Psych Glossary

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Yerkes–Dodson law

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this law states that a person’s performance increases with physiological and psychological arousal—but only to a certain point. When the levels of arousal become too great, the performance of the person decreases

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Working memory

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the mental work that is occurring at any one time, including retrieving information, problem-solving, and comprehending sounds and visions. Working memory draws on information from your sensory and long-term memories

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Word salad

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a jumble of meaningless words and phrases; commonly seen in schizophrenic states and Wernicke’s aphasia

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Withdrawal rights

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the right of participants to leave a study at any stage, including the right to withdraw their results after the study has been completed, regardless of the possible effects on the results.

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Wernicke’s area

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part of the left temporal lobe, responsible for language reception and interpretation and for creation of grammatically correct speech.

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Wernicke’s aphasia

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results from damage to Wernicke’s area, located in the left temporal lobe near the parietal lobe boundary, that causes difficulty in understanding written and spoken language and producing written and spoken language that makes sense to others. Speech is fluent but does not make sense.

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Waterfall illusion

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an example of the motion after-effect, in which a stationary object appears to move in the opposite direction after extended viewing of a waterfall (or similar moving stimuli).

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Vulnerability theory

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theory relating to schizophrenia that describes how biological, psychological and sociocultural factors interact and influence a patient’s vulnerability.

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Voluntary participation

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taking part in research without pressure or by deception.

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Voluntary behaviour

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actions that are controlled by the person or animal performing them.

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von Restorff effect

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when a word stands out in a list of other words, it is more easily remembered. This may be due to length of word or other structural characteristic

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Visuospatial sketchpad

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the storage system for visual information in working memory

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Visual agnosia

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inability to recognise the faces of familiar people but can recognise the same people by the sound of their voice.

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Visual acuity

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the clarity or sharpness of vision

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Video monitoring

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now a common method used in sleep laboratories and in the person’s own home to observe sleep. It uses infrared cameras (or cameras in a room lit with infra red light) that operate silently to allow footage to be seen and taped in the dark without disturbing the sleeping participant.

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Vicarious conditioning

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where an observer learns a behaviour by observing its consequences for another person (observational learning).

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Ventral tegemental area (VTA)

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located in the midbrain and has a role in learning through operant conditioning. Part of the reward pathway in the brain.

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Variance

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a measure of how much, on average, scores in a dataset differ from the mean.

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Variable ratio schedule

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in operant conditioning, responses are reinforced after numbers of responses that vary around a set mean, irrespective of the elapsed time.

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Variable interval schedule

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in operant conditioning, responses are reinforced after intervals of time that vary around a set mean, irrespective of the number of responses

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Variables

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describable or quantifiable properties measured in research, they may be independent; dependent; confounding; controlled and extraneous

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Validity

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the extent to which an instrument measures what it is supposed to measure.

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unipolar depression

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when a person experiences depressive symptoms alone but at some point returns to their usual state of functioning.

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Unilateral temporal lobectomy

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removal of one temporal lobe

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Unconscious

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thoughts and memories that are deeply hidden but in Freudian theory cause desires that are hard to control

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Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) (classical conditioning)

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any stimulus which consistently produces a particular naturally occurring automatic response (e.g. the food in Pavlov’s experiments).

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Unconditioned response (UCR) (classical conditioning)

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the response that occurs automatically when the unconditioned stimulus is presented. The UCR is a reflexive or involuntary response as it is predictably caused by an UCS.

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Ultradian rhythm

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a biological rhythm that is shorter than 24 hours, such as NREM/REM sleep cycle

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Twin studies

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a type of family study used to compare similar characteristics between twins.

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Treatment

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the treatment is the variable that the experimental group participants receive and members of the control group do not (another term for IV).

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Transduction

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the conversion from one energy form to another.

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Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

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a non-invasive technique that allows researchers to stop or start activity in a specific area of the brain.

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Transactional model of stress and coping (Lazaras and Folkman)

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focuses on the cognitive component of stress. Stress is regarded as a ‘transaction’ between the person and the environment where the person’s individual interpretation determines how to deal with the situation. The person goes through primary appraisal (initial recognition of the potentially stressful situation) then secondary appraisal (person considers their options). Both stages involve emotional forecasting (predicts what feelings the situation will produce).

