Psychology test 1

Hippocampus

processes memories and sends them to other areas for storage

Charles spearman

factor analysis: statistical technique to measure a bunch of different abilities *general intelligent, g

William Wundt

Father of psychology, Structuralism: Broke consciousness down into smaller parts; the "what?"

William James

American father of psychology, Functionalism: how behavior works to help people function or adapt; the "Why?"

Evolutionary perspective

Behavior are adaptations to help with survival. Pass our genes (Darwin)

Biological perspective

Brain, nervous system, genes, hormones influence behavior (no father)

Behaviorist perspective

Observable behavior (Watson & Skinner) Rewards & punishment = conditioning

Psychoanalytic/ psychodynamic perspective

Behavior and thinking determined by irrational drives. Id/ego/superego (Sigmund Freud)

Humanistic perspective

People have freewill, personal growth and needs (Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow)

Cognitive perspective

Thoughts/thinking patterns, ABC method (Jean Piaget and Albert Ellis)

Descriptive research

"get a sense", can't be used for conclusions about cause and effect

Interneuron

Neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate and intervene between sensory and motor

Mirror Neuron

Imitation; empathy and understanding of others

Soma

cell body; nucleus

Axon

where messages pass to other neurons, muscles and glands

Resting potential

neuron is not firing

Depolarization

reduces resting potential by becoming positively charged

Action potential

neuron fires

Norepinephrine

alertness, arousal, mood, heart rate/appetite.. malfunction: Depression

Glutamate

memory and learning (excitatory) malfunction: migraines

Medulla

where spinal cord enters skull, control blood pressure, heart rate and breathing

Pons

sleep and arousal, connects midbrain and hindbrain, controls facial expressions and coordinate movement

Bansal Ganglia

habitual movements, damage can cause unwanted movement

frontal lobe

phineas gage, responsible for speaking, muscle movement, aspects of the personality and judgement

Wernicke's area

left temporal lobe/ controls language comprehension

EEG

detects brain waves, used commonly in slEEp research

rMRI

brain ACTIVITY

encoding

semantic-meaning of words

acoustic-sounds of waves

visual-picture images

working memory

part of short term memory that focuses more on the temp holding of info

semantic memory

memories of facts, concepts , names and general knowledge

context dependent memory

putting yourself back in the context where you experience / studied something can prime your memory retrieval

memory construction

we filter information and fill in missing pieces

hindsight bias

the tendency to report falsely after the fact, that we accurately predicted the outcome

Heritability

a measure of how much of a trait is explained by genetic facotors

lingustic relativity hypothesis

linguistic determination / Whorfian hypothesis - benjamin whorfian

Sociocultural perspective

How we differ in cultures, how our beliefs and values influence behavior (Lev Vygotsky)

Survey Method

Surveys, questionnaires, self reports

Case study method

in depth investigation

Correlation studies

looking for a relationship between 2 variables

Longitudinal method

a type of research in which the same people are studied over a long time period

Cross sectional method

a method of research that looks at different age groups at the same time in order to understand changes that occur during the life span

Independent variable

manipulated

Dependent variable

what gets measured

Confederate

actor "in on" experiment

Within participant design

subjects act as a control group

Quasi experimental

impossible / unethical

Phineas Gage

frontal lobe destroyed, personality change

Nervous system

regulates body functions, control emotions, movements, thinking and behavior

Peripheral Nervous system

Sensory and motor neurons that branch out from the spina cord

Somatic Nervous system

voluntary

Autonomic Nervous System

automatic; controls heartbeat, digestion, glandular

Sypathetic Nervous System

fight or flight

Parasympathetic Nervous System

Rest and digest

Neuron

Nerve cell, building block of nervous system

Sensory (Afferent) Neuron

take info sensory receptor to the brain and spinal cord (arrive)

Motor (efferent) Neuron

Outgoing info from the brain and spinal cord (leave)

Dendrites

receive message and conduct impulses toward the cell body (listeners)

Terminal buttons

end of the axon, where neurotransmitter is released

Myelin sheath

increases speed of neural impulse, fatty tissue

Nodes of ravier

little spaces between myelin sheath

Synapase

gap between dendrites of one neuron and axon together

Receptor sites

parts of dendrite which receive neurotransmitters

Repolarization

internal charges become more negative

Refactory period

after firing on impulse. neuron will not fire

Threshold

minimum level of stimulation required to fire

Acetylchaline

muscle contractions, learning, memory.. malfunction: Alzheimer's disease

Dopamine (Reward)

voluntary movement, alertness, sensations of pleasure and reward.. malfunction: Parkinson's

Serotonin

mood, appetite, sleep, concentration, neuroplasticity

GABA

keeps neurons from firing (inhibitory - slows down activity in neurons of the brain) malfunction: Mania / depression

Endorphins

pain control.. malfunction: involved in addiction

Oxytocin

love and social bonding "tend and befriend"

Agonist

similar to the neurotransmitters, mimics its effects

Antagonist

inhibits the release of neurotransmitters by sending neuron, or block "egg someone on"

Cerebellum

"little brain", responsible for coordinating movement, balance, posture

Midbrain

reticular formation "really focus"

Forebrain

areas of the forebrain control thoughts and reason

limbic system

emotional control, center of our brain

Amygdala

emotions and fear

Thalamus

sensory switchboard- directs messages to the sensory receiving areas of the cortex

Hypothalamus

regulator- seeks balance, sends messages to pituitary gland "four f's - fighting, fleeing, feeding, moving"

Cerebral cortex

the lobes of the brain

Motor cortex

voluntary movement

Parietal lobe

processing sensory input, spatial location attention and motor control

Somatosensory cortex

processes body touch and movement

Occipital love

responsible for processing visual sensory info

Temporal lobe

hearing, language, processing and memory

Broca's area

left frontal lobe/ produce speech

CAT/CT

shows structure

PET

see what parts of the brain are the most ACTIVE

TMS

causes a virtual lesion

Memory

encoding, storage, retrieval

deep vs. shallow processing

shallow - encoding on a basic level/ structure or appearance of words. deep- encoding semantically, based on meaning of words

short-term memory

limited capacity / holds info for 30 seconds unless strategies

long-term memory

relatively permanent and limitless

explicit memory

memory of facts and experiences

episotic memory

specific event

implicit memory

retention without conscious recollection

state dependent memory

what we learned in 1 state can be easily remembered whin same state

mood congruent memory

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

flashbulb memory

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event