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Psych as Nat Sci 2
Exam 2
Question | Answer |
---|---|
mixing of the senses. • technically a disorder, but don’t want a cure. They have extra sensory input • combines color, musical notes and taste • high memory capacity • 1 in 2000 have it, 6x as many women as men | *synesthesia |
the stimulus-detection process by which our sense organs respond to and translate environmental stimuli into nerve impulses that are sent to the brain (stuff happening in your body parts, not your brain). | *sensation |
making "sense" of what our senses tell us-is the active process of organizing stimulus input and giving it meaning | *perception |
the process whereby the characteristics of a stimulus are converted into nerve impulses | transduction |
studies relations between the physical characteristics of stimuli and sensory capabilities | psychophysics |
the lowest intensity at which a stimulus can be detected 50% of the time. (candle 30mi away on clear, dark night) | *absolute threshold |
a standard of how certain someone must be that a stimulus is present before they will say they detected it | decision criterion |
concerned with the factors that influence sensory judgements | signal-detection theory |
one that is so weak or brief that although is is received by the senses, it cannot be perceived consciously. More like priming. Works best with sex, money, and death. Info only stays around 10 minutes. | *subliminal stimulus |
the smallest difference between two stimuli that people can perceive 50% of the time | difference threshold |
states that the difference threshold is directly proportional to the magnitude of the stimulus with which the comparison is being made (and can be expressed as a Weber fraction) | Weber's law |
the diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus (your brain stops telling you because you're not getting any new information) | *sensory adaptation |
transparent protective structure at the front of the eye through which light enters | *cornea function |
adjustable opening which can dilate or constrict to control the amount of light that enters the eye | *pupil function |
elastic structure that becomes thinner to focus on far away objects and thicker to focus on close objects. Myopia is nearsightedness, hyperopia is farsightedness. | *lens function |
multi-layered light-sensitive tissue at the rear of the fluid-filled eyeball | *retina function |
muscles control pupil's size | *iris function |
focus best in dim light, are primarily black & white brightness receptors. relatively insensitive to red end of spectrum. along the further edges, not as much detail. | *rods function |
color receptors, function best in bright illumination. most sensitive to greenish-yellow end of spectrum. Straight back in eye. Interpret detail. | *cones function |
a small area in the center of the retina that contains no rods but many densely packed cones. I think the optic nerve is somewhere around there too. | *fovea (blind spot) |
cones & rods -> horizontal cells -> bipolar cells -> amacrine cells -> ganglion cells -> optic nerve | eye cell setup |
ability to see fine detail | visual acuity |
protein molecules that allow rods and cones to translate light waves into nerve impulses | photopigments |
the progressive improvement in brightness sensitivity that occurs over time under conditions of low illumination | dark adaptation (movie theatre) |
3 color receptors in the retina (blue, green, red) | Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory |
each of the 3 different cone types responds to 2 different wavelengths (blue/yellow, red/green, black/white). Like flag thing. | *Hering's Opponent process theory |
all color vision, one type of color blindness, or only black & white | trichromats, dichromats and monochromats |
fire selectively in response to visual stimuli that have specific characteristics (Bill Clinton face) | feature detectors |
# of sound waves per second (high/low pitch) measured in hertz | Frequency |
vertical size of sound waves (loud/soft) measures in decibles | Amplitude |
nerve impulses sent to the brain match the frequency of the sound wave | frequency theory of pitch perception |
the specific point in the cochlea where the fluid wave peaks and most strongly bends the hair cells serves as a frequency coding cue | place theory of pitch perception |
involves problems with the mechanical system that transmits sound waves to the cochlea. Little bones upset, can be fixed with hearing aid usually | *conduction deafness |
caused by damaged receptors within the inner ear or damage to the auditory nerve itself | *nerve deafness |
sense of taste. Taste pore, taste cell, taste neuron, papillae and moats. Savory might be a new taste. | *gustation |
sense of smell. Particles transferred to the membrane, then the olfactory bulb and then nerve impulses to the brain. Women can smell fear. | *olfaction |
