review Flashcards
define empiricism vs functionalism vs behaviourism vs realism vs structuralism
empiricism: the belief that all knowledge comes from experience
behaviourism: the study of behaviour
realism: a point of view that emphasizes the importance of the sense in providing knowledge of the external world
functionalism: a school of American psychology that focused on the utility of consciousness (about the activities of the mind)
structuralism: a school of American psychology that sought to describe the elements of conscious experience (about the contents of the mind)
Describe the scientist-practitioner model vs scholar-practitioner
SCIENTIST-practitioner: a model of training of professional psychologists that emphasizes the development of both research and clinical skills
SCHOLAR-practitioner: training model of professional psychologists that emphasizes clinical practice
Inductive vs deductive reasoning
Inductive:
- drawing GENERAL conclusions from specific observations
- based on probabilities
- science is better at addressing probabilities than proving something, so even data that isn’t falsifiable can be useful
Deductive:
- general principles are applied to prove specific instances
- more associated with proof
What is accuracy, consistency, scope, simplicity and fruitfulness?
Accuracy: explanations and theories match real world observations
Consistency: a theory has few exceptions and shows agreement with other theories within and across disciplines
Scope: extent to which a theory extends beyond currently available data, explaining a wide array of phenomena
Simplicity: when multiple explanations are equally good at explaining the data, the simplest should be selected
Fruitfulness: The usefulness of the theory in guiding new research by predicting new, testable relationships.
Anecdotal evidence is limited by:
Quality and representativeness of observations and memory shortcomings
Null-hypothesis significance testing (NHST) tests, type 1 and 2 error:
Test probability that the observations would be the same if there was No relationship between the variables in the study
Type I error: data shows a relationship that doesn’t exist
Type II error: data fails to show a relationship that exists
What is the p-value?
Probability values (P-value): set a threshold for errors and what data is significant
“the probability of observing a particular outcome in a sample, or more extreme, under a conjecture about the larger population or process”
How often a random process would give the result found in a study, assuming no external variables
Type I and II error
Type I error: rejecting a null hypothesis that is actually true
- in reality there is NO relationship
Type II error: failing to reject a null hypothesis that is actually false in the population
- in reality there is a relationship
What makes a scientific theory?
An explanation for an observed phenomena that is
- empirically well-supported
- consistent
- fruitful/predictive
- potentially falsified
eugenics
the promotion of selective breeding (for desired traits)
Describe behaviourism, and why cognitive psych was better suited
Behaviourism (Watson & Skinner): rejected any reference to mind, viewed overt and observable behaviour is the subject matter of psychology
o But behaviourism was unable to fully explain human behaviour because it neglected mental processes
o So, cognitive psychology was better suited - includes flashbulb memory and the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
Anecdotal evidence:
a piece of evidence, usually drawn from personal experience, used to support a conclusion that may or may not be correct
What is systematic observation?
the careful observation of the natural world with the aim of better understanding it.
Observations provide the basic data that allow scientists to track, tally, or otherwise organize information about the world
Being objective
Being free of personal bias
What are the factors of ethics
- Informed consent
- Confidentiality
- Privacy
- Benefits (researchers should weigh the benefits against the potential risks)
- Deception (researchers much debrief after the study to educate participants)
What do levels of analysis state?
Levels of analysis state that a given phenomenon can be explained at different levels simultaneously - allow a variety of perspectives
What is the margin of error?
The expected amount of random variation in a statistic; often defined for a 95% confidence interval
What is random assignment vs random sampling, and what is the goal of each?
Random assignment: using a probability-based method to divide a sample into a treatment group
- balances out all variables related to the individual differences between participants (and between treatment groups)
Random sampling: using a probability-based method to select a subset of individuals for the sample from the population
- goal is selecting a sample that is representative of the population (generalizable)
- eliminates sampling bias
Random assignment + random sampling can help you have more confidence in your results as they REDUCE EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES as much as possible
When is a result statistically significant?
When is it unlikely to arise by chance alone
Dependent and independent variable, operational definitions
Dependent: The variable the researcher measures but does NOT manipulate
Independent: the variable the researcher manipulates and controls in an experiement
Operational definitions: how researchers specifically measure a concept
Quasi-experimental design
An experiment that does not require random assignment to conditions
Experimental designs vs correlational
Experimental:
- Have IV and DV
- IV is manipulated to have an outcome on DV
- Double-blind procedures prevent confounds
- Relationship between variables: cause-and-effect
Correlational:
- Measures association between two variables
- does NOT imply causation
- no intervention or manipulation, patterns are instead identified
- can ONLY examine 2 variables
- Relationship between variables: correlation
Experimental designs vs longitudinal vs quasi-experimental pros and cons
Experimental:
(+) determines cause-and-effect relationships
(-) more manipulation therefore reduced ecological validity
Longitudinal design:
(+) provides valuable evidence for testing theories
(-) time consuming and costly
(-) attrition; when participants leave
(-) correlation isn’t causation
Quasi-experimental design:
(+) high external validity, as they often involve real-world interactions
(-) random sampling not used
Limitations of experimental research
- manipulated and controlled variables not natural, experimenters must try balancing external and internal validity
- since internal validity is crucial for research, it is prioritized, however, external validity is required to apply it to the population
Studying daily experiences
Experience-sampling method:
- premise: collect in-the-moment self-report data directly from ppl in natural settings
- asks participants several times a day to report their feelings and thoughts
- increasingly popular, now the standard for studying daily experiences
- EXTERNALLY VALID RESULTS
Day reconstructed method (DRM):
- participants describe their experience and behaviours of a day, retrospectively, the following day
Studying daily behaviour
Electronically activated recorder (EAR):
- gives info on participants location, activities, interactions, emotional expressions
- naturalistic observation methodological tool
Other methods:
- observing ppls rooms and offices to understand how personality is expressed and detected in daily environments
As ppl may not accurately report daily activities, emotions, etc, in a lab setting, assessment of real-world behaviour is crucial
Studying daily physiology
- Researcher interested in how our bodies fluctuate to daily demands in life (ex physiological reactions to love, ostracization, etc)
Ambulatory physiological monitoring:
- monitoring physiological rxns as ppl go about their daily lives
Electrocardiogram (ECG):
- monitors BP, electrodermal activity, body temp
Methods are used to study how little experiences in our lives leave objective, measurable traces in our body
Studying online behaviour
- recent study tool
- emails, chats, tweets, blog posts, all leave direct verbal traces of behaviour
- most research looks at online behaviour (personality traits, quality of social life)
Smartphone psychology:
- “whats next” for research, since phones are integral to life
- phones store vast amounts of real-world user interaction data, tracking for locations, physiological monitoring - all valuable for research!
Intersexual selection vs intrasexual competition
Intersexual selection – a process of sexual selection by which evolution (change) occurs because of the mate preference of one sex exerting selection pressure on members of the opposite sex
Intrasexual competition – a process of sexual selection by which members of one sex compete, and the victors gain preferential mating access to members of the opposite sex
Histone mods:
Posttranslational modifications of the N-terminal “tails” of histone proteins that serve as a major mode of epigenetic regulation. These modifications include:
acetylation, phosphorylation, methylation, sumoylation, etc
How are nature and nurture hard to differentiate in typical human families? How can this be overcome?
In typical human families, nature and nurture are difficult to differentiate because many children are raised by and born from their parents
But this can be overcome through adoption studies (comparing adopted children to their adoptive and biological parents)
- if children similar to adopted parents, then environmental correlation
- if children similar to genetic parents, then genetic correlation
What is the heritability coefficient, and some problems with it?
measures how strongly differences among individuals are related to differences among their genes
problems:
1. doesn’t agree with intuition (e.g. both fraternal and identical twins have 2 arms, so theoretically it would be 100% nurture)
2. divides traits’ determinants into two distinct portions - doesn’t consider the phenomenon of gene-environment interaction (G x E)
Understand why nature–nurture questions are difficult to study empirically
To study empirically means: gathering measurable evidence to test hypotheses and draw conclusions based on real-world phenomena.
Its hard to study nature-nurture empirically because:
- Complex Interactions: Genes and environments often interact. For example, a person’s genetic predisposition might influence how they respond to their environment, or their environment might alter gene expression (epigenetics).
- Ethical Constraints: Experimental studies on humans, such as controlling or manipulating environments in extreme ways, are often unethical.
