ap psych units 1-5

Absolute threshold

the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time

Acetylcholine (ACh)

memory, learning, and movement; low acetylcholine - alzheimer’s disease

Action potential

a brief electrical charge that travels through an axon

Agonist vs antagonist

agonist - a molecule that stimulates/produces a response by binding the receptors; antagonist - blocks or inhibits a response

All-or-none response

neuron’s reaction of firing or not

Amygdala

panic button (fear, phobias), experiencing emotions

Axon

the long threadlike part of a nerve cell along which impulses are conducted from the cell body to other cells

Biological perspective

all thoughts, feeling, and behavior ultimately have a biological cause

Bottom-up processing

looking at all the pieces and putting them together to make sense; no prior knowledge

Broca’s vs Wernicke’s area

Broca’s area - production of speech; Wernicke’s area - comprehension of speech

Case study

intensive, systematic investigation of a single individual, group, community or some other unit

Cerebellum

coordination related to motor skills, posture, and balance

Charles Darwin

known for his contributions to evolutionary biology, specifically natural selection

Cognitive perspective

operates on the belief that the brain is the most important aspect in relation to the way that an individual behaves or thinks

Confidentiality

keeping something private

Consciousness

the state of being awake and aware of one's surroundings.

Context effects

an aspect of cognitive psychology that describes the influence of environmental factors on one's perception of a stimulus

Cornea

transparent part of the eye that covers the iris and the pupil and allows light to enter the inside

Correlation coefficient

a statistical measure of the strength of a linear relationship between two variables

Critical thinking

the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment

CT Scan

a series of X-ray photographs are taken from different angles and combined by a computer into a composite representation

Depth perception

the ability to see objects in 3d

Dopamine

reward center, pleasure, motivation; low dopamine - parkinson’s disease

Double-blind procedure

neither the participants nor the researcher knows which treatment or intervention participants are receiving

EEG

electrical activity of the brain

Endorphins (hormone)

painkillers, relieve pain and stress

Evolutionary perspective

an individual's thoughts and behaviors are based on what would give them the best chance of survival; subsequently, the behaviors that give the best chance of survival are passed on to further generations

Experiment

a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact

Experimental vs control condition

experimental - receives the treatment; control - does not reaceive the treatment

Frontal lobe

personality, planning, voluntary movement

Hindsight bias

our tendency to look back at an event that we could not predict at the time and think the outcome was easily predictable

Hippocampus

moves short team memories to long term memories

Hypothesis

an idea that can be tested

Illusory correlation

the phenomenon of perceiving a relationship between variables even when no such relationship exists

Introspection

the examination or observation of one's own mental and emotional processes

Iris

colored tissue in the eye that contains the pupil, helps dilate the pupil

Lens

focuses light rays onto the retina; transparent part on the inside of the eye

Lightness constancy

our ability to perceive the relative reflectance of objects despite changes in illumination; gray-black-white

Limbic system

memories and emotions

Mean

average of all values

Median

middle number

Medulla

heartbeat and breathing

Mode

the most common number

Monocular vs. Binocular cues

Binocular cues - images taken in by both eyes to give depth perception (retinal disparity); monocular cues - all the ways that a single eye helps you see and process what you're looking at (relative size, interposition, perspective)

Naturalistic observation

record the behaviors of your research subjects in real world settings

Neural network

a method in artificial intelligence that teaches computers to process data in a way that is inspired by the human brain

Neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that cross synaptic gaps between neurons

Occipital lobe

responsible for visual perception, including color, form and motion

Opiates

produces morphine-like effects like pain relief

Opponent-process theory

theory that opposing retinal processes enable vision; three sets of colors: red-green, blue-yellow, black-white

Parallel processing

take in multiple different forms of information at the same time

Parapsychology

the study of mental phenomena which are excluded from or inexplicable by orthodox scientific psychology (hypnosis, telepathy)

Parietal lobe

processes sensory information, movement awareness

Perceptual set

a predisposition to perceive things in a certain way

PET scan

a visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task

Phi phenomenon

an illusion of apparent movement seen when two lights flash on and off about 150 m apart. The light appears to move from one location to the other

Placebo

an inactive substance that looks like the drug or treatment being tested

Plasticity

the ability for the brain to adapt or change over time, by creating new neurons and building new networks

Positive vs negative correlation

positive correlation - both variables rise; negative correlation - one variable increases while the other decreases

Proximity (in Gestalt theory)

things that are close together appear to be connected as a whole

Psychodynamic perspective

relies heavily on how the past has affected an individual's psychological states; this perspective believe that our unconscious mind (similar to Freud) is what controls the majority of our cognition and behavior

Psychology

the scientific study of mind and behavior

Pupil

receives light on outside, adjustable side

Random assignment

each participant has equal change to be placed in any group

Range

maximum value - minimum value

Refractory period

the time in which a nerve cell is unable to fire an action potential, positive ions are absorbed

Replication

copying/reproducing something

Representative sample

a subset of a population that seeks to accurately reflect the characteristics of the larger group

Reticular formation

obtaining information, consciousness + arousal

Retina

trigger nerve impulses that pass via the optic nerve to the brain, where a visual image is formed

Rods and cones

recepter cells - rods (black/gray/white) and cones (colors)

Scatterplot

plot data points on a horizontal and a vertical axis in the attempt to show how much one variable is affected by another

Selective attention

the processes that allow an individual to select and focus on particular input

Sensory adaptation

the way our senses adjust to different stimuli

Split-brain surgery

cutting a band of fibers (the corpus callosum) in the brain; makes seizures less frequent

Standard deviation

measure of how dispersed the data is in relation to the mean; low SD - less variability, high SD - high variability

Statistical significance

helps quantify whether a result is likely due to chance or to some factor of interest; finding a statistic significant means you’re confident that it’s real and not based off luck

Survey

a list of questions aimed for extracting specific data from a particular group of people

Synapse

the site of transmission of electric nerve impulses between two nerve cells (neurons)

Vestibular sense

known as the movement, gravity and/or balance sense, allows us to move smoothly

William James

the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, established Harvard’s psychology department