Behavioral Sciences Flashcards

Flashcards about Behavioral Sciences.

Neurons

Sensory: Afferent, receptors to spinal cord; Interneurons: Between other neurons, mainly CNS; Motor: Efferent, CNS to muscles and glands

Central Nervous System (CNS)

Brain and spinal cord

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

Nervous tissue and fibers outside the CNS

Somatic Nervous System

Voluntary

Autonomic Nervous System

Sympathetic: Fight or Flight (F/F); Parasympathetic: Rest and Digest (R/D)

Pierre Flourens

Studied functions of major sections of the brain.

William James and John Dewey - Functionalism

How mental processes help individuals adapt to their environment.

Paul Broca - Broca's Area

Speech production.

Hermann von Helmholtz

Speed of impulse. Made psychology a science.

Sir Charles Sherrington

Synapses

Sigmund Freud

Psychoanalytic perspective

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 & the 4 F’s. Integrates with endocrine system.

Basal Ganglia

Smooths movements and helps postural stability.

Limbic System - Septal Nuclei

Pleasure and addiction.

Limbic System - Amygdala

Fear and aggression.

Limbic System - Hippocampus

Emotion and memory.

Cerebral Cortex - Frontal Lobe

Executive function, impulse control, speech, motor.

Cerebral Cortex - Parietal Lobe

Touch, pressure, temp, pain, spatial processing.

Cerebral Cortex - Occipital Lobe

Visual

Cerebral Cortex - Temporal Lobe

Sound, speech perception, memory, emotion.

Left Cerebral Hemisphere

Analytic, language, logic, math. Usually dominant

Right Cerebral Hemisphere

Intuition, creativity, spatial processing.

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 & Enkephalins

Natural pain killers.

Epinephrine & Norepinephrine

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

g-aminobutyric Acid (GABA)

Inhibitory neurotransmitters. Act as brain “stabilizers”.

Glutamate

Acts as an excitatory neurotransmitter.

Serotonin

Modulates mood, sleep, eating, and dreaming.

Cortisol

Stress hormone released by the adrenal cortex.

Testosterone & Estrogen

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

Neurulation

Stimulates overlying ectoderm to fold over, creating a neural tube topped with neural crest cells.

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.

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 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 (JND) for a stimulus is proportional to the magnitude of the stimulus.

Signal Detection Theory

effects of nonsensory factors, such as experiences, motives, and expectations on perception of stimuli. Accounts for response bias.

Adaptation

Decrease or change in sensitivity to a stimulus.

Cornea

Gathers and filters incoming light.

Iris

Controls size of pupil. Colored part of eye.

Lens

Refracts incoming light to focus it 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

Contain rhodopsin. Detect light / dark.

Retina: Cones

Color. Short / medium / long. Are in the fovea, which is part of the macula.

Retinal Disparity

Space between eyes; allows for binocular vision and depth.

Horizontal & Amacrine Cells

Integrates signals from ganglion cells and performs edge-sharpening.

Vision - Parallel Processing

Color, form, and motion at the same time.

Magnocellular Cells

Motion. High temporal resolution.

Parvocellular Cells

Shape. High spatial resolution.

Outer Ear

Pinna (auricle), external auditory canal, tympanic membrane

Middle Ear

Connected to nasal cavity by Eustachian tube. Ossicles: Malleus (hammer), Incus (anvil), Stapes (stirrup).

Inner Ear: Bony Labyrinth

Filled with perilymph. Membranous Labyrinth: Filled with endolymph.

Superior Olive

Localizes sound. Located in brain stem.

Inferior Colliculus

Startle reflex. Also used by both eyes and ears in the vestibulo-ocular reflex which keeps the eyes fixed on a single point as the head rotates.

Smell / Olfaction

The detection of volatile or aerosolized chemicals by the olfactory chemoreceptors (olfactory nerves) in the olfactory epithelium. Smell info bypasses the thalamus.

Pheromones

Chemicals given off by animals that have an effect on social foraging, and sexual behavior.

Taste / Gustation

The detection of dissolved compounds by taste buds in papillae. Sweet/sour/salty/bitter/umamai.

Somatosensation

Refers to the four touch modalities: Pressure, vibration, pain, temperature.

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 temp of skin to which objects are compared to.

Nociceptors

Pain reception.

Kinesthetic Sense

Proprioception

Top-Down Processing

The recognition of an object by memories and expectations. Little attention to detail. Uses background knowledge.

Bottom-Up Processing

Details to whole. Recognition of objects by feature detection. Not influenced by background knowledge.

Gestalt Principles

Proximity, similarity, continuity, closure. All are governed by the Law of Prägnanz.

Habituation

Becoming used to a stimulus.

Dishabituation

When a 2nd stimulus intervenes causing a resensitization of the original stimulus.

Associative Learning

Pairing together stimuli / responses or behaviors / consequences.

Operant Conditioning

Behavior is changed through the use of consequences.

Reinforcement

Increases likelihood of behavior.

Punishment

Decreases likelihood of behavior.

Positive Response

Adding something.

Negative Response

Removing something.

Extinction

When a previously reinforced behavior is no longer reinforced, it goes extinct.

Shaping

When behavior that is closer and closer to the target behavior is reinforced.

Classical Conditioning

With repetition, a neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that produces a conditioned response.

Observational Learning or Modeling

The acquisition of behavior by watching others.

Encoding

The process of putting new info into memory. It can be automatic or effortful.

Sensory & Short Term Memory

Transient and based on neurotransmitter activity.

Working Memory

Requires STM, attention, and executive function to manipulate information.

Long Term Memory

Requires elaborate rehearsal and is the result of increased neuronal connectivity.

Explicit (declarative) Memory

Accounts for memories that we must consciously recall with effort and focus.

Implicit (nondeclaritive) Memory

Accounts for acquired skills and conditioned responses to circumstances and stimuli.

Semantic Networks

Stores facts. Concepts are linked together based on similar meaning. Certain triggers will activate associated memories.

Alzheimers

Degenerative brain disorder linked to a loss of acetylcholine in neurons that link to hippocampus. Causes dementia and memory loss.

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 brain.

Retroactive Interference

New memories make you forget old memories.