L Flashcards
A theory postulating that each gustatory neuron type comprises a private circuit (labeled line) through which is signaled the presence of its associated primary taste quality
- The taste is perceived exclusively as a product of activity in that labeled line; activity in neurons outside the labeled line contributes only noise
Labeled Line Theory of Taste Coding
In psychological assessment, classifying a patient according to a certain diagnostic category
- Patient labeling may be incomplete or misleading, because not all cases conform to the sharply defined characteristics of the standard diagnostic categories
Labeling
The sociological hypothesis that describing an individual in terms of particular behavioral characteristics (ie; labeling) may have a significant effect on his or her behavior, as a form of self fulfilling prophecy
Labeling Theory
Inappropriate lack of concern about the seriousness or implications of one’s physical symptoms, often seen in conversion disorder
La Belle Indifférence
Liable to change or disruption
- Labile affect, for example, is highly variable, suddenly shifting emotional expression
Labile
Scientific study conducted in a laboratory or other such workplace, where the investigator has some degree of direct control over the environment and can manipulate variables
Laboratory Research
In anatomy, the complex system of cavities, ducts, and canals within the temporal bone of the skull that comprises the inner ear
- The bony (or osseous) labyrinth is a system of bony cavities that houses the membranous labyrinth, a membrane lined system of ducts containing the receptors for hearing and balance
Labyrinth
A jagged tear or cut: a wound with rough, irregular edges
Laceration
A knowledge elicitation technique that is used in interviewing to impose a systematic framework upon questioning so as to reveal complex themes across answers
- In this, a respondent replies to a series of “why?’ probes, thus requiring him or her to expose and explain choices or preferences and justify behavior in terms of goals, values, and personal constructs
- This is concerned with linkages between concepts elicited from the participant (eg; attitudes and beliefs associated with a particular consumer product), and provides greater scope for probing salient issues while optimizing the often limited time available with respondents
Laddering
The theory that changes acquired by an organism during its lifetime, for example, through use or disuse of particular parts, can be inherited by its offspring
- Evidence for such inheritance of acquired characteristics, however, is lacking [Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744 - 1829), French natural historian]
Lamarckism
- A system for expressing or communicating thoughts and feelings through speech sounds or written symbols, comprising a distinctive vocabulary, grammar, and phonology
- Any comparable nonverbal means of communication, such as sign language or the languages used in computer programming
Language
The process by which children learn language
- Although often used interchangeably with language development, this term is preferred by those who emphasize the active role of the child as a learner with considerable innate linguistic knowledge
Language Acquisition
A hypothetical faculty used to explain a child’s ability to acquire language
- In the early model proposed by U.S. linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897 - 1941), it is an inherited mechanism that enables children to develop a language structure from linguistic data supplied by parents and others
- As reinterpreted by U.S. linguist Noam Chomsky (1928 - ), however, this contains significant innate knowledge that actively interprets the input: only this can explain now a highly abstract competence in language results from a relatively deprived input
Language Acquisition Device
The adults and older children who help a young child to acquire language
- Children learn language in and from conservation: family members talk to them, tailoring their language to the children’s level of comprehension and often using higher pitch and exaggerated intonation
- This is conceptualized as essential to language learning and may interact with the language acquisition device of the younger child
Language Acquisition Support System
A culture bound syndrome in Malaysia and Indonesia characterized by an exaggerated startle reaction, imitative behavior in speech and body movements, a compulsion to utter profanities and obscenities, command obedience, and disorganization
Latah
In psychoanalytic theory, the stage of psychosexual development in which overt sexual interest is sublimated and the child’s attention is focused on skills and peer activities with members of his or her own sex
- This stage is posited to last from about the resolution of the Oedipus Complex, at about age 6, to the onset of puberty during the 11th or 12th year
Latency Stage
In psychoanalytic theory, the unconscious wishes seeking expression in dreams or fantasies
- This unconscious material is posited to encounter censorship and to be distorted by the dream work into symbolic representations in order to protect the ego
- Through dream analysis, this may be uncovered
Latent Content
Learning that is not manifested as a change in performance until a specific need for it arises
