Midterm 1 Flashcards
1
Q
What is the main reason for using a research design?
A
It prevents scientists from wasting their time on techniques that are false and harmful and focus on techniques that give real hope.
2
Q
What did the prefrontal lobotomy teach scientists?
A
Since scientists believed it cured schizophrenia and other mental disorders, it actually changes the behaviour of the patient and doesn’t cure the disease.
3
Q
What is the important saying for seeing the difference between intuitive and analytical thinking?
A
The same psychological processes that serve us well in most situations also predispose us to errors in thinking
4
Q
What is naturalistic observation?
A
By using a mode of recording events, scientists can recorder data based on natural behaviour
5
Q
What is external validity?
A
The extent to which we can generalize findings to real-world settings
6
Q
What is internal validity?
A
The extent to which we can draw cause-and-effect interferences
7
Q
What are case studies?
A
Are experiments where a researcher will examine one person or a small group , often over an extended period of time
8
Q
Why are case studies helpful?
A
They can be helpful in providing existence proofs
9
Q
What are self-report measures?
A
Often called questionnaires, or sometimes are surveys which measure people’s opinions and attitude
10
Q
What is reliability?
A
Consistency of results; test-retest reliability refers to similar scores over time; interrater reliability is the reliability with the rater or tester of the experiment
11
Q
What are correlational designs?
A
Research designs that examines the extent to which two variables are associated
12
Q
What is illusory correlation?
A
The perception of a statistical association between two variables where non exists, such as the full moon is correlated to crime or bad events
13
Q
What is random assignment?
A
Where the experimenter randomly sorts participants into one of two groups, experimental group and the control group
14
Q
What is the placebo effect?
A
Is a phenomenon that is improvement resulting from the mere expectation of improvement
15
Q
What is the nocebo effect?
A
It is pretty much the opposite of the placebo effect, where the effect is harm resulting from the expectation of harm, such as voodoo
16
Q
What is the experimenter expectancy effect?
A
Also called the Rosenthal effect, occurs when researchers’ hypotheses lead them to unintentionally bias the outcome of a study
17
Q
What are demand characteristics?
A
When research participants can pick up cues from an experiment that allows them to generate guesses regarding the experimenter’s hypotheses.
18
Q
What is informed consent?
A
It is that researchers must tell subjects what they’re getting into before they can participate, so they can ask questions
19
Q
What are descriptive statistics?
A
It describes data
20
Q
What is central tendency?
A
Gives us the ‘central score’ of the data
21
Q
What is the mean?
A
Known as the average
22
Q
What is the median?
A
The middle score of the data set
23
Q
What is the mode?
A
The most frequent score
24
Q
What is variability?
A
It gives us a sense of how loosely or tightly bunched the scores re
25
What is the range?
Difference between the highest and the lowest scores
26
What is the standard deviation?
The average amount that the individual score differs from the mean
27
What is inferential statistics?
Allows us to determine how much we can generalize findings from our sample to the full population
28
What is the cell body?
Also called the soma, the central region of the neuron, it manufactures new cell components and contains the nucleus
29
What are dendrites?
Branchlike extensions that receive information from other neurons and passes them onto the cell body
30
What are axons?
They are transmitters, they're specialized at sending messages to other neurons
31
What are synaptic vesicles?
Tiny spheres that travel the length of the axon on their way to a knoblike structure called the axon terminal, when it reaches the end, it bursts
32
What are neurotransmitters?
Chemical messengers that neurons use to communicate with each others
33
What is a synapse?
A tiny fluid filled space between neurons through which the neurotransmitters travel
34
What is the synaptic cleft?
The synapse consists of a synaptic cleft, a gap into which neurotransmitters are released from the axon of the first neuron
35
What are glial cells?
Glial meaning glue
36
What are astrocytes?
Astrocytes communicate closely with neurons, control blood flow, and play a vital role in the development of the embryo
37
What are oligodendrocytes?
Another type of glial cell which promotes new connections among nerve cells and releases chemical to aid in healing
38
What is the myelin sheath?
An insulated wrapper around axons
39
What are nodes?
This sheath, contains numerous gaps all along the axon
40
What is the resting potential?
When there are no neurotransmitters acting on the neuron
41
What is the threshold?
When the electrical charge inside the neuron reaches a high enough relative to the outside
42
What is an action potential?
Also called the language of neurons, are abrupt waves of electric discharge triggered by a charge inside the axon.
43
What is the absolute refractory period?
A brief interval during which another action potential cannot occur
44
What is excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP)?
Is when positive ions are allowed in, this depolarizes the neuron
45
What is inhibitory postsynaptic potential (IPSP)?
Is when negative ions move in, it will hyper polarizes the neuron
46
What are receptor sites?