- Measurement Challenges: Both genetic predispositions and environmental influences can be difficult to measure precisely, leading to uncertainty in findings.
Therefore:
Researchers often rely on twin studies, adoption studies, or molecular genetics, but even these approaches have limitations in fully separating nature from nurture.
T or F: Physical survival is only important if it contributes to successful reproduction
True
T or F: The engine of evolution through natural selection is reproductive not survival success
True
What is natural selection:
differential REPRODUCTIVE success due to differences in heritable attributes
o We have inherited adaptive, psychological processes designed to ensure success in the form of certain genes that endure overtime
What are adaptations and the types of adaptations?
traits that have evolved over time to increase reproductive success
Survival adaptations: helped our ancestors handle “hostile forces of nature”
§ E.g., sweat glands help us survive hot temperatures, shivering mechanism helps us survive cold temperatures, developing cravings for fats/sugars helps keep us going in food shortages, fear helps us stay safe
Reproductive adaptations: help us compete for mates
- explained through the sexual selection theory (Darwin)
What is the sexual selection theory?
describes the evolution of characteristics due to mating advantage
Intrasexual competition:
- members of one sex compete
- victor gains preferential mating access to member of opposite sex
- qualities leading to success in intrasexual competition are passed on specifically because they are associated with greater mating success, but sometimes it lowers survival success (e.g. larger antlers could make it harder to evade predators)
Intersexual selection:
- members of one sex are attracted to certain qualities in mates, so desired qualities get passed on in greater numbers because those who have the traits mate more often
Gene selection theory? How can genes boost their own replicative success?
Genes that are better able to encourage organism to reproduce (thus appearing in organism’s offspring) have advantage over competing genes that can’t
Boosting replicative success:
1. By increasing the organism’s odds of survival and reproduction (individual fitness).
Example: Female sloths scream loudly during mating; genes for louder screams increase survival and reproductive chances.
- By helping genetic relatives survive and reproduce (inclusive fitness).
Example: Parents supporting their kids through college, increasing their kids’ reproductive success, and ensuring the parents’ genes are passed on.
Evolutionary psychology, describe psychological vs physiological adaptations, and give examples of each:
Psychological: mechanisms of the mind that evolved to solve specific problems of survival/reproduction
Ex, sexual jealousy
- input: romantic partner flirting w/ rival
- procedure: person evaluates threat rival poses to relationship
- output: behavioural; may range from vigilance to violence
Include traits that improve one’s ability to live in groups/interact
Physiological: occur in body because of one’s environment
Ex, calluses (tougher skin to protect repeatedly scraped areas)
- Input: increased friction to skin
- Procedure: skin gros new skin cells in affected area
- Output: formation of the callus to protect underlying tissue
What is interactionist framework:
Theory that considers multiple factors when determining outcome
How does culture have a major effect on psychological adaptations?
E.g., status within a group is important in all cultures to achieve reproductive success (higher status makes someone more attractive to mates)
§ In each culture, the definition of status differs
Evolutionary psychology:
a) predicts rigid “instincts”
b) studies flexible, environmentally connected adaptations
DOES NOT predict rigid “instincts”; not one rule that constantly works
b) is true:
studies flexible, environmentally connected adaptations (vary by situation)
Describe the aspects of the error management theory:
Cost assymetries:
o Over evolutionary history, we developed adaptive bias in favor of least costly choice
o We psychologically adapt to prefer choices that MINIMIZE cost/error
Visual descent illusion (Jackson & Cormack, 2008)
o People will overestimate distance when looking down from a height compared to looking up in order to be wary of falling from great heights (high cost)
Auditory looming bias
o People tend to overestimate how close objects are when sound is moving towards them to when it’s moving away
o Better to be safe than sorry - more alert when a threat is approaching
Sexual over-perception bias (Perilloux, Easton & Buss, 2012)
o Men often misread sexual interest from a woman because of the cost it has on men when they miss out on a chance for reproduction
Are genetically identical twins epigenetically the same?
(Genetically) identical twins sharing common genotype are epigenetically similar when younger but become more dissimilar (different behaviour/personality, physical traits/risk)
What is the glucocorticoid?
Glucocorticoid: brain structure associated with stress response, learning and memory
What is the significance of histone acetylation and DNA methylation of glucocorticoid receptor gene promoter
Epigenetic Changes:
- Poor parental care can alter DNA methylation and histone acetylation at the glucocorticoid receptor gene, causing long-term changes in physiology and behavior.
- Abused children show more methylation at this gene, linking childhood trauma to lasting effects.
Describe the maternally transmitted response to stress in rats
In adulthood, offspring of mothers who exhibited increased levels of pup licking and grooming INCREASED expression of glucocorticoid receptor and lower hormonal response to stress compared to those exposed to low licking (Francis et al, 1999) (Liu et al, 1997)
Rat pups receiving lower levels of maternal licking/grooming during first week of life showed decreased histone acetylation and increased DNA methylation of neuron-specific promoter of glucocorticoid receptor gene (Weaver et al, 2004), (Weaver, Meaney & Szyf,
Gene expression is reduced number of glucocorticoid receptors in brain is decreased = higher hormonal response to stress throughout life
Child nutrition and the epigenome
Nutrients in food can change DNA methylation and histone mods, which modifies gene expression in physiologic and pathologic processes (embryo developing, aging, carcinogenesis)
- nutrients can inhibit enzymes that catalyze DNA methylation/histone mods or altering abundance of substrates in the reactions
- rat mothers fed diet low in methyl group donors during pregnancy produced offspring with reduced DNMTA-1 expression, decreased DNA methylation, increased histone acetylation at promote regions of specific genes (such as glucocorticoid receptor) and increased gene expression in livers
Seen as a tool to prevent pediatric developmental disease and cancer and delay aging processes
Examining children of women who were pregnant during famines.
- women who endured famine in late stages of pregnancy gave birth to SMALLER babies who had risk of insulin resistance later in life
- famine exposure was associated with wide range of risks like obesity, higher rate of coronary heart disease and lower birth weight
- offspring who were starved prenatally later experienced impaired glucose tolerance in adulthood, even with more food abundant
- 60 years after famine, people exposed to famine prenatally showed reduced DNA methylation compared to unexposed same-sex siblings
Epigenetics in learning and memory; methylation:
- influence long term changes in synaptic signalling, organization in the brain and morphology
- neuronal activity in mice hippocampi is associated with changes in DNA methylation
- disruption to genes encoding DNA methylation machinery causing learning and memory impairments
- DNA methylation has been implicated in neuronal activity (learning and memory impairments) and maintenance of long-term memory. important also in mediating synaptic plasticity and cognitive function
Epigenetics in learning and memory; histone acetylation
- histone mods alter chromatin accessibility and gene expression
- memory formation and enhanced synaptic transmission is linked to INCREASED histone acetylation and alterations in histone methylation which promote gene expression
- neuronal increase in histone deacetylase activity results in REDUCED synaptic plasticity and impairs memory
- pharmacological inhibition of histone deacetylases augments memory formation. this suggests histone deacetylation regulates memory formation
briefly what are MECP2 and CBP
highly expressed in neurons involved in regulating neutral gene expression
MECP2
- is responsible for reading DNA sequence, checking for DNA methylation and binding to areas with methylation, preventing binding of bad proteins
- influences gene expression that supports dendritic and synaptic development and hippocampus-dependent memory
What causes Rett Syndrome, and how does it affect neural function?
Caused by a mutation in the MECP2 gene, which regulates DNA methylation and prevents harmful protein binding.
MECP2 supports dendritic/synaptic development and memory (Li et al., 2011; Skene et al., 2010).
Mutations lead to:
- Increased histone acetylation, neuron death, anxiety, cognitive deficits, and social withdrawal (Shahbazian et al., 2002).
- Disrupts the epigenetic regulation of histone modification and gene expression.
What is Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome (RTS), and how is it linked to CBP mutations?
RTS is caused by mutations in the CBP gene, which promotes histone acetylation and gene expression.
Symptoms include decreased histone acetylation, cognitive dysfunction, and impaired neural plasticity (Korzus et al., 2004).
Mouse studies show CBP mutations reduce histone acetylation, impair cognitive tasks, and disrupt neurogenesis (Josselyn, 2005).
How do DNA methylation and histone modifications regulate learning and memory?
