Final Flashcards
Neurons
cells in the nervous system that communicate with one-another to perform information processing tasks
Sensory neurons
receives information from the external world and convey this information to the brain
Motor neurons
conducts signals from the spinal cord to the brain to produce movements
Interneurons
connects all other neurons and itself
Cell body (SOMA)
Coordinates the information-processing tasks and keeps the cell alive
Dendrite
Receives information from neurons and relays it to the cell body
Axon
Transmits information to other neurons, muscles, or glands
Myelin sheath
provides insulating layer of fatty material composed of glial cells
Synapse
region between the axon
Conduction
Movement of an electric signal within a neuron from the dendrites to the cell body then axon
Transmission
Movements of electric signals from one neuron to another over the synapse
Action Potential
a rapid depolarization of the neuron
Resting potential
the state of the neuron prior to the sending of a nerve impulse
Terminal Buttons
knoblike structures that finish off the axon
Neurotransmitters
Chemicals that transmit information across the synapses to dendrites
Receptors
Parts of the cell membrane that prevent a new electric signal
Receptor sites
Binds with neutron transmitters
Inhibitory
Does not stimulate the brain
Excitatory
Stimulates the brain
Sensation
Simple stimulation of a sense organ
Perception
The organization, identification, and interpretation of a sensation
Transduction
an electrical impulse that can be interpreted by the brain
Sensory and Perceptual Processes
translation of physical energies into nerve impulses
Psychophysicists
measure the minimum amount of a stimulus needed for detection
Psychophysics
measure the strength of a stimulus and the observer’s sensitivity to that stimulus
Absolute Threshold
minimal intensity needed to just barely detect a stimulus in 50% of the time
Threshold
is a boundary
Just Noticeable Difference (JND)
The minimal change in a stimulus that can just barely be detected
Weber’s Law
The just noticeable difference of a stimulus is a constant proportion despite variations in intensity
Signal Detection Theory
The response to a stimulus depends both on a person’s sensitivity to the stimulus in the presence of noise and on a person’s decision criterion.
2 conditions -
Stimulus
present,
stimulus absent
Sensory adaptation
Sensitivity to prolonged stimulation tends to decline over time as an organism adapts to current conditions
Habituation
sensations fading with time
Adaptive value
Frees senses to be more sensitive to changes in environment
main 3 cells in a retina
- Photoreceptors
- Neuronal cells
- Glial cells
Neuronal cells found in the retina
- Ganglion cells
- Amacrine cells
- Bipolar cells
- Horizontal cells
Retina
Photoreceptors transduce light energy into electrical impulses
Photoreceptors
light-sensitive pigments that transduce light into neural impulses
Reinforcement
The consequences of behaviour determine whether it will be more or less likely to occur
Dogmatism
the tendency for people to cling to their assumptions
Operational definition
Description of a property in concrete, measurable items
Validity
The goodness with which a concrete event defines a property
Psychology
The study of thought and behaviour
Independent variable
the experimenter manipulates under controlled conditions
Dependant variable
The outcome/response to the experimental manipulation
Cofounding variable
Variable whose influence on the dependant variable cannot be separated from the independent variable
Mean
Average of a series of numbers
Median
Middle value of a series of numbers
Mode
Most commonly occurring value in a series of numbers
Explicit memory
Conscious recall of facts and events
Priming
Kind of implicit memory that arises when recall is improved by earlier exposure of the same stimulus
Implicit memory
Memories we don’t deliberately remember or reflect consciously
Encoding
the brain takes in new information; first stage of long-term memory formation
Maintenance
Repetition of information
Elaborative
Focuses on information’s meaning, understanding & organizing them
Hierarchy
A way of organizing related pieces of information
Chunking
Combining items into larger units of meaning
Schemas
Mental frameworks that develop from our experiences
Dual coding theory
Memory enhanced if use both verbal and visual codes
Procedural memory
knowledge for almost any behaviour or physical skill we have learned
Semantic memory
Our memory for facts & knowledge
Episodic memory
Memory for the experiences we’ve had
Retrieval
Stimuli that lead to activation of information stored in long-term memory
Interference memory
Disruption of memory because other information competes with the information we are trying to recall
Retrospective memory
Disruption of memory because new experiences/information causes people to forget previously learned information
Prospective memory
Disruption of memory because previously learned information interferes with the learning of new information
Constructive processes
Piecing together bits of information in ways that intuitively ‘make sense’
Levels of processing
The concept that the more deeply people encode information, the better they will recall it
Dark adaptation
Progressive improvement in brightness sensitivity in low illumination
Visual transduction
Absorption of light changed rate of neurotransmitter release
Amnesia
Memory loss due to brain injury or disease
Anterograde amnesia
The inability to remember events and experiences that occur after an injury or AFTER the onset of a disease
Retrograde amnesia
The inability to recall events or experiences that happened BEFORE an injury or disease
Refractory period
neuron returning to its resting state and cannot generate an axon potential
Classic conditioning
Learning to associate a conditioned stimulus with a conditioned response; based on reflexes
Ivan Pavlov
Came up with the idea of classical conditioning, taught dogs through association
Ethology
The scientific study of animal behaviour
Unconditioned response (UCR)
The learner’s natural reaction to a stimulus
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Stimulus that elicits an automatic response
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
After association with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), comes to trigger a conditioned response
Conditioned response (CR)
A behaviour that the learner learns to perform when presented with the conditioned stimulus
Habituation
Decrease in response strength to a repeated stimulus
Sensitization
Increase in the strength of a response to a repeated stimulus
Extinction
The weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response in the absence of reinforcement
Spontaneous recovery
The sudden reappearance of an extinguished response
Trichromats
Normal colour vision
Dichromats
Deficient in one system (red-green most common)
Monochromats
Sensitive to black-white only
Bottom-up processing
Analysis of individual stimulus elements that re-combine into unified whole
Top-down processing
Existing knowledge, concepts, ideas, expectations
Role of attention
Focusing on certain stimuli & filtering out other information
Inattentional blindness
‘Looking’ without ‘seeing’ the whole picture
Perceptual Organization – Gestalt principles
Gestalt = pattern, shape, form; Wholes we perceive are more than sum of their parts
Gestalt laws of organizations
- Similarity
- Proximity
- Closure
- Continuity
Operant conditioning
The process of changing behaviour by changing the consequences
Reinforcer
Something that increases the frequency of a behaviour
Primary reinforcers
Innate, unlearned reinforcers that satisfy basic biological needs
Secondary reinforcers
Reinforcers that are learned by association, usually by classic conditioning
Positive reinforcement
The addition of a stimulus after a behaviour occurs that increases how often that behaviour will occur
Negative reinforcement
The removal of a stimulus after a behaviour to increase the frequency of the behaviour
Punishment
Stimulus that decreases the frequency of a behaviour
Positive punishment
The addition of a stimulus after a behaviour occurs that decrease the behaviour
Negative punishment
The removal of a stimulus after a behaviour occurs that decrease the behaviour
Continuous reinforcement
Reinforcement of a behaviour every time it occurs
Intermittent reinforcement
Reinforcement of a behaviour but not after every response
Schedules of reinforcers
Patterns of intermittent reinforcement distinguished by whether reinforcement occurs after a set number of responses or after a certain amount of time has passed
Faxed ratio schedule
Pattern of intermittent reinforcement in which reinforcement follows a set number of responses
Fixed interval schedule
Pattern of intermittent reinforcement in which responses are always reinforced after a set period of time has passed
Variable interval schedule
A pattern of intermittent reinforcement in which responses are reinforced after different amounts of time
