Intro to Psych Midterm

operationalization

a definition that specifies how we are measuring the phenomenon we are studying

precision

would another researcher given the same operationalization implement the study in the same way?

validity

does the test actually measure the concept?

type 1 error

false positive

type 2 error

false negative

heritability estimates

the proportion of the total variance in a trait that is attributable to genetic variation within a group

diathesis stress model

genetic predisposition combined with environmental stressg

golgi stain

stains a random subset of cells, can see the details of cellular anatomy/structure

nissl stain

stains every cell, but doesn’t show much detail of the cell’s anatomy

neurogenesis

process by which new neurons are formed

single cell recording

placing an electrode on a single neuron and measuring the frequency of firing (can additionally be used to observe behavior)

permanent lesions

aspiration, electrolytic, radio-frequency, neurochemical, knife cut

stroke

interruption of blood supply to the brain

issues in neuro methods

spatial resolution, temporal resolution, invasiveness

EEG

measures electrical signals associated with neural firing in brain areas

excellent temporal, poor spatial, non invasive

MEG

measures magnetic signals associated with neural firing in brain areas

excellent temporal, excellent spatial, non invasive

PET

measures 2-deoxyglycose flow to brain areas

excellent temporal, moderate spatial, somewhat invasive

fMRI

measures oxygen flow to different brain areas

poor temporal, good spatial, non invasive

MR spectroscopy

measures prevalence of neurochemicals

TMS

sends current through scalp to activate different neural regions

excellent temporal, good spatial, moderately invasive

seductive allure

psychological conclusions garner more interest when they contain neuroscientific information

reverse inference

if p and q; therefore p

voxelset analysis

measures whole brain and similarities

glial cells

more numerous than neurons, less studied, different functions

astrocytes

maintain blood brain barrier, provide nutrients to neurons, sequester and release neurochemicals, clean up dead neurons, and produce new neurons and glia (stem cells)

oligodendrocytes

produce myelin

resting potential

the charge of a neuron at rest (-70mV)

depolarization

when the neuron receives inputs from other neurons and its charge moves in a positive direction

synapse

points of contact between neurons where information is passed

neurotransmitters get released and bind to receptors on the post synaptic cell

reuptake

anything still in the synapse gets reabsorbed by the presynaptic cell

cell death

apoptosis, injury, trauma, disease

brain repair

undamaged neurons can sprout to form new connections, damaged areas can regrow, new neurons can form in response to damage

brain repair failure

long axon neurons are difficult to replace and glial scars inhibit repair

Alzheimer’s

destroys brain tissue beginning in the hippocampus, cell death due to abnormal proteins in the brain, progressive, new connections and neurons cannot function

perceptive fields

neurons in the visual cortex fire in response to stimuli in particular parts of the visual field

retinotopic mapping

mapping of visual input from retina to neurons

receptive fields

neurons are responsive to different stimuli (location, orientation, length, movement)

lateral inhibition

allows for clear images (ability to discern the edge of a table)

relative thresholds

the extent to which a stimulus must increase in order for the change to be noticeable

where pathway

space and movement

where pathway damage

neglect a part of space, side opposite to damage goes unnoticed

what pathway

object recognition

what pathway damage

visual agnosia (cannot recognize objects by sight)

blind sight

lose ability to know what you are seeing, can only detect light, feel blind but can actually seei

illusions of constancy

brightness, color, shape, size, perspective

top down processing

the use of preexisting knowledge to organize individual features into a unified whole

gestalt problem solving

the success in solving a problem depends on how it is represented in the mind

our beliefs and assumptions about a problem influence how we try to solve it

functional fixedness

the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving

classical conditioning

presenting a neural stimulus (bell) and unconditioned stimulus (food) together so that neutral stimulus creates a conditioned response (salivating)

operant conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

positive punishment

adding something to decrease behavior

positive reinforcement

adding something to reinforce behavior

negative punishment

subtracting something to decrease behavior

negative reinforcement

subtracting something to increase behavior

generalization

learning stimulus A changes behavior regarding stimulus B

discrimination

learning stimulus A doesn’t change behavior regarding stimulus B

extinction

loss of learned behavior after training stops

spontaneous recovery

exhibiting learned behavior after extinction

social learning

learning by observing and modeling others

learned helplessness

the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

hebbian explanation

the more frequently two objects are paired together, the greater the association

rescorla-wagner model

the amount of association increases relative to the surprise of the pairing

overjustification

reward sometimes diminishes want to engage in an activity

serial position

we remember the beginning and end

false memory

an apparent recollection of an event that did not actually occur

encoding

transfer of information from short term to long term

cues

the more cues, the better the encoding and retrieval

state dependent memory

the surrounding environment can be used as a cue

levels of processing

structural, phonemic, semantic, and personal

interleaving effects

people do better when different categories are mixed during learning, rather than massed

decay theory

memory fades due to passage of time

interference theory

memory encoded in long-term memory is forgotten and cannot be retrieved into short-term memory because either could interfere with the other

retroactive interference

new replaces old

proactive

old replaces new

retrieval induced forgetting

in order to reduce interference, people suppress interfering memories

flashbulb memory

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event

long term potentiation

process by which synaptic connections between neurons become stronger with frequent activiation

amygdala

aggression and fear

fear extinction

elimination of conditioned fear responses associated with a trauma

PTSD

caused by extremely traumatic events, characterized by intrusive thoughts, actions, or dreams, may be an inability to learn that stimuli previously associated with fear are now neutral

implicit memory

does not involve awareness

explicit memory

involves awareness

hippocampus

important for learning about events

hippocampus damage

causes inability to form new memories about facts and events since surgery/damage

what does sleep do to memory

consolidates memories when the hippocampus is otherwise not actively encoding new memories

redundancy

language includes a lot of repetition which improves understanding of typos or otherwise unintelligable information

lexical ambiguity

the existence of multiple word meanings

structural ambiguity

a situation in which a single phrase or sentence has two (or more) different underlying structures and interpretations

acoustic ambiguity

well-sounds like “whale” & whale - sounds like “while” in different accents (different sounds, same letter/word)

priming

prior exposure of a concept increases activation of related concepts

pragmatics

the appropriate use of language in different contexts

gricean implicature

there is a difference between sentence meaning and speaker meaning

gricean maxims

quantity, quality, relation, manner

transitional probability

the probability of particular syllable given the prior syllable

broca’s area

responsible for grammar

wernicke’s area

meaning of words

confirmation bias

tendency to produce positive rather than negative information in reasoning or the research for confirming evidence

prospect theory

value function, risk function, reference points

heuristics

availability, representativeness, anchoring, affect

rotation

maps are rotated on their axes to north/south/east/west