Exam 2 Final Exam Review - Evolution, Sensation & Perception, Memory

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from Evolution, Sensation & Perception, and Memory (Chs. 5-7 and Evolution module).

Charles Darwin

British naturalist who proposed natural selection as the mechanism of evolution; studied Galápagos finches.

Darwin's finches

Galápagos Island finches with varied beak shapes illustrating adaptation and natural selection.

Three tenets of evolution

Variation exists in populations; differential reproductive success; heredity transmits traits.

Epigenetic modification

Heritable changes in gene expression not due to DNA sequence changes.

Lamarck's theory

Acquired traits during life could be inherited by offspring.

Lamarck vs Darwin

Lamarck emphasizes acquired traits; Darwin emphasizes natural selection on heritable variation.

Humans' relation to chimps

Humans share a common ancestor with chimpanzees; not descended from chimps.

Adaptive behaviors

Behaviors that increase an organism's fitness in a given environment.

Imprinting

Rapid, early-life learning of attachments during a critical period.

Altruism

Behavior that benefits others at a cost to the actor; explained via inclusive fitness.

Sociobiology

Study of social behavior from an evolutionary perspective.

Reproductive strategies

Methods species use to maximize reproductive success (mating systems, parental investment).

Intrasexual selection

Competition within the same sex for access to mates.

Intersexual selection

Mate choice by the opposite sex influencing mating success.

Sensation

Process by which sensory receptors detect stimulus energy from the environment.

Perception

Process of organizing and interpreting sensory information to form meaningful experiences.

Transduction

Conversion of physical energy into neural signals.

Sensory coding

How the nervous system represents and encodes sensory information.

Absolute threshold

Minimum stimulus intensity detectable 50% of the time.

Just noticeable difference (JND)

Smallest detectable difference between two stimuli.

Weber's law

The JND is proportional to the magnitude of the initial stimulus.

Signal detection theory

Model describing detection of signals amid noise, considering sensitivity and criterion.

Light properties

Light energy characterized by wavelength (color) and amplitude (brightness/saturation).

Rods

Retinal photoreceptors that operate in low light and detect motion; not color.

Cones

Retinal photoreceptors for color and detail; function in bright light.

Cone types

Three types of cones (S, M, L) enabling color vision (trichromacy).

Bipolar cells

Retinal neurons that relay signals from photoreceptors to ganglion cells.

Ganglion cells

Retinal neurons whose axons form the optic nerve, transmitting visual information to the brain.

Trichromatic theory

Color vision theory proposing three cone types that detect red, green, blue wavelengths.

Opponent-process theory

Color processing occurs in opposing channels (red-green, blue-yellow, black-white).

Audition

Sense of hearing; perception of sound waves.

Cochlea

Fluid-filled inner ear structure where hair cells transduce sound to neural signals.

Hair cells

Auditory receptor cells in the cochlea that transduce mechanical vibrations into neural impulses.

Basilar membrane

Flexible cochlear membrane vibrated by sound; location encodes frequency.

Sound localization

Determining the direction of a sound using timing and intensity cues.

Vestibular system

Inner-ear balance system that helps with spatial orientation and balance.

Semicircular canals

Three fluid-filled arches detecting head rotation and angular motion.

Otolith organs

Saccule and utricle that detect linear acceleration and head tilts.

Somatosensory receptors

Skin receptors that detect touch, temperature, pain, and proprioception.

Somatosensory cortex map

Body map (somatotopy) in the primary somatosensory cortex.

Olfactory bulb

Brain structure that receives olfactory signals from receptors and relays to olfactory cortex.

Olfactory input

Olfactory receptors transmit signals to the olfactory bulb and cortex; strong limbic connections.

Dogs and olfaction

Animals like dogs have large olfactory bulbs, reflecting keen sense of smell.

Gustation

Sense of taste.

Taste buds

Groups of taste receptor cells on the tongue that detect tastants.

