Psychology Midterm

Neuron Resting State

-70 milivolts

EEG (electroencephalogram)

Records electrical activity in the brain through electrodes placed on the outside of the skull

fMRI ( Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging)

Provides a detailed, 3D computer-generated image of the brain structures and activity by aiming a powerful magnetic field at the brain or other parts of the body

PET (Positron Emission Topography)

Shows biochemical activity in the brain at a given moment. Radioactive liquid is injected into the bloodstream, which makes it’s way to the brain, locating which regions are more active through how fast the blood is flowing into them.

TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation)

Uses magnetic fields to produce an understanding of the function of the brain

Acetylcholine

Involved in muscle movement and cognitive functions

Glutamate

Used for memory

Dopamine

Used for movement, control, pleasure, reward, attention

Endorphins

Used for pain suppression, pleasure, appetites, placebos

Serotonin

Sleeping, eating, mood, pain, depression

GABA

Eating, aggression, sleeping

The Central Core (old brain)

Controls basic functions like eating, sleeping

The limbic system

Consists of the amygdala and hippocampus

Temporal lobe

Houses the primary auditory area, Wernike’s area, and the auditory association area. Involved in hearing, language, processing, memory.

Occipital lobe

Responds to visual stimuli, processes information about aspects of visual stimuli like color, shape, motion

Frontal Lobe

Involved in personality, intelligence, control of voluntary muscles

Parietal Lobe

Registers spatial location, attention, and motor control. Helps with integration between lobes and other parts of the brain.

Prosopagnosia

The neurological disorder that impairs a person’s ability to perceive or recognize faces, also known as face blindness

Absolute Threshold of Sensation

The minimum stimulation needed to register a particular stimulus fifty percent of the time

Signal detection theory

A model for predicting how and when a person will detect weak stimuli, partly based on context

Weber’s law

A noticeable difference is a constant proportion of the intensity of an initial stimulus (rather than a constant amount)

Sensation

Refers to the activation of sense organs

Perception

Psychological responds to how stimuli are interpreted

Visual spectrum

The range of wavelengths that is visible to the human eye (the colors you can see)

Shorter wavelengths

Violets, blues, greens

Longer wavelengths

Yellows, oranges, reds

Behaviorism

A science focused on observable behaviors and NOT unobservable internal mental processes

Associative learning

When a subject links certain events, behaviors, or stimuli together in the process of conditioning

Classical conditioning

A type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events. Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior that is brought about by experience

Positive reinforcement

a stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens response. (Getting candy after doing well on a test)

Negative reinforcement

, is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (Losing your phone after failing a test, encourages you to study for the next test)

Reinforcer

Any stimulus that increases the probability that a preceding behavior will occur again

Albert Bandura

Performed the bobo doll experiment in 1965

Habituation

The decrease in a response to a stimulus that occurs after repeated presentations of the same stimulus

Neutral Stimulus

A stimulus that, before conditioning does not naturally bring about the response in which we are interested

Unconditioned stimulus

A stimulus that naturally brings about a particular response without having been learned (like instincts)

Extinction

Occurs when a previously conditioned response decreases in frequency and eventually disappears

Spontaneous Recovery

The reemergence of an extinguisher conditioned response after a period of time with no further conditioning

Stimulus generalization

A process in which after a stimulus has been conditioned to produce a particular response, other stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus produce the same response (ex: being afraid of all white fast-moving objects after being repeatedly attacked by a white dog)

Operant Conditioning

Learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened, depending on the response’s favorable or unfavorable consequences

Cognitive Learning Theory

Learning in terms of the thought processes, or cognitions, that underlie it. Focuses on how people think

Latent learning

A new behavior is learned but not demonstrated until some incentive is provided for displaying it

Fixed-ratio Schedule

Reinforcement is given only after a specific number of responses

Variable-ratio Schedule

Behaviors are reinforced after an average number of responses, but exactly when reinforcement will occur is unpredictable

Variable-interval schedule

The time between reinforcements varies around some average rather than being fixed

Fixed-interval schedule

The time between reinforcements varies around some average rather than being fixed

Encoding

The initial process of recoding information in a form usable to memory. The first step into remembering something

Storage

The maintenance of material saved in memory

Retrieval

Material in memory storage has to be located and brought into awareness to be useful. The final stage of memory

Memory

The process by which we encode, store, and retrieve information

Sensory memory

The initial, momentary storage of information that only lasts between .25 and 3 seconds. Very high in detail and precision, but only for a quick moment

Iconic memory

Information from the visual system, or what you see

Echoing memory

Stores auditory information coming from the ears

Short-term memory

Holds information for 15-25 seconds and stores it according to its meaning, rather than mere sensory stimulation. Can hold between 5-9 “chunks” of information. Has incomplete representational capabilities. Where information first has meaning.