Places on the dendrites that bind with a specific neurotransmitter
47
What is reuptake?
It is when the neuron absorbs the neurotransmitter back, it recycles neurotransmitters
48
What does it mean when a drug is an agonist or antagonist?
It means that it either increases receptor site activity (agonist) or decrease them (antagonist)
49
What is plasticity?
The nervous system's ability to change
50
What 4 ways can the brain change?
Growth of dendrites and axons, synaptogenesis, pruning, and myelination
51
What is neurogenesis?
It is the creation of new neurons in the adult brain
52
What are stem cells?
They are special embryonic cells, they haven't committed themselves to a specific function
53
What is glutamate?
It rapidly excites neurons, associated with enhanced learning and memory, can contribute to schizophrenia when in high doses
54
What is GABA?
Gamma-aminobutyric acid, it inhibits neurons, mostly anti-anxiety drugs, helps with sleep and worry
55
What is acetylcholine?
Plays a role in arousal, selective attention, sleep, and memory. Alzheimer's disease kills cells that release acetylcholine causing memory loss
56
What are the monamine neurotransmitters?
Norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin, called monamine because they only contain amino acids
57
What is dopamine?
Plays a critical role in the rewarding experiences that occur when we seek or anticipate our goals
58
What are Norepinephrine and Serotonin?
They activate or deactivate various parts of the brain, influencing arousal and our readiness to respond to stimuli
59
What is anandamide?
It binds to the same receptors as THC, plays a role in eating, motivation, memory, and sleep
60
What are neuropeptides?
Short strings of amino acids, endorphins are a type of neuropeptide that plays a specialized role in pain reduction, they act like opioids but naturally occur in the body
61
What is the central nervous system (CNS)?
Composed of the brain and the spinal cord
62
What is the peripheral nervous system (PNS)?
Composed of all the nerves that extend outside of the CNS
63
What is the PNS divided into?
The somatic nervous system which controls voluntary behaviour, and autonomic nervous system which controls non-voluntary functions
64
What are cerebral ventricles?
Fluid filled pockets that run through our brain and spinal cord, a clear liquid called cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) runs through these ventricles providing nutrience and cushioning against injury
65
What is the cerebral cortex?
It analyzes sensory information, helping us perform complex brain functions
66
What is the forebrain?
The most highly developed part of the brain, it gives us our advanced intellectual abilities
67
What is the corpus callous?
Huge band of fibres connecting the cerebral hemispheres
68
What are the frontal lobes?
They lie in the front of the cortex, assists us in motor function, language, and memory, oversee and organize most other brain functions, a process called executive functioning
69
What is the prefrontal cortex?
It is responsible for thinking, planning, and language
70
What is the Broca's area?
Plays a key role in language
71
What is the parietal lobe?
It is the primary sensory cortex, which is sensitive to touch, including pressure, pain, and temperature
72
What is the temporal lobe?
Prime site of hearing, understanding language, and storing memory, language is called the Wernicke's area
73
What is the occipital lobe?
Contains the visual cortex, dedicated to seeing
74
What is the association cortex?
It synthesizes information to perform more complex functions, such as pulling together size, shape, colour, and location information to identify and object
75
What is the basal ganglia?
Are structures buried deep inside the cerebral cortex that help control movement
76
What is the limbic system?
Diverse parts of the brain dedicated to emotion, also processes information about our internal states such as blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, and perspiration
77
What is the thalamus?
It is like the sensory relay station
78
What is the hypothalamus?
Located on the floor of the brain, regulates and maintains constant internal bodily states, the 4 f's (feeding, fighting, fleeing, fucking)
79
What is the amygdala?
Responsible for excitement, arousal, and especially fear
80
What is the hippocampus?
Plays a crucial role in memory, especially spatial memory. Hypothesis is that it temporarily stores memories before transferring them to other places
81
What is the cerebellum?
Plays a predominant role in our sense of balance and enables us to coordinate movement and learn motor skills. Also contributes to executive, memory, spatial, and linguistic abilities
82
What is the brain stem?
Contains the midbrain, pons, and the medulla. Performs some of the basic bodily functions that keep us alive, is also a relay station between the cortex and the rest of the nervous system
83
What is the midbrain?
Plays an important role in movement, also controls the tracking of visual stimuli and reflexes triggered by sound
84
What is the reticular activating system (RAS)?
It connects the forebrain and cerebral cortex, plays a key role in arousal, damage to the RAS can result in a coma
85
What is the medulla?
Regulates breathing, heartbeat, and other vital functions, also controls nausea and vomiting, damage to this area can cause brain death
86
What is the spinal cord?
Extends from our brain stem and runs down the middle of our backs, conveying information from our brain to the rest of our body
87
What are interneurons?