DNA Methylation:
- Produces long-term changes in synaptic signaling and brain organization (Day & Sweatt, 2011).
- Implicated in neuronal activity and long-term memory maintenance (Miller et al., 2010).
Histone Modifications:
- Increased histone acetylation enhances memory and synaptic plasticity (Guan et al., 2002).
- Histone deacetylase inhibition improves memory formation (Levenson et al., 2004).
How do epigenetic modifications link environment and neurodevelopment?
Environmental cues regulate histone-modifying enzymes, promoting neurogenesis and affecting behavioral development (Wang et al., 2010).
Misregulated epigenetic mechanisms result in cognitive and neural defects.
How are epigenetic changes linked to psychological disorders?
DNA methylation changes in genes involved in brain development and neurotransmitter pathways are associated with mental illnesses (Mill et al., 2008).
Disorders often begin in childhood, causing lifelong disability.
Environmental effects and cellular epigenetic changes may help identify causes of psychiatric disorders.
How does epigenetics relate to depression and antidepressant actions?
Depression-related behaviours involve chromatin structure changes that regulate gene expression.
Key Findings:
- Social avoidance and stress decrease expression of hippocampal and emotional-processing genes (Tsankova et al., 2006; Lutter et al., 2008).
- Histone markers for increased gene expression are reduced in the brains of depressed individuals (Covington et al., 2009).
- Antidepressants reverse gene repression and increase histone markers, supporting the use of HDAC inhibitors (Tsankova et al., 2006; Wilkinson et al., 2009).
What role do HDAC inhibitors play in treating depression?
HDAC inhibitors exert antidepressant effects by modifying distinct cellular targets (Cassel et al., 2006).
They reverse gene repression caused by stress and enhance markers of gene expression.
Which of the following best describes evolution?
1. Heritable traits developing over time because they help our survival
2. Differential reproductive success due to differences in heritable attributes
3. Traits that have evolved over time to increase reproductive success
4. The theory that describes the transition of species over time in essentially a one-fits-all rule
- Evolution, as described by natural selection, is the process by which individuals with advantageous heritable traits are more likely to reproduce successfully, passing those traits to the next generation.
This leads to changes in the frequency of those traits in a population over time.
Why not option 3?
Option 2 highlights the mechanism of evolution—differential reproductive success due to heritable traits. It explains how evolution works, emphasizing the role of variation, inheritance, and selection.
Option 3 focuses on the outcome of evolution (traits increasing reproductive success) but doesn’t explain how or why those traits become prevalent in a population.
Which of the following is not a form of either sexual- or gene-selection theory?
1. Intrasexual competition
2. Intersexual competition
3. Genes that allow reproduction are better selected
4. Sexual overperception bias
- sexual overpeception bias
Sexual overperception bias (Option 4) is not a form of sexual or gene selection theory.
It is part of error management theory:
- It refers to a cognitive bias where individuals (typically men) overestimate the sexual interest of others (typically women) in social interactions.
- This bias does not directly relate to the mechanisms of sexual or gene selection.
Habituation vs sensitization
Habituation: occurs when the response to a stimulus decreases with exposure
Sensitization: occurs when the response to a stimulus increases with exposure
Describe incidental, intentional, perceptual vs non-associative learning.
Incidental learning: any type of learning that happens without the intention to learn
Intentional learning: any type of learning that happens when motivated by intention
Perceptual learning: occurs when aspects of our perception changes as a function of experience
Non-associative learning: occurs when a single repeated exposure leads to a change in behaviour
What is operant conditioning vs classical
Classical conditioning – describes stimulus-stimulus associative learning
Classical conditioning – procedure in which an initially neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus
- Result is that the conditioned stimulus begins to elicit a conditioned response
Operant conditioning – describes stimulus-response associative learning
Instrumental (operant) conditioning – process in which animals learn about the relationship between their behaviours and their consequences
Conditioned compensatory response:
In classical conditioning, a conditioned response that opposes, rather than is the same as, the unconditioned response.
Functions to reduce the strength of the unconditioned response
Often seen in conditioning when drugs are used as unconditioned stimuli
What is a discriminative stimulus?
in operant conditioning, a stimulus that signals whether the response will be reinforced. “Sets the occasion” for the operant response
What is extinction?
decrease in the strength of a learned behaviour that occurs when the conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus
Fear conditioning, how?
Pavlovian conditioning in which the conditioned stimulus is associated wit an aversive unconditioned stimulus, and because of learning, the CS comes to evoke fear
Habit
instrumental behaviour that occurs automatically in the presence of a stimulus and is no longer influenced by the animal’s knowledge of the value of the reinforcer
Law of effect
the idea that instrumental or operant responses are influenced by their effects
Operant
a behaviour that is controlled by its consequences
Prediction error
when the outcome of a conditioning trial is different from that which is predicted by the conditioned stimuli
Quantitative law of effect
mathematical rule that states that the effectiveness of a reinforcer at strengthening an operant response depends on the amount of reinforcement earned for all alternative behaviours
Reinforcer devaluation effect
the finding that an animal will stop performing an instrumental response that once led to a reinforcer if the reinforcer is separately made aversive or undesirable
Stimulus control
when an operant behaviour is controlled by a stimulus that precedes it
Vicarious reinforcement
learning that occurs by observing the reinforcement or punishment of
another person
US and UR
Unconditioned response (UR) – in classical conditioning, an innate response that is elicited by a stimulus before conditioning
Unconditioned stimulus (US) – in classical conditioning, the stimulus that elicits the response before conditioning occurs
Appraisal structure and appraisal theories:
Appraisal structure – the set of appraisals that bring about an emotion
Appraisal theories:
- evaluations that relate what is happening in the environment to people’s values, goals, and beliefs.
- Contend that emotions are caused by patterns of appraisals
Coping potential
people’s beliefs about their ability to handle challenges
Forms of learning
Auditory perceptual learning: learning that occurs when aspects of our perception changes as a function of experience
- Ex, people hear songs differently due to personal experiences
Implicit learning: learning that occurs when we acquire information without intent that we cannot easily express and without awareness that it was learnt
- Ex, language acquisition
- Implicit memory is long term memo that doesn’t require conscious thought to encode
Nonassociative learning: learning that occurs when a single repeated exposure leads to a change in behaviour
- Ex, touching a hot pan, fire alarm noises
- Habituation is when responses lessen with exposure
- Sensitization is when responses increase with exposure
Individual differences affecting learning
- Motivation
- Organization and planning skills
- Working memo capacity (memory used to hold onto info temporarily, higher means better reasoning skills + reading comprehension)
- Anxiety (eg math anxiety: smaller capacity for remembering math-related info)
- Expertise (having more expertise enhances our ability to learn new info. chunking)
The three principles of learning:
- The value of metacognition
- not useful if someone can’t discern between material they mastered and material they need to learn - Transfer-appropriate processing
- when the situation is same as the original encoding activity, one can more easily retrieve info - The value of forgetting
- we don’t need to retrieve all the info we encode
- forgetting info can clear the way for crucial info
Observational learning, and its parts
Learning by observation of others
Part of Bandura’s Social Learning Theory: theory that people can learn new responses and behaviours by observing others
4 Parts:
1. Attention - one must pay attention to what they’re observing to learn
2. Retention - one must retain the observed behaviour in memory
3. Initiation - one must execute the learned behaviour
4. Motivation - must be motivated to engage in observational learning
Knowledge emotions are:
family of emotions associated with learning, reflecting, and exploring
They motivate people to explore unfamiliar things, builds knowledge and learning
The 4 Knowledge emotions are:
1. Suprise
2. Interest
3. Confusion
4. Awe
List the appraisals of each of the knowledge emotions
Surprise:
- “expectedness check”/novelty
High unexpectedness –> high contrast event —> Surprise
Interest:
- things are unexpected/unfamiliar, coping potential
Mental Challenge (novelty) + High Coping Potential –> Interest
Confusion:
- high novelty, event is hard to comprehend
Novelty + Event hard to comprehend –> Confusion
Awe:
- vast (inconsistent with one’s existing knowledge), accommodation to it
Vast event + Changing beliefs to Accommodate it –> Awe
What are the components and process of Pavlov’s classical conditioning experiment?
