Psychology 101 Exam 2 - UAB Dobias

You're gonna do amazing :D

definition of consciousness

The ability to be aware of what is happening in our own mind.

mirror test and self consciousness

Seeing yourself in the mirror with a mark on your forehead tests if you would touch your forehead or the mirror. You are self conscious if you acknowledge that the mark is on your actual forehead and not on the mirror.

phenomenology

How things seem to the conscious person, a person's subjective perspective/perception.

unconsciousness

Absolutely no awareness of what is happening around you.

minimal consciousness

A low level of sensory awareness and responsiveness; you are not aware of what is happening around you but your brain is still processing by itself.

full consciousness

Full sensory awareness, able to know and report mental state, and is the normal waking state of consciousness.

self consciousness

When attention is drawn to itself as an object; paying attention to your own self.

problem of other minds

Hard problem: Can't tell if what they perceive is what you also perceive. Easy problem: We can match what is happening in someone's brain using fMRI or EEG and match that with what they report they are thinking or feeling.

activation-synthesis model

Dreams are caused by random activity in the brain, and the brain makes up for the randomness with dreams and puts a somewhat coherent story together.

stimulants

Excitatory and pleasurable substances that speed up the brain and body (e.g., caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine).

depressants

Generally calming/relaxing substances that slow down the brain and body (e.g., alcohol, tranquilizers, barbiturates).

agonists

A drug molecule that resembles a neurotransmitter closely enough to bind to its receptor and activate it, producing a similar effect.

antagonists

A drug molecule that binds to a receptor but doesn't activate it, effectively blocking the natural neurotransmitter from having an effect.

stages of sleep

Stage 1: Transition between wakefulness and sleep, lasts a few minutes, brain waves are theta waves. Stage 2: Heart rate slows, deeper light sleep, brain shows sleep spindles and K-complexes. Stage 3: Start of deep sleep, brain waves are delta waves. Stage 4: Deepest sleep, delta waves dominate. REM: Rapid Eye Movement, brain becomes very active but body is paralyzed, most dreaming occurs here.

circadian rhythm

Our body's internal 24-hour biological clock that regulates our sleep and wakefulness by being influenced by light and dark.

sleep apnea

Repeated pauses in breathing during sleep, causing sleep deprivation.

Central Sleep Apnea

Neurons within the brainstem fail to send proper signal that control breathing.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Causes airway blockage due to relaxation of muscles in the throat, chest, or diaphragm.

Mixed Sleep Apnea

Combo of both central and obstructive.

insomnia

Difficulty in falling or staying asleep.

narcolepsy

A sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and sudden sleep attacks.

cataplexy

A sudden loss of muscle tone often triggered by strong emotions, associated with narcolepsy.

Onset Insomnia

Struggling to fall asleep.

Maintenance Insomnia

Difficulty remaining asleep throughout the night.

Definition of Memory

The ability to store and retrieve information we have learned.

Encoding

In order to form any memory, information needs to be converted into a form that can be understood and later reported.

Semantic Encoding

Focuses on the meaning of the information.

Elaborative Encoding

Relating new information in a meaningful way to existing knowledge (frontal lobe).

Visual Imagery Encoding

Storing new info by converting it into mental pictures (occipital lobe).

Organizational Encoding

Categorizing information according to the relationships among a series of items (frontal lobe).

Consolidation

Transfer of information from STM to LTM.

Retrieval

Transfer of information out of LTM for use in STM.

Storage

Both STM and LTM, keeps information in the brain for later use.

Encoding Specificity

We often remember information best when the factors related to recall resemble the factors that occurred during encoding.

Chunking

A strategy that reduces the total number of items needed to be remembered by combining them into meaningful units (chunks).

Sensory Memory

Can only hold small amounts of information for a few seconds.

Echoic Memory

Sensory memory for auditory stimuli.

Iconic Memory

Sensory memory for visual stimuli.

Short-term Memory

Lasts about 15-20 seconds, AKA working memory.

Long-term Memory

Information that successfully passes through sensory memory and short-term memory and is lost until consolidated into long-term memory. This memory has an unlimited capacity and can last anywhere from minutes to decades.

Working Memory

A system that holds and manipulates information for tasks like learning, reasoning, and comprehension.

Anterograde Amnesia

Loss of ability to create new memories for events that occur after an event (brain injury).

Retrograde Amnesia

Loss of memory for events that occurred before an event (brain injury).

Implicit Procedural Memory

Unconscious memory you don't have to think about, involves skills, habits and actions learned through practice.

Explicit Memory

Conscious memory you intentionally recall, includes facts and personal experiences.

Proactive Interference

Existing memory interferes with the formation of a new memory.

Retroactive Interference

Forming a new memory interferes with retrieval of an old memory.

Memory Misattribution

You remember information but attach it to the wrong source.

Suggestibility

Memory is changed by new/suggested or misleading information (misinformation effect).

Visuospatial Sketchpad

Handles visual/spatial information.

Phonological Loop

Handles auditory information.

Episodic Buffer

Integrates auditory and visual information into events or episodes.

