psych 1010 exam 3

control processes

control movement of info within and between stores

sensory memory

holds info long enough to be processed for basic characteristics. Large capacity but decays rapidly

iconic memory

type of sensory memory. stores visual info for about 0.3 seconds

echoic memory

type of sensory memory. stores auditory info for about 2 seconds

working memory

conscious processing of info- short term memory

phonological loop

stores auditory info in working memory. limited capacity (7 +/- 2 chunks of info) for 2 seconds. must be attended to and rehearsed. impaired by similar sounds or long words

visuo-spacial sketchpad

stores visual info in working memory. limited capacity, must be attended to periodically

central executive

attentional controller that selects and regulates info flow.

long term memory

unlimited capacity, may be stored permanently. emotion is powerful tool for encoding

flashbulb memories

"screen capture" that occurs after emotional event. not permanent, not complete, not immune to forgetting or distortion. people recall with great confidence.

amnesia

normal working memory but cannot form new conscious long term memories. caused by damage to hippocampus

explicit memory

conscious access to info from past, impaired in amnesics

implicit memory

past experiences influence perceptions, thoughts, and actions without awareness. spared in amnesics

procedural memory

type of implicit memory that involves learning new skills. amnesics can learn but don't remember learning

retroactive interference

new information interferes with old

proactive interference

old information interferes with new

retrieval cue

clue or prompt that can help retrieval. improper cue may cause false memory

tip of the tongue states

temporary failure to retrieve info that one is sure exists in long term memory- on verge of recovering

memory distortion

what we remember is not an exact replica of what happened. caused by prior knowledge or confusing suggestions. children are especially vulnerable.

recovered memory debate

is it possible to forget then recall something? Doubt: trauma is memorable and extended delay makes recall unlikely if something is forgotten
Believe: there exists a functional reason to forget something traumatic

active forgetting

engaging in behaviors intended to diminish memory

motivation

internal condition which can change over time, orients individual to a specific set of goals. drive may be caused by upset in homeostasis

regulatory drives

primary biological drives. lack results in death (e.g oxygen, hunger, etc)

nonregulatory drives

satisfy needs that are non-lifethreatening. emotional or biological well-being (e.g sex)

Lateral hypothalamus

causes hunger. if destroyed, the person does not feel hunger and loses weight

ventromedial hypothalamus

causes fullness. if destroyed, the person does not feel full and becomes obese

sleep states

awake brain
REM sleep - active brain but paralyzed body
non-REM sleep - deeper sleep

alpha waves

brain activity pattern when drowsy, nonattentive, relaxed. present in first stage of sleep

stage 1 sleep

brief transition stage from awake to sleep

stage 2-4 sleep

successively deeper sleep, increased high amplitude delta waves. most effort to wake up when in stage 4

sleep stages cycle

sleep lightness and REM occurs toward stage 2. 4-5 cycles in typical night. spend progressively less time in deep sleep and more REM.

honest display theory

emotions facilitate ability to interact with others. They are a way of making honest exchanges with people

gut feeling theory

decisions are based on a gut feeling. use imagined emotional responses for guidance.

causes of happiness

high self esteem, optimism, good friendships, work, sleep. no correlation with age, kids, attractiveness, or gender.

impact bias

we are biased to overestimate the duration of the emotional consequences of an event. however, we are good at predicting the valence and intensity of emotion

adaptation level principle

you adapt to a current situation so that it becomes a normal or neutral emotional level

common sense theory

perception of stimulus elicits emotion which then causes bodily arousal

james' theory

perception causes arousal which causes emotion. emotion is the result of awareness of physiological changes

schachter's two factor theory

interaction of inference and arousal. Inferences influence kind of emotion, degree of arousal influences intensity.

misattribution of emotion

men who walked over unstable bridge showed more attraction to female researcher than those who walked over stable bridge. misattribute fear for attraction

elkman's facial feedback theory

believes expression has some feedback on emotion- e.g smiling improves mood.

fast pathway for emotion

amygdala- can process visual info before visual cortex, threat related. damage causes lack of fear

slow pathway for emotion

frontal lobe

right hemisphere

more sensitive to facial expression

phoneme

smallest distinctive sound unit, usually corresponding to each letter of alphabet (a, th, ee, ch, etc)

morpheme

smallest meaningful piece of language, usually a word or part of a word, such as a prefix

segmentation problem

one word runs into the next in normal speech- few discrete breaks. acoustic ambiguity (accents)

oronyms

strings of sounds that can be carved into words in 2 different ways (the stuffy nose vs the stuff he knows)

top down processing

need to know or guess word and meaning of a sentence to connect to phonemes.

language development

first learn phonetic structure. before 6 months, we can hear phonemic differences in all languages but later can only hear our own

imagery

mental picture, acts in some ways like perception. distorted in that tilted figures are remembered as more horizontal or vertical

availability bias

focus on what comes to mind more easily

functional fixedness / mental set

tendency to think of things only in terms of usual functions - can't think outside the box

confirmation bias

seek out confirmatory evidence

conjunction fallacy

believe that specific set of conditions is more probable than a general one

predictable world bias

gambler's fallacy. incorrect inference that sequence of independent events makes future events more or less likely.

framing effects

different but equivalent descriptions of options cause different decisions.
risk averse when choice emphasizes gains
risk seeking when choice emphasizes losses

intelligence

capacity for goal-directed and adaptive behavior. ability to profit from experience and problem solve

single trait intelligence

intelligence is a single entity that influences all aspects

multiple intelligences

there are 7 different aspects that factor into intelligence

savant syndrome

person limited in mental ability has amazing specific skill (ex. math, art). more common in males

crystallized intelligence

amount of learned knowledge. facts, tools, cultural practices, etc. peaks at 50

fluid intelligence

ability to process info independent of learned knowledge. identifying patterns, making inferences. peaks at 20-25

mental age

age that corresponds to given level of performance

intelligence quotient

mental age / chronological age * 100

wechsler tests

most widely used intelligence test today. verbal section and performance section

heritability

degree to which variation in a characteristic stems from genetic differences among individuals

h^2 heritability coefficient

estimates degree to which differences in a characteristic from one person to another are caused by genetic differences. = Vgenetic/Vgenetic+Venvironment

behavioral genetics

how differences in behavior are determined by genes vs environment

flynn effect

average IQ has risen over the last 100 years- fluid more than crystallized. possibly caused by culture change.