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Behavioural Science > Sensing the Environment > Flashcards

Sensing the Environment Flashcards

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Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

Cornea

A
  • Where light first enters the eye
  • Transparent outer dome of the eyeball
  • Protects the internal surfaces of our eye from any foreign particles, like dust or microorganisms
  • When rays of light are fathered by the cornea, they bend and refract, which helps light get into the eyeball and towards the lens.
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2
Q

Aqueous Humor

A
  • Water-like substance that light paces through before the lens
  • Provides a transparent medium that allows light rays through
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3
Q

Viterous Humor

A
  • Light passes through after the lens
  • Glass-like clear gel that fills the space between the lens and the retina of the eyeball.
  • Provides a transparent medium that allows light rays through
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4
Q

Iris and Pupil

A
  • Two types of muscles to either open or close
    • Dilator (open)
      • Contraction would relax the pupil and let more light into the environment
    • Sphincter (close)
      • contraction would close the pupil meaning less light in this would be in a really bright environment
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5
Q

Cillary Muscles

A
  • Muscles around the lens that can contract or relax
  • Plays a major role in focussing the light on the retina by contraction and relaxation
  • Changes the shape of the lens itself
    • This change ensures that light reaches the retina in a focused manner
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6
Q

Farsightedness or Hyperopia

A
  • Eye is too short and the lens can not bend light enough to focus on the retina
  • For example they can only see a pink flower if it is far away because that light is entering from a distance
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7
Q

Nearsightedness or Myopia

A
  • Eye is too long then the lens is likely to bend light too much and overshoot being focused on the retina
  • For example the person may only be able to see the pink flower when it is very close, because that light is coming from more extreme angles
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8
Q

Retina

A
  • The later of cells lining the back wall inside the eyeball
  • This later senses light and sends signals to the brain so that you are able to see
  • They have two types of photoreceptors
    • Rod Cells
    • Cone Cells
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9
Q

Rod Cells

A
  • Detect light at around the green/blue range
  • At very low intensities, like at night time and produce a roughly grayscale image
  • There are about 20 times as many rod cells and they cover most of the retina primarily along the periphery
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10
Q

Cone Cells

A
  • Detect a full colour range as long as there is sufficient intensity of light
  • There are only about 6 million cone cells, and they are much more concentrated in the central region of the retina known as the macula.
    • Fovea (Center conical dimple of the macula) contains ONLY cone cells
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11
Q

Phototransduction

A
  • The process by which rod cells and cone cells convert photons of light into electrical signals at the retina
  • This conversion is possible due to opsins, which are photo-receptive pigments
    • Rhodopin in rods (R) and photopsins in cones for colour photos
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12
Q

Bipolar cells

A
  • Connect information from several cones or multiple rods and blend that into a gradient to send to the ganglion cells
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13
Q

Horizontal Cells

A
  • One type of interneuron in the retinal that is primarily responsible for lateral interactions within the retina
  • Inhibitory cells that help point out when biopolar cells are radically different
  • Horizontal cells then connect up to amacrine cells
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14
Q

Amacrine Cells

A
  • Second Interneuron in the retina that is primarily responsible for lateral interactions within the retina
  • Sends that edge detection information up to ganglion cells
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15
Q

Pathways of these cells in the eye

A
  • Since photoreceptors are modified neurons each of these pieces of information as cascades eventually results in an action potential firing
  • That action potential travels along the axons of the ganglion cells, which conveniently come together to form the optic nerve
  • The optic nerve takes the bundle photon information to the brain for analysis
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16
Q

Visual Pathways

A
  • Left visual field projects onto the right side of the retina
  • Right visual field projects onto the left side of the retina
  • Complete visual field:
    • Area observed when we focus our eyes on a single point
    • For humans each eye has a visual field divided into right and left
    • The part of the visual field closest to the ears is called the temporal visual field
    • The part closest to the nose, regardless of which eye is known as the nasal visual field
  • The right eye nasal field and teh left eye temporal field are looking at the same part of the world in front of you
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17
Q

