psya01h3 final exam

sensation

Process of detecting environmental stimuli or stimuli from within our bodies

perception

Process of Interpreting sensory input

accommodation

changing what you already know to fit new information.

assimilation

using what you already know to understand something new. A child knows what a dog is. They see a wolf and call it a dog because it looks similar.

active sampling

learner actively chooses what information to look at or experiment with, rather than just passively receiving information. you control what you learn from instead of letting it come to you randomly.

iris

colored part of your eye … it is actually a muscle thatcontrols the size of the pupil

pupil

The black part in the middle of the eye … the opening thatallows light into the eyeball

sclera

White part of the eye … a tough membrane thatserves as protection

Cornea

Fluid filled outer coating of the eye … providesmoisture and nutrients

Lens

Focuses the incoming light onto the retina. This lens isflexible and slight alterations in it can alter the focus of it, aprocess called accommodation (as an example, squint)

Aqueous Humor

This fluid nourishes the front of the eye

Vitreous Humor

This fluid nourishes and supports the inner part of the eye

Retina

The surface that the image lands on. allows light to enter the eye

transduction

play the critical role of translating the physical properties of the outside world into neural signals

visual transduction

eyes convert light into signals that your brain can understand

photoreceptors

rods and cones - receptors of the visual system

Bipolar Cells

Image sharpening, edges and contours made crisper

Ganglion Cells

Colour sharpening, and introduction of yellow) come in two types, red/green and blue/yellow.Each cell represents an opponent process system

rods

not responsive to colour, but they are very responsive to dim light

Cones

are sensitive to colour (red, green andblue) and provide a much more detailed image… great for high light, detailed imaging

Gestalt laws

Proximity

Similar colour

Similar size

Law of continuity

Law of closure

Law of figure ground

Law of common fate

Law of simplicity

Audition

Sense of hearing

Cochlea

Structure in the inner ear that contains auditory receptors that respond to vibrations transmitted through the inner ear

consciousness

Being aware of what's happening around you, both internally and in the world

Self-awareness

When we focus on ourselves as individuals

Dichotic listening task Initial findings (Broadbent 1958)

• psychological test used to study how we pay attention to and process information. In this task, a person listens to two different messages played simultaneously—one in each ear. The goal is to see how the brain handles competing information.

Key Findings of Broadbent

Participants had a hard time processing information in the unattended ear like language switches, but will notice only sudden loud noises or gender change. Broadbent suggested that our brain filters out irrelevant information early in the process, right after it enters the sensory system.

Later Findings (Triesman 1963)

Participants notice their own name in unattended ear or words with emotional significance. We recognize more info than we think, and filter out irrelevant information

Outer World

Everything around us that we can sense (like sights, sounds)

Inner World

How we mentally process and interpret those senses

Perception with Awareness

What we're aware of, like noticing something or focusing on a sound. This influences our behavior directly.

Perception without Awareness

Things we sense but don't consciously notice (like background noise), which still affect our actions without us realizing it.

Conscious Influences

Things we are aware of, like making a decision because we're hungry.

Unconscious Influences

Hidden factors, like past experiences or gut feelings, that influence us without our awareness

Instant Gratification Monkey = impulse/ emotional brain limbic system - amygdala, nucleus accumbens

the part of your brain that seeks immediate pleasure and avoids effort or discomfort. The "Monkey" represents the urge to act impulsively, give in to distractions, or indulge in things that feel good in the moment, even if they aren’t good for you in the long term.

In other words your amygdala = avoids pain, makes fast decisions

Nucleus accumbens = releases dopamine, seeks immediate pleasure

prefrontal cortex

rational, decision maker part of your brain that uses responsibility and logic

Altered States

When our usual way of thinking and feeling changes, normal consciousness can be changed by: Sleep -  When you sleep, you're no longer fully aware of what's happening around you

• Hypnosis - when you are deeply relaxed, your mind becomes more open to suggestions that can change the way you think or feel 

• Drugs - Certain drugs can change how you perceive things, affect your mood

• Sensory deprivation -  when you take away one or more of your senses 

sleep has 4 stages

light sleep, light sleep, deep sleep, REM

Stage 1 (Light Sleep):

This is the transition from being awake to falling asleep. You're very relaxed, but can easily be woken up. Your muscles start to relax, and your heart rate slows down. Lasts 5-10 mins

Stage 2 (Light Sleep):

You're in a deeper sleep now, but still not fully asleep. Your body temperature drops, and your brain waves slow down, with occasional bursts of activity. Longest stage of sleep that lasts for 20 mins 50%-60%

Stage 3 (Deep Sleep)

• This is the "restorative" sleep where your body does a lot of healing and repair. It's harder to wake up from this stage. It's also where your brain processes memories and learning. Lasts 20-40mins

REM Sleep (Rapid Eye Movement)

This is the stage where you dream! Your brain is very active, and your eyes move rapidly. It's also important for memory, learning, and emotional processing. Starts after 90 mins of sleep - each sleep cycle lasts about 20 mins

Deep sleep information

• stage of sleep where your body and brain get the most rest and repair. It helps you feel refreshed and energetic when you wake up.