Taste map

There is no fixed taste map on the tongue; all regions can detect tastes.

Top-down processing

Perception driven by expectations, prior knowledge, and context.

Bottom-up processing

Perception driven by sensory input from the environment.

Gestalt principles

Perceptual organization rules (e.g., figure-ground, similarity, proximity).

Figure-ground

Perception of objects as separate from background.

Similarity

Objects with similar features are grouped together.

Proximity

Objects close to each other are perceived as a group.

Monocular cues

Depth cues accessible with one eye (e.g., relative size, linear perspective).

Binocular cues

Depth cues relying on both eyes (e.g., retinal disparity).

Convergence

Eye-muscle cue where inward turning indicates closeness of an object.

Perceptual constancies

Perceiving objects as constant in size, shape, and color under varying conditions.

Reflexes

Involuntary, automatic responses that are not learned.

Instincts

Innate, fixed patterns of behavior present in organisms.

Learning

Relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience.

Classical conditioning

Learning through association between a neutral stimulus and a reflex-eliciting stimulus.

Pavlov's procedure

Pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to create a conditioned response.

US/UR/CS/CR/NS

US: unconditioned stimulus; UR: unconditioned response; CS: conditioned stimulus; CR: conditioned response; NS: neutral stimulus.

Temporal contiguity

Timing between stimuli; closer timing yields stronger conditioning.

Taste aversion

Learning to avoid a food after a single harmful experience with it.

Aversion therapy

Therapy using negative associations to reduce undesirable behaviors.

Generalization

Transfer of a learned response to similar stimuli.

Little Albert

Child studied by Watson to demonstrate conditioned fear and stimulus generalization.

Thorndike

Psychologist who studied operant conditioning in puzzle-box experiments.

Law of Effect

Behavior followed by favorable consequences becomes more likely.

B.F. Skinner

Psychologist who formulated operant conditioning and studied reinforcement.

Reinforcement (positive/negative)

Positive: add a reward; Negative: remove something aversive to increase behavior.

Punishment (positive/negative)

Positive: add an aversive to decrease behavior; Negative: remove a pleasant to decrease behavior.

Token economy

System using tokens as rewards that can be exchanged for goods.

Schedules of reinforcement

Patterns of delivering reinforcement: fixed/variable ratio and fixed/variable interval.

Acquisition

Initial learning phase when the CS and US are paired leading to the CR.

Shaping

Gradually reinforcing successive approximations toward a desired behavior.

Extinction

Diminishing of a conditioned response when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US.

Spontaneous recovery

Reappearance of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a rest period.

Memory stages

Encoding, storage, and retrieval; the three primary stages of memory.

Hebb

Hebbian theory: neurons that fire together wire together; basis of synaptic plasticity.

Hippocampus

Brain structure essential for forming new memories; part of explicit memory system.

Cerebellum

Brain region involved in procedural memory and motor learning.

HM

Patient with medial temporal lobe damage that impaired explicit memory; revealed roles of hippocampus.

Sensory memory

Brief storage of sensory information just after perception.

Iconic memory

Visual sensory memory with brief retention (about 250 ms).

Echoic memory

Auditory sensory memory with brief retention (a few seconds).

Working/short-term memory

Active system for temporarily holding and manipulating information.

Primacy/Recency effects

Better recall of first (primacy) and last (recency) items in a sequence.

Long-term memory

Memory system for storage of information over extended periods.

Explicit memory

Conscious memory of facts and events (episodic and semantic).

Implicit memory

Unconscious memory, including procedural, conditioned, and priming effects.

Flashbulb memories

Vivid, detailed memories of emotionally charged events.

False memories

Inaccurate memories that feel real; can be influenced by suggestion.

Suggestibility

Influence of leading questions or suggestions on memory recall.

Recall vs recognition

Recall retrieves without cues; recognition identifies correct items among options.

Proactive interference

Earlier learning disrupts new information learning.

Retroactive interference

New learning disrupts recall of previously learned information.