KEY TERMS AP PSYCH FINAL

John Locke

founder of Empiricism; knowledge from experience

Wilhelm Wundt

"father of psychology", first to create psychological lab; introspection, a structuralist

Structuralism

examine own feelings -\> understand structure of mind, individual parts

William James

first psych textbook, founder of functionalism

Functionalism

the purpose of behavior/how indivi structures work together to help us adapt or survive

Mary Whiton Calkins

APA's first female pres. Memory research

Margaret Floy Washburn

first female to get a psychology PhD, animal research

John B Watson

Behaviorism: observe how people behave; behaviors aren't mental processes

Hypothalamus

autonomic functions for homeostasis (temp, eat, drink), influences pituitary gland, emotion/reward center

Pituitary Gland

influenced by the hypothalamus, regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands, releases hormones into the bloodstream

Medulla

part of the brainstem, heartbeat, breathing, autonomic actions

Reticular Formation

nerve network in the brainstem, controls arousal and consciousness/awareness

Pons

relaxation and sleep

Cerebellum

"little brain", balance and motor control

Thalamus

directs sense signals from the body and into the brain on where to go to be processed

Broca's Area

mouth movement, speaking

Wernicke's Area

gives meaning to words/understanding language

Acetylcholine (ACH)

excitatory, muscle contraction, memory, Alzheimer's

Dopamine

inhibitory; pleasure, Parkinson's, Schizophrenia

Serotonin

inhibitory, affects mood/emotion, hunger, sleep and arousal

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)

an inhibitory neurotransmitter, (usually associated with a calming effect), regulates the daily sleep/wake, eating disorders cycles, slows down movement

Glutamate

an excitatory neurotransmitter that stimulate nerve cells (involved in long term memory, learning),

CT Scan

a computerized scan, create pictures, rotating x ray machines, structure, locate dmg

MRI Scan

uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to create a more detailed image of the inside

fMRI

detects which areas of the brain is active by looking at changes in blood flow

PET Scan

checks for diseases (function) and uses radioactive tracers/dye

EEG Scan

electrodes attached to scalp to record the electrical signals; good for sleep/seizure research, for function; diagnosing brain disorders and treating them

Sensory Neurons

afferent (body part -\> CNS) feeling

Motor Neurons

efferent (CNS -\> body part) physical response

Resting potential

positive ions outside, negative ions inside (depolarization inside becomes more positive)

Agonists

mimics the neurotransmitter

Antagonists

blocks the cell's response or decreases the effect

Somatic Nervous System

controls voluntary movement

Autonomic Nervous System

operate unconsciously*heart beating, digesting food, breathing

Sympathetic Nervous System

uses up energy; alert and ready to take action

Parasympathetic Nervous System

calms + relaxes the body after a stressful situation, conserves energy

Thyroid Gland

controls metabolism, glucose -\> energy

Pineal Gland

sleep/wake cycle, secretes melatonin

Right Hemisphere

controls the left side of your body (visual and movement), based on senses

Left Hemisphere

speaking, verbal, language

Order of largest to smallest genetics

Genomes \> Chromosomes \> DNA \> Genes

Identical Twins

single fertilized egg -\> splits into two by single sperm

Alpha Waves

slow brain waves during NREM 1, person is awake but relaxed

NREM-2

sleep spindles (rapid brain wave movement), asleep but can still be easily woken

NREM-3

delta waves (slow large), deep sleep, wetting

Manifest Content

symbolic remembered version of the latent content

Latent Content

is what the Manifest content represents, the hidden meaning

Depressants

drugs that slow activity in the NS (ex: alcohol, tranquilizers, opiates)

Stimulants

drugs that speed up NS (ex: cocaine, ecstasy, caffeine, nicotine)

Hallucinogens

drugs that create images w/o sensory input (ex: LSD, Ecstasy, Marijuana)

Sensory Adaptation

tendency of sensory receptor cells to become less responsive to a stimulus that is unchanging

Perceptual Set

a set of expectations and assumptions that affect how we perceive things that we sense

Wavelength

determines hue

Amplitude

brightness/loudness

Rods

retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray

Cones

retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory

the theory that the retina contains three different color receptors—one most sensitive to red, one to green, one to blue—which, when stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any color.

