Psych/Soc: Behavioral Neuroscience; sensation & perception; attention, cog, lang; general review

Question 1

Sensation and Perception

Answer 1

Sensation -> the encoding of physical energy from the environment
Types of stimuli = heat, photos, pressure waves, chemicals

Perception -> The decoding of sensations (selection, organization, interpretation)

Question 2

Psychophysics

Answer 2

The study of how physical stimuli are translated into a psychological experience

Question 3

Left and Right Hemispheres:
Info from left and right visual field goes…
What would you see if optic nerve behind left eye was severed? What about if severed optic tract leading to right side of brain?

Answer 3

Vision -> Info from left and right visual field goes into both eyes but left visual field goes into the right side of both eyes then to right hemisphere/right visual cortex and right visual field goes into the left side of both eyes and then to left hemisphere/right visual cortex
If optic nerve behind left eye severed, eye could still see both sides of visual field bc right eye still works and can take in info from both visual fields
If sever optic tract leading to right side of brain then can’t perceive left visual field

Question 4

Weber’s Laws

Answer 4

The size of the just noticeable difference is a constant proportion (percentages) of the original stimulus
Constant WITHIN a given stimulus

The exact proportion varies by stimulus

Question 5

Brain Lateralization:
What are functions of each half in terms of motor skills, visual field, and characteristics/activities? Which side verbal vs nonverbal? emotional?

Answer 5

Right brain deals with left side motor skills and vice versa
Corpus callosum severed for ppl who have seizures

Left brain -> language, math, logic
Analytical thought, detail oriented perception, ordered sequencing, rational thought, verbal, cautious, planning, math/science, logic, right field vision, right side motor skills

Right brain -> creativity, art
Intuitive thought, hollistic perception, random sequencing, emotional thought, non-verbal, adventurous, impulse, creative, writing/art, imagination, left field vision, left side motor skills

The two hemispheres communicate through corpus callosum

Question 6

Parietal Lobe

Answer 6

Touch and pressure
Taste
Body awareness

Question 7

Occipital Lobe

Answer 7

Visual processing

Question 8

Cerebellum

Answer 8

Coordination of movements
Balance
Motor memory

Question 9

Top Down vs Bottom-Up

Answer 9

Top-Down Processing -> need some prior knowledge of the thing you are perceiving, starts with larger concept or idea and works down to the details; this type of processing assumes that we start with an idea about the final representation (which is influenced by our own knowledge, experiences, and expectations), and work down to the sensory details in out mind

Bottom-Up Processing: Starts with information from our sensory receptors and builds up to a final product in our brain; this type of processing assumes that we start with the detail and end with a final representation in our mind

We are able to read the paragraph below bc of top down processing and experience with letters before
Reading = top down, but if encounter new language (new info) that would be bottom up

Question 10

Perceptual Organization

Answer 10

In order to transform sensory information into useful perceptions, we must organize it. We must perceive objects as being separate from their environments and having constant form. We must also be able to detect motion and perceive distance

Question 11

Gestalt Psychology

Answer 11

Studies the predictable ways in which we organize sensory information (‘parts’) into a meaningful pattern (‘whole’) that we perceive

Question 12

Signal Detection Theory

Answer 12

A method for qualifying a person’s ability to detect a given stimulus (the “signal”) amidst other, non-important stimuli (“noise”)

Question 13

False Positive

False Negative

Answer 13

Stim w/o response = false pos/false alarm Type I Error
Response w/o stim = False neg/Miss Type II Error
Both stim and response present = hit
Neither stim nor response = Correct Rejection

Question 14

Internal vs External Noise

Answer 14

Detecting the stimulus requires: acquiring info and applying criteria

Accuracy depends on two types of noise: external and internal noise
ex.
When determining if a patient has a foot fracture
Acquiring information: take x-ray
Applying criteria: interpret x-ray
Internal noise: thinking about dinner plans
External noise: blurry x-ray image
Read book chapter

Question 15

ROC Curve

Answer 15

Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Curve (think of throwing a rock and testing your hit rate)
Is a graphical plot that tracks hit rate vs false alarm rate in order to graphically represent a receiver’s (a person’s) accuracy at a given task
Y-axis is hit rate
X-axis is false alarm rate
Want hit rate high and false alarm rate low so most accurate individual would be in top left corner of graph, higher ratio of hit rate to false alarm rate
Ex. for looking at doctor who is most accurate on a graph, look for one with highest hit rate to false alarm rate ratio

Question 16

Kinesthesis (aka propriopception)

Mechanoreceptors 
Proprioceptors 
Muscle spindles
Golgi tendon organs
Join Capsule receptors 
Thermoreceptors 
Nociceptors

Answer 16

Kinesthesis (aka propriopception) -> allows us to sense the position of our limbs in space as well as detect bodily movements (remember Rachel’s training!)

