Consciousness & States of Mind

Glial Cells

Cells in the brain that are not neurons (10x more glial cells). Perform support fuctions such as repairing damaged neurons, removing waste, and insulating neurons (myelin sheath).

Oligodendrocytes

These are a type of glial cell that wrap sheaths around axons. Sodium channels cluster between portions of myelin.

Acetylcholine

Generally excites. Involved in triggering muscle and muscle control.

Dopamine

Generally inhibits. Reward and motivation, pleasure. Involved in schizophrenia and Parkinson's.

Serotonin

Generally inhibits. Involved in sleep, dreaming, emotional states, and depression.

Gamm-amino-butyric acid (GABA)

Generally inhibits. Involved in regulating anxiety.

Sympathetic response

Part of the autonomic peripheral nervous system which controls arousing.

Parasympathetic response

Part of the autonomic peripheral nervous system which controls calming.

Hindbrain

Contains the medulla, pons, cerebellum, and reticular formation.

Medulla and Pons

Part of the hindbrain which control heart rate, blood pressure, and reflexes.

Cerebellum

Part of the hindbrain which coordinates motor actions.

Reticular Formation

Part of the hindbrain which controls general arousal and sleep cycles.

Midbrain

Contains the superior and inferior colliculus and substantia nigra.

Superior Colliculus

Part of the midbrain which relays visual info.

Inferior Colliculus

Part of the midbrain which relays auditory info.

Substantia Nigra

Part of the midbrain which releases dopamine.

Forebrain

Contains cerebral cortex, thalamus, hypothalamus, and limbic system.

Cerebral Cortex

Part of the forebrain which is involved in thought.

Thalamus

Part of the forebrain which is the main processing center.

Hypothalamus

Part of the forebrain which is linked to motivation (sleeping, eating, etc.).

Limbic System

Part of the forebrain which includes the amygdala (emotion) and hippocampus (memory).

Right Hemisphere

Spacial tasks, emotions, and recognition of faces.

Left Hemisphere

Verbal tasks.

Frontal Lobe

Involved with planning, decision making, and personality. Has Broca's area (producing language) and the motor cortex.

Parietal Lobe

Involved in spacial relations and manipulation of objects. Contains the somatosensory cortex which is how we feel.

Temporal Lobe

Involved in auditory information and contains wernike's area.

Occipital Lobe

Involved in visual processing.

Aphasia

The inability to produce language.

psychology

the scientific study of behavior and the mind

scientific

psychology is considered ___ because it is based on direct and indirect observations

clinical psychologist

diagnoses and treats people but is not able to prescribe medication (ie. therapist)

research psychologist

collect data and make observations to study the mind and behavior (ie. Professor Fyfe)

applied psychologist

use the knowledge developed by experimental psychologists to solve human problems (ie. someone who figures out the best way to design an office that maximizes productivity)

clinical psychologist

most common type of psychologist

Wilhelm Wundt (1862)

Who first begin scientifically studying behavior and mind?

Descartes

___ views the the mind as being separate from the body (relationship between the two)

nature/nurture

Where does knowledge come from?

Structuralism (Wundt)

Analyze elements of sensations and feelings; focuses on breaking down the mind into constituent parts; uses technique of systematic introspection

functionalism

Understand mental processes by looking at the goal or purpose of those processes; early school of thought promoted by James and influenced by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral processes function- how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish

systematic introspection

an early technique used to study the mind; required people to look inward and describe their own experiences; Used only in structuralism

behaviorism

Rejects that you can empirically study the mind; focuses on observable behavior only

psychoanalysis

Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts

humanistic psychology

patient does the work as opposed to therapist

eclectic psychology

combination of techniques and ideas from different schools of thought: biology, behavior, evolution, cognition

cognitive revolution

shift away from behaviorism in the 1950s; marked by the development of the computer

modern psychology

critical focus areas for ___ ___: biology, behavior, evolution

observe, detect regularities, generate hypothesis, observe results from study

steps in scientific method (4)