chemical receptors concentrated along the tip, edges, and back surface of the tongue | taste buds |
a forebrain structure immediately above the nasal cavity | olfactory bulb |
chemical signals found in natural body scents | pheromones |
the tendency of women who live together or are close friends to become more similar in their menstrual cycles | menstrual synchrony |
the experience of pain results from the opening and closing of gating mechanisms in the nervous system | gate control theory |
internally produced morphines | endorphins |
the sense of body orientation or equilibrium | vestibular sense |
the system takes in individual elements of the stimulus and then combines them into a unified perception (visual system) | bottom-up processing |
sensory information is interpreted in light of existing knowledge, concepts, ideas, and expectations (reading) | top-down processing |
the failure of unattended stimuli to register in consciousness | inattentional blindness |
intensity, novelty, movement, contrast, and repetition | stimulus characteristics |
our tendency to organize stimuli into a central or foreground figure and a background | figure-ground relations |
similarity, proximity, closure, and continuity | *Gestalt laws of perceptual organization |
a mental representation or image containing the physical and distinctive features of a person, object, or other perceptual phenomenon | perceptual schema |
a readiness to perceive stimuli in a particular way | perceptual set |
allow us to recognize familiar stimuli under varying conditions | perceptual constancies |
require one eye, cued by patterns of light and shadow, linear perspective, interposition, height in the horizontal plane, texture, clarity, relative size, and motional parallax | *monocular depth |
require two eyes (3D movies) | *binocular depth |
each eye sees a slightly different image | binocular disparity |
produced by feedback from the muscles that turn your eyes inward to view a close object | convergence |
illusory movement produced when a light is briefly flashed in darkness and then, a few milliseconds later, another light is flashed nearby | stroboscopic movement |
compelling but incorrect perceptions | illusions |
timeframe in which certain experiences must occur if perceptual abilities and the brain mechanisms that underlie them are to develop normally | critical periods |
our moment-to-moment awareness of ourselves and our environment. It is subjective and private, dynamic, and self-reflective and central to our sense of self. Ever-changing. Illusion? We can watch our thoughts, what's watching? | *consciousness |
the process that focuses awareness on some stimuli to the exclusion of others. Environment imposes in relation to intensity, Novelty, Change, Personal relevance. | *selective attention |
the conscious use of attention and effort (like a math problem). Unfamiliar, different, or important tasks. | *controlled (conscious) processing |
can be performed without conscious awareness or effort (like writing your name). Things that are well-learned, simple, or unimportant. | *automatic (unconscious) processing |
the capacity to attend to and perform more that one activity at the same time | divided attention |
people who are blind in part of their visual field yet in special tests respond to stimuli in that field despite reporting that they can't see those stimuli | blindsight |
exposure to a stimulus influences how you subsequently respond to that same or another stimulus | priming |
daily biological cycles. rhythms are dependent on morning sunlight. When removed from stimulus, we enter onto a 23.5 hour system. | *circadian rhythms |
brain thing that regulates circadian rhythms | suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) |
cyclic tendency to become psychologically depressed during certain seasons of the year | seasonal affective disorder (SAD) |
occur when you are awake and alert | *beta waves |
occur when you are relaxed and drowsy and your brain waves slow down | *alpha waves |
occur in phase 1 sleep, light sleep when you can be easily awakened | *theta waves |
occur in phase 2 sleep, where muscles relax, breathing and heart rate slow | *sleep spindles |
occur in deep, slow-wave sleep | *delta waves |
phases 3 and 4. Lots of this if you were active during the day/thinking a lot. This is where night terrors and sleepwalking happen. | *slow wave sleep |
characterized by rapid eye movement, high arousal, and frequent dreaming. Muscular paralysis and 75% of dreams happen here, also reduced activity in prefrontal cortex (logic) make dreams weird. | *REM sleep |
states that sleep recharges our run-down bodies and allows us to recover from physical and mental fatigue | Restoration model |
emphasize that sleep's main purpose is to increase a species' chances of survival in relation to its environmental demands | evolutionary/circadian sleep models |
a gradual process by which the brain transfers information into a long-term memory | *memory consolidation |
