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psych test 1
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| replicated | findings match previous research |
| case study | observing one or very few subjects in great depth, usually over a long period of time |
| advantages of case studies | appropriate for unusual cases and collect a great deal of information |
| disadvantages of case studies | hard to generalize the results |
| population | all the cases of a group |
| sample | part of a population |
| the average of the sample should reflect | the average of the population if theres no bias |
| advantages of surveys | can easily collect information on attitudes and beliefs, bypass time (ask about past, present, or future), and flexibility of conduct |
| disadvantages of surveys | subjects may lie or mislead, subjects say one thing but do another (voting polls), data isn't as useful unless the sample is representative, wording of survey affects people's response |
| naturalistic observation | observe behavior in its natural setting, attempt to avoid influencing or controlling it |
| advantages of naturalistic observation | good way to collect normative data |
| disadvantages of naturalistic observation | must wait for the behavior to occur naturally |
| positive correlation (#) | both variables change in the same direction (up or down) >0 to 1, graph is going up to the right |
| negative correlation (#) | variables change in opposite directions -1 to <0, graph is going down to the left |
| correlation | represents the relationship between 2 variables |
| correlation coefficient | mathematical estimate of the relationship between 2 variables |
| stronger correlation | the closer the score is to 1 or -1, the more the variables change together |
| linear correlation curve means | the correlation coefficient is closer to 0 |
| more circular correlation curve means | the correlation coefficient is closer to -1 or 1 |
| correlation cant imply causation because | directionality problems (a causes b or b causes a) possible third variables |
| experimental group | group exposed to the independent variable |
| random assignment | randomly assign people to the experimental or control group, makes all other variables constant if big enough sample |
| experimental control | control for the extraneous variables that could influence the outcome of the experiment (ex: environment/surroundings) |
| advantages of experiments | can establish cause and effect relationships |
| disadvantages of experiments | artificially arranged, may not occur naturally results may not generalize to real world random assignment could be impossible (ex: abuse, gender, disability) |
| types of research methods | descriptive methods, correlational methods, experimental methods |
| descriptive research methods | describe what is occurring |
| correlational research methods | test the relationship between variables |
| experimental research methods | investigate what causes an outcome |
| types of descriptive research methods | observational studies, self-reports, and case studies |
| observational studies | allow researcher to watch what participants do in a natural environment or laboratory |
| self-reports | use surveys, questionnaires, or interviews to gather information directly from participants |
| neuron | nerve cell, the basic building block of the nervous system 800-100 billion in the brain |
| dendrites | receive information from other neurons |
| axon | body of the neuron, sends signals along |
| myelin | insulates the nerve cell, speeds up the conduction of nerve cells |
| terminal buttons | release neurotransmitters, connect to dendrites of another neuron |
| synapse | physical gap that separates the axon terminal from the dendrite, lots per neuron (greater density of synapses = greater synaptic power/ability) |
| neurotransmitters | different neurotransmitters have different effects (puzzle piece fit), more than 40 known types |
| serotonin | regulates mood, arousal, hunger, and sleep |
| dopamine | movement, learning, attention, emotion |
| what affects neurotransmitters | drugs and neural diseases |
| how to kill a neuron | normal wear and tear, high concentrations of drugs and alcohol, environmental pollutants, trauma (when lots die, loss of function, physical or personality) |
| peripheral nervous system | takes info to and from the central nervous system |
| two subsystems of the peripheral nervous system | somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system |
| somatic nervous system | motor output and sensory output |
| motor output | motor neurons, efferent nerves (from CNS) |
| sensory imput | sensory neurons, afferent nerves (to CNS) |
| epidurals | block sensory info but allow motor info to pass through |
| congenital insensitivity to pain | inability to feel pain and temperature, genetic impairment in ability of sensory neurons to transmit signals to CNS |
| parasympathetic nervous system | calming, rest and digest, 'relaxed mode' |
| sympathetic nervous system | arousal, fight or flight |
| 2 subsets of the autonomic nervous system | parasympathetic nervous system and sympathetic nervous system |
| biofeedback | system for feeding back information regarding a physiological state (ex: blood pressure, muscle tension) |
| neurofeedback | biofeedback for CNS alone, focused on changing levels of different types of brain waves |
| neurons vs nerves | neurons: individual cells nerves: consist of neural cables containing many axons, formed from a group of neurons |
| nerves | connect muscles, glands, and sensory organs to the CNS and sends electrical signals between them |
| central nervous system (CNS) | brain and spinal cord |
| spinal cord | pencil-sized cable of 31 nerves that contains sensory neurons and motor neurons |
| spinal cord reflex | automatic response to a sensory stimulus, causes a behavior to occur, brain not involved |
| major structures of the brain | hindbrain, midbrain, forebrain |