- For example, a rat allowed to explore a maze without reward will later learn to find the goal more rapidly than a rat without prior exposure to the maze
Latent Learning
A hypothetical, unobservable characteristic that is thought to underlie and explain observed, manifest attributes that are directly measurable
- The values of these are inferred from patterns of interrelationships among the manifest variables
Latent Variable
Toward the side of the body or of an organ
Lateral
Either of two small oval clusters of nerve cell bodies on the underside of the thalamus in the brain that relay information from cone rich areas of the retina to the visual cortex via optic radiations
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
A four stage pattern of recovery from lesions of the lateral hypothalamus induced in nonhuman animals
- The stages are marked by: (a) an initial inability to eat and drink (aphagia and adipsia); (b) continued inability to drink and poor appetite for food (adipsia anorexia); (c) improving appetite but continued avoidance of water; and (d) the establishment of new, altered feeding and drinking habits and a stable, albeit lower, body weight
Lateral Hypothalamic Syndrome
The region of the hypothalamus that may be involved in the regulation of eating
- Lesions of this in animals results in fasting and weight loss
- Stimulation of that part of the brain increases food intake
Lateral Hypothalamus
In perception, a mechanism for detecting contrast in which a sensory neuron is excited by one particular receptor but inhibited by neighboring (lateral) receptors
- In vision, for example, this is seen in neurons that respond to light at one position but are inhibited by light at surrounding positions
Lateral Inhibition
The preferential use of one side of the body for certain functions, such as eating, writing, and kicking
Laterality
A bundle of nerve fibers running from the auditory nuclei in the brainstem (ie; the cochlear nuclei) upward through the pons and terminating in the inferior colliculus and in the thalamus
- It is primarily concerned with hearing
Lateral Lemniscus
A prominent groove that runs along the lateral surface of each cerebral hemisphere, separating the temporal lobe from the frontal lobe and parietal lobe
Lateral Sulcus
Creative thinking that deliberately attempts to reexamine basic assumptions and change perspective or direction in order to provide a fresh approach to solving a problem
- This term is often used synonymously with divergent thinking
Lateral Thinking
Any theory of attention proposing that selection occurs after stimulus identification
- According to this, within sensory limits, all stimuli - both attended and unattended - are processed to the same deep level of analysis until stimulus identification occurs; subsequently, only the most important stimuli are selected for further processing
Late Selection Theory
An experimental design in which treatments, denoted by Latin letters, are administered in sequences that are systematically varied such that each treatment occurs equally often in each position of the sequence (eg; first, second, third, ect)
- The number of treatments administered must be the same as the number of groups or individual participants receiving them
- For example, one group might receive treatments A, then B, and then C, while a second group receives them in sequence B, C, A and a third group in sequence C, A, B
Latin Square
Broadly, the principle that consequences of behavior act to modify the future probability of occurrence of that behavior
- As originally postulated by U.S. psychologist Edward L. Thorndike (1874 - 1949), this stated that responses followed by a satisfying state of affairs are weakened
- Thorndike later revised the law to include only the response strengthening effect of reinforcement
Law of Effect
The principle that the simplest explanation of an event or observation is the preferred explanation
- Simplicity is understood in various ways, including the requirement that an explanation should (a) make the smallest number of unsupported assumptions, (b) postulate the existence of the fewest entities, and (c) invoke the fewest unobservable constructs
Law of Parsimony
- A principle of association stating that like produces like: encountering or thinking about something (eg; one’s birthday month) tends to bring to mind other similar things (eg; other people one knows with the same birthday month)
Law of Similarity
Psychoanalytic therapy performed by a person who has been trained in psychoanalytic theory and practice but is not a physician (ie; a layperson)
- This is to be distinguished from psychoanalysis performed by a fully accredited psychiatrist
Lay Analysis
The process involved in leading others, including organizing, directing, coordinating, and motivating their efforts toward achievement of certain group or organizational goals
Leadership
The stable behavioral tendencies and methods displayed by a particular leader when guiding a group
- Some common types are autocratic, in which the leader exercises unrestricted authority; bureaucratic, in which the leader rigidly adheres to prescribed routine; charismatic, in which the leader articulates distal goals and visions; democratic, in which the leader establishes and maintains an egalitarian group climate; and laissez faire, in which the leader provides little guidance