Mechano -> sense outside body
Mechanoreceptors -> detect mechanical disturbances like pressure or distortion

Proprio -> inside body
Proprioreceptors respond to phsyical disturbances in the body:
The muscle spindle detects muscle stretch
Golgi tendon organs detect tension in tendons
Joint Capsule receptors detect pressure, tension, and movement in the joints

Thermoreceptors communicate information about heat
Nociceptors communicate information about pain

Question 17

Four stimulus properties need to be communicated to the central nervous system:

1. Modality
2. Location
3. Intensity
4. Duration

What are tonic receptors? phasic receptors?

Answer 17

1. Modality -> the type of stimulus that is being detected; modality is communicated based on the type of receptor that is firing
2. Location -> communicated by the receptive field of the stimulus
3. Intensity -> how strong the stimulus is; encoded by the rate of firing of action potentials
4. Duration -> how long the stimulus is present

Tonic receptors generate action potentials as long as the stimulus is present

Phasic receptors fire only when the stimulus begins. These receptors communicate changes in stimuli

Question 18

Feature Detection Theory

Answer 18

Explains that certain parts of the brain are activated for specific visual stimuli

Neurons in the visual cortext fire in response to very specific info: feature detecting

Feature detector neurons respond only to specific features of a visual stimulus such as its shape, angle, or motion

The visual cortex passes sensory information to the part of the brain responsible for the perception of that object

Visual perception results from the interaction of numerous specialized neural systems, each of which performs a specific, simple task

Question 19

Parallel Processing

Answer 19

Occurs so that many aspects of a visual stimulus (shape, color, motion, depth) are processed simultaneously rather than in a step-wise fashion (serial processing)

Parallel processing also occurs at the level of detail to abstraction. Thus, we can abstract an image and interpret it while we are still working out the details

Question 20

Binocular Depth Cues:
Retinal Disparity
Convergence

Answer 20

Retinal Disparity -> the brain compares the images projected onto the two retinas in order to perceive distance; the greater the difference between the two images, the shorter the distance
The stimulation from objects which are far away is much more similar for both eyes than the stimulation from close objects.
ex. if focus on tree far away and then hold your finger out in front of you, it appears like you have two fingers bc from perspective of each retina. As you move your finger closer to your face, the double images of finger get farther and as you move finger away, the duplicate gets smaller

Convergence -> the extent to which the eyes turn inward when looking at an object; the greater the angle of convergence or inward strain, the closer the object (when object closer to you, you become slightly cross eyed)

Question 21

Monocular Cues:
Relative size
Interposition 
Relative clarity
Texture Gradient

Answer 21

Monocular Cues: the depth cues that depend on info that is available to either eye alone

Relative size -> if objects are assumed to be the same size, the one that casts the smaller image on the retina appears more distant
Interposition -> if one object block the view of another, we perceive it as closer
Relative clarity -> we perceive hazy objects as being more distant than sharp, clear objects
Texture Gradient -> change from a coarse, distinct texture to a fine, indistinct texture indicates increasing distance

Question 22

Relative height
Linear perspective
Light and shadow
Relative motion

Answer 22

Monocular cues continued:
Relative height -> we perceive objects that are higher in the visual field as farther away
Linear perspective -> parallel lines appear to converge as distance increases. The greater the convergence, the greater the perceived distance ex. railroad tracks
Light and shadow -> closer objects reflect more light than distant objects. The dimmer of two identical objects will seem farther away
Relative motion -> as we move, stable objects appear to move as well. Objects that are near to us appear to move faster than objects that are farther away ex. when in Amtrack and another train passes rapidly on the next track

Question 23

Perceptual Constancy
Shape constancy
Size Constancy
Lightness (Brightness) Constancy

