Cognitive PSY Exam 1 Study Guide

Analytic Introspection

a procedure used by early psychologists in which trained participants described their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli

Artificial Intelligence

Type of software that can process information on its own without human intervention.

Behaviorism

the science of behavior that focuses on observable behavior only

Brain Imaging

a range of experimental techniques that make brain structures and brain activity visible

Choice Reaction Time

A measure of the speed of mental processing that takes place when someone must choose between several responses, depending on which stimulus is presented.

Classical Conditioning

a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

Cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Cognitive Map

a mental representation of the layout of one's environment

Cognitive Psychology

the scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Cognitive Revolution

The shift away from strict behaviorism, begun in the 1950s, characterized by renewed interest in fundamental problems of consciousness and internal mental processes.

Electrophysiology

the study of the electrical activity of cells

Information-processing approach

The approach to psychology, developed beginning in the 1950s, in which the mind is described as processing information through a sequence of stages.

Mind

the private inner experience of perceptions, thoughts, memories, and feelings

Neuropsychology

The study of functions and behaviors associated with specific regions of the brain.

Operant Conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

Donders

Used reaction time to measure the time it took to perform various mental acts.

Wilhelm Wundt

German physiologist who founded psychology as a formal science; opened first psychology research laboratory in 1879(STRUCTURALISM and ANALYTIC INTROSPECTION)

Ebbinghaus

created the forgetting curve and serial position effect in memory(Forgetting occurs rapidly in the 1st to 2nd days after original learning)

James

Created the first psychology textbook; some of his observations are still valid to date.

Watson

Founds behaviorism.

Skinner's Operant Conditioning

Development consists of the pattern of behavioral changes that are brought about by rewards and punishments

Simple Detection Lab

Goal: To be able to measure the reaction time of a dot appearing on a screen.

Action Potential

the change in electrical potential associated with the passage of an impulse along the membrane of a muscle cell or nerve cell.

Axons

Carry impulses away from the cell body

Brain Imaging

a range of experimental techniques that make brain structures and brain activity visible

Broca's Aphasia

condition resulting from damage to Broca's area, causing the affected person to be unable to speak fluently, to mispronounce words, and to speak haltingly

Broca's Area

Controls language expression - an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

Cell Body

Largest part of a typical neuron; contains the nucleus and much of the cytoplasm

Cerebral Cortex

The intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center.

Cognitive Neuroscience

the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language)

Connectome

structural description of the network of elements and connections forming the human brain

Cortical Equipotentiality

The idea, popular in the early 1800s, that the brain operates as an indivisible whole, as opposed to operating based on specialized areas.

Default Mode Network (DMN)

Network of structures that are active when a person is not involved in specific tasks.

Dendrites

Branchlike parts of a neuron that are specialized to receive information.

Distributed Representation

occurs when a specific cognition activates many areas of the brain

Double Dissociation

The phenomenon in which one of two functions, such as hearing and sight, can be damaged without harm to the other, and vice versa.

Experience-Dependent plasticity

the process through which neural connections are created and reorganized throughout life as a function of an individual's experiences

extrastriate body area (EBA)

An area in the temporal cortex that is activated by pictures of bodies and parts of bodies, but not by faces or other objects.

Feature Detectors

nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement

Frontal Lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex that has specialized areas for movement, abstract thinking, planning, memory, and judgement

Functional Connectivity

the extent to which multiple brain regions function at the same time, which improves during adolescence

functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

an imaging technique used to examine changes in the activity of the working human brain by measuring changes in the blood's oxygen levels

Fusiform Face Area (FFA)

A region of extrastriate visual cortex in humans that is specifically and reliably activated by human faces.

Hierarchical Processing

processing that occurs in a progression from lower to higher areas of the brain

Levels of Analysis

the differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon

Localization of Function

specialization of particular brain areas for particular functions

Microelectrodes

small wires that are used to record electrical signals from single neurons

Multidimensional

characteristic of theories of intelligence that identify several types of intellectual abilities

Nerve Fibers

carry messages to and from the brain

Nerve Impulse

the message carried by a neuron

Nerve Net

loosely organized network of nerve cells that together allow cnidarians to detect stimuli

Neural Circuits

group of interconnected neurons that are responsible for neural processing

Neuron Doctrine

The hypothesis that the brain is composed of separate cells that are distinct structurally, metabolically, and functionally.

