Vocabulary Flashcards: Brain Systems, Memory, Perception, Learning, Social Psychology, and Culture

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering brain function, memory processes, perception, learning theories, social psychology, and cultural dynamics.

Broca's area

Left frontal lobe region responsible for speech production; damage leads to Broca's aphasia (difficulty producing words, comprehension often preserved).

Wernicke's area

Left temporal lobe region responsible for language comprehension; damage leads to Wernicke's aphasia (fluid speech that may lack meaning).

Geschwind's Territory

Bundle of nerve fibres (arcuate fasciculus) linking Broca's and Wernicke's areas to connect language input with speech production; located in the posterior parietal lobe.

Reflex arc

Involuntary pathway from receptor to effector that bypasses brain involvement; provides rapid protective responses.

Monosynaptic reflex arc

A reflex arc with a single synapse between sensory and motor neurons; very fast.

Polysynaptic reflex arc

A reflex arc involving more than one synapse, often with interneurons; common in protective responses.

Basal ganglia

Group of subcortical structures that regulate movement via feedback loops, inhibiting inappropriate movements.

Cerebellum

Brain region that coordinates smooth, well-sequenced movements and stores learnt movement sequences.

Primary Motor Cortex

Area controlling voluntary movement; primarily contralateral (left controls right side of the body).

Limbic system

Bron of brain structures governing memory, emotion, behaviour and motivation (includes amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, etc.).

Amygdala

Limbic structure involved in emotion processing (e.g., fear) and emotional conditioning.

Hypothalamus

Brain region regulating basic survival functions and part of the HPA axis; influences motivation and emotional behaviours.

Hippocampus

Brain structure essential for consolidation of explicit memories and transferring them to long-term storage.

Prefrontal cortex

Front part of the brain involved in planning, decision making and emotional regulation; integrates information across regions.

HPA axis

Major neuroendocrine system controlling stress responses via hormones like cortisol and epinephrine.

Epinephrine (adrenaline)

Hormone increasing heart rate and arousal in stress responses.

Norepinephrine (noradrenaline)

Neurotransmitter/hormone enhancing alertness and attention during arousal.

Dopamine

Neurotransmitter involved in movement, reward, motivation and mood regulation.

Serotonin

Neurotransmitter involved in mood, sleep, appetite and overall well-being.

Acetylcholine (Ach)

Neurotransmitter at neuromuscular junctions; also involved in learning and memory; low levels linked to Alzheimer’s.

GABA

Major inhibitory neurotransmitter; reduces neural excitability and helps regulate anxiety.

Glutamate

Major excitatory neurotransmitter; important for learning and memory; excitatory across CNS.

Cortisol

Stress hormone released by adrenal glands; helps mobilize energy and modulate stress responses.

Endorphins

Endogenous opioids providing pain relief and mood improvement.

Absolute threshold

The minimum stimulus energy needed for 50% detection under ideal conditions.

Rods

Photoreceptors for peripheral vision and low-light (black-and-white); high sensitivity.

Cones

Photoreceptors for color vision and high acuity in bright light; clustered in the fovea.

Retina

Layer at the back of the eye containing photoreceptors that transduce light into neural signals.

Photoreceptors

Cells (rods and cones) that detect light and initiate visual transduction.

Optic nerve

Nerve fibers that carry visual information from the retina to the occipital cortex.

Receptive field

Region of visual space where a given neuron’s activity is influenced by a stimulus.

Retinal ganglion cells

Neurons near the retina surface that receive input from photoreceptors and send signals via the optic nerve.

Feature detectors

Neurons that respond selectively to basic visual features like lines, edges, and angles.

Gestalt principles

Perceptual organization rules (e.g., figure-ground, closure, similarity, proximity) that group features into meaningful wholes.

Perceptual constancies

Ability to perceive objects as having constant size, shape, and brightness despite retinal changes.

Depth perception

Ability to judge 3D space and distance using binocular and monocular cues.

Binocular depth cues

Depth cues requiring both eyes, e.g., retinal disparity and convergence.

Convergence

Eye-turning inward to focus on a near object; a monocular depth cue? (listed under binocular cues).

Accommodation

Change in the lens shape by ciliary muscles to focus on near/far objects; a monocular depth cue.

Pictorial depth cues

Monocular cues used in pictures: linear perspective, interposition, texture gradient, relative size, height in field.

Ponzo illusion

Illusion where depth cues make the upper line appear longer.

Müller-Lyer illusion

Line length illusion explained by carpentered-world theory—arrowhead endings affect perceived length.

Ames Room

Optical illusion showing distorted size perception due to perspective cues.

Sensation

Process by which sensory organs receive energy and transduce it into neural signals.

