Psychology MCAT 2

Franz Gall

Phrenology

Pierre Flourens

Functions of major sections of the brain. Used extirpation to study parts of the brain.

William James

Functionalism: How mental processes help individuals adapt to their environment

John Dewey

Functionalism

Paul Broca

Studied people with legions in specific regions of the brain. Broca’s area: speech production

Hermann Von Helmholtz

Speed of impulse. Made psychology a science.

Sir Charles Sherrington

Synapses

Sigmund Freud

Psychoanalytic perspective

Neurons

Sensory: Afferent, receptors → spinal cord

Interneurons: Between other neurons. Mainly CNS.

Motor: Efferent, CNS → Muscles and glands

Reflex arcs

Interneurons in spinal cord relay info to the source of stimuli while simultaneously routing it to the brain.

Central Nervous System

CNS. Brain and Spinal cord.

Peripheral Nervous System

Nervous tissue and fibers outside CNS

Somatic: Voluntary

Autonomic: Sympathetic = F/F, parasympathetic = R/D

Neurotransmitters

Released by neurons to carry a signal

Acetylcholine

Used by somatic nervous system to move muscles. Also used by the parasympathetic and CNS.

Dopamine

Maintains smooth movements and steady posture

Endorphins and Enkephalins

Natural pain killers

Epinephrine and Norepinephrine

Maintain wakefulness and mediate F/F responses. Epinephrine tends to act as a hormone, norepinephrine as a neurotransmitter.

Y-aminobutyric Acid

Inhibitory neurotransmitters. Act as brain “stabilizers”. Glycine serves a similar function.

Glutamate

Acts as an excitatory neurotransmitter

Serotonin

Modulates mood, sleep, eating, and dreaming

Cortisol

Stress hormone released by the adrenal cortex

Testosterone and Estrogen

Meditate libido. Testosterone also increases aggressive behavior. Both are produced in the gonads, released by the adrenal cortex.

Epinephrine and Norepinephrine

Released by the adrenal medulla and cause physiological changes associated with the sympathetic nervous system.

Hindbrain

Cerebellum, medulla oblongata, reticular formation

Midbrain

Inferior and superior colliculi

Forebrain

Thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, limbic system, cerebral cortex

Thalamus

Relay station for sensory information

Hypothalamus

Homeostasis and the 4 F’s (fighting, fleeing, feeding, and fornicating). Integrates with endocrine system. Hypothalamus → hypophyseal portal → anterior pituitary

Basal Ganglia

Smooths movements and helps postural stability

Limbic System

Septal Nuclei: Pleasure and addiction

Amygdala: Fear and aggression

Hippocampus: Emotion and memory

Cerebral Cortex

Frontal: Executive function, impulse control, speech, motor

Parietal: Touch, pressure, temperature, pain, spatial processing

Occipital: Visual

Temporal: Sound, speech perception, memory, emotion

Cerebral Hemispheres

Left is analytic, language, logic, math. Usually dominant. Right is intuition, creativity, spactial processing

Neural tube

Becomes the CNS

Neural Crest Cells

Spread out throughout the body, differentiating into many different tissues.

Primitive Reflexes

Exist in infants and should disappear with age.

Rooting Reflex: Turns head toward stimulus

Moro Reflex: Extends arms, response to falling sensation.

Babinski Reflex: Big toe is extended and other toes fan out in response to brushing on sole of foot

Grasping Reflex: grabs anything put into hands

Developmental Milestones

• Gross and fine motor abilities progress head to toe and core to periphery

• Social skills shift from parent-oriented to other-oriented

• Language skills become increasingly complex

Sensory Receptors

Sensory nerves that respond to stimuli

Sensory Ganglia

Collection of cell bodies outside the CNS

Projection Areas

Areas in the brain that analyze sensory input

Absolute Threshold

The minimum amount of stimulus energy that will activate a sensory system

Threshold of Conscious Perception

The minimum stimulus energy that will create a signal large enough in size and long enough in duration to be brought into awareness

Difference threshold

The minimum difference in magnitude between two stimuli before one can perceive this difference

Weber’s Law

Just Noticeable Difference for a stimulus is proportional to the magnitude of the stimulus

Signal Detection Theory

Refers to the effects of non sensory factors, such as experiences, motives, and expectations on perception of stimuli. Accounts for response bias.

Adaptation

Refers to an increase or decrease in sensitivity to a stimulus

Cornea

Gathers and filters incoming light

Iris

Controls the size of pupil. Colored part of the eye. Divides front of the eye into the anterior and posterior chamber. It contains two muscles, the dilator and constrictor pupillae.

Lens

Refracts incoming light to focus on the retina

Aqueous Humor

Produced by the ciliary body. Nourishes the eye and gives the eye its shape. Drains through the canal of Schlemm.

Retina

Rods: Detects light/dark

Cones: Color

Retinal Disparity

Space between eyes; allows for binocular vision and depth

Horizontal and Amacrine Cells

Integrates signals from ganglion cells and performs edge sharpening

Processing

Parallel Processing: color, form, and motion at the same time

Magnocellular Cells: Motion. High temporal resolution

Parvocellular Cells: Shape. High spatial resolution.

