Midterm 1 Flashcards
What is Behaviourism?
The study of behaviour with little to no reference to mental events and instincts that influence behaviour.
Example: If a child watches a sibling receive praise for doing chores, the child may also start doing chores in the hope of receiving similar praise.
What is humanism?
The study of personal responsibility and free will (need for growth, meaning, connection).
Example: Everything from being kind to a stranger to scuba diving.
What is a materialist?
Believes everything is made of physical matter.
Example: According to philosophical materialism, mind and consciousness are caused by physical processes, such as the neurochemistry of the human brain and nervous system, without which they cannot exist. Materialism directly contrasts with idealism, according to which consciousness is the fundamental substance of nature.
What is an empiricist?
Someone who believes knowledge is gained through experience (observation and experience).
What is determinism?
Determinism is a belief that all events are governed by lawful cause and effect relationship.
Psychology is both what?
Empirical and determinisitic.
What is Gestalt?
The whole is better than its parts.
An example of gestalt psychology in everyday life is in the way people complete jigsaw puzzles. Rather than looking at each piece as an individual unit, they form meaningful relationships between the pieces to see the big picture more quickly and efficiently. Another example is design as a whole.
What is structuralism?
Wundt - also founded the first formal Psyc lab
The study of basic components of the mind (conscious experience).
What is functionalism?
How basic components of the mind work.
What is naturalistic observation?
Observation of behaviour where it normally occurs.
What are demand characteristics?
Change in attitude of participant to match expectations.
What is the hawthorne effect?
Reactivity from being observed.
Example: watching a group of people in an observation study, and they know you are watching so they behave differently.
What is dualism?
Mind and body are separate.
There are properties of human that are not material.
Example: Brain and mind are different entities.
What is social psychology?
Study of how the influence of others affects our behaviour.
For example, you are likely to behave much differently when you are around a group of close friends than you would around a group of colleagues or supervisors from work.
What is personality psychology?
The study of how different personality characteristics influence our behaviour.
What is cognitive psychology?
The study of mental processes.
What is psychoanalysis?
Attempts to explain how behaviour and personality are influenced subconsciously (Freud).
Freud believed that during our childhood, certain events have great influence on how our personality is shaped, which carries over into our adult lives. For example, if a child experiences a traumatic event, the event would be suppressed, As an adult, the child reacts to the trauma without knowing why.
What is psychophsyics?
Fechner
The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli such as their intensity and our psychological experience.
Psychophysics is the study of the relationship between stimuli and sensation, so imagine a person is asked to determine when they can hear a frequency. An experimenter plays increasingly high frequencies until the person can hear it.
What is social desirability?
Changing responses to match expectations.
Example: Respondents may feel pressured to deny any drug use or rationalize it
What is Standard deviation?
A measure of variability that describes an average distance of every score from the mean.
What is a cofounding variable?
Variable outside of the researchers control.
What is random assignment?
Technique for dividing samples into groups which all have equal characteristics.
What is operational definition?
Statements that describe the procedure and specific measures for recording observation.
Nature vs nurture?
How heredity and enviornment influence behaviour.
What is scientific literacy?
The ability to apply, understand and analyze scientific information.
What is a population?
A group of people researchers want to generalize.
What is a sample?
The select group of population members.
What is a random sample?
A technique where each individual has an equal chance of being selected.
What is a convenience sample?
Sample of individuals who are most readily available.
What is between subject design?
Comparing the performance of 2 groups with different stimuli.
What is within subject design?
Same participant responds to different stimuli.
What is the control gorup?
Group that doesn’t receive treatment.
What is the experimental group?
Group that recieves treatment.
What is the quasi-experiemental design?
Technique in which 2 or more groups are selected based on predetermined characteristics.
If the research hypothesis is people with brown eyes have greater spelling ability than those with green eyes, this cannot be investigated by an experiment but can be with a quasi-experiment. Eye color is not an attribute that can be randomly assigned.
What is anonymity?
Info recorded cannot be connected to individuals at all.
What is confidentiality?
Records are secure and researchers cannot share specific data leading back to individuals.
What is stat significance?
More difference in results than you would expect from random chance alone.
One example of statistical significance in research is a study that compares a new speech therapy technique to an established technique, the control. Using a statistical test, the p-value is determined to be 0.032. The p-value can be used to determine the statistical significance of the study.
What is null hypothesis?
Assumes differences between groups are due to chance.
If the null hypothesis is true, it suggests that any changes witnessed in an experiment are because of random chance and not because of changes made to variables in the experiment. For example, serotonin levels have no effect on ability to cope with stress.
What is an experimental hypothesis?
