Psych 100 final psu wede

Goals of psychology

Description, prediction, explanation, application

what is the difference between nativism /empiricism?

Nativism is the idea that our thoughts, ideas, and characteristics are inborn.

Empiricism is the idea that knowledge is gained through experiences.

what are the modern perspectives of psychology?

Psychodynamic, behavioral, humanistic, bio psychological, cognitive, sociocultural, evolutionary

behaviorism

emphasized the objective, scientific analysis of observable behaviors

functionalism

The study of the function rather than the structure of consciousness

structuralism

The study of the most basic elements, primarily sensations and perceptions that make up our conscious mental experiences

what is the scientific method steps?

Perceive, hypothesize, test, draw conclusions, report, revise, replicate, repeat

what are the types of research designs? what are their advantages and disadvantages?

Descriptive: advantage is more control, a better understanding of how people act. Disadvantage is that people act different in different environments.

Correlational: advantage is is can measure the relationship. Disadvantage is that some relationships have a 3 variable dictating the relationship.

Experimental: advantage is that it allows the isolation of cause and effect. Disadvantage is that again a 3 variable can be causing causation

what is a survey? what are things to be careful of in a survey?

Survey is a technique for gathering the self reported attitudes, opinions or behaviors of people. Careful of wording, representativeness, and the difficultly of words in questions.

what is random sampling? why is it used?

Random sampling is the process by which each member of a population has an equal chance of being selected. It helps get a representative group of a larger population.

Positive and negative correlation/Illusory correlation

The way the slope is directed. The strength is determined on a scale of -1 to 1. Which ever number is farther from 0 the stronger correlation. Illusory correlation is The perception of relationship where none exists.

relationship between correlation and causation

Correlation does not = Causation

Isolating the causes and effects

By manipulation can control the changes.

what are the measures of central tendency? which is the best?

Mean, median, mode. Median is the best.

Case study

Study of a small group

Control group

The group that has nothing changed

Correlation

Variables related in opposite direction

Dependent variable

Factor that is proposed to change in response to independent variable

Experimental group

The group in which the independent variable changes

Independent variable

The factor that is manipulated by the experimenter

Random assignment

Assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance to get a representative sample

Representative sample

A sample that reflects the characteristics of the population from which it is drawn

what are the properties of an action potential?

All or none response, intensity

what is the difference between autonomic and somatic nervous system? what are they responsible for?

Autonomic controls non voluntary actions. Somatic control voluntary actions

what is the difference between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system? what are they responsible for?

Sympathetic is responsible for the fight or flight response. Parasympathetic is responsible for the rest and digest response

what are the techniques used to study the brain? how do they work?

clinical observation/lesions, EEG( uses electrodes on the surface of the scalp to detect brain impulses), PET (uses radioactive glucose to help detect activity), MRI ( measures oxygen in the brain and looks at soft tissue)

4 lobes of the cortex and what they do

Frontal (motor), parietal (sensory), occipital (vision) , and temporal ( hearing)

where is the sensory cortex located? what does it process? what is the organization?

In the parietal lobe. It processes information from the skin and organs. It is between the frontal and occipital lobes.

what is aphasia? what parts of the brain are involved?

An impairment of language usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area or wernicke's area.

is the brain plastic?

yes

All-or-none

Referring to action potentials. Either the neuron fires or it doesn't

Brain stem

The beginning where the spinal cord enters the skull.

Broca's area

impaired speaking. They know what they want to say but have a longer time producing the words.

Central nervous system

The spinel cord and the brain

Cerebellum

Controls balance and coordination

Corpus callosum

The connection between the hemispheres of the brain.

Dendrite

The part that sends connections to the axon of another neuron

Excitatory synapse

Synapse that holds excitatory neurontransmitters

Inhibitory synapse

Synapse that holds inhibitory neurotransmitters

Interneurons

Neurons in the central nervous system

Limbic system

Controls anger and fear. In between the cortex and the spinal cord

Motor cortex

Area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements

Motor neurons

Neurons that carry information to make a movement occur

Receptor sites

Areas on the surface of neurons and other cells that are sensitive to neurotransmitters or hormones

Resting potential

The stable, negative charge of a neuron when it is inactive.

Reuptake

the absorption by a presynaptic nerve ending of a neurotransmitter that it has secreted.

Sensory neurons

Neurons that pick up on a stimulus and send it to the interneurons or Motor neurons.

Synapse

The junction between a dendrite and axon or a axon and a muscle

Thalamus

The brains sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem

Wernicke's area

impaired understanding. They don't make sense when they speak.

what is the difference between sensation and perception?

Sensation is the detection of physical enters form the environment and conversion into neural signals. Perception is how we select, organize, and interpret our sensations

what is the difference between top-down and bottom-up processing? how do they relate to perception and cognition?

