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85 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Dependent variable |
What you are testing for |
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Independent variable
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what changes in your experiment |
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Dendrites |
where neurons receive information |
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Axon - tail |
carries info from cell body to other neurons, musc, or glands |
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Myelin shieth |
fatty layer that covers axons, helps to speed up the neural impulse |
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Action potential |
the minimum threshold to cause a firidng of an electron, causing an electrical charge to travel down the neuron |
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Central nervous system |
brain and spinal cord |
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Peripheral nervous system |
nerves not in brain or spinal cord |
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Somatic Nervous System |
The nervous system within conscious control |
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Autonomic nervous system |
Nervous system outside of consious control - digestion, heart beat, automatic breathing |
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EEG electronenecphalogram |
measures electrical activity of the brain this is possible because the neruons communicate electricity |
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Positron emission tomography PET |
Shows where sugar is being used by the brain, thus showing active areas where energy is being consumed |
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Magnet Resonance Imaging |
MRI |
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Thalamus |
Sensory switchboard, receives information from sense organs, sendins information to higher areas of the brain |
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Cerebellum |
Controls balance, coordination, voluntary movements, emotions, sounds, and textures. |
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Limbic System |
following members, which control emotions and memory, important for food and sex drive. Known as the "emotional" brain |
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Amygdala |
Aggression, anger, fear |
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Hypothalamus |
Body maintenance: hunger, sex drive, thirst, body temperature. |
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Center of brain |
For most basic functions such as basic drives (food, hunger, sex respiration, heartbeat). Very similar to less advanced animals such as reptiles and amphibians. |
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Cerebral Cortex |
Thin, wrinkled outer layer of the brain. Higher order thinking. |
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Lobes of the brain |
Frontal - Judgement, planning, new memories Parietal (top&rear) - Occipital (back) - vision Temporal (side/near ears), hearing |
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Motor Cortex |
Affects opposite side of the brain/applications for prosthetics |
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Sensory Cortex |
In front parietal loves, human lips are very sensitive and have relatively large area in sensory cortex devoted to lips |
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Brain plasticity |
Brain ability to heal or modify in response to trauma. This can be either physical or emotional - Younger=greater plasticity |
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Neurogenesis |
Creation of new brain cells, made in center of brain and exported elsewhere. |
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Right hemisphere of brain |
Language |
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Right hemisphere |
inferences |
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Structuralism |
human minds have distinct pattern similar to the patterns of matter/in the physical realm. This has to do with anatomy and physiology, and how body systems work. |
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Functionalists |
Emotions, memories, and consciousness. - much more abstract. |
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Behaviorists |
Study observable behavior, much of today's therapy is based on behaviorism. Theory of extinction, if not performed, then the behavior will go away. - All behavior is learned - Associated with B.F Skinner |
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Humanistic Psychology |
People are inherently positive and have growth potential and environment can help that potential. - Associated with Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow |
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Cognitive Psychology |
Brain/human mind is formed from perception, thinking, memory, and language. Learning is structured. |
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Nature V Nurture Debate |
What is more important: our genes or our experiences? -Twin studies: sometimes, even raised in separate environments, children are surprisingly similar -Are humans born "blank slates?" |
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Correlation |
How closely 2 factors are related/how closely they predict each other. |
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Correlation V Causation |
DOES NOT EQUAL |
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Illusory Correlation |
When we think that there is a relationship and there really is not. This involves biases. |
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Ways to use pychology |
1) Basic research 2) Applied research - applying knowledge directly to benefit people's lives 3) Clinical psychologist - treat mental, emotional, and behavioral issues. 4) Psychiatrists medical doctors that prescribe drugs |
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Scientific Method |
Way scientists test questions to obtain information |
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Hypothesis |
Testable prediction |
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Sympathetic Nervous System |
"Fight or flight" Too much time spent with active sympa nervous sys can be harmful to health: htn, GI issues, high bp |
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Biology of Gender |
Humans have 46 chromosomes. X from father=female, Y from father=male |
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Testosterone |
Most important male sex hormone. Present in both sexes. Necessary for sex drive and male sex organs. Important for puberty |