Assumes differences are due to variables controlled by the experimenter.
What is natural selection?
The process in which favourable traits become more popular and unfavourable ones die out.
What is neuroplasticity?
The capacity of brain to change.
Examples of situations where your brain demonstrates neuroplasticity include learning a new language, practicing music, or memorizing how to navigate around your city.
What is resting potential?
Stable negative charge, potential energy remains in the cell.
What is action potential?
Shift in neurons electrical charge.
What is the refractory period?
Occurs after action potential, cell cannot fire another signal.
What is the synaptic cleft?
Space between axon terminal and dendrite.
What is agonist?
A drug that enhances effects of neurotransmitters.
What is antagonist?
Drug that inhibits effects of neuro transmitters.
What is multimodal integration?
Ability to combine senses into a single perspective for problem solving in the brain.
What is synthesia?
Describing one kind of sensation in terms of another.
A loud colour or a sweet sound.
What is a theory?
An explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviours or events.
What is a hypothesis?
A prediction that can be falsified.
Why was the scientific method designed?
To make the scientific process as accurate and objective as possible.
What is the biopsychosocial model?
The means of explaining behaviour as a product of psychological biological and sociocultural factors. (combining multiple perspectives)
What is lesioning?
The removal or destruction of part of the brain.
What is SHAM group?
A set of animals that go through all of the surgical procedures aside from the lesion itself in order to control for the effects of stress, anesthesia, and the annoyance of stitches.
Example: An inactive procedure that is designed to mimic as closely as possible the active procedure being studied in a clinical trial. For example, in sham acupuncture, needles that look and feel like the needles used in active acupuncture therapy are used except the needles are not actually inserted into the skin.
What is structural neuro imaging?
Produces images or scans of the brain.
What is a CT scan?
A series of x ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice through the body.
What is an MRI scan?
Uses radio waves and a very strong magnetic field to produce images of soft tissue.
What is a DTI scan?
Brain imaging technology that measures the white matter pathways.
What is functional neuroimaging?
Measures brain activity.
What is an EEG scan?
Measures patterns with use of electrodes of scalp.
What is an MEG scan?
Measures magnetic fields created by electrical activity of nerve cells.
What is a PET scan?
Low-leveled radioactive isotope injected into the blood and its movement is measured.
What does generalizability mean?
Broadening data?
What does validity mean?
Measuring what is claimed.
What is reliabiliy?
Consistent stable answers.
What is Reduction of bias?
Participants’ experiences are the same.
Ways to reduce bias towards something are to identify your biases, pursue empathy, increase diversity, and consciously act.
What is replication?
Repeated study and finding a similar outcome each time
What is descriptive research?
Case studies, naturalistic observation.
What is correlational research?
MEasuring the degree of association between 2 or more variables. It’s just a relationship you can’t say one caused the other.
What is experimental research?
tests with samples, cause and effects
what is the cerebrum?
Area of the brain responsible for all voluntary activities of the brain.
What is white matter?
Axons, myelin, glial cells
What is grey matter?
Neuronal cell bodies
What is the cerebral cortex?
Outer layer of the brain (thought, language, personality).
What is the cerebral hemispheres?
The right and left halves of the cerebrum.
What is the corpus callosum?
The substance lining the hemisphere.
What is the occipital lobe?
Visual processing
What is the parietal lobe?
receives sensory input for touch and body position. (sensorimotor homunculus).
What is the frontal lobe?
Associated with reasoninng, planning, parts of speech movement emotions and problem solving. (motor and prefrontal cortex).
What is the temporal lobe?
Separated into auditory cortex, Wernicke’s area, and bottom lobe language.
What are executive functions
Ceo of the brain
What is the forebrain
emotion memory thought
what is the basal ganglia
movement, skill learning
what is the limbic system?
neural system (including the hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus and hypothalamus) associated with emotions and drives.
what is the midbrain?
sensation and action.
example: ducking in time to avoid being hit by a sudden foul ball at a baseball game
What is the superior/inferior colliculus?
visual and auditory attention.
what is the hindbrain?
processes critical to life
what is the brainstem?
medulla - regulates breathing
cerebellum - balance and attention
pons
What is rectilinear formation?
alertness, posture, filters sensory info
CNS
brain and spinal cord
PNS
the sensory and motor neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body.
Somatic nervous system?
consists of nerves that control skeletal muscles
Afferent neurons
nerve cells that carry impulses towards the CNS
efferent neurons
nerve cells that conduct impulses away from the CNS
what is the autonomic nervous system?
regulates activity of organs and glands
what is the sympathetic nervous system
fight or flight
what is the parasympathetic nervous sytem?
rest and digest
what are neurotransmitter qualities
they have been synthesized in neurons, stored in synaptic terminals, released during action potentials, and removed from synapse after task is done.
