final psych term jawn

all the terms im confused on

population

everyone the research could apply to

directionality problem

which direction does the correlation go?

confound

error/flaw in study that is accidentally introduced

median

middle number, used in skewed distribution

bimodal

has two modes: usually indicates two peaks

inferential statistics

establishes significance

statistical significance

results are not due to chance

ethical guidelines

confidentiality, informed consent, informed assent, debriefing, deception is warranted, no harm

self report bias

errors in surveys due to either social desirability or wording effects

sampling bias

sample isnt representative

hawthorne effect

people change their behavior when they know they are being watched

somatic NS

voluntary movement, has sensory and motor neurons

autonomic nervous system

involuntary, contains sympathetic and parasympathetic

dendrites

recieve incoming neurotransmitters

interneurons

cells in spinal cord/brain responsible for reflex arc

reflex arc

important stimuli skips the brain and routes through the spinal cord for immediate reactions (hand on a hot flame)

glial cells

supporting cells, give nutrients and clean up

astrocytes

structural support, help form the blood-brain barrier, regulate tissue repair

microglia

act as the brains immune cells: fight off pathogens. first responders to damage in the brain

oligodendrocytes

produce myelin for the axon in the CNS

shwann cells

produce myelin for the axon in the PNS

resting potential

-70 mv, neurons not sending a charge

GABA

major inhibitory NT, creates a calming sense and regulates brain activity

glutamate

major excitatory NT, stimulates neurons to send signals. learning, memory, and a lil movement

substance p

NT associated with pain regulation. abnormality increases pain and inflammation

oxytocin

hormone responsible for love, bonding, childbirth, lactation

agonist

drug that mimics a NT

antagonist

drug that blocks a NT

heroin

a kind of opioid

reticular activating system

responsible for alertness, arousal, sleep, eye movement

cerebral cortex

outer portion of the brain, higher order thought processes. includes limbic system, lobes, corpus callosum

hypothalamus

reward + pleasure center, eating behaviors. linked to endocrine system (controls pituitary gland) and homeostasis

parietal lobe

sensations and touch: controls association areas, contains somatosensory cortex

temporal lobe

hearing and facial recognition, language

ct scan

x-ray showing only structure and not function. detailed cross sections

eeg scan

detects brain waves/measures electrical activity and creates a chart. no structure

mri scan

uses magnetic fields to show only structure

fmri scan

shows brain structure with function: measures oxygen use

pet scan

shows how much glucose is used/blood flow to show function

myasthenia gravis

ach blocked, disrupts action potentials, causes poor motor control and paralysis

prosopagnosia

facial blindness: damage to occipital lobe and/or temporal lobe

epilepsy

too much or too little glutamate/gaba

beta waves

awake waves

alpha waves

high amplitude waves, drowsy NREM sleep

NREM 1

light sleep, has hypnagogic sensations

NREM 2

bursts of sleep spindles (bursts in electric activity)

delta waves

during NREM 3, deepest sleep

activation synthesis theory

brain produces random bursts of energy, stimulating lodged memories in limbic system + brain stem. theory is that dreams are the brain’s attempt to interpret random electrical signals

somnambulism

sleep walking that happens during stage 3, not rem

absolute threshold

detection of signal 50% of the time

webers law

two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum proportion. (the stronger thing needs more of a difference to notice the change)

synesthesia

disorder where senses blend together

short waves

blue waves

medium waves

green waves

red waves

long waves

monochromatism

only have rods

wavelengths

determines pitch: long is low pitch, narrow is high. distance between peaks

frequency theory

rate at which action potentials are sent determines sound

conduction deafness

damage to bones of ear and eardrum cause hearing loss

sensorineural deafness

damage to cochlea and cilia, usually due to old age or loud noises

vestibular

sense of balance, semicircular canals in ear

kinesthetic

sense of body position and movement without looking

bitter, salty, sweet, sour, umami, oleogustus

6 taste receptor types

density of taste receptors

determines whether people are supertasters or normal tasters (or nontasters)

perceptual set

tendency to see things as part of a group, speeds up signaling process

gestalt psychology

whole is greater than the sum of its parts

phi phenomenon

appears like motion when stationary images come in rapid succession

interposition

overlapping images appear closer

representative heuristic

make judgement based on experiences or stereotypes

metacognition

thinking about + reflecting on the way you think

mental set

keep using one strategy to solve a problem, not thinking outside the box

imagery

attaching images to information that makes it easier to remember

distributed practice

resets forgetting curve: spacing effect

multi-store model

includes sensory memory, short term memory, and long term memory

procedural memory

memory of skills/muscle memory

autobiographical memory

memory for your personal history: combo of semantic and episodic

superior autobiographical

rare condition in which people have extra detailed memories/do not forget miniscule things

semantic networks

webs of semi-related info

infantile amnesia

hippocampus is still forming, memories are not stored

serial position effect

tendency to remember the beginning and end of a given list best

primary effect

tend to remember the first item in a list better (stored in long term memory)

recency effect

tend to remember last item in a list better (still in short term memory)

proactive interference

old info blocks new info

retroactive interferece

new info blocks old info

constructive memory

the way we update memories w new memories, associations, and feelings: memory is unreliable

anterograde amnesia

cant remember new info

retrograde amnesia

cannot remember old info

iq formula

mental age/chronological age x 100

psyschometrics

field of psych + education for creating tests

flynn effect

iq scores have steadily risen over the past 80 years

teratogens

external agents that can cause abnormal prenatal development (alc, drugs, etc)

rooting

turning of face towards a finger when touched on the cheek (food response)

babinski

spreading toes when the foot is touched

imprinting

bird believe the first thing they see after hatching is their mother

menarche

first period for females

spermarche

first release of sperm for males

sensorimotor stage

0-2, lack and gain object permanence. focused on exploring world

pre-operational stage

2-7, pretend play and mental symbols, lack conservation, reversibility, and theory of mind. use animism

concrete operational stage

7-11, use operational thinking, classification, and can think logically in concrete context

formal operational stage

11-15, use abstract and idealist thoughts, hypothetical-deductive reasoning