Chunk

A group or separate pieces of information stored as a single unit in short-term memory

Long-term memory

Information is stored long-term memory on a relatively permanent basis, although may be difficult to retrieve

Memory modules

Part of long-term memory, represents a separate memory system in the brain

Declarative memory

A memory module, memory for factual information: names, faces, dates, facts. Can be verbally communicated to others and is sometimes called “explicit memory”

Semantic memory

Part of declarative memory, memory for general knowledge and facts about the world (referred to sometimes as the almanac of facts in your brain)

Episodic memory

Part of declarative memory, Memory for events that occur in a particular time, place, or context (can be surprisingly detailed)

Procedural memory

Refers to memory for skills and habits. Sometimes called the non declarative memory, or implicit memory

Spreading activation

Activating one memory triggers the activation of related memories

Rehearsal

The repetition of information that has entered short-term memory. As long as we repeat the information, we lengthen the time it is maintained in short-term memory. Allows us to transfer the information into long-term memory

Elaborative Rehersal

Occurs when the information is considered and organized in some fashion

Mnemonics

Are strategies for organizing information in a way that makes the information more likely to be remembered

Working memory

The memory system that holds information temporarily while actively manipulating and rehearsing that information

Central executive

Part of the working memory, processor that is involved in reasoning, decision making, and planning. Integrated and coordinated information from three distinct subsystems and determines what we pay attention to and what we ignore

Visual store

Part of the central executive, specializes in visual and spatial information

Verbal store

Part of the central executive, holds and manipulates material corresponding to language, including speech, words, and numbers

Episodic buffer

Part of the central executive, contains information that represents events and occurrences - things that happen to us

Engram

The term for the physical memory trace in the brain that corresponds to a memory

Hippocampus

Helps to consolidate memories, stabilizing them after they are initially acquired

Cerebral cortex

Where information is stored, passed by the hippocampus

Amygdala

Memories involving emotion

Primary effect

The term used to describe the reason for why someone might only be able to recall the first part of something (like only being able to recall the first few items on a grocery list)

Recency effect

The reason why items at the end of a list may be memorized (like only remembering the last few items on a grocery list)

Semantic networks

Mental representations of clusters of interconnected information

Cognitive Psychology

The branch of psychology that focuses on higher mental processes, including thinking, language, memory, problem solving, knowing, reasoning, judging, and decision making

Thinking

Brain activity in which we mentally manipulate information, including words, visual images, sounds, or other data. Transforms information into new and different forms, allowing us to answer questions, make decisions, solve problems, or make plans.

Mental images

Representations in the mind of an object or event

Concepts

Mental groupings of similar objects, events, or people. Enables us to organize complex phenomena into cognitive categories that are easier to understand and remember

Prototypes

Typical, highly representative examples of a concept that corresponds to our mental image or best example of the concept. The prototype of a concept like dog would be beagle, rather than an obscure breed.

Reasoning

The process by which information is used to draw conclusions and make decisions

Deductive reasoning

Reasoning from the general to the specific. From a general hypothesis to a specific answer, narrowing things down

Inductive reasoning

Reasoning from the specific to the general. Using observations from a small group to be able to generalize for a whole population

Algorithm

A rule that, if applied appropriately, guarantees a solution to the problem

Heuristic

A thinking strategy that may lead us to the solution to a problem or decisoj, but may sometimes lead to errors

Availability heuristic

We judge the likelihood of an event occurring based on how easily we can recall examples of the event

Familiarity heuristic

Leads us to prefer familiar objects, people, and things to those that are unfamiliar or strange to us

Present bias

The tendency to more heavily weigh options that are closer to the present than ones farther away. (Ex: accepting $150 dollars now opposed to accepting $180 in a month)

Structuralism

Uncovering the fundamental mental components of perception, consciousness, thinking, emotions and other kinds of mental states and activities. Involves introspection, which is looking in on one’s own self.

Functionalism

The function of behavior. Why we feel, smell, taste. The specific why about certain things.

Psychoanalysis

Your personality is shaped by subconscious motives. We are all affected by mental processes that we are unaware of. Uses free association, or talking freely about whatever comes to mind

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and the mental processes

Experimental psychology

Studying the processes of sensing, perceiving, learning, thinking about the world

Developmental psychology

Studies how people grow and change from the moment of conception through death

Personality psychology

The consistency of people’s behaviors across their lives as well as the traits that differentiate one person from another

Health psychology

Explores the relationship between psychological factors and physical ailments. Like schizophrenia or depression

Clinical psychology

The study, treatment, diagnosis of physiological disorders

Counseling psychology

Focuses primarily on educational, social, and career adjustments problems