Psych 101 Review Questions from Lectures for Exam #1 Flashcards
What is Psychology?
The science of behavior and mental processes
What is Psychiatry?
the study of the medical treatment of psychological disorders
What did Rene Descartes think about the soul?
He thought the soul was separate from the body and was not subject to physical laws
What was the main research technique of Structuralism?
Introspection
Who opened the first Psychology laboratory and in what country was it opened?
Wilhelm Wundt; Germany
Who was the founder of Structuralism who opened the first Psychology laboratory in America?
Edward Titchner
What are the two reasons why introspection was a bad method for studying mental events?
- Introspection does not replicate across individuals
2. Many psychological processes are not open to introspection because they are not conscious
How did Functionalists try to understand the mind?
They tried to understand the mind by determining its purpose.
Who was the founder of Functionalism who wrote a book called The Principles of Psychology?
William James
What scientific theory influenced the Functionalists?
Darwins Theory of Evolution
What is Psychoanalysis?
An approach to studying mental illness that assumes mental illness is caused by subconscious conflicts
What did Sigmund Freud think caused mental illnesses?
He thought subconscious events caused mental illnesses
What is Behaviorism?
The scientific study of the relationship between behavior and reinforcement.
Who was the founder of behaviorism who conditioned Little Albert?
John Watson (1878-1958)
What was the name of the behaviorist who studied operant conditioning?
B.F. Skinner
Why did behaviorism decline in popularity?
primarily due to its inability to provides explanations for many psychological phenomena (language in particular)
What is the Cognitive approach to studying Psychology?
An approach to studying psychology that tries to determine how information is encoded, stored, transformed, and retrieved by the brain.
What is the metaphor upon which the Cognitive approach relies?
computer metaphor
What is the Evolutionary approach to studying Psychology?
An approach to studying psychology in which a researcher tries to develop theories by speculating about what brain structures would have been useful in the environment when the human brain was evolving.
What does Physiological Psychology study?
The study of the brain mechanisms underlying behavior
What do Sensation and Perception Psychologists study?
The study of how nerve systems receives and interprets information from the senses
What does Cognitive Psychology study?
The study of how the brain encodes, stores, retrieves, and interprets information
What does Social Psychology study?
Studies how people influence and relate to one another.
What does Counseling and Clinical Psychology study?
The study of mental health problems and vocational guidance.
What is a scientific theory?
An explanation for a phenomenon that can be falsified and that involves entities.
What does it mean for a scientific theory to be falsifiable?
There must be some hypothetical facts that would prove the theory is false.
What is a hypothesis?
A prediction about observable events
What is a case study?
A description of the behavior or abilities of a single individual
Which school of Psychology used case studies as their primary research technique?
The theories of the Psychoanalysts (Freud) were based on case studies. ????????
Functionalism
What research technique in Psychology is most subject to the problem of confirmation bias?
Case studies
What is naturalistic observation?
A research technique in which the researcher observes and describes behavior
What research technique did Jane Goodall use to study the chimpanzees?
naturalistic observation
What are naturalistic observations good for?
answering simple questions
What is the correlational approach?
Attempts to determine the relationships between variables without manipulating that variables.
What are the two circumstances when a Psychologist would use the correlational approach?
When manipulating the variables being studied would be:
a. impossible or very difficult
b. unethical
What is causation?
A causal relationship exists is a change in one variable results in a change in the other
Can the correlational approach be used to determine if two variables have a causal relationship?
No
If two variables have a perfect positive relationship, what would be the value of the correlation co-efficient for those variables?
+1
What does it mean if the correlation co-efficient between two variables is near 0?
The weaker the relationship is
What two characteristics must an experiment possess?
- The researcher manipulates the independent variable
2. random assignment
What is an independent variable?
The variable the researcher manipulates in an experiment.
What is a dependent variable?
The variable the researcher measures to determine the effects of the independent variable
What is random assignment?
Occurs when every person in the experiment has an equally likely chance of being assigned to each level of the independent variable
In contrast to all other research techniques, what does an experiment allow a researcher to do?
Experiments allow researchers to infer a causal relationship between the independent and dependent variables.
What is an operational definition?
A concept is defined in terms of the variables used to measure (hunger could be defined as “hours without food”)
What is the name of an individual nerve cell?
Neuron
What are the four parts of a neuron and what are their functions?
