Midterm 2 Flashcards
What is Evolution?
Change in heritable traits in a population over time
What is Natural Selection
The process by which evolution occurs
What is Behvaiour
Organism’s response to stimulus
What are genes?
traits
What is a genotype?
A person’s specific genetic makeup
What is a phenotype?
The observable charecteristics due to genes
What is polygeneic trransmission?
When a number of gene pairs combine to create a single phenotypic trait
What is a recombinant DNA procedure?
Inserting combined DNA into host cell
What is Gene knockout procedure?
Alter a specific gene so It cant function
What is heritability?
How much of a variation in a characteristic within a population can be attributed to genes
What is concordance rate?
rate of co occurence of a characteristic among individuals
What is the Theory of Evolution?
Slow change in allele frequency of a population over time
What is a polygamous mating system?
Unequal contributions
What is natural selection
Characteristics that increase your likelihood of survival remain in the population and become common over time
What is a monogamous mating system?
Two parents have equal parental investment
What is polyandry?
One female, many males
What is polygyny?
One male, many females
What is polygynandry?
Many males, many females
What is cooperation?
One individual helps another and both gain advantage
What is altruism?
One individual gains advantage, other puts them above himself
What is Kin selected Theory?
Help individuals with similar genes
altruism and relatedness are directly related
K selected
What is Reciprocal Altruism Theory?
Accountability
“I help you know you help later”
R selected
What is sensation?
Stimulation of the sense organs
What is perception?
Selection, organization, interpretation of sensory input
What is transduction?
process where sensations are translated to electrochemical transmission
What is stimulus?
Detectable input from environment
What is absolute threshold?
minimum amount of stimulation that an organism can detect
What is Just Noticeable Difference?
the smallest difference you can detect
What is Weber’s Law
Says that it’s easier to tell the difference in a change of low stimulus or high stimulus
What is Fechner’s Law?
Subjective sensation is proportional to the logarithm of stimulus intensity
What is signal detection theory?
detection of stimuli involves decision processes as well as sensory processes
What is subliminal pereception?
registration of sensory input without conscious awareness
what is sensory adaption?
gradual decline in sensitivity to stimulus
What is frequency, amplitude, purity and wavelength
W and F: pitch
A: volume
P: timbre
What is auditory localization?
locating a sound in space
What is the pathway of smell (olfaction)?
Olfactory cilia > Neural Impulse > Olfactory nerve > Brain
What is the pathway of taste?
taste buds > neural impulse > thalamus > cortex
What is the pathway of sense of touch?
sensory receptors > spiral column > brainstem > cross to opposite side of brain > parietal lobe
What are endorphins?
Body’s painkiller
What is the kinesthetic system?
Monitors the positions of various parts of the bod
What is the vestibular system?
Responds to gravity and and keeps you informed of your body in space
What are the receptor cells of the eye?
Rods: low light/ black and white
Cones: colour/ day light
What is the distribution of receptor cells on the eye?
Fovea: cones
Peripheral retina: rods and cones
what is the Visual Pathway
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus > Visual Striate Cortex > Retinotopic organization
What is myopia?
Inability to see distant objects clearly
What is hyperopia?
Inability to see near objects
What is additive colour mixture?
Superimposes lights
What is subtractive colour mixture?
Removes some wavelengths of light
What is trichromatic theory?
Eye has specialized receptors to red green blue
What is opponent process theory?
Explains afterimages
What are examples of monocular depth cues?
Occlusion
Relative height
Relative size
Perspective convergence
Familiar size
Atmospheric perspective
What is binocular depth cues?
Retinal disparity
Convergence
What is bottom up processing?
Individual elements to whole elements
What is top down processing?
Whole to individual elements
Uses past knowledge
What are Gestalt principles?
humans naturally perceive objects as organized patterns and objects
Figure ground
Principle of proximity
Principle of similarity
Principle of closure
Principle of good continuation
Principle of common fate
What is figure ground?
Organize scenes to a central focus
WHat is common fate?
when elements move together, humans see them as a group as human nature associates objects that share a common motion
What is consciousness?
The awareness of external and internal stimuli
What is conscious?
Mental events we are aware of
What is pre conscious?
Events are outside of current awareness
What is unconscious?
Not brought into conscious awareness
What is awareness?
Ability to directly know and perceive
What is attention?
Concentration of awareness excluding other stimuli
What is sleep regulated by?
suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)
What is stage 1 of sleep?
Transition to light sleep (1-10 mins)
What is stage 2 of sleep
Deeper sleep (10-25 mins)
Things start to decelerate
What are sleep spindles
1-2 seconds of rapid brain activity
What are stages 3-4 of sleep?
Slow Wave sleep (~30 mins)
What is hypnosis?
A systematic procedure that increases suggestability
What are psychoactive drugs?
Chemicals similar to those found in our brain
What are agonist drugs?
Drugs that increase activity of a neurotransmitter
What are antagonist drugs?
Drugs that inhibit or decrease activity of a neurotransmitter
