Mean: The average of a set of numbers calculated by adding all values and dividing by the number of values.
Median: The middle value in a data set when the numbers are arranged in ascending or descending order.
Mode: The value that appears most frequently in a data set.
Range:
Instinctive drift:
Somatosensory cortex in parietal lobe
Broca’s area:
Wernicke’s area
Brain should not be moving during REM sleep
Glial Cells
Kinesthesis
Norepinephrine: Alertness and arousal
Glutamate: Major excitatory neurotransmitter
GABA: Major inhibitory neurotransmitter
Endorphins: Natural pain killers
Substance p: Sends pain signals to the brain
Acetylcholine: Muscle action, learning, and memory.
Leptin: Suppresses hunger
Ghrelin: Signals hunger
Oxytocin: Social bonding and trust
Brainstem | Handles survival functions |
Cerebellum | Balance, coordination, fine motor skills. “Little Brain” |
Medulla | Heartbeat and breathing |
Reticular Formation/Reticular Activating System | Controls arousal and alertness |
Thalamus | Sensory switchboard |
Amygdala | Emotion center (primarily fear) |
Hypothalamus | Controls endocrine system, |
Hippocampus | Processes memories “You wouldn’t forget a hippo on a campus” |
Pituitary Gland | Master gland of the endocrine system |
Corpus Callosum | Middle band of the brain connecting both hemispheres |
Cerebral Cortex | Outer layer, controls information and processing. |
Frontal Lobe (including prefrontal cortex) | Executive functioning, thinking, decision making, personality. |
Motor Cortex | Controls voluntary movement, planning, and execution. |
Somatosensory Cortex | Processes sensory input |
Parietal Lobe | Processing sensory input |
Occipital Lobe | Visual processing. |
Temporal Lobe | Auditory processing. |
Broca’s Area | Speech production |
Wernicke’s Area | Language comprehension |
Behavioral Psychology: Learning, focusing on specific observable behaviors.
Psychodynamic Psychology: Unconcious drives and conflicts as influences for behaviors.
Humanistic Psychology: SELF ACTUALIZATION, focuses on what makes a person healthy, and human potential.
Cognitive Pyschology: Thinking and memory
Evolutionary Psychology: Focuses on natural selection and evolution of species
Sensory transduction | The process of converting outside stimuli (like light) into neural impulses. | “Translates” the light hitting our eyes so we can understand it. |
Absolute threshold | The minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time. | Defines the boundaries of our senses. |
Just noticeable difference | The minimum difference between two stimuli to notice a difference. | It measures our sensitivity to change in the environment. |
Weber’s Law | States that the JND is a constant proportion, not a constant amount. | It explains why you’d notice one pound added onto a smaller # of weight, as opposed to adding one pound to something much larger. |
Sensory adaptation | Diminished sensitivity as a result of constant, unchanging stimulation. | It allows us to ignore the mundane (like the smell of our own house) so we can focus on informative changes. |
Sensory interaction | The principle that one sense may influence another. | It creates a unified experience between the senses. |