- Dendrites: Receive electrical signals from other neurons
- Cell Body (soma): contains the nucleus and provides for the life processes of the cell
- Axon: carries the electrical signal from the soma to the terminal buttons
- Terminal Buttons: release neurotransmitters that cause electrical changes to the next neuron in the chain
What is an action potential?
A spike of electricity that travels down its axon.
What is the space between the terminal buttons of one neuron and the dendrites of another neuron called?
Synaps
What is a neurotransmitter?
Binds to receptors in the dendrites of the next neuron in the chain thereby electrically exciting or inhibiting the next cell.
Which part of the brain (hindbrain, midbrain, or forebrain) contains the medulla oblongata and the pons?
Hindbrain
What does the medulla oblongata do?
Controls breathing, heart rate, and vomiting
What does the pons do?
Regulates sleep and arousal
What part of the brain (hindbrain, midbrain, or forebrain) contains the superior colliculus, the inferior colliculus, and the substantia nigra?
Midbrain
What do the superior colliculus and the inferior colliculus do?
Superior Colliculus: Controls visual reflexes
Inferior Colliculus: Controls auditory reflexes
What disease involves the death of neurons in the substantia nigra?
Parkinson’s diseases
What part of the brain (hindbrain, midbrain, or forebrain) contains the cortex, hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, and basal ganglia?
Forebrain
What does the hypothalamus regulate?
Regulates feeding, fighting, fleeing, mating
What does the amygdala do?
Controls emotional responses; particularly fear
What does the hippocampus do?
Encodes long term memories
What part of the brain was missing in HM that led to his problems transferring information from short term to long term memory?
hippocampus
What do the basal ganglia do?
The reward system of the brain
According to Burnham and Phelan’s theory of how the basal ganglia work, what happens when people have a gain in their material success?
we are rewarded briefly, but then the happiness fades so we will continue to strive to make more money
According to Burnham and Phelan’s theory of how the basal ganglia work, what happens when people experience negative events?
We are sad but then the emotional pain fades quickly with time so we won’t be debilitated by grief.
Why is the surface of the cortex wrinkly?
To increase surface area
What are the four lobes of the cortex?
Frontal Lobe, Temporal Lobe, Parietal lobe, Occipital lobe
What is the frontal lobe responsible for? (4)
- Responsible for planning
- interpreting emotions
- speech productions
- houses the motor cortex.
What lobe of the brain was damaged in Phineas Gage?
frontal lobe
What happened to Phineas Gage as the result of his brain damage?
He was unable to acceptably express his emotions
What is the temporal lobe responsible for? (3)
- houses the primary auditory cortex
- performs speech comprehension
- visual recognition.
What lobe of the brain is damaged in someone with visual agnosia?
temporal lobe
What is someone with visual agnosia unable to do?
can not identify shapes
What is the parietal lobe responsible for? (3)
- Houses the somatosensory cortex (used for touch)
- navigation
- math ability.
What lobe of the brain is damaged in someone with hemispatial neglect?
Parietal lobe
How do people with hemispatial neglect behave?
they ignore half the visual field and one side of all objects
What is the function of the occipital lobe?
Houses the primary visual cortex; used entirely for vision.
What lobe of the brain is damaged in someone with achromatopsia?
occipital lobe
What would someone with achromatopsia be unable to do?
imagine color
What is the name of the neural structure that allows the two hemispheres of the brain to communicate with one another?
corpus callosum
Which hemisphere of the brain controls and receives input from the right side of the
body?
Which hemisphere of the brain controls and receives input from the left side
of the body?
left hemisphere; right hemisphere
What functions of the brain are considered left hemisphere functions?
Speech productions, Speech comprehension.
In what hemisphere and lobe of the brain is Broca’s area?
left hemisphere, frontal lobe
What is Broca’s area responsible for?
responsible for speech production
In what hemisphere and lobe of the brain is Wernicke’s area?
left hemisphere, temporal lobe
What is Wernicke’s area responsible for?
responsible for language comprehension
What functions of the brain are considered right hemisphere functions? (3)
- face identification
- music processing
- Spatial abilities (mental rotation)
What is prosopagnosia?
the inability to identify faces
Which hemisphere of the brain is damaged in prosopagnosia?
Damage to the face area of the right hemisphere
What is the last name of the man who did the split brain studies?
Sperry
If a split brain patient held an orange in her left hand and a pencil in her right, what would she say if asked what she was holding?
If Sperry asked patients to show him how to use and object in their left hand (right hemisphere), they could do so. The right hemisphere understands the object, but can’t say the name
What sort of machine is used to measure brain waves?
