AP Psych review

Brain Stem

Oldest part of brain

Medulla

Base of brain stem and supports basic life functions

Reticular Formation

Nerve network in charge of arousal

Pons

Coordinate left and right side body movement

Cerebellum

processes sensory information

Thalamus

Directs sensory information

Limbic System

neural system hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus

Hypothalamus

keeps body in homeostasis

Hippocampus

in charge of memory

Amygdala

in charge of flight or fight response

Cerebral Cortex

ultimate control and processing center

occipital lobe

visual processing

Frontal Lobe

decision making

parietal lobe

in charge of spatial reasoning

Temporal Lobe

Hearing and facial recognition

Primary Motor Cortex

voluntary movement

primary somatosensory cortex

Processes movement information

Wernickes Area

Left lobe hearing and reading language

Brocas Area

left frontal lobe speech and writing

Aphasia

inability to speak

Split Brain patients

left and right hemispheres do not communicate

Lesions

tissue destruction

EEG

microelectrode technique, gets picture of brain activity

CAT Scans

computerized axial tomography, show 3 dimensional brain model and issues

MRI

magnetic resonance imaging, radio waves make model distinguish brain tissues

PET scan

positron emission tomography, determines location of brain activity

FMRI

functional magnetic resonance imaging, blood molecules in brain

Plasticity

brains ability to be molded, greatest in childhood

neurogenesis

creation of new neurons

Phantom limb

sensation in area without a limb from old neurons

Substance abuse signs

tolerant of drugs and more is needed for a high

Psychoactive drugs

change brain chemicals

Physiological drug dependence

need drug to get rid of stress

physical drug dependence

need drug to relieve pain

Depressants

slow down nervous system

Stimulants

increase activity

hallocinogens

change body cell communication

Alcohol

addictive but frequently used

Barbiturates

used for insomnia slows nervous system

Opiates

Stimulant drug

circadian rhythm

body sleep cycle

melatonin

in charge of sleep pattern

cortisol

governs hormonal cycle

digestive cycle

release of fluids

Sleep

loss of consciousness

REM

rapid eye movement time when dreams happen

NREM

any non REM time sleeping

Reasons for sleep

repairs body and builds memory

lack of sleep

leads to depression and fatigue

Insomnia

inability to sleep

Night terrors

person is frightened during sleep

Apnea

temporary stoppage of breathing

Dreams

emotional images going through mind

Failure dreams

person attacked in dream

Sexual dreams

dreams of attraction to people

Activation synthesis

dreams from muscle activity

Information processing

brain is sorting days events during sleep

Cognitive Theory

dreams reflect things during time awake

Psychodynamic theory

dreams are wish fulfillment

classical conditioning

learning response to a single stimulus

Operant Learning

use of rewards and punishments

Social Cognitive Learning Theory

learning by observing others

Unconditional Stimulus

Stimulus that causes person to react

Unconditioned response

the response to the unconditioned stimulus

Conditioned stimulus

stimulus that is created to mean something

conditioned response

learned response to a stimulus

neutral stimulus

stimulus that elicits no response

Food aversion

person avoids food from past experiences

acquisition

learning a response

spontatneous recovery

recovery of response after break

generalization

person will respond to similar stimuli

Discrimination

will only respond to a specific stimulus

Extinction

diminishing effect of a conditioned response

Law of Effect (Edward Thorndike)

Behaviors with favorable consequences occur more, Behaviors with unfavorable consequences occur less

BF Skinned

created fundamentals of operant conditioning

positive reinforcement

behavior increases

negative reinforcement

increase behavior by removing things to increase a behavior

primary reinforcement

naturally reinforcing stimulus

conditioned/ secondary reinforcement

any non natural reinforcement

overjustification effect

if reward ends than person will no longer respond

Positive punishment

administer adverse stimulus

negative punishment

taking away something desirable

continuous reinforcement

rewards every correct response

fixed interval reinforcement

rewards over set interval of time

fixed ratio reinforcement

reward after correct number of responses

variable interval reinforcement

correct responses rewarded over variable time

variable ratio reinforcement

rewards variable number of correct responses

latent learning

unnoticed learning by a subject

emotional learning

teaching children to control emotions

Edward Tolman

studied cognitive map in rats

mirror neurons

neurons active during observational learning

Perception

organizing and interpreting information

Sensation

taking in information from environment

External stimuli

stimuli from outside world

Bottom up processing

sensory input that brain learns to understand, external attention

top down processing

what we want to see from experience, internal attention

Sensation steps

receive, transform, deliver

absolute threshold

minimum stimulation detected 50% of the time

difference thershold

minimum difference between two things to be detected 50% of the time

Webers Law

percentage differences to be detected