Psychology 101 Exam 2: Biology of Behavior, Consciousness, Lifespan Development, and Sensation & Perception

Comprehensive practice vocabulary flashcards covering neuroanatomy, brain mapping, consciousness, sleep stages, sleep and dream theories, behavioral genetics, infant reflexes, Piagetian and Vygotskian cognitive development, Erikson's psychosocial stages, attachment theories, parenting styles, Kohlberg's moral development, psychophysics, and Gestalt perceptual principles.

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

A brain mapping technique that detects the electrical activity of neurons across specific regions of the brain.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET Scan)

A brain imaging technique that records biochemical changes in the brain as they occur in different locations.

Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT Scan)

A brain mapping procedure that directs X-ray beams through the head to generate cross-sectional pictures of brain tissues.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

A brain imaging method that utilizes magnetic fields to measure the structure and activity of various brain areas.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

A specialized neuroimaging technique that uses MRI technology to measure the relative neural activity of different brain areas during specific tasks.

Medulla

An older brainstem structure responsible for controlling vital, life-sustaining bodily functions such as breathing and circulation.

Pons

A brainstem structure involved in regulating sleep that serves as a bridge connecting the cerebral cortex to lower brain regions.

Reticular Formation

A nerve network within the brainstem that plays a critical role in controlling alertness and attention.

Thalamus

The brain's primary sensory relay station, responsible for directing incoming sensory information from receptors to the appropriate areas of the cerebral cortex.

Cerebellum

A brain structure located at the rear of the brainstem that oversees coordination of movement, balance, muscle control, and the memory of simple skills.

Amygdala

A limbic system structure responsible for regulating and processing intense emotional responses, especially aggression and fear.

Hypothalamus

A limbic system structure that maintains internal homeostasis, controls the endocrine system by regulating hormone release from the pituitary gland, and governs emotional drives and reward.

Hippocampus

A limbic structure known as the 'gateway to memory' that enables the formation and consolidation of new conscious memories.

Cerebral Cortex

The intricate, folded outer layer of the brain responsible for higher forms of thinking, divided into two hemispheres and four major lobes.

Frontal Lobes

The cerebral lobes positioned at the front of the brain that govern planning, creative thinking, personality, voluntary motor control, and speech production.

Motor Cortex

A strip located within the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movement, allocating the largest amount of space to body parts requiring fine control, such as the fingers and lips.

Homunculus

A distorted graphical map illustrating how the motor or somatosensory cortex corresponds to body regions, with body areas sized proportionally to the amount of cortical brain tissue dedicated to them.

Broca's Area

A region situated in the left frontal lobe that controls speech production.

Broca's Aphasia

A condition resulting from damage to Broca's area marked by significant difficulty producing fluent spoken language while comprehension remains relatively intact.

Mirror Neurons

Specialized neurons in the frontal lobes that fire both when performing an action and when observing another individual perform that same action.

Parietal Lobes

The cerebral lobes positioned at the top of the brain that contain the somatosensory cortex and process bodily sensations such as touch, temperature, and pain.

Somatosensory Cortex

A cortical strip located in the parietal lobes that receives and interprets sensory information regarding touch from different regions across the body.

Occipital Lobes

The cerebral lobes positioned at the rear of the brain containing the visual cortex, specialized for processing visual inputs.

Temporal Lobes

The cerebral lobes situated on the sides of the head that contain the auditory cortex for sound processing and Wernicke's area for language comprehension.

Wernicke's Area

A region located in the left temporal lobe (in most individuals) responsible for the comprehension of spoken and written language.

Wernicke's Aphasia

A language impairment caused by damage to Wernicke's area that renders a person unable to understand spoken language, often producing speech that sounds fluent but lacks meaning.

Plasticity

The brain's ability to alter its structure and function in response to experience, learning, or injury by forming new synapses and shifting tasks from damaged to undamaged areas.

Neurogenesis

The biological process involving the birth, growth, and development of new neurons in the brain.

Selective Attention

The cognitive mechanism of focusing conscious awareness on a specific stimulus or feature while filtering out competing stimuli.

Inattentional Blindness

The psychological failure to notice a clearly visible, unexpected object or stimulus because one's attention is focused elsewhere.

Change Blindness

The failure to detect visual alterations in an environment or stimulus when selective attention is engaged elsewhere.

Circadian Rhythm

An internal biological clock, governed by the hypothalamus, that regulates daily physiological patterns on an approximate $24\text{-hour}$ cycle.

Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)

A cluster of cells in the hypothalamus that detects light signals from the retina and directs the pineal gland to control melatonin secretion.

Melatonin

A sleep-inducing hormone synthesized and secreted by the pineal gland during periods of darkness under the direction of the suprachiasmatic nucleus.

Stage N1 Sleep

The initial, lightest stage of non-REM sleep characterized by a slowing of brain activity, easy awakenings, hypnagogic jerks, and hypnagogic hallucinations.

Hypnagogic Jerk

A sudden, involuntary muscle contraction or startle twitch experienced during the transition from wakefulness to stage N1 sleep.

Stage N2 Sleep

The stage representing true sleep, characterized by progressively slowing brain activity alongside marked reductions in heart rate and muscle tension.

Stage N3 Sleep

The deepest period of non-REM sleep, defined by large, slow delta waves, growth hormone release from the pituitary gland, and marked grogginess if awakened.

REM Sleep

A recurring sleep stage characterized by rapid eye movements, wake-like brain waves, irregular breathing, vivid dreams, and voluntary muscle paralysis.

Paradoxical Sleep

Another term for REM sleep, referencing the paradox wherein internal physiological and cerebral activity resembles active wakefulness while somatic muscles remain completely paralyzed.

Sleep Paralysis

The natural immobilization of voluntary skeletal muscles occurring during REM sleep that prevents individuals from physically acting out their dreams.

Evolutionary/Adaptive Theory of Sleep

The theory proposing that sleep evolved as a protective survival mechanism to keep organisms quiet and hidden from predators during the dangers of darkness.

Restorative Theory of Sleep

The perspective asserting that sleep provides biological recuperation, promoting physical growth, tissue repair, and optimal immune system functioning.

Information Processing Theory of Sleep

The hypothesis proposing that sleep functions to consolidate learning, restore and organize memories, and facilitate creative problem-solving.

Manifest Content

In Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory, the literal remembered imagery, plotline, and events that appear directly in a dream.

Latent Content

In Sigmund Freud's dream theory, the hidden, disguised unconscious wishes, urges, and symbolic meanings behind the manifest dream.

Activation-Synthesis Theory

The neurobiological theory proposing that dreams are constructed by the cerebral cortex attempting to synthesize and impose meaning upon random bursts of neural activity originating in the brainstem during REM sleep.

Preserving Neural Pathways Theory

The theory suggesting that the biological function of dreaming is to generate periodic stimulation that maintains and strengthens synaptic connections during sleep.

Developmental Psychology

The scientific branch of psychology focused on the lifelong study of patterns of change and stability in physical, cognitive, and social functioning ('womb to tomb').

Behavioral Genetics

The study of the relative contributions of genetic predispositions and environmental influences to individual variations in personality and behavior.

Heritability

A statistical estimate indicating the proportion of observed individual variation in a particular trait that can be accounted for by genetic differences.

Monozygotic (MZ) Twins

Identical twins that develop from a single fertilized ovum that splits into two, resulting in two individuals who share $100\%$ of their genetic material.

Dizygotic (DZ) Twins

Fraternal twins who develop from two distinct ova fertilized by two different sperm, sharing an average of $50\%$ of their genetic material.

Adoption Twin Studies

A research design that compares monozygotic twins separated in infancy to monozygotic twins reared together to assess the impact of differing environments versus shared genetics.

Primitive Reflexes

Inborn, involuntary physical responses triggered by specific external stimuli present in early infancy, including sucking, rooting, Moro, grasping, and Babinski.

Rooting Reflex

An infant reflex where gentle stimulation against the cheek causes the baby to turn their head toward that side and open their mouth in preparation for feeding.

Schema

In Jean Piaget's theory, a mental concept or cognitive category used to organize, structure, and interpret knowledge about the world.

Assimilation

The cognitive process of integrating novel information and experiences into an already existing schema without altering the schema itself.

Accommodation

The cognitive adaptation of modifying or redefining an existing schema to incorporate new observations and contradictory experiences.

Sensorimotor Stage

Piaget's initial cognitive stage (birth to age $2$) during which infants experience the world through sensory impressions and motor explorations.

Object Permanence

The realization acquired during the sensorimotor stage that objects continue to exist even when they are hidden from direct sight or sensory contact.

Preoperational Stage

Piaget's second developmental stage (ages $2$ to $7$), characterized by symbolic thought, egocentrism, animistic thinking, and an inability to grasp conservation.

Egocentrism

The cognitive limitation common in preoperational children where they perceive events solely from their personal frame of reference, unable to adopt another person's perspective.

Animistic Thinking

A preoperational tendency to attribute lifelike properties, feelings, and conscious intent to inanimate objects.

Conservation

The logical principle that quantitative properties such as mass, volume, and number remain identical despite changes in their superficial shape or physical appearance.

Concrete Operations Stage

Piaget's third developmental stage (ages $7$ to $11$), during which children acquire logical thinking about physical objects and master conservation, reversibility, and transitivity.

Reversibility

The mental capability to recognize that an altered object or stimulus can be returned back into its original physical state.

Transitivity

The cognitive ability to deduce logical relationships among items in an ordered sequence, recognizing that if $A > B$ and $B > C$, then $A > C$.

Formal Operations Stage

Piaget's fourth cognitive stage (beginning around age $11$ into adulthood), marked by the emergence of abstract reasoning, hypothetical thinking, and systematic deduction.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Lev Vygotsky's concept describing the range between what a learner can achieve independently and what they can accomplish under the guidance and collaboration of a skilled mentor.

Scaffolding

A teaching framework where a tutor adapts their level of instructional assistance to the child's current development, gradually withdrawing support as the learner's independent competence increases.

Theory of Mind

The developmental milestone wherein children understand that other individuals possess their own unique thoughts, perceptions, beliefs, and emotions distinct from their own (tested via the Band-Aid box study).

Trust vs. Mistrust

Erik Erikson's initial psychosocial stage (birth to $1\text{ year}$) in which consistent, sensitive caregiving establishes a fundamental sense of reliability and security.

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

Erikson's second psychosocial stage (ages $1$ to $3\text{ years}$) in which toddlers learn to exercise self-will and bodily control or experience self-doubt.

Initiative vs. Guilt

Erikson's third psychosocial stage (ages $3$ to $6\text{ years}$) wherein preschoolers learn to plan activities and initiate goals, or develop guilt regarding their autonomy.

Industry vs. Inferiority

Erikson's fourth psychosocial stage (age $6$ to puberty) where children apply themselves to mastering academic and motor skills or develop feelings of inadequacy relative to peers.

Identity vs. Role Confusion

Erikson's fifth psychosocial stage (adolescence into the $20\text{s}$) where teenagers integrate various personal roles to establish a unified sense of self or struggle with confusion regarding their identity.

Intimacy vs. Isolation

Erikson's sixth psychosocial stage (young adulthood, $20\text{s}$ to early $40\text{s}$) focusing on establishing deep, committed romantic and interpersonal relationships versus feeling emotionally isolated.

Generativity vs. Stagnation

Erikson's seventh psychosocial stage (middle adulthood, $40\text{s}$ to $60\text{s}$) centering on contributing productively to family, work, and future generations versus feeling a lack of purpose.

Integrity vs. Despair

Erikson's final psychosocial stage (late adulthood, late $60\text{s}$ and up) where older adults reflect upon their life achievements with a sense of fulfillment or experience regret and despair.

Contact Comfort

The comforting, calming tactile sensations derived from soft touch, demonstrated in Harry Harlow's rhesus monkey experiments where infants strongly preferred terry-cloth surrogate mothers over nourishing wire mothers.

Strange Situation

A standardized observational laboratory procedure developed by Mary Ainsworth to assess infant attachment styles through brief parent-child separations and reunions.

Secure Attachment

An infant attachment style characterized by using the caregiver as a secure base to explore, displaying visible distress upon separation, and welcoming soothing upon reunion.

Insecure-Anxious/Ambivalent Attachment

An attachment classification where an infant becomes intensely upset when the parent departs and displays contradictory approach-avoidance behaviors and persistent distress when reunited.

Insecure-Avoidant Attachment

An attachment pattern where an infant displays minimal visible distress when the caregiver leaves and actively ignores or avoids them upon return.

Authoritative Parenting

A parenting style exhibiting high warmth and high control, featuring firm but reasonable limits, clear communication, and responsive support.

Authoritarian Parenting

A restrictive parenting style featuring low warmth and high control, emphasizing strict discipline, uncompromising rules, and unquestioning obedience.

Permissive Parenting

A parenting style characterized by high warmth and low control, setting few boundaries or expectations and placing few disciplinary demands on children.

Uninvolved Parenting

A neglectful parenting style characterized by low warmth and low control, offering minimal parental involvement, supervision, or emotional engagement.

Preconventional Morality

Lawrence Kohlberg's initial level of moral development (common ages $4$ to $10$), wherein moral choices are governed strictly by avoiding punishment or obtaining personal rewards.

Conventional Morality

Kohlberg's intermediate moral stage (typical after age $10$), in which moral reasoning is based on conforming to social norms, respecting authority, and upholding legal rules ('law and order').

Postconventional Morality

Kohlberg's highest level of moral reasoning, in which decisions reflect internalized ethical principles, human rights, and conscience, which may transcend existing laws.

Delay of Gratification

The executive capacity to forego an immediate, smaller reward to obtain a larger reward at a later time, exemplified by Walter Mischel's marshmallow test.

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

Laura Carstensen's lifespan theory asserting that aging causes people to become more selective, reducing overall social networks while investing heavily in close, emotionally rewarding ties.

Sensation

The physiological process through which sensory receptors detect external environmental energy and transmit corresponding neural signals to the brain.

Perception

The psychological process through which the brain organizes, interprets, and assigns meaning to incoming sensory signals.

Transduction

The biological process of converting physical stimulus energies from the environment into electro-chemical neural impulses that can be interpreted by the nervous system.

Bottom-Up Processing

Sensory analysis that begins at sensory receptors with raw sensory data and progresses upward toward cognitive interpretation in higher brain regions.

Top-Down Processing

Information processing driven by cognitive higher-level influences, such as prior knowledge, memories, context, and expectations.

Absolute Threshold

The minimum level of sensory stimulation necessary for an observer to successfully detect a stimulus $50\%$ of the time.