Psych 4

Question 1

Cognition

Answer 1

How our brain processes and reacts to all the information we absorb

Question 2

Components of the information processing model

Answer 2

encoding, storage and retrieval

Question 3

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

Answer 3

sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational

Question 4

Schema

Answer 4

organized patterns of behavior and thought

Question 5

Adaptation and the two types

Answer 5

How new information is processed

assimilation: processing information into existing schema
accommodation: existing schema modified to encompass new information

Question 6

Sensorimotor stage

Answer 6

0-2 years old; focuses on manipulating the environment to meet physical needs through circular reactions. Object permanence ends this stage

Question 7

Primary circular reactions

Answer 7

repetition of body movement that occurs by chance because it is soothing (e.g. sucking thumb)

Question 8

Secondary circular reaction

Answer 8

manipulation of something outside of the body and repeated due to a response that is elicited from the environment (e.g. throwing a toy on the ground so the parent will pick it up)

Question 9

Preoperational stage

Answer 9

2-7 year old; preoperational stage focuses on symbolic thinking (ability to pretend, play make-believe and imagine), egocentrism (inability to imagine what others think or feel), and centration (only focusing on one aspect of a phenomena).

Question 10

Concrete operational stage

Answer 10

7-11 years old; focuses on understanding the feelings of others and manipulating physical (concrete objects) e.g. 1 pizza vs 2 pizza

Question 11

Formal operational stage

Answer 11

11-adolescence; focuses on abstract thought and problem-solving e.g. pendulum problem

Question 12

What is alzheimer’s caused by

Answer 12

increased blood pressure and microscopic brain clots

Question 13

What is normal cognitive decline with aging

Answer 13

increase in reaction time, decrease in time-based memory and decrease in fluid and crystallized intelligence

Question 14

Lev Vygotsky

Answer 14

theorized that engine driving cognitive development is the internalization of culture

Question 15

Fluid intelligence

Answer 15

problem-solving skills (peaks in early adulthood)

Question 16

Crystallized intelligence

Answer 16

use of learned skills and knowledge (peaks in middle adulthood)

Question 17

Delirium

Answer 17

sudden fluctuations in cognitive function (due to medical reasons)

Question 18

Mental set

Answer 18

a pattern of approach for a given problem. Necessary for problem solving

Question 19

Functional fixedness

Answer 19

tendency to use objects only in the way they are normally utilized, which may create barriers to problem-solving (e.g. Duncker’s candle problem)

Question 20

Deductive reasoning

Answer 20

deriving conclusions from general rules. Top-down reasoning

Question 21

Inductive reasoning

Answer 21

deriving conclusions from evidence. bottom-up reasoning

Question 22

Representative heuristics

Answer 22

categorize items based on whether they fit the prototypical/representative image of a category

Question 23

Availability Heuristics

Answer 23

Determining how likely something is to occur based on how easily similar instances can be imagined.

Question 24

Heuristics

Answer 24

Shortcuts or rules of thumb used to make decisions.

Question 25

Belief perseverance

Answer 25

inability to reject belief despite evidence

Question 26

Confirmation bias

Answer 26

tendency to focus on information that fits individual's beliefs, while rejecting information that goes against them.

Question 27

Recognition-primed decision making

Answer 27

mechanism behind intuition where your brain sorts through past information to match a pattern

Question 28

Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences

Answer 28

proposes seven areas of intelligence: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal

Question 29

Alfred Binet

Answer 29

developed the IQ test

Question 30

Consciousness

Answer 30

level of awareness of both the world and one's own existence within that world.

Question 31

Fibers from the _______ communicate with the ______ to keep the cortex awake

Answer 31

prefrontal cortex, reticular formation

Question 32

Beta waves

Answer 32

Erratic high frequency waves, occur when awake and actively attending, causing neurons to fire randomly

Question 33

Alpha waves

Answer 33

Slower than beta waves and more synchronized. Occurs when awake but relaxing with eyes closed

Question 34

Theta waves

Answer 34

irregular waves with slow frequency but high voltage

Question 35

Delta waves

Answer 35

low-frequency, high voltage with only a few waves a second

Question 36

Stage 1 and Stage 2 sleep

Answer 36

light sleep dominated by theta waves, stage two is slightly deeper sleep. stage 2 includes theta waves, sleep spindle and k complex

Question 37

Stages 3 and 4

Answer 37

deep slow-wave sleep (SWS). Delta waves predominate. Non rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.

Question 38

When are declarative memories consolidated

Answer 38

During SWS NREM (stages 3 and 4)

Question 39

When are procedural memories consolidated

Answer 39

REM sleep

Question 40

Rapid eye movement sleep

Answer 40

mind is close to awake, rapid eye movement but person is asleep. Body is paralyzed

Question 41

Which hormone causes sleepiness and where is it released? How is it controlled?

Answer 41

melatonin is released by the pineal gland. The retina is directly connected to the hypothalamus which controls the pineal gland.

Question 42

Which hormone promotes wakefulness and where is it produced and controlled?

Answer 42

Cortisol is produced by the adrenal cortex and is controlled by the hypothalamus.

Question 43

Activation-Synthesis theory

Answer 43

dreams happen when there is widespread firing of neural circuitry in the brain. The cortex then stitches these signals together to form a cohesive image.