Exam 1 Flashcards
___ are interconnected groups of nerve cells that integrate sensory input and motor output.
Neural Networks
While walking barefoot on a beach, the physical pain that one experiences when stepping on a jellyfish most accurately exemplifies…
Sensation
___ are periodic physiological fluctuations in the body, such as the rise and fall of hormones and accelerated/decelerated cycles of the brain activity, that can influence behavior.
Biological Rhythms
You arrive at your friends’ apartment for a party. When you first arrive, the music so loud that it hurts your ears. After a couple of hours, even though the music is still as loud, it no longer bothers you or seems loud. This change in your sensations describes the process of…
Sensory adaptation
What best represents the fluctuations of body temp in a 24 hour day.
Circadian Rhythm
The brain’s special capacity for change…
Plasticity
The somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system are components of the…
Peripheral Nervous System
States of consciousness that require little attention and do not interfere w/ other ongoing activities are called…
Automatic processes
What sleep disorder involves difficulty falling asleep, waking up during the night or waking up too early?
Insomnia
The brain and spinal cord make up the…
Central Nervous System
The sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system are components of the…
Autonomic nervous system
The nervous system
the body’s electrochemical communication circuitry
Neural networks
Neural networks are not static. They can be altered through changes in the strength of synaptic connections
Central vs. Peripheral nervous system
C - brain & spinal cord
P - autonomic & somatic
Sympathetic vs. Parasympathetic nervous system
S - arousing
P - calming
cell body
the cell’s life support center
dendrites
receive messages from other cells
axon
passes messages away from the cell to body to other neurons, muscles, or glands
synopsis
Tiny spaces between neurons; the gaps between neurons are referred to as synaptic gaps
antagonist drugs
A drug that blocks a neurotransmitter’s effects
agonist drugs
A drug that mimics or increases a neurotransmitter’s effects.
sensation
receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and transforming those energies into neural energy
perception
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense
bottom-up processing
Taking sensory information and then assembling and integrating it
top-down processing
Using models, ideas, and expectations to interpret sensory information
absolute threshold
The weakest amount of a stimulus that a person can detect 50% of the time
difference threshold
Minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time, also called just noticeable difference (JND)
sensory adaptation
Diminished sensitivity because of constant stimulation
visual system
the eye, providing us with info about the environment through sight
auditory system
sounds, providing us with info about the environment from our ears
place theory
- auditory
- Theory that each frequency produces vibrations at a particular spot on the basilar membrane.
opponent-process theory
- visual
- Theory that cells in the visual system respond to complementary pairs of red-green and blue-yellow colors
trichromatic theory
- visual
- Theory that color perception is produced by three types of cone receptors in the retina that are particularly sensitive to different, but overlapping, ranges of wavelengths.
frequency theory
- auditory
- Theory that the perception of a sound’s frequency depends on how often the auditory nerve fires.
definition of consciousness
awareness of external events and internal sensations under a condition of arousal
what components are essential to consciousness
wakefulness and awareness
arousal
being engaged with the environment.
awareness
awareness of external events and internal sensations
automatic processes
States of consciousness that require little attention and do not interfere with other ongoing activities
executive function
Higher-order, complex cognitive processes, including thinking, planning, and problem solving
circadian rhythms
Daily behavioral or physiological cycles that involve the sleep/wake cycle, body temperature, blood pressure, and blood sugar level
REM sleep
A stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movement when most vivid dreams occur
5 stages of sleep
N1, N2, N3, R, W
insomnia
The inability to sleep.
narcolepsy
Involves the sudden, overpowering urge to sleep.
classical conditioning
a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus and creates a similar response
operant conditioning
the consequences change the behavior
observational learning
Observational learning occurs when a person observes and imitates someone else’s behavior.
Neutral Stimulus (NS)
Produces no reaction
Unconditional Response (UR)
An unlearned reaction that is automatically elicited by the unconditioned stimulus
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
a neutral stimulus creates a conditioned response
Conditioned Response (CR)
The learned response to the conditioned stimulus
Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
Produces a response without prior learning
Pavlov experiment
conditioning a dog to salivate at the ring of a bell.
extinction
The weakening of the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is absent.
acquisition
The initial learning of the connection between the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus
little albert experiment
They conditioned Albert to be scared of small animals by making him associate a white rat with a loud noise.
counterconditioning
A classical conditioning procedure for changing the relationship between a conditioned stimulus and its conditioned response.
aversive conditioning
repeated pairings of a stimulus with a very unpleasant stimulus.
the placebo effect
the participants’ expectations produce an experimental outcome.
reinforcement
The process by which a stimulus or an event (a reinforcer) following a particular behavior increases the probability that the behavior will happen again.
punishment
A consequence that decreases the likelihood of a behavior.
negative punishment
The removal of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to decrease the frequency of that behavior.
positive punishment
The presentation of a stimulus to decrease the frequency of that behavior.
negative reinforcement
The removal of a stimulus to increase a behavior.
positive reinforcement
the presentation of a stimulus to increase a behavior
encoding
The first step in memory; the process by which information gets into memory storage.
divided attention
Concentrating on more than one activity at the same time
sustained attention
The ability to maintain attention to a selected stimulus for a prolonged period of time.
levels of processing
shallow to intermediate to deep, with deeper processing producing better memory.
elaboration
The formation of a number of different connections around a stimulus at a given level of memory encoding.
recall
A memory task in which the person must retrieve previously learned information (ex. essays)
recognition
A memory task in which the person only has to identify (recognize) learned terms (ex. multiple choice test)
short-term memory
Limited-capacity memory system in which information is usually retained for only as long as 30 seconds unless strategies are used to retain it longer
long-term memory
A relatively permanent type of memory that stores huge amounts of information for a long time
memory storage
The retention of information over time and how this information is represented in memory.
sensory memory
Holding information from the world in its original sensory form for only an instant, not much longer than the brief time it is exposed to the visual, auditory, and other senses.
explicit memory
the recollection of information
implicit memory
Memory in which behavior is affected by prior experience without a conscious recollection of that experience.
opponent-process theory
- visual
- Theory stating that cells in the visual system respond to complementary pairs of red-green and blue-yellow colors