Send messages to other neurons located nearby, connecting motor neurons and sensory neurons
88
What are reflexes?
Automatic motor responses to sensory stimuli
89
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
Is active during emotional arousal, especially during crises, it carries out the fight or flight response
90
Parasympathetic nervous system?
Is active during rest and digestion, when there is no threat
91
What are the adrenal glands?
Located atop the kidneys, they manufacture adrenaline and cortisol, boosts energy production in muscle cells
92
What are the 5 things that adrenalin does to the body?
1. Opening of the bronchioles (tiny airways) of the lungs
2. Contraction of our heart muscle and constriction of blood vessels
3. Breakdown of glycogen (a carbohydrate) into glucose
4. Breakdown of fat into fatty acids,
5. Opening the pupils of our eyes
93
What does cortisol cause?
It regulates blood pressure and cardiovascular function, as well as the body's use of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats
94
What is the pituitary gland?
Controls the other glands, under the control of the hypothalamus
95
What is the pituitary hormone?
Called oxytocin, responsible for many reproductive functions, including stretching the cervix and vagina during birth, called the 'love molecule'
96
What is an EEG?
ElectroEncephaloGraph, measures electrical activity generated by the brain
97
What is a CT?
A Computed Tomography allows us to visualize the brain's structure. It's a 3D reconstruction of multiple X-rays taken throughout a part of the brain
98
What is a MRI?
A Magnetic Resonance Imaging, also measures electrical activity generated by the brain, it measures the release of energy from hydrogen atoms in biological tissue following exposure to a magnetic field
99
What is a PET
A Positron Emission Tomography, measures changes in the brain's activity in response to stimuli. Requires the injection of radioactive glucose-like molecules into patients
100
What is a fMRI?
A Functional MRI measures the change in blood oxygen level, it is an indirect way to measure brain activity
101
What is a TMS?
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation applies strong and quickly changing magnetic fields to the skull to create electric fields in the brain. It can either intcruot or enhance brain function in a specific
102
What is a MEG
MagnetoEncephaloGraph detects electrical activity in the brain by measuring tiny magnetic fields, measures brain activity millisecond by millisecond
103
What is lateralization?
Is that many capacities rely on one cerebral hemisphere more than the other
104
What are chromosomes?
Slender threads inside the cells nucleus that carry genes. We have 46 chromosomes in pairs
105
What are genes?
Genetic material composed of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
106
What is a genotype?
Set of genes transmitted from our parents to us.
107
What is fitness?
Higher the fitness, higher the chance of passing on their genes to a later generation
108
What is heritability?
The extent to which genes contribute to differences in a trait among individuals
109
What are family studies?
Researchers examine the extent to which a characteristic 'runs' together in intact families, don't show the environmental side
110
What are twin studies?
The analysis of how traits differ in individuals in identical versus fraternal twins
111
What are adoption studies?
Examine children adopted into a home, where they virtually share zero genetic material however share the same environment
112
What is an illusion?
Created when your sensation and perception don't match its physical reality
113
What is sensation?
Detection of physical energy by our sense organs (eyes, ears, tongue, and nose)
114
What is perception?
Is the interpretation these raw sensory inputs
115
What is transduction?
The process by which the nervous system converts external stimuli, like sound or light, into electrical signals within neurons
116
What is sensory adaptation?
When our body lowers the level of sensation after the first detection to conserve energy and resources
117
What is phycophysics?
Study of how we perceive sensory stimuli based upon their physical characteristics
118
What is the absolute threshold?
The lowest level of a stimulus that we can detect
119
What is the just noticeable difference?
The smallest change in the intensity of a stimulus that we can detect
120
What is the Weber's law?
States that there's a constant proportional relationship between the JND and the original stimulus intensity, the stronger the stimulus, the bigger the change needed for a change in stimulus intensity to be noticeable
121
What is signal detection theory?
Describes how we detect stimuli under uncertain conditions, such as trying to understand a friend over the phone when there is static
122
What is synesthesia?
A condition in which people experience cross-modal sensations, like hearing sounds when they see colours
123
What is mirror touch synesthesia?
A person experience the same sensation that another person experiences
124
What is lexical-gustatory synesthesia?
Words are associated with specific tastes or textures
125
What is chromesthesia?
Sounds trigger the experience of colour, in the cases of misophonia, sounds trigger strong emotions such as anger or fear
126
What is personification?
Numbers, letters, or days of the week take on personality characteristics and sometimes have a characteristic appearance
127
What is number-form synesthesia?
Numbers are imagined as mental maps
128
What are spatial sequence synesthesia?
Certain sequences of numbers, dates, or months are perceived as closer or farther in space
129
What is selective attention?
Allows us to select one 'channel' and turn off the others
130
What is filter theory?
