Final Study Guide

Who founded functionalism

William James

What is Functionalism

focuses on the mind but emphasizes its adaptive features

Nature v. Nurture- define and know examples of

Nature- Charles Darwin, Adaption to environment (survival of the fittest), we are all related

Nurture- John Locke, Tabula Rosa (blank slate), Environment shapes people and the way they think, behave and feel

Who established the 1st psychological lab

Wilhelm Wundt

1879

University of Leipzig

What is a double blind procedure

What is Naturalistic observation

involves carefully and systematically watching behaviors as they occur naturally, with a minimum of involvement by the observer

simply watch and take notes

unobtrusive observations- don’t want organism to notice observer

Double blind procedures minimize outcome differences between experimental an control conditions that can attributed to

Dependent variable in an experiment

provides a measure of the participants behavior

depends on the independent variable manipulation

experimenter does not control

What is mode

the most occurring score

How to calculate the mean

the average score- total sum of all scores divided by the number of scores

Which method runs a risk of collecting evidence that may be unrepresentative of what is generally true

A correlation of + 0.70 between height and popularity indicates that

the taller you are the more popular you are

Control conditions represent what in different experiments

receives a zero level of the independent variable; the baseline against which the performance of the experimental group is compared

Independent variable in an experiment

the variable that the experimenter manipulates

What is median

scores arranged from least to greatest, the score representing the halfway point will be the median

Explain phrenology

determining personality by reading the bumps on one’s head

Franz Joseph Gall- early 1900s

1st to suggest that the brain is compartmentalized (different lobes of the brain)

What is the function of dendrites

reach out to receive messages or neural impulses from nearby neurons

greek word meaning branches

send info to cell body

cerebral stimulation increases amount of branches

synaptic pruning

Synaptic Pruning

the reduction or pruning off of dendrites

occurs when there is little stimulus

What is the longest part of a motor neuron and describe it

Axon- a part of the neuron extending from the neuron’s cell body that carries neural impulses to other neurons, muscles, and glands

can be up to 3 ft long

sciatic nerve is the longest- foot to bottom of spine

Myelin Sheath

a white substance composed of fat and protein

found on about half of the axons in an adult’s nervous system

produced by other cells throughout the nervous system

covers axon in lumpy segments, separated by the Nodes of Ranvier

tend to find myelin on axons that carry impulses relatively long distances

• long axons or closely packed together

Functions

• protects axon

• acts as an insulator, separating the activity of one neuron from those nearby (cross circuiting)

• speeds up impulses along the length of the axon because of the nodes of ranvier

Scarred Myelin causes Multiple sclerosis

What is the minimum level of stimulation

-60mV

What is the microscopic gap between a sending neuron and a recieving neuron

Synaptic cleft

What are the functions of nts

chemicals that transmit info form one neuron to another

bind to receptor sites and then either excite or inhibit the transmission of neural impulses throughout the nervous system

over 100 types

Alzheimer’s disease is closely linked to this nt

Acetylcholine

Too many dopamine receptors are linked to what psychological disorder

Schizophrenia

What are agonists

a chemical that speeds up or enhances neural reception

What are antagonist

a chemical that inhibits or slows down neural reception

What are interneurons

neurons within the central nervous system

What are the most psychological disorders often referred to as chemical imbalences

they are treated with psychoactive drugs which are chemicals that affect cognitions and or behaviors

• balance the chemicals in the brain

The knee jerk response is processed by what type of neurons and where are they located

processed by the interneurons of the spinal cord

urgent pain messages that allows for a faster response to a pain impulse

The surgical destruction of the brain is called

Explain what an EEG does and what it is typically used for

machine used to measure electrical activity in the brain

used for sleep studies

What lobe of the brain senses hot or cold

hypothalamus

The auditory lobe of the brain

Temporal Lobe

The visual lobe of the brain

Occipital Lobe

Where do auditory hallucinations occur in the brain

Temporal Lobe

Which part of the brain is associated with the muscle movements incolved in speech

Broca’s Area- left side of the brain only

What does plasticity mean

the nervous system’s capacity to respond in a dynamic manner to the environment and experience via modification of neural activity

tissue in the nervous system has the capacity to adapt and take on new functions because of environmental conditions

