Psych #1

Front 1

determinism

Back 1

The idea that everything happens has a cause, or determinant, that one could observe or measure

Front 2

free will

Back 2

The belief that behavior is caused by a person's independent decisions

Front 3

mind-brain problem

Back 3

The philosophical question of how experience relates to the brain

Front 4

Dualism

Back 4

holds that the mind is separate from the brain but somehow controls it and therefore the rest of the body

Front 5

monism

Back 5

the view that conscious experience is inseparable from the physical brain.

Front 6

psychiatry

Back 6

a branch of medicine that deals with emotional disturbances

Front 7

human factors specialist

Back 7

attempts to facilitate the operation of machinery so that ordinary people can use them efficiently

Front 8

developmental psychologists

Back 8

study how behavior changes with age

Front 9

learning and motivation studies

Back 9

studies how behavior depends on the outcomes of past behaviors and current motivations

Front 10

cognition

Back 10

thought and knowledge

Front 11

biopsychologist

Back 11

studies relationship between brain and behavior

Front 12

community psychologist

Back 12

studies organizations and social structures

Front 13

environmental psychologist

Back 13

studies how noise, heat, crowding, etc., affect behavior

Front 14

personality psychologists

Back 14

study personality differences

Front 15

psychometrician

Back 15

measuring intelligence, personality, interests

Front 16

social psychologists

Back 16

studies group behavior, social influences

Front 17

introspect

Back 17

to look within themselves (sensations)

Front 18

structuralism

Back 18

an attempt to describe the structures that compose the mind, particularly sensations, feelings, and images.

Front 19

functionalism

Back 19

how people produce useful behaviors

Front 20

psychophyscial function

Back 20

The mathematical description of the relationship between the physical properties of a stimulus and its perceived properties

Front 21

comparative psychologists

Back 21

specialists who compare different animal species

Front 22

behaviorism

Back 22

a field of psychology that concentrates on observable, measurable behaviors and not on mental processes

Front 23

basic research

Back 23

seeks theoretical knowledge for its own sake, such an understanding the processes of learning and memory

Front 24

applied research

Back 24

deals with practical problems, such as how to help children with learning disabilities

Front 25

falsifiable

Back 25

stated in such clear, precise terms that we can see what evidence would count against it (if such evidence existed)

Front 26

metaanalysis

Back 26

combines the results of many studies and analyzes them as though they were all one very large study

Front 27

parsimony

Back 27

when given a choice among explanations that seem to fit the facts, prefer the one whose assumptions are fewer, simpler, or more consistent with other well established theories

Front 28

extrasensory perception (ESP)

Back 28

at least some people, some of the time, can acquire information without using any sense organ and without receiving any form of physical energy

Front 29

operational definition

Back 29

a definition that specifies the operations (or procedures) used to produce or measure something, ordinarily a way to give it a numerical value

Front 30

population

Back 30

the entire group of individuals to be considered

Front 31

demand characteristics

Back 31

cues that tell participants what the experimenter hopes to find

Front 32

case history

Back 32

a thorough description of the person, including abilities and disabilities, medical condition, life history, unusual experiences, and whatever else seems relevant.

Front 33

correlation study

Back 33

a procedure in which investigators measure the correlation between two variables without controlling either of them

Front 34

correlation coefficient

Back 34

a mathematical estimate of the relationship between two variables (+1 perfect correlation, -1 is perfect opposite correlation)

Front 35

illusory correlation

Back 35

an apparent relationship based on casual observations of unrelated or weakly related events

Front 36

independent variable

Back 36

the item that the experimenter changes or controls

Front 37

dependent variable

Back 37

the item that the experimenter measures to determine how it was affected (ex. score)

Front 38

standard deviation

Back 38

a measurement of the amount of variation among scores in a normal distribution

Front 39

inferential statistics

Back 39

statements about large populations based on an inference from a small sample

Front 40

statistically significant or reliable

Back 40

p < .05

Front 41

psychological explanation

Back 41

describes the mechanisms that produce a behavior

Front 42

evolutionary explanation

Back 42

related behavior to the evolutionary history of the species

Front 43

developmental explanation

Back 43

deals with changes over age

Front 44

cell body

Back 44

contains the nucleus of the cell

Front 45

dendrites

Back 45

widely branching structures that receive input from other neurons

Front 46

axon

Back 46

a single long, thin, straight fiber with branches near the tip

Front 47

myelin

Back 47

an interesting sheath that speeds up the transmission of impulses along an axon

Front 48

action potential

Back 48

an excitation that travels along an axon at a constant strength, no matter how far it must travel
(transmits all-or-none)

