Sensation, Perception, & Consciousness Flashcards
Comorbidity
Simultaneous presentation of two or more psychological disorders
Positive schizophrenic symptoms
Hallucinations, delusion, disorganized/incoherent speech, disorganized/agitated behavior
Negative schizophrenic symptoms
Apathy (lack of motivation), social withdrawal, flat affect (emotional flattening), poverty (lack) of speech, and anhedonia (inability to experience pleasure)
Validity
Accuracy of a study or measure
Internal validity
Refers to the extent to which a measure or experiment produces a true result
Major threats to: confounding variables, selection bias, maturation, repeated testing, regression toward the mean
External validity
Also known as generalizability, is the extent to which study results can be applied outside the laboratory to real-life situations
Major threats to: artificial research environment, non representative sample, measurement effects
Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development
- Infancy: trust vs mistrust
- Early childhood: autonomy vs shame/doubt
- Play age: initiative vs guilt
- School age: industry vs inferiority
- Adolescence: identity vs role confusion
- Early adulthood: intimacy vs isolation
- Middle age: generativity vs stagnation
- Old age: integrity vs despair
Two separate pathways for visual processing
Parvo pathway (color and form) and the magno pathway (motion and depth)
Mechanoreceptors
Detects movement
Stimuli: sound waves, touch
Example: hair cells (ear)
Chemoreceptors
Detects chemicals
Stimuli: molecules, solutes
Example: taste buds (tongue)
Thermoreceptor
Detects temperature
Stimuli: heat, cold
Example: skin
Photoreceptor
Detects light waves
Stimuli: visible light
Example: rods, cones (retina)
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
- (< 2) sensorimotor
- (2-7) preoperational
- (7-11) concrete operational
- (>12) formal operational
Place theory
The perception of sound pitch (how high or low a tone is)
Inside the cochlea, specific sound wavelengths generate basilar membrane vibrations at specific loci (each of these loci corresponds to a Hz); hair cells located at the base of basilar membrane are activated by high Hz sounds, and hair cells located at the apex of the basilar membrane are activated by low Hz sounds
Frontal lobe
Executive functions, voluntary motor initiation
Parietal lobe
Proprioception, somatosensation
Includes primary somatosensory cortex
Temporal lobe
Auditory processing, learning, memory
Includes Wernicke’s area
Occipital lobe
Visual processing
Parkinson disease
Associated with the loss of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra (a structure in the basal ganglia that inhibits excess movement)
- A dopamine deficit in the basal ganglia causes motor symptoms such as resting tremors, muscle rigidity, and shuffling gait, lack of coordination
Dopamine antagonist
Work in part by blocking the action of dopamine, an excess of which in certain areas of the brain has been linked to psychotic symptoms
- These medications can have side effects that resemble the motor symptoms of Parkinson disease
Dopamine (monoamine)
Pleasure, reward
Function: to mediate the reward pathway and motor control
Norepinephrine (monoamine)
Alertness, attention, memory formation
Serotonin (monoamine)
Positive mood, satisfaction, social dominance
Monoamine hypothesis
The biomedical model of depression
The idea that the depletion of monoamine neurotransmitters in the central nervous system directly causes depression symptoms
Monoamine: single amine group in their molecular structure and are associated with emotion regulation
Basal ganglia
Three dopaminergic pathways: direct, indirect, and nigrostriatal
Direct/indirect: have excitatory and inhibitory effects on motor function
Nigrostriatal: helps maintain the balance between these two pathways (becomes damaged when dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra are destroyed)
Symptoms of depression
Feelings of sadness, hopelessness, or emptiness
Lack of interest or pleasure (anhedonia)
Changes in appetite and sleep
Fatigue
Low self-worth or guilt
Cognitive difficulties
Thoughts about death or suicidal ideation
Symptoms of depression
Feelings of sadness, hopelessness, or emptiness
Lack of interest or pleasure (anhedonia)
Changes in appetite and sleep
Fatigue
Low self-worth or guilt
Cognitive difficulties
Thoughts about death or suicidal ideation
Nucleus accumbens
Structure that is part of the reward pathway in the brain
Reward pathway also includes the ventral tegmental area (which produces dopamine) and portions of the prefrontal cortex
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)
Decrease the breakdown of monoamines (eg, serotonin) by inhibiting monoamine oxidase (an enzyme attached to the mitochondria in axon terminals that catalyzes the oxidation of monoamines)
Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
Block reuptake of serotonin from the synaptic cleft into the presynaptic neuron, thereby prolonging the presence of serotonin in the synaptic cleft
Antidepressant medications function via the four general mechanisms
- Increasing production of neurotransmitters within the presynaptic neuron
- Promoting the release of neurotransmitters from the axon terminal into the synaptic cleft
- Blocking reabsorption (reuptake) of neurotransmitters into the presynaptic neuron
- Decreasing breakdown of neurotransmitters within the presynaptic neuron
Top-down processing
Beliefs, ideas, expectations guide perception
Bottom-up processing
Sensory input, guides perception
Absolute threshold
The intensity value at which an individual is able to detect the stimulus 50% of the time