Unconditioned Stimulus (US): Food → naturally triggers Unconditioned Response (UR): Salivation
Neutral Stimulus (NS): Bell → no response initially
Conditioning: Repeated pairing of bell (NS) with food (US)
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): Bell → now triggers Conditioned Response (CR): Salivation
Acquisition: Learning the association between NS and US
Extinction: CR fades if CS (bell) is presented without US (food)
Spontaneous Recovery: CR reappears after a rest period
agonists vs antagonists
Agonists – a drug that increases or enhances a neurotransmitter’s effect
Antagonist – a drug that blocks a neurotransmitter’s effect
Enzymatic induction
process through which a drug can enhance the production of an enzyme
Unipolar, bipolar vs multipolar neurons
Unipolar:
- 1 axon
- NO dendrites
- ideal for relaying info
- transmits physiological info from periphery up the spinal cord to the brain
Bipolar:
- 1 axon
- 1 dendrite
- help pass info to specific centers in the brain
- for sensory perception
Multipolar:
- 1 axon
- many dendrites
- Most common
- communicates motor and sensory info to other neurons
Two forces that act to maintain a steady state when the cell is at rest:
Diffusion, electrostatic pressure (like repels like)
Define the force on anions, potassium, chloride, and sodium:
1) at rest
2) for diffusion
3) for electrostatic pressure
Anions
1) No permeability
2) N/A (no ion channels allow for A- movement)
3) N/A
Potassium
1) Very permeable
2) Pushes K+ outside the cell (higher concentration of K+ inside)
3) Pushes K+ inside the cell (since inside is negative)
Chloride
1) Very permeable
2) Pushes Cl- inside cell (higher conc outside)
3) Pushes Cl- outside cell (since outside is positive)
Sodium
1) Minimally permeable
2) Pushes Na+ inside cell (higher conc outside)
3) Pushes Na+ inside cell (*but Na stays outside)
*Na+ is removed from inside the cell by a sodium-potassium pump (uses ATP to move 3 Na+ ions out of the cell, and 2 K+ ions into the cell)
Neurotransmitter binds to ionotropic receptors in ____________ on postsynaptic dendritic spine
Neurotransmitter binds to ionotropic receptors in lock-and-key fashion on postsynaptic dendritic spine
What are the different types of hormones
Steroids:
- Cortisol
- Estradiol
- Testosterone
Peptides and protein hormones:
- Oxytocin
- Prolactin
- Thyroxine
- Vasopressin
Name each of the major glands, what hormones they produce and what their function is:
Pituitary gland
- Hormones: GH, releasing and inhibiting hormones (eg LSH)
- Function: regulate growth, regulate hormone release
Thyroid
- Hormones: thyroxine, triiodothyronine
- Function: regulate metabolism and appetite
Pineal
- Hormones: melatonin
- Function: regulate some biological rhythms such as sleep cycles
Adrenal
- Hormones: epinephrine and norepinephrine
- Function: stress response, increase metabolic activities
Pancreas
- Hormones: insulin, glucagon
- Function: regulate blood sugar levels
Ovaries/testes
- Hormones: estrogen, progesterone, androgens (eg testosterone)
- Functions: mediate sexual motivation and behaviour, reproduction
How do majority of psychoactive drugs work in the brain?
Virtually all psychoactive drugs interfere with/alter how neurons communicate with each other
Agonists increase activity at the synapse, antagonists decrease activity at the synapse
What are the behaviours or disease related to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine
Learning and memory; Alzheimer’s disease muscle movement in the peripheral nervous system
What are the behaviours or disease related to the neurotransmitter dopamine
Reward circuits; motor circuits involved in Parkinson’s disease; schizophrenia
What are the behaviours and disease related to the neurotransmitter norepinephrine
Arousal; depression
What are the behaviours and disease related to the neurotransmitter serotonin
Depression; aggression; schizophrenia
What are the behaviours and disease related to the neurotransmitter glutamate
Learning; major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain
What are the behaviours and disease related to the neurotransmitter GABA
Anxiety disorders; epilepsy; major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain
What are the behaviours and disease related to the neurotransmitter endogenous opiods
Pain; analgesia; reward
Why is grapefruit juice dangerous to consume with many psychotropic medications?
IGrapefruit juice is known to supress cytochrome P450 enzymes in the liver
- allows for build-up of drugs to potentially toxic levels
- drugs that may interact with it are tegretol (for bipolar disorder), diazepam (valium for anxiety, alcohol withdrawal, and muscle spasms) and fluvoxamine (Luvox for obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression)
Why controversy for pharmacotherapy for elderly
Elderly:
- Metabolism of drugs is often slowed for elderly populations (less drug = same effect or too much of a drug = many side effects)
- Dizziness (side effect) can cause falling (greater risk for elderly) and may reduce bone density
Which of the following is not an example of a steroid hormone?
1. Cortisol
2. Thyroxine
3. Testosterone
4. Estradiol
- thyroxine - its a thyroid hormone
Arcuate fasiculus
a fiber tract that connects Wenicke’s and Broca’s speech areas
Cingulate gyrus
a medial cortical portion of the nervous tissue that is a part of the limbic
system
Ectoderm
the outermost layer of a developing fetus
Fornix
nerve fiber tract that connects the hippocampus to mammillary bodies
Lateral geniculate nucleus (LNG)
nucleus in the thalamus that is innervated by the optic nerves and sends signals to the visual cortex in the occipital lobe
Rostrocaudal
a front-back plane used to identify anatomical structures in the body and the brain
Spina bifida
a developmental disease of the spinal cord, where the neural tube does not close caudally
Name the parts of and describe the basic function of brain stem
“trunk” of the brain comprised of the medulla, pons, midbrain, and diencephalon
Regulates heart rate, respiration, and digestion
o Thus, damage to the brain stem requires patients to be on “life support”
Name the parts of and describe the basic function of cerebellum
Cerebellum – nervous system structure controlling motor movement coordination,balance, equilibrium, and muscle tone
* Has been implicated in language
* Its exact role is still being explored
Name the parts of and describe the basic function of the cerebral hemispheres
- Responsible for our cognitive abilities and conscious experience
- Consists of the cerebral cortex, white matter, and subcortical structures (basal ganglia, amygdala, hippocampal formation)
There are two hemispheres which can be subdivided into the:
o Occipital lobe – back part of the cerebrum, responsible for vision
o Temporal lobe – lies below the lateral sulcus; involved in auditory processing,
memory, and multisensory integration (convergence of vision and audition)
o Parietal lobe – houses the somatosensory cortex (responsible for bodily sensation) and structures involved in visual attention
o Frontal lobe – houses the motor cortex (responsible for voluntary movement) and involved in motor planning, language, judgment, and decision-making
Ways to study the human brain
phrenology
- Phrenologists assumed that various features of the brain are reflected on the skull
dissection
- It has advanced through staining techniques that can highlight cells
Distinguish among four neuroimaging methods: PET, fMRI, EEG, and DOI.
Neuroimaging studies the brain in action during specific tasks, with two key properties:
- Spatial resolution: The ability to resolve small elements in an image.
- Temporal resolution: The ability to measure very small units of time.
Techniques:
Positron Emission Tomography (PET):
- Measures blood flow by detecting a radioactive substance injected into the bloodstream.
- Good spatial resolution, poor temporal resolution.
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI):
- Measures changes in oxygen levels in blood to infer brain activity.
- don’t require injection of substances
- Good spatial resolution, poor temporal resolution.
Electroencephalography (EEG):
- Measures electrical activity from electrodes on the scalp.
- High temporal resolution than PET and fMRI
- poor spatial resolution because electrical activity can be picked up anywhere in the brain.
Diffuse Optical Imaging (DOI):
- Measures light changes passing through the skull to infer brain activity.
- High spatial and temporal resolution.
- relies on the fact that properties of light change when it passes through oxygenated blood or when encountering active neurons
Psychophysiological methods, IV and DV
DV: physiological
IV: behavioural or mental
Psychophysiological Methods - central nervous system
Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (sMRI):
- non-invasive
- uses scanning sequences that produce high contrast images between gray and white matter
- used to compare size of brain structures
(+) non-invasive
(-) has to be used with fRMI to increase spatial
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI):
- measures change in blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD)-signal (oxygenated to deoxygenated hemoglobin)
- identifies areas of the brain associated with different physical or psychological tasks
(+) virtually no risks
(+) non-invasive
(+) high resolution
(-) patient must be still
Electroencephalography (EEG):
- Allows for precise localization of neural activity, essential in medical applications
(+) sees brain activity unfold in real time
(-) hard to find out where brain electrical activity is coming from
Magnetoencephalography (MEG):
- non-invasive technique measuring neural activity.
