Video Notes: Psychology & Neuroscience Flashcards

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering core terms and concepts from the lecture notes (brain injury, memory, neuroscience, consciousness, memory systems, and related psychology topics).

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

A disruption in normal brain function caused by a blow, jolt, or penetrating head injury; ranges from mild concussions to severe brain damage.

Closed Head Injury

Brain is shaken inside the skull with the skull intact, causing bruising, swelling, or bleeding inside the brain.

Open Head Injury

Skull is penetrated or fractured, exposing the brain to the outside environment and increasing infection risk.

Dendritic Density

How many dendritic branches or spines a neuron has; higher density means more connections and potential for complex processing.

Dendritic Growth/Spreading

Growth of new dendritic branches and synaptic connections, supporting neuroplasticity during development, learning, or recovery.

Dendritic Pruning

Elimination of excess or unused dendritic branches and synapses to refine neural circuits and improve efficiency.

Dendritic Pruning in Development

Pruning mainly during childhood and adolescence to optimize neural networks.

Basic Emotions

Fundamental, universal emotional states that are biologically hardwired and linked to specific brain circuits.

Ekman’s Basic Emotions

Happiness, Sadness, Fear, Anger, Surprise, Disgust—the six core emotions identified in Ekman’s research.

Amygdala

Limbic structure that detects emotional significance (especially fear), forms emotional memories, and initiates fear responses.

Insula

Brain region important for disgust and interoceptive awareness.

Prefrontal Cortex

Brain area that regulates and interprets emotions and supports higher-order executive control.

Fear

Innate basic emotion signaling danger; rapid onset with physiological arousal and fight-or-flight responses.

Fear Conditioning

Pavlovian learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes a fear cue when paired with an aversive event.

Amygdala Pathways (Fear)

Fast thalamic route and slower cortical route for fear processing and response initiation.

Hippocampus

Limbic structure crucial for forming new explicit memories and linking memories to context.

Hypothalamus

Activates the autonomic nervous system and HPA axis during fear and stress; connects emotions to bodily changes.

Explicit Memory

Long-term memory involving conscious recall of facts, events, and knowledge (declarative).

Episodic Memory

Memory for specific personal experiences; involves mental time travel.

Semantic Memory

Memory for general facts, meanings, and concepts not tied to personal experience.

Implicit Memory

Long-term memory influencing behavior without conscious awareness (skills, habits, priming, conditioning).

Procedural Memory

Memory for automatic skills and habits (e.g., riding a bike).

Priming

Exposure to one stimulus influences response to another, often without conscious awareness.

Classical Conditioning

Learning to associate two stimuli so that one triggers the other response.

Nonassociative Learning

Learning about a stimulus via habituation (decreased response) or sensitization (increased response).

Basal Ganglia

Brain structures involved in motor control and habit learning; important for procedural memory.

Cerebellum

Brain region important for motor coordination and conditioning.

Neocortex

Outer layer of the cerebral cortex responsible for higher-order processing and long-term storage.

Anterograde Amnesia

Inability to form new explicit long-term memories after brain injury.

Retrograde Amnesia

Loss of memories formed before the onset of brain damage, often with a temporal gradient.

Capgras Delusion

Delusion that a known person has been replaced by an impostor, due to disconnection between face recognition and emotional response.

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE)

Focal epilepsy starting in the temporal lobes; often involves memory, emotion, and language symptoms.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation

Neuromodulation technique used to reduce seizures and influence brain activity.

Hemispheric Specialization

Left and right hemispheres have specialized but interconnected functions; not absolute.

Left Hemisphere Functions

Language production/comprehension, logical/analytical thinking; controls the right side of the body.

Right Hemisphere Functions

Spatial processing, facial recognition, holistic processing; controls the left side of the body.

Split-Brain Surgery

Severing the corpus callosum to prevent seizure spread; reveals lateralization and independent hemispheric processing.

Broca’s Area

Left frontal region involved in speech production.

Wernicke’s Area

Left temporal region involved in language comprehension.

Fusiform Face Area

Temporal lobe region specialized for recognizing faces.

Consciousness

Awareness of self and environment; includes attention, self-awareness, and intentionality.

Global Workspace Theory

Consciousness arises when information is broadcast across widely distributed brain networks.

Integrated Information Theory

Consciousness depends on the quantity and quality of information integrated in the brain.

Dual Processing

The mind operates on both conscious, deliberate and unconscious, automatic processing tracks.

Narrative Self

Self constructed through personal life story and autobiographical memory.

Minimal (Core) Self

Immediate sense of being a conscious agent in the present moment; basic bodily awareness.

Experiential Self

Self as experienced in the present moment through sensation and ongoing experience.

Past Self

Mental representation of who you were in the past.

Future Self

Imagined version of yourself in the future; drives motivation and planning.

