Chapter 1 Biopsychology as a Neuroscience Flashcards
Comparative psychology
One of the 6 divisions of biopsychology that studies the evolution, genetics, and adaptiveness of behavior, often by using the comparative approach.
Leucotome
A surgical device used in psychosurgery to cut out a core of brain tissue.
Korsakoff’s syndrome
A neuropsychological disorder that is common in alcoholics and whose primary symptoms include memory loss, sensory and motor dysfunction, and, in its advanced stages, severe dementia. - resulted from a lack of vitamin B = Thiamine
Applied research
Research that is intended to bring about some direct benefit to humankind.
Cerebral cortex
The outer layer of neural tissue covering the cerebral hemispheres of humans and other mammals.
key role in attention, perception, awareness, thought, memory, language, and consciousness.
Between-subjects design
An experimental design in which a different group of subjects is tested under each condition.
Cognitive Sciences
One of the 6 divisions of biopsychology that focuses on the use of functional brain imaging to study the neural mechanisms of human cognition.
Case Studies
Studies that focus on a single case, or subject.
Scientific Interference
The logical process by which observable events are used to infer the properties of unobservable events.
Translational Research
research that aims to translate the findings of pure research into useful applications for humankind
Neurophysiology
The study of the functions and activities of the nervous system
Neuropathology
The study of nervous system disorders
Neuroanatomy
The study of the structure of the nervous system.
Within-subjects design
An experimental design in which the same subjects are tested under each condition.
Neuropharmacology
The study of the effects of drugs on neural activity.
Neurochemistry
The study of the chemical bases of neural activity.
Neuroendocrinology
the study of the interactions between the nervous system and the endocrine system.
Physiological psychology
One of the 6 divisions of biopsychology that studies the neural mechanisms of behavior through direct manipulation of the brains of nonhuman animal subjects in controlled experiments.
Generalizability
The degree to which the results of a study can be applied to other individuals or situations.
Clinical
Pertaining to illness or treatment.
Neurosciences
The scientific study of the nervous system.
The autonomic nervous system (ANS)
The part of the peripheral nervous system that participates in the regulation of the body’s internal environment.
is a control system that acts largely unconsciously and regulates bodily functions, such as the heart rate, digestion, respiratory rate, pupillary response, urination, and sexual arousal. This system is the primary mechanism in control of the fight-or-flight response.
Transorbital lobotomy
A prefrontal lobotomy performed with an instrument inserted through the eye socket.
Morgan’s Canon
The rule that the simplest possible interpretation for a behavioral observation should be given precedence.
Psychosurgery
Any brain surgery performed for the treatment of a psychological problem (e.g., prefrontal lobotomy).
Thinking Creatively
thinking in productive, unconventional ways.
Neuropsychology
One of the 6 divisions of biopsychology that studies the psychological effects of brain damage in human patients.
Critical Thinking
The process of recognizing the weaknesses of existing ideas and the evidence on which they are based.
Coolidge effect
The fact that a copulating male who becomes incapable of continuing to copulate with one sex partner can often recommence copulating with a new sex partner.
Comparative Approach
The study of biological processes by comparing different species—usually from the evolutionary perspective.
Lordosis
The arched-back, rump-up, tail-to-the-side posture of female rodent sexual receptivity.
Prefrontal lobes
Areas of the cortex, left and right, that are located at the very front of the brain—in the frontal lobes.
Evolutionary Perspective
The approach that focuses on the environmental pressures that likely led to the evolution of the characteristics (e.g., of brain and behavior) of current species.
Pure Research
research motivated primarily by the curiosity of the researcher and done solely for the purpose of acquiring knowledge.
Dependent Variable
The variable measured by the experimenter to assess the effect of the independent variable.
Cognition
Higher intellectual processes such as thought, memory, attention, and complex perceptual processes.
Quasiexperimental studies
Studies of groups of subjects who have been exposed to the conditions of interest in the real world; such studies have the appearance of experiments but are not true experiments because potential confounded variables have not been controlled.
involves the manipulation of an independent variable without the random assignment of participants to conditions or orders of conditions
Psychophysiology
One of the 6 divisions of biopsychology that studies the relation between physiological activity and psychological processes in human subjects by noninvasive methods.
Converging Operations
The use of several research approaches to solve a single problem.
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
A measure of the gross electrical activity of the brain, commonly recorded through scalp electrodes.
Biopsychology
The scientific study of the biology of behaviour
is the study of how the nervous system (neural mechanisms) controls behaviour, cognition, and emotional processes.
Psychopharmacology
one of the 6 divisions of biopsychology that studies the effects of drugs on the brain and behavior.
Independent Variable
The difference between experimental conditions that is arranged by the experimenter.
Prefrontal Lobotomy
A surgical procedure in which the connections between the prefrontal lobes and the rest of the brain are cut, as a treatment for mental illness.
Ethological research
The study of animal behavior in its natural environment.
Neurons
Cells of the nervous system that are specialized for the reception, conduction, and transmission of electrochemical signals.
Confounded variable
An unintended difference between the conditions of an experiment that could have affected the dependent variable.
Behaviour
Behaviour: overt movements and activity of an animal, human or otherwise; behaviour can be directly observed, measured, and quantified; behaviour is produced by muscular activity that moves the body within the physical space.
For example, the limb movements of runners that move their bodies forward.
Cognition
-Cognition:
• the internal, psychological states and processes that accompany (and that may produce) behaviour;
• thoughts, attention, emotions, motivational states, and others;
• not accessible and cannot be measured directly;
• requires some indirect “proxy” measure that is thought to reflect these cognitive operations.
• For example: the motivation behind going for a run (fitness, weight control); the emotional states experienced during a run (“runner’s high”)
