Exam #1 Flashcards
the nervous system
the body’s electrochemical circuitry
afferent nerves
carry info to the brain and spinal cord
efferent nerves
carry info out of the brain and spinal cord
neural networks
interconnected groups of nerve cells that integrate sensory input and motor output
central nervous system (CNS)
brain and spinal cord (99% in CNS)
peripheral nervous system
network of nerves that connects the brain and spinal cord to other parts of the body
somatic nervous system
sensory waves, convey info from skin & muscles to the CNS about pain and temp and motor nerves
autonomic nervous system
takes messages from body’s internal organs
sympathetic nervous system
arouses the body to mobilize it for action (involved in experience of stress)
parasympathetic nervous system
calms the body
flight or fight reaction
sympathetic nervous system
neurons
nerve cells that handle info processing function (brain contains about 100 billion neurons)
mirror neurons
play a role of imitation
glial cells
provide support, nutritional benefits and other functions in nervous system (most common)
cell body
contains the nucleus
dendrites
treelike fiber projecting from neuron, receives info and directs it to cell body
axon
part that carries info away from cell body toward other cells
synapses
tiny spaces between neurons (synaptic gap)
neurotransmitters
carry info across a synaptic gap to the next neuron
electroencephalogram (EEG)
electrically records the brains electrical activity
computer axial tomography (CAT scan or CT scan
provides info about location and extent of damage
position emission tomography (PET scan)
metabolic changes in the brains related to activity
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
using radio waves to construct images of the persons tissue and biochemical activities, creating a magnetic field around someone
presynaptic neuron
sending
postsynaptic neuron
receiving
dopamine
motivation, movement, learning, attention, emotion
aceytlcholine (ACH)
learning, memory, allows muscles to contract
serotonin
sleep, mood, hunger, arousal
endorphins
natural opiates
agonist drugs
mimics and increases effect (excites)
antagonist drugs
blocks and inhibits (less likely it will occur)
neuroplasticity
ability to recover, depends on age/extent of damage/intervention
embryonic nervous system
forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain
sensation
process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and transforming those energies into neutral energy
perception
process of organizing and interpreting sensory info so it makes sense
bottom up processing
sensory receptors register info about external environment and send it to the brain for interpretation
top down processing
cognitive processing in the brain
absolute threshold
minimum amount of stimulus energy that a person can detect
difference threshold
degree of difference that must exist between two stimuli before the difference is detected
webers law
two stimuli must differ by a constant proportion to be perceived as different
selective attention
focusing on specific aspect of experience while ignoring others
sensory adaption
a change in the responsiveness of the sensory system based on the average level of surrounding stimulation
visual system
part of the CNS that is required for visual perception
auditory system
processes how we hear and understand sounds within the environment
trichromatic theory
color perception is produced by three types of cone receptors in the retina
opponent process theory
cells in visual system respond to complementary pairs of red-green, and blue-yellow colors
place theory
each frequency produces vibrations at a particular spot on the basilar membrane
frequency theory
perception of a sounds frequency depends on how often the auditory nerve fires
short wavelengths
high frequency (high pitched)
long wavelengths
low frequency (low pitched)
great amplitude
loud sounds (tall waves)
small amplitude
soft sounds (small waves)
consciousness
persons awareness of external events and internal sensations under condition of arousal
reticular activating system
network of structures including the brain stem, medulla and thalamus
higher level of consciousness
controlled process, most alert state of consciousness, actively focus efforts towards a goal
automatic process
states of consciousness that require little attention and do not interfere with other ongoing activity (lower level)
executive process
higher order, complex cognitive processes including thinking/planning/problem solving (higher level)
lower level consciousness
automatic process
circadian rhythms
physical, mental and behavioral changes that follow a 24 hour cycle (controlled by master biological clock)
REM sleep
active stage of sleep during which the most vivid dreaming occurs
five stages of sleep
stage W, stage N1, Stage N2, Stage N3, Stage R
stage N1
non-REM1 sleep, theta waves (light sleep)
stage N2
non-REM2 sleep, light sleep
stage N3
non-REM3 sleep, delta waves (slow wave sleep)
Stage R
REM sleep
insomnia
inability to sleep
narcolepsy
sudden, overpowering urge to sleep
sleep apnea