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Tracking

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the moving of the eyes to follow (track) an object.

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Total sleep deprivation

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going without sleep for an entire 24 hour period; may occur for just during one night or for several nights and can lead to serious consequences.

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Tonic neck reflex

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an inborn reflex in which the baby turns head to the right and forms fists when placed on back.

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Token economy

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a form of behaviour modification in which tokens are earned for performing target behaviours and these tokens can be exchanged later for some reward.

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Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

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the feeling that something we know is just not available to be recalled from memory. An indication that some forgetting is due to retrieval failure

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Time orientation

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the ability to correctly perceive the speed at which time passes.

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Three-phase model

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in operant conditioning, the D-B-C (A-B-C) model

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Threat

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an assessment that there may be a future harm or a loss

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Thiamine

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vitamin B1.

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Theta waves

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The typical brainwave pattern (medium frequency and mixed amplitude (some high, some low)) during the early stages of sleep.

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The hat phenomenon

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a feeling of tightening around the head as though a hat that is too small is being worn that usually occurs during day 4 of total sleep deprivation.

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Thalamus

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a structure which is shaped like two eggs beneath the cortex; it processes incoming sensory information and transmits it to other, higher parts of the brain for further processing. It also directs attention to specific sensory systems

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Test–retest reliability

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the extent to which a test produces the same result if readministered to the same person under the same conditions at a different time.

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Test standardisation

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where administration of a test is uniform for all examinees at any given time or setting.

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Temporal lobe

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the part of the forebrain beneath the temporal plate of the skull, at the side of the head above the ears. Contains Wernicke’s area and the primary auditory cortex

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Tardive dyskinesia (TD)

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a disorder where the person will experience uncontrollable movements of any body part, including the face and tongue.

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Systematic desensitation

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a process of treating a phobia by introducing stimuli that are more and more fear-provoking while simultaneously invoking relaxation

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Syntax

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verbal communication that does not use the grammatical rules

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Syndrome

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a particular profile of symptoms. The origins and clinical severity may vary e.g. dyslexia.

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Synaptogenesis

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the process of moulding or forming new synapses.

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Synapse

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the connection between two neurons.

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Synaptic transmission

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the process of neurons communication with other neurons.

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Synaesthete

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a person who experiences synaesthesia.

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Synaesthesia

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a cross-modal experience when stimulation of one sensory modality (system) automatically triggers a perception in a second sensory modality or cognitive process in the absence of a direct stimulation to this second modality.

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Sympathetic nervous system

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a branch of the autonomic nervous system that activates the fight-or-flight response.

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Symbolic thoughts

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mental images that represent objects and functions.

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Swimming reflex

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an inborn reflex in which the baby makes coordinated swimming movements when placed in water.

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Survival (adaptive and evolutionary) theory of sleep

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Sleep serves as a means to increase an animal’s chances of survival in its environment - it allows us to adapt to our environment and depends on how much food we need, how available it is (we may need to conserve energy) and how safe it is when we sleep. These sleep requirements have evolved over time in order for the species to hunt food, hide and conserve energy

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Suppression

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(motivated forgetting) conscious refusal to allow memories to occur.

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Superego

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the moral component of the Freudian personality model. It operates at conscious, pre-conscious and unconscious levels.

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Sucking reflex

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an inborn reflex in which the baby automatically sucks (draws in with mouth) when an object touches the mouth

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Subjective measurement

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a personal evaluation that could be bias or difficult to compare with other measurements, such as reporting feelings.

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Subjective data

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information about the variables being studied based on opinion, with no external yardstick by which they are measured

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Subjective

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open to bias

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Stupor

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little or no response to their surroundings and reduced body movement.

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Structuralist approach

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an approach in psychology focused on investigating the perception of vision, hearing and touch through the systematic observation of experience.

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Structural processing

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encoding according to physical features of the word to be remembered e.g. long or short, starts with consonant or vowel, upper case or lower case

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Stroop effect

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a process using colour names written in contrasting colours of ink, demonstrating the difficulty in suppressing an implicit memory when an appropriate stimulus cue is presented.

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Stressor

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a source of tension that challenges a person’s ability to cope.

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Stress

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a psychological and physical response to internal or external sources of tension (stressors) that challenge a person’s ability to cope. These can be real or perceived.