Optic Chiasm

A
  • Part of the brain where the optic nerves cross and therefore a primary importance to the visual pathway
  • It is located at the base of the brain inferior to the hypothalamus
  • After crossing over, the signals from both of the tracks are now aligned together and connect to the right side of the visual cortex of the brain
  • Likewise, the signal projected from the right visual field reaches the left side of the visual cortex of the brain, through the exact same nasal fiber crossover to join up with its respective temporal fiber
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18
Q

Primary Visual Cortex

A
  • Located in the occipital lobe eventually processes the information received from both visual fields and puts them together to create for example a pretty image of a flower
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19
Q

Spacial Resolution

A

Is the ability to distinguish differences in small details of an object

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20
Q

Temporal Resolution

A
  • Refers to how quickly the information is changing in our visual fields
  • Specialized cells of the thalamus located in the central brain do some of this pre processing for us
  • Those are part of a group of neurons known as the lateral geniculate nucleus or LGN
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21
Q

Cells of the lateral geniculate nucleus or LGN

A
  • Parvocellular Cells
    • Have a high spatial resolution
    • This aids in providing detailed information
    • Only work on stationary objects
  • Magnocellular Cells
    • Are needed to process moving objects
    • Mostly at the periphery of vision
    • Have high temporal resolution
    • Lets you detect the shape or colour of the moving car, but not any fine details light the logo
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22
Q

Binocular Neurons

A

Make depth perception possible by actually comparing the infomarion received from both hemispheres- essentially analyzing for discrepancies received from each eye

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23
Q

Feature Detection

A

Helps to detect features of objects like the model of a passing car or logos used

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24
Q

Parallel Processing

A

Way that we interpert visual information simultaneously

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25
Q

Sensorimotor Stage

A

Lasts between birth and two years of age. This stage is characterized by learning to manipulate the environment

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26
Q

Preperational Stage

A

This stage is characterized by an active imagination, like symbolic thinking.

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27
Q

Concrete Operational Stage

A

This stage lasts from ages seven to eleven and is characterized by an understanding of conservation and logical thinking about concrete ideas

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28
Q

Formal Operational Stage

A

This stage lasts from age eleven to end of life, and if characterized by logical thinking about abstract concepts.

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29
Q

Fluid Intelligence vs. Crystallized Intelligence

A

Refers to problem-solving skills, while crystallized intelligence refers to acquired skills and knowledge. Fluid intelligence declines with age; crystallized intelligence does not.

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30
Q

Anchoring Bias

A

Refers to letting one piece of information serve as a reference point through which all subsequent information on that topic is filtered.

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31
Q

Representative Bias

A

Involves categorizing someone or something based on sterotypical representation

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32
Q

Conformation Bias

A

Refers to focusing on information that conforms to pre-existing beliefs.

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33
Q

Availability Bias

A

Refers to making decisions based on how easily similar situations can be imagined.

34
Q

Memory

A
  • Episodic
  • Semantic
35
Q

Sensory Memory

A
  • Is what holds the newly perceived information for less than a second
    • Iconic sensory memory (visual based) decays very quickly though
  • Vision, by itself is the weakest path to long term memory
36
Q

Echoic Memory

A
  • Hearing based memory takes in the sounds and tones and you perceive the information auditorial
  • Also decays really fast, but is a slightly better path to long term memory, partially due to there being fewer distractions
37
Q

Short-Term Memory

A
  • When someone tells you their name and tells you that a better way to remember it is because it rhymes with things, this gives your brain something to do with the information besides passively seeing or hearing
    • This means that we have moves out of sensory memory and into working memory or short term memory
    • Second, adding additional relatable details helps joining the memory to other things that you currently know
    • That interconnectedness is semantic encoding
      • The more associations, the easier it will be to recall later.
        • Working memory lasts for up to about a minute, which allows you to do things like add multiple number in your head, or combine and assess different ideas at once.
    • George Miller said that the number of things that we can hold in working memory is 7
38
Q

Chunking

A
  • Breaking something small into larger recognizable parts and can make it seem like you are holding more information in short term memory
39
Q

Long-term Memory

A
  • Should theoretically be able to hold unlimited amounts of information, for a lifetime of duration
  • The problem with long term memory is that when short term memory is consolidated into long term memory we might have only a small link that is able to connect it.
40
Q

Retroactive Interference

A
  • Learning new information may be hard to recall old information since your brain is now sorting through more stuff
  • This is the most common interference and the one that potentially involves forgetting older information
41
Q