State-dependent Retrieval

You remember information better when your internal state (mood, emotions, or physical condition) is the same as when you learned it.

Context-dependent Retrieval

You remember information better when you're in the same environment or context that you learned it in.

Episodic Memory

Personal events (ex. Your last birthday).

Semantic Memory

Facts and knowledge (ex. The capital of Alabama is Montgomery).

Transience

Forgetting information over time because memories fade when they aren't used or retrieved often.

Ebbinghaus's Research

Studied memory by testing himself with nonsense syllables and discovered that we forget information rapidly at first (the forgetting curve) but relearn it faster later (relearning effect).

Spacing Effect

Found that spacing out study sessions helps memory last longer. (ebbinghaus)

Tip-of-the-Tongue

Occurs when trying to remember a word or a name; we feel like the word/name is on the 'tip of our tongue'.

Memory Blocking

The failure to retrieve information that is available in memory.

Eyewitness Testimony Problems

can be inaccurate due to misattribution, suggestibility, bias, misinformation.

Flashbulb Memory

Vivid detailed memories of a significant event (ex. 9/11) that are often believed to be accurate but can be distorted.

Definition of Learning

The acquisition of knowledge, skill, attitudes, or understanding acquired through experience.

Unconditioned Stimulus

The stimulus that naturally evokes a specific response.

Unconditioned Response

The specific response that is naturally evoked by the unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Stimulus

The previously neutral stimulus that eventually triggers the unconditioned response after repeated pairing with the unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Response

The learned response to a previously neutral stimulus that was repeatedly paired with the unconditioned stimulus.

Second-order Conditioning

Once the learning of the conditioned stimulus has occurred, a new association can be built between that previously conditioned stimulus and a new neutral stimulus.

Extinction

The loss of the conditioned response due to showing the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus multiple times.

Spontaneous Recovery

After a pause following the extinction period, the conditioned stimulus is presented again and the conditioned response occurs again.

Stimulus Generalization

When the subject displays a conditioned response to something that is similar to the conditioned stimulus but is not exactly the conditioned stimulus used in training.

Stimulus Discrimination

When the subject can tell the difference between the similar conditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus used in training.

Little Albert

They put a fluffy bunny in front of Little Albert, no response. They then played a high pitched tune (US) and Albert cried (UR). Then they did the same thing except added the fluffy bunny (CS) and Albert cried (UR). Then they took away the high pitched sound but left the fluffy bunny (CS) and Albert still cried (CR).

Thorndike and the Law of Effect

Edward Thorndike studied learning by putting cats in puzzle boxes. The cats had to figure out how to escape (like pulling a lever) to get food. Behaviors followed by satisfying outcomes are more likely to be repeated (satisfying state of affairs), while behaviors followed by unpleasant outcomes are less likely to happen again (dissatisfying state of affairs).

Reinforcement

The stimulus appears in response to behavior, increases the probability of the behavior occurring again.

Punishment

A stimulus that also appears in response to behavior, but decreases the probability of the behavior occurring again.

Positive Reinforcement

Stimulus is presented and increases likelihood of behavior.

Negative Reinforcement

Stimulus is removed and increases likelihood of behavior.

Positive Punishment

Stimulus is presented and decreases likelihood of behavior.

Negative Punishment

Stimulus is removed and decreases likelihood of behavior.

Primary Reinforcer

Stimulus that serves as a biological need (food, water, warmth, sleep).

Secondary Reinforcer

Stimulus that has become associated with the primary reinforcer (money which can buy food, water, a house).

Schedules of Reinforcement

Describe how often a behavior is rewarded. Two types: Interval schedules - based on the time passing (rewards after time) and Ratio schedules - based on the number of responses (rewards after action).

Fixed-Interval Schedule

Reward after a certain amount of time.

Fixed-Ratio Schedule

Reward after a certain number of responses.

Variable-Interval Schedule

Reward after a random/changing amount of time.

Variable-Ratio Schedule

Reward after a random/changing amount of responses.

Continuous Reinforcement

Reinforcement after every response (1:1 ratio).

Intermittent Reinforcement Effect

When a behavior is reinforced only some of the time, it becomes more resistant to extinction, meaning the behavior continues longer after the reinforcement stops.

Shaping

When you get a subject to do something in slow small steps.

Cognitive Map

An internal representation of the layout of an area (How we know how to get to class).

Tolman Experiments

Experiment 1: Rats explored a 3 pathway maze. At the beginning the rats wandered all pathways. Once the food was found in the goal box, the rats only traveled the straight pathway to get to the food. The maze was then blocked in one of two locations, either A or at B. The rats ended up choosing an efficient pathway based on their cognitive map of the maze. Experiment 2: The rats were put in a maze and found the goal box, then Tolman removed the path to the goal box and added extra pathways.

Observational Learning

Learning that occurs by observing and imitating the behavior of others. Does not require reinforcement or punishment of others.

Mirror neurons and learning to predict future behavior

Cells that fire both when performing an action and observing someone else perform the same action. It helps us learn to predict future behavior by anticipating what someone else will do based on observing their actions.