Psychology 1 Midterm 1 Gade

Free Will (as opposed to determinism)

Theory that we have conscious control over all of our actions

Determinism (as opposed to free will)

Theory that we are entirely controlled by our brain and its responses to stimuli in our environment

Nature (as opposed to nurture)

Theory that we develop into the person we are only because of our parents' genetics

Nurture (as opposed to nature)

Theory that we develop into the person we are because of our experiences shaping our brain responses and behaviors

Wilhelm Wundt

Established the first psychology lab, attempted to study the "components of experience and the mind" by studying stimuli responses like reaction times

Edward Titchener

Student of Wundt, started "structuralism," majority of research done through "introspection"

Structuralism

Early study of the basic elements and structures of the mind using introspection

Introspection

Form of research in which you give participants a stimulus and analyze how they respond/interpret the situation, e.g. how many features can you take away from an orange with people still able to recognize that it is an orange?

William James

Introduced "functionalism", wrote The Principles of Psychology, which has terminology still used in psychology to this day

Functionalism

A school of psychology that focused on why we have the mental functions we have instead of how these things cause people to respond to stimuli. E.g. why do we have memory in the first place? What and why are there different types?

Sigmund Freud

Made the field of psychology "sexy" and widely popular, massive contributions to the momentum of the field. Introduced subconscious repression and psychoanalysis. Focused on "throwing theories against a wall and seeing if they stick" (no scientific method), very polarizing

Behaviorism

An approach to studying psychology that involves studying the observable cause and effect relationships between conditions and behavior. Does not take into account how emotions, thoughts, context shape behavior

The Cognitive Revolution

Freud's way is awful, behaviorism doesn't capture all of psych, technology is rapidly developing--> we can now measure the brain and its activity, expand the fields of psychology rapidly

Humors Theories for Personality

Past theory to explain function of the mind; emotions and personality are a result of different fluid levels, treatments for mental health issues involved injecting or leaking fluids.

Hydraulic Theories for Sensation and Perception

Past theory to explain function of the mind; air pressure or water pressure moving up and down from our brain allows perception to occur

Spiritual Theories for the "mind"

Past theory to explain function of the mind; a spirit entity enters our body when we are conscious (a soul?), scientists tested if people suddenly dropped a little in weight when they died (the soul leaving, perhaps)

The Mind-Body problem

The issue of how the mind (consciousness) is related to the brain and body, motivation for lots of theories and studies

Heinrich Wilhelm Waldeyer

First theorized about hypothetical cells called "neurons"

The Neuron Doctrine: Ramon Y Cajal

The mind is led by cells throughout the body, these cells communicate with each other through microscopic gaps between them, cells "nudge" each other like an on/off switch

The Golgi staining technique

visualizing cells using a silver alloy, cells looked like sort of spider webs with a massive amount of density throughout our bodies

Number of neurons in an adult body

80-100 billion

Nucleus

Control center of the cell

Dendrites

Branchlike parts of a neuron that are specialized to receive information, variable in size/shape/amount of neurons per cell

Axon

The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal buttons, through which messages pass to other neurons

Axon hillock

Cone shaped region of an axon where it joins the cell body, critical part of "action potential"

Action potential

Neural "all-or-none" signal that is propagated along the axon of the neuron, signal at the beginning of the axon is the same strength as the signal at the end, but how quickly the signal can travel between neurons depends on length of the axon.

Synapse

The end of the terminal branches has a microscopic gap between it and the next cell's dendrites, where neurotransmitters are send between cells.

Neurotransmitters

Chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons and send excitatory or inhibitory signals

Excite

Increase the chances of/cause the second neuron to release its neurotransmitters

Inhibit

Reduce the likelihood that the second neuron releases its neurotransmitters

Activation

(excitation/inhibition), neurotransmitters temporarily "cling" to the dendrites of another neuron, and influence the neuron based on the naurotransmitter

Reuptake

The exon terminal eventually "sucks back" the neurotransmitters that were released, thus reducing waste and increasing efficiency of the system

Diffusion/metabolization

The neurotransmitter in the synapse can be broken down, washed away, or used up by other cells and enzymes located within the synapse. "The supporting staff"

Glia(l) cells

cells in the nervous system that remove waste, move neurons, synchronize activity of neurons

Astrocyte

Glia(l) cell that removes waste, can move neurons to specific areas

Oligodendrocytes

Glia(l) cell, mostly associated with neuron synchronization

Neuron synchronization

One message from one neuron to another neuron isn't always strong enough to cause activation. Sometimes the postsynaptic neuron needs multiple signals all at once to create a "louder" message.

