AP PSYCH STUDY GUIDE FOR FINAL

Positive correlation

variables increase and decrease together

Negative correlation

as one variable increases, the other decreases

3rd variable problem

diff. variable is responsible for relationship (pos. corr: bw ice cream and murder 3rd variable: heat)

directionality problem

which direction does the correlation go? (depression causes low self esteem, low esteem causes depression, or a third variable?)

Confound

errow/flaw in study that us accidentally introduced (also called confounding variable)

Random assignment

asign to either control or experimental group at random - increases chance of equal rep. among groups (NOTE: RAN. SAMPLE: GENERALIZE RAN. ASSIGN: CAUSE/EFFECT)

Control group

recieves placebo

Mean

average

Neg. skew

Mean to the left (mode to the right) think opposite of negative on a diagram

inferential statistics

establishes meaningfulness

statistical significance

results not due to chance

effect size

data has practical significance (bigger = better)

informed assent

minors AND parents must agree

wording effects

how you frame questions can impact the answers

random sample

method for choosing participants for study, increases GENERALIZABILITY

Sampling bias

Sample isn’t representative, due to conv. sampling

Experiementer/participant bias

part/exper expectations influence the outcome

Centar NS

Brain and spinal cord

Peripheral NS

Rest of NS — relays to Central NS

Somatic NS

Voluntary movement, has sensory and motor neurons

Autonomic NS

Involuntary (heart, lungs) Contains: Sympathetic NS (fight/flight) and Parasympathetic NS: (rest/digest)

Dendrites

Recieving incoming NTS

Axon

Action potential travels down this

Myelin sheath

Speeds up AP down axon, protects axon

Sensory neurons

recieve sense signals from environ. send signals to brain

Motor neurons

signals to move send signals FROM brain

Interneurons

cells in spinal cord/brain responsible for reflex arc

Reflex arc

important stimuli immiediately sent to spinal cord for immediate reactions (hand on hot stove)

Glia

Support cells — give nutrients and clean around neurons

Resting potential

neuron maintains a -70mv charge when not doing anything

Depolarization

charge of neuron briefly switches from neg to pos - triggers AP

Threshold

strength stimulus must rrach to start AP

All or nothing principal

stimulus must trigger AP past its threshold, but not increase intensity of response (flush toilet)

Refractory period

neuron must rest and reset before it sends another AP (toilet resets)

GABA

Major inhibitory NT

Glutamate

Major excitatory NT

Acetylcholine

Memory and movement - in hippocamp, associated w Alezheimers

Norepinepherine

sympathetic NS - too little assoc. with depression

endorphins

decrease pain

substance p

pain regulation (abnormality increases pain and inflammation)

Agonist

drug mimcks NT

Antagonist

drug blocks NT

Reuptake

unused Nts are taken back up to sending neuron - treatment for depression

Opioids

relieve pain (heroin)

Tolerance

needing more of a drug to achieve same effects

brainstem / medulla

vital organs, breathing, HR

reticular activating system

alterness, arousal, sleep, eye movement

cerebral cortex

outer portion of brain- higher order thought processes, includes: limbic system, lobes, corpus callosum

Limbic system

Amygdala: emotions and fear Hippocampus: memories Hypothalamus: reward/pleasure center, eating behaviors, Thalamus: relay center for all but smell Pituitary gland: talks w/ endocrine sys and hypothal. - release hormones

occipital lobe

vision

frontal lobe

decision making, planning, judgement, movement, personality

prefrontal cortex (apart of frontal lobe aka FL)

front of frontal lobe - executive functioning

motor Cortex (FL Part)

back of FL, controls skeletal movement

parietal lobe

sensations and touch — includes: somato senstiry cort.)

somatosensory cortex

map of our touch receptors

temporal lobe

hearing, face recogniziton, language, memory

werenicke’s area

speech comprehension (L. hemis)

association areas

recieve input from multiple areas to integrate info

aphasia

broken speech

corpus callosum

bundle of nerves that connect two hemispheres

brain plasticity

brain changes via damage and through experience

EEG

shows brain activity - electrical output - unspecific

fMRI

shows specific brain activity, measures oxygen

lesion

destruction of brain tissue

multiple sclerosis

destruction of myelin sheath, disrupts APs, causes impaired mobility, paralysis, pain

myasthenia gravis

actyl. blocked, disrupts APs, causes poor motor control and paralysis

blindsight

caused by lesions to primary visual cortex

prospagnosia

face blindness — dmg to occipital lobe/temporal lobe

broca’s aphasia

stuttered speech

wernickes aphasia

jumbled speech

phantom limb pain

pain to a limb that is no longer there ( caused by brain plasticity)

beta waves

awake

alpha waves

high amp. drowsy (NREM)

NREM 1

light sleep, falling feelng

NREM 2

burst of sleep spindles

NREM 3 Delta waves

Deep sleep

REM (rapid eye movement)

dreaming, cog. processing

REM rebound

after sleep disruptions or lack of REM sleep. then there is more intense REM sleep or just more of it

Activation synthesis

Brain produces random bursts of energy - dreams start random then have meaning

consolidation dream theory

brain combining and processing memories for storage

consolidation

storage of memories

restoration

helps regenerate immune system, and restore energy

somnabulism

sleep walking (happens during stage 3, NOT REM)

REM behavior disorder

malfunction of mechanism that paralyze you during REM

Transduction

convert info into APs (sensation info)

absolute threshold

detection of signal 50% of time (is it there)

just noticable difference

can tell diff between stronger and weaker stimulus or two similar things (coke vs Pepsi, did it get stronger?)

Weber’ s law

two stimuli must differ by constant minimum proportion (the stronger thing, the more you havee to add to tell the diff.)

synthesia

disorder where your sense blend (see sounds etc)

sensory adaptation

diminished sensitivity as a result of constant stimulation (sensory receptors respond less/ get tired)

lens

focuses light on retina

retina

contaisn photo receptiors: cones, rods, gang. cells

fovea

area of best vision (cones here)

rods

black/white, more rods than cones, on sides of retina

cones

color, bright lgiht (only in fovea)

ganglion cells

create optic nerve

blind spot

when the optic nerve leaves the eye

accomodation

lens changes curvature to focus images on retina

nearsightedness

better vision near

trichromatic

3 cones for receiving color: blue: short waves, green: med. red: long)