Semester 1 Final Review

Responsible for decision making (prefrontal cortex)

Broca’s area- responsible for speech production

Voluntary movement

Frontal Lobe

Responsible for sensing body position

Somatosensory cortex-processes sensations: touch, pressure, pain, and temperature (excludes smell)

Parietal Lobe

Responsible for visual processing

Occipital Lobe

Responsible for auditory processing

Wernicke’s area-responsible for speech comprehension

Responsible for smell processing

Temporal Lobe

Responsible for processing new memories

Hippocampus

Body temperature, hunger, thirst, sexual arousal

Hypothalamus

Master Gland of endocrine system

Pituitary Gland

Relay station for all sensory info except smell

Thalamus

Fear and aggression

Amygdala

Responsible for speech production, located in frontal lobe

Broca’s Area

Responsible for processing language, located in temporal lobe

Wernicke’s Area

Located in parietal lobe, responsible for sensing touch, pressure, pain, and temperature

Somatosensory Cortex

The brain’s ability to change and adapt due to experience

Neuroplasticity

Influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion; rewarding sensation

Dopamine

Neurotransmitters that influence the perception of pain or pleasure

Endorphins

A major inhibitory neurotransmitter

GABA

Helps control alertness and arousal

Norepinephrine

Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal

Serotonin

Enables muscle action, learning, and memory

Acetylcholine

A major excitatory neurotransmitter involved in memory

Glutamate

A molecule that increases a neurotransmitter’s action, ie: Morphine

Agonist

A molecule that inhibits or blocks a neurotransmitter’s action, ie: Botox

Antagonists

A condition that affects nerves in your central nervous system, caused by a breakdown of myelin sheath on a neuron

Multiple Sclerosis

A language disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate, caused by damage to Wernicke’s Area

Aphasia

Chemicals that alter the brain by producing changes in perceptions and mood. ie: alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, marijuana

Psychoactive Drugs

The adaption of the body to the repeated use of a drug (meaning it no longer produces the naturally existing neurotransmitter that is being replaced by the drug)

Dependence

Physical conditions caused by chronic use of a tolerance-forming drug in which abrupt or gradual drug withdrawal causes unpleasant physical symptoms

Physical Dependence

Psychological need to use a drug, such as to relieve negative emotions; addiction.

Psychological Dependence

Symptoms that occur when a person ends the use of an addictive substance

Withdrawal

Enables the maintenance of balance in part controlled by the semicircular canals, which contains receptors that detect motions of the head

Vestibular Sense

Our movement sense, responsible for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

Kinesthetic Sense

Auditory
Canal
Eardrum
Ossicles
Has (Hammer, Anvil, Stirrup)
Oval
Window
Cochlea
Hair cells
Auditory
Cortex

Auditory Sense Structures

Cornea
Pupil
Lens
Retina
Rods
Cones
Bipolar cells
Ganglion cells
Optic Nerve
Thalamus
Visual Cortex

Visual Sense Structures

A sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings. Treatment includes respiration machine (CPAP).

Sleep Apnea

A disease marked by sudden and irresistible onsets of sleep during normal walking periods. Treatment includes medication, changing sleep patterns, and naps during the day

Narcolepsy

Body does not become paralyzed during dreams, which may cause you to act out the actions of your dreams. Could result in sleep walking. Treatment includes medication or supplements.

REM Sleep Disorder

Inability to fall asleep or stay asleep. Treatment includes reduction of caffeine, set sleep schedule, etc.

Insomnia

It allows researchers to see genetic and environmental influences.

Identical Twins in Psychological Research

The minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time

Absolute Threshold

Minimum difference required to notice a difference between two stimulus

Difference Threshold

The process of turning one form of energy (sound wave, light, smells) into neural impulses our brain can interpret

Transduction

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

Top-Down Processing

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information

Bottom-Up Processing

Theory that states our retina contains three different types of color receptors that can be stimulated in combination to create any color

(Red-green, blue-yellow, white-black)

Opponent Process Theory

Theory that states our retina contains three different types of color receptors that can be stimulated in combination to create any color (Red, Green, Blue)

Trichromatic Theory

The belief that after learning something we would have been able to guess that/ we already knew what we were being told

Hindsight Bias

The average of a distribution, calculated by adding up all the numbers in a data set and dividing by the number of values

Mean

The middle score in a distribution, calculated by arranging the data from least to greatest and choosing the middle number(s)

Median

The most frequently occurring score(s) of a distribution, is calculated by identifying the most frequently occurring number in a data set