Proactive Interference

A
  • Learning new information may be hindered because you have a preconceived idea or fact already stored that’s keeping the new memory from sticking
42
Q

Frontal Lobe

A
  • Largest lobe and manages many of our cognitive abilities like planning, language, emotions, thinking, decision making and so on.
43
Q

Information Processing Model

A
  • Often we are receiving multiple stimuli at once, and our brain analyzed each stimulus and decides what to do with the information.
    • Some information is stores in the sensory memory up to a second or two
    • Some stimuli are analyzed by the brain to make useful decisions
    • Rehearsal of short term memory helps the brain towards better transformation of the information into long term memory
    • If something is held in storage in long term memory than it is possible to retrieve the information whenever needed
    • Information is theoretically limitless but not permanently necessarily as it can get lost or modified over time.
  • Our ability to solve problems can depend on several factors:
    • The complexity problem
    • The cognition of the person
    • The amount of rehearsal
44
Q

Jean Piaget

A
  • Described that cognitive development and abstract thinking develops throughout childhood
  • Studies children from different age groups over several decades, and came up with four stages of cognitive development
45
Q

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive development

A
  1. Sensorimotor
  2. Preoperational
  3. Concrete Operation
  4. Formal Operational
46
Q

Vygotsky

A
  • Believed that the sociocultural circumstances around the child plays an important role in their cognitive development
    • This will affect their overall personalities in the future
47
Q

Factors affecting cognitive Development

A
  • Heredity
    • Drinking alcohol during pregnancy
  • Environment
    • Trauma to the brain
    • Early exposure to chemicals
    • Oxygen deprivation complications
  • Other biological factors
    • Low blood sugar
    • pH distrance
    • Serious plain
      • Can all cause a rapid decline in cognition known as delirium, which fortunately is reversible.
        • A very common example of delirium can be alcohol withdrawal
  • Chromosomal disorder (extreme)
    • trisomy 21 (down syndrome)
48
Q

Four Standard methods to Problem solving

A
  1. trial and error
  2. Algorithms
  3. Deductive reasoning
  4. Inductive reasoning
49
Q

Trial-and-Error

A
  • The process of experimenting with various methods of doing something until one finds the most successful outcome
50
Q

Algorithmic Method

A
  • Based on rules rather than guess
  • It is a defines set of step-by-step procedures that provide the correct answer to a particular problem,
  • Speed depends a lot on the rules used
  • If the algorithm is slow at first, one may irritate on it and use one that uses less time
51
Q

Deductive Reasoning

A
  • Is a logical process in which a conclusion is based on the concordance of multiple premises that are generally assumed to be true.
  • It is sometimes referred to as top-down logic and relies on making logical premises and basing conclusions around those premises.
52
Q

Inductive Reasoning

A
  • Method of drawing conclusions by going from the specific to the general.
  • It is often confused with deductive reasoning, where you go from general information to specific conclusions.
  • It is called inductive logic or bottom-up reasoning.
53
Q

Heuristics

A
  • Are Simplifies principles used to make decisions. Shortcuts!
    • For example, some people think they know all the information of whats happening in the entire nation because they watch the news on exactly one TV channel.
    • They may make decisions based on that information and assumptions
  • Horn Effect Heuristics: Is when our brain negatively assumes something about the person
  • Halo Effect Heuristics: Is when our brain positively assumes something about a person
54
Q

Intuition

A
  • Making decisions based on out gut feeling or intuition
  • We may not know exactly why a decision is right but we have a feeling that it is right.
  • Such intuitions can be due to experiences in similar situations that we subconsciously are influences by without conscious recall.
55
Q

Biases

A
  • Sometimes decisions making is influences by biases
  • It is hard for a person to eliminate a solution because they focus on the information that fits their belief, then they reject the information that contradict its.
56
Q

Conformation Bias

A
  • Picking and choosing information that supports your idea and ignoring other statistics that prove your opinion or idea to be wrong.
57
Q

Belied Perseverance

A
  • Even after receiving new information that contradicts or disconfirms the bias of one’s belief they have the tendency to cling to their initial belief even though they have read the apposing evidence.
58
Q