Answer 23

Perceptual Constancy -> we perceive an object as unchanging even as the illumination angle, and distance of the object change
Shape constancy -> familiar objects are perceived as having constant form despite changes in the images that are projected onto our retina
Size Constancy -> we perceive objects as having a constant size even as the distance of the object changes
Lightness (Brightness) Constancy -> we perceive objects as having a constant brightness despite changes in illumination

Question 24

Selective Attention

Extra:
dichotic listening

Answer 24

Attending to one thing while ignoring other distractors
What limits ppl to paying attention to certain things over others
dichotic listening -> listening to different stimuli presented to the left and right ears. This was used in experiments to test selective attention
One ear is attended channel and other was unattended channel

Question 25

Broadbent’s filter model of selective attention

4 stages

Answer 25

Based on the results of selective attention experiments. Proposed that information passes through four stages:
1. sensory store/memory (both inputs, attended message and unattended message enter sensory store)
2. Selective filter (both inputs enter selective filter, which is based on physical properties of the sensory input and the unattended message blocked at sensory filter so that we don’t become overloaded with sensory information)
*If an input in the sensory buffer does not go through the filter, the theory proposes that it remains briefly but then quickly decays and disappears
Selective filter -> Bottleneck -> Higher Level Processing
(The bottleneck model = Model of memory when a filter restricts info flow like a bottleneck restricts liquid flow. Ex. Broadbent’s Model but broadbent’s theory also keeps a large amount of info out.)
3. Higher Level Processing
4. Short-Term Memory/ Working Memory

Question 26

Cocktail party effect

Answer 26

When info of personal importance from previously unattended channels catches our attention
ex. when someone’s in a party full of people and they are not aware of the content of any other conversations until suddenly you hear the name of your best friend mentioned

Question 27

Why is Broadbent’s filter model of selective attention not completely correct?

Answer 27

The cocktail party effect cannot be well accounted for by the filter model
Later adaptation of this model thus suggested that info from the unattended ear is not completely filtered out, but rather dampened, like turning the volume down on television, info from the unattended ear can still be processed at some level

Question 28

Anne Treisman’s Attentuation Model/Model of Selective Attention

Answer 28

Treisman tried to account for the cocktail party effect

Rather than filter, the mind had an attenuator, which works like a volume knob - it “turns down” the unattended sensory input, rather than eliminate it (broadbent’s filter model), information from that channel is still processed, just not as consciously

Both the attended and unattended message enter sensory store, then go to to attenuating filter (based on physical properties of sensory input) then there is bottleneck where attenuated message goes to higher level processing and then working memory (similar to broadbent)

Question 29

Selective priming

Answer 29

People can be selectively primed to observe something either by encountering it frequently or by having an expectation. If one is primed to observe something, one is more likely to notice it when it occurs

Question 30

Spotlight model

Answer 30

Visual attention often explained through spotlight model -> The spotlight is a beam that can shine anywhere within an individual’s visual field
Important to note that the.beam describes the movement of attention, not the movement of eyes

Question 31

Divided Attention/multitasking depends on…

Answer 31

Depends on:  
task similarity (too similar = harder)  ex. often okay to listen to music while writing, this is easier bc requires auditory input and verbal output
task difficulty (with difficulty = harder) 
task practice (with practice it becomes easier)

Question 32

Schema

Answer 32

Piaget believed this -> A mental framework that allows us to organize our experiences/stimuli and respond to new experiences/stimuli

Question 33

Assimilation

Answer 33

Related to Piaget
To use our schemas effectively, we must constantly assimilate new experiences - new information is interpreted based on current schemas

Assimilation -> take in new experience and assimilate into experiences already have, think pizza is a sandwich bc you have seen sandwiches before and they kind of look similar

Question 34

Accommodation

Answer 34

Related to Piaget
As we interact with the world, we also accommodate our schemas to incorporate new information and experiences

Accomodation -> this bread with meat and cheese is a pizza which is not a sandwich so we added that to out schema

Question 35

What is Alan Baddley’s model? What are the four components?

Answer 35

Baddley sought to better define short-term memory, which he renamed working memory
Model has four components: a phonological loop, a visuospatial sketchpad, an episodic buffer, and a central executive

phonological loop -> allows us to repeat verbal info to help us remember it.