a chronic difficulty in falling asleep, staying asleep, or experiencing restful sleep. 58% of people. | *insomnia |
extreme daytime sleepiness and sudden, uncontrollable sleep attacks that may last from less than a minute to an hour. happens when they're excited. no cure. | *narcolepsy |
the loss of muscle tone that causes normal REM-sleep paralysis is absent | *cataplexy, REM-sleep behavior disorder (RBD) |
frightening dreams that arouse the sleeper to a near-panic state | night terrors |
repeatedly stopping and restarting breathing during sleep | sleep apnea |
we dream in layers of symbols o At the top is manifest content, which is the specific (what you are dreaming) o Latent content is what it represents. Your unconscious mind expresses things it needs to get out, that it can’t admit to your concious self | *wish fulfillment, Freud |
because dreams are not constrained by reality they can help us find creative solutions to our problems and ongoing concerns | *problem-solving dream models |
focus on the process of how we dream and propose that dreaming and waking thought are produced by the same mental systems in the brain | cognitive process dream theories |
dreams do not serve any particular function, they are merely a by-product of REM neural activity | *activation-synthesis theory |
a special lining of tightly packed cells that lets vital nutrients pass through so neurons can function | blood-brain barrier |
a drug that increases the activity of a neurotransmitter (opiates and amphetamines) | *agonist |
a drug that inhibits or decreases the action of a neurotransmitter (antipsychotics) | *antagonist |
decreasing responsivity or a drug | *tolerance |
reactions by the body to balance out the effects of the drug and maintain homeostasis | *compensatory responses |
occurrence of compensatory responses after discontinuing drug use | withdrawal |
decrease nervous system activity (alcohol) | depressants |
shortsighted thinking caused by the inability to pay attention to as much information as when sober | alcohol myopia |
increase neural firing and arouse the nervous system (amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy) | stimulants |
opium and drugs derived from it, such as morphine, codeine, and heroin | opiates |
powerful mind-altering drugs that produce hallucinations (acid, angel dust, salvia, peyote, shrooms) | hallucinogens |
marijuana's major active ingredients | THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) |
a procedure in which one person (the subject) is guided by another (the hypnotist) to respond to suggestions for changes in subjective experience, alterations in perception, sensation, emotions, thought, or behavior. Symbiotic and good for pain management | *Hypnosis |
contain a standard series of pass-fail suggestions that are read to a subject after a hypnotic induction | hypnotic susceptibility scales |
view hypnosis as an altered state involving a division of consciousness | dissociation theories |
propose that hypnotic experiences result from expectations of people who are motivated to take on the role of being hypnotized | social-cognitive theories |
vibrations in the air knock a series of tiny earbones together, eventually some hairs bend in certain ways, and that triggers transmitters in auditory nerve | *If a tree falls in a forest... |
-touch -vibration -pain -warmth and cold | *tactile experiences |
body orientation/equilibrium -semicircular canals • filled with fluid • motion sickness • Kind of like a carpenter’s level -vestibular sacs (utricle and saccule) | *Vestibular system |
feedback about muscle and joint position and movement | *Kinesthesis |
Outside of the body senses. -bem and honorton, 1990 • bem is from identity and self-perception, personality. Well-known and important psychologists • honorton died in the 80s & was a parapsychologist | *parapsychology |
• block out all of the senses as well as you can, so they can focus on extra senses • lays there and picks up images. Someone on the other side is sending an image. Then they look at a computer and pick which one is sent to you. Chance is 25% | *ganzfeld procedure |
when you should be using controlled process but you kick back to automatic (swiping credit card to get into building, going to school instead of work, bus accident, missiles) | *action slips |
• sleep is entrained by our environment (the sun) o 24 hours • free running is like – how do we sleep without cues from the sun o 24.2 hours | *free-running vs entrained sleep |
• jet lag creates this • phase advance – day getting longer (travelling to California) o easier to adjust to o we’re slightly more adapted to a longer day • phase delay – day getting shorter (travelling to England) | *phase advance vs phase delay |
drifting off to sleep. Transition from waking to being asleep o involves altered state of consciousness o weightless feeling o hallucinations o like a deep daydream o you’re not going to have a dream until after the first 90 minutes | *hypnagogic state |