Schwann cells

Glia(l) cells that insulate neurons, and wrap around the nodes of an axon (responsible for myelination)

Myelination

Schwann cells wrap around the axon, speeding up the process of signaling between neurons by "skipping over" the parts of the axon where the ion exchange does not need to occur. Takes time to fully wrap around all axons, explains why children's motor control is worse than adults'

Dopamine (DA)

Clusters of neurons that get activated in your brain when you are happy, releasing this. Normal levels result in a reward sensation. High levels associated with schizophrenia, low levels associated with Parkinson's disease.

Serotonin (5-HT)

Clusters of neurons that get activated in your brain when you are happy, releasing this. Also linked to areas that control hunger, sleep, arousal. Regular exercise and healthy eating will cause this neurotransmitter to become more active within the brain.

Central nervous system

neurons within the brain, midbrain, hindbrain, spinal cord

Peripheral nervous system

collection of neuron clusters located throughout the body

Occipital lobe

Responsible for visual processing, located at the back end of the brain

Parietal lobe

Helps integrate information from the occipital and frontal lobes, processes the sense of touch

Frontal lobe

Specialized area of the brain for movement, sense of touch, problem solving, controlling emotions, understanding things, planning, essentially: the functions that "make us human." Contains primary motor cortex. One of the last parts of the brain to fully develop.

Frontal lobe

What we right now (how impulsive we are, what planning skills we develop, etc.) affects the formation of this lobe, which does not complete development until age 25

Primary motor cortex

Section of the frontal lobe responsible for initiation of movement

Temporal lobe

The "jack of all trades" lobe, responsible for different tasks depending on the hemisphere

Brain hemispheres

The two halves of the brain's cerebrum, each lobe is divided into two, straight down the middle

Contralateral communication

everything you do/sense on the right side of your body gets triggered/sensed by the left side of your brain and vice versa

Right temporal lobe

Responsible for spirituality, creativity, sense of art/music

Left temporal lobe

Responsible for logic, language, and science/math

Animal brain research

Grabbing animals and doing controlled tests for brain function. Involved concern over generalizability (do humans and mice think the same?), ethical issues, and lack of scientific regulation

Human case studies

Allowed early brain researchers to investigate brain structure in humans

Phones Gage

Rod through head but survived, trauma knocked out a huge portion of his prefrontal cortex, scientists studied what he could/could not do without a large part of frontal lobe function

Wernicke's and Broca's aphasia patients

Found individuals with brain damage due to natural events, analyzed behavior, waited for them to die, then dissected their brain to see which areas of the brain were damaged, connecting these areas to their behavioral effects of the trauma.

Wernicke's area

Controls language comprehension (area of frontal lobe): trying to understand what is being said to us, trying to craft message to say

Broca's area

Controls language expression (area of frontal lobe): directs the muscle movements involved in speech, hand gestures, etc.

Wernicke's aphasia patients

Speak but cannot identify that what they are saying does not make sense, can't process what's being said to them

Broca's aphasia patients

Try to convey a crafted message, but cannot articulate a message-- speak in gibberish and recognize that they are speaking in gibberish. Can still process what is said to them and what they want to say back, just can't say it

Strengths of animal experiments/human case studies

can determine the necessity of a region for certain cognitive processes through various methods

Weaknesses of animal experiments/human case studies

lack of experimental control, neuroplasticity, limited number of participants

Neuroplasticity

the brain can rewire itself over time, sometimes to the point where brain damage is no longer noticeable in behavior

Penfield's electrical stimulation studies

Electroconvulsive shock treatment in an attempt to study the area of the brain associated with memory

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Takes advantage of electrical changes due to action potential, put sensors on different areas of the head that clue us into which parts of the brain are activated during which functions

ERP experiments

expose a participant to the same stimulus over and over again while hooked up to an EEG, gave us quantitative data on neural communications and response times/types

Strengths of electrophysiology measures (electrical stimulation, EEG)

less invasive, greater availability of subjects, more accurate in where the brain function is occurring and when the neurons are activated (down to a millisecond)

