Psychology all units

Independent Variable :

The variable a researcher changes or manipulates

Dependent Variable :

The variable that is measured in an experiment

Operational Definition :

A clear explanation of how a variable is measured

Confounding Variable :

An outside variable that affects experiment results

Random Sampling :

Selecting participants so they represent the population

Random Assignment : P

lacing participants into groups by chance

Informed Consent :

Informing participants about the study before participation

Protection from Harm :

Participants cannot be physically or psychologically harmed

Deception :

Withholding full information when necessary for the study

Debriefing :

Explaining the true purpose of the study afterward

Right to Withdraw :

Participants can leave the study at any time

Thalamus :

Relays sensory information except smell

Hypothalamus :

Regulates hunger, thirst, and body temperature

Cerebellum :

Controls balance, posture, and coordination

Brainstem :

Controls automatic functions like breathing and heartbeat

Amygdala :

Processes emotions such as fear and anger

Hippocampus :

Forms new memories

Corpus Callosum :

Connects the left and right brain hemispheres

Frontal Lobe :

Decision making, personality, impulse control

Parietal Lobe :

Processes touch and body position

Occipital Lobe :

Processes visual information

Temporal Lobe :

Processes hearing and language

Motor Cortex :

Controls voluntary muscle movement

Sensory Cortex :

Processes touch sensations

Broca’s Area :

Controls speech production

Wernicke’s Area :

Controls language comprehension

Brain Plasticity :

Brain’s ability to adapt and reorganize

Sensation :

Receiving sensory information

Perception :

Interpreting sensory information

Sensory Adaptation :

Reduced sensitivity after constant stimulation

Selective Attention :

Focusing on one stimulus while ignoring others

Inattentional Blindness :

Not noticing something visible due to lack of attention

Change Blindness :

Failure to notice changes in the environment

Vision :

Sense of light, color, and shape

Hearing :

Sense of sound waves

Smell :

Detects airborne chemicals

Taste :

Detects chemicals in food

Touch :

Detects pressure, temperature, and pain

Vestibular Sense :

Sense of balance and movement

Kinesthetic Sense :

Sense of body position and movement

Retina :

Contains rods and cones

Rods :

Detect black-and-white and low-light vision

Cones :

Detect color and fine detail

Conductive Hearing Loss :

Damage to structures that conduct sound

Neural Hearing Loss :

Damage to the inner ear or auditory nerve

Dendrites :

Receive messages from other neurons

Cell Body :

Sends messages to the axon

Nucleus :

Heart of the cell body

Axon :

Carries messages away from the cell body

Myelin Sheath :

Speeds up neural signals

Terminal Branches :

Send messages to the next neuron