Psychological Research and Cognitive Psychology

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts from the lecture notes on psychological research and cognitive psychology.

Psychological Phenomena

Events or behaviors regarding how individuals think, feel, or behave.

Epistemology

The study of knowledge, including its nature, sources, and limits.

Psychological Phenomena

Events or behaviors regarding how individuals think, feel, or behave.

Epistemology

The study of knowledge, including its nature, sources, and limits.

Introspection

The examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings.

Behaviorism

A theoretical perspective that focuses only on observable behaviors and disregards mental processes.

Cognitive Revolution

A shift in psychology during the 1950s and 1960s that emphasized studying mental processes.

Neural Plasticity

The ability of the brain to change and adapt as a result of experience.

All-or-None Law

A principle stating that a neuron either fires completely or does not fire at all.

Cognitive Map

A mental representation of physical locations; demonstrated by Tolman's maze experiments with rats.

Gestalt Psychology

A theory of psychology that emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than its parts.

Neuroimaging Techniques

Methods used to visualize structures and functions of the brain, including MRI and fMRI.

Perceptual Constancy

The perception of objects as unchanging despite changes in sensory input.

Face Recognition

The specialized ability to recognize individuals' faces, often tied to specific brain structures.

Feature Detection

The ability of the brain to identify specific elements of a stimulus, such as lines and angles.

Bottom-Up Processing

Processing that begins with sensory input, where perceptions are built from the smallest pieces of sensory information.

Top-Down Processing

Processing that utilizes context and prior knowledge to perceive and interpret sensory information.

Selectivity of Attention

The capacity to focus on a specific stimulus while ignoring others.

Divided Attention

The ability to process multiple inputs simultaneously, often leading to decreased efficiency.

Executive Control

The management of cognitive processes, such as planning, focusing attention, and suppressing responses.

Agnosia

A condition characterized by the inability to recognize familiar objects despite intact perception.

Inattentional Blindness

Failure to notice a prominent stimulus because attention is directed elsewhere.

Change Blindness

The phenomenon where a change in a visual stimulus is not noticed by the observer.

Cerebral Cortex

The outer layer of the brain, responsible for complex thought processes.

Contralateral Organization

The principle that each hemisphere of the brain controls the opposite side of the body.

Synaptic Transmission

The process by which neurotransmitter signals are sent from one neuron to another across a synapse.