Front 49

resting potential

Back 49

an electronic polarization across the membrane (or covering) of an axon

Front 50

synapse

Back 50

the specialized junction between one neuron and another - a neuron releases a chemical that either excites or inhibits the next neuron

Front 51

terminal bouton

Back 51

the bulge ending of an axon which, when an action potential reaches it, releases a neurotransmitter

Front 52

neurotransmitter

Back 52

a chemical that activates receptors on other neurons

Front 53

postsynaptic neuron

Back 53

the neuron on the receiving end of the synapse

Front 54

glutamate

Back 54

the brain's main excitatory transmitter, present at most synapses. Essential for almost all brain activities including learning

Front 55

GABA

Back 55

the brain's main inhibitory transmitter

Front 56

acetylcholine

Back 56

increases brain arousal

Front 57

dopamine

Back 57

one path is important for movement (damaged in parkinson's disease). Another path is important for memory and cognition

Front 58

serotonin

Back 58

modifies many types of motivated and emotional behavior

Front 59

norepinephrine

Back 59

enhances storage of memory of emotional or otherwise meaningful events

Front 60

histamine

Back 60

increases arousal and alertness

Front 61

endorphins

Back 61

decrease pain and increase pleasure

Front 62

nitric oxide

Back 62

dilates blood vessels in the most active brain areas

Front 63

parkinson's disease

Back 63

a condition that affects about 1% of people over the age of 50 - difficulty in initiating voluntary movement

Front 64

stimulants

Back 64

drugs that increase energy, alertness, and activity such as amphetamine and cocaine

Front 65

depressants

Back 65

drugs that decrease arousal, such as alcohol and anxiolytics

Front 66

anxiolytic drugs or tranquilizers

Back 66

help people relax (ex. benzodiazepines)

Front 67

narcotics

Back 67

drugs that produce drowsiness, insensitivity to pain, and decreased responsiveness

Front 68

opiates

Back 68

make people feel happy, warm, and content (ex. morphine)

Front 69

hallucinogens

Back 69

drugs that induce sensory distortions (shrooms, lsd)

Front 70

central nervous system

Back 70

consists of the brain and the spinal cord and communicates with the rest of the body by the peripheral nervous system

Front 71

peripheral nervous system

Back 71

consists of nerves between the spinal cord and the rest of the body

Front 72

brain hemispheres

Back 72

each side controls the opposite side of the body

Front 73

cerebral cortex

Back 73

the outer covering of the forebrain - especially prominent in humans

Front 74

occipital lobe

Back 74

rear of the head - specialized for vision

Front 75

temporal lobe

Back 75

main area for hearing and some of the complex aspects of vision

Front 76

amygdala

Back 76

a subcortical structure deep within the temporal lobe, responds strongly to emotional situations

Front 77

parietal lobe

Back 77

specialized for the body senses, including touch, pain, temperature, and awareness of the location of body parts in space

Front 78

primary somatosensory cortex

Back 78

contains cells sensitive to touch in different body areas

Front 79

frontal lobe - primary motor cortex

Back 79

important for the planned control of fine movements (such as moving 1 finger)

Front 80

prefrontal cortex

Back 80

contribute to certain aspects of memory and to the planning of movements -- decision making

Front 81

mirror neurons

Back 81

active when you make a movement and also when you watch some one else make a similar movement .

Front 82

hypothalamus

Back 82

important for hunger, thirst, temperature regulation, sex, and other motivated behaviors

Front 83

pons and medulla

Back 83

parts of the hindbrain - which controls the muscles of the head with signals from the cerebral cortex

Front 84

spinal cord

Back 84

controls muscles from the neck down

Front 85

cerebellum

Back 85

part of the hindbrain - important for any behavior that requires aim or timing (coordination)

Front 86

EEG

Back 86

uses electrodes on the scalp to record rapid changes in brain electrical activity

Front 87

MEG

Back 87

records magnetic changes in the brain with reactions to lights/sounds/ and other stimulus

Front 88

PET

Back 88

records radioactivity of various brain areas emitted from injected chemicals

Front 89

autonomic nervous system

Back 89

controls the internal organs such as the heart

Front 90

sympathetic nervous system

Back 90

increases heart rate, breathing rate, etc.

Front 91

parasympathetic nervous system

Back 91

decreases heart rate, breathing, etc.

