intro psych final

threshold potential

The minimum membrane potential that must be reached in order for an action potential to be generated.

action potential

the change in electrical potential associated with the passage of an impulse along the membrane of a muscle cell or nerve cell.

all or none law

principle that the action potential in a neuron does not vary in strength; the neuron either fires at full strength or it does not fire at all --\> binary response

synapse

the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron

neurotrasmitters

chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, they travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse.

reuptake

a neurotransmitter's reabsorption by the sending neuron

parts of the brain

brainstem, thalamus, cerebellum, limbic system

medulla

the base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat and breathing

thalamus

the brain's sensory control center, located on top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla

cerebellum

the "little brain" at the rear of the brainstem; functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance

hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process conscious, episodic memories for storage. Works with the amygdala toform emotionally charged memories

amygdala

Helps process emotions,especially fear and aggression

hypothalamus

Directs the endocrine systemvia messages to the pituitary gland, regulates body temperatureand ensures adequate food andwater intake (homeostasis), involved in sex drive, reward center

lobes of cerebral cortex

frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal

frontal lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex that has specialized areas for movement, abstract thinking, planning, memory, and judgement

parietal lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex whose functions include processing information about touch.

occipital lobe

vision

temporal lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex responsible for hearing and language.

motor cortex

an area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements

sensory cortex

area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations

contralateral organization

left hemisphere controls right side of body and vice versa

plasticity

the brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience

sensation

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

three steps of sensation

reception, transduction, transmission

reception

The target cell's detection of a signal molecule coming from outside the cell.

transduction

The process of converting outside stimuli, such as light, into neural activity

transmission

delivering this neural information to the brain to be processed

perception

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

absolute threshold

the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

Just Noticable Difference Threshold

the smallest difference between two stimuli that is detectable 50 percent of the time

Weber's law

the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount)

signal detection theory

a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.

hit

detect signal

miss(type II error)

don't detect signal

detect no signal

false alarm (type I error)

don't detect any signal

correct rejection

response bias

under uncertainty the tendency to categorize stimuli more as a target or not

liberal response bias

high hit rate, high false alarm rate, will readily report that the signal is present in ambiguous situations. These participants typically produce more hits and false alarms

conservative response bias

low hit rate, low false alarm rate, tend to falsely categorize stimuli as non-targets

sensory adaptation

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

bottom-up processing

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

top-down processing

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

sensory interaction

the principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste

process of smell

1. gaseous molecules enter nasal cavity.
2. They dissolve in epithelial mucus.
3. chems bind to receptor molecules on olfactory cilia
4. graded potential is generated
5. axonn potential is transferred through filaments
6. they synapse w/ olfactory bulbs at glomeruli
7. axon potentials are sent to CNS via olfactory tracts

kinesthesis

the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

vestibular sense

the sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance

processing sound

The outer ear collects sound and funnels it to the eardrum.

In the middle ear, the sound waves hit the eardrum and move the hammer, anvil, and stirrup in ways that amplify the vibrations. The stirrup then sends these vibrations to the oval window ofthe cochlea.

In the inner ear, waves of fluid move from theoval window over the cochlea's "hair" receptor cells. These cells send signals through the auditory nerves tothe temporal lobe of the brain.

place theory

in hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated - high pitch

frequency theory

in hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch - low pitch

volley principle

The theory holding that groups of auditory nerve fibers fire neural impulses in rapid succession, creating volleys of impulses.

rods and cones

rods, black and white actions in peripheral view and in the dark; cones: sharp colorful details in bright light

visual perception

Rods --\> cones --\> bipolar cells --\> ganglion cells --\> optic nerve --\> thalamus --\> visual cortex

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory

the theory that the retina contains three different color receptors—one most sensitive to red, one to green, one to blue—which, when stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any color.

opponent-process theory

the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green

McGurk effect

an error in perception that occurs when we misperceive sounds because the audio and visual parts of the speech are mismatched. An interaction between hearing and vision in speech perception

perceptual set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another, using experience to guide visual interpretation

figure-ground perception

the ability to discriminate properly between a figure and its background

retinal disparity (binocular cue)

images from the two eyes differ, and the closer the object the larger the disparity

relative size (monocular cue)

if we assume 2 objects similar in size, most people perceive the one that casts the smaller retinal image as farther away

linear perspective (monocular cue)

Parallel lines appear to meet in the distance. The sharper the angle of convergence, the greater the perceived distance.

interposition (monocular cue)

when one object partially blocks our view of another we perceive the the figure as closer

relative height (monocular cue)

perceive objects higher in our field of vision as farther away

shading effects (monocular cue)

shading helps our perception of depth

relative motion (monocular cue)

When we are moving, we can tell the objects are farther away because it takes longer to pass them

model of memory

sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory

working memory

The ability to hold information in the mind for a brief amount of time and work with it

chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

implicit (nondeclarative) memory

Long-term memory for procedural tasks, classical conditioning, and primary effects. This type of memory does not require conscious awareness or the need to make declarations about the information remembered. Doesn't involve hippocampus, encoded and stored in cerebellum and motor cortex

explicit (declarative) memory

Long-term memory for generic memory and episodic memory. This type of memory requires a conscious effort to remember and entails making declarations about the information remembered. Encoded in hippocampus and medial temporal lobe, consolidated and stored in temporal cortex

recency effect

tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well

primacy effect

tendency to remember words at the beginning of a list especially well

schema-consistent recall (top-down processing)

Mental representations that summarizes what we know about a certain type of event or situation, which affects memory of events

encoding

The initial experience of perceiving and learning events

recoding

taking the information from the form it is delivered to us and then converting it in a way that we can make sense of it

memory trace (engram)

physical change in the brain that occurs when a memory is formed

consolidation

the neural changes that occur over time to create the memory trace of an experience

encoding specificity principle

the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it

state-dependent memory

the phenomenon through which memory retrieval is most efficient when an individual is in the same state of consciousness as they were when the memory was formed

retrieval cues

Stimuli that are used to bring a memory to consciousness or into behavior, facilitate recall, but leading questions can bias recall. --\> reconstruct memory in process of retrieval

peak-end rule

We judge experiences largely based on how we feel at the peak and the end of the experience.

classical conditioning

a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

law of effect

Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

operant conditioning

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

positive reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.

positive punishment

the administration of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior's recurring

negative reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (Note: negative reinforcement is not punishment.)

negative punishment

the removal of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior's recurring

observational learning

learning by observing others

mirror neurons

Frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so. The brain's mirroring of another's action may enable imitation, language learning, and empathy.

entity (fixed) mindset

Abilities are innate. Little can be done to improve one's abilities; Performance is the result of natural ability

incremental (malleable) theory

intelligence can be modified

subjective construal

the way in which individuals perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world

stereotype threat

apprehension about confirming negative stereotypes related to one's own group, may be judged or treated stereotypically, can undermine performance

phonemes

smallest unit of sound

morphemes

The smallest units of meaning in a language.

receptive language

associating sounds with facial movements, and recognizing when sounds are broken into words (0-4 months)

productive language

babies' ability to produce words (4 months)

one-word stage

the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

two-word stage (telegraphic speech)

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements

critical period for language

an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development