AP Psychology

EEG

• Electroencephalogram (EEG)

• Electrodes placed on the scalp measure electrical activity in neurons

• Measures gross brain activity

MEG

• Magnetoencephalography

• A head coil records magnetic fields from the brain’s natural electrical currents

• Measures speed and strength of magnetic fields

CT

• Computed tomography

• A series of X-ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice of the brain’s structure

• Can create a full picture of the brain to see if there's any damage (more readily available/cheaper)

PET

• Positron emission tomography

• Depicts brain activity by showing each brain area’s consumption of its chemical fuel, the sugar glucose

• Tracks radioactive glucose to reveal brain activity

MRI

• Magnetic resonance imaging

• People sit or lie down in a chamber that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to provide a map of brain structure 

• Shows brain anatomy

fMRI

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging

• Measures blood flow to brain regions by comparing continuous MRI scans

• Tracks successive images of brain tissue to show brain function

The organization of the somatosensory cortex shows that

parts of the body with more sensitivity have larger somatosensory

Glands that release their products directly into the bloodstream are called

Endocrine glands

Three elements of scientific attitude

Curiosity, Skepticism, and humility

Empiricism

the idea that what we know comes from experience and that observation and experimentation enable scientific knowledge

Some consider aristotle to be founder of modern-day empiricism

Structuralism

Used introspectoin to reveal the structure of the human mind

Edward Bradford Titchener and Wundt

Functionalism

Explored how mental and behavioral processes function and how they enable to adapt, survive, and flourish

William James (influenced by Charles Darwin)

Behaviorism

The view that psychology should be an (1) objective science that studies (2)behavior without reference to mental processes. Most psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2)

John B Watson

B.F. Skinner

Epigenetics

studies the molecular mechanisms by which environments can trigger or block genetic expression

3 different memory models and explain each

1. Information-processing model-

What is memory?

The persistance of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information

How is memory measured?

1. Recall

2. Recognition

3. Relearning

explicit memories

retention of things that one can consciously know and declare (declarative memories)

Automatic processing

Unconscious encoding of information such as space, time, and frequency of well-learned information, such as word meanings

Implicit memory

Retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection