Chapter One

Question 1

Action Potential

Answer 1

An all-or-none reaction of a neuron that occurs when stimulation reaches some critical threshold value

Question 2

Behaviourism

Answer 2

An early approach that eschewed the study of consciousness in favor of a scientific analysis of overt behaviour

Question 3

Cerebral Cortex

Answer 3

The outer shell of the brain that comprises the majority of the forebrain and is made up of billions of neurons

Question 4

Cognitive psychology

Answer 4

The scientific study of mental processes

Question 5

Cognitive Neuroscience

Answer 5

An interdisciplinary field of study, combining neuroscience and cognitive psychology that attempts to relate cognitive processing to its neural substrates

Question 6

Cognitive Science

Answer 6

An interdisciplinary effort to understand the mind; includes the disciplines of cognitive psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, linguistics, and anthropology

Question 7

Connectionism

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Dualism

Answer 8

the belief (often associated with Descartes) that mind and body are separable entities; mind is separate from the brain

Question 9

Ecological Approach to Cognition

Answer 9

The study of cognition in everyday contexts

Question 10

Embodied Cognition

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Electroencephalograph

Answer 11

A brain investigation technique that involves recording summed action potentials (through the scalp) from different areas of the brain

Question 12

Event Related Potentials (ERP)

Answer 12

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)

Question 13

Forebrain

Answer 13

The largest region of the brain, surrounding the midbrain and dorsal to the hindbrain; controls higher-level processes involved in sensation, emotion, and thought

Question 14

Forgetting Curve

Answer 14

A function relation memory to time passage. A good deal of forgetting occurs soon after study, then slows down over time

Question 15

Functionalism

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Gestalt Approach

Answer 16

An early approach to the study of consciousness that emphasized the inherent organizing tendencies of the mind

Question 17

Hindbrain

Answer 17

the brain region that lies under the base of the skull and controls basic life functions

Question 18

Information-Processing model

Answer 18

A descriptive approach that likens the functioning of the mind to the operation of the computer

Question 19

Introspection

Answer 19

a rigorous and systematic self-report of the basic elements of an experience

Question 20

Latent learning

Answer 20

learning that occurs in the absence of reinforcement

Question 21

Laws of association

Answer 21

Principles that underlie the act of relating two ideas or concepts

Question 22

Limbic system

Answer 22

system of structures in the lower forebrain that is important in learning, memory, and basic emotion

Question 23

Magnetoencephalography

Answer 23

Neuroscientific technique that measures the magnetic fields naturally produced from the electrical activity of the neurons

Question 24

Materialism

Answer 24

the view that mind and body are one and the same; mind is completely accounted for by brain

Question 25

Mental Map

Answer 25

a mental representation of a spatial layout

Question 26

Midbrain

Answer 26

a small brain region dorsal to the hindbrain that controls some sensory reactions and relates to overall brain arousal

Question 27

N400 Response

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Neuron

Answer 28

A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system

Question 29

P300 Response

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Positron-emission tomography scan (PET scan)

Answer 30

A brain-imaging technique that traces brain activity by observing the distribution of an ingested radioactive substance

Question 31

Psychophysics

Answer 31

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

Question 32

Savings

Answer 32

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

Question 33

S-R Psychology

Answer 33

Another term for the behaviourist approach; emphasizes the observation of relationships between observable stimuli and responses

Question 34

Structuralism

Answer 34

An early approach to the study of consciousness that emphasized breaking it down in terms of its most elemental components

Question 35

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Answer 35

Procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate the brain to produce temporary “lesions”

Question 36

Unconscious inference

Answer 36

An implicit assumption made by our perceptual systems about some characteristic of an incoming stimulus