Leadership Style
A phenomenon in which repeated exposure to uncontrollable stressors results in individuals failing to use any control options that may later become available
- Essentially, individuals learn that they lack behavioral control over environmental events, which, in turn, undermines the motivation to make changes or attempt to alter situations
- This was first described in 1967 by U.S. psychologists J. Bruce Overmier (1938 - ) and Martin E.P. Seligman (1942 - ) following experiments in which animals exposed to a series of unavoidable electric shocks later failed to learn to escape these shocks when tested in a different apparatus, whereas animals exposed to shocks that could be terminated by a response did not show interference with escape learning in another apparatus
- In the 1970s, Seligman extended the concept from nonhuman animal research to clinical depression in humans
- Subsequent researchers have noted a robust fit between the concept and posttraumatic stress disorder
Learned Helplessness
An acquired explanatory style that attributes causes for negative events to factors that are more external, unstable, and specific: that is, problems are believed to be caused by other people or situational factors, the causes are seen as fleeting in nature, and are localized to one or a few situations in one’s life
- According to learned helplessness theory, the manner in which individuals routinely explain the events in their lives can drain or enhance motivation, reduce or increase persistence, and enhance vulnerability to depression or protect against it, making this a putative mechanism by which therapy ameliorates depression
Learned Optimism
The process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information, behavior patterns, or abilities, characterized by modification of behavior as a result of practice, study, or experience
Learning
A graphic representation of the course of learning of an individual or a group
- A measure of performance (eg; gains, errors) is plotted along the vertical axis; the horizontal axis plots trials or time
Learning Curve
Any of various conditions with a neurological basis that are marked by substantial deficits in acquiring certain scholastic or academic skills, particularly those associated with written or expressive language
- These include learning problems that result from perceptual disabilities, brain injury, and minimal brain dysfunction but exclude those that result from visual impairment or hearing loss, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, or environmental, cultural, or economic factors
Learning Disability
Any neurologically based information processing disorder characterized by achievement that is substantially below that expected for the age, education, and intelligence of the individual, as measured by standardized tests in reading, mathematics, and written material
- Major types are disorder of written expression, mathematics disorder, nonverbal learning disorder, and reading disorder
- This term essentially is synonymous with learning disability
Learning Disorder
A phenomenon observed when a participant is given a succession of discriminations to learn, such as learning that one object contains a food reward and a different object does not
- After a large number of such problems the participant acquires a rule or mental set for solving them, and successive discriminations are learned faster
Learning Set
A body of concepts and principles that seeks to explain the learning process
- This encompasses a number of specific theories whose common interest is the description of the basic laws of learning, statements describing the circumstances under which learning is generally known to occur
Learning Theory
In the United States, an educational setting that gives a student with disabilities the opportunity to receive instruction within a classroom that meets his or her learning needs and physical requirements
Least Restrictive Environment
A value representing the point at which a difference between the means of experimental groups being compared can be considered not to have been caused by chance
- It is a method of controlling for type I error and must be calculated for each experiment according to specific criteria
Least Significant Difference
The left half of the cerebrum, the part of the brain concerned with sensation and perception, motor control, and higher level cognitive processes
- The two cerebral hemispheres differ somewhat in function; for example, in most people the left hemisphere has greater responsibility for speech
- Some have proposed that, given this involvement in speech, the left hemisphere is the seat of consciousness, an idea known as left hemisphere consciousness
Left Hemisphere
In vision, a transparent, biconvex structure in the anterior portion of the eyeball (just behind the iris) that provides the fine, adjustable focus of the optical system
- It is composed of tiny hexagonal prism shaped cells, called lens fibers, filed together in concentric layers
Lens
A protein, manufactured and secreted by fat cells, that may communicate to the brain the amount of body fat stored and may help to regulate food intake
- These receptors have been found in the hypothalamus, and when they are stimulated food intake is reduced
Leptin
