exam review Flashcards
people are born with knowledge, it is inate
socrates/plato
descartes agreed
knowledge comes from experience
artistotle
locke agreed
the mind likes to find patterns
bacon
measuring atoms of the mind
wundt
introduced structuralism
mentored margaret washburn
titchner
introduced functionalism
mentored mary calkins
william james
structuralism
discovering the structural elements of the mind
involved self-relfective introspection, which resulted in varying accounts/experiences
functionalism
explored how mental and behavioral processes function
ie how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish
behaviorism
the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes
cognitive perspective
how reliable is memory? how can we improve our thinking?
behavioral genetics
how are behaviors, skills, and attitudes determined by genetics?
neuroscience
how does brain structure/function/activity influence emotion?
evolutionary
what makes us prone to anger, panic, and irrational judgements?
behaviorist
how are our problematic behaviors reinforced and how can we change them?
psychodynamic
how do unresolved childhood issues impact you later in life
social cultural
could our behaviors, skills, and attitudes be “downloads” from our culture?
acetylcholine (ACH)
excitatory, muscle function, learning, memory, attention
too much = muscle spasms
too little = alzhiemers
dopamine
inhibitory, mood, emotion, arousal
too much = schizophrenia, durg addiction
too little = parkinson’s
serotonin
inhibitory, mood regulation, hunger, sleep
too much = hallucinations
too little = depression, mood disorders
norepinephrine
ecitatory, arousal, alertness, fight or flight, mood elevation
too much = anxiety
too little = mood disorders, especially depression
glutamate
main excitatory, basis of learning and long term memory
too much = migraines or seizures
GABA
main inhibitory, regulates sleep/wake cycles
too much = sleep or eating disorders
too little = anxiety, epilepsy, insomnia, huntington’s
endorphins
inhibitory, pain control, stress reduction, positive emotions
too much = artificial highs, poor response to pain
too little = opiate addiction
brainstem
controls automatic survival functions
medulla
controls heart beat and breathing
pons
helps coordinate movement and sleep
thalamus
sensory control center
reticular formation
nerve network that plays a role in arousal and enables conscious awareness
cerebellum
processes sensory input, balance, memory, learning
hippocampus
processes conscious memories
amygdala
linked to emotions like fear and anger
hypothalamus
drives/reward center, directs eating and drinking, controls body temp and endocrine system
broca’s area
controls muscle movement required for language expression
wernicke’s area
understanding language
cerebral cortex
control and info processing center
frontal lobe
speaking and muscle movements, making plans, judgements
parietal lobe
sensory info for touch and body position
occipital lobe
includes visual corteces
temporal lobe
includes auditroy areas
motor cortex
controls voluntary movement
somatosensory cortex
processes info from skin senses and movement of body parts
association areas
parts of the cerebral cortex involved in higher mental functions such as thinking and learning
why do we sleep?
it protects us restores/repairs brain tissue consolodates our memories boosts our thinking and learning supports growth
What are the parts of a nueron and how are neural impusles generated?
neurons are the elementary components of the nervous system. a neuron receives signals through its branching dendrites and sends signals through its axons. some axons are encased in a myelin sheath which increases speed of transmission. if the combined signals exceed a maximum threshold, the neuron fires, transmitting an electrical impulse (action potential) down its axon by means of a chemistry-to-electricity process.
how do nerve cells communicate with other nerve cells?
when the action potential reaches the end of the axon (axon terminals), they stimulate the release of neurotransmitters. these chemical messengers carry a message across the synapse to the receptor sites on the receiving neuron. Then, the sending neuron reabsorbs the excess neurotransmitter in the synaptic gap in a process called reuptake. if incoming signals are strong enough, the receiving neuron generates its own action potential and relays the message to other cells.
what are the function of dreams?
freud’s wish fulfillment: manifest and latent content, info processing, to develop and preserve neural pathways in the brain, neural activation, reflect the level of development of the dreamer.
what are the functions of the various cerebral cortex regions?
the cerebral cortex has 2 hemispheres and each contains a parietal lobe, frontal lobe, occipital lobe, and temporal lobe. glial cells support, protect, and nourish neurons and produce myelin. they also may play a role in thinking and leanring. the motor cortex controls voluntary movements. the somatosensory cortex registers and processes body touch and mvoement sensations. body parts that require more precise control or those that are more sensitive take up more space in each cortex. a major portion of each lobe is taken up by association areas.
what is the biological rhythm of our sleeping and dreaming stages?
we cycle through 4 distinct sleep stages about every 90 minutes. first comes the irregular brain waves of NREM-1, often with the senation of floating or falling. NREM-2 follows and lasts about 20 minutes, characterized by sleep spindles in the brain waves. Then we enter NREM-3 for about 30 minutes with its large, slow delta waves. about an hour after falling asleep, periods of REM sleep begin along with dreaming. internally, we are aroused but are outwardly paralyzed.
