KA P_S - The Lazy OCD Version.docx

Sensory Perception

The process of detecting and interpreting sensory information from the environment.

Visual Cues

Visual information that helps in perceiving depth, form, motion, and constancy.

Binocular Cues

Depth cues that require the use of both eyes.

Monocular Cues

Depth cues that can be perceived with one eye.

Sensory Adaptation

The process by which sensory receptors become less responsive to constant stimuli.

Weber’s Law

States that the just noticeable difference between two stimuli is proportional to the magnitude of the stimuli.

Absolute Threshold of Sensation

The minimum intensity of a stimulus needed to detect it 50% of the time.

Vestibular System

Responsible for balance and spatial orientation, includes the semicircular canals and otolithic organs.

Signal Detection Theory

Focuses on decision-making under conditions of uncertainty in detecting important signals from background noise.

Bottom-Up Processing

Perception driven by incoming sensory information.

Top-Down Processing

Perception influenced by prior knowledge and expectations.

Gestalt Principles

Rules that describe how humans perceive visual elements as organized wholes.

Photoreceptors

Specialized cells in the retina that convert light into neural signals, including rods and cones.

Phototransduction Cascade

The process by which light is converted into electrical signals in the retina.

Feature Detection

The ability of the brain to identify specific components of visual stimuli.

Parallel Processing

Simultaneous processing of different aspects of a stimulus, such as color, form, and motion.

Auditory Structure

The components involved in the perception of sound, including sound waves and hair cells in the ear.

Stapes

A bone in the middle ear that is attached to the oval window and moves back and forth at the same frequency as the stimulus.

Cochlea

A spiral-shaped, fluid-filled structure in the inner ear responsible for converting sound vibrations into electrical signals.

Organ of Corti

Part of the cochlea containing hair cells that convert sound vibrations into neural signals sent to the auditory nerve.

Basilar tuning

The varying activation of hair cells in the cochlea based on the frequency of sound, allowing the brain to distinguish different frequencies.

Proprioception

The sense of the body's position and movement, relying on sensors in muscles that send signals to the brain via the spinal cord.

Nociception

The perception of pain, involving different types of nerve fibers and receptors sensitive to pain stimuli.

Olfaction

The sense of smell, involving receptors in the olfactory epithelium that detect different molecules and send signals to the brain.

Pheromones

Chemical signals released by one individual to trigger a response in another of the same species, detected through specialized olfactory cells.

Gustation

The sense of taste, with taste buds on the tongue detecting five main tastes and sending signals to the brain for interpretation.

Consciousness

The awareness of oneself and the environment, with different levels induced by external factors or internal mental efforts, ranging from alertness to sleep.

N3 (Stage 3)

Slow wave sleep characterized by delta waves, where sleepwalking/talking can occur.

REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Stage

Stage of sleep where most dreaming occurs, characterized by muscle paralysis and important for memory consolidation.

Circadian Rhythms

Regular body rhythms controlled by melatonin, affecting sleep cycles and body temperature.

Dreaming

Involves REM sleep, characterized by rapid eye movements and decreased prefrontal cortex activity.

Dream Theories

Freud's theory and Activation Synthesis Hypothesis explain the meaning and random nature of dreams.

Sleep Disorders

Conditions like sleep deprivation, insomnia, narcolepsy, and sleep apnea affecting sleep quality and health.

Hypnosis and Meditation

Techniques involving altered states of consciousness for relaxation, focus, and self-regulation.

Drug Dependence

Involves psychoactive drugs like depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens, leading to tolerance, withdrawal, and addiction.

Routes of Drug Entry

Different ways drugs enter the body, such as oral, inhalation, injection, and transdermal administration.

Reward Pathway in the Brain

Involves dopamine release in brain regions like the amygdala, nucleus accumbens, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus, influencing pleasure and addiction.

Tolerance and Withdrawal

Phenomena where the body gets used to a drug, requiring higher doses for the same effect, and experiencing symptoms when the drug is stopped.

Substance Use Disorders

Refers to the harmful use of substances like alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, opioids, stimulants, hallucinogens, and caffeine, leading to behavioral, psychological, and physical effects.

Intoxication

Describes the immediate effects of a substance on a person, such as feeling "drunk" or "high," which are drug-specific.

Withdrawal

The process that occurs when a person stops using a substance after prolonged use, leading to various symptoms and potential substance-induced disorders.

Tolerance

The body's reduced response to a substance over time, requiring higher doses to achieve the same effects.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

A treatment approach that addresses both cognitive and behavioral aspects of addiction, helping individuals recognize triggers, develop coping strategies, and monitor cravings.

Dual Coding Hypothesis

Suggests that it is easier to remember words associated with images than either one alone, enhancing memory retention.

Long-Term Potentiation

The strengthening of connections between neurons in the brain through repeated stimulation, which is essential for learning and memory formation.

Decay and Interference

Decay refers to the weakening of memory connections over time due to poor encoding or retrieval, while interference occurs when new or old information impairs memory recall.

Aging and Cognitive Abilities

While some cognitive abilities remain stable or improve with age, others may decline, impacting memory, attention, and other mental functions.

Semantic Memories

Memories related to general knowledge and facts, which improve around age 60, contributing to better verbal skills in older adults.

Crystallized IQ

The ability to use knowledge and experience, which tends to increase with age and is linked to verbal skills.

Emotional Reasoning

The ability to understand and manage emotions in decision-making and problem-solving processes.

