PSYC100 Essential Memorizations

First practice of modern psychology

Wilhelm Wundt, reductionism

Functionalism was pioneered by: ____

William James

____ first measured the speed of a nerve impulse

Helmholtz

behaviourism was founded by

John B Watson

Operant conditioning theory was developed by:

BF Skinner

Two main scientists of humanistic psychology

Rogers and Maslow

Two influential leaders in cognitive psychology

Jean Piaget and Noam Chomsky

Internal Validity

The extent to which your data supports your conclusions

External Validity

The extent to which your findings can be generalized to the outside world

Face Validity

The degree to which a test appears to measure what it claims to measure.

Example of a naturalistic study

Jane Goodall studying chimps in the forest

The larger the sample size, the greater the ______

Statistical significance

The larger the initial difference, the greater the ________

Statistical significance

The greater the variation in the measures, the lower the _____

statistical significance

Type I Error

False positive

Type II error

False negatve

DNA Methylation

Addition of a methyl group to cytosine bases, making it tighter packed and harder to access

Histone acetylation

The process of adding an acetyl group to histone proteins which leads to a more relaxed chromatin structure and increased gene expression.

Perceptual learning

Learning to perceive things

Implicit learning

Learning without meaning to

Explicit learning

Intentional learning

Implicit memory

Does not require conscious thought

Explicit memory

Knowledge that can be consciously remembered or verbally explained

Thorndike’s law of effect

Satisfying outcomes make behaviours more likely to happen

The four knowledge emotions

surprise, interest, confusion, awe

Excitatory post-synaptic potential

Depolarizing current – membrane becomes more positive towards threshold of excitation

Inhibitory post-synaptic potential

Hyperpolarizing – inhibits action potential firing

Examples of steroid hormones

testosterone, estradiol, progesterone, cortisol

Examples of peptide hormones

oxytocin, vasopressin, prolactin, lepin

Broca’s aphasia

impairment in producing/saying words

Wernicke’s aphasia

problems producing and understanding words that do not relate to grammar

Outcome of damage to cerebellum

Tremo

Outcome of damage to frontal lobe

weakness or loss of movement on opposite side of body, inability to problem solve, personality change, lack of

Outcome of damage to occipital lobe

loss of vision, visual hallucinations

Outcome of damage to temporal lobe

Left: impaired word recognition

Right: impaired memory for nonverbal material

Outcome of damage to parietal lobe

impaired sensation, right-left confusion, impaired writing/drawing ability

Outcome of damage to amygdala

Impaired decision making, impaired emotional memory

Weber’s fraction

C = Just noticeable difference / original intensity

Location of visual cortex

occipital lobe

Location of auditory cortex

temporal lobe

Location of somatosensory cortex

Parietal lobe

Aphasia

Difficulty with language processing

Agnosia

Loss of perceptive ability

Anosmia

Loss of smell

Prosopagnosia

loss of ability to perceive faces

The human eye can detect light of wavelengths between:

380 and 760 nanometres

Rods

More sensitive to light, used for night vision, low spatial acuity

Cones

Sensitive to colour, high spatial acuity

Trichromatic theory

Three types of cones, one for each primary colour

Opponent-process theory

Three opposing receptors: red-green, blue-yellow, and bright-dark

humans can hear sounds between:

20 Hz and 20 kHz

Interception

Sensory information about the body

Exteroception

Sensory information about the environment outside the body

Types of somatosensory receptors

Mechanoreceptors, thermoreceptors, chemoreceptors, nociceptors

Dorsal pathway

“Where” pathway

Ventral pathway

“what” pathway

Gestalt principles of grouping

1. Figure and ground

2. Proximity

3. Similarity

4. Closure

5. Continuity

6. Common fate/movement

7. Good form

Pictoral cues for depth

1. Position

2. Linear perspective

3. Relative size

4. Aerial perspective

5. Light and shadow

6. Interposition

Perception of motion: beta effect

Perception of motion when images are presented in succession

Perception of motion: phi phenomenon

perception of motion when objects disappear and reappear next to each other

Myopia

Distant objects are out of focus

Hyperopia

Close-up objects are out of focus

Blood Brain Barrier

A semipermeable border of cells that prevents things in the circulating blood from crossing into the CNS

Depressant drugs ____

Decrease the activity of the nervous system

Alcohol increases the activity of _____ and decreases the activity of ____

the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA ; the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate

Stimulants do what to the body?

Activate the nervous system through enhanced neural firing

Amphetamines do what to the body?

Increase dopamine activity

Ecstasy does what to the body?

Increases the release of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine into the synapse and inhibits the reuptake of serotonin

Cocaine does what to the body?

Blocks reuptake of dopamine and norepinephrine

Experimental measure of sleep is based on:

EEG

Four stages of sleep:

1. (N1) onset, theta waves

2. (N2) light sleep, sleep spindles

3. (N3) slow wave sleep, delta waves

4. REM, paralysis, similar brain waves to awake

Humans can go how many days without sleep without any permanent ill effects?

11

EEG wave pattern order when falling asleep

Beta waves → alpha waves → delta waves