Views attention as a bottleneck through which information passes, this enables us to pay attention to more important stimuli and ignore others
131
What is cocktail party effect?
The ability to pick out an important message, like our name, in a conversation that doesn't involve us
132
What is unintentional blindness?
The failure to detect stimuli that are in plain sight when our attention is focused elsewhere
133
What is change blindness?
The failure to detect obvious changes in one's environment
134
What is hue?
Psychologists call the colour of light hue
135
What is the sclera?
Simply the whites of the eyes
136
What is accommodation?
A process by which the lenses change shape to focus light on the back of the eyes
137
What are feature detector cells?
They detect lines and edges
138
What is trichromatic theory?
Proposes that we base our colour vision on three primary colour- red, blue, and green
139
What is colour blindness?
Most often due to the absence or reduced number of one or more types of cones
140
What is opponent process theory?
Holds that we perceive colours in terms of three pairs of opponent cells: red or green, blue or yellow, and black and white. It explains after images
141
What is audition?
Sense of hearing
142
What is pitch?
Corresponds to the frequency of the wave
143
What is amplitude?
Height of the sounds wave, corresponds to loudness
144
What is timbre?
Refers to the quality or complexity of the sounds, musical instruments sound different because of timbre
145
What is the cochlea?
Converts vibrations into neural activity, its spiral shaped like a snail filled with a thick fluid
146
What is the organ of Corti and basilar membrane?
They are critical for hearing because they convert acoustic information into action potentials
147
What is place theory?
Where hair cells at the base of the membrane are sensitive to high pitched tones and cells at the top of the membrane are sensitive to low pitched tones, causes pitch to be perceived
148
What is frequency theory?
The rate at which neurons fire action potentials reproduces the pitch
149
What is conductive deafness?
Deafness due to the malfunctioning of the ear, of the eardrum or the ossicles of the inner ear
150
What is nerve deafness?
Deafness due to damage to the auditory nerve
151
What is noise-induced hearing loss?
Damage to our hair cells cause by exposure to loud noises over an extended period of time
152
What is olfaction?
Sense of smell
153
What is gustation?
Sense of taste
154
What are the five basic tastes?
Sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami (described as 'meaty' or 'savoury')
155
What are pheromones?
Odourless chemicals that serve as social signals to members of one's species
156
What is the somatosensory system?
Used for touch and pain
157
What is gate control model?
People experiencing excruciating pain during combat or natural childbirth, the pain is blocked from consciousness because neural mechanisms in the spinal cord function as a 'gate'
158
What is proprioception?
Also called our kinaesthetic sense, helps us keep track of where we are and move efficiently
159
What is vestibular sense?
Also called our sense of equilibrium, enables us to sense and maintain our balance as we move about
160
What are our semicircular canals?
Located in the inner ear, these canals are filled with fluid which sense equilibrium and help us maintain our balance
161
What is parallel processing?
The ability to attend to many sense modalities simultaneously
162
What is bottom-up processing?
We construct a whole stimuli from its parts, raw stimuli we perceive and ends with our synthesizing them into a meaningful concept
163
What is top-down processing?
Starts with processing in the association cortex, followed by processing in the primary visual cortex
164
What is a perceptual set?
Set formed when expectations influence perceptions
165
What is perceptual constancy?
Process by which we perceive stimuli consistently across varied conditions, three kinds: shape, size, and colour
166
What is proximity?
Objects physically close to each other tend to be perceived as unified wholes
167
What is similarity?
All things being equal, we see similar objects as composing a whole
168
What is continuity?
We still perceive objects as wholes, even if other objects block them apart
169
What is closure?
When partial visual information is present, our brains fill in what's missing
170
What is symmetry?
We perceive objects that are symmetrically arranged as wholes more often than those that aren't
171
What is figure-ground?
Perceptually, we make an instantaneous decision to focus attention on what we believe to be the central figure
172
What is relative size?
All things being equal, more distant objects look smaller, and closer objects look closer
173
What is texture gradient?
The texture of objects becomes less apparent as objects move apart
174
What is interposition?
One objects that's closer blocks our view of an object behind it
175
What is linear perspective?
The outlines of rooms or buildings converge as distance increases
176
What is height in plane?
In a scene, distant objects tend to appear higher, and nearer objects lower
177
What is light and shadow?
Objects cast shadows that give us a sense of their three-dimensional form
178
What is binocular disparity?
Like lenses in a binocular, both eyes give different information, which you brain uses to compare and use to create depth
179
What is binocular convergence?
When we look at nearby objects, we focus on them reflexively, called convergence, our brains are aware of how much we do this and use this to estimate distance
180
What is subliminal perception?
The processing of sensory information that occurs below the limen; that is the level of conscious awareness