Describing a frequency distribution that is more peaked than the normal distribution, that is, having more scores in the center and fewer at the extremes than in a normal distribution
Leptokurtic
Female to female sexual orientation or behavior
Lesbianism
Any disruption of or damage to the normal structure or function of a tissue or organ
Lesion
The proposition that the cognitive limitations of infants and young children may serve to simplify the body of language they process, thus making it easier for them to learn the complicated syntactical system of any human language
Less is More Hypothesis
A set of criteria used to predict the probability of a suicide or attempted suicide occurring
- A variety of such scales exist, most including gender, prior suicide attempts, and psychiatric diagnosis and history
Lethality Scale
A type of blood cell that plays a key role in the body’s defense against infection
- These include granulocytes, which ingest foreign particles; and lymphocytes, which are involved in the production of antibodies and other specific immune responses
Leukocyte
In experimental design, the quantity, magnitude, or category of the independent variable (or variables)
Level
A conceptual approach to group and individual performance that assumes that the emotional, motivational, and behavioral consequences of any particular performance will be determined not only by the absolute degree of success attained but also by the ideal outcome or goal envisioned prior to undertaking the task
Level of Aspiration Theory
The theory that encoding into memory, and therefore subsequent retention, depends on the depth of cognitive elaboration that the information receives and that deeper encoding improves memory
Levels of Processing Model of Memory
In psycholinguistics, the process by which an individual produces a specific word from his or her mental lexicon or recognizes it when used by others
Lexical Access
A task in which the participant is presented with strings of letters, such as house or houpe, and is required to determine whether each string spells a word
Lexical Decision
The vocabulary of a language and, in psychology, the lexical knowledge of an individual
Lexicon
In psychoanalytic theory, either the psychic energy of the life instinct in general, or the energy of the sexual instinct in particular
- In his first formulation, Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939) conceived of this energy as narrowly sexual, but subsequently he broadened the concept to include all expressions of love, pleasure, and self preservation
Libido
A group of items on a test (eg; the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) used to help evaluate the general truthfulness of a person’s responses on the test
Lie Scale
A period of distress and major adjustment associated with a significant life experience, such as divorce or death of a family member
Life Crisis
The sequence of developmental stages through which an organism passes between a specified stage of one generation (eg; fertilization, birth) and the same stage in the next generation
Life Cycle
Important occasions throughout the life span that are either age related and thus expected (eg; marriage, retirement) or unrelated to age and unexpected (eg; accidents, relocation)
Life Events
The number of years that a person can, on average, expect to live
- This is based on statistical probabilities and increases with improvements in medical care and hygiene
Life Expectancy
A structured interview that attempts to summarize historical data about events that are relevant to evaluating the person’s current functioning
Life History Method
In psychoanalytic theory, the drive comprising the instinct of self preservation, which is aimed at individual survival, and the sexual instinct, which is aimed at the survival of the species
- In the dual instinct theory of Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939), this instinct, or Eros, stands opposed to the death instinct, or Thanatos
Life Instinct
The tendency of individuals, especially older adults, to reflect upon and analyze past life experiences
- This is often made use of in counseling older adults showing symptoms of mild depression or people with terminal illness, sometimes as an adjunct to psychotherapy
Life Review
The extent to which a person finds life rich, meaningful, full, or of high quality
- Improved life satisfaction is often a goal of treatment, especially with older people
Life Satisfaction
In the field theory of German born U.S. Psychologist Kurt Lewin (1890 - 1947), the “totality of possible events” for one person at a particular time, that is, a person’s possible options together with the environment that contains them
- This is a representation of the environmental, biological, social, and psychological influences that define one person’s unique reality at a given moment in time
- Contained within this are positive and negative valences, that is, forces or pressures on the individual to approach a goal or move away from a perceived danger
Life Space
- The maximum age that can be obtained by any given individual within a particular species
- The precise length of an individuals life
Life Span
The study of psychological and behavioral change across and within individuals from birth through death
- Such an approach assumes that human developmental processes are complex, interactive, and fully understood only in the context of influencing events
