Exam 1 Lectures (2-8)

PSYCH 1 Final

What is psychology rooted from?

• the mind/body/brain problem

• free will vs determinism

• nature vs nurture

What are the 1st psychological lab?

• Wihlem Wudnt in 1879

• measured sensory and physiological responses to stimuli

What was Edward Titchener's studies focused on?

• structuralism (the study of basic elements and structures of the mind)

• used introspection to conduct research (observers describe experiences w/o naming the obj)

What was William James known for?

• functionalism (what is the purpose of our mind's actions?)

What was Sigmund Freud known for?

• subconscious

How did behaviorism emerge?

• Freud made psych popular and community shifted perspectives in psych

What could behaviorism not address?

• motivation/persistence

• memory distortions

• clinical psychology

What is psycholgoy

• the scientific study of the human mind and its functions

What are the levels of examining the mind?

Parts (cells

What education is needed to get a career in Psych?

• Bachelor's
• Masters (specialties

What is the neuron doctrine?

• Ramon Y Cajal
• the mind is led by cells located throughout the body
• cells communicate w/ e/o through microscopic gaps between them

How many neurons do we have in our body?

• 80-100 billion

• highest concentration in the brain and CNS

Neuron structures

• dendrites

What does "to send or not to send" phrase mean?

• excite/inhibit (inc/dec chances of 2nd neuron releasing NTs)

What is the action potential?

• all or none signal propagated along axon

• starts at axon hillock and ends at terminal buttons

What are the events that occur in the synapse?

• activation (NTs bind to postsynaptic neuron and sends signal)

• reuptake (axon terminal of presynaptic neuron sucks back NTs)

• diffusion (NTs broken down

What are gilia(l) cells?

• removes waste

• synchronize activity

• insulate neurons

What are the 2 types of NTs?

• dopamine (reward/positive emotional sensation

What is the CNS?

• brain

What is the PNS?

• nerves and neurons located through the body

What are the lobes of the brain?

• frontal

What are the hemispheres of the brain?

• left and right

What were issues with animal research for brain research?

• concern over generalizability
• ethical issues
• scientific control issues

What was the case study of Phineas Gage about?

• Phineas Gage was shot though his skull
• brain injury altered his personality and behavior (capable

What was the case study of Wernicke's aphasia patients about?

• spoke fluently

What was the case study of Broca's aphasia patients about?

• patients struggle to form sentences

What are strengths and weaknesses of animal experiments and case studies focusing on brain function?

• strengths: determines the necessity of a region for a certain cognitive process
• weaknesses: lack of experimental control

What are new approaches to understanding the brain?

• electrical stimulation studies
• EEG studies

Why is electrophysiology measures valuable?

• less invasive
• larger samples
• accurate measure of location of activity
• detects when brain is activated

What are modern advances in brain imaging?

• PET scans
• MRIs
• fMRIs

What is sensation and perception?

• sensation (the conversion of energy from the environment into a pattern of responses by that NS)
• perception (the interpretation of neural information)

What senses are used for perception?

• ears (convert mechanical movement in air pressure into neurological signal)
• touch (receptors sensitive to physical pressure and chem stimulation)
• nose and tongue (converts molecs into signals)

What is the difference between wavelength and amplitude with the perception of light?

• wavelength: frequency determines color
• amplitude: determines intensity (brightness)

How do we see light?

• cells at the back of our eyes convert EM energy from light into pattern

What are the structures of the eye?

• pupil

How does the lens take in information?

• flips the image we are viewing

What are the receptor cells of the eye?

• rods (adapted for dim light

What is the path of vision after the eye?

• retina --> optic nerve --> optic chiasm --> optic tract --> visual coretex

What do perceptual psychologists study?

• the concept of visual perception through color

What is the constructivist approach?

• our expectations of the world around us

What is the ecological approach?

• what we perceive in our environment can be explained entirely through the characteristics of the stimuli in our environment that our sensory organs are processing (bottom-up processing)

What is the Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory of Color Vision?

• 3 types of cones sensitive to diff freq of color

• ration of response to 3 cells determine color we are examining

What are Trichromats?

• normal color vision ( 3 cones: L-cones

What is the difference between color insensitivity vs color blindness?

