Intro to Psych Exam 1

TMS

sends current through scalp to activate different neural regions, good spatial, excellent temporal, moderately invasive

glial scars

after injury, glia work to clean cellular debris and seal blood brain barrier, inhibits brain repair, better to not have complete repair and have glial scarring

receptive field

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

hebbian explanation

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

spacing effects

allows you to partially forget information so you can work to retrieve the information, thus causing you to remember it better for next time

informativeness

knowledge of category membership allows inferences to be made, yields many small categories

the scientific method

1) observation and description of phenomena

2) formulation of a hypothesis

3) use of hypothesis to predict the results of new observations

4) performance of experimental tests of predictions

5) abandon hypothesis if results and predictions contradict

operationalization

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

randon assignment

assigning participants to a condition by chance

statistical truth

noise cancels, signal doesn't, with a large enough sample size, you can see signal through noise

type 1 error

false positive, measuring something as true when in reality it is false

type 2 error

false negative, measuring something as false when in reality it is true

heritability estimates

proportion of total variance in a trait that is attributed to the environment

MEG

measures magnetic signals, moderate spatial, excellent temporal, non-invasive

fMRI

measures oxygen flow to different brain areas, good spatial, poor temporal, non-invasive

discrimination

learning on stimulus a doesn't change behavior regarding stimulus b

atkinson-shiffrin model

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

encoding

transfer of information from short term memory to long term memory

fear conditioning

the process of classically conditioning animals to fear neutral objects, activity in the amygdala increase with fear conditioning

structural ambiguity

"they were playing cards" may either mean the objects referenced was playing cards or that people were doing the action of playing cards

superordinate categories

more general, less descriptive, used when there is little context or information

prospect theory

theory that suggests that a decision, or argument, can be framed in different ways and that the framing affects risk assessments consumers make

negative reinforcement

removes unenjoyable stimulus to increase a behavior

diathesis vs stress

diathesis - genetic predisposition

stress - environmental situation

inborn vs learned

inborn tendency for aggression is strongly influenced by experience

post hoc theorizing

generating a hypothesis based on data that has already been observed

lateralization

cognitive function that relies more on one side of the brain than the other

broadman areas

brain is not uniform, different parts control different areas

stain techniques

after animal has died, take cells from brain and put under a microscope

golgi stain

stain a random subset of cells

nissl stain

stains every single cell, not much detail

myelin stain

luxol fast blue stain stains myelin blue

immunocytochemical

using the immune system to observe neurogenesis

single cell recording

put electrode on single neuron, shows participant something, sees if neuron fires and the frequency of firing

single cell stimulation

activate an individual cell and observe behavior

lesioning techniques

take out part of the brain, whatever damage is done indicates what that part of the brain was for

cryogenic lesion

temporary, freeze part of the brain

stroke

natural human lesion, interruption of blood flow supply to the brain

imaging techniques

help study brain of healthy individuals

spatial resolution

how close in physical proximity you can get to the target brain area

temporal resolution

the ability to distinguish between two events in the brain taking place at different times

invasiveness

extent to which foreign substances are introduced to the body

EEG

web of electrodes around head, measures electrical signals associated with neural firing, good temporal resolution, poor spatial, non-invasive

PET

measures 2-deoxyglycose flow to brain areas, excellent spatial, poor temporal, somewhat invasive

MR spectroscopy

measures prevalence of neurochemicals

seductive allure

people seem to lose ability to think critically when shown typical brain activity

reverse inference problem

people believe that if A causes B then when B is present, A also must be true

"when there's a cat there is ears, so when there are ears, there must be a cat"

neuron

information comes in through dendrites and leaves through the axon

electrical communication

neurons have specialized membranes that make them polarized

glial cells

more of them than neurons, have different functions

astrocytes

maintain blood brain barrier, provide nutrients to neurons, sequester and release neurochemicals, clean up dead neurons, divide and produce new neurons and glia

oligodendrocytes

produce myelin, a fatty coating that wraps around axons and facilitates transmission

resting potential

the inside of a neuron has a negative charge relative to the outside when its not doing anything, at -70 mV

sodium potassium pump

maintains resting potential, pump Na out and K in, ion channels then close to keep K in and Na out, when Na channel opens, Na flows through and in, K channel opens and does the opposite, action potential is present when channels are open

depolarization

neuron receives input from other neurons, refractory period, all in wrong place

action potential

unidirectional, self-regenerating, enhanced by myelin

synapse

axons have specialized endings cause presynaptic terminals, contain vesicles filled with neurotransmitters

neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons, excitatory (depolarized) or inhibitory (hyperpolarized)

alzheimer's

caused is unknown, begins destroying brain tissues beginning with hippocampus, cell death is then caused due to abnormal proteins deposited in the brain

lateral inhibition

neurons response to stimuli is inhibited by the excitement of a neighboring neuron

relative thresholds

how much a stimulus has to change to notice a change

visual agnosia

inability to learn about and recognize objects

blind sight

not aware that they have sight, no awareness of what they are seeing

size contancy

the ability to perceive the true size of an object despite variations in the size of its retinal image

top-down processing

perceiving things based on prior experiences (very basic defintion)

classical conditioning

a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired; a response that is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone

operant conditioning

a method of learning that uses rewards and punishment to modify behavior

throndike's law of effect

any behavior that is followed by pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated, and any behavior followed by unpleasant consequences is likely to be stopped

generalization

learning on stimulus a changes behavior regarding stimulus b

extinction

loss of learned behavior after training stops

spontanerous recovery

exhibiting learned behavior after extinction has occurred

social learning

people learn through observing, imitating, and modeling others behaviors

learned helplessness

when a person is unable to find resolutions to difficult situations even when a solution is accessible

rescorla-wagner model

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

primacy effect

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

recency effect

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

retrieval

if you practice retrieving information, it makes it easier to remember

interleaving effect

people do better when different categories are mixed during learning

interference theory

retroactive interference: new information replaces old information

proactive interference: old information replaces new information

retrieval-induced forgetting

in order to reduce interference, people suppress interfering memories

leading questions

the way you prompt a question can alter the way an individual answers

flashbulb memory

major events induce a feeling of strong memories about when one learned of the event, ex: 9/11

NDMA receptor

responsive to glutamate, allows learning to occur

fear extinction

elimination of conditioned fear responses associated with a trauma, NOT forgetting, involves new learning, requires prefrontal cortex

PTSD

caused by extremely traumatic events, characterized by intrusive thoughts, actions, or dreams, may be an inability to learn that stimuli once related with fear are now neutral, PTSD patients have decreased blood flow to frontal cortex

implicit memory

does not involve awareness

explicit memory

involves awareness

spatial memory

the ability to recall where objects are in relationship to each other in space

lexica ambiguity

bank of river vs bank of america

acoustic ambiguity

top and pot are acoustically different, accents make words sound different

pragmatics

the appropriate use of language in different contexts

gricean maxims

quality - tell the truth

quantity - say neither more or less than necessary

relation - your words should be relevant to conversation

manner - speak clearly and as unambiguously as possible

transitional probability

the probability of a particular syllable given a prior syllable

motherese

baby talk

wernicke's aphasia

can speak grammatically correct but content does not make sense

broca's aphasia

meaning behind words but lacks grammar

whorfian hypothesis

our cognition is constrained by our language

choice blindness

when defending the choice we make, we fail to notice choice was changed

principles of cognitive economy

make sense of information as efficiently as possible

reduced discriminations

minimizes the number of labels of objects, yields few large categories