Neurons

a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system

Neuropsychology

The study of functions and behaviors associated with specific regions of the brain.

Neurotransmitter

chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons

Occipital Lobe

vision

parahippocampal place area (PPA)

An area in the temporal lobe that contains neurons that are selectively activated by pictures of indoor and outdoor scenes.

Parietal Lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex whose functions include processing information about touch.

Population Coding

representation of a particular object by the pattern of firing of a large number of neurons

Principle of Neural Representation

everything a person experiences is based on representations in the person's nervous system

Prosopagnosia

inability to recognize faces

Receptors

Special structures that allow living organisms to sense the conditions of their internal or external environment.

Recording Electrode

when used to study neural functioning, a very thin glass or metal probe that can pick up electrical signals from single neurons

Reference Electrode

Used in conjunction with a recording electrode to measure the difference in charge between the two. Reference electrodes are generally placed where the electrical signal remains constant, so any change in charge between the recording and reference electrodes reflects events happening near the tip of the recording electrode.

Resting-state fMRI

The fMRI response recorded when a person is at rest (not involved in any cognitive tasks)

Resting-State functional connectivity

A method for determining functional connectivity that involves determining the correlation between the resting-state fMRI in separated structures.

Resting Potential

The difference in electric charge between the inside and outside of a neuron's cell membrane

Seed Location

The area of the brain associated with carrying out a specific cognitive or motor task that serves as the reference area the resting-state functional connectivity method.

Sensory Coding

Sensory receptors translate the physical properties of stimuli into patterns of neural impulses

Sparse Coding

neural coding based on the pattern of activity in small groups of neurons

Specificity Coding

the idea that an object could be represented by the firing of a specialized neuron that responds only to that object

Structural Connectivity

the brain's "wiring diagram" created by nerve axons that connect different brain areas

Synapse

the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron

Task-Related fMRI

the fMRI response that occurs in response to a specific cognitive task

Temporal Lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex responsible for hearing and language.

Test Location

When measuring resting-state functional connectivity, the activity at the test location is compared to the activity at the seed location to determine the degree of functional connectivity between the two locations.

Time-Series Response

the way the fMRI response changes over time

Track-weighted imaging (TWI)

A technique for determining connectivity in the brain that is based on detection of how water diffuses along the length of nerve fibers.

Visual Cortex

The visual processing areas of cortex in the occipital and temporal lobes.

Voxels

Small cube-shaped areas in the brain used in the analysis of data from brain scanning experiments.

Wernicke's aphasia

condition resulting from damage to Wernicke's area, causing the affected person to be unable to understand or produce meaningful language

Wernicke's area

controls language reception - a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe

Somato Motor

movement and touch

Dorsal Attention

attention to visual stimuli and spatial locations

Executive Control

Processes such as making plans or overriding habitual responses that let the brain direct its own cognitive activities.

Salience

An individual's belief that an issue is important or relevant to him or her.

Default Mode

The pattern of brain activity that is present when humans sit quietly and let their minds wander.

Action Pathway

Neural pathway, extending from the occipital lobe to the parietal lobe, that is associated with neural processing that occurs when people take action. Corresponds to the where pathway.

Apparent Movement

the perception that a stationary object is moving

Bayesian Interference

Our estimate of the probability of an outcome is determined by the prior probability and the available evidence that is consistent with the outcome or likelihood

Bottom-Up Processing

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

Brain Ablation

A procedure in which a specific area is removed from an animal's brain. It is usually done to determine the function of this area by assessing the effect on the animal's behavior.

Direct Pathway Model

model of pain perception that proposes that pain signals are sent directly from receptors to the brain

Dorsal Pathway

Pathway of visual processing. The "where" pathway.

Gestalt Psychologists

a group of psychologists who proposed principles governing perception, such as laws of organization, and a perceptual approach to problem solving involving restructuring

Inverse Projection Problem

task of determining the object that caused a particular image on the retina

Law of Pragnaz

perceptual organization will always be as regular, simple, and symmetric as possible

Landmark Discrimination Problem

Problem in which the task is to remember an object's location and to choose that location after a delay. Associated with research on the where processing stream.

Light-From-Above Assumption

The assumption that light is coming from above. This is a heuristic that can influence how we perceive three-dimensional objects that are illuminated.