psych final exam

characteristics of scientific explanations

empirical, rational, parsimonious, testable, general, tentative, and rigorous

why doesn’t correlation equal causation

it only tells us if two variables go up/down together; we can’t assume causality or directionality

empirical

numbers/quantities

rational

logical

parsimonious

simple rather than complex

testable

can’t be falsified

general

explanations shouldn’t apply to only a few restricted situations

tentative

better idea is presented; discarding of old theories

rigorous

two competing explanations and one can be shown to be correct

major descriptive statistics

mean, median, and mode

mean

average

median

middle of data

mode

most common value

which descriptive statistic should you use if the distribution isn’t symmetrical

median

hypothesis

testable statement that directs research

case study

studies of a single individual, group, or event

survey

asks people to report their behavior/opinions

naturalistic observation

describes behavior in the subject’s natural environment

flow of information within a neuron

in (dendrites) → integrate (cell body) → out (axon)

action potential

brief reversal of the electrical charge that travels down the axon

neurotransmission synthesis

neurotransmitter is built

neurotransmission storage

transmitter is put into synaptic vesicle; when action potential reaches the end of the axon it causes exocytosis; the neurotransmitter crosses and binds to a receptor, sending a message

exocytosis

vesicles move towards the synapse and release the neurotransmitter

what is the major brain area involved with forming new memories

hippocampus

dendrite

receives messages from other cells

axon

passes messages away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands

synapse

small space between a sending and receiving neuron

central nervous system

brain and spinal cord

peripheral nervous system

autonomic and somatic

somatic nervous system

controls voluntary movements of skeletal muscles

autonomic nervous system

controls self-regulated action of internal organs and glands

sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous system

sympathetic → arousing; parasympathetic → calming

frontal lobe

motor control; memory; language; cognition; personality; emotion

parietal lobe

sense of touch; attention; representation of space

temporal lobe

memory; language; hearing; object recognition; emotion

occipital lobe

vision

motor cortex

muscle control

sensory cortex

speech; convey emotion and thoughts

theory of evolution

living organisms have descended with modifications from species that lives before them through natural selection

sexual selection

picking a mate based on certain traits

chromosomes

threadlike structures made largely of DNA molecules

DNA

a spiraling, complex molecule containing genes

nucleotides

A,T,C, & G

natural selection

species who are not best adapted to survival and reproduction under local conditions become extinct

neural pruning

neurons with improper or weak connections die off

neural plasticity

the forming of new neural connections

evolutionary psychology

the study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection

interaction

the effect of one variable depends on another variable

sensation

understanding physical energy and transforming it into neural signals

perception

the organization and perception of sensations

rods

detect overall light level; only work at low light levels; don’t see in color

cones

see detail and color; need a lot of light to operate

dorsal processing stream

in parietal lobe; where/how; object location; visually guided movements; damage causes Balint’s syndrome → inability to use visual information

ventral processing stream

in temporal lobe; what; object identification; damage causes visual agnosia (difficulty identifying objects using visual information)

tonotopic theory

the pitch we hear is related to the place on the basilar membrane that is stimulated

attention

separates important and unimportant information; serves as gateway to conscious awareness

change blindness

failure to notice a conspicuous change in an object/scene

perceptual adaptation

the brain’s ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or inverted visual field

perceptual set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not the other

why is it important to identify upright faces

tells us about person’s age, gender, emotion, and fitness

retina

light sensitive inner surface; contains rods and cones; begind processing of visual information

pupil

absence of iris

lens

bends light

blind spot

point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye; no receptor cells

parallel processing

simultaneous processing of several aspects of a problem simultaneously

interposition

objects blocking our view are closer to us than the objects being blocked

stereopsis

perception of relative depth using binocular vision

retinal disparity

difference in retinal position between objects seen by each eye

agnosia

failure to recognize an object/class of objects due to brain damage

prosopagnosia

inability to recognize faces due to damage of inferotemporal cortex

insomnia

trouble falling and staying asleep

narcolepsy

falling asleep all the time

sleep apnea

temporarily stopped breathing

parasomnia

abnormal behavior while sleeping

REM without atonia

acting out dreams

tolerance

need more of the drug to get the same effect

abuse

drug use for the psychological and behavioral changes it produces aside from its therapeutic effects

dependence

desire manifested by frequently seeking out and taking the drug; can’t stop taking the drug no matter the consequences

which form of drug dependence involves withdrawal

physical

depressants

drugs that calm neural activity and slow body functions

stimulants

drugs that excite neural activity/arouse body function

hallucinogens

drugs that distort perceptions and create sensory images without sensory input

cataplexy

paralysis; loss of all muscle tone

psychoactive

drugs that change perceptions and moods

withdrawal

muscle aches, cramps, anxiety, sweating, nausea, convulsions, and death caused by absence of drugs

classical conditioning

a neutral stimulus signals the occurrence of a meaningful stimulus and begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for the meaningful stimulus

operant conditioning

a response and its consequences

UCR

stimulus that naturally and automatically produces a response

UCR

the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the UCS

CS

an originally irrelevant stimulus that begins to produce a response after association with the UCS

CR

the learned response to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus

major phases of classical conditioning

acquisition, extinction, and spontaneous recovery

acquisition

phase of classical conditioning in which the neutral stimulus is associated with an unconditioned stimulus so that the CS produces a conditioned response

extinction

phase of classical conditioning in which the CS is presented by itself without the UCS and the CR declines

spontaneous recovery

phase of classical conditioning in which the CR reappears after a period of time in which the CS does not occur

operant conditioning

associating behavior with its consequences

law of effect

rewarded behavior is likely to reoccur

primary reinforcer

an innately reinforcing stimulus; satisfies a biological need

secondary reinforcer

gains its reinforcing power through association with a primary reinforcer

positive reinforcement

adding something good