The visuospatial sketchpad -> serves similar purpose for visuospatial info through the use of mental images

Episodic buffer -> integrate info from the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad with a sense of time and to interface with long term memory stores
-> responsible for combining info from a variety of sources into coherent episodes ex. if man sees a station wagon much like the one his father used to drive, he is able to make this connection through the interaction b/w his memory of his father’s car and his current visual experience in the episodic buffer

The central executive is the overseer of the entire process and orchestrates the process by shifting and dividing attention

Question 36

Name piaget’s 4 developmental stages for children

Answer 36

Sensorimotor 0-2 experience world through their senses and movement, such as looking, touching, mouthing, and during this time they learn about object permanence -> the understanding that things continue to exist when they are out of sight. They also demonstrate stranger anxiety

Preoperational Stage: age 2 - 7, children that things can be presented through symbols such as words and images, but they lack logical reasoning
They are also egocentric, meaning they do not understand that other have different perspectives

Concrete Operational Stage -> roughly from age 7 to 11, children learn to think logically about concrete events. This helps them learn the principle of conservation; the idea that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape. ex if water from a wide bowl is poured into a thin cylinder it still has the same volume

Formal operational 12 through adulthood, people learn abstract reasoning (e.g. hypothesizing) and moral reasoning

Question 37

Trial-and-error
Insight
Algorithm

Answer 37

Trial-and-error -> attempting several solutions and ruling out those that do not work
Insight -> occurs when we puzzle over a problem, and then the complete solution appears to come to us all at once
Algorithm -> a step-by-step procedure that exhausts all possible options

Question 38

Heuristic

Answer 38

A mental rule-of-thumb, shortcut, or guideline

Question 39

Confirmation bias

Answer 39

When we seek evidence to support our conclusions or ideas more than we seek evidence that will refute them; this also occurs when we interpret neutral or ambiguous evidence as support our belief
ex. the comments section of any website ever

Question 40

Fixation

Answer 40

Occurs when we have structured a problem in our mind a certain way, even if that way is ineffective and are unable to restructure it; we are then unable to see the problem from a fresh perspective
ex. when get stuck on question

Question 41

Functional fixedness

Answer 41

a mental bias that limits our view of how an object can be used, based on how that object is traditionally used
ex we don’t use fork to comb hair but we could, this is limitation
Ariel would disagree

Question 42

Mental set

Answer 42

A mental set is our tendency to approach situations in a certain way because that method worked for us in the past
approach problem in same way that worked for us in past ex. Old doctors this could be problematic bc could be more risky, expensive, but could still work

Question 43

Availability Heuristic

Answer 43

Availability heuristic -> facts and detail that immediately exist in mind
-> we more afraid of plane crashes bc we see it on TV alot but more common to get in car crash

Occurs when we rely on examples that immediately come to mind when we are trying to make a decision or judgement. By relying on what’s just ‘available’ in our minds, rather than doing actual research, we can overestimate the probability and likelihood of something happening

Question 44

Representativeness Heuristic

Answer 44

Representativeness -> Concept of what something is, ex. Concept of doctor is male so you predict to see a male in hospital
Ex. feminist walk into bar and most ppl will imagine a woman but it could be a man

Occurs when we estimate the likelihood of an event by comparing it to an existing prototype that already exists in our minds. Our prototype is what we think is the most relevant or typical example of a particular event or object

Question 45

Social Intelligence 
Emotional Intelligence
Analytical Intelligence
Creative Intelligence
Interpersonal Intelligence

Fluid Intelligence
Crystalized Intelligence

Two mindsets regarding intelligence:
Fixed
Growth

Answer 45

Social Intelligence -> the ability to manage and understand people, is the capacity to know oneself and to know others. Social Intelligence develops from experience with people and learning from success and failures in social settings. It is more commonly referred to as “tact”, “common sense”, or “street smarts”
Emotional Intelligence -> Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to perceive, express, understand, and manage one’s emotions. Emotionally intelligent people are self-aware and can delay gratification in pursuit of long-term rewards, rather than being overtaken by immediate impulses.
Analytical: “academics”, so like recollection and application of previously learned info, problem solving, analyzing and evaluating ideas
Creative: generating new ideas and approaches
Interpersonal intelligence: measures the person’s ability to communicate with others.

