PSYC*3270 Week 2 Flashcards
What is the cognitive-behavioural brain reserve (CBBR)?
The brain’s structure and function, shaped by experience, that serves as a protective measure against various neurological threats
Do enriched experiences lead to a higher or lower cognitive-behavioural brain reserve?
Higher
What does the term “fundamental capacities” refer to?
The ability to adapt to uncertain, changing, and open-ended environments
Do stressful and/or deprived experiences lead to a higher or lower cognitive-behavioural brain reserve?
Lower
T or F: A low CBBR leads to an increased risk of psychopathology and neurodegenerative conditions.
True
What are the five types of conditions present on the continuum of sensory-motor and cognitive-emotional stimulation?
- No stimulation
- Understimulation
- Adequate stimulation
- Enriched stimulation
- Overstimulation
Which condition on the continuum of sensory-motor and cognitive-emotional stimulation is required for appropriate development?
Adequate stimulation
Which condition on the continuum of sensory-motor and cognitive-emotional stimulation promotes above average development?
Enriched stimulation
Rene Spitz was the first to systematically show what?
That social interactions with other humans are essential for children’s development
Around what age did Rene Spitz begin to observe differences between the orphanage group and the prison nursery group?
Around 1 year of age
Was the motor and intellectual performance of babies reared in the orphanage better or worse than the babies reared in the prison nursery?
Much worse
T or F: In Rene Spitz’s study, at around 2-3 years old, did the babies from the orphanage showed development comparable to children raised in traditional family settings.
False. Of the 26 children reared in the orphanage, only 2 could walk and speak a few words. Those raised in the prison nursery showed normal development.
The idea that the brain is constantly changing with experience is known as what?
Brain plasticity
In the case of the Romanian orphans in the 1980s, at what age of adoption did children show the best recovery?
Adopted before the age of 6 months
In the case of the Romanian orphans in the 1980s, at what age of adoption did children show limited to no recovery?
Adopted after 18 months
What are three ways in which the adolescent brain is qualitatively different from child and adult brains?
- Rapid synaptic pruning and growth of connections
- Differences in volumes of grey and white matter
- Differences in levels of NTs
What are three ways in which adolescent behaviour can be qualitatively different from the behaviour of children and adults?
- More risk taking, less inhibition
- Vulnerability to drugs of abuse
- Vulnerability to onset of mental disorders
What is the primary focus of transformational education?
Developing active learning skills
What term defines a learners’ ability to mentally “save” newly acquired information and behaviours?
Memory
T or F: Memory is a process, not a location.
False. Memory can be both a process of saving knowledge, and a location where knowledge is held.
In memory processes, what does storage involve?
Involves putting something into memory
In memory processes, what does retrieval involve?
Involves finding something in memory
In memory, what is the difference between reconsolidation and extinction?
- Reconsolidation: memory strengthened
- Extinction: Memory weakened
Meaningful learning that is retained in long-term memory usually involves what three things?
- Organization
- Visual imagery
- Elaboration
What are the 10 principles of brain plasticity?
RECLAIMEDT:
- Relevant to organism
- Experience leads to two general types of plasticity
- Conserved and common across species
- Levels (plasticity can be analyzed at many levels)
- Age-dependent
- Interacts across systems
- Maladaptive (brain can be either too rigid or too flexible)
- Experience-dependent
- Degrees (occurs in various degrees of intensity, frequency, or duration)
- Time-dependent
What is the illusion of knowing?
The idea that people are confident on their knowledge until they are tested
Is active or passive learning positively correlated with the illusion of knowing?
Passive
What is the Dunning-Kruger effect?
The idea that when first learning something, individuals think they are more knowledgeable about the topic than they really are
What is the difference between monism and dualism?
- Monism: Suggests that the brain produces the mind
- Dualism: Suggests that the mind and brain are separate
What is the difference between the easy and hard mind-body problem?
- Easy: How physiological responses correlate with experience
- Hard: How physiological responses cause experience
What is cognitive neuroscience?
The study of how the brain enables the mind
From what two places/practices did historical evidence that the brain produces the mind come from?
- Studying patients with brain lesions
- Scientific investigations with healthy people and animals
What process involves testing one or more falsifiable hypotheses by systematically manipulating one or more variables to observe their effect(s) on an outcome variable?
An experiment
What is a predictor variable also known as?
An independent variable
What is an outcome variable also known as?
A dependent variable
What term refers to an explanatory framework?
Theory
Is a set of hypotheses supported by a large body of evidence from observations and experiments known as an empirical theory or a non-empirical theory?
Empirical theory
Is an explanation based on a contemplative and rational type of abstract or generalized thinking known as an empirical theory or a non-empirical theory?
Non-empirical
What are three modern measures that allow for learning about the mind and brain?
- Measuring changes in biological activity of brain regions
- Measuring changes in biological activity of neurons
- Measuring changes in grey and white matter structures