Top down is when experiences guide the interpretations of information. Bottom up is you start with sensory information and then you interpret it. It can change to way something comes across.

what is selective attention?

The ability to deal with some stimuli and not others

what is inattentional blindness?

Failing to detect visible objects when attention directed elsewhere

how wavelength and amplitude (intensity) are related to the psychological dimensions of color (hue) and brightness?

Wave length determines the color. Amplitude determines the intensity.

Parts of the eye

Cornea, iris, pupil, lens, retina

what is nearsightedness? what is farsightedness?

Nearsightedness is when the image is focused in front of the retina. Farsightedness is when the image is focused behind the retina.

what is the tri-chromatic theory?

Retina contains 3 receptors maximally senesitive to red, green, and blue

opponent-process theory

We process 4 primary colors opposed in pairs of red-green, blue-yellow, and black and white.

which theory can account for color blindness? after images?

Color blindness is explained in tri chromatic theory. After images is explained in opponent process theory.

what are the binocular cues of depth perception? how do they work?

Rental disparity (allows for 3D vision because eyes are in slightly different parts) and convergence (how far in our eyes need to move to clearly see an object is how far it is from you)

what are the monocular cues of depth perception? how do they work?

relative size ( smaller objects are farther away)

interposition (occlusion)( when one object blocks part of another the one in front is closer)

aerial perspective( when light passes through the atmosphere the farther the object the hazier it is)

texture gradient ( the closer an object is the clearer the texture is)

linear perspective ( parallel lines converge with distance)

motion parallax ( the faster an object passes by the closer it is)

perceptual constancy

Perceiving the properties of an object to remain the same even though the physical properties are changing.

what is size, shape, and color Constance?

Shape constancy is when the shape perception is the same but retinal image is different. Size constancy is when we perceive and object as same size even if the retinal size changes. Color constancy is when the color of and object remains the same under different illuminations

Absolute threshold

Minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time

Accommodation

Blind spot

Point where optic nerve leaves the eye

Cones

Color vision

Figure-ground

Our brain must decide what is figure and ground

Habituation

Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation

Just noticeable difference

The minimal change in a stimulus that can just barely be detected

Psychophysics

A study of the relationship between physical characteristics of stimuli and our psychological experience of them

Rods

Black and white vision

Sensory adaptation

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Transduction

Transformation of stimulus energy into neural impluses

what are the basic memory processes?

encoding, storage and retrieval

What is the information processing model?

Sensory, short-term, long-term

what is the 3 stage model for memory?

Encoding, storage, retrieval

Elements of working memory

visual and auditory

what do we automatically process? what takes effort to process?

We automatically process time and space. It takes effort for novel information to be processed.

what are the 3 ways we encode information? which leads to better performance?

Semantic, acoustic, and visual encoding. Semantic encoding leads to deeper understanding.

what are the 3 memory stores? what are their characteristics?

sensory( iconic (.5-1 second duration) and echoic (3-5 second duration)

working/short-term( Chunking, 12-30 second duration)

long-term ( unlimited storage)

what role does selective attention play in memory?

Attention processes act like a funnel. You process only what is important

what are the serial position effect phenomena? what is the tip of the tongue phenomena?

Serial position effect is remembering things on the beginning and end of a list. Tip of the tongue phenomena is when you remember things about a word but can't retrieve the word.

Effected memory and forgetting

context, mental state, and mood. failure to encode, store, or retrieve information. Forgetting is the inability to retrieve information, due to poor encoding, storage, or retrieval

what is proactive interference?what is retroactive interference?

Proactive interference is when information learned earlier interferes with information learned later. retroactive interference is when information learned later interferes information learned earlier

is memory a constructive process?what leads to false memories?

yes. reconstruction

what is the Loftus study?

people are shown a car accident. When asked a week later based on the wording they increased the speed of the cars.

where are implicit and explicit memories processed?

Implicit memories are processed in the cerebellum.

Explicit memories are processed in the hippocampus.

what is the difference between retrograde and anterograde amnesia? in which can memories still be created?

Retrograde amnesia can only form new memories they cannot remember past memories. Antero grade amnesia only remember things from before they cannot remember anything new

Chunking

Put information that relates to each other together

Declarative LTM

General knowledge

Distributed practice

Elaborative rehearsal

Makes information personally meaningful or relating information previously learned. It leads to much stronger long term memory.

Encoding specificity

a cue can help as a reminder when it recreates the specific way the information/memory was encoded

Episodic memory

Memory of events of things that happened to you

Explicit memory

Also called declarative memory

Implicit memory

Procedural things that we do not know how to explain but can do.

Maintenance rehearsal

Repetition of information to keep in working memory.

Misinformation effect

Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event