESP: Clairvoyance
-perceiving remote events
-ex:like a house on fire across the country
ESP: precognition
perceiving future events
ESP: psychokinesis
mind moving matter
BEM experiment
-experiments that suggested that participants could anticipate future events
-pretty much dismissed now
