Psyc 107 Tamu Exam 1 Clifford

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psychology

Back 1

the scientific study of the mind bran and behavior

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confirmation bias

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tendency to seek out evidence that supports the hypothesis and neglect or distort contradicting evidence

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belief perseverance

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tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them

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pseudoscience

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set of claims that seem scientific, but aren't; testable beliefs that aren't supported by the evidence

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ad hoc immunizing hypothesis

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escape hatches to protect against falsification usually a loophole or exception for negative findings

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over reliance on anecdotes

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anecdotes are often not representative but can't tell us about cause and effect and are often difficult to verify

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structuralism

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aimed to identify the most basic elements of psychological experience

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functionalism

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hoped to understand the adaptive purposes of thought and behavior

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behaviorism

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focuses on the mental processes involved in different aspects of thinking

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cognitivism

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focuses on the mental process involved in different aspects of thinking

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psychoanalysis

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focused on internal psychological processes of which we are unaware

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cognitive psychologist

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study how we perceive and process info

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personality psychologist

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study how individual traits develop

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social psychologist

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study how others impact our thoughts and behaviors

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clinical psychologist

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work with people who have mental disorders

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school psychologist

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assess and develop intervention programs

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health psychologist

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psychological factors in health and illness

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developmental psychologist

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study why and how people change over time; most work with children and infants

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biological psychologist

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examine psychological bases of behavior

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forensic psychologist

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assess, diagnose, and assist with rehab and treatment of prison inmates; others on eyewitness or juries

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industrial organization psychologist

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personnel psychology; real world applications

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sports psychologist

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psychological effect on performance in sports

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prefrontal lobotomy

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neural fibers connecting frontal lobe to the thalamus are severed

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facilitated communication

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technique used by some caregivers where they point to the letters on a keyboard

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heuristics

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mental shortcuts or rules of thumb

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representative heuristics

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type of heuristic when data is actually represented

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availability heuristics

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type of heuristic when you think something is going to happen based on past events

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descriptive studies

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describe observations about behavior

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naturalistic observation

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record behavior in naturally occurring situations

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case study

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observing a single person for an extended period of time

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survey

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collect self-reported info from people to prove a testable hypothesis right or wrong

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experimental group

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group of subjects that under study to determine the effects of some factor/drug

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control group

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subjects that serve as a standard or baseline for comparison with experimental group

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independent variable

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the variable that is manipulated by the experimenter

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dependent variable

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the variable that represents the measurable response or behavior of the subjects in the experiment

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operational definition

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definition of a variable that allows it to be precisely measured and that's replicable

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confounds

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any difference between the experimental and control group

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demand characteristics

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cues that participants pick up allowing them to guess at the researcher's hypothesis

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central tendency

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when a group tends to cluster

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inferential statistics

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allows us to determine whether we can generalize findings from our sample to the population

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cell body (soma)

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cell's life support center

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dendrites

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receive messages from other cells

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axon

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passes msgs away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles or glands

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myelin sheath

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covers the axon of some neurons and helps speed the neural impulses

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terminal buttons

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form junctions with other cells

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neural impulse

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electrical signal traveling down the axon

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sensory neurons

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type of neuron that carries msgs to the brain

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motor neurons

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type of neuron that carries msgs to muscles

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interneurons

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neuron that connects cells

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neuroglia

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"glue"-provide physical support, control nutrient flow, and are involved in phagocytosis

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synapse

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physical gap between pre and post synaptic membrane and is typically an axon

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synaptic vesicles

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tiny sacs in terminal buttons that contain neurotransmitters

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agonist

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drugs or compounds that bind to a receptor and activate it

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antagonist

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drugs or compounds that bind to a receptor and prevent a reaction from occurring

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acetylcholine

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slows ANS activity (eating and drinking) and is involved in learning, memory, sleeping and dreaming

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dopamine

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involved in voluntarily controlling your muscles and is released during pleasure or reward

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norepinephrine

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energizing and arousing properties

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serotonin

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plays role in mood; under supply can lead to depression

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glutamate

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most common neurotransmitter; involved in learning and memory; associated with schizophrenia, anxiety and intoxication

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GABA

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major inhibitory neurotransmitter; slows CNS function; one of the most common neurotransmitter in the central nervous system

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neural plasticity

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includes 4 ways our brains change over time

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synaptogenesis

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the formation of entirely new synapses of connections with other neurons

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pruning

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reducing the number of neurons, synapses and axons in the brain and nervous system

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myelination

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process of forming a myelin sheath

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cerebrospinal fluid

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the liquid the brain floats in; is produced by the choroid plexus of each brain ventricle

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cerebral cortex

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forms the outer surface of the cerebral hemospheres; appears grey because it's made up of 6 layers of cells

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sulci

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small grooves in the brain

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fissures

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large grooves in the brain

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gyri

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bulges in the cortex

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frontal lobe

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lobe responsible for recent memory, planning of movement, and some aspects of emotion

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parietal lobe

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lobe responsible for body sensation