Social Self

Self shaped by relationships, roles, and how others perceive you.

Religious or Spiritual Self

Self connected to religious beliefs or spiritual experiences and values.

Interaction Problem

Question of how mind and body interact if they are fundamentally different substances (Descartes).

Limbic System

Network of structures involved in emotion, motivation, memory, and behavior; interacts with cortex and brainstem.

Cingulate Cortex

Integrates emotional, cognitive, and pain-related information; helps regulate emotions and attention.

Olfactory Bulbs

Olfactory-to-emotion/memory connections explain scent-triggered memories.

Neuron Components: Soma

Cell body containing nucleus; integrates incoming signals.

Dendrites

Branch-like extensions that receive information from other neurons.

Axon

Long fiber that transmits signals away from the cell body.

Myelin Sheath

Insulating layer that speeds up transmission between nodes of Ranvier.

Nodes of Ranvier

Gaps in the myelin sheath that enable rapid signal conduction.

Axon Terminals

Endings of axons that release neurotransmitters into the synapse.

Synapse

Gap between neurons where chemical communication occurs (presynaptic terminal, cleft, postsynaptic membrane).

Working Memory

Brief, active workspace for holding and manipulating information needed for ongoing tasks.

Baddeley & Hitch Model

Model of working memory with Central Executive, Phonological Loop, Visuospatial Sketchpad, and Episodic Buffer.

Central Executive

Control system directing attention and coordinating other working-memory components.

Phonological Loop

Stores and rehearses verbal/auditory information.

Visuospatial Sketchpad

Stores and manipulates visual/spatial information.

Episodic Buffer

Integrates information from different sources into cohesive episodes and links to long-term memory.

Default Mode Network (DMN)

Network active at rest involved in self-referential thought, autobiographical memory, and prospection.

Spreading Activation

Model of memory retrieval where activation spreads from one concept to related concepts in a semantic network.

Semantic Network

Network of related concepts; explains priming and memory retrieval patterns.

Twenty-Statements Test (TST)

Self-concept assessment where individuals write 20 statements about who they are to reveal self-perception.

Eudaimonia

Flourishing or thriving: living virtuously and realizing one’s potential.

Hedonia

Pleasure-focused, immediate happiness as opposed to long-term flourishing.

Prospective Memory

Ability to remember to perform an intended action in the future; time-based or event-based.

Time-Based Prospective Memory

Remembering to perform an action at a specific time.

Event-Based Prospective Memory

Remembering to perform an action when a specific event occurs.

Spillover Effect

Arousal from one situation influences emotions in a subsequent situation, depending on context.

Two-Factor Theory of Emotion

Emotion arises from physiological arousal and a cognitive label; context determines the emotion.

Monism

Mind and body are one; mental states are brain states (physicalist view).

Dualism

Mind and body are distinct; interaction is debated; historically linked to Descartes.

Neurotheology

Study of neural correlates and mechanisms of religious/spiritual experiences.

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy & Religion

Temporal lobe seizures can evoke intense religious experiences, suggesting a neural basis for spirituality.

Phrenology

Historical theory that bumps on the skull reflect cognitive abilities; helped popularize brain localization but was scientifically flawed.

God Spot Myth

Idea of a single brain area for religious experience; modern view emphasizes networks across regions.

Limbic System (Summary)

Emotion/motivation/memory network including the amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, cingulate cortex, and related areas.

Love in the Brain (Overview)

Love involves reward, motivation, and social bonding circuits, integrating emotion and cognition.

Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA)

Midbrain reward region heavily involved in dopamine release during attraction and reinforcement.

Caudate Nucleus & Putamen

Basal ganglia structures that contribute to motivation and goal-directed behavior in love.

Oxytocin & Vasopressin

Hypothalamic hormones that promote bonding, trust, and long-term attachment.

Dopamine (Love)

Neurotransmitter contributing to pleasure, motivation, and reward during romantic attraction.

Serotonin (Love)

Neurotransmitter that can dip during early attraction, influencing obsession-like thinking.

Endorphins (Love)

Natural painkillers that promote calmness and attachment feelings in close relationships.

Phases of Love Brain Activity

Attraction: VTA/dopamine; Attachment: oxytocin/vasopressin; Comfort: prefrontal re-engagement.

Neuroplasticity

Brain’s ability to change its structure and function in response to experience, learning, or injury.

Structural Plasticity

Physical changes in brain anatomy (e.g., dendritic growth, synaptogenesis).

Functional Plasticity

Brain’s ability to shift functions from damaged to healthy areas.

Synaptic Plasticity

Strengthening or weakening of synapses through activity (LTP/LTD).

Neurogenesis

Creation of new neurons, especially in the hippocampus, contributing to learning and memory.

Consciousness (Core Aspects)

Awareness of self and environment; includes attention, self-awareness, and intentionality.