PYSC Exam 1

Cognitive Psychology

the branch of psychology concerned with how people acquire, store, transform, use, and communicate information

Empiricism

belief that knowledge comes from experience

Nativism

emphasizes the role of native ability over the role of learning in the acquisition of abilities and tendencies

Mental Association

Locke argued that two distinct ideas or experiences could become joined in the mind simply because they happened to occur or be presented to the individual at the same time

believed in nativism

Socrates and Plato ___

believed in empiricism

Aristotle ___

Wilhelm Wundt

converted a laboratory into the first institute for research in experimental psychology

Introspection

consisted of presenting highly trained observers with various stimuli and asking them to describe their conscious experiences

Structuralism

focus on the elemental components of the mind and how they combine to perform mental processes

structuralists

Edward B. Titchner and Wundt were ___

Functionalism

emphasizes questions such as why the mind or a particular cognitive process works the way it does; draws on Darwinian evolutionary theory

believed in functionalism

WIlliam James ___

Ibn Al-Haytham

father of psychophysics; used the experimental method to study vision in the brain

Bacon and Locke

British psychologists interested in how the mind failed

Tabula Rasa

Locke; mind is a ⠀ slate

Franciscus Donders

conducted the first experiment; in mental chronometry

Mental Chronometry

measuring how long a cognitive process takes

Reaction-Time Experiment

measures the interval between stimulus presentation and the response to the stimulus

variable, hard to verify, often debated

problems with introspection

Ebbinghaus

studied forgetting; savings and forgetting curve

William James

early US psychologist; taught 1st psychology course at Harvard

Behaviorism

defines psychological research in terms of observable measures

Edward Thorndike

studied instrumental conditioning

John Watson

baby albert; behaviorist; regarded all mental phenomena as reducible to behavioral and physiological responses

believed studying mental phenomena wasn’t possible

John Watson ___

B.F. Skinner

argued that there should be an attempt to study mental phenomena

Edward Tolman

accepted the idea of mental representations; believed that even rats have goals and expectations

Cognitive Revolution

a movement in psychology culminating after WWII, belief in empiricism; rejected behaviorism

Human Factors Engineering

focuses on the design of equipment and technology that are well suited to people’s cognitive capabilities

Linguistics

focuses on the structure, use, and acquisition of language

Neuroscience

the study of the brain-based underpinnings of psychological and behavioral functions

Experiment

a test of a scientific theory in which the researcher manipulates the interdependent variable

Clever Hans

a horse that appeared to be able to do math

Scientific Method

the process of testing ideas about the world

Descriptive Research

systematic and objective observation of people

Naturalistic Observation

consists of an observer watching people in familiar everyday contexts going about their cognitive business

Case History

a thorough observation and description of an individual usually in an unusual case

Survey

study of the prevalence of beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors through responses to questions

limitations of descriptive research

may not predict future behavior, doesn’t uncover mechanisms behind behavior, you can’t control behavior to test specific questions

Correlational Studies

a relationship between two variables in which the investigator has no control

Experimental Studies

studies to show relationships between variables through manipulation and control

Hindbrain

contains the pons, the medulla, and the cerebellum

Medulla

transmits information from the spinal cord to the brain and regulates life support functions such as respiration, blood pressure, coughing, sneezing, vomiting, heart rate

Pons

acts as a neural relay center, facilitating the crossover of information between the left side of the body and the right side of the brain and vice versa; also involved in balance, sleep, arousal, and processing of visual and auditory information

Cerebellum

contains neurons that coordinate muscular activity; one of the most primitive brain structures; governs balance and is involved in general motor behavior and coordination

Midbrain

located in the middle of the brain

Reticular Formation

helps to keep us awake and alert and is involved in arousal

Forebrain

contains the thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, and cerebral cortex

Thalamus

relays information, especially to the cerebral cortex

Hypothalamus

controls the pituitary gland by releasing hormones; also controls eating, drinking, temperature control, sleeping, sexual behaviors, and emotional reactions

Hippocampus

involved in the formation of long-term memories

Amygdala

modulates the strength of emotional memories; involved in emotional learning

Basal Ganglia

helps in the production of motor behavior

Cerebral Cortex

the surface of the cerebrum containing both sensory and motor nerve cell bodies

Frontal Lobe

located beneath the forehead; contains the motor cortex, premotor cortex, and prefrontal cortex

Motor Cortex

directs fine motor movement

Premotor Cortex

involved in planning movements

Prefrontal Cortex

involved with executive functioning

Executive Functioning

planning, making decisions, implementing strategies, inhibiting inappropriate behaviors, using working memory to process information

Parietal Lobe

located at the top rear part of the head that contains the primary somatosensory cortex

Somatosensory Cortex

contained in the postcentral gyrus; involved in the processing of sensory information from the body

Occipital Lobe

located at the back of the head; involved in the processing of visual information

Temporal Lobe

located on the side of the head; involved in processing auditory information and some aspects of memory

Faculty Psychology

the theory that different mental abilities; such as reading and computation, are independent and autonomous functions carried out in different parts of the brain

Phrenology

psychological strengths and weaknesses can be precisely correlated to the relative sizes of different brain areas

Central Nervous System

consists of the brain and the spinal cord

Peripheral Nervous System

all nerves exiting the brain and the spinal cord; carries sensory and motor messages to and from the other parts of the body

Neurons

cells that make up the brain and the nervous system

Materialism

mind and brain have a casual relationship

Sensory / Afferent Neurons

detects changes in external or internal environment; sends information about changes to the CNS

Interneurons

neurons located entirely within the CNS

Motor / Efferent Neurons

located within the CNS; controls contraction of a muscle or the secretion of a gland

Dendrite

a bushy, branching extension of a neuron that receives messages and conduct impulses

Cell Body / Soma

contains the nucleus, mitochondria, and ribosomes

Axon

the fiber of a neuron, the cell’s output structure, transmits nerve impulses

Myelin Sheath

white fatty casing on an axon; acts as an electrical insulator; increases the speed of neural signals down the axon

Terminal Button

the bud at the end of a branch of an axon; sends information to the next neuron; forms synapses with the neuron

Synapse

junction between the terminal button and the membrane of another neuron

Action Potential

electrical / chemical signal that axons convey information by; all-or-none

Neurotransmitters

a chemical that is released by a terminal button; exhibitory or inhibitory

Brain Plasticity

the brain’s ability to rewire itself

Broca’s Aphasia

disruption of expressive language

Wernicke’s Aphasia

ability to produce speech without meaning

Ablation

removal of parts of the brain

Lateralization

specialization of function of the two cerebral hemispheres

Corpus Callosum

large neural structure that connects the two hemispheres

reasoning, language, executive control

frontal lobe functions

attention, objects in space, counting

parietal lobe functions

audition, language, object recognition

temporal lobe functions

vision

occipital lobe functions

Sensation

the process by which important changes in the state of the world create changes in the state of the brain

Perception

the process by which changes in the state of the brain give rise to our conscious experience of the world; using prior knowledge and experience to interpret and make sense of sensations

the goal of senses

transforming a sensation into a signal that the brain can understand

purpose of the visual system

transform light energy into a neural impulse

the retina

light travels through the eye and focuses on ___

three main layers of neural tissue in the retina

ganglion cells, amacrine cells, horizontal cells, bipolar cells, and photoreceptors

What Pathway

travels from visual area to the occipital lobe to the parietal lobe

Where Pathway

travels from visual area to the temporal lobe

theory

sensation + ___ = perception

Perception (2)

the process of recognizing, organizing, and interpreting information