Learning of information

• When you learn something new (like facts or knowledge), your brain stores that information in a part of your brain called the hippocampus.

REM sleep

• Brain is highly active and experiences vivid dreams

Insomnia

• Wide range of cognitive impairments associated with worry and guilt where you can't fall asleep - can lead to addiction to sleep medications

Parasomnias

• Waking behaviors (walking, eating) that happen when person is in stage 4 of sleep. Linked to improper paralysis - motor activity synchrony 

Freud's theories of dreams

• Freud believed that dreams are a way for our unconscious mind to express hidden desires, thoughts and feelings. Manifest content - actual storyline or events in a dream. It's what you remember when you wake up.

• Latent content - hidden meaning behind the dream. Freud thought that the manifest content is a disguise for unconscious thoughts, desires, and wishes

Cognitive theory of dreams

• says that dreams are more about processing information and making sense of our daily experiences.

Activation synthesis model

• developed by Hobson and McCarley, says that dreams are basically a result of random brain activity during sleep. Activation - While you sleep, your brainstem sends out random signals to different parts of your brain.

• Synthesis - your brain tries to make sense of this random activity by creating a “story” or dream 

Hypnosis clinical

• therapeutic technique where a trained therapist helps a person enter a deeply relaxed state to address various issues, like stress, pain, or unhealthy behaviors.

Hypnotic Induction

• the process that helps someone enter a relaxed, focused state. It often starts with progressive relaxation, where the person is guided to relax each part of their body, from head to toe.

Stage hypnosis for entertainment

• Hypnotists use hypnosis for entertainment, People in stage hypnosis won't do anything they find deeply unethical or against their values, because the mind won't allow it.

Consciousness

• Being "aware" of something, the state of being awake and alert, patients in a coma are NOT conscious. Being aware of oneself, or one's own thoughts 

How do language and consciousness relate ?

• Language influences how we think and perceive the world. When we think, we often do it through language—whether we're using words in our head or forming sentences to help us make sense of things.

Language in animals

Animals use body language and sounds to communicate, but their communication is usually limited to the present moment.

Language in humans

• Allows us to share knowledge through time and space

Three factors that helped humans dominate the planet:

1 Bipedalism - walking on two legs, which frees up our hands

2. The frontal cortex - helps use our hands in clever ways

3. Language - pass down knowledge to future generations 

Mirror Test (also called the Rouge Test) for self-awareness (Gordon Gallup 1970)

Expose the animal to a mirror and observe how they react. While animal is anesthetized secretly place odorless marks on one of its ear lobes and on its eye ridge. Show it its reflection in the mirror, including the marks on its body, and observe the animals behaviour.

Povinelli Tommie: alternate explanation for mirror test

• just because an animal fails or passes the mirror test, it doesn't necessarily mean they lack or have self-awareness. Animals could be reacting to the mirror image in a way that doesn't reflect self-recognition.

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

• Something in the environment that naturally causes a reaction in us

Unconditioned response (UCR)

• The autonomic reaction our body has to the stimulus. Ex. When we put food in our mouths, digestive processes are initiated

Ex. If a projectile is coming at our face we close our eyes, duck our heads, raise our hands, and sometimes hold our breath 

Ex. Food (UCS) -> digestive process (UCR)

Habituation

• When you stop reacting to something because it keeps happening without any positive or negative consequence. Your body first reacts to (the UCR) to a new stimulus (UCS): but if the stimulus keeps happening over and over and nothing happens your body decides that it doesn’t want to react anymore 

What is classical conditioning?

when a new stimulus becomes linked to something that already causes a reaction because it's repeatedly paired with something that naturally causes that response. Ex. Dogs naturally drool when they see food. But after a while, the dogs started drooling when they heard the footsteps of the person who usually brought the food.

• The dogs had learned to connect (or associate) a new stimulus (footsteps) with food.

Who founded classical conditioning?