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temporal lobe

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lobe responsible for hearing and advanced visual processing

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occipital lobe

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lobe responsible for vision

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broca's area

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area of the frontal lobe responsible for speech production

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wernicke's area

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area of the temporal lobe responsible for speech comprehension

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limbic system

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set of structures around the thalamus

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hippocampus

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part of the limbic system responsible for learning and memory

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amygdala

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part of the limbic system responsible for processing emotional info, especially that related to fear

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mammilary bodies

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part of the limbic system responsible for recollective memory

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thalamus

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part of the limbic system that contains nuclei that receive sensory info and transmit it to the cortex

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hypothalamus

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part of the limbic system that contains nuclei involved in integration of species' typical behaviors, control of autonomic nervous system, and pituitary; controls body temp, hunger, thirst, fatigue and circadian rhythms

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somatic nervous system

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conveys info between the CNS and the body, controlling and coordination voluntary movement

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autonomic nervous system

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controls the involuntary actions, internal organs and glands; split into 2 divisions: the sympathetic and parasympathetic

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cerebellum

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part of the hindbrain that plays a key role in balance

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pons

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part of the hindbrain that connects the cortex to the cerebellum and triggers dreams

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medulla

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part of the hindbrain that regulates breathing, heartbeat, and other vital functions

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pituitary gland

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gland that controls all glands and releases hormones

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adrenal gland

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gland that releases adrenaline and cortisol during states of emotional arousal

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sensation

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stimulation of our sense organs by features of the outer world

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perception

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how our brain organizes and interprets sensory info in a meaningful way

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sensory receptors

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eyes, ears, nose, taste buds, skin

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bottom up processing

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sensations transduce a physical signal directly to a neural impulse the brain later interprets for meaning

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top down processing

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the interpretation on sensations to organize individual features into a personally meaningful whole

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transduction

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conversion of environmental energy to neural impulses the brain can understand

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absolute threshold

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the lowest intensity level of a stimulus we can detect

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difference threshold

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(JND) smallest amount of change between two stimuli a person can detect

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weber's law

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our perception of a "just noticeable" change in a stimulus is a constant ratio of the original stimulus

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light

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the vision stimulus; brightness (wave amplitude)

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hue

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color (wave length) red=long and blue=short

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cornea

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clear membrane on eye's surface thats for protection

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lens

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behind the pupil; bends light rays

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iris

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colored muscle around the pupil; adjusts pupil to regulate the amount of light that enters the eye

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pupil

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hole that admits light into the eye

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retina

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light-sensitive surface on the back of the eye where light is focused

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rods

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photoreceptors that are responsive to dark and light contrast; night vision

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cones

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photoreceptors responsible for color vision; bright light

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fovea

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very back of the retina; highest concentration of cones

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optic nerve

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bundle of retinal cell axons that carries the neural impulses from the retina to the visual cortex in the brain

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color blindness

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occurs when monochromats either have no cones, cones that don't work, or damage to neural paths for color processing

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wavelength

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measured in Hz-waves per second

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amplitude

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measured in decibles (units of loudness)

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pinna

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outer ear

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auditory ear canal

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the tube that goes from the pinna to the eardrum

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tympanic membrane

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fancy word for eardrum

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ossicles

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3 bones in the middle ear: malleus, incus, and stapes

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cochlea

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snail shaped structure that's filled with fluid

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organ of corti

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part of the ear in the basilar membrane and contains receptor cells

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auditory nerve

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nerve that receives msgs from the organ or court and carrie them to the brain

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taste buds

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receptors on the tongue

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papillae

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these house the receptors (taste buds) on your tongue

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kinesthetic sense

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"activity sense" tells you the location of your individual body parts in relation to the ground and each other

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proprioceptors

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sensors that provide info about joint able, muscle length, and muscle tension

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vestibular sense

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"whole body" sensations of motion, balance and position

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sensory conflict theory

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when visual info conflicts with vestibular info; can cause nausea and dizziness

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habituation

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brain stops paying attention to consistently present/repeated stimuli

example: perfume

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perceptual constance

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the tendency to perceive objects as unchanging even when they actually change at the sensational level (ex: doors open part of the way and barely cracked)

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purkinje shift

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maximum retinal sensitivity shifts to blue at dusk

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ponzo illusion

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capitalizes on the brain's use of distance cues to distort size perception

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relative size

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close up objects appear bigger than objects that are far away

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interposition

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when objects close to us may block part of our view

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arial perspective

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more distance=more haziness

ex: mountains in the distance look grey

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texture gradient

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texture of objects appear finer as distance increases

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motion parallax

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close objects appear to move faster than far objects

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monocular cues

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cues for perceiving depth based on one eye only

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binocular cues

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cues for perceiving depth based on both eyes

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retinal disparity

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images from the 2 eyes differ; the closer the object, the larger the disparity

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convergence

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neuromuscular cue; your eyes turn inward (converge) to view a closer object

ex: moving your finger from out in front to right on your nose