Opponent-Process Theory

the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green; Afterimages

Perceptual Constancy

a top down process that allows us to recognize objects despite its changes in color, brightness, shape or size.

Perceptual Adaptation

the ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

Prosopagnosia

complete sensation in the absence of complete perception

Correct order of structures as light passes through the eye (cornea, iris, pupil, lens, retina)

Frequency

determines pitch

Place Theory

Hermann Von Helmholtz; pitches depend on where the cochlea is stimulated by sound waves; only explains how we hear high pitched sounds

Frequency Theory

the pitch is determined by the frequency of neural impulses traveling up the auditory nerve; best explains low pitches; problem: we can hear sounds with frequencies 1000+ waves per second but a neuron cannot fire 1000+ times per second

Volley Principle

multiple neurons can alternate firing and resting, all neurons fire at the same time 1000+ waves per second

Conduction Hearing Loss

sound waves are unable to get through the outer and middle ear; muffled

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

damaged cochlear hair receptor cells, inner ear damage

Kinesthesia

ability to sense position/movement of our body

Vestibular Sense

our sense of balance

Higher Order Conditioning

occurs when a strong conditioned stimulus is paired with a neutral stimulus, causing the neutral stimulus to become a second conditioned stimulus (often weaker)

Shaping

the reinforcement of closer and closer approximations of a desired response

Cognitive Map

a mental representation of the layout of one's environment

Latent Learning

learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it

Fixtation

thinking from one point of view, inability to approach a situation from different perspectives

"Working Memory (short-term memory)

" a new form of short term memory focusing on conscious and incoming auditory and visual information and information retrieved from long term memory storage

"Explicit memory (declarative memory)

" facts and experiences that you know for sure and your memory of them

effortful processing

" processing/encoding of memory that requires a lot of continuous effort and attention

"Implicit memory (nondeclarative memory)

" a type of long term memory that can affect your thought processes and behavior, independent from conscious thought (can be used and acquired unconsciously)

automatic processing

" automatic and unconscious processing of incidental information (ex: meanings of words, time, space, frequency)

"Mnemonics

" a learning technique that aids a person in retrieving memory or retaining it usually including imagery and devices

""Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

" After rapid but brief stimulation, the cell's firing potential will increase (recall, recognition, relearn)

"Priming

" when exposed to a stimulus, you unconsciously respond to that specific stimuli and the stimuli following/after that event, it activates specific associations to memories

Anterograde amnesia

means not being able to create new memories

retrograde amnesia

means not being able to recall past memories.

"Proactive Interference

" when old memories disrupt your ability to encode and retrieve new information, usually when your past experiences contradict or is too similar to new information

"Retroactive interference

" when new memories/when you learn something new disrupts your ability to remember something from the past/something you previously learned

Reconsolidation

an original memory is replaced with a memory that is similar to the original but slightly different or modified.

"Prototypes

" the best example or mental image of a category

"Convergent thinking

" a type of thinking where you can narrow down all available solutions in order to determine the best solution out of all options

"Divergent thinking

" a more free and unstructured way to problem solve; doesn't single out options to solutions but instead expands on them

"Algorithms

" systems of instruction that can help someone accomplish a task or problem and provides solutions

"Heuristics

" a strategy for thinking that is much more simpler and quicker than algorithms but also more prone to error

"Mental Set

" the tendency to only approach a problem in a specific way because it worked in the past

"Representative heuristic

" being more likely to judge things based on how well they match specific prototypes

"Availability heuristic

" estimating the likelihood of events based on how mentally available they are

"Phonemes

" the smallest distinctive sound unit of language (ex; c, a, t)

"Morphemes

" the smallest unit in the language that also carries meaning for a word (boy, boyish, etc.)

"Binet's Mental Age

" a concept that looks at how well an individual of a specific age performed on an intellectual level and compares it to the average performance of other people their age.

"Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

" In order to calculate you would need to divide your mental age by your actual age and then multiply that by 100