Revision Flashcards
Psychology
The scientific investigation of mental processes and behaviour.
Schools of thought
- behaviourism
- structuralism
- functionalism
- cognitive
- humanism
- evolutionary
Psychology was first a combination of…
philosophy and physiology
Experimental researh
Design that manipulates some aspect of a situation and examines the impact this has on the way participants respond.
Correlation research
assesses the degree to which variables are related, so that knowing the value of one variable can lead to a prediction of the other.
dependent variable
the response measured
independent variable
the variable manipulated
representative sample
sample that reflects the characteristics of the population as a whole
validity
the extent to which a test measures a construct it is supposed to measure, or a study that accurately addresses the hypothesis it attempts to assess.
reliability
a measure’s ability to produce consistent results
inter-rater reliability
multiple experimenters will yield similar results
re-test reliability
performing the experiment multiple times will yield similar results
internal consistency
several ways of asking the same question yield similar results.
experimenter bias
scientists influence the results to convey a certain outcome
quantative research bias
denial of bias
qualitative
acceptance and acknowledgement of bias
design bias
occurs when the researcher fails to take into account inherent bias.
inclusive bias
samples selected for convenience
ommission bias
occurs when certain groups are ommitted from the sample
Interviewer bias
occurs when the interviewer unknowingly gives subtle clues.
Avoid by using a double blind study
participant bias
subject gives the response they think the researcher wants to hear
reporting bias
error in reported results
major divisions and subdivisions of the nervous system
- central nervous system (brain and spinal cord)
- peripheral nervous system (other nerves in the body_
- autonomic NS - involuntary human reactions. further divided in sympathetic - fight or flight and parasympathetic- calming
- somatic NS - voluntary movements
structure of a neuron
- nucleus
- dendrites
- axon terminal
- node of ranvier
- schwann cell
- myelin shealth
- soma
firing of a neuron
will fire once it reaches the action potential (-55Mv)
resting potential is (-70mV)
fires from dendrites to axon terminal
hindbrain
lower part of the brain stem - pons -medulla -cerebellum coordinates functions essential for survival- awakeness, breathing, sleep etc.
midbrain
portion of the central nervous system associated with vision, hearing, motor control, sleep/wake, arousal (alertness), and temperature regulation.
- tectum
- tegmentum
forebrain
- cerebral hemispheres
- thalamus
-hypo thalamus
plays a central role in the processing of information
corpus collosum
connects the two cerebral hemispheres. If severed, information will only stay in the one hemisphere.
cerebral lateralisation
the tendency for some neural functions or cognitive processes to be more dominant in one hemisphere than the other
right hemisphere
left side motor skills creativity emotions non-verbal imagination left field of vision
left hemisphere
analytical thought detail verbal right side motor skills right field of vision logic language
split brain patients
- corpus collosum is severed
- information cannot cross hemispheres
One of the experiments carried out by Gazzaniga involved a split-brain patient sitting in front of a computer screen while having words and images presented on either side of the screen and the visual stimuli would go to either the right or left visual field, and thus the left or right brain, respectively. It was observed that if a patient was presented with an image to his left visual field (right brain), he would report not seeing anything. If he was able to feel around for certain objects, he could accurately pick out the correct object, despite not having the ability to verbalize what he saw. This led to confirmation that the left brain is localized for language while the right brain does not have this capability, and when the corpus callosum is cut and the two hemispheres cannot communicate for the speech to be produced.
contralateral control
the setup wherein the motor cortex of both cerebral hemispheres are primarily accountable for handling of motions of the opposite side of one’s body.
cerebral cortex
the outer layer of neural tissue of the cerebrum of the brain.
- the temporal, the occipital lobe, the parietal lobe, and the frontal lobe.
temporal lobe
processing sensory input into derived meanings for the appropriate retention of visual memory, language comprehension, and emotion association
parietal lobe
integrates sensory information among various modalities, including spacial sense and navigation (proprioception), the main sensory receptive area for the sense of touch
frontal lobe
plays a large role in voluntary movement. It houses the primary motor cortex which regulates activities like walking.
schema
Cognitive structures that represent knowledge
about a concept or type of stimulus