- Measures magnetic fields produced by your brain’s electrical currents
- can identify source of epileptic seizures
(+) good temporal resolution
(+) not susceptible to distortions from skull or scalp
(-) expensive
Positron Emission Tomography (PET):
- can measure action of neurotransmitters
(-) poor temporal resolution
(-) combined with CT to improve spatial resolution
Psychophysiological Methods - Peripheral nervous system
Skin conductance:
- measures electrical conductance between two points on the skin which vary in level of moisture
- Increase in skin conductance is associated with changes in psychological activity
Cardiovascular responses:
- Heart rate, heart rate variability, and blood pressure
- input from PNS decreases heart rate, whereas input from SNS increases heart rate
Muscle activity
Pupil diameter, eye blinks:
- Direction of gaze shows interest
- Diameter of pupils is controlled by competing inputs from SNS and PNS (used as an index of mental effort when performing tasks)
Nervous tissue emerges from the ________. What is this?
This is through ____________, the process that causes the formation of the neural tube.
Nervous tissue emerges from the ectoderm.
- outermost layer of the developing fetus
This is through neural induction, the process that causes the formation of the neural tube.
neural crest
set of neurons that migrate outside the neural tube and give rise to sensory and autonomic neurons in the PNS
CNS is divided into the:
- Spinal cord
- Forebrain
- Cerebrum (left and right hemispheres) - Midbrain
- Superior and inferior colliculi (process visual and auditory information) - Hindbrain
- Pons (processes sensory and motor information employing the cranial nerves, works as a bridge connecting the cerebral cortex and medulla)
Studying the nervous system
- light and electron microscopes show intricate connections among nerve cells
- immunocytochemistry stains tissue, using antibodies, making it possible to see selected neurons affected by growth
- lesion studies
- computerized axial tomography (CAT) (uses X-rays to capture many pics of the brain and sandwiches them into 3D models to study it
If someone wanted to map brain regions responsible for different activities, which neuroimaging technique is most beneficial?
a) Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
b) Electroencephalography (EEG)
c) Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (sMRI)
d) Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
d) fMRI identifies specific brain regions associated with physical or psychological tasks by measuring changes in blood oxygenation, providing high spatial resolution crucial for brain mapping.
Agnosia and anosmia, what are they?
Agnosia – loss of the ability to perceive stimuli
Anosmia – loss of the ability to smell
Binocular disparity
difference in images processed by the left and right eyes
Differential threshold, Just noticeable difference,
Differential threshold: the smallest difference needed to differentiate two stimuli
JND: the smallest difference needed to differentiate two stimuli
Principle of inverse effectiveness
The finding that, for a multimodal stimulus, if the response to each unimodal component is weak, then the opportunity for multisensory enhancement is very large. However, if one component is sufficient to evoke a strong response, then the effect on the response gained by simultaneously processing the other components of the stimulus will be relatively small
Sensory adaptation
decrease in sensitivity of a receptor to a stimulus after constant stimulation
Ventral pathway
pathway of visual processing, the “what” pathway
Weber’s law
states that just noticeable difference is proportional to the magnitude of the initial stimulus
bigger stimuli require larger differences to be noticed:
o Difference between 1 kg and 2 kg is double the 1st weight versus difference between 10 kg and 11 kg is less significant of a difference
Vestibular system
parts of the inner ear involved in balance
Interaural differences
differences between the two ears
Allodynia
pain due to a stimulus that does not normally provoke pain
Analgesia
pain relief
Cutaneous senses
the senses of the skin: tactile, thermal, pruritic (itchy), painful, and pleasant
Descending pain modulatory system
a top-down pain-modulating system able to inhibit or facilitate pain
Endorphin
an endogenous morphine-like peptide that binds to the opioid receptors in the brain and body; synthesized in the body’s nervous system
Exteroception vs interoception
Exteroception: the sense of the external world, of all stimulation originating from the outside our own bodies
Interoception: the sense of the physiological state of the body, hunger, thirst, temp, pain, and other sensations relevant to homeostasis
Noxious stimulus
a stimulus that is damaging or threatens damage to normal tissues
Information is sent to many areas of the cortex for complex processing, what are some of these areas?
Fusiform face area processes face
Extrastriate body area processes body parts
Pathways of visual processing include the ventral and the dorsal pathways, which is which?
Ventral pathway: “the what pathway” - visual recognition
Dorsal pathway: “the where pathway” - location and movement processing
There are three types of information we can get from the basic qualities of sound waves:
- Amplitude (intensity): higher amplitude = increased loudness of a stimulus (the sound)
- Pitch (based on frequency): higher frequency = higher pitch
- Timbre (quality): bright/dull and natural/synthesized instruments
Name the pathway that soundwaves follow in the ear
Auditory canal
tympanic membrane
auditory hair cells
Pinna
ossicles
cochlea
Pinna → auditory canal → tympanic membrane → ossicles → cochlea → auditory hair cells
Humans can normally detect sounds between ____ and ____
Humans can normally detect sounds between 20 hZ and 20 khZ
Balance & the Vestibular System
- Vestibular system is comprised of 3 semicircular canals (fluid-filled bone structures with cells that respond to changes in head’s orientation in space)
o Information goes from vestibular system → through vestibular nerve → to muscles involved in movement of eyes, neck and other parts of our body - Information allows us to maintain our gaze on an object while we move
- Disturbances in vestibular system can lead to issues with balance (such as vertigo)
Organ of corti
Organ of Corti runs along the length of the basilar membrane from base (by oval window) to apex (the “tip” of spiral)
o Includes 3 rows of outer hair cells and 1 row of inner hair cells
- Outer hair cells mechanically amplify the sound-induced vibrations
- Inner hair cells form synapses with auditory nerve and transduce vibrations into action potentials (to be sent to higher centers of auditory pathways)
Frequency analysis: cochlea breaks up the many frequencies of a sound, describe how
o Low frequencies = maximal basilar-membrane vibrations near apex of cochlea
o High frequencies = maximal basilar-membrane vibrations near base of cochlea
o Frequency-to-place mapping = tonotopic representation
o Frequency analysis allows us to hear more than one sound at once
Phase locking
frequencies are represented by the timing of spikes in the auditory nerve
o Compares time-of-arrival differences of waveforms between two ears
Masking vs supression
Masking: presence of one sound makes another more difficult to hear as far as the frequencies of the sounds
overlap
Suppression: when response to masker reduces neural (and maybe mechanical) response to the target sound (maybe due to failure to separate target from masking sounds)
At least some forms of masking originate in auditory cortex, not before
Describe the upward spread of masking
Upward spread of masking: low frequency sounds are more likely to mask high frequency sounds (especially at higher intensities)
Two main sources of information are from comparison of sounds at two ears:
- Interaural time difference: sound source on the right reaches right ear slightly before it reaches the left ear
o We are more sensitive to ITDs at low frequencies (<~1.5 kHz) because at least we can still perceive changes in timing for high frequencies - Interaural level differences: at higher frequencies, head casts an acoustic shadow so that when the sound is presented from the right, the sound level at the right ear is somewhat higher than the sound level at the left
o ILDs at high frequency are more useful because head shadow is the greatest
Perception of spatial location is mostly due to ___ in low-frequency temporal fine structure
ITDs
As speaker moves further away, direct sound level decreases but sound level of _______ remains the same
o As speaker moves further away, direct sound level decreases but sound level of reverberation remains the same (so ratio of direct-to-reverberant energy
decreases)
Types of receptors:
Chemo
Mechano
Thermo
What is the 1st discriminatory and second affective signal involved in pain?
Sharp stabs of pain are signaled via Aδ-fibers (fast-conducting) to somatosensory cortex
- Somatotopic organization (point-for-point correspondence of each body part to a specific part of the cortex)
Ache after the sharp pain is signaled via thin C-fibers to the insular cortex/other brain regions for emotion and interoception
Affective Touch for Development/Relationships, what is the social touch hypothesis
There may be a special, evolutionary beneficial system that promotes gentle touch because of its social and emotional significance
o Consists of C-fibers that respond to not only painful stimuli but also gentle stroking touch (C-tactile fibers)
- Firing rate correlates with how pleasant the stroking feels (so it’s hypothesized they code specifically for gentle touch
cortisol reduced
Social touch hypothesis proposes that C-tactile fibers form a system for touch perception that supports social bonding
o Affectionate touch is organized similarly to pain (fast-conducting A-fibers and thin C-fibers)
Motivation-Decision Model & Descending Modulation Circuit of Pain
Motivation-decision model: brain automatically and continuously evaluates pros and cons of a situation (weighs impending threats and available rewards)
Descending pain modulatory system: top-down pain-modulating system capable of inhibiting pain-signaling so that more important actions can be attended to
o After inhibiting, the same system can enhance nociception to promote healing and motivate us to avoid potentially painful actions
o Uses ON- or OFF-cells in the brainstem to regulate amount of nociceptive signals that reach the brain
o System depends on opioid signalling and analgesics (pain relief) via the circuit
Pain-Relief Properties of the Reward System
The placebo effect is where the effects of a treatment are not caused by physical- Reflect the brain’s own properties of the treatment but instead by the meaning ascribed to it
- activation of the descending modulation circuit triggered by positive expectation/desire for successful treatment
Placebo analgesia depends largely on opioid mechanisms
- Can be revered by pharmacological blocking of opioid receptors
What is the most complete pathway through which sound travels in the ear?
Pinna → auditory canal → tympanic membrane → ossicles → cochlea → auditory hair cells
Auditory canal → ossicles → tympanic membrane → cochlea → auditory hair cells
Pinna → tympanic membrane → cochlea → ossicles → auditory hair cells
Ossicles → tympanic membrane → ossicles → auditory hair cells → cochlea
Pinna → auditory canal → tympanic membrane → ossicles → cochlea → auditory hair cells
Beta effect
the perception of motion that occurs when different images are presented next to each other in succession
Phi phenomenon
we perceive a sensation of motion caused by the appearance and disappearance of objects that are near each other
Visual accommodation
the process of changing the curvature of the lens to keep the light entering the eyes focus on the retina
Crossmodal phenomena
effects that concern the influence of the perception of one sensory modality on the perception of another
Integrated
the process by which the perceptual system combines information arising from more than one modality
McGurk effect
an effect in which conflicting visual and auditory components of a speech stimulus result in an illusory percept
Rubber hand illusion
the false perception of a fake hand as belonging to a perceiver, due to multimodal sensory information
Spatial principle of multisensory integration vs Superadditive effect of multisensory integration
Spatial: the finding that the super additive effects of multisensory integration are observed when the sources of stimulation are spatially related to one another
Superadditive: the finding that responses to multimodal stimuli are typically greater than the sum of the independent responses to each unimodal component if it were presented on its own
What is the trichromatic color theory proposed by Hermann von Helmholtz?
The trichromatic color theory explains that the color we see depends on the mix of signals from three types of cones:
Blue cone: Reacts to short wavelengths.
Green cone: Reacts to medium wavelengths.
Red cone: Reacts to long wavelengths.
Examples:
Red + Blue signals → Perception of purple.
Color blindness: Inability to detect red and/or green due to malfunctioning red or green cones.
Limitation:
Cannot explain all human vision (e.g., yellow is perceived even without red or green mixing).
The tricolour and opponent-process mechanisms work together to produce colour vision
When light rays enter the eye, the red, blue, and green cones respond in different degrees, sending different strength of signals through the optic nerve
Colour signals are processed by the ganglion cells and neurons in the visual cortex
review binocular and monocular depth cues
Perceiving Motion
Motion Perception in Animals:
- Animals coordinate motion using the brain’s detection of changes in an image’s size on the retina or brightness of an object (e.g., catching a frisbee).
Human Motion Perception:
- Beta Effect: Perception of motion occurs when different images are presented in succession. The brain fills in missing motion, creating the illusion of movement.
- Phi Phenomenon: Perception of motion arises from the appearance and disappearance of objects near each other.
Multisensory convergence zones, and an example
regions in the brain that receive input from the multiple unimodal areas processing different sensory modalities
Ex: superior colliculus – receives inputs from areas of the brain, including regions involved in unimodal processing of visual and auditory stimuli
- Involved in the “orienting response” – behaviour associated with moving
one’s gaze toward the location of a seen/heard stimulus
multimodal phenomena, give 2 examples
Audiovisual Speech: Speech is a multimodal phenomenon, combining auditory information (sound waves) and visual cues (visual patterns of the speaker).
McGurk Effect: A perceptual illusion that occurs when conflicting visual and auditory components of speech are integrated, resulting in a misperception of what is being said.
Example: Seeing one lip movement while hearing a different sound can produce a third, illusory perception.
OR
Tactile/Visual Interactions in Body Ownership
- like the rubber hand illusion
Crossmodal phenomena (and 2 examples)
Visual Influence on Auditory Localization:
- ventriloquism
- Our perceptual system localizes the speech incorrectly
- the visual location of the mouth movement overrides the less specified location of the auditory information
Auditory Influence on Visual Perception:
- double flash
- ball collision
When you go to a movie theatre to watch a film, you do not perceive each individual frame of the film. Rather, you see a continuously moving image. Which one of the following describes this perceptual experience?
a) Gestalt phenomenon
b) Phi phenomenon
c) Beta phenomenon
d) Optical phenomenon
c) BETA
you a beta, stop motion films are beta lol
Define and compare multimodal and crossmodal phenomena. Give an example for each, referring them back to their respective phenomena
Multimodal phenomena – effects that concern the binding of inputs from multiple sensory modalities
EXAMPLE
Audiovisual Speech: Speech is a multimodal phenomenon, combining auditory information (sound waves) and visual cues (visual patterns of the speaker).
- McGurk Effect: A perceptual illusion that occurs when conflicting visual and auditory components of speech are integrated, resulting in a misperception of what is being said.
- Example: Seeing one lip movement while hearing a different sound can produce a third, illusory perception.without simultaneous input.
______________________________________
Crossmodal phenomena – effects that concern the influence of one sensory modality on the perception of another
EXAMPLE
Visual Influence on Auditory Localization
- “The Ventriloquism effect” – when a ventriloquist appears to make a puppet speak, they fool listeners in thinking that the location of the origin of the speech is from the puppet
o Our perceptual system localizes the speech incorrectly
o We have information on the sounds from the ventriloquists’ mouth and visual movement from the puppet
- It’s difficult to pinpoint the location of the sounds – the visual location of the mouth movement overrides the less specified location of the auditory information
Flexible Correction Model
the ability for people to correct or change their beliefs and evaluations if they believe these judgments have been biased
Implicit Associations Test
a reaction time test that measures a person’s automatic associations with concepts
Dualism
mental and physical are different substances
Reductionism
mental phenomena can be explained via descriptions of physical phenomena
Global Neuronal Workspace Theory of Consciousnes
sharing of information among prefrontal, inferior parietal, and occipital regions of the cerebral cortex is postulated to be especially important for generating awareness
Information Integration Theory of Consciousness
shared information constitutes consciousness
Complexity: number of interrelated informational units/ideas in a web of information
- High consciousness = many diversely interrelated ideas arise (low if ideas are random and unassociated)
Amnesia = deficits in _____ memory
declarative memory (ability to store/retrieve personal information)
Conscious Experiences of Body Awareness
Body awareness is mediated by the temporoparietal junction:
- Damage can cause distortion in body awareness (e.g.; elongated torso)
- Also makes the normal awareness of the sense of self and sensation of being in a body (AKA the presence in virtual reality AKA the feeling of actually being
there)
We do better in environments where were we can predict what others are doing to do
- People perceive their own attention and intention as consciousness, so the primary function of consciousness is to allow us to predict our behaviour
Low Awareness
Cues can automatically elicit a response from us without our conscious awareness of it
Priming: activation of certain thoughts/feelings that make them easier to think of/act upon
- Can be studied without participant bias through the implicit associations test
What is priming and how can it be studied?
