Exam 01 Flashcards
Biological Psychology
The specialized branch of psychology that studies the relationship between behavior and bodily process and systems
Neuroscience
he scientific study of the nervous system, especially the brain.
Neuron
A cell that communicates information in electrical and chemical form; a nerve cell.
Sensory (afferent Neuron)
Sends information to the brain from receptor cells in internal organs and sense organs.
E.G from the skin to the brain
Motor efferent Neurons
Signals muscles to move
Interneuron
Communicates information from one neuron to another
Cell Body
Contains structures that manufacture protein and process nutrients
Contains the nucleus. (holds genetic material)
Dendrites
Receives messages from other neurons or specialized cells
Amount of information received increases when they are more branches
Axon:
Carries information from the neuron to other cells in the body.
-Branches near the end of tip allows communication
Myelin Sheath
A white fatty covering that is wrapped around the axons of some, but not all neurons
Help insulate one axon from the axon of other neurons
Terminal Branches
Branches at the end of the axon
Flow of information
Dendrites- Cell body- Axon
Action potential
Movement of electrical impulse across the membrane of a nerve cell
Allows for communication between neurons
-preceded by movement of electricity charged particle ions in and out of the cell
Stimulus threshold
The minimum level of stimulation required to produce an action potential
Resting potential
state in which a neuron is prepared to produce an action potential if it receives significant stimulations; -70mv
Communication Inside the Neuron:(Electrical Charge Involves)
An electrical impulse is creates, which is necessary for neural communication
After action potential, neuron enters the refractory period
Self-sustaining
Action potential is self sustaining and continues to the end of the axon; no such thing as partial action potential. (it will occur through the whole neuron.)
All-or-none law
Either the neuron is sufficiently stimulated and an action potential occurs, or the neuron is not sufficiently stimulated and an action potential does not occur.
Neural impulse
Brief electrical charge that travels down the axon.
Threshold
Level of stimulation required to trigger neural impulse (-50mv)
Depolarization
Cell becomes more positive
Hyperpolarization
It becomes more negative (-)
Synapse
A communication point between two neurons separated by the synaptic gap
Presynaptic
Sending
Postsynaptic neuron
receiving
Synaptic transmission
The entire process of transmitting information at the synapse
after neurotransmitters are attached to receptor sites of the postsynaptic neuron
- they detach from the receptor
- are reabsorbed and recycled (reuptake) or destroyed by enzymes to be used again.
Neurotransmitter and Receptor Site Shapes
each neurotransmitter has a chemically distant shape
-Specific neurotransmitters are associated with certain psychological processes
Like a key in a lock: A neurotransmitter must perfectly fit the receptor site on the receiving neuron for its message to be communicated.
How drugs affect Synaptic Transmission
Many drugs work by interfering with the normal functioning of neurotransmitters in the synapse
Increases or decreases amount of neurotransmitters released by neurons
Blocking or reducing time of reuptake (antagonist)
Mimicking Specific neurotransmitters (agonist)
Glial Cells
supports cells assisting neurons
- provide structural support, nutrition, removal of cell wastes
- manufacture myelin sheath, wrapped around axons of some neurons, increasing their communication speed
Nervous System
Primary communication network of the body
Central Nervous system
Brain and spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous system
Peripheral Nervous system
Central Nervous System
The central to all behavior and mental processes
The CNS is protected by meninges and cerebrospinal fluid, which surrounds the spinal cords and fills ventricles in the brain
Neural stem cells
Line the inner surface of the ventricles that generate neurons in the developing brain.
Sensory receptors
Send messages along sensory nerves and then up to the brain
Interneurons
Relay information within the spinal cord
Motor Neurons
The muscles to react
Spinal Reflexes
simple, automatic behaviors processed in the spinal cord
Two kinds of Peripheral Nervous system
Somatic Nervous System
Autonomic nervous system
Somatic Nervous System
Communicates sensory information to CNS and motor information to CNS and motor information from CNS to muscles
Autonomic nervous system
regulates fight for flight (Sympathetic, parasympathetic)
Endocrine System
Made up of glands that are located throughout the body and uses hormones to send information
Communication in the endocrine system slower than communication in the nervous system
Hormones
Regulate blood pressure, metabolism and reproduction
Influences emotional and stress response
Can be chemically identical to neurotransmitters
Trigger by the hypothalamus and circulated by blood
Contents in the Hypothalamus
Growth Hormone
Prolactin
Oxytocin
Growth Hormone
Stimulates normal skeletal growth during childhood
Prolactin
Stimulates milk production in persing mothers
Oxytocin
Hormone involved in reproduction, social motivation and social behavior
Endocrine System Contents
Adrenal Glands
Adrenal Medulla
Gonads (sex hormones)
Adrenal Glands
Produce hormones involved in human stress response
Adrenal Medulla
involved in fight or flight
Neuroplasticity
The ability to change function and structure
Functional Plasticity
The brain’s ability to shift functions from damaged to undamaged brain areas
Structural Plasticity
Structural Plasticity
Neurogenesis
The development of new neurons
Two brain regions
Olfactory bulb and hippocampus
Brainstem
A region of the brain made up of the hindbrain and the midbrain
Hindbrain
A region at the base of the brain that contains several structures that regulate basic life functions
Hindbrain
-Medulla: controls vital life functions such as breathing
Pons: helps coordinate movements on each side of the body
Cerebellum: Responsible for muscle coordination and maintaining posture and equilibrium.