Visual Pathway

Eye → Optic Nerves → Optic Chiasm → Optic Tracts → Lateral Geniculate Nucleus → Visual Radiations → Visual Cortex

Outer Ear

Pinna (Auricle), external auditory canal, tympanic membrane

Auditory Pathway

Cochlea → Vestibocochlear Nerve → Medial Geniculate Nucleus → Auditory Cortex

Two-Point Threshold

Minimum distance necessary between 2 points of stimulation on the skin such that the points will be felt as two distinct stimuli

Physiological Zero

The normal temperature of skin to which objects are compared to.

Top-down Processing

The recognition of an object by memories and expectations. Little attention to details.

Bottom-Up Processing

Details → whole. Recognition of objects by feature detection.

Korsakoff’s Syndrome

Memory loss caused by thiamine deficiency in the brain. Causes retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia. Another symptom is confabulation, the fabrication of vivid but fake memories.

Agnosia

Loss of ability to recognize objects, people, or sounds. Usually caused by physical damage to the brain.

Retroactive Interference

New memories make you forget old memories

Proactive Interference

Old memories interfere with learning new memories

Sensorimotor

0 → 2 years. Child manipulates the environment to meet physical needs through circular reactions. Object permanence develops at the end of this stage.

Preoperational

2 → 7 years. Pretend play, symbolic thinking so they learn to talk, egocentrism and centration

Concrete Operational

7 → 11 years. Understands the feelings of others. Conversation develops. Math.

Formal Operational

11 years and older. Abstract thought and problem solving. Moral reasoning.

Functional Fixedness

The tendency to use objects only in the way they are normally utilized. Creates barriers to problem-solving.

Availability Heuristics

When we make our decisions based on how easily similar instances can be imagined

Representativeness Heuristic

The tendency to make decisions about actions/events based on our standard representation of the events

Theories of Language Development

Nativist (biological) Theory: Language acquisition is innate

Learning (behaviorist) Theory: Language acquisition is controlled by operant conditioning and reinforcement by parents and caregivers.

Social Interactionist Theory: Language acquisition is caused by a motivation to communicate and interact with others

Whorfian Hypothesis

Linguistic Relativity. The lens by which we view and interpret the world is created by language.

Broca’s Area

Produces Speech

Wernicke’s Area

Language comprehension

Aphasia

Language deficit

Broca’s Aphasia: difficult to generate speech

Wernicke’s Aphasia: Lack of comprehension

Conduction Aphasia: Can’t repeat words

Sleep Disorders

Dyssomnias: Difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep, or avoid sleep. Insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea.

Parasomnias: Abnormal movements or behaviors during sleep. Night terrors, sleepwalking.

Gambler’s Fallacy

If something happens more frequently than normal, it will happen less frequently in the future, or vice versa

Prisoner’s Dilemma

Two people act out of their own self-interest, but if they had cooperated, the result would have been even better

James-Lange Theory

Behavioral and physiological responses to a stimulus occur simultaneously. They arise from separate and independent areas of the braim.

Schacter-Singer Theory

Two-factor theory of emotion. Physiological arousal and interpretation of context or “cognitive label” lead to emotion

Limbic System

Concerned with instincts and mood

Freud

Psychosexual stages of personality development based on tensions caused by the libido. Failure at any stage leads to fixation which causes personality disorder.

0-1 Oral

1-3 Anal

3-6 Phallic

6-Puberty Latent

Puberty-Adult Genital

Erikson

Stages stem from conflicts throughout life

0-1 Trust vs Mistrust

1-3 Autonomy vs Shame

3-6 Initiative vs Guilt

6-12 Industry vs Inferiority

12-20 Identity vs Role Confusion

20-40 Intimacy vs Isolation

40-65 Generativity vs Stagnation

65-Death Integrity vs Despair

Vygotsky

Zone of Proximal Development: The skills that a child has not yet mastered and require a more knowledgeable other to accomplish

Kohlberg Stages of Moral Development

Pre-conventional (“I must share this toy becuase if I don’t, then I will get in trouble.”) → Conventional (“You need to drive slower becuase the law says so”) → Post-conventional (“Just becuase the law says to do it doesn’t mean it’s ethical”)

Freud’s Theory

Id: Base urges of survival and reproduction

Superego: The idealists and perfectionist

Ego: Mediator between the two and conscious mind. Uses the defense mechanisms to lower stress

Jung

Collective unconscious links all humans together. Personality is influenced by archetypes.

Humanistic Perspective

Emphasizes the internal feelings of healthy individuals as they strive for happiness and self-realization.

Type and Trait Theory

Personality can be described by identifiable traits that carry characteristic behaviors

Social Cognitive Perspective

Individuals react with their environment in a cycle called reciprocal determinism. People mold their environments according to their personality, and those environments in turn shape their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Behaviorist Perspective

Our personality develops as a result of operant conditioning

Biological Perspective

Behavior can be explained as a result of genetic expression

Depression

Increase in: Glucocorticoids

Decrease in: Norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine

Bipolar Disorders

Increases in norepinephrine and serotonin

Alzheimer’s

Genetic factors, brain atropy, decrease in acetylcholine and plaques of beta-amyloid

Parkinson’s

Bradykinesia, resting tremor, pill-rolling tremor, masklike facies, cogwheel rigidity, and a shuffling gait. Decrease in dopamine.