Mode

The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution

Range

A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score. Large standard deviation means the data is more spread out, and small standard deviation means the data is closer together

Standard Deviation

Indicates that there is a larger concentration of data points on the right side with fewer extreme values on the left side

Negative Skew

The majority of the data cluster towards the left side with few significant values on the right, creating a tail

Positive Skew

Displays a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve

Normal Distribution

Its purpose is to test cause and effect and explain it

Experiment

(Cause). Variable that is manipulated by the experimenter. Ie: Antidepressent

Independent Variable

(Effect). The factor that may change in response to the independent variable. Ie: Depression

Dependent Variable

Group that does not receive the treatment

Control Condition

Outside factors that affect research

Confounding/Third Variables

After a sample is obtained, randomly assigning participants to experimental or control groups. This eliminates any bias or pre-existing differences

Random Assignment

A method of selecting participants for a study where every individual from the population has an equal chance of being chosen, ensuring that the sample group accurately represents the larger population being studied

Random Sampling

Carefully worded statement of the exact procedures used in a research study, allows for replication

Operational Definitions

Occurs when participants are blind, or uninformed about what treatment, if any, they are receiving

Single Blind

When neither the research staff or research participants know whether the research participant have received a treatment or a placebo

Double Blind

• Appropriate: Must be for a valid purpose

• Beneficial: For the greater good

• Caring: Food/water/shelter/protection from harm

Ethical Guidelines: Animal Experimentation

• Informed consent

• Protection from harm

• Debriefing

• Confidentiality

• Right to withdrawal

Ethical Guidelines: Human Experimentation

Non-experimental research where a researcher measures two or more variables and assesses the statistical relationship (correlation) between them and how they change together without establishing causation

Correlational Research

When one variable increases, the other also increases

Positive Correlation

Relationship between two variables where one variable increases as the other decreases, meaning they have an inverse relationship

Negative Correlation

No relationship between two variables, change in one does not affect the other

No Correlation

Compares different population groups at the same time. Ie: Studying men and women and measuring the relationship between sleep deprivation and stress levels among each group

Cross-Sectional Design

Measures the relationship between two variable within the same population over a long period of time

Longitudinal Study

The statistical description of how likely it was that something occurred by chance. If something is less than 5% likely that it occurred by chance, then it is statistically significant

Statistical Significance

• 68% of scores fall 1 standard deviation from the mean

• 95% of scores fall 2 standard deviation from the mean

• 99% of scores fall 3 standard deviation from the mean

Standard Deviation %

Depth cues available to both eyes separately

Monecular Depth Cues

Depth cues that depend on both eyes

Binocular depth cues

The slight difference between the right and left retinal images. The brain automatically combines the images when both eyes are open

Retinal Disparity

The cognitive process of selectively focusing your attention on one aspect of your environment while ignoring other things

Selective Attention

Ability to hear one specific voice amongst many others

Cocktail Party Effect

Intentional or conscious recollection of memory; deliberately trying to remember something. Located in hippocampus.

Explicit memories

The unconscious or automatic recall of information and skills without a conscious effort to retrieve it. Located in cerebellum.

Implicit Memories

A situational predicament in which people are or feel themselves to be at risk of conforming to stereotypes about their social groups

Stereotype Threat

When old information interferes with or blocks the retrieval of new information

Proactive Interference

When new information interferes with or blocks the retrieval of old information

Retroactive Interference

Inability to remember ongoing events after the incidence of trauma

Anterograde Amnesia

The inability to remember events that occurred before the incidence of trauma or the onset of disease that caused the memory loss

Retrograde Amnesia

Humans’ tendency to organize pieces of information into a meaningful whole

Gestalt Psychology

Perceptually filling gaps to create a complex project

Closure

Perception of patterns as smooth and continuous

Continuity

Grouping nearby figures together

Proximity

A tendency to approach a problem one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past

Mental Set

A tendency to search for information that supports our pre conceptions and to ignore info that contradicts our beliefs

Confirmation Bias

The improved recall of specific episodes or information when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same

Context Effects

Tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s mood

Mood Congruent

Memory retrieval is most efficient when an individual is in the same state of consciousness as they were when the memory was formed

State-Dependent Memory

Providing cues to stimulate memories

Priming

The tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions

Functional Fixedness

The trend of increasing intelligence scores as time passes

Flynn Effect

The accumulation of knowledge, facts, and skills that are acquired throughout life

Crystallized Intelligence

Ability to decipher information and make decisions which is more difficult at an old age

Fluid Intelligence