Front 92

endocrine system

Back 92

set of glands that produce hormones and release them into the blood

Front 93

plasticity

Back 93

a change as a result of experience

Front 94

Left hemisphere

Back 94

controls speech

Front 95

Right hemisphere

Back 95

controls the ability to perceive physical properties as well as emotions

Front 96

corpus callosum

Back 96

a set of axons that connect the left and right hemispheres of the cerebral cortex

Front 97

epilepsy

Back 97

a condition in which cells somewhere in the brain emit abnormal rhythmic, spontaneous impulses

Front 98

binding problem

Back 98

The question of how separate brain areas combine forces to produce a unified perception of a single object

Front 99

pupil

Back 99

widens and narrows to control the amount of light entering the eye

Front 100

iris

Back 100

the colored structure on the surface of the eye

Front 101

retina

Back 101

layer of visual receptors covering the back of the eyeball (the cornea and lens focus the light to the retina)

Front 102

cornea

Back 102

focuses light in the same way all the time

Front 103

Lens

Back 103

a flexible structure that can vary in thickness, enabling the eye to accommodate, or adjust its focus to different distances

Front 104

fovea

Back 104

the central area of the human retina - for highly detailed vision

Front 105

cones

Back 105

adapted for color vision

Front 106

rods

Back 106

adapted for vision in dim light

Front 107

trichromatic theory (Young-Helmholtz theory)

Back 107

states that our receptors respond to three primary colors (short-blue, medium-green, long-red)

Front 108

opponent-process theory

Back 108

we perceive color in terms of paired opposites (red v green, black v white...)

Front 109

Retinex theory

Back 109

we perceive color when the cerebral cortex compares various retinal patterns

Front 110

sound frequency

Back 110

measured in hertz - the number of cycles that it goes through per second (number of waves)

Front 111

pitch

Back 111

perception of frequency (high -high)

Front 112

loudness

Back 112

perception of the amplitude of soundwaves (the hight or intensity of the wave)

Front 113

eardrum

Back 113

transmits the sound from air to sound

Front 114

ossicles

Back 114

transmit the sound from the eardrum to cochlea

Front 115

cochlea

Back 115

snail shaped, filled w/ fluid, lined with hair cells connected to axons which transmit signals from hair cells to auditory nerves

Front 116

frequency principles

Back 116

applies to very low (100hz) frequency, individual cells vibrate

Front 117

volley principles

Back 117

applies to 100hz - 4000hz, individual hair cells can't vibrate w/ soundwave so GROUPS do

Front 118

place principle

Back 118

greater than 4000hz, haircells, depending on place, respond to dif. frequency (close to stirup High)

Front 119

vestibules

Back 119

help w/ coordination and balance

Front 120

semicircular canals

Back 120

filled w/ gel like substance and lined with hair (in vestibules)

Front 121

otolith

Back 121

round organs in semicircular canals -> they report the direction of gravity when particles hit hair cells

Front 122

ol'factory receptors

Back 122

smell (mucus membrane) - detect airborn molecules as smell (smell preferences related to culture or experience)

Front 123

phermones

Back 123

chemicals released in environment for identification + sexual attraction

Front 124

conduction deafness

Back 124

ossicles fail transmit sound in cochlea (correct w/ surgery or hearing aids)

Front 125

nerve deafness

Back 125

damage to cochlea, haircells, or auditory nerves (correct w/ hearing aid but harder...)

Front 126

human pitch

Back 126

15-20hz - 15000hz
as we get older the upper level range declines

Front 127

gate theory of pain

Back 127

spinal cord can block pain by sending different messages to brain (activate by touch)

Front 128

5 types of taste receptors

Back 128

sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami

Front 129

vestibular sense

Back 129

sense of place and gravity

Front 130

cutaneous sense

Back 130

the skin sense

Front 131

capsaicin

Back 131

chemical that stimulates receptors that respond to painful heat (to decrease pain)

Front 132

synesthesia

Back 132

a condition in which a stimulus of one type, such as sound, also elicits another experience, such as color

Front 133

absolute sensory threshold

Back 133

the intensity at which a given individual detects a stimulus 50% of the time

Front 134

signal - detection theory

Back 134

the study of people's tendencies to make hits, correct rejections, misses, and false alarms

Front 135

gestalt psychology

Back 135

a field that focuses on our ability to perceive overall patterns

Front 136

bottom-up process

Back 136

tiny elements combine to produce larger perceptions

Front 137

top-down processing

Back 137

apply your experience and expectations to interpret what each item must be in context

Front 138

common fate

Back 138

we perceive objects as part of the same group if they change or move in similar ways at the same time

Front 139

induced movement

Back 139

incorrectly perceiving the object as moving against a stationary background

Front 140

stroboscopic movement

Back 140

an illusion of movement created by a rapid succession of stationary images

Front 141

motion parallax

Back 141

the difference in speed of movement of images across the retina as you travel