Perception

Brain's interpretation of sensory information to give meaning; involves selection, organization, interpretation.

Reception

Stage of sensation: absolute threshold and initial sensory transduction from cornea to retina.

Transduction

Conversion of light energy into neural impulses by photoreceptors.

Transmission

Transfer of visual information from the retina to the occipital lobe via the optic nerve.

Selection

Feature detectors decompose imagery by length, angle, and movement during perception.

Organization

Perceptual organization using constancies, Gestalt principles, and depth cues.

Interpretation

Assigning meaning to sensory input based on memory, motives and context.

Atkinson–Shiffrin model

Multi-store memory model with sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Sensory memory

Unlimited capacity, very brief duration; fades unless attended and transferred to STM.

Short-term memory (STM)

Limited capacity (5–9 items); lasts 12–30 seconds without rehearsal; transfers to LTM with encoding.

Long-term memory (LTM)

Unlimited storage; information is retrieved to working memory when needed.

Working memory

Active system with phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and central executive that processes and manipulates information.

Phonological loop

Auditory component of working memory that stores spoken information.

Visuospatial sketchpad

Visual and spatial component of working memory for imagery and spatial tasks.

Central executive

Controls attention, switching, updating and integration of information in working memory.

Procedural memory

Implicit memory for skills and actions (e.g., riding a bike); often preserved with age.

Declarative memory

Explicit memory of facts and events; subdivided into episodic and semantic memory.

Episodic memory

Memory for personal experiences and events; includes retrospective and prospective aspects.

Semantic memory

Memory for facts and general knowledge (e.g., capital cities).

Explicit memory

Conscious recall of facts and events (declarative memory).

Implicit memory

Unconscious memory, including skills and conditioned responses (procedural).

Hippocampus (memory role)

Key for encoding/consolidating explicit memories and transferring them to cortical storage.

Amygdala (memory role)

Involved in emotional aspects of memory, especially fear, and emotional conditioning.

Consolidation

Process of stabilizing a memory after encoding, often during sleep, for permanent storage.

Synaptic plasticity

Persistent changes in synaptic strength; essential for memory formation and learning.

Sleep and memory consolidation

Sleep enhances memory by replaying and strengthening neural connections for storage.

Phase memory system locations

Parietal lobes—spatial memory; Occipital lobes—memory for pictures; Frontal lobes—procedural memory and episodic/linguistic aspects; Temporal lobes—sound and color-name memories.

Cerebellum (memory role)

Encoding and storage of procedural memories, especially motor skills and conditioned responses.

Retention and retrieval strategies

Recall (free/serial/cued), Recognition, and Relearning (savings).

Encoding specificity principle

Retrieval cues are most effective when they match the conditions present during encoding.

Context-dependent cues

External environmental cues that aid retrieval when in the learning context.

State-dependent cues

Internal state cues (mood, drugs, fatigue) that aid retrieval when in a similar state.

Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon

Feeling of knowing a word without full retrieval; partial retrieval cues can help guess the target.

Interference (proactive/retroactive)

Proactive: old information hinders new; Retroactive: new information hinders old.

Chunking

Grouping items into larger units to expand STM capacity and aid transfer to LTM.

Maintenance rehearsal

Repetition to keep information in STM or to transfer to LTM without added meaning.

Elaborative rehearsal

Linking new information to existing memories and meaning to enhance encoding.

Mnemonics (method of loci)

Memory aids using imagery or spatial locations to improve recall.

SQ3R

Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Relate, Refresh; a study method to improve comprehension and retention.

Classical conditioning

Learning via association between a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response.

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

Naturally provoking stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response (UCR).

Unconditioned response (UCR)

Natural response to the US without prior learning.

Neutral stimulus (NS)

Stimulus that initially elicits no response before conditioning.

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

Previously NS that elicits a conditioned response after association with US.

Conditioned response (CR)

Learned response to the conditioned stimulus.

Stimulus discrimination

Organism responds to the conditioned stimulus but not to similar stimuli.

Stimulus generalisation

Organism responds to stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus.

Extinction (classical conditioning)

Reduction of the conditioned response after repeated exposure to CS without US.

Spontaneous recovery

Reappearance of an extinguished response after a rest period.

Aversion therapy

Classical conditioning used to create an unwanted response to reduce a behaviour.

Operant conditioning

Learning from consequences that shape behaviour through reinforcement or punishment.

Reinforcement

Any consequence that strengthens or increases the likelihood of a behaviour.

Positive reinforcement

Addition of a pleasant stimulus to increase a behaviour.

Negative reinforcement

Removal of an aversive stimulus to increase a behaviour.

Punishment

Consequences that weaken or decrease the likelihood of a behaviour.

Shaping

Reinforcing successive approximations toward a desired response.