Fluid Intelligence -> reason abstractly, increased processing speed
Crystalized Intelligence -> accumulated knowledge and verbal skills

Two mindsets regarding intelligence:
Fixed: belief that intelligence and abilities are static
Growth: belief that intelligence and abilities can be developed through effort

Question 46

Noam Chomsky’s Nativist Theory

Answer 46

Proposes that infants are born with the innate ability to use language. According to this theory, human brains have evolved a language acquisition device that is innately capable of understanding a universal grammar common to all human languages. All normally-developing humans will automatically learn language when exposed to it during a critical period that ends before puberty

Question 47

BF Skinner’s Behaviorist Theory for language development

Answer 47

Posits that language develops through the associative learning principles of classical and, more importantly, operant conditioning
Classical conditioning -> If see object and constantly addressed as dog, then classically conditioned to say it’s dog
Operant conditioning -> if said milk but wanted orange juice, you were not rewarded so you won’t use word milk for this case anymore, so then word juice reinforced

Question 48

Lev Vygotsky’s Interactionist Theory

Answer 48

Lies b/w Noam Chomsky’s and BF Skinner’s theories about language development; admits some innate ability and biological predispositions, but *emphasizes social interactions and cognitive development as the most important factors (as expected from a symbolic ‘interactionist’ theory).

Question 49

What does damage to brocas area do, where is it? To wernicke’s, where is it?
Which hemisphere is language in?

Answer 49

Damage to Brocas -> non-fluent aphasia with intact comprehension
People with this pattern of aphasia struggle to get words out, speak in very short sentences and omit words. A person might say, “Want food” or “Walk park today.”
located: inferior frontal gyrus of dominant hemisphere associated with language production

Damage to Wernicke’s -> fluent aphasia with impaired comprehension
fluent aphasia is a unique communication disorder that can cause a person to say phrases that sound fluent but lack meaning.
some of the words are made-up words (neologisms) or have some sounds that aren’t correct.
Locaiton: Posterior superior temporal gyrus, associated with understanding written and spoken language

Left hemisphere

Question 50

Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis

Answer 50

Linguistic Relative Hypothesis -> Language influence how you think, how you categorize world
ex. Girls may understand world in colors better than boy bc of their bigger vocab for color
More likely for women to have more cones

This principle holds that the different structures and vocab of different languages strongly affect the thinking of those who use these languages. In particular, experimental evidence suggests that linguistic differences in categorization (e.g. color categories) can influence the categorical perception of the speakers of those languages

Question 51

Linguistic determinism

Answer 51

language determines thought and emotions/feelings, and linguistic categories limit and determine cognitive categories

Question 52

Agnosia

Answer 52

sense still work can still smell, we can’t process what it is but detect it still
MCAT stresses visual and speech agnosia

Inability to recognize and identify objects or persons often due to occipitoparietal border
sensory info provides raw material for cognitive processes and is transmitted to the parietal, occipital, and temporal lobes of the brain

Question 53

Absolute threshold

Difference threshold

Answer 53

Absolute threshold -> important for detecting the presence or absence of stimuli
Difference threshold = just noticeable difference -> is the minimum noticeable difference b/w any two sensory stimuli

Question 54

Prefrontal cortex

Answer 54

for decision making, executive function, and upper level thinking

Question 55

Sensory and motor cortex

Answer 55

The motor cortex is responsible for planning, controlling and executing voluntary movements. Moreover, the associative cortex integrates generated visual, auditory, gustatory and other general sensory signals. The sensory cortex is defined as all cortical areas linked with sensory functions

Question 56

Visual Association Area

Visual cortex

Answer 56

Online: visual cortex the area of the occipital lobe of the cerebral cortex concerned with vision

Question 57

Reticular Activating System

Answer 57

Online: The reticular activating system (RAS) or (ARAS for ascending reticular system)is an area of the brain (including the reticular formation and its connections) responsible for regulating arousal and sleep-wake transitions.

The reticular activating system (RAS) is a network of neurons located in the brain stem that project anteriorly to the hypothalamus to mediate behavior, as well as both posteriorly to the thalamus and directly to the cortex for activation of awake, desynchronized cortical EEG patterns.

Question 58

Transmission and Transduction

Answer 58

Transduction is the process by which the photoreceptors change the electromagnetic energy (light) into electrical impulses (signals) which can travel along the optic nerve to the brain. … Transmission involves sending information in the form of electrical impulses along the optic nerve to the brain.