What is the master gland of the endocrine system

pituitary gland- it has direct control over the activity of many other glands in the system

nestled under the brain and secretes many hormones

Where are hormones released in

The bloodstream

produced by glands

For what reason would you cut the corpus callosum

to lessen the severity of the symptoms of epilepsy

Describe the function of the corpus callosum

a network of fibers that interconnect the 2 hemispheres of the cerebral cortex

where signs travel from one side of the body to the opposite hemisphere of the brain

For what purpose would a person need a PET scan, what does it show

shows the functioning brain by looking at radioactive traces

can detect cancer

What part of the ear is involved in motion sickness

cochlea- overstimulation of fluid

What do newborns show the greatest visual interest in

What regulates the amount of light entering the eye

Pupil

Describe place theory as it perains to hearing

Herman von Helmholtz

suggest that the place where cochlea’s basilar membrane is stimulated determines the pitch of a sound

ex. like a keyboard on a piano, each place on the keyboard represents a different pitch of sound

The cochlea is to the as the ——- is to the eye

retina

both are where transduction occurs

The amount of stimulation a person needs to detect stimulus 50% of the time is called

absolute threshold

Which two senses are the chemical senses

Taste and smell

Describe habituation

ignoring stimuli that you do not need to attend to

last part of sensory adaptation

The blind spot is located in what area of the retina

optic nerve

What is the olfactory sense

sense of smell

In what part or region of the brain is the olfactory sense processed

Temporal Lobe

What is transduction

external stimuli is transformed or CHANGED from some physical stimuli into chemical/neural stimulus

According to John Locke, how do people develop their personality or character traits

By their environment

Tabula Rosa- everyone starts as a blank slate

mind becomes filled with ideas and memories due to experience and observation- life experiences make you who you are

Did John Locke’s theory support nature or nurture

Nurture

What device is used to record brain wave patterns

EEG

What stage of sleep does sleeping walking occur

Stage 3 or 4 but mostly 3 because motor cortex is activated

The technical name for sleepwalking is

somnambulism

Sleep stage where most vivid dreams in is

REM

Sleep disorder associated with obesity

Sleep Apnea

Sunlight influences the production of what hormone

Melatonin

Slow brain waves associated with stage 3 and 4 sleep are called

Delta

Sleep disorder that is most commonly associated with sleepwalking

Regular body cycles that occur on a 24-hour schedule are known as

Describe narcolepsy

involves going to sleep even during the day, without any intention to do so

cam overcome a person regardless of how many hours of sleep they got

symptoms- decrease in muscle tone, paralysis upon falling asleep, or a series of dream like images at the point of going to sleep or waking up

associated with hypothalamus

bad for driving

How does over the counter sleep medications and alcohol affect our sleep patterns

disrupt REM sleep

Who discovered hypnosis

Franz Mesmer but Freud used it a lot

What is tolerance

need more of a drug to feel same affect

What is the active ingredient in marijuana

THC- tetrahydrocannabinol

What is a hypothesis

Who conducted the first experimental studies of associative learning

John B Watson is considered the father of what type of psychology

What was the UCS in Pavlov’s experiment

What was the UCR in Pavlov’s experiment

Describe acquisition

What is generalization and Classical Conditioning

What did John B Watson’s experiment with Little Albert demonstrate or prove

A Skinner Box is described as an

Describe shaping

Purchasing lottery tickets is reinforced on what type of reinforcement schedule

Decribe latent learning

Observational learning…describe and who discovered it

Encoding in memory refers to

Retrieval in memory refers to

Rehearsal in memory refers to

Describe the serial order effect in STM

Mnemonic devices…be familiar with the major ones

Describe chunking

Describe the method of loci

Describe echoic memory

Type of memory which is said to be unlimited

Eyewitness testimony and memory in men versus women

Describe state dependent memory

Describe iconic meory

What is the approximate amount of info that can be stored and retained in STM

The use of free association is central to what therapy and who created it

According to Freud, how does the unconscious mind affect a person’s decisions

What did Freud believe was the royal route to the unconscious