• falling o myth that if you hit the ground, you die o you can have a hear attack during a distressing dream in REM • being attacked or pursued • trying repeatedly to do something • school, studying • sex • arriving too late • eating | *common dream themes |
-control your dreams -confront your fears • do it in your dreams and you’ll be able to do it in your life • when you confront the shadow it’s scary, and a part of you. You’re treading in its territory, it’s going to get angry and lash out at you. | *lucid dreaming, Carl Jung |
-poor judgment, ability to think and reason logically -application problems on tests will not be good -lack of awareness of the poor judgment, you feel like your judgment is excellent immune system compromised slower reaction time reduced pain toler | *sleep deprivation |
divorced/widowed Hispanic males worst sleep Asian men lose the most sleep b/c of being single (never married) Asian women without education lose most sleep over it men of all races sleep better in any relationship women sleep better in a good relation | *sleep, sex, and ethnicity |
-somnambulism (sleep walking) stages 3 & 4 -sleep talking – stage 2 | *other sleep problems |
distorted sense of time intense emotion distortion in perception (usually heightened) had great meaning for them (not always life-changing, but sometimes) tend to be fleeting (unless they’re drug-induced) | *altered states of consciousness |
use of that drug causes the person causes the person distress or impairs their life | *dependence |
physiologically dependent on that drug. Would go through withdrawal symptoms | *addiction |
can be used for romantic relationships, food, pornography, hobbies. | *psychological dependence |
-mild stimulant -addictive -improves memory -withdrawal is drowsiness and fatigue, possibly headaches -the more caffeine, the bigger trough after the effect wears off -caffeine is only effective in performance if they start out exhausted | *Caffeine |
-stimulant relaxing feeling as well as raising heart rate people try to quit ~ 11 times withdrawal is not dangerous, just uncomfortable and nagging nearly impossible to die of OD from cigs 3rd hand smoke - environment where people have smoked. | *Nicotine |
Stimulant. Increases self-confidence and feelings of invulnerability. Not physically addictive (no withdrawal) but maybe psych addictive. Rarely pure, too much leads to paranoid psychosis. Used to be for eye surgery as anesthesia. 20-30min per dose | *Cocaine |
Stimulant, powerful but not as much as cocaine • increases neuron firing • decreases reaction time Physically addictive Used for depression, ADHD. Risks: heart failure, hemorrhaging, paranoia | *Amphetamines |
Stimulant, contains amphetamines. Treats ADHD and narcolepsy. Cheap. Risks: anxiety, heart palpitations, psychosis. Tolerance, crash. Depression, fatigue, and decreased appetite are the withdrawal symptoms. | *Adderall |
Sedative, not easy to get addicted to, but once you're addicted, going dry is difficult and dangerous (50-50 chance of cold turkey death). Hard but possible to OD. binge drinking before 16 leads to brain lesions. Over time cirrhosis, heart attacks, stroke | *Alcohol |
natural form opiate, usually smoked | *Opium |
active chemical in Opium • Used as a painkiller | *Morphine |
• secondary opium. Also painkiller. | *Codeine |
• chemical transformation of morphine • used only for psychoactive effects • gets rid of existential hum • physically addictive • withdrawal is really unpleasant because it works with endorphins • it’s easy to get addicted | *Heroin |
opium-based miracle for people who are going through serious pain oxycodone, lasts up to 12 hours The more you take, the more relief from pain you’ll get -pain dealing level and the toxic level are far apart -danger, it will cause asphyxiation | *Oxycontin |
Cut with amphetamine. Lickable or micropills, micrograms. Know you're hallucinating. Profound sense of meaning, altered reality, life changing. Can't overdose. Not physically dangerous. Not addictive, no withdrawal. 8-12 hrs normal dose. no flashbacks | *LSD |
o Nausea/vomiting, then just like LSD | *Psilocybin (shrooms) |
o Nausea/vomiting, then same as LSD | *Mescaline (peyote) |
Not illegal o Used by the shamen to induce visions in native cultures Low toxicity, taken in natural form, not addictive 8 minutes Uncontrollable laughter, Childhood memories, Hallucinations, Feeling like youre in two places at once | *Salvia Divinorum |
Carcinogenic (more than cigs), lung damage, increased anxiety, depression. Reduced executive function of frontal lobe before 16. Can get dependent, not addicted. Pain relief, appetite, reduces nausea, relaxes muscles, low eye pressure, sensory stimulation | *Marijuana |
Legality of drugs is not as much about the danger of drugs as much as it is about the danger to the society based on the reaction to the drugs | *Drugs and legality |