What are the main neurotransmitters?
acetylcholine (inhibitory), monoamines (both), gaba (inhibitory), glutamate (excretory).
hormones come from?
the hypothalamus, anterior pituitary - endocrine system
how does synaptic transmission work?
The process of synaptic transmission starts with the synthesis of neurotransmitters in the presynaptic neuron.
Then neurotransmitters are transported and stored in the axon terminal.
Next action potential reaches the terminal and neurotransmitters are released.
Neurotransmitters now cross the gap between pre and postsynaptic neurons and bind to cell receptors in postsynaptic neuron.
To stop continued influence,
deactivation takes place so that the neurotransmitters don’t continue to influence the postsynaptic neuron.
Auto receptor is activated to regulate neurotransmitters.
The leftover neurotransmitters are reuptaken into the pre neuron.
Enzymes then breakdown leftover molecules during digestion.
What is synaptic transmission?
process in which neurons communicate with each other by passing neurotransmitters through a synapse
what is a sensation?
stimulation of sense organs
what is the absolute threshold?
the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time.
what is the difference threshold?
the minimum difference between 2 stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time.
what is signal detection theory?
whether or not we detect stimuli depends on sensory and decision processes.
What is perception?
Impact of attention (divided, selective, inattentional blindness).
What are vision receptors?
Rods and cones in the retina
How do vision receptors work?
eye gathers light through waves. depending on factors like wavelength and amplitude depends on how we see hues and brightness.
what is sclera?
white of the eye
what is cornea?
the clear tissue that covers the front of the eye, light enters here. helps eye focus.
what is the pupil?
regulates amount of light entering
what is the iris?
a ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening.
what are lens?
focuses light onto retina
what is the optic nerve
dense fibre bundle connects eye to brain
what is the retina?
the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information.
cones
retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations
rods
retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don’t respond
2 streams of visual processing
dorsal and ventral
what are binocular cues
depth cues that depend on the use of 2 eyes
what are monocular cues
distance cues such as linear perspective and overlap available to either eye alone.
what are sound waves?
vibrations in molecules in the air
external ear
conducts sound via sound waves (pinna and eardrum)
middle ear
conducts sound via movement of bones (hammer, anvil, stirrup)
inner ear
conducts sound via waves in fluids (cochlea, vestibular system)
place theory
sound frequencies stimulate the basilar membrane at specific places resulting in perceived pitch.
what is frequency theory
theory of pitch that states that pitch is related to the speed of vibrations in the basilar membrane.
touch
converts physical stimuli to psychological experience
nociception
perception of pain
what is gate control theory
explains our experience of pain as an interaction between nerves that transmit pain and those who inhibit these messages.
Pain can change as the brain processes info.
As a child, if you bumped your head, a relative might have immediately told you to rub the affected spot.
what is the gustatory system?
the sensory system for taste
olfactory system
smell sensory system
what is transduction
converting outside stimuli into neural activity
titchener
founder of structuralism
skinner
operant conditioning
james
functionalism
seratonin
affects mood hunger sleep and arousal
dopamine
voluntary movement learning attention and emotions, processing rewards
gaba
a major inhibitory neurotransmitter
norepinephrine
helps control alertness and arousal
epinephrine
adrenaline
test-restest reliability
using the same test on two occasions to measure consistency
inter rater reliability
a measure of how similarly two different test scorers would score on a test
predictive validity
the success with which a test predicts the behaviour it is designed to predict.
convergent validity
scores on the measure are related to each other measures of the same construct.
glial cells
cells in the nervous system that support nourish and protect neurons.
motor neurons
neurons that carry signals from the spinal cord to the muscles to produce movemet
sensory neurons
carry impulses from the sense organs to the spinal cord and the brain
parts of the forebrain
thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, limbic system, cerebral cortex.
parts of the forebrain
thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, limbic system, cerebral cortex
parts of the midbrain
inferior and superior colliculi
parts of the hindbrain
medulla, pons, cerebullum
pseudoscience
set of claims that seems scientific but isnt
divided attention
concentrating on more than one activity at the same time
selective attention
the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus
inattentional blindness
a failure to perceive objects that are not the focus of attention.
a sound hypothesis must be..?
testable
How much risk is allowed in a study?
depends on the possible benefits of the study.
which two doctors were able to identify important language centres in the brain by studying their patients?