Priming: activation of certain thoughts/feelings that make them easier to think of/act upon
- Can be studied without participant bias through the implicit associations test (computer reaction time measures participant’s automatic associations with concepts)
Costs and benefits of high vs low awareness
High awareness:
Costs: uses mental effort
Benefits: can overcome some biases
Low awareness:
Costs: influenced by subtle factors
Benefits: saves mental effort
Stages of sleep
Stage 1 (NREM 1 or N1): “falling asleep” stage
* Marked by theta waves
Stage 2 (NREM 2 or N2): considered a light sleep
* Very high intensity brain waves
* Occasional “sleep spindles”
* Thought to be associated with the processing of memories, makes up ~55% of all sleep
Stage 3 (NREM 3 or N3): greater muscle relaxation
* Marked by appearance of delta waves
* Makes up between 20-25% of all sleep
REM sleep: marked by rapid eye movement (REM) and associated with dreaming
* Less intense brain waves (similar to wakefulness in terms of brain activity)
* Accounts for about 20% of all sleep
Why do humans dream?
Our unconscious attempt to make sense of our daily experiences and learning
- Dreams represent taboo or troublesome wishes or desires (popularized by Freud)
- One function of sleep is that it gives us mental and physical restoration
o Children generally need more sleep than adults since they are developing
o People lacking sleep are more irritable, have slower reaction time, have more difficulty holding attention and make poorer decisions
Alcohol reduces _____ (we act in ways we’d otherwise be reluctant to)
inhibition
Alcohol negative effects:
- Increase GABA (neurotransmitter)
- Loss of balance and coordination
- Toxic (acts as poison) because we can drink more than we can remove from bloodstream
- Blood alcohol content (BAC) > 0.3-0.4% can result in serious risk of death
Opiates stimulate ________ production, used as painkillers, highly addictive
Opiates stimulate endorphin production, used as painkillers, highly addictive
Illegal stimulants include cocaine and methamphetamine, block _____________ in brain which creates euphoria and alertness
Illegal stimulants include cocaine and methamphetamine, block reuptake of dopamine in brain which creates euphoria and alertness
Which of the following is typically true of amnesia in relation to varying types of memory?
1. Normally does not have too big of an effect on episodic memory
2. Characterized by deficits in declarative memory
3. Retrieval of declarative memory involves restricted portions of the cortex
4. The recall of episodic memory is passive due to the configuration of the cortex
2.
T or F: Alcohol decreases GABA
FALSE, it increases the effects of GABA, which is why it has a depressant effect on the brain and reduces inhibition
Mueller-Lyer illusion
the line segment in the bottom arrow looks longer to us than the one on the
top, even though they are both the same length
Saccades
quick, simultaneous movements of the eyes
Synesthesia
an experience in which one sensation (e.g., hearing a sound) creates experiences in another (e.g., vision)
Divided attention
the ability to flexibly allocate attentional resources between two or more concurrent tasks
Inattentional blindness
the failure to notice a fully visible object when attention is devoted to something else
Shadowing
a task in which the individual is asked to repeat an auditory message as it is presented
Subliminal perception
the ability to process information for meaning when the individual is not consciously aware of that info
Inattentional deafness
The auditory analog of inattentional blindness. People fail to notice an
unexpected sound or voice when attention is devoted to other aspects of a scene
Central executive memory
the part of working memory that directs attention and processing
Echoic memory
auditory sensory memory
Explicit memory vs implicit
explicit: knowledge or experiences that can be consciously remembered
implicit: a type of long-term memory that does not require conscious thought to encode. It’s the type of memory one makes without intent
What are the memory stages
sensory, short-term, and long-term
Recall memory
a measure of explicit memory that involves determining whether information has been seen or learned before
Semantic memory
the permanent store of knowledge that people have
Do we experience sensation?
The eyes, nose, tongue, skin, ears all sense the world and perform preliminary information processing on incoming data
We DO NOT experience sensation, but we experience the outcome of perception –
the package that the brain puts together from information from the senses
Illusion
occur when the perceptual processes that help us correctly perceive the world are fooled by certain situations, so we see things that don’t exist or are incorrect
Models of Selective Attention
Broadbent’s Filter Model:
Model based on the dichotic listening task, found that people select information based on physical features
- E.g., the ear the message came through, the voice pitch, colour or font of visual messages, etc.
- People are vaguely aware of physical features of unattended information, but aren’t aware of the meaning
- Thus, Broadbent argues that selection occurs very early, with no processing for the unselected information
Treisman’s Attenuation Model
While people were unaware of words in the unattended ear, many people notice their name in the unattended ear in cocktail party effect
- Treisman did dichotic listening experiments where participants followed a story, but she switched it from ear to ear. Participants followed the story and then realized they were shadowing the wrong ear and switched back
- This suggests that we do monitor unattended information to some degree based on mearning, and thus, the filter theory can’t be right in suggesting unattended information is blocked
- Treisman suggested that the unattended information isn’t blocked completely, but is attenuated
- Thus, pertinent information in the unattended ear will get through the filter
Late Selection Model:
This model suggests that all information in the unattended ear is processed based on meaning, not just pertinent information
- The only information that is relevant for the task gets into conscious awareness
- Only the location of the selective filer is changed compared to early selection models
Multimode Model:
No model accounts for all data - the multimode model addresses this, suggesting that the stage selection occurs changes depending on the task
- Under some conditions, we can select what to attend to early on
- Analyzing physical information (pitch of voice, male vs. female) is easy and not effortful
- Late selection – processing content of messages before selection – is effortful. However, the benefit is that we have the flexibility to change how we deploy our attention based on what we’re accomplishing
Inattentional Blindness
Focused attention is crucial for observations, making it possible for us to focus on what we want to see while filtering out distractions
o However, the consequence is that we can miss what would otherwise be obvious signals
* Inattentional blindness – the failure to notice a fully visible, but unexpected, object or event when attention is devoted to something else
* People are likelier to notice unexpected objects that share features with the attended items in a display
Explicit memo, and the types:
Explicit memory – knowledge or experiences that can be consciously remembered
Two types of explicit memory:
o Episodic memory – the ability to learn and retrieve new information or episodes in one’s life (e.g., recollections of high school graduation)
o Semantic memory – the permanent store of knowledge that people have, refers to facts and concepts about the world
How to assess explicit memory?
Recall memory – a measure that involves bringing from memory information that has previously been remembered (e.g., taking an essay test, as the test requires us to generate previously remembered information)
Two steps –
(1) generating an answer,
(2) determining whether it’s correct
Recognition memory test – a measure that involves determining whether information has been seen or learned before (e.g., multiple-choice test)
Relearning – assess how much quicker information is processed or learned when it is studied again after it has already been learned but then forgotten
Implicit Memory, and the types
Implicit memory – long-term memory that doesn’t require conscious thought to encode
Three types of implicit memory:
Procedural memory – often unexplained knowledge of how to do things (e.g., dial a cell phone, play a video game).
- Allows us to perform complex tasks, even though we may not able to explain it to others
Classical conditioning effects – we learn to associate neutral stimuli with another stimulus, creating a naturally occurring response
Priming – the activation of certain thoughts or feelings that make them easier to think of and act upon
- refers to the activation of knowledge and the influence that activation has on behaviour
Sensory memory, and the types
Sensory memory – brief storage of sensory information
* It’s a brief memory buffer, and unless it is attended to and passed to short-term, is forgotten
* It gives the brain time to process incoming sensations
Types:
Iconic memory – visual sensory memory
o Decays extremely rapidly (~250 milliseconds)
Echoic memory – auditory sensory information
o Lasts four seconds – allowing one to remember the words someone says at the beginning of a sentence
Eidetic imagery – when people can report details of an image over long periods of time (photographic memory)
Short-term memo, and the types
Short-term memory (STM) – the place where small amounts of information can be temporarily kept for more than a few seconds but usually for less than a minute
* Information in STM is not stored permanently, but becomes available for us to process
Types:
Working memory – the form of memory we use to hold onto information temporarily, usually for the purposes of manipulation
- It allows us to make sense of, modify, interpret, and store information in STM
- Central executive – the part of working memory that directs attention and processing. Directs strategies that working memory uses to transfer memory to STM (Ex: directs the rehearsal process, and directs the visual cortex to form an image of the list of letters in memory)
Maintenance rehearsal
- process of repeating information mentally or out loud with the goal of keeping it in memory
Compare and contrast the early selection model, the Treisman model, and the late selection model of selective attention
Early Selection Model: Selection is based on physical characteristics, and unattended information is not processed for meaning.
Example: In a dichotic listening task, participants only process information from one ear, and are unaware of the meaning of the message in the unattended ear, though they may notice its physical characteristics.