• Ivan Pavlov (1904) a Russian scientist studying dogs' digestion

Who started the wave of behaviourism?

• Ivan Pavlov's experiments - Ivan Pavlov wasn't a behaviourist but he inspired them

What happened in Ivan Pavlov's experiment?

UCS (food) → UCR (drooling)

CS (bell) + UCS (food) → UCR (drooling)

CS (bell) → CR (drooling)

Extinction

• when a learned behavior or reaction fades away because the thing that used to cause it no longer brings the expected result. Ex. The bell (CS) used to make the dog drool (CR) because it predicted food. But if Pavlov keeps ringing the bell without giving food, the dog eventually stops drooling.

Example of habituation

• when you hear weird noises in your house at first you jump or feel alert but after hearing them every night with no danger → you stop noticing them

Who was John b Watson the behaviourist and what did he believe?

• believed that he could take any child and shake them into what he wanted them to be, nurture is really powerful

little Albert experiment

• experiment conducted by John b Watson where, where he took an infant (little Albert) and hit a bong which scares him, and introduced little Albert to white rats which he did not fear. But then every time little Albert tried touching the white rat he would hit the bong which scared the infant so now every time the white rat was near the infant would be scared and wouldn't touch him

Operant conditioning

• type of learning in which behaviour is influenced by consequences, If the behavior leads to a reward, you do it more. If it leads to a punishment, you do it less.

Edward thorndike

• Came up with 'law of effect' - responses followed by satisfaction will occur again in the same situation and behaviours that are punished tend to happen less

B.F Skinner

expanded on Thorndike's law of effect with experiments using the Operant Chamber (also called a "Skinner Box").

B.F skinner experiment Skinner box?

• A rat in a box presses a lever to get a food pellet. Over time, the rat presses the lever more because it learns that pressing = reward.

Positive reinforcement

• something is added to increase a behaviour, ex. give cat treat when uses litter box. Effect: more likely to use litter box in the future 

Negative reinforcement

• something removed to increase behaviour, ex. you stop nagging your child when they clean their room. The child is more likely to clean their room in the future.

Positive punishment

• something is added to decrease a behaviour, ex. You scold your dog when it jumps on guests. Effect. dog is less likely to jump on guests

Negative punishment

• something is removed to decrease behaviour, ex. You take away your teens phone for staying out too late. Effect: teen is less likely to stay out too late 

Negative reinforcement two types

• avoidance learning and escape learning

Avoidance learning

• Do something to prevent something unpleasant (stimulus) from happening. Ex. Study for a test so you don’t fail - effect: more likely to study for a test in the future to avoid failing 

Escape learning

• Removing stimulus that's already present. Ex. Alarm rings and you press the snooze button - effect: more likely to press snooze button in the future to stop the noise 

Discriminative stimulus

• a cue that indicates a response or tells an animal, "if you do this behaviour, you will get a reward." Ex. Sound - tone, white noise, signal lights, context

Discriminative stimulus

• A light turns on → the rat knows pressing the lever now will give food. No light → pressing the lever won't give food.

Shaping

• when you teach a new behavior step-by-step by rewarding small actions that get closer and closer to the final behavior you want.

Face lever

• rat turns toward the lever → give a reward.

Stand up to lever 

• Rat walks closer → give a reward.

Touch lever

• The rat taps it with their paw → give a reward.

Press lever 

Rat finally presses it → big reward!

Continuous reinforcement

1 reward the behavior every single time it happens. Example: Every time your dog sits → give a treat. behaviours can fade quickly if reward stops 

Intermittent reinforcement

1 reward behaviour sometimes, not every time, creates stronger, long-lasting behaviours 

Fixed ratio (FR)

• reward after a set number of responses example: every 5 lever presses → rat gets food.

Variable ratio (VR)

• reward after random number of responses examples: gambling, slot machines

Fixed interval (FI)

Reward after a set amount of time passed and the behaviour happens examples: first lever press after 30 seconds -> food

Variable interval (VI)

• reward after a random amount of time has passed example: checking your phone for messages -> don't know when someone will text

Observational learning

• learns by watching someone else do something, then imitating it.

Classical conditioning

• learning via association

Operant conditioning

• learning shaped by consequences

Memory

• The ability to retain knowledge, your brains ways of saving and using information

information processing

• Flow of information through the nervous system

Sensory memory

• First stage of memory, very brief traces of what you just saw and tend to be short lived

Who studied sensory memory?

• Cognitive psychologist george sperling

Iconic (visual) memory

• Used for temporary storage of information about visual images, lasts 1 second, term coined by george sterling in 1960