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
What sorts of brain waves are observed in NREM1 sleep?
Alpha waves; slightly larger than beta
beta waves are short and irregular (occur in an awake brain)
What sorts of brain waves are observed in NREM2 sleep?
Theta; they are slower than NREM1
In what stage of sleep do sleep spindles first appear?
NREM2
What is the function of sleep spindles?
Thought to reduce the brains sensitivity to sensory input
What sorts of brain waves are associated with NREM3 sleep?
delta waves - this is when brain waves are the slowest
In what stage of sleep do night terrors occur?
most frequently to occur in stage 3 and tend to be non narrative
How will people in NREM3 sleep feel when awakened?
very groggy
What sorts of brain waves are observed during REM sleep?
Look like NREM1 brain waves (slightly larger than beta)
What part of the brain paralyzes the body during REM sleep?
The brain is paralyzed by the PONs and the muscles relax
What sort of stimuli can awaken someone in REM sleep?
Meaningful stimuli; such as hearing your name
What will people report doing when awakened from REM sleep?
They will almost always report dreaming
During what stage of sleep does a male’s penis become erect and a female’s vaginal lubrication increase?
REM
How long does a full sleep cycle last?
90 minutes
What are the two theories explaining why animals need to sleep?
Circadian theory and Recuperation theory
What is Circadian theory?
Sleep has evolved to keep animals inactive during times of the day when they do not need to be active
What is the evidence for Circadian theory?
The amount of time animals spend sleeping can be manipulated by manipulating the time of the light-dark cycle
What is Recuperative theory?
Animals sleep in order to provide time for the body to repair itself
What is the evidence for Recuperative theory?
Mentally taxing days produce more NREM3 sleep
What are the effects of deprivation of NREM3 and REM sleep on memory?
harms long term memory consolidation
Can external stimuli be incorporated into dreams?
yes
Do people perceive time accurately during dreams?
yes
What did Freud believe was the function of dreams?
He believed dreams contained symbols that revealed the unconscious mind
What is the Activation-Synthesis theory?
Circuits in the amygdala bombard the cortex with random signals during REM sleep. Dreams are the cortex’s efforts to make sense of the neural signals
it explains why dreams are chaotic and largely negative
What part of the brain is bombarding the cortex with random signals during REM sleep?
Amygdala (circuits in the amygdala)
Why don’t people remember most of their dreams?
because the hippocampus is suppressed
What is Sensation?
The initial process of encoding environmental energy
What is Perception?
The process of interpreting the information received from the senses
What two parts of the eye bend light to create and image on the retina?
Cornea and the Lens
Which cells convert light energy into electrical signals?
photoreceptors
What are the names of the two types of photoreceptors?
rods and cones
How are the rods different from the cones?
Rods are larger, very sensitive to light, do not support color vision, and are used in low illumination.
Cones are smaller, less sensitive to light, can be used to see colors, and are used in high illumination
Why does dark adaptation occur?
occurs as the photoreceptors regenerate their photopigments
How many neurons are there in each optic nerve?
one million ganglion cells
How many different types of cones are there?
3
Why is colorblindness more common in men than women?
the genes that code for the photopigments are on the X chromosome. If all of a persons X chromosomes have colorblind genes, then the person will be colorblind.
females: XX
males: XY
What is a monochromat?
they have only one type of cone and see in black and white
What is a dichromat?
they have only 2 cone types. Dichromats can either be Red-Green colorblind or Blue-Yellow colorblind
What is an anomalous trichromat?
They have one cone type with an abnormal pigment. They have trouble distinguishing certain shades of color
What is a tetrachromat?
they have 4 cone types, and can see 100 times as many colors as a normal trichromat
Which cells in the retina send color information to the brain?
ganglion cells
what are 3 types of ganglion cells
Red-Green, Blue-Yellow, and Black-White
What produces color afterimages?
when ganglion cells become fatigued
What are three pieces of evidence that face recognition differs from the process of recognizing other objects?
- different parts of the brain are responsible for the 2 tasks
- faces are most difficult to recognize in photographic negatives than objects
- faces are more difficult to recognize when they are upside down than objects
What are the three variables that determine how attractive people will find a face?
- a face will be perceived as more attractive the more symmetrical it is
- faces will be perceived as more attractive that are close to the average face in a population
- faces will be perceived as more attractive if they exaggerate sex specific features of the face
What is change blindness?