Treisman’s Attenuation Model: Unattended information is attenuated, and meaning can still be processed if it’s relevant.
Example: In Treisman’s dichotic listening experiments, participants sometimes continued to follow a story that switched ears and only realized when they started shadowing the wrong ear. This suggests some processing of the unattended information.
Late Selection Model: All information is processed for meaning first, with selection occurring after deeper processing.
Example: In some tasks, even irrelevant information is fully processed for meaning before being filtered, explaining why we can sometimes detect meaning in unattended information.
Multimode Model: The point of selection (early or late) can vary depending on the task and its demands.
Consolidation
the process occurring after encoding that is believed to stabilize memory traces
Retroactive interference
the phenomenon whereby events that occur after some event of interest will usually cause forgetting of the original event
Anterograde amnesia
inability to form new memories for facts and events after the onset of amnesia
Dissociative amnesia
loss of autobiographical memories from a period in the past in the absence of brain injury or disease
Medial temporal lobes
inner region of the temporal lobes that includes the hippocampus
Retrograde amnesia
inability to retrieve memories for facts and events acquired before the onset of amnesia
Temporally graded retrograded amnesia
inability to retrieve memories from just prior to the onset of amnesia with intact memory for more remote events
Foils
any member of a lineup other than the suspect
Schema
a memory template, create though repeated exposure to a particular class of objects or events
Encoding and all the factors affecting it
“Initial experience of perceiving and learning information”
o Encoding is selective: we attend to some events in our environment, and we ignore others
o Encoding is prolific (we are always encoding the events of our lives)
Distinctiveness: the principle that unusual events (in a context of similar events) will be recalled and recognized better than uniform (non-distinctive) events
Flashbulb memory: a highly detailed and vivid memory of an emotionally significant event
Recoding: the ubiquitous process during learning of taking information in one form and converting it to another form, usually one more easily remembered
o Can introduce errors (when we accidentally add information during encoding, then remember that new material as if it had been part of the actual experience)
Strategies to Improve Retention
- Consider the meaning of events rather than just the events themselves
- Relate new events to those we already know (form associations for retrieval)
- Imagine events to make them more memorable (create imagery)
- DRM (for Deese-Roediger-McDermott) effect: participants are asked to remember a list of words and then recognize them from a list of other words incorporated. Likely to identify a word as initially remembered if it is closely related (recognizing “sleep” when the initial list was “yawn,” “slumber,” “rest,” etc.)
Storage and all the factors affecting it
- The storage of experiences leaves memory traces or engrams (changes in the nervous system representing an event)
- Consolidation: the stabilization of memory traces; the neural changes that occur after learning to create the memory trace of an experience
- Memory storage is reconstructive (we reconstruct our past with the aid of memory traces) not reproductive (a perfect reproduction or recreation of the past)
- Retention interval: time between learning and testing
- Retroactive interference: events that occur after some event of interest will usually cause forgetting of the original event
- Proactive interference: when memories interfere with the encoding of new ones
- Misinformation effect: when erroneous information occurring after an event is remembered as having been part of the original event
Retrieval and all the factors affecting it
Available information is the information that is stored in memory—but precisely how much and what types are stored are unknown
- Accessible information: information we can retrieve, if accessible information represents only a tiny slice of the information available in our brains
- Hint/cue types in the environment is key factor in what information is retrieved from memory
- Encoding specificity principle: retrieval cue will be effective to the extent that information encoded from the cue overlaps or matches information in the engram or memory trace
- Cue overload principle: the more memories that are associated to a particular retrieval cue, the less effective the cue will be in prompting the retrieval of any one memory
- Recognition failure of recallable words highlights the point that a cue will be most effective depending on how the information has been encoded
- Testing effect or the retrieval practice effect: the act of retrieval itself (of a fact, concept, or event) makes the retrieved memory much more likely to be retrieved again
- Retrieval-induced forgetting: retrieving some information can cause us to forget other information related to it
- Mnemonic devices: a strategy for remembering large amounts of information, usually involving imaging events occurring on a journey or with some other set of memorized cues
o Peg word technique, memory palace
5 causes of forgetting
- Encoding failure (inability to recognize a true penny when different variations are presented)
o Decay: The fading of memories with the passage of time - Pioneering work of Herman Ebbinghaus: if we do not rehearse a memory and the neural representation of that memory is not reactivated over a long period of time, the memory representation may disappear entirely or fade to the point where it can no longer be accessed
- Memory traces need to be consolidated, or transferred from the hippocampus to more durable representations in the cortex for them to last
- When consolidation is interrupted by the encoding of other experiences, the memory trace for the original experience does not get fully developed and thus is forgotten
- Retrieval failure is usually due to lack of appropriate cues
- Interference: other memories get in the way of retrieving a desired memory (due to competition between memories)
- We can deliberately keep information out of mind by suppressing it and thinking of other events associated with the subject
Describe how forgetting can be viewed as an adaptive process.
- Adaptive forgetting: allowing us to be efficient and hold onto only the most relevant memories
Temporally graded retrograde amnesia
inability to retrieve memories from just prior to the onset of amnesia with intact memory for more remote events
o Could remember events from childhood (events had been consolidated and no longer depended on the hippocampus)
Organic amnesia
Organic amnesia is associated with an injury/disease, functional amnesia involves a loss of memory that cannot be attributed to brain injury or any obvious brain disease
o Functional is typically classified as a mental disorder rather than a neurological disorder
Dissociative amnesia
loss of autobiographical memories from a period in the past in the absence of brain injury or disease (often involves a history of trauma)
o People can enter dissociative fugue state (lose most/all their autobiographical memories and their sense of personal identity)
Better ways to conduct criminal lineups
Investigators can put together high-quality, fair lineups
o This means that no one in the lineup should “stick out,” and that everyone should match the description given by the eyewitness
- “Double blind” lineups
- Unbiased instructions for witnesses
- Conducting lineups in a sequential fashion
Memory biases
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
Schemata: a memory template, created through repeated exposure to a particular class of objects or events
Which of the following is not a reason that we forget?
1. Failure to encode
2. Failure to store
3. Interruption of consolidation
4. Memory decay
- Failure to store
Explanation:
Failure to store: This is not typically considered a reason for forgetting. The issue is usually with the encoding or retrieval processes, not with the inability to store memories.
Which of the following is not an example of factors listed in the text known to cause eyewitness identification error?
1. Poor vision
2. Stress from witnessing the experiences in question
3. Delay between witnessing the experience and questioning/identifying
4. Lack of engagement/interest in the questioning
4.
Factors known to cause eyewitness identification errors
o Poor vision or viewing conditions during the crime
o Particularly stressful witnessing experiences
o Too little time to view the perpetrator or perpetrators
o Too much delay between witnessing and identifying
o Being asked to identify a perpetrator from a race other than one’s own
5 reasons we forget
- Encoding failures - we fail to encode in the first place
- Decay - memories fade over time
- Inadequate retrieval cues - we lack sufficient reminders
- Interference - other memories get in the way
- Trying not to remember - we deliberately attempt to keep things out of our minds
Retro vs anterograde amnesia
Retrograde
- Inability to retrieve memories for facts and events acquired before the onset of amnesia.
- less common to only have retrograde and not anterograde
- More commonly, retrograde amnesia co-occurs with anterograde amnesia and shows a temporal gradient, in which memories closest in time to the onset of amnesia are lost, but more remote memories are retained
Anterograde:
- unable to learn new information after onset of amnesia
- can keep information in short-term, or working, memory
- restricted to declarative memory
- can learn new motor skills even in the absence of any memory of having performed the task before
A memory depends on the hippocampus until it is consolidated and transferred into a more durable form that is stored in the cortex. According to this theory, an amnesiac patient like H. M. could remember events from his remote past because those memories were fully consolidated and no longer depended on the hippocampus.
Dissociative amnesia
- Functional (dissociative) amnesia involves a loss of memory that cannot be attributed to brain injury or any obvious brain disease
- mental disorder rather than a neurological disorder
- Individuals who experience dissociative amnesia often have a history of trauma
- Their amnesia is retrograde, encompassing autobiographical memories from a portion of their past
- In an extreme version of this disorder, people enter a dissociative fugue state, in which they lose most or all of their autobiographical memories and their sense of personal identity.
- typically much less likely to be permanent than organic amnesia
