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17 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is dualism?
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The belief that the body is physical but the mind (or soul) is not.
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What is monism?
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The belief that the world consists only of matter and energy and the mind is part of it.
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What is blindsight?
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The ability of a person who cannot see objects in his or her blind field to accurately reach for them while remaining unconscious of perceiving them; caused by damage to the "mammalian" visual system of the brain.
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What is the corpus callosum?
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The largest commissure (place where two things are joined) of the brain, interconnecting the areas of the neocortex on each side of the brain.
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What is a split-brain operation?
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Brain surgery occasionally performed to treat a form of epilepsy; surgeon cuts the corpus callosum, which connects the two hemispheres of the brain.
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What are the cerebral hemispheres?
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The two symmetrical halves of the brain; constitute the major part of the brain.
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What is generalization?
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A type of scientific explanation; a general conclusion based on many observations of similar phenomena.
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What is reduction?
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A type of scientific explanation; a phenomenon is described in terms of the more elementary processes that underlie it.
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What is a reflex?
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An automatic, stereotyped movement produced as the direct result of a stimulus.
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What is a model?
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A mathematical or physical analogy for a physiological process; for example, computers have been used as models for various functions of the brain.
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What is the doctrine of specific nerve energies?
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Muller's conclusion that because all nerve fibers carry the same type of message, sensory information must be specified by the particular nerve fibers that are active.
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What is experimental ablation?
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The research method in which the function of a part of the brain is inferred by observing the behaviors of an animal can no longer perform after that part is damaged.
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What is functionalism?
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The principle that the best way to understand a biological phenomenon (a behavior or a physiological structure) is to try to understand it useful functions for the organism.
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What is natural selection?
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The process by which inherited traits that confer a selective advantage (increase an animal's likelihood to live and reproduce) become more prevalent in the population.
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What is mutation?
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A change in the genetic information contained in the chromosomes of sperms or eggs, which can be passed on to an organism's offspring; provides genetic variability.
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What is a selective advantage?
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A characteristic of an organism that permits it to produce more than the average number of offspring of its species.
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What is a physiological psychologist?
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A scientist who studies the physiology of behavior, primarily by performing physiological and behavioral experiments with laboratory animals.
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