People often miss large changes in scenes because the form perception areas can only process a small part of the scene at any one time
In what lobe of the brain are the motion perception areas?
Parietal Lobe; can produce after effects if they are fatigued
What is akinetopsia?
damage to the motion perception areas of the brain (motion blindness)
What depth cue is used to make 3D movies?
Binocular disparity
How does the Ames room manipulate depth cues?
makes you think both corners of the room are the same size
How does the Muller-Lyer illusion work?
it manipulates vertices to make one line appear to be bulging toward you and the other away from you
What is the Ponzo illusion?
the railroad tracks have depth cues that make the top bar look further away and thus bigger
What is responsible for the moon illusion?
depth cues on the surface of the earth
What are sound waves?
Pressure changes in the atmosphere capable of being detected by auditory organs
they cause the tympanic membrane to vibrate, thus moving the ossicles (3 bones in the ear) to vibrate the oval window which transfers the vibrations to fluid in the cochlea
What are the ossicles?
3 bones in the ear
What do the ossicles vibrate to transfer atmospheric vibrations to the fluid in the cochlea?
they vibrate the oval window which transfer the vibrations to the fluid in the cochlea
To what do different parts of the basilar membrane vibrate in response?
different parts of the basilar membrane inside the cochlea vibrate in response to different frequencies
What does a hair cell do when it is vibrated by the basilar membrane?
they release neurotransmitter that causes an action potential in the auditory nerve
How does infant perception of speech sounds differ from adult perception?
they hear distinctions in speech sounds that adults can’t hear.
Does visual information influence speech perception?
yes
Where can the vestibular organs be found?
can all be found in the inner ear; they are used to tell the brain about the orientation and movement of the body
What is the utricle?
a vestibular organ that indicates changes in linear acceleration and head tilt
What are the semi-circular canals?
vestibular organs that indicate changes in rotary acceleration
What is the oculogyral illusion?
after spinning around, people often experience paradoxes motion in which the world appears to be spinning, but visually remains in the same place.
what causes motion sickness?
caused by a dissociation between the visual and vestibular senses
What are the three somatosensory senses?
touch, pain, tempurature
In what lobe of the brain is the somatosensory cortex?
parietal lobe
What determines how sensitive a body part is to touch?
that amount of area a particular body part receives in the somatosensory cortex determines how sensitive that body part is to touch.
What is congenital analgesia?
a disorder in which one is born incapable of experiencing pain
What health problems do people with congenital analgesia typically experience?
severe childhood injuries, and eventually have massive damage to their joints
What is the common chemical sense?
Used to detect chemical irritations. Receptors for the common chemical sense can be found in the mouth, nose, and eye.
Where can receptors for the common chemical sense be found?
mouth, nose, and eye
What are the five different types of taste receptors?
salt, sour, sweet, bitter, and umami
What is the olfactory mucosa?
At the top of the nasal cavity.
Receptors for smell are embedded in the olfactory mucosa
To what do olfactory cells likely respond?
They likely respond either to some part of the shape or to the vibration of the molecules that bind to them
What is sensory memory?
After a stimulus has been presented to the senses, they continue responding for approximately 1/10th of a second after the stimulus has been removed.
Is the duration of sensory memory long or brief?
Is the capacity of sensory memory low or high?
brief; extremely high capacity
Is the capacity of short term memory low or high?
low
What is more effective for rehearsing items in short term memory, visual rehearsal or auditory rehearsal?
auditory rehearsal
What is the capacity of short term memory?
around 7 items
What is the capacity of long term memory? What is the duration?
virtually unlimited capacity; can store items for long periods
Which memory store (sensory, short term, or long term) has the shortest duration?
sensory??
What are explicit memories?
Memories that are consciously available such as facts and personal experiences.
The hippocampus is necessary to store explicit memories.
What part of the brain stores explicit memories?
Hippocampus
What are implicit memories?
The memory of how to do things.
What part of the brain stores implicit memories?
Basal ganglia
Are there people with photographic memores?
prob no
What was Rajan Mahadevan good at remembering?
numbers
Why did S. have such good memory?
His brain was able to form associations with multiple senses of everything he encountered.
The Peg word method, the Method of Loci, and the Person-Object-Action system are what type of techniques? (what is the technical term)
mnemonic techniques
How is implicit memory affected by aging?
It is not affected by aging.
Semantic knowledge (knowledge of facts and vocabulary) is actually better In the elderly.
What type of memory is most affect by aging?
Episodic memory (memory for events) is most affected by aging.