| parts of the hindbrain | medulla, pons, cerebellum, reticular formation (parts of brain stem) |
| medulla | regulates heart rate and breathing, houses crossover of the sides of the body and brain |
| pons | automatic and unconscious movements |
| cerebellum | balance, coordination, voluntary movement, identifies if stimulation is of internal or external origin (tells brain to ignore internal sensations) |
| reticular formation | arousal, awakeness |
| midbrain | coordinates signals between hindbrain + forebrain helps synchronization of smaller movements (ex: reaching) |
| parts of the forebrain | limbic system, cerebral cortex |
| limbic system | emotion and motivation |
| cerebral cortex | thinking, memory, language/speech, abstract reasoning, higher mental processes 80% of the brain's weight, 2 hemispheres |
| parts of the limbic system | hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus |
| hypothalamus | feeding, fighting, fleeing, f*cking (4 f's) |
| amygdala | aggression, fear, emotional memories |
| hippocampus | memory formation, indexing (infantile amnesia) |
| corpus callosum | major pathway between hemispheres connects comparable structures on each side permits data to be processed on both sides aids motor coordination of both sides of body |
| split brain | severing of the corpus collosum to prevent spasms from going to both sides of the brain, neural communication between hemispheres stops |
| left hemisphere | controls right side of body, speech, language, writing, logic |
| right hemisphere | controls left side of body, spatial skills, creative/fantasy thinking, artistic/music ability |
| frontal lobe | speaking, muscle movement, making plans/judgements, impulse controls, complex humor impaired with drugs and alcohol |
| parts of the cerebral cortex | frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe |
| parietal lobe | process body sensations pressure, pain, touch, temperature |
| temporal lobe | hearing, language comprehension, face recognition (damage can lead to face blindness) |
| occipital lobe | vision and visual perception |
| projection areas | receiving stations for sensory info, dispatch stations for motor commands about 25% of cortex found in all lobes of the brain |
| types of projection areas | motor cortex, somatosensory cortex, auditory cortex, visual cortex |
| motor cortex | controls voluntary movement at the rear of the frontal lobe |
| somatosensory cortex | registers and processes body sensations area at the front of the parietal lobes |
| auditory cortex | processes auditory information top of temporal lobe |
| visual cortex | processes visual information back of occipital lobe |
| association areas | located throughout cerebral cortex involved in higher mental functions (learning, remembering, thinking, speaking) |
| endocrine system | system of glands and hormones that secrete hormones into the bloodstream |
| hormones | chemical messengers that are produced in one tissue and affect another |
| hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis | -hypothalamus signals pituitary gland to secrete hormones, pituitary glands tell adrenal glands to secrete hormones -stress leads to secretion of cortisol via HPA axis -hormones in body feedback to hypothalamus to trigger stress response |
| 2 subsystems of the nervous system | central nervous system and peripheral nervous system |
| encoding | info gets into the brain in a way that allows it to be stored |
| storage | info is held in a way that allows it to be retrieved later |
| retrieval | reactivating and recalling info and producing it in a form similar to what was encoded |
| information processing model | environment -> sensory memory (sensing)-> short term memory (encoding) -> long term memory (encoding) -> retrieval back to short term memory |
| two types of encoding | automatic processing and effortful processing |
| automatic processing | unconscious encoding of incidental information ex: location in space, time, frequency |
| effortful processing | requires attention and effort to encode |
| encoding failure | information never enters long-term memory system attention is selective b/c we cannot attend to everything in env. |
| how to enhance effortful processing | maintenance rehearsal, elaborative rehearsal, self-reference effect (relate to yourself ), make it meaningful, imagery, spacing effect, chunking |
| maintenance rehearsal | conscious repetition of information |
| elaborative rehearsal | rehearsing info by relating it to info already in long-term memory |
| serial position effect | tendency to best recall the first and last items on a list overcome by the spacing effect (not cramming) |
| recency effect | tendency to best recall the last items on a list |
| primacy effect | the tendency to best recall the first items on a list |
| chunking | organizing items into familiar, manageable units ex: phone numbers, using acronyms |
| sensory memory | the initial recording of sensory info in the memory system |
| types of sensory memory | iconic memory and echoic memory |
| iconic memory | a momentary memory of visual stimuli, exact representation of a scene, disappears after 1/10 of a second |
| echoic memory | momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli lasts 3-4 seconds (allows you to catch up on a sentence) |
| short term memory (working memory) | limited in duration and capacity used by thinking, usually 15-25 seconds average person can hold about 7 things at a time |
| explicit memory | with conscious recall memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare |
| types of explicit memory | semantic and episodic memory |
| semantic | facts and general knowledge |
| episodic | memory tied to your personal experiences |
| types of long term memory | explicit and implicit memory |
| types of implicit memory | procedural memory and priming |
| implicit memory | retention without conscious recollection |
| procedural memory | motor and cognitive skills (muscle memory) |