Hindsight Bias

A
  • Where we feel that we have actually predicted an outcome of a situation
  • We thinking, in hindsight, that “we knew the old bridge would collapse soon”, even though just the day prior we walked across it without a care.
59
Q

Alertness

A
  • Is when we are awake, aware, attentive and prepared to act or react.
  • During the state of consciousness, out bodies experience psychological arousal caused by higher cortisol levels.
  • EEG waves are also different when we are awake
  • Beta waves are seen on EEG when we are awake and have a high frequency
  • Two important structures for alertness are:
    • The reticular formation
    • Prefrontal Cortex
60
Q

Reticular Formation

A
  • Is a net like collection of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine, producing neurons in the brainstem that project to the prefrontal cortex in the frontal love throughout the central nervous system
    • Norepinephrine is one of the sympathetic neurotransmitters that keeps you alert during a flight or fight response
    • Dopamine and serotonin are neurotransmitters released when the substances cocaine and methamphetamine are used
61
Q

Reticular Formation

A
  • The reticular activating system uses these neurotransmitters to help regular normal circadian rhythms by promoting alertness
  • The prefrontal cortex receives these signals from the reticular formation and helps coordinate arousal and alertness with the rest of the brain.
  • If the reticular formation stoped sending these signals to the prefrontal cortex then you would loose unconsciousness!
    • Loss of signalling from the reticular formation can lead to a comatose state.
    • Meanwhile, timely psychological decreases in reticular formation signalling is what helps you get sleep.
62
Q

Sleep and Sleep Stages

A
  • Is not just a way to recuperate after a long night of cramming, it is a state of consciousness with measurable changes in your brain’s electrical activity.
  • Sleep stages are characterized by perceivable changes like closed eyes and unresponsiveness as well as electrical activity seen on EEGs.
    • EEGs are devices that use electrodes places at precise points around the skull to detect changes in brain electrical activity
63
Q

EEG Signals and Sleep Stages

A
  • While your eyes are open and you are alert, beta waves on the EEG are on display.
    • These are high frequency activity waves that are seen when we are alert
  • As soon as toy doze off, you will start to produce theta waves which are irregular and slower in frequency than alpha waves.
    • This is stage 1 of sleep.
  • As you rest longer, you will start to produce sleep spindles which are bursts of high frequency waves and isolated high amplitude waves called K Complexes, which will indicate that you are now in stage 2 of sleep
  • Eventually you will begin to show long slow delta waves, which will be lower frequency and amplitude than the theta waves, which begins stage 3
    • This stage is associated with cognitive recovery, memory consolidation and growth hormone release
    • It is also known as slow wave sleep or SWS
  • Now you will enter what is called rapid eye movement or REM
  • REM cycles are also called paradoxical sleep because there is an increase in heart rate and breathing, similar to wakefulness.
    • Also the EEG can shoe beta waves and other signs of wakefulness but you will be sleeping
    • REM is when we suspect dreaming occurs.
64
Q

Stages of Sleep Summary

A
  • Stages 1-3 are called NREM and are interspersed with REM cycles.
  • A sleep cycle is a complete progression throughout the sleep stages.
  • The sleep cycle can change throughout the course of the night
  • SWS predominates at first, REM predominates later.
    • Both major types of memory, procedural and declarative and consolidated during SWS or nonREM
  • Remember procedural memory is implicit and refers to habits, while declarative memory is explicit and refers to facts and events.
65
Q

Circadian rhythm

A
  • is an internally generated daily cycle of waking and sleeping, approximately 24 hours, regulated by external cues such as light.
  • Sleepiness is partially attributed to melatonin, a hormone secreted by the pineal gland.
  • The retina has a connections to the hypothalamus, which controls the pineal gland, so decreasing light can cause release of melatonin.
  • People who have trouble falling asleep are often advised to reduce screen time before bedtime, or switch to a night mood filter
    • The blue light from screens mimics daylight, throwing your circadian rhythm off balance.
    • Blue light during the day makes you more alert by blocking the release of melatonin, but when the same happens at night it can be harder to fall asleep.
    • Melatonin supplements are another option that can help people fall asleep faster.
      • Cortisol levels slowly increase in the morning and contribute to wakefulness.
66
Q