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Crystalized intelligence |
Accumulated knowledge Vocab inc with age |
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Fluid Intelligence |
Ability to reason abstractly decreases slowly up to 75 yo, then more rapidly after that. |
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Pupil |
Hole through which light enters |
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Iris |
Colored muscle that adjusts how much light can enter the pupil |
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Lens |
Focuses light onto the back of the eye, where the retina is |
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Retina |
Back layer of the eye. This is where the eye's sensory cells are |
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Accommodation |
Changing the shape of the lens to help correct focus light on the retina. This occurs when the object's distance from the observer changes. |
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Retinal Rods and Cones |
Rods and cones are sensory receptors of the eye. Cones are for colored vision, rods are for dim light/black and white vision. |
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Optic Nerve |
Formed by the axon of the ganglion cells and carries info to the brain. A blind spot is formed by the optic nerve, yet our brain fills this blind spot so that we are not overtly aware of it. |
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Fovea |
Cluster of cones and the central area of focus |
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Stages of Sleep |
Alpha waves - awake but relaxed state/in bed but not asleep. Sleep is measured by slow breathing, irregular brain waves. Stage 1 - Sleep is associated with hallucinations/out of body experiences Stage 2 - more relaxed Stage 4 Deep sleep/delta waves. Hard to wake people in stage 3 and 4 |
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REM Sleep |
REM periods increase as night progresses REM=Higher HR, rapid/irregular breathing, eye movements, genital arousal. Need for REM sleep is biological. REM rebound if one is deprived of REM sleep. |
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Sleep Disorders |
Insomnia - persistent problem sleeping -less sleep with age -Sleeping pills and ETOH can exacerbate problem. |
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Narcilepsy |
Overwhelming sleepiness, occur at unexpected times, genetic link |
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Sleep Apnea |
Stopping breathing during sleep, often unaware of disorder due to being asleep, associated with obesity. |
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Night terrors |
Mostly happen in children, not dreams (which occur in REM sleep). NT happen in stage 4 sleep |
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Fetal Conception |
Fertilization begins when egg and sperm meet Zygote - a fertilized egg Embryo - A more developed zygote - 2wk-2mo Fetus - More than 2 mo after fertilization to birth |
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Audition |
Hearing, we hear only a narrow range of sounds, small range of frequencies |
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Sound |
Produced form waves, air molecules hitting ear sensors |
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Pitch |
Frequency of wave determines pitch and volume |
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Middle ear |
transmits vibrations from the eardrum to the 3 bones in the ear |
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Inner ear |
Contains the cochlea (snail shaped tube) where the sensory cells are located. The axons of the auditory nerve begin at the cochlear cells. |
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Learning |
Learned associations form habitual behaviors |
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Classical conditioning |
Learning by association Unconditioned stimulus: food Unconditioned response: salivation Conditioned (learned) response: salivate when bell is rung Conditioned stimulus: Ring bell |
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Spacing effect |
Tendency for distributed study to get long term understanding through mass study. |
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Retention curve |
as rehearsal increases, relearning time decreases. |
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Serial position effect |
Where/when an object appears affects its ability to be recalled. Our natural tendency to recall the first and last items of a series. |
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Immediate recall |
ability to recall last items best |
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Later recall |
Ability to recall first items best |
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Contextual clues |
Best recall in the same setting in which the item was learned. |
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Mood congruent memory |
Tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current mood. |
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INtelligence |
Mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. |
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Intelligence test |
method to assess mental talents and comparing them to those of others. The scores are then quantified. |
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Spearman's General Intelligence (g) |
basic intelligence predicts our abilities in academic areas |
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Savant syndrome |
person with limited mental ability, yet has outstanding ability to perform a specific skill |
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Alfred Binet |
Intelligence is not fixed/subjected to change. |
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Mental age |
Age at which one is mentally equivalent, not one's actual, chronological age. |
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Stanford-Binet/Intelligence Quotient |
Mental age/chronological age * 100 Average IQ is 100 |
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Achievement tests |
Assess what a person has learned |
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Aptitude tests |
Designed to predict future performance. |
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Intelligence is correlation |
High IQ as a child is correlated with high IQ as an adult |
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Intellectual disability |
IQ score of 70 or lower |
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Down Syndrome |
Genetic disorder, caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21 |