• color insensitivity: lack of response to certain light wavelengths

• color blindness: reduced ability to distinguish between certain colors

What are problems with the Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory of Color Vision?

• light and dark contrast issues

• the afterimage effect

What is the opponent process theory of color vision?

• vision of color determined by contrast of opposing colors

What is color constancy?

• color is determined by ambient lighting and surrounding colors

What is the retinex theory of color vision

• use expectations and anticipations of visual info to determine color

What are Gestalt Psychologists?

• attempted to understand color perception by viewing them as organized and structured wholes

What is the Muller-Lyer illusion?

• line is of same length

What is the Ponso illusion

• line is of same length

What is the Ames Room illusion?

• distorted room makes people look larger than reality

What is behaviorism

• an approach to studying psychology that involves studying the observable cause-and-effect relationships between conditions and behavior

What is an radical behaviorism?

• BF Skinner and John B Watson
• all behavior can be explained as the result of observable encounter between a stimulus and a response

What are the 2 main forms of learning?

• Classical conditioning (involuntary): learning stimuli around us is connected
• operant conditioning (voluntary): learning consequences of actions in diff environments

What did Ivan Pavlov do?

• 1st behaviorist
• studied dogs to discover classical conditoning

What is the unconditonal reflex?

• unconditional stimulus (UCS) elicits an unconditional response (UCR)

What is the conditional reflex?

• conditional stimulus (CS) elicits a conditional response (CR)

What is the neutral stimulus?

• a conditioned stimulus is a neutral stimulus until it has been paired with the unconditioned stimulus

Link unconditional stimulus

unconditional response

What is trace conditoning?

NS → (Pause) → UCS → UCR

What is Delayed conditioning?

Extended NS → + UCS → UCR

What is Simultaneous Conditioning?

NS + UCS → UCR

What is Backward conditioning?

UCS → UCR → NS (doesn't work)

What is generalization?

• effect that occurs when organisms respond with a CR to a new stimulus that closely resemble the CS

What is discrimination?

• an effect that occurs when organisms do not respond to a new stimulus as if it were the same as the CS

When does conditioning occur more rapidly and easier?

• when neutral stimulus is unfamiliar
• specific species and specific senses (ex. dog and smell)

What is the law of recency?

• the most recent response is likely to reoccur

What is the law of availability?

• certain behaviors are easier to evoke than others

What is the law of effect?

• behaviors producing favorable consequences become more likely
• ones that produce unfavorable consequences become less likely

What did BK Skinner research?

• discovered operant conditioning through pigeons and rats in operant chambers

What is operant conditoning?

• the process of learning to associate a behavior with a consequence

What is reinforcement in operant conditioning?

• any outcome/response that increases the future probability of the most recent behavior

What is punishment in operant conditoning?

• any outcome/response that decreases the frequency of the preceding behavior

What is positive reinforcement?

• an into of a pleasurable stimulus after a behavior

What is negative reinforcement?

• a removal of (or the avoidance of) an aversive stimulus after a behavior

• inc the likelihood of the future occurrence of the behavior
  (ex. medicine to remove pain).

What is positive punishment?

• intro of an aversive stimulus after a behavior

• dec the likelihood of the future occurrence of the behavior
  (ex. the shock from a bark collar).

What is negative punishment?

• removal of (or a threatening to remove) a pleasurable stimulus after a behavior

• dec the likelihood of the future occurrence of a behavior
  (ex. a swear jar).

What is extinction in operant conditioning?

• a return of a behavior to baseline when conditioning stops

What is response generalization in operant conditioning?

• inc or dec similar responses due to punishment or reinforcement

What is Response Discrimination in operant conditoning?

• inc or dec the specific response that was reinforced or punished

What are ways that can expand the operant conditoning?

• shaping (rewarding successive approximations of a behavior that's being reinforces)

• primary reinforcers (a reinforcer that automatically inc the likelihood of a response

• secondary reinforcers (a reinforcer that has been learned through classical conditioning to inc the likelihood of a response

What is continuous reinforcement?

-reinforcement for every response

What is Partial/intermittent reinforcement?

• occasional reinforcement for a response