Exam One Flashcards
What did Descartes contribute to mathematical science?
Treatise of Light
Where was Descartes known to do his best thinking?
In bed
How did Galileo define his secondary qualities?
The human sensory environment
What neural structure did Descartes think was the seat of the soul?
Pineal gland
What did the Treatise of Light discuss in terms of the physical universe?
- ) Simple natures: extension the space occupied by a body and motion
- ) Cartesian Coordinates
What does “I think therefore I am” mean?
- ) In order for his thoughts to exist, he has to exist
- ) In order for his doubt of existence to exist, he has to exist (The mind pondering about its own existence means it exists)
- ) In order to deceived, he has to exist
How did Descartes describe “passions”?
- ) Six basic passions: wonder, love, hatred, desire, joy, sadness
- ) Basically described emotions
- ) Described them as controllable instead of phenomenon
How were Locke’s simple and complex ideas defined?
Simple ideas: perceptions
Complex ideas: integration of perceptions
How does Locke define different types of knowledge?
- ) Intuitive knowledge: Awareness of immediately obvious things
- ) Demonstrative knowledge: Knowledge obtained by logical deduction
- ) Sensitive Knowledge: Sensory interactions with objects throughout the world
Describe the differences and similarities between Locke’s and Hobbe’s social theory.
Modified theory of Social Contract originally proposed by Thomas Hobbes, which explained that human reasoning is a form of math-like calculations
What did Liebniz contribute to mathematical science?
- ) Binary arithmetic
- ) A new calculator
- ) Calculus
Define monads.
Units of reality containing energy and capable of perception
What are the types of monads?
Rational monads: closest to God
Sentient monads: Living but non-human organisms
Simple monads: Make up the body of all matter
What do all monads have in common?
Independent but parallel and harmonious course
What was Locke’s metaphor for the human mind at birth?
Blank slate
What was Liebniz’s metaphor for the human mind at birth?
Veined block of marble
Who influenced monadology?
Leeuwenhoek and Spinoza
- ) Benedict Spinoza: philosopher that promoted pantheism (God is the universe)
- ) Anton van Leeuwenhoek: developer of microscope (Leibniz loved microscopes!)
What are the errors of phrenology?
- ) Much of his research came from case studies.
- ) Used observations of skulls and correlated to behaviors.
- ) Thought skull shape reflects shape of brain.
- ) Inadequate classification of “faculties”
- ) Really bad experimental methods
- ) Cognitive dissonance
Who discredited phrenology and how?
Peter Flourens:
- ) Removal of parts of dog brain (abalation) to examine changes in behavior
- ) Lesioned the cortex of a dog (although he found that if done at a young age some abilities could come back)
Define aphasia
Speech deficit, named after Plato’s term for loss of words
Define agrammatism
Problems with production/perception
Define anomia
Difficulty naming
Define articulation
Fluence in speech
Define paraphasia
Difficulty understanding spoken word and the loss of self-monitoring
Define conduction aphasia
- ) intact auditory comprehension
- ) fluent (yet paraphasic) speech production
- ) but poor speech repetition
Where was Tan’s lesion and how did it affect his behavior?
Gall’s area; lost ability to speak any syllables other than “tan” but could otherwise comprehend and feel emotions correctly.
What were Fritsch and Hitzig responsible for?
- ) Electrical stimulation of brain
- ) Discovered motor strip by experimenting with dogs
- ) Found specific areas corresponded with opposite side of body
What did Penfield determine about the nature of an epileptic patient’s aura?
They were mapped to certain regions of the brain and often were the end result of things like tumors.
What discoveries did Ferrier make when experimenting with monkeys?
The brain is organized into specific parts that are all mapped to functions. When lesioned, these parts lose functionality.
What kinds of experiments did von Helmholtz conduct on frogs, what were the major theories he tested and how did it lead to the development of experimental psychology?
Experiments to test to speed of neural impulse; found that impulse traveled faster if stimulation was close to measurement site. Famous for applying physics and mathematics to psychology.
What are the Gestalt principles? How do they relate to vision?
Similarity, continuation, closure, proximity, figure and ground. They influence the tendencies of vision to organize visual entities into groups.
What are the differences of Immanuel Kant’s noumenal and phenomenal world?
Noumenal: the real world
Phenomenal: our perception of the world
What is color mixing and how does it affect human vision?
Different portions of different colored light can produce the same sensation of pure spectral color.
Who was responsible for the “just-noticeable” difference?
Ernst Heinrich Weber
