Chapter 8-10

Question 1

absolute threshold

Answer 1

The smallest amount of sitmulation that can be detected by an organism

Question 2

adequate stimulation

Answer 2

Stimulation to which a sense modality is maximally sensitive

Question 3

Bell, Charles (1774-1842)

Answer 3

Discovered, in modern times, the distinction between sensory and motor nerves.

Question 4

Bell-Magendie law

Answer 4

There are two types of nerves: sensory nerves carrying impulses from the sense receptors to the brain and motor nerves carrying impulses from the brain to the muscles and glands of the body.

Question 5

Broca’s area

Answer 5

The speech area on the left frontal lobe side of the cortex (the inferior frontal gyrus).

Question 6

Broca, Paul (1824-1880)

Answer 6

Found evidence that part of the left frontal lobe of the cortex is specialized for speech production or articulation.

Question 7

clinical method

Answer 7

The technique that Broca used. It involves first determining a behavior disorder in a living patient and then, after the patient had died, locating the part of the brain responsible for the behavior disorder.

Question 8

differential threshold

Answer 8

The amount that stimulation needs to change before a difference in that stimulation can be detected.

Question 9

doctrine of specific nerve energies

Answer 9

Each sensory nerve, no matter how it is stimulated, releases an energy specific to that nerve.

Question 10

Du Bois-Reymond, Emil (1818-1896)

Answer 10

Is considered the father of electrophysiology. Like Helmholts he measure the speed of nerve impulse. He also discovered the electrical nature of the action potential.

Question 11

Fechner, Gustave Theodor (1801-1887)

Answer 11

Expanded Weber’s law by showing that, for just noticeable differences to vary arithmetically, the magnitude of a stimulus must vary geometrically.

Question 12

Ferrier, David (1843-1928)

Answer 12

Created a more detailed map of the motor cortex ahdn Fritsch and Hitzig had. He also mapped cortical areas corresponding to the cutaneous senses, audition, olfaction, and vision.

Question 13

Flourens, Pierre (1794-1867)

Answer 13

Concluded that the cortical region of the brain acts as a whole and is not divided into a number of faculties, as the phrenologists had maintained.

Question 14

formal discipline

Answer 14

The belief that the faculties of the mind can be strengthened by practicing the functions associated with them. Thus, one supposedly can become better at reasoning by studying mathematics or logic.

Question 15

Fritsch, Gustav

Answer 15

along with Hitzig, discovered motor areas on the cortex by directly stimulating the exposed cortex of a dog.

Question 16

Gall, Franz Joseph (1758-1828)

Answer 16

Believed that the strengths of mental faculties varied from person to person and that they could be determined by examining the bumps and depressions on a person’s skull. Such an examination came to be called phrenology.

Question 17

Helmholtz, Hermann von (1821-1894)

Answer 17

a monumental figure in the history of science who did pioneer work in the areas of nerve condution, sensation, perception, color vision, and audition

Question 18

Hering, Ewald (1834-1918)

Answer 18

offered a nativistic explanation of space perception and a theory of color vision based on the existence of three color receptors, each capable of a catabolis process and an anabolic process. Hering’s theory of color vision could explain a number of color experiences that Helmholtz’s theory could not.

Question 19

Hitzig, Eduard (1838-1907)

Answer 19

along with Fritsch, discovered motor areas on the cortex by directly stimulating the exposed cortex of a dog

Question 20

just noticeable difference (jnd)

Answer 20

The sensation that results if a change in stimulus intensity exceeds the differential threshold.

Question 21

kinesthesis

Answer 21

the sensations caused by muscular activity

Question 22

Ladd-Franklin, Christine (1847-1930)

Answer 22

proposed a theory of color vision based on evolutionary principles

Question 23

Magendie, Francois (1783-1855)

Answer 23

discovered, in moern times, the distinction bertween sensory and motor nerves.

Question 24

method of adjustment

Answer 24

an observer adjusts a variable stimulus until it appears to be equal to a standard stimulus

Question 25

method of constant stimuli

Answer 25

a stimulus is presented at different intensities along with a standard stimulus, and the observer reports if it appears to be greater than, less than, or equal to the standard.

Question 26

method of limits

Answer 26

a stimulus is presented at varying intensities along with a standard (constant) stimulus to determine the range of intensities judged to be the same as the standard.

Question 27

Muller, Johannes (1801-1858)

Answer 27

Expanded the Bell-Magendie law by demonstrating that each sense receptor, when stimulated, releases and energy specific to that particular receptor. This finding is called the doctrine of specific nerve energies.

Question 28

negative sensations

Answer 28

according to Fechner, sensations that occur below the abolute threshold and are therefore below the level of awareness.

Question 29

panpsychism

Answer 29

The belief that everything in the universe experiences consciousness.

Question 30

perception

Answer 30

according to Helmholtz, the mental experience arising when sensations are embellished by the recollection of past experiences

Question 31

personal equations

Answer 31

mathematical formulae used to correct for differences in reaction time among observers

Question 32

phrenology

Answer 32

the examination of the bumps and depressions on the skull in order to determine the strengths and weaknesses of various mental faculties.

Question 33

physiognomy

Answer 33

the attempt to determine a person’s character by analyzing his or her facial features, bodily structure, and habitual patterns of posture and movement

Question 34

principle of conservation of energy

Answer 34

the energy within a system is constant; therefore, it cannot be added to or substracted from but only transofrmed from one form to another

Question 35

psychophysics

Answer 35

the systematic study of the relationship between physical and psychological events.

Question 36

reaction time

Answer 36

the period of time between presentation of and response to a stimulus

Question 37

resonance place theory of auditory perception

Answer 37

the tiny fibers on the basilar membrane of the inner ears are stimulated by different frequencies of sound; the shorter the fiber, the higher the frequency to which it responds

Question 38

sensation

Answer 38

the rudimentary mental experience caused when sense receptors are stimulated by an environmental stimulus.

Question 39

Spurzheim, Johann Kaspar (1776-1832)

Answer 39

a student and colleague, who did much to expand and promote phrenology.

Question 40

two-point threshold

Answer 40

the smallest distance between two points of stimulation at which the two points are experienced as two points rather than one

Question 41

unconscious inference

Answer 41

according to Helmholtz, the process by which the remnants of past experience rae added to sensations, thereby converting them into perceptions

Question 42

Weber’s law

Answer 42

just noticeable differences correspond to a constant proportion of a standard stimuls.

Question 43

Weber, Ernst Heinrich (1795-1878)

Answer 43

Using the two-point threshold and the just noticeable difference, was the first to demonstrate systematic relationships between stimulation and sensation

Question 44

Wernicke’s area

Answer 44

The area on the left temporal lobe of the cortex associated with speech comprehension

Question 45

Wernicke, Carl (1848-1905)

Answer 45

discovered an area on the left temporal lobe of the cortex associated with speech comprehension

Question 46

Young-Helmholtz theory of color vision

Answer 46

separate receptor systems on the retina are responsive to each of the three primary colors; red, green, and blu-violet - also called the trichromatic theory