Probably because older adults do not store as many details about events as younger adults.
Does short term memory span decline during aging?
no
however, the ability to manipulate items in short term memory declines sharply.
Which two parts of the brain shrink during Alzheimer’s disease?
cortex and hippocampus
What is humanistic psychology?
Historically significant perspective that emphasized human growth potential.
What is behavioral genetics?
The study of the related power and limits of of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.
What is positive psychology?
The scientific study of human functioning, with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities thrive.
What is community psychology?
A branch of psychology that studies how people interact with their social environments and how social institutions affect individuals and groups.
What is hindsight bias?
The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it. (I knew it all phenomenon)
What is a survey?
A descriptive technique for obtaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group.
What is a random sample?
A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion
What is a population (when doing research)?
All those in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn. (Note: except for national studies, this does not refer to a countries whole population)
What is random assignment?
Assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between the different groups.
What is a double blind procedure?
An experimental procedure in which both the research participant and the research staff are ignorant (blind) about whether the research participants have received the treatment or placebo. Commonly used in a drug-evaluation studies.
What are the mean, median and mode?
Mean: The arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores.
Median: The middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half the scores are below it.
Mode: The most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution.
What are the range and standard deviation?
Range: The difference between the highest and the lowest scores in a distribution
Standard Deviation: A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score.
What are glial cells?
Cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons; they may also play a role in learning, thinking, and memory.
What are endorphins?
“morphine within” - natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.
What is an agonist?
A molecule that increases a neurotransmitter’s action
What is an antagonist?
A molecule that inhibits or blocks a neurotransmitters action.
What effects do the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems have on the body?
Sympathetic Nervous System: The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy.
Parasympathetic Nervous system: The division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy.
What is the somatic nervous system?
The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body’s skeletal muscles. Also called skeletal nervous system.
What is the autonomic nervous system?
The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart). Its sympathetic division arouses; its parasympathetic division calms.
What are the divisions of the autonomic nervous system?
Part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart).
Divisions: Sympathetic and Parasympathetic
What is the brainstem?
- The oldest part and central core of the brain
- beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull
- responsible for the automatic survival functions.
What does the thalamus do?
- The brain’s sensory control center
- located on top of the brainstem
- directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex
- transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla.
What does the reticular formation do?
A nerve network that travels through the brainstem into the thalamus and plays an important role in controlling arousal.
What does the cerebellum do?
The “little brain” at the rear of the brainstem
functions include…
-processing sensory input
-coordinating movement output and balance
-enabling nonverbal learning and memory.
What are the association areas?
- Areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions
- they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking.
What is plasticity?
The brain’s ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.
What is neurogenesis?
The formation of new neurons.
What is a circadian rhythm?
The biological clock; regular bodily rhythms (ex. temperature and wakefulness) that occur on a 24 hour cycle.
What is narcolepsy?
A sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks. The sufferer may lapse directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times.
What is sleep apnea?
A sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings.
What is REM rebound?
The tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation (created by repeated awakenings during REM sleep)
What are bottom-up and top-down processing?
Bottom-up Processing: Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brains integration of sensory information.
Top-Down Processing: Information processing guided by higher-level mental process, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.
What is transduction?
Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies (such as sights, sounds, and smells) into neural impulses out brain can interpret.
What is the absolute threshold?
The minimum stimulus energy 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% of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference (or jnd)
What is Weber’s law?
The principle that, to be perceived as different, 2 stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount).
What is sensory adaptation?
Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.
What is accommodation?
The process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina
What is the blind spot?
The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a “blind” spot because no receptor cells are located there.
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.
What are frequency and pitch?
Frequency: The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (for ex. per second)
Pitch: A tone’s experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency.
What is a nociceptor?
Sensory receptors that enable the perception of pain in response to potentially harmful stimuli.
What is kinesthesia?
The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts.
What is parallel processing?
The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously: the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions.
What is automatic processing?
Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings.
What is the spacing effect?
The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.
What is the testing effect?
Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning.
What is implicit memory?
Retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection. (Also called non-declarative memory)
What is a flashbulb memory?
A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.
What is priming?
The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory.
What part of the brain was severed in the split brain patients
corpus callosum
William James was a prominent American:
Functionalist
Functionalism was a school of psychology that focused attention on the
Adaptive value of the conscious thoughts and emotions
From the 1920s into the 1960s, American psychologists emphasized the study of
observable behavior
John Watson is to Edward Tichener as ___ is to ___
observable behavior; inner sensations
humanistic psychologists focused attention on the importance of people’s:
potential for healthy growth
which perspective is most directly concerned with how the physical properties of the brain influence behavior and mental states?
