Chapter One Flashcards
Action Potential
An all-or-none reaction of a neuron that occurs when stimulation reaches some critical threshold value
Behaviourism
An early approach that eschewed the study of consciousness in favor of a scientific analysis of overt behaviour
Cerebral Cortex
The outer shell of the brain that comprises the majority of the forebrain and is made up of billions of neurons
Cognitive psychology
The scientific study of mental processes
Cognitive Neuroscience
An interdisciplinary field of study, combining neuroscience and cognitive psychology that attempts to relate cognitive processing to its neural substrates
Cognitive Science
An interdisciplinary effort to understand the mind; includes the disciplines of cognitive psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, linguistics, and anthropology
Connectionism
a model that uses a brain-based metaphor to describe cognitive processes in terms of complex and interconnected networks of individual processing units that operate in parallel
Dualism
the belief (often associated with Descartes) that mind and body are separable entities; mind is separate from the brain
Ecological Approach to Cognition
The study of cognition in everyday contexts
Embodied Cognition
A constellation of ideas emphasizing the belif that thinking is dynamic and occurs in conjunction with action and within a broader context that guides and shapes it
Electroencephalograph
A brain investigation technique that involves recording summed action potentials (through the scalp) from different areas of the brain
Event Related Potentials (ERP)
Changes in the brain’s electrical activity at critical points that are measured to show the temporal relationship between stimulus presentation and brain response (used in conjunction with the EEG)
Forebrain
The largest region of the brain, surrounding the midbrain and dorsal to the hindbrain; controls higher-level processes involved in sensation, emotion, and thought
Forgetting Curve
A function relation memory to time passage. A good deal of forgetting occurs soon after study, then slows down over time
Functionalism
An early approach to the study of consciousness that emphasized the discovery of the basic use of consciousness and how it helps us adapt in daily life
Gestalt Approach
An early approach to the study of consciousness that emphasized the inherent organizing tendencies of the mind
Hindbrain
the brain region that lies under the base of the skull and controls basic life functions
Information-Processing model
A descriptive approach that likens the functioning of the mind to the operation of the computer
Introspection
a rigorous and systematic self-report of the basic elements of an experience
Latent learning
learning that occurs in the absence of reinforcement
Laws of association
Principles that underlie the act of relating two ideas or concepts
Limbic system
system of structures in the lower forebrain that is important in learning, memory, and basic emotion
Magnetoencephalography
Neuroscientific technique that measures the magnetic fields naturally produced from the electrical activity of the neurons
Materialism
the view that mind and body are one and the same; mind is completely accounted for by brain
Mental Map
a mental representation of a spatial layout
Midbrain
a small brain region dorsal to the hindbrain that controls some sensory reactions and relates to overall brain arousal
N400 Response
A pronounced negative deflection in the brain’s response to a stimulus relative to a baseline condition that occurs approx. 400 milliseconds after the onset of the stimulus
Neuron
A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system
P300 Response
A pronounced positive deflection in the brain’s response to a stimulus relative to a baseline condition that occurs approx. 300 milliseconds after the onset of the stimulus
Positron-emission tomography scan (PET scan)
A brain-imaging technique that traces brain activity by observing the distribution of an ingested radioactive substance
Psychophysics
The study of the relationship between the physical properties of a stimulus and the properties taken on when the stimulus is filtered through subjective experience
Savings
a measure of memory developed by Ebbinghaus that refers to the reduction in learning trials needed to learn some set of information due to previous learning trials
S-R Psychology
Another term for the behaviourist approach; emphasizes the observation of relationships between observable stimuli and responses
Structuralism
An early approach to the study of consciousness that emphasized breaking it down in terms of its most elemental components
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate the brain to produce temporary “lesions”
Unconscious inference
An implicit assumption made by our perceptual systems about some characteristic of an incoming stimulus