- It also assumes that there is no end state of maturity, that no specific period of the life course is more important or influential than another in subsequent development, and that not all developmental change is related to chronological age
Life Span Developmental Psychology
The typical way of life or manner of living that is characteristic of an individual or group, as expressed by behaviors, attitudes, interests, and other facts
Lifestyle
The process by which the eye adjusts to conditions of high illumination, such as occurs when exiting a dark theater into a sunny parking lot
- It takes less than 10 minutes and involves constriction of the pupil and a shift in the sensitivity of the retina so that the retinal cones become active in place of the retinal rods
Light Adaptation
The ratio of two probabilities, a/b, where a is the probability of obtaining the data observed is a particular research hypothesis (A) is true and b is the probability of obtaining the data observed when a different hypothesis (B) is true
Likelihood Ratio
A type of direct attitude measure that consists of statements reflecting strong positive or negative evaluations of an attitude object
- Respondents indicate their reaction to each statement on a response scale ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree,” and these ratings are summed to provide a total attitude score [Rensis Likert (1903 - 1981), U.S. psychologist]
Likert Scale
A fifth subdivision of each cerebral hemisphere that is often distinguished in addition to the four main lobes
- It comprises the cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, and hippocampus
Limbic Lobe
A loosely defined, widespread group of brain nuclei that innervate each other to form a network that is involved in autonomic and visceral processes and mechanisms of emotion, memory, and learning
- It includes portions of the cerebral cortex, thalamus, and certain subcortical structures, such as the amygdala and hippocampus
Limbic System
A conceptualization of working memory in which resource constraints restrict the processing of sensory information to only what is directly relevant
- When pertinent new information is encountered, older, less relevant information is either relegated to long term memory or eliminated, providing the resources to retain the newer data
- For example, a person drafting a sentence in an email who is asked a question may ignore the question and finish typing or may answer the question and subsequently be unable to remember what he or she intended to write
- Attention and consciousness are often similarly conceived of as this
Limited Capacity System
Describing any relationship between two variables (X and Y) that can be expressed in the form Y = a + bX, where a and b are numerical constants
- No coefficient can be raised to a power greater than 1 or be the denominator of a fraction
- When depicted graphically, the relationship is a straight line
Linear
Any model for empirical data that attempts to relate the values of the dependent variable to linear functions of the independent variables
- Most commonly used statistical techniques (analysis of variance, regression analysis, ect) can be represented as these
Linear Model
One of the monocular depth cues, arising from the principle that the size of an object’s visual image is a function of its distance from the eye
- Thus, two objects appear closer together as the distance from them increases, as seen in the tracks of a railroad that appear to converge on the horizon
Linear Perspective
A regression analysis that assumes that the predictor (independent) variable is related to the criterion (dependent) variable through a linear function
Linear Regression
A transformation of X to Y by means of the equation Y = a + bX, where a and b are numerical constants
Linear Transformation
The hypothesis that the semantic structure of a particular language determines the structure of mental categories among its speakers
- Because languages differ in how they refer to basic categories and dimensions, such as time, space, and duration, native speakers of these languages are assumed to show corresponding differences in their ways of thinking
Linguistic Determinism
The observation that languages differ in the ways in which semantic space is identified and categorized
- For example, the Native American language Hopi uses a completely different word for water in a natural setting and water in a vessel but has only one word for flying objects, which is applied to birds, insects, airplanes, and the like
- This is not to be equated with linguistic determinism, which is a theoretical commitment to the idea that these differences have cognitive consequences
Linguistic Relativity
The scientific study of the physical, structural, functional, psychological, and social characteristics of human language
Linguistics
In ergonomics, the analysis of operational sequences and the movements of workers or objects that these entail in order to determine the design of tools, equipment, jobs, and facilities that will best serve worker efficiency and safety
Link Analysis
A hypothesis stating that the long term regulation of food intake is governed by the concentration in the blood of free fatty acids, which result from the metabolism of fat
Lipostatic Hypothesis
The ability to read and write in a language