Consciousness Alerting Drugs

A
  1. Depressants
  2. Stimulants
  3. Opiates
  4. Hallucinogens
67
Q

Depressants

A
  • Think about GABA, which is a neurotransmitter that tends to inhibit signalling within the CNS
    • It is found in pathways involving pain and anxiety and increases GABA signalling will often decrease both pain and anxiety.
  • Depressants function as a sense of relaxation and reduce anxiety
  • Examples include: Alcohol, barbiturates and Benzodiazepines
    • They all combine to GABA receptors and cause decreased anxiety and inhibition.
68
Q

Stimulants

A
  • Think about Dopamine, Serotonin and Norepinephrine as these are the neurotransmitters involved in reward systems, pleasure and fight or flight.
  • Prime Examples include:
    • Cocaine and amphetamine
    • Cocaine decreases the reuptake of these stimulating neurotransmitters, which allows them to continue to bind to their receptors.
    • Amphetamines produces the release of these stimulating neurotransmitters so they can bind to their receptors
  • Symptoms of stimulants include, increases blood pressure, heart rate, anxiety, euphoria, and delusions of grandeur.
69
Q

Opiods

A
  • The neurotransmitters are endorphins which normally provide natural pain relief.
  • Morphine and heroin are the archetypal opioids.
  • They both bind to the opioid receptor to stimulate pathways, causing euphoria and pain relief.
  • Natural Opioids include morphine and codeine
  • Semisynthetic ones are oxycodone, hydrocodone and heroin.
    • All of these drugs bind to opioid receptors in the peripheral and central nervous system causing decreases reaction to pain and increased euphoria.
    • Treatment for addiction may include methadone, a long acting opioid with lower risk of overdose.
    • It works though a competitive inhibition effect, by occupying all the opioid receptors and displaying any currently bound opiates.
70
Q

Hallucinogens

A
  • Affect serotonin pathways and other neurotransmitters in complex ways that are not well understood.
  • Examples of Hallucinogens:
    • Lysergic acid diethyl amide or LSD and ketamine
      • Both cause a sense of reality distortion and can cause changes in sensation perception
  • Hallucinogens including drugs like LSD, are found in some naturally occurring mushrooms.
  • The exact mechanism is unknown, but thought to be a complex interaction between various neurotransmitters, especially serotonin.
71
Q

Marijuan

A
  • It contains THC which can act on cannabinoid receptors, glycine receptors and opioid receptors.
  • THC is known to inhibit GABA and indirectly increase dopamine levels,
72
Q

Alzheimers Disease and Korskoff’s Syndrom

A
  • Both involve retrograde amnesia, which is a loss of memory that occurred in the past as well as anterograde amnesia, which is the inability to form new memories
  • Confabulation, while is a memory error in which gaps in memory filled with fabricated information, is only present in Korsakoff’s syndrome.
73
Q

Self-Reference Effect

A
  • Involves putting information in the context of one’s life to make it easier to remember.
74
Q

Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome

A
  • Long term abuse of alcohol results in thiamine deficiency, leading to Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. This syndrome is characterized by memory impairment, alteration of mental status, and loss of motor skills
75
Q

Cognitive Process Dream Theory

A
  • Dreams are like stream-of consciousness insofar as they shift rapidly and change.
76
Q

The activation Synthesis Theory

A

States that dreams are caused by the activation of random areas of neural circuitry that are stitched together by the cortex

77
Q

Problem-Solving Dream Thoey

A

Indicates that the function of dreams is to solve problems while sleeping

78
Q

Neurocognitive Models of Dreaming

A

It tries to combine both biological and psychological perspective and show how the cognitive experiences of dreaming is correlated to physiological changes in the body

79
Q

Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences

A
  • Includes seven types:
    • Linguistic
    • Logical-mathematical
    • Musical
    • Visual-spatial
    • Bodily-kinesthetics
    • Interpersonal
    • Intrapersonal
80
Q

Conservation

A
  • Is the concept that the amount of matter or the quantity of the object does not change just because the shape, container, or appearance of the object changes.
81
Q

Centration

A

Refers to only being able to focus on one aspect of a phenomenon at a time.

82
Q

Object Permanence

A

Is the concept that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight.

Behavioural Science (10 decks)

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