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

Radioactive isotopes that are attracted to where blood pools in the brain-- when our brain is active, those neurons are depleted of oxygen, blood flows to these neurons to refill their oxygen. Can only measure minutes-long activity (poor temporal resolution)

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Powerful magnets are used to determine density of the brain, looking at structure of different parts, tells us about the presence/density of cells, not the activity of neurons

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Uses MRI techniques to determine where blood left oxygen for neurons, has good temporal AND spatial resolution, can measure the presence/density of cells AND the activity of neurons. Temporal resolution is still not as good as EEG, expensive, doesn't tell us about neurons' necessity for brain functions

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

The use of strong magnets to briefly interrupt normal brain activity as a way to study brain regions. Manually deactivate an area of the brain and attempt to do tasks while this area is inactive, answers whether certain neurons are necessary for tasks

Best brain imaging method

none and all, all have strengths and weaknesses

Sensation

The conversion of every from the environment into a pattern of responses by that nervous system

Perception

The brain's interpretation of neural information (sensation)

What we sense when we see

Light comes from electromagnetic sources of energy (sun, light bulbs), the electromagnetic energy bounces off of objects and back into our eyes.

Wavelength/frequency

determines the hue of a light wave

Amplitude

determines the intensity (brightness) of light

Visible light spectrum

350 to 700 nanometers

Pupil

The absence of matter, gaping hole that allows light into the back of our eye from the environment. Without this, there is no vision, since our light receptors are NOT located at the front of the eyeball.

Iris

Muscular structure that makes the pupil expand and contract depending on light intensity. Can be affected by drugs, alcohol, attraction/interest. Can be different colors.

Cornea

Rigid structure, there to help protect the other eye structures, appx the same density as finer nails. Can bend the light coming at us and center it into the pupil (parascoping_)

Lens

Makes us able to focus on object that are not right in front of us, able to adjust focus-- making what we are "looking at" clear, while everything else is blurry. Flips the image we are viewing, our brain takes the flipped message and transforms it in order to make sense of it.

Inverted glasses experiment

Participants put on glasses that invert their vision, after a while, everything appeared as normal, right-side-up. When participants took the glasses off, their vision appeared inverted for a short period of time before once again readjusting.

Fovea

The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster. Senses color vision, daytime vision, and more detailed vision

Retina

The light-sensitive inner surface of the back of the eye, containing the receptor rods that detect the mere presence of electromagnetic energy. Senses dim light, detecting motion.

Cones

Sense color vision, daytime vision, detailed vision, located within Fovea

Rods

Sense dim light, detect motion, located most in the Retina

Optic nerve

Intakes messages from the eye's receptor cells and transfers this message to the brain. Rods and cones connect to the optic nerve via other cells --> send neural message from our eyes to our brain

Blind spots

One per eye, where the optic nerve itself is located (we don't see this because of the "course-correcting" nature of vision).

Optic chasm

First stop along the way from the eye to the brain. Sorts the vision from the left side of each pupil, separate from the vision from the right side of each pupil.

Contralateral communication (applied to vision)

Things that we see on the left side of either eye are processed by the left side of the brain. Sensing light from the let us will hit the the right side of our pupil, then be sorted to signal the right side of our brain.

Visual field

Things you see on your left are part of your left _____. Adjusts as you move your head.

Thalamus

Prevents sensory overload by filtering out intense levels of each sensation. Dictates which signals get sent to the rest of the brain and at which intensities. Blocks quieter sounds, visual things we don't need to see (nose, cornea scars). Sends signals to the visual cortex

Visual cortex

The visual processing areas in the occipital lobe and other areas of the brain, pathways of visual information

Constructivist approach to perception

Our expectations of the world around us alone shape what we perceive ("top-down" processing)

Ecological approach to perception

Perception can be explained entirely through the characteristics of stimuli in our environment that our sensory organs process ("bottom-up" processing)

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory of Color

Three types of cells (cones) that are sensitive to different frequencies of color. Every color can be sensed through a combination of relative intensity of signal from these three cells. Supports ecological approach

Proof of Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory of Color

Trichromats: most of us possess three types of cones (L, M, and S cones), disfunction of these cones can lead to three types of color-blindness

Issues with Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory of Color

How do we contrast dark and light colors? The after-image effect