Exam 1 Flashcards
Ablation
The surgical removal of body tissue, usually brain tissue for my purposes
When you are devoting all of your attention to one thing. Sort of the opposite of perception
apperception.
A statement that the posterior roots of the spinal cord controlled sensation where as the anterior roots controlled motor movement; sometimes considered an example of a “multiple”
Bell-Magendie Law
On the mind-body problem, someone (like descartes) who believes that mind and body are two separate and distinguishable essences.
Dualist
The mind and body are one in the same.
Monism
Branch of philosophy concerned with studying the nature of and the origins of human knowledge
Epistemology
Principle associated with Lashley, proposing that if some portion of the brain is destroyed, other areas will be able to serve the same function.
Equipotentiality.
Someone who believes that our experiences in it; school of thought associated with such british philosphers as Locke, Berkeley, and Mill
Empiricism
Philosophical school of thought, related to empiricism, which emphasizes the rules by which relationships between ideas and experiences are formed
Associationism
Idea that exists or can be deduced in the absence of direct experience, through reasoning
Innate idea
For Descartes these were ideas that result one’s experiences in the world.
Derived Ideas
Point where the difference between two stimuli becomes just barely noticeable.
JnD
Concerns the issue of whether specific parts of the brain have specific functions
Localization of Function
Philosophical position that the only reality is physical reality and that living matter can be reduced to physical and chemical properties; held by most physiologist of the 19th century; opposed to vitalism
Materialism
Principle associated with Lashley, proposing a limit on equipotentiality; the greater the amount of brain destroyed the greater the difficulty for remaining areas of the brain to take over brain function
Law of Mass Action
Name given to the 19th century to reaction time research, in which the goal was to measure the time taken for various mental events.
Mental Chronometry
Consonant-Vowel-Consonant combinations, invented by Ebbinghaus as stimulus materials in his studies on the formation and retention of associations
Nonsense Syllables.
Calibrating the reaction of one astronomer against another; needed because different reaction time among astronomers yielded different astronomical measurements.
Personal Equation
The first serious localization of function theory; proposed that “faculties” were located in specific brain locations, that the strength of a faculty was proportional to the amount of brain assigned to it and that faculties could be assessed by measuring skull contours
Phrenology
Portion of the brain selected by Descartes as the locus of mind-body interactions
Pineal Gland
For Locke, attributes of some object that are inherent to that object that exist regardless of perception
Primary Qualities
For Locke, attributes of some object that depend on perception for their existence
Secondary Qualities
Study of the relationship between physical stimuli and the perception of those stimuli; pioneered by Weber and Fechner
Psychophysics
Philosophical tradition emphasizing the use of reason and logic to arrive at the truth; associated with Descartes
Rationalism
For Locke, ideas resulting from sensory experience or simple reflection
Simple Ideas
For Locke, Ideas that were combinations of simple ideas
Complex ideas
Doctrine proposed by Bell and Muller that different sensory Nerves convey different qualities; pointed out that we perceive the world indirectly through the action of our nervous system
Specific Nerve Energies
Locke’s term from Aristotle, fort he nature of the mind at birth; knowledge acquired through experience is analogous to writing on this white paper
Tabula Rasa
As stimulus A increases in intensity, it takes progressively larger differences between stimulus A and stimulus B for a person to detect a difference between the two; the jnd divided by the size of the standard stimulus is a constant
Weber’s Law/Ratio
A field of psychology that doesn’t really exist today it was founded by Wundt and its main focus is to study higher order thinking among cultures
Volkerpsychologie