Broca and Wernicke
Both Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area play a critical role in human language. While Wernicke’s area controls the ability to understand the meaning of words, Broca’s area, in conjunction with the motor cortex, controls the ability to speak those words.
why is the MKUltra project cited?
bcs of the unethical research on humans
dependent vs independent variables
You want to see the effect of studying or sleeping on a test score. In the example, “test score” is the dependent variable. “Studying” or “sleeping” is the independent variable because these factors impact how much a student scores on the test.
what is male advantage in mental rotation tasts related to?
testosterone levels
polysomnography
used when sleeping to measure respiration, body temp, muscle movements and brain activity - sleep pattern
when light enters the eye and travels to the back of the retina what is the order of cells through which this process occurs?
ganglion cells, bipolar cells, photoreceptors
what is proactive interference?
Proactive interference happens when the ability to learn new information is distorted by old information that has been learned.
Example: studying for a french and spannish test and then on the french test only knowing spannish
long term potentiation
Long-term potentiation, or LTP, is a process by which synaptic connections between neurons become stronger with frequent activation.
dual coding
a way to improve memory by storing it in more than one form.
what is anterograde amnesia?
damage to the hippocampus.
Anterograde amnesia is a type of memory loss that occurs when you can’t form new memories.
which of the following correctly describes the basic levels of processing (LOP).
thinking about the meaning of information leads to better encoding
emotion and memory - most likely to least likely to be recalled
emotionally negative, emotionally positive, neutral
serial position effect
you can remember the beginning and end of a list
variable-ratio schedule
In operant conditioning, a variable-ratio schedule is a partial schedule of reinforcement in which a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses
escape learning
Escape learning is a type of negative reinforcement in which one distances themself once they are presented with an undesirable stimulus or performs a behavior to stop that stimulus once it begins to occur
classical vs operant conditioning
responding does not affect the presentation of stimuli in classical conditioning but in operant conditioning responding has consequences.
conditioned taste aversion
a form of classical conditioning that occurs with only a CS-US pairing
the term negative in negative reinforcement means..?
the removal of stimulus
what is classical/discrimination training?
Classical conditioning is a type of learning that involves forming associations between two stimuli. In this process, discrimination is the ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that have not been paired with an unconditioned stimulus.
classical extinction
In Classical Extinction, the conditioned response weakens over time as the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus. The absence of the unconditioned stimulus leads to a gradual reduction or elimination of the conditioned response.
what does negative punishment do?
decrease the likelihood of behaviour reoccuring.
what is the concept of contingency refer to?
a consequence depends on an action
Darwin
Survival of the fittest - natural selection
Sensory adaptation
a reduction in sensitivity to a stimulus after constant exposure to it. 1 While sensory adaptation reduces our awareness of a stimulus, it helps free up our attention and resources to attend to other stimuli in our environment.
Proactive interference vs Recency effect vs retroactive interference
Proactive Interference: This occurs when older memories interfere with the retrieval of newer information. For example, if you learned Spanish before learning French, your knowledge of Spanish might make it harder to remember French vocabulary.
Recency Effect: This is a phenomenon observed in memory recall, where individuals are more likely to remember the last items in a list. It is part of the broader serial position effect, which also includes the primacy effect (better recall of the first items). The recency effect is thought to occur because these items are still fresh in short-term memory.
Retroactive Interference: This happens when new information disrupts the recall of older memories. For instance, if you learn a new phone number, it might make it harder to remember your old number. The new information interferes with the retrieval of the older information.
Anterograde vs retrograde amnesia
Anterograde Amnesia: This condition affects the ability to form new memories after the onset of the amnesia. Individuals can recall memories from before the incident that caused the amnesia (like a brain injury or trauma) but struggle to remember new information or experiences. For example, someone with anterograde amnesia might meet someone and then forget about that encounter shortly afterward.
Retrograde Amnesia: In contrast, retrograde amnesia involves the loss of pre-existing memories that were formed before the onset of the condition. People with this type of amnesia may have difficulty recalling events, facts, or experiences from their past. The severity and extent of the memory loss can vary, and some memories may gradually return over time.
Escape learning vs avoidance learning vs negative punishment
escape learning deals with reacting to unpleasant stimuli, avoidance learning focuses on preventing those stimuli, and negative punishment aims to reduce undesirable behaviors through the removal of positive reinforcers.
Fixed ratio vs variable ratio
Fixed happens every time variable happens sometimes
Fixed interval vs variable intervle
Same thing as above but time
Negative punishment vs positive punishment
Negative = smth being taken away
Positive = smth being given (being hit)
Classical vs operant conditioning
Think responding. Not learning
Classical = no consequence when u don’t do what ur supposed to. The subjects don’t even have to know ur doing it.
Operant = smth happens to you
