SAFMEDS Flashcards
A procedure by which a previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response after it is paired with a stimulus that automatically elicits that response.
Classic Conditioning
The process of teaching a new behavior by reinforcing closer and closer approximations of the desired response.
Shaping
The process by which our behaviors transfer to new situations or stimuli that we did not directly learn about.
Generalisation
Specialized cells in the nervous system that support the integrity of neurons.
Glia
A factor that varies systematically between experimental conditions, but is not the variable of interest.
Confound
An experimental design where each participant only takes part in a single experimental condition.
Between-Subjects Design
Chemicals secreted by neurons allowing information to be transmitted between cells.
Neurotransmitter
Brain structures located in the lower side portion of the cortex that are important in audtion (hearing) and language.
Temporal Lobes
An extension of the spinal cord, essential to life, controlling vital physiological functions such as heartbeat, circulation, and respiration.
Medulla
A branch of the autonomic nervous system, typically activated in response to threats to the organisms, which readies the body for ‘fight-or-flight’ reactions.
Sympathetic Nervous System
The ability to remember facts and experiences for longer than a minute.
Long-Term Memory
A technique for studying electrical activity occurring in the brain that involves placing electrodes on the scalp.
Electroencephalography (EEG)
A set of principles that describe how sensory inputs are organized into meaningful patterns.
Gestalt Laws
Visual features of the environment that are used to make inferences about depth.
Monocular Cues
The organization of changing sensory inputs into percepts that are relatively stable in size, shape, and color.
Perceptual Constancy
The conscious “work-space” used for processing, retrieving, and manipulating infromation.
Working Memory
Better memory for information that is presented at the beginning and end of a sequence.
Serial-Positon Effects
A network of brain structures that is active when we are engaged in our own thoughts and reflections.
Default Mode Network
The tendency to seek out information that confirms one’s preconceptions.
Confirmation Bias
Those mental processes we engage when deciding how to act in a complex or novel situation where there might be significant immediate rewards or punishments.
Hot Cognitive Control
The measurement of electrical signals associated with muscle movements; commonly used to record facial expressions of emotion.
Electromyography (EMG)
An emotion regulation strategy that involves reframing our understanding of a situation or event in order to change our emotional response to it.
Reapprasial
The process of how children interpret actions or events in terms of present ways of understanding.
Assimilation
The fourth stage in Piaget’s theory, beginning from 12 years onwards, where thought and reasoning becomes complex and abstract.
Formal Operational Stage
A form of logical thinking where children understand that physical properties of objects remain unchanged even when their appearance changes.
Conservation
A statement of the possible relationship between two variables, which is well grounded in what we already know.
Hypothesis
Turning an abstract hypothesis into a concrete form that can be tested in a specific experiment.
Operationalizing
The response an experimenter measures to see if the experimental manipulation has had an effect.
Dependent Variable
The process whereby a behaviour is made more likely because it is followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus.
Negative Reinforcement
The non-delivery of reinforcers maintaining undesirable behavior.
Extinction
The part of a neuron that includes the nucleus (which contains the genetic material) and other organelles, vital to cell functioning.
Cell Body
Protein molecules in cells to which neurotransmitters can bind and pass information to other cells.
Receptors
Chemical secreted by endocrine glands directly into blood stream.
Hormones
Brain structures located in the rear portion of the cortex, involved in vision.
Occipital Lobes
The condition that results when the corpus collosum has been surgically cut, blocking communication between the two cerebral hemispheres.
Split Brain
A structure deep in the temporal lobes that is crucial for acquiring and retrieving memories for events or experiences.
Hippocampus
A change in electiral activity that occurs following a particular event, that is detectable from electrodes placed on the scalp.
Event-Related Potential (ERP)
A technique for measuring the structure of the brain or its activity during a particular task.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Psychophysical law which states that the just noticeable difference between two stimuli is proportional to their intensity.
Weber’s Law
Perceptual processing that is driven by our memory or knowledge of the world.
Top-Down Processing
Old information interfering with the retrieval of new information.
Proactive Interference
Superior memory for information rehearsed in sessions spread-out over longer testing intervals.
Spacing Effect
Especially vivid memories of exciting or highly important events.
Flashbulb Memories
A strategy we use to assess the frequency of an event based on how easy it is to retrieve a similar example from memory.
Availability Heuristic
A routine for carrying out a series of actions that develops with repeated experiences.
Script
A theory of emotion that asserts that environmental events give rise to physiological responses and subjective feelings simultaneously.
Cannon-Bard Theory
The dimension of emotional experience that ranges from pleasant (or positive) to unpleasant (or negative).
Valence
A sub-cortical brain structure that is a central component in emotional brain networks.
Amygdala
The third sub-stage in Piaget’s theory. Covering 7 to 11 years, where children show more organized and logical reasoning, but such reasoning remains anchored in real world situation.
Concrete Operational Stage
Young children tend to focus on their own viewpoint and fail to understand that other people’s thinking can be different to their own,
Egocentrism