when individuals stop breathing due to the windpipe failing to open or brain processes include respiration failure
conditioning
process of learning associations made
classical conditioning
learned association between two stimuli
operant conditioning
learned association between a behavior and a consequence
neutral stimulus (NS)
produces no reaction
unconditioned response (UR)
unlearned reaction that is automatically elicited by the unconditioned stimulus
conditioned stimulus (CS)
previously neutral stimulus that eventually elicits a conditioned response after being pared with the unconditioned stimulus
conditioned response (CR)
learned response to the conditioned stimulus
unconditioned stimulus (US)
produces a response without prior learning
what are the NS, UR, CS, CR, and US of Pavlov experiment
unconditioned stimulus = food
unconditioned response = salivation
neutral stimulus = bell
conditioned stimulus = food + bell
unconditioned response = salivation
conditioned stimulus = bell
conditioned response = salivation
extinction of classical conditioning
weakening of conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is absent
aquisitim
initial learning of connection between conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus
counterconditioning
changing the relationship between and conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response
aversive conditioning
repeated pairings of a stimulus with unpleasant stimulus
what are NS, UR, CS, CR and US in little albert experiment
neutral stimulus = rat
unconditioned stimulus = loud bang
unconditioned response = afraid of loud bang
conditioned stimulus = rat
conditioned response = albert is now afraid of rat because he associations it with loud bang
contiguity
conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus are presented very close together
contingency
conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus are not only close in time but a reliable indicator guarantees that the unconditioned stimulus is on its way
the placebo effect
NS = pill
US = medicine in pill
UR = pain relief
pill becomes CS and through learned association, pain relief becomes a CR
reinforcement
process by which a stimulus or event (reinforcer) following a particular behavior increases the probability that the behavior will happen again
positive reinforcement
strengthens response presenting something desirable
negative reinforcement
strengthens response removing aversive
punishment
consequence that decreases the likelihood the behavior will occur
positive punishment
weakens a response by presenting something you don’t like or is aversive
negative punishment
weakens a response by removing something you like
learned helplessness
organism learns that it has no control over negative outcomes
memory
retention of info or experience over time
encoding
process by which info gets into memory storage
divided attention
concentrating on more then one activity at the same time
sustained attention
ability to maintain attention to selected stimulus for prolonged period of time
executive attention
directing attention to engage in higher level cognitive functioning
levels of processing
continuing from shallow to intermediate to deep, with deep processing producing better memory
eleboration
formation of a number of different connections around a stimulus at any given level of memory encoding
sensory memory
holds info from world in its original sensory for only a instant
short term memory
limited capacity memory system, only holds info for 30 seconds unless strategies used to hold for longer
working memory
combination of components that allow us to hold info temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks
long term memory
relatively permanent type of memory that stores huge amounts of info for a long time
explicit memory (declarative memory)
the conscious recollection of info, info that can be verbally communicated
episodic memory
retention of info about the where, when and what of life’s happenings (explicit memory)
semantic memory
persons knowledge about the world (explicit)
implicit memory (non-declarative memory)
unconscious, procedural memory/priming/classical conditioning
retrograde amnesia
can’t remember what happened before the onset of amnesia
anterograde amnesia
can’t remember what happened after the onset of amnesia
serial position effect
remember items at the beginning and end of a list rather then middle of list (primacy = beginning & receny effect = end)
autobiographical memory
episodic memory, persons recollection of their own life experiences
flashbulb memory
memory of emotionally significant events that people often recall with more accuracy and vivid imagery then everyday events
reasons for forgetting
encoding failure, storage decay, & interference
encoding failure
occurs when info was never entered into long term memory
decay theory
when we learn something new a neurochemical memory trace forms, but over time this trace disintegrates
interference
proactive = old info hinders new info
retroactive = new info hinders old info
tip of tongue phenomenon
effortful retrieval that occurs when we are confident that we know something but can’t quite pull it out of memory