Prospective Memory

The ability to remember to do things in the future, which tends to decrease with age.

Alzheimer's Disease

A form of dementia characterized by memory loss, cognitive decline, and the presence of amyloid plaques in the brain.

Korsakoff's Syndrome

A memory disorder caused by thiamine deficiency, often associated with malnutrition and alcoholism.

Thiamine

A vitamin essential for converting carbohydrates into energy, crucial for neuronal function.

Wernicke's Encephalopathy

A condition caused by thiamine deficiency, leading to poor balance, confusion, and memory loss.

Retrograde Amnesia

The inability to recall previously encoded information.

Anterograde Amnesia

The inability to encode new memories.

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

The theory proposing distinct stages of cognitive growth in children, including sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages.

Problem Solving

The process of finding solutions to complex issues, involving methods like trial and error, algorithms, heuristics, means-end analysis, and intuition.

Decision Making

The process of choosing between alternatives, influenced by heuristics like availability and representativeness, as well as biases such as overconfidence, belief perseverance, and confirmation bias.

Semantic Networks

Mental representations of interconnected concepts, organized in a hierarchical or modified manner, facilitating problem-solving and memory retrieval.

Intelligence

The mental capacity to learn, solve problems, and adapt to new situations, encompassing general intelligence, emotional intelligence, fluid intelligence, and crystallized intelligence.

Language

A system of communication involving symbols and rules, influenced by theories like behaviorism, nativism, materialism, and interactionism.

Linguistic Determinism/Relativity

The hypothesis suggesting that language influences thought processes, with weak and strong versions positing varying degrees of impact.

Language Development Theories

Perspectives such as nativism, learning theory, and interactionism explaining how children acquire language skills.

Language and the Brain

The relationship between language processing and brain areas like Broca's and Wernicke's areas, crucial for speech production and comprehension.

Neural Plasticity

The brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.

Corpus Callosum

A broad band of nerve fibers connecting the two hemispheres of the brain.

Split-Brain Patient

A person who has undergone surgery to sever the corpus callosum, resulting in limited communication between the brain hemispheres.

Limbic System

A set of brain structures including the hypothalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus, involved in processing emotions and memories.

Thalamus

Acts as a sensory relay station directing sensory information to the appropriate areas in the cortex, except for smell which bypasses it.

Amygdala

A brain region responsible for processing emotions, particularly aggression and fear.

Hippocampus

Plays a key role in forming new memories and converting short-term memories into long-term ones.

Hypothalamus

Regulates the autonomic nervous system and controls the endocrine system, influencing emotions and basic functions.

Cerebral Hemispheres

The two halves of the brain responsible for different functions, with the left side linked to language and the right side to action and perception.

Prefrontal Cortex

The brain region involved in higher-order functions like problem-solving, decision-making, and social behavior.

Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)

Regulates involuntary physiological responses, with the sympathetic branch activating the fight-or-flight response and the parasympathetic branch promoting rest and digest.

Emotions

Subjective experiences accompanied by physiological, behavioral, and cognitive changes, with universal emotions including happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, and surprise.

Theories of Emotion

Different perspectives on how emotions are experienced, including the James-Lange theory, Cannon-Bard theory, Schachter-Singer theory, and Lazarus theory.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

States that performance is optimal at moderate levels of arousal, with extremely high or low arousal levels leading to decreased performance.

Stress

The strain experienced when an organism's equilibrium is disrupted, involving cognitive appraisal, physiological responses, and behavioral changes.

General Adaptation Syndrome

Describes the body's response to stress in three stages - alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

Stress Management

Strategies to cope with stress, including perceived control, optimism, social support, exercise, meditation, and cognitive flexibility.

Biological Basis of Behavior

The nervous system's structure, including the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS), and functions like motor control, sensory processing, and higher cognitive functions.

Touch

Fine touch travels in fast neurons, while less precise info travels in slower ones.

Mechanoreceptors

Receptors found in the skin that detect touch, vibration, and stretch.

Muscle Stretch Reflex

Reflex causing a muscle to contract after being stretched, involving afferent and efferent pathways.

Upper Motor Neurons

Neurons in the cerebral cortex that control lower motor neurons in the brainstem or spinal cord.

Gray and White Matter

Gray matter contains neuron somas, while white matter contains myelinated axons.

Extensor Plantar Response

Response where toes extend up when the bottom of the foot is scraped, indicating neurological function.

Somatosensory Tracts

Pathways carrying somatosensory information to the brain, divided into position sense and pain pathways.

Cerebral Cortex

Brain region with lobes responsible for motor, sensory, and cognitive functions.

Neurotransmitter Anatomy

Various neurotransmitters like glutamate, GABA, and acetylcholine involved in neural signaling.

Lesion Studies

Deliberate brain damage to study behavioral changes, not conducted on humans.

Modern Brain Study

Techniques like EEG, fMRI, and PET scans used to study brain structure and function.

Heritability

The extent to which differences in traits can be attributed to genetic factors.

Gene-Environment Interaction

Interplay between genetic predispositions and environmental factors in shaping behavior and traits.

Regulatory Genes

Genes that control the expression of other genes, influencing protein production and behavior.

Adaptive Value of Behavioral Traits

Behaviors that help organisms maintain homeostasis and adapt to their environment.

Innate Behavior

Fully developed right away, not influenced by experience. Programmed behaviors like reflexes, orientation, and fixed-action patterns.