Literacy
An element of the alkali metal group whose salts are used in psychopharmacotherapy as mood stabilizers, particularly in managing acute manic phases of bipolar disorder
- Its mechanism of action remains unclear and it has a narrow therapeutic margin of safety, making close monitoring of blood levels necessary
- U.S. trade names (among others): Lithobid
Lithium
The name of a boy used by U.S. psychologist John B. Watson (1878 - 1958) and his graduate student Rosalie Rayner (1899 - 1935) to demonstrate Pavlovian fear conditioning in humans
Little Albert
A landmark case of Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939), illustrating the Oedipus Complex
- Freud traced a child’s phobia for horses to castration anxiety stemming from masturbation, to repressed death wishes toward the father, and to fear of retaliation owing to rivalry with the mother, with displacement of these emotions onto horses
Little Hans
The principle that the behavior of an animal should not be interpreted in complex psychological terms if it can instead be interpreted with simpler concepts
- Some recent authors have argued that its application oversimplifies the abilities of animals [Conway Lloyd Morgan (1852 - 1936), British comparative psychologist]
Lloyd Morgan’s Canon
A subdivision of an organ, such as the brain or the lungs, particularly when rounded and surrounded by distinct structural boundaries, such as fissures
Lobe
Incision into various nerve tracts in the frontal lobe of the brain
- The original surgical procedure, called prefrontal (or frontal) lobotomy, was introduced in 1936
- Connections between the frontal lobe and other brain structures - notably the thalamus - were severed by manipulating a narrow blade known as a leukotome inserted into brain tissue through several small holes drilled in the skull
- A second procedure, called transorbital lobotomy, was devised in 1945 and involved the manipulation of a pointed instrument resembling an ice pick driven with a mallet through the thin bony wall of the eye socket and into the prefrontal brain
- Both procedures were widely used to relieve the symptoms of severe mental disorder including depression and schizophrenia) until the advent of antipsychotic drugs in the 1950s
- These operations have been replaced by more sophisticated, stereotactic forms of neurosurgery that are less invasive and whose effects are more certain and less damaging
Lobotomy
The ability to determine the physical position or spatial location of a stimulus in any sensory modality
Localization
The concept that specific parts of the cerebral cortex are relatively specialized for particular types of cognitive and behavioral processes
Localization of Function
The tendency for a resting object and its setting to appear to have the same position even if the relationship between setting and observer is altered as the observer shifts position
Location Constancy
Play that involves exaggerated, repetitious movement and is physically vigorous, such as chasing, climbing, and wrestling
- This is one of three traditionally identified basic types of play, the others being object play and social play
Locomotor Play
- The place or position of an anatomical entity
- The position of a gene on a chromosome
Locus
A small bluish tinted nucleus in the brainstem whose neurons produce norepinephrine and modulate large areas of the forebrain
Locus Ceruleus
A construct that is used to categorize people’s basic motivational orientations and perceptions of how much control they have over the conditions of their lives
- People with an external locus of control tend to behave in response to external circumstances and to perceive their life outcomes as arising from factors out of their control
- People with an internal locus of control tend to behave in response to internal states and intentions and to perceive their life outcomes as arising from the exercise of their own agency and abilities
Locus of Control
- The branch of epistemology that is concerned with the forms of argument by which a valid conclusion may be drawn from accepted premises
- As such it is also concerned with distinguishing correct from fallacious reasoning - A particular rule governed form of symbolic expression used to analyze the relations between propositions
Logic
A statistical technique for the prediction of a binary dependent variable from one or more continuous variables
Logistic Regression
A class of statistical techniques used to study the relationship among several categorical variables
- As compared with chi square tests, these use odds, rather than proportions, and they can be used to examine the relationship among several nominal variables in the manner of analyses of covariance
Log Linear Model
A theoretical memory unit corresponding to a word, letter, or digit, which when excited results in the output (recognition) of the unit and recall of characteristics and information associated with that unit
- For example, the logogen for table is activated by hearing the component sounds or seeing the typographical features of the word, bringing to mind such knowledge as the typical structure and shape of a table and its general function
Logogen
Affective and cognitive discomfort or uneasiness from being or perceiving oneself to be alone or otherwise solitary