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Strength of correlation

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the strength of the relationship between two variables.

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Streams of consciousness

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a analogy, termed by James, that explained consciousness as an ever- changing stream of thoughts that can shift smoothly and effortlessly from one moment to the next, just like water flowing in a stream.

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Stratified sampling

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a sampling process by which the effects of a certain variable can be eliminated as a possible confound in an experiment.

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Storage

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maintaining encoded information in a memory store.

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Stimulus generalisation

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when an organism responds to a stimulus that is similar to the conditioned stimulus.

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Stimulus discrimination

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when an organism responds to the conditioned stimulus but not to any stimulus which is similar to the conditioned stimulus.

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Stepping reflex

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an inborn reflex in which the baby makes rhythmic stepping movements when held upright with feet touching a surface.

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Statistical significance

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a result is called statistically significant when the likelihood of a finding occurring by chance is less than 5 in 100 (probability less than 5%; p < 0.05).

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States of consciousness

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An individual’s level of awareness of internal events (thoughts, feelings and perceptions) and external surroundings. An individual experiences a range of different states of consciousness throughout the day.

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State-dependent cue

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a clue to assist retrieval from long-term memory, due to the internal environment (mood-state or physical condition) in which learning took place

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Standardised instructions and procedures

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the system of using the same words, actions and materials despite being administered by different researchers. A process of eliminating possible confounds.

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Standardisation

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proscribed, uniform procedures for administering and scoring a psychometric test.

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Standard deviation

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a measure that tells us how far, on average, scores are different from the mean.

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Spontaneous recovery

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the reappearance of an extinguished response after a rest period

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Split-half reliability

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compares examinee’s scores on two halves of a test.

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Split-brain

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occurs after brain surgery (known as a commisurotomy) in which the corpus callosum is severed. The two sides of the brain are still connected at the subcortical (deeper) level but the two hemispheres are separated

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Spiral illusion

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an example of the motion after-effect, in which a stationary object appears to move in the opposite spiralling direction after an extended viewing of a moving spiral in the one direction.

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Spinal cord

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the bundle of nerve fibres connecting the brain with the peripheral nervous system.

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Specific phobia

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fear of specific objects or situations, illness, injury, disease or death.

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Species specific behaviour

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An instinctive, inborn predisposition to behave in a certain way (also known a s fixed action pattern)

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Spatial neglect

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a disorder in which the person affected systematically ignores stimuli on one side of their body. Spatial neglect occurs after brain damage usually in the posterior region of their right parietal lobe and results in the person ignoring stimuli on their left side.

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Somnambulists

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sleep walkers, occurs in stage 3 & 4 NREM sleep and usually perform routine tasks.

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Somnambulism

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sleep walking

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Somatosensory cortex

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located in the parietal lobe, receives information from the sense receptors in the body

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Somatic nervous system

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the division of the peripheral nervous system that carries sensory information into the central nervous system, and also carries motor commands from the central nervous system to the skeletal muscles

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Soma

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cell body of a neuron. Controls metabolism and maintenance of the cell.

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Sociocultural perspective

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an approach that focuses on how people’s beliefs, values and traditions influence their thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

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Social support network

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refers to the network of family, friends, neighbours and community members that are available during difficult times to provide emotional, physical and financial assistance

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Social phobia

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(also known as social anxiety disorder) can involve fear of other people or social situations.

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Social learning theory

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describes the way in which people acquire certain behaviours by watching and learning from their role models. The initial focus of observational learning

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Social drift hypothesis

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states that people with schizophrenia may experience personal difficulties which impair their work and as a result they may fall into a lower socioeconomic category.

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Social causation hypothesis

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states that people who live in lower socioeconomic areas experience higher levels of stress, thus increasing the likelihood of developing schizophrenia

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Slow wave sleep

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collectively stage 3 and stage 4 NREM sleep

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Sleep talking

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verbalising in our sleep, a common occurrence that can occur in NREM and REM sleep.

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Sleep spindles

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brain wave patterns that consist of rapid bursts of high frequency, often associated with stage 2 NREM sleep but can be found in stage 3 and 4 NREM sleep.

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Sleep laboratory

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a place used for scientific research on sleep that usually resembles a bedroom