Neuroscience
operational definitions are most likely to facilitate:
replication
researchers observe random samples because they are likely to be:
representative
to learn about the political attitude of all students enrolled at ISU, Mr. Jones randomly selected 800 of these students to complete a questionnaire. in this instance, all the students at ISU are considered to be a(n):
population
the correlation coefficient is a statistical measure of the:
Extent to which 2 variables vary together
which of the following correlations expresses the strongest degree of relationship between 2 variables?
***anything farther from 0 whether it be a positive or negative number
if people with low self esteem are also particularly likely to suffer from depression, this would not necessarily indicate that low-self esteem triggers negative emotions because:
correlation does not prove causation
incorrectly interpreting a correlation between 2 variables as evidence of causation is best avoided by using:
experiments
a psychologist wants to be sure her research findings do not result from age or personality differences between participants in the experimental control groups. She should use
random assignment
to minimize the extent to which placebo effects contribute to outcome differences between experimental and control groups in a drug treatment study, researchers are likely to make use of
double blind procedure
the dependent variable in an experiment is the variable:
that may be influenced by the experimental treatment
measures of central tendency are most useful for:
summarizing data
the mode, median, and mean are most likely to have different values when they
describe a skewed distribution
the distribution of students scores on a particular test has a very small standard deviation. this indicates that the:
scores tended to be very similar to one another
which part of the neuron is often encased in the myelin sheath?
axon
the resting potential of a neuron refers to:
the electrical polarization of the inside and outside of the neural membrane
in the process of beginning an act potential, the threshold refers to
a minimum intensity of excitatory minus inhibitory stimulation
the sympathetic nervous system:
inhibits digestion and accelerates heartbeat
the thalamus serves as a
sensory switchboard
which nerve network in the brainstem play an important role in controlling arousal?
reticular formation
a loss of physical coordination and balance is most likely to result from damage to the
cerebellum
the medulla is to the control of ___ as the cerebellum is to the control of ___.
breathing; walking
which region of the human brain best distinguishes us from other animals?
Cerebral cortex
nerve cells in the brain receive life- supporting nutrients and insulating myelin from:
glial cells
fred suffered a brain disease that destroyed major portions of his temporal lobes. he is most likely suffering from some loss of:
auditory perception
the cortical regions that are NOT directly involved in sensory or motor functions are called
association areas
the ability to recognize faces with the right hemisphere but not with the left hemisphere best illustrates:
laterization
the large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres is called the:
corpus callosum
if an individuals right cerebral hemisphere is completely destroyed by disease, that person is unable to see anything:
in the left visual field
fred likes to take naps in the afternoon rather than morning because this is when he is most awake. This likely shows the influence of
circadian rhythm
NREM1 sleep is likely associated with:
Hypnagogic sensations
Slow wave sleep promotes
effective memory
the area of the retina where the ganglion cells leave the eye:
blind spot
the effect of prior experience and current expectation on perception best illustrates:
top down processing
the process by which rods and cones convert electromagnetic energy into neural signals is an example of:
transduction
the absolute threshold is the minimum amount of stimulation that a person need to detect a stimulus:
50% of the time
fred sees a 75 watt bulb giving off more light than a 60 watt buld. sam sees them as giving off the same amount of light. Fred has a ___ than sam.
smaller difference threshold
diminished sensitivity to an unchain stimulus:
sensory adaptation
the light sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the rods and cone, is the:
retina
the receptor cells that convert light energy into neural signal:
rods and cones
Compared with rods, cones are:
less sensitive to dim light and more sensitive to fine detail
the mood just above the horizon typically appears to be unusually
large because we perceive it as unusually far away from ourselves
damage to the cochlea’s hair receptors is most likely to cause a loss of
audition
loudness is to amplitude as pitch is to___?
frequency
tiny bones in the middle ear relay the eardrums vibrations directly to the
oval window
the basilar membrane is located in the
cochlea
the vestibular sense involves the sensory system that:
monitors the position and movement of your head.
which organ signals a change in rotary acceleration to the brain?
semi-circular canals
which cells make up the optic nerve?
ganglion cells
a dichromate has trouble seeing yellow, what other color would they have trouble with?
blue
to what are the hair cells attached?
basilar membrane
