psych exam II

proximity

Which Gestalt principle holds that objects physically close to each other tend to be perceived as unified wholes?

bottom up processing

The mental procedure that we use to create a whole by perceiving its parts is called

color constancy

The fact that you can recognize your red jacket in both bright light and shadow is an example of the effect of

subliminal presentation

Your amazing psychology professor uses a PowerPoint presentation while lecturing. In the lecture your professor has embedded slides that flash on the screen so quickly that you are not consciously aware they are there. The slides say “study” “long” “study” “hard.” This is an example of using ___________ presentation in hopes that it will impact behavior.

illusory correlation

Juan believes in ESP because one day he was walking down the street thinking of his friend Julio, when Julio suddenly turned the corner, literally running into Juan. Juan immediately thought, “It must be ESP”. This is an example of 

sensory adaptation

You enter a room and there is a low hum coming from a fan in the ceiling. After a few minutes you no longer notice the hum unless someone mentions it to you. You have experienced

transduction

__________ is the process by which the nervous system converts an external stimulus (such as sound waves or light energy) into electrical signals within neurons.

signal detection theory

Which theory addresses signal-to-noise ratio as a fundamental element of understanding perception?

dichotic listening

To test his theory that attention passes through a mental filter that gives priority to important information, Donald Broadbent used __________, an experimental technique in which listeners hear different messages in each ear.

binding problem

You are watching as a red ball bounces toward you. The fact that your brain perceives that the object is round and that it is red and that it is approaching you in a bouncing motion is called

links between biology and behavior

what is biological psychology

peripheral and central

what are the two types in the nervous system

brain and spinal cord

what is in the central nervous system

somatic/skeletal and autonomic

what is in the peripheral part of the nervous system

skeletal, voluntary movement

what is the somatic part of the nervous system

self regulated action of organ: sympathetic (arousing) and parasympathetic (calming)

what is the autonomic part of the nervous system

fight or flight, heart rate increases

whats sympathetic

calming, rest and digest, slows heart rate and stimulates digestion

whats parasympathetic

in central + peripheral nervous system, governs muscle coordination, nerve cells, memory, learning, excitatory or inhibitory influence on neurons, inactivated by enzymes in cleft

what is acetylcholine

regulates heart, breathing, body temp, blood pressure, arousal and mood, excitatory and inhibitory, regulates brain function, 95% undergoes reuptake

what is norepinephrine

main neurotransmitter, controls mood, energy, feelings of pleasure, addiction, affected by psychoactive drugs, released in large quantities by exercise and sex, little amount of dopamine equals depression and unfulfillness

what is dopamine

responsible for 5 senses, sleep, aggresive behavior, eating, and hunger, action stopped by reuptake, high levels equals sleepiness, levels low equal aggression and violence, depression may be from wrong amount

serotonin

opiod neuropeptides, helps handle pain, anxiety, stress, gives comfort, feels good, natural high, released during acupuncture, exercise, play with pets, morphone like chemical which can be replaced by morphone and heroin

endorphines

dopamine

contributes to voluntary movement control

which neurotransmittor is associated with alzheimers disease

acetylcholine, because its important in memory and learning

norepinephrine and serotonin

depression disorders are associated with dysregulation

endorphines

resemble opiate drugs

serotonin

prozac and similar antidepressant drugs affect which circuit, involved in regulation of sleep and eating

dysregulation of serotonin leads to

eating disorders (cuz it affects 5 senses, sleep, eating)

dopamine

plays key role in Reward Pathways, implicated in addictive disorders

dysregulation of dopamine leads to

parkinsons disease and schizophrenia

serotonin

which neurotransmitter is involved in mood regulation and linked to depression

acetylcholine

which neurotransmitter plays role in muscle movement and memory, learning

norepinephrine

which neurotransmitter is involved in alertness and fight or flight and affects brain where attention and impulsivity are controlled

endorphins

pain relief, pleasure

schizophrenia

too much dopamine equals

parkinsons disease

little dopaline equals

depression and anxiety

medications that increase serotonin levels treat what

neuron

nerve cell, basic building block of nervous system

EEG (electroencephalograph)

reading waves of electrical activity in brain with electrodes on scalp

CT Scan

x ray with multiple angles to see brain structure

MRI

magnetic field and radio waves to generate images of structures of brain

PET scan (positron emission tomography)

visual activity of brain with injected radioactive glucose while performing task, looks for color

fMRI (functional MRI)

pet scan + mri, magnetic field to visualize brain structure and measure blood oxygen change for brain activity

default mode network DMN

brain being active with spontaneous thoughts, daydreaming, mindwandering

Franz Jospeh Gall

A falsified technique for “mapping” areas of the brain is called phrenology and was founded by

glucose injection to see brain activity

PET scans are dependent on activated cells in the brain increasing their intake of ___________ when they are active.

blood oxygen levels

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measures changes in __________, which indirectly indicate neural activity.