Reticular Information:a very diverse structure that contains various nuclei along with numerous ascending and descending tracts
Sensory information
Comes in from one side of the body over the hindbrain level and projects to the opposite side of the body
Outgoing motor messages
Cross over the hindbrain and control movements and other mortar function on that side of the brain
The midbrain
An important relay station
- contains centers involved in the processing of auditory and visual sensory information - the information is subsequently related to sensory processing centers in the forebrain region
Substantia Nigra
- Motor control and contains dopamine producing neurons
- prepares other brain regions initiate organized actions or movements
Forebrain
: Largest and most complex brain region
- Contains centers for complex behaviors and mental processes; also called the cerebrum
- Has increased in size and complexity during evolution
Corpus Callosum
Connects the two hemispheres
Cerebral Cortex
The wrinkled outer portion of the forebrain
Contains most sophisticated brain structures
Composed mainly of glial cells and neuron cell bodies
Gray matter/ white matter
Divided into two cerebral hemispheres
Temporal Lobe
This receives auditory information
Occipital Lobe
Primary visual cortex, receives visual information
Parietal Lobe
Somatosensory cortex, processing bodily or somatosensory information
Frontal Lobe
Primary motor cortex, planning, initiating and executing voluntary movements
Phrenology
There are different forms and sizes of skulls and brains
Broca’s Area
Located on the lower frontal lobe
-involved in the production of speech
Wernicke’s Area
Found in the temporal lobe, important in the comprehension of written or spoken language
Aphasia
Difficulty in language, Cased by Damage in left hemisphere
Damage to Broce’s Area (lower left):
Have a hard time pronouncing words. They can still understand and write.
Damage to Wernicke’s Area
Patients are able to speak, but have difficulty comprehending written or spoken communication
Patient autopsies revealed left temporal lobe damaged
Specialty of left Hemisphere
specialized for language abilities, speech, reading and writing
Specialty of right Hemisphere
specialized for visual-spatial tasks and nonverbal communication
Cortical Localization
different functions are located ot localized, in different areas of the brain
Lateralized of function
specific psychological or cognitive functions are processed primarily on one side of the brain
Limbic System
Involved in emotion, motivation, learning memory consists of:
Hypothalamus
Amygdala
Hypothalamus
Regulates behavior related to survival
Regulates both division of the autonomic nervous system
Suprachiasmatic nucleus regulates sleep
Amygdala
roughly almond-shaped mass of gray matter inside each cerebral hemisphere, involved with the experiencing of emotions.
Limbic system
Involved in emotion, motivation, learning and memory, consists of:
Hippocampus
Thalamus:
Encoding
Transforming info into a form that can enter and be stored by the memory system
Storage
keeping info in memory so that it can be used later
Retrieval
Recovering stored information so that it can be used
Three stages of model of memory
Sensory memory
short-term memory
long term memory
Sensory Memory
Takes in a large amount of information from the environment for a very brief period of time.
- Function: Briefly store information related to the senses so that it overlaps slightly with one another - Tiny snapshots - Used to perceive the world as a continuous whole
Short- term memory
Temporarily hold all information that you are currently thinking about
Provides temporary storage for information transferred from sensory and long-term memory
Duration: Approximately 20 seconds
Can be kept for longer through maintenance rehearsal (mental or verbal repetition of information)
Information loss may be due to decay or interference from new or competing information
Long term memory
Long-term storage of information, potentially for a lifetime
Stores information for a long period of time
Once encoded, an unlimited amount of information can be stored in long-term memory, which has different memory systems
Duration: longer than 20 seconds
-Has longer storage capacity
-Involves quick retrieval with little effort
Visual Sensory memory
Also known as iconic memory
Brief memory of an image, or icon
Duration: ¼-½ second
Auditory
Also known as Econic memory
Brief memory of a sound that is like an echo
Duration ~ 3-4 seconds
Capacity
The magical number seven plus or minus two
Our short term memory can hold anywhere between 5 to 9 pieces of information at a time
Working memory
refers to active, conscious manipulation of information
-Reasoning, problem solving, mental comparison
Short term Memory
used for simpler tasks (ie, mental rehearsal)
Encoding
changing new information into a form that can be retrieved later
Strategies for memorizing
Elaborative rehearsal
Self-reference effect
Visual imagery
Elaborative rehearsal
Focusing on the meaning of information
Self-reference effect
Applying information to self
Visual imagery
Using vivid images to enhance encoding
Procedural memory
how to perform different skills, operations, and actions
Episodic memory
Memory of specific events or episodes
Autobiographical memory
memory of life events
Semantic memory
general knowledge
Explicit/declarative memory
is memory with awareness.