- Psychological theory and research offer multiple perspectives: for example, social psychology emphasizes the emotional distress that results when inherent needs for intimacy and companionship are not met, while cognitive psychology emphasizes the unpleasant and unsettling experience that results from a perceived discrepancy between an individual’s desired and actual social relationships
Loneliness
- Long life
- The actual length of an individual’s life
Longevity
The study of a variable or group of variables in the same cases or participants over a period of time, sometimes of several years
Longitudinal Design
A deep groove that marks the division between the left and right cerebral hemispheres of the brain
- At the bottom of the groove the hemispheres are connected by the corpus callosum
Longitudinal Fissure
A long lasting decrease in the amplitude of neuronal response due to persistent weak synaptic stimulation (in the case of the hippocampus) or strong synaptic stimulation (in the case of the cerebellum)
Long Term Depression
A relatively permanent information storage system, enabling one to retain, retrieve, and make use of skills and knowledge hours, weeks, or even years after they were originally learned
- Various theories have been proposed to explain the biological processes by which this occurs (eg; the perseveration consolidation hypothesis) and a major distinction is made between LTM and short term memory
- Additionally, LTM is divided into several categories, including declarative memory and procedural memory
Long Term Memory
A long lasting enhancement of synaptic efficiency caused by repeated brief stimulations of one nerve cell that trigger stimulation of a succeeding cell
- The capacity for potentiation has been best shown in hippocampal tissue
- This is studied as a model of the neural changes that underlie memory formation and it may be a mechanism involved in some kinds of learning
Long Term Potentiation (LTP)
A self concept formed by learning how other people perceive and evaluate one
- The term suggests a self that is a reflection of other people’s impressions, reactions, and opinions
Looking Glass Self
A state in which an organism capable of consciousness can no longer experience events or exert voluntary control
- Examples of conditions associated with this include fainting (syncope), deep sleep, coma, general anesthesia, narcolepsy, and epileptic absence
Loss of Consciousness (LOC)
The subjective magnitude of sound
- It is determined primarily by intensity but is also affected by other physical properties, such as frequency, spectral configuration, and duration
- The unit of loudness is the sone: one sone is the loudness of a 1 kHz tone presented at 40 dB SPL (sound pressure level)
Loudness
A complex emotion involving strong feelings of affection and tenderness for a person, pleasurable sensations in his or her presence, devotion to his or her well being, and sensitivity to his or her reactions to oneself
- Although this takes many forms, the triangular theory of love proposes three essential components: passion, intimacy, and commitment
- Social psychological research in this area has focused largely on passionate love, in which passion (sexual desire and excitement) is predominant, and companionate love, in which passion is relatively weak and commitment is strong
Love
In Maslow’s Motivational Hierarchy, the third level of one hierarchy of needs, characterized by the striving for affiliation and acceptance
Love Need
A procedure for enhancing compliance by first obtaining agreement to a request and then revealing the hidden costs of this request
- Compliance to the target request is greater than would have been the case if these costs had been made clear at the time of the initial request
Low Ball Technique
- Lysergic acid diethylamide:a highly potent hallucinogen that structurally resembles the neurotransmitter serotonin and is capable of producing visual distortions or frank hallucinations, together with feelings of euphoria or arousal; it became a widely used and controversial recreational drug during the mid 1960s and early 1970s
- The effects of this were the subject of research during the 1950s as a possible model for psychosis, and various attempts were made to use this as an aid to psychotherapy although they did not prove effective - Abbreviation for Least Significant Difference
LSD
A dream in which the sleeper is aware that he or she is dreaming
Lucid Dream
- An obsolete name for any mental illness
- In legal use, an obsolete name for mental incompetence or legal insanity
Lunacy
A gonadotropin secreted by the anterior pituitary gland that, in females, stimulates the rapid growth of a Graafian follicle (small, pouchlike cavity) in the ovary until it ruptures and releases an ovum
- In males it stimulates the interstitial cells of the testis to secrete androgens
Luteinizing Hormone (LH)
A type of blood cell that plays a key role in specific immune responses
- B lymphocytes (or B cells), which develop and mature in the bone marrow, are responsible for humoral immunity: they produce circulating antibodies when they bind to an appropriate antigen and are costimulated by certain T cells
- T lymphocytes (or T cells), which mature in the thymus, are responsible for cell mediated immunity: they are characterized by the presence of particular cell surface molecules and are capable of antigen recognition
Lymphocyte