operational definition

what you are studying in terms of measurement

ex: measuring heart rate to measure anxiety

operational definition

___ ___ is necessary for good research

reliability

consistency of measurement

validity

accuracy of measurement

descriptive research

primary goal is to describe behavior; naturalistic observation (observing the environment) including studying remnants of behavior; high external validity but low internal validity (lower ability to make causal claims); reactivity can result in unnatural behavior; surveys and case studies

reactivity

subject's behavior is altered by the presence of an observer

case study

focuses on a single case, usually an individual; low external validity (ie. Phineas Gage)

survey

gathering a limited amount of information for many people; sometimes in the form of a questionnaire

random sampling

___ ___ of target population solves the issue of confirmation bias in the use of surveys

descriptive statistics

looks at central tendency when describing data; includes mean, median and mode

inferential statistics

data which permits generalization

mean, median, mode

included when talking about central tendency

variability

The extent to which the scores in a data set tend to vary from each other and from the mean; standard deviation

correlation coefficient

tells you the strength and direction of association between 2 variables; -1.0 to +1.0; the closer to 0, the weaker the association

correlational research

primary goal is to predict behavior; outside confounding variables enable correlation does not equal causation

experimental research

primary goal is to explain behavior; manipulate external setting (ie. lighting/temperature), internal setting (ie. hunger), or social factors to observe behavior

independent variable

variable that is manipulated

dependent variable

cannot be changed and depends on the independent variable

confounding variable

variable present where the experimental and control groups are studied in differing settings (as opposed to being in the exact same setting) with the exception of the experimental/target variable being studied

single blind study

Experimental participants do not know to which condition they have been assigned (e.g., experimental versus control); it's used to control for participant expectancies.

double blind study

An experiment in which neither the participant nor the researcher knows whether the participant has received the treatment or the placebo

random chance, lack of control, correlation does not equal causation, overgeneralization, experimenter bias, confirmation bias

common fallacies in psychological research

informed consent

people should be informed of any significant factors that could affect willingness to participate before consenting to participate

respect for persons, beneficence, justice

3 key pillars of ethical research (Belmont Report)

Sensations

the elementary building blocks of an experience

Perceptions

the meaningful interpretations of an experience

Vision Learning Goals: Translate

light----electrochemical language of the brain

Vision Learning Goals: Identify

basic feature of the visual message

Physical Properties of Light

Wavelength, Amplitude, and Purity

Psychological Properties of Light

Hue, Brightness, and Saturation

Rods

Sensitive to low light

Cones

Sensitive to fine detail and color, focused in the fovea (direct back of the eye), three kinds of cone in retina (each has a different type of photopigment in the photoreceptors)

Light Sensitive Cells

Photopigments break down in bright light, they regenerate after the time in low light, causing dark adaptation

The Visual Pathway

Eye to Optic Nerve to Optic Chiasm to Optic Track to Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (in the Thalamus) to Optic Radiations

Bottom-up Processing

Controlled by physical messages delivered to the senses

Top-down Processing

Controlled by one's beliefs and expectations about the world

Recognition by Component Theory

Objects broken down into simple geometrical components (geons) before identifying whole object, easy to identify incomplete or degraded objects

Retinal Disparity

Difference between location of images in each retina

Convergence

How far the eyes turn inward to focus on an object

Frequency

The speed of the vibration

Amplitude

The intensity of the the vibration

Human Ear Structure

Outer Ear (Pinna) to Ear drum to Middle Ear (3 tiny bones; malleus, incus, and stapes) to Inner Ear to Cochlea to Hair Cells on the Basilar Membrane

Frequency Theory

The pitch is determined partly by frequency of the impulses coming from the hair cells

Place Theory

Pitch determined by where hair cells on the basilar membrane are responding to sound

Auditory Pathway

Auditory Nerve to Midbrain (Inferior Colliculus) to Medial Geniculate Nucleus (Thalamus) to Temporal Lobe

Chemoreceptors

The chemicals bind to receptors