| priming | activation of one or more existing memories by a stimulus |
| types of priming | conceptual and perceptual priming |
| conceptual priming | when priming stimulus influences your flow of thoughts |
| perceptual priming | when a priming stimulus enhances your ability to identify a test stimulus based on its physical features ex: word 'water' from the action of drinking |
| types of retrieval | recall, recognition, and relearning |
| recall | the ability to retrieve info learned earlier and not in conscious awareness (ex: fill in the blank test) |
| recognition | the ability to identify previously learned items (ex: multiple choice test) |
| relearning | amount of time saved when relearning previously learned information |
| how to help yourself remember | retrieval clues, mood congruent memory, state dependent memory |
| retrieval cues | reminders of information we could not otherwise recall |
| types of retrieval cues | priming and context events |
| context events | memory works better in the context of original learning ex: same environment |
| mood congruent memory | tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current mood b/c emotions serve as retrieval cues |
| state dependent memory | what is learned in one state (ex: drunk or high) can be more easily remembered when in the same state |
| misinformation effect | misleading info can be incorporated into one's memory of an event when prompted with information during recall |
| memory construction | people fill in memory gaps with plausible assumptions imagining events can create false memories |
| false memory syndrome | condition in which a person's identity and relationships center around a false but strongly believed memory of a traumatic experience (can be induced by therapy) |
| Mandela effect | shared and consistent false memory for specific icons in pop culture (people incorrectly remembering Nelson Mandela dying 30 years before he actually did) |
| why does the Mandela effect occur | suggestibility, source misattribution, activation of associated information |
| forgetting | inability to get information out of memory system |
| forgetting as encoding failure | info never makes it to long term memory |
| forgetting as retrieval failure | unable to retrieve info from long term memory |
| why does retrieval failure occur | motivated forgetting, decay theories, interference theories, stress |
| motivated forgetting | repressed memories (ex: trauma) |
| decay theory | memory fades with the passage of time if unused NOT supported for long term memory |
| interference theories | memories interfering with memories, caused by one memory competing with or replacing another memory |
| types of interference theories | retroactive and proactive |
| retroactive interference | when a new memory interferes with remembering old information |
| proactive interference | when an old memory interferes with remembering new information |
| deductive reasoning | a logical approach where you progress from general ideas to specific conclusions |
| inductive reasoning | takes specific knowledge, through observation and experience, and then creates a general conclusion |
| falsifiable | the logical possibility that a theory can be shown to be false by observation or experiment |
| observer bias | occurs when a researcher's expectations, opinions, or prejudices influence what they perceive or record in a study |
| archival research | using existing records to answer research questions |
| longitudinal research | researchers repeatedly examine the same individuals to detect changes that occur over a period of time |
| cross-section research | collecting data from many different individuals at a single point in time |
| confounding variable | variables that affect other variables in a way that produces distorted associations between 2 variables ('confound' the true relationship between variables) |
| illusory correlations | when 2 variables are perceived to have a relationship but there is no logical reason for them to be correlated and none exists |
| experimenter bias | influence of the experimenter's expectations and beliefs on the outcome of an experiment |
| double-blind | clinical trial where neither the participants or researcher knows which treatment the participant is receiving until the end of the trial |
| reliability | the data is consistent the consistency of the findings or results of a study |
| validity | the data is accurate and represents truth |
| institutional review board (IRB) | evaluate risks and benefits of human participant research |
| informed consent | participants must be told about the research and can decide if they want to participate |
| deception | when a researcher gives false information to or potentially misleads participants about a key aspect of the research |
| action potential | spike in voltage that causes neurotransmitters to be released |
| agonist | substance that mimics the actions of a neurotransmitter by binding to a specific receptor |
| broca's area | promoter area for speech sounds found in the frontal lobe |
| antagonist | a chemical or medication that attaches to brain receptors and inhibits an agonist from reacting |
| lateralization | all functions in the brain are reserved to individual regions, rather than the entirety of the brain performing all tasks simultaneously |
| neuroplasticity | the brain's ability to change and adapt from experience |
| range of reaction | our genes set the boundaries within which we can operate, and our environment interacts with the genes to determine where in that range we will fall |
| wernicke's area | an area in the brain that allows us to understand speech |
| ventral tegmental area (VTA) | area in the brain stem that regulates reward consumption, learning, memory, and addiction behaviors |
| reuptake | when a presynaptic nerve ending absorbs a neurotransmitter is has secreted |
| anterograde amnesia | a type of memory loss that occurs when you can't form new memories |
| engram | The hypