Psych100 Exam 1

psychology

scientific study of thought and behavior

pseudoscience

something that tries to pass itself off as an actual science

clinical psychologists

work with people who have diagnosable psychological disorders

counseling

for people who might need help (not necessarily a disorder)

cognitive psychologists

study memory, problem solving, and language

developmental/child/family psychologists

study people from "womb to tomb"

experimental psychologists

study vision, senses, hearing

industrial/organizational psychologists

studies how to improve employee satisfaction, how to increase productivity, and decrease turnover rates

health psychologists

studies look at behaviors that affect your health (sleep, eating habits)

neuro/physiotherapy

studies the brain

social psychologists

studies how people interact with each other

educational/school psychologists

studies kids in school and how to help them

critical thinking

process in which one analyzes, evaluates, and forms ideas (analyze, evaluate, make inferences, interpret, explain, self-regulate)

metacognitive thinking

ability to think first and then reflect on that thinking

biopsychosocial model

to explain human behavior; biological, social and environmental, and psychological factors all help to form your mental health

rationalism

using logic and reasoning to understand the world

empiricism

making observations; use tools and instruments to make observations with your senses

theory

organized set of ideas/principles that can be used to explain any number of findings

reliability

predictability; consistency of results

validity

appropriateness of measurements

continuous variable

exists on a continuum (ex: height, intelligence); correlations are either positive or negative (ranges from -1.0 to +1.0)

positive correlation

as scores on one variable increase, so do scores on the second variable

negative correlation

as scores on one variable increase, scores on the second variable decrease

confounding variables

can influence the outcome of research study, but not part of the research question

genome

all the genetic information in DNA

dendrites

responsible for receiving information, located on the end of neurons

axons

carry signals away from cell body and to next neuron

myelin sheath

speeds up neural transmission

action potential

electrical signal within cell; positive impulse that runs down an axon

sensory neurons

input neurons, connected to sense organs (eyes, ears, skin, nose, tongue)

motor neurons

output neurons; their activation results in an action, connect to muscles, glands, organs

mirror neurons

in part of brain that control movements

interneurons

processors; connect pieces of information

propagation

impulse travels down the axon in a wave

all-or-none principle

once the voltage threshold has been crossed, an action potential WILL fire

myelinated axons

acts like an express train; protons move faster

unmyelinated axons

takes longer to get there

enzymatic degradation

adsorption of enzymes on the polymer surface

reuptake

neurotransmitters get reabsorbed into the neuron that released them

graded potentials

excitatory (promotes firing) and inhibitory (tries to prevent firing)

agonist

synthetic; similar enough in molecular structure to bind to neurotransmitter receptor site and mimic the function

antagonist

similar enough in molecular structure to bind to neurotransmitter receptor site, but not similar enough to mimic the function

glial cells

helper cells for nervous system (make up myelin sheath)

peripheral nervous system

all of nerves in the extremities of your body

astrocytes

make up blood brain barrier

nerves

bundles of axons that form "cables" and connect the CNS with muscles, glands, and sense organs

somatic nervous system

controls any voluntary movements

autonomic nervous system

involuntary organs

sympathetic nervous system

state of activation; "fight or flight"

parasympathetic nervous system

state of calm; brings you back down to homeostasis

brainstem

carry information from extremities to brain and vice versa

3 divisions of brain

hindbrain (oldest), midbrain, forebrain (newest)

cerebellum

used for basic life sustaining functions; balance, coordination, fine motor skills

cerebral cortex

responsible for thinking; higher order functioning

hindbrain

medulla, pons, cerebellum

medulla

responsible for breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate

pons

pain regulation; acts as gateway to higher order parts of brain

midbrain

on top of pons, gatekeeper between hindbrain and forebrain, has RAS

reticulating activating system

responsible for sleep/wake cycles

forebrain

thalamus, limbic system, cerebrum

thalamus

information from sensory organs goes there first, then gets redirected to a different part of brain to get processed (except for smell); sensory switch board

amygdala

evaluating emotions, particularly negative emotions (fear, anger)

hippocampus

memory, memory consolidation; activated during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep

hypothalamus

monitors different levels of things in your body; maintain homeostasis

pituitary gland

master gland; hypothalamus tells it what to do/which hormones to secrete

basal ganglia

voluntary motor control

cingulate gyrus

attention and executive function

cerebrum

largest part of brain; two hemispheres - left is analytic and right is integrative and holistic

contralateral control

says that left side of body is controlled by right side of brain and vice versa

corpus callosum

bundle of fibers that allows the two sides of brain to communicate with each other

occipital lobe

vision is processed (each section processes a different part of vision like color, shape, etc)

temporal lobe

auditory cortex; located near temples; area that's involved in language comprehension

ventral pathway

leads from occipital lobe to temporal lobe; helps with object recognition

parietal lobe

across crown of head; sense of touch processed here

dorsal pathway

leads from occipital lobe to parietal lobe; takes visual info from occipital lobe and gives it to parietal; helps with object location

frontal lobe

motor cortex found here helps with voluntary motor movements, language production, higher order cognitive processes (decision making, problem solving, thinking logically, memory)

neuroplasticity

brain's ability to adopt new functions, reorganize itself, or make new neural connections, as function of experience

experience-based plasticity

you will have more brain area devoted to those hobbies if you do them over and over

injury-based plasticity

if someone has a stroke and a part of your brain dies, they will bind of a limb that works to force you to use the one that doesn't

arborization

increase amount of dendrites on already existing neurons

synaptogenesis

increase amount of connections made with other neurons

consciousness

awareness of one's surroundings and what's in one's mind at a given moment

global workspace theory

temporarily attend to information at hand or deemed important; all-or-none, "spotlight approach"

conscious awareness

occurs when neurons from many brain areas work together (synchronization)

radical plasticity theory

consciousness must be learned, you have agency over what you are conscious about; link experience to internal states
hypothesizes that partial awareness is possible; emerges incrementally

wakefulness

degree of alertness; awake or asleep

awareness

monitoring information from environment and own thoughts

moderate consciousness

when information is just below conscious awareness; have the potential to access the information
"tip of the tongue" phenomenon - when you're trying to think of a word but you can't

flow

full involvement in task so that we lose sense of time

mindfulness

heightened awareness of present moment; either events or own mind

selective attention

focus awareness on specific features in the environment while ignoring others

dichotic listening

focus on one auditory stream (attended channel) and ignore the other (unattended channel)

shadowing

what you repeat back when focusing on attended channel

cocktail party effect

words in unattended channel carrying personal importance are noticed

inattentional blindness

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere
Need at least 2 stimuli, one that you are paying attention to and one that you miss

perceptual load model

don't notice potential distractors when primary task consumes all of our attentional capacity

change blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment; only need one stimulus

sustained attention

ability to maintain focuses awareness on a target or idea

continuous performance test

requires attentional focus for extended period of time; performance noticeably drops after 5-7 minutes

threaded cognition theory

we can be involved in more than one task at a time, but a particular resource (ex: vision, movement, memory) can only be used by one task at a time