MEG (brain activity really quick but uses magnetic field)

As a researcher, if you needed to track brain changes over milliseconds (1/1000 of a second), the imaging technology you would most likely choose would be

corpus callosum

Which of the following is responsible for transferring information from one side of the brain to the other, and when cut, prevents information from the visual field on one side from reaching the visual cortex on the other side?

cell body

keeps life of cell, contains nucleus, renewal of cell components

dendrites

branches that receive messages sent in body and pass to cell body

axon

cell phone transmitters, send messages to other neurons

axon terminal

ending, stores neurotransmittors temporarily

signal arrives then it releases neurotransmittors

chemical messengers neurons use to communicate

synapse

where communication takes place, interferance between 2 neurons or neuron and cell

synaptic cleft

gap where neurotransmitters are released from axon terminal

glial cell

involved in thought, memory, immune system, plays role in formation of myelin, responds to injury, facilitate comms, enhance memory and learning, and brain trash can

myelin sheath

insulates axon, speeds up message, fatty lipid

threshold of excitation

electric charge in neuron is high enough relative to outside, triggers electric impulse called action potention, and rest potential is when neuron isnt doing much (opposite of excitation)

absolute refractory period

brief interval where action potential cant occur, can only happen when membrane resests to resting membrane potential

axon

which of the following is the portion of a neuron that sends a signal to other neurons?

resting potential

When a neuron is neither being stimulated nor inhibited, the neuron is described as having a(n)

neuropeptide

Endorphins are a type of __________, short strings of amino acids that are narrowly targeted to perform a specific job. For instance, endorphins specialize in reducing pain.

plasticity

When you learn something new, a new pathway is actually built and reinforced in the brain. This change in the brain is called

gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)

Alcohol and antianxiety drugs both increase __________ activity, which is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter.

temporal lobe

Which part of the brain is used for hearing, understanding language, and storing memories, and is separated from the rest of the cortex by the lateral fissure?

autonomic nervous system

Which part of the peripheral nervous system controls involuntary actions of internal organs and glands?

pons

What is the name for the part of the brain stem connecting the cortex to the cerebellum?

thalamuc

The __________ is a relay station for the senses.

stomach slows digestion

Which of the following responses is created by the sympathetic nervous system, which is active during the fight-or-flight response?

DNA; chromosomes

Genes are composed of __________ that is/are arranged on __________.

central nervous system

Sensory information comes into which part of the two-way nervous system “superhighway”?

has a better chance of passing on its genes

In evolutionary terms, “fitness” means that an organism __________ than other organisms in its environment.

parasympathetic

You have just had a nice dinner and are nodding off on the sofa. At this time, which part of your nervous system is going to work?

split brain surgery

What event affecting the brain can cause bizarre behavioral outcomes, such as the extreme example of one hand refusing to cooperate with the other, as in the case of the man whose left hand turned off the television and hit his family members?

are not yet specialized for a specific function.

The reason stem cells are so interesting to researchers is that stem cells

dendrites destroyed by alcohol

What part of the neuron appears to be damaged or destroyed by alcohol?

midbrain

Which of the following brain structures is part of the brain stem?

medulla, pons, cerebellum, oldest part of brain to develop

what is the hindbrain

cortisol

Located on top of the kidneys, the adrenal glands release adrenaline and __________ during times of emotional arousal.

neurogenesis (new neurons generating?)

As recently as two decades ago, scientists believed we were born with all the neurons we would ever have. But the discovery of __________ occurring in certain brain areas in monkeys gave rise to the hope that someday scientists will be able to induce the adult human brain to heal itself.

neuropsychologist

Horace has had a head injury. A scientist meets with him to use sophisticated tests to examine his reason, attention, and verbal and spatial abilities to determine what parts of the brain have been injured. The scientist Horace met with is

testosterone

Women’s bodies produce about one-twentieth the amount of which hormone compared to men’s bodies?

mri better than CT SCANNNN which is xray of structure of brain

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses magnetic fields to measure the release of energy from water in biological tissues. MRI is better than __________ for detecting soft tissues, such as brain tumors.

cerebellum

The central nervous system is organized into various areas. Which structure controls balance and coordinates fine or precise movements?

monozygotic

Twin studies work best when using identical or __________ twins, because these twins share all of their genetic material in common.

sympathetic nervous system fight or flight

When Angel is crossing the street, a car comes speeding at him and almost hits him. Angel’s body prepares him for fight-or-flight. The part of Angel’s system that is preparing his body for the danger is the __________ nervous system.

reaction range

Identify the term that behavioral geneticists use to describe the extent to which genes limit how much a trait can change in response to new environments.

oxytocin ??

During an experiment investigating the effects of hormones on behavior, men who were exposed to a certain chemical in a nasal spray were more likely to give money to a team partner during a risky investment game. That chemical was

spinal cord

Which structure extends from the brain down to the middle of our backs and contains everything needed for a reflex response?

synaptic cleft (gap)

As neurotransmitters exit the sending axon and before passing into the receiving dendrite, they must pass through the

100 percent

A popular notion is that people only use about 10 percent of their brains and that the remaining 90 percent has untapped potential. In fact, researchers now know that we use more of our brains than previously thought. The true brain use percentage is closer to

vast oversimplifications based on a small nugget of truth

There is a popular idea that people are either “left-brained” (scholarly, logical, analytical) or “right-brained” (artistic, creative, emotional). The authors of the text note that these claims are 

glutamate

If you wanted to rapidly excite neurons, you would drop __________ into the synapses of cells.

broca’s speech

Research has found that a single area of the brain can have multiple functions. Which brain area plays a role in speech and also lets us know when a musical note is off key?

degrading myelin sheath

In people with multiple sclerosis, the degradation of the __________ causes neural messages to become scrambled, creating many physical and emotional symptoms.

what does it do and where is the frontal lobe

front, motor function, language, decision making, some memory, organize other brain functioning (executive functioning)

what does it do and where is the pituary gland

hormones, control s growth metabolism, blood pressure

what does it do and where is the temporal lobe

ear area, hearing, understanding language, forming new concious memories, seperated by lateral fissure