-information or knowledge that can be consciously recollected
Episodic information
information about events or “episodes”
Semantic information
information about facts, general knowledge, school work
Implicit/ nondeclarative memory
is memory without awareness.
Information or knowledge that affects behaviot or task performance but cannot be consciously recalled
Motor skills, actions
Clustering
Related items are put together to form categories
Sematic Network Model
Items that are more similar to each other have stronger associations in memory
Retrieval
process of accessing and retrieving stored information in long-term memory.
retrieval cue
clue or prompt that can help trigger recall of a stored memory
Retrieval cue failure
occurs when there is an inability to recall long-term memories because of inadequate or missing retrieval cues
Common Retrieval Failures
tip of the tonged experiences
Cued recall
remembering an item of information in response to a retrieval cue
Recognition
identifying correct information from a series of possible choices
Recall
Retrieving memories without cues; also termed free recall
Series position effect
tendency to remember items at the beginning and end of a list better than items in the middle
two parts to the serial positions
Primacy effect the tendency to recall the first items in a list
Recency effect the tendency to recall the final items in a list
Contest effects
Tendency to remember information more easily when retrieval occurs in the same setting in which you originally learned the information
Mood congruence
Factors related to mood or emotion
Flashbulb Memories
emotionally charged memories. Not necessarily more accurate
Ebbinghaus, what did he discover
- Studied forgetting by using nonsense syllables
- Much of what we forget is lost soon after learning
- How quickly we forget material depends on how well the material was encoded, how meaningful the material was, and how often it was rehearsed.
Encoding Failure
One of the most common reasons for forgetting occurs when information is not encoded initially into long-term memory
Decay Theory
-When new memory is formed, it creates a distinct structural or chemical change in the brain (memory trace). These memory traces fade away over time as a matter of normal brain processes.
Challenges to the decay theory
- Some research has shown that information can be remembered decades later
- Ebbinghaus thought the rate of forgetting decreases over time
Interference Theory
One memory competes with or replaces another memory
Two types of retroactive interference
Retroactive interference: NEW information interferes with remembering OLD information
Proactive interference: OLD memory interferes with remembering NEW information
Motivated forgetting
occurs when an undesired memory is held back from awareness
Suppression
Conscious forgetting
Repression
Unconscious forgetting (Freudian)
Deja vu
brief but intense feeling of remembering a scene or event that is actually being experienced the first time
Misinformation effect
Post-event can change eyewitness recollection of an original event
Source confusion
The true source of memory can be forgotten
-A memory can be attributed from the wrong source
Schemas
Organized clusters of knowledge and information about particular topics
Scripts
Schemas that involve typical sequences of actions and behaviors at a common event.
False memory
a distorted recollection of something that did not actually occur
False memories are created for actions that would have been consistent with a script.
Imagination inflation
Repeatedly imagining an event causing a person to believe it actually happened.
Karl S. Lashley (1890-1958)
Searched for the engram, or a biological basis of memory. Concluded that memories are distributed, or stored, throughout the brain. Was incorrect
Richard F. Thompson (1930-2014)
Memory for simple classically conditioned responses located in specific brain regions (cerebellum)
Memory trace
involves changes in the functioning and structure of neurons
Memory consolidation
he gradual physical process of converting new long-term memories to stable, enduring memory codes.
Amnesia
severe memory loss
Retrograde amnesia
loss of memory caused by inability to remember past episodic information (backward-acting; common after head injury
Anterograde amnesia
loss of memory caused by the inability to store new memories (forward-acting), related to hippocampus damage
Dementia
progressive decline and impairment of memory, reasoning and other cognitive functions as the results as the result of disease, injury, or substance abuse
Alzheimer’s disease
progressive disease that destroys the brain’s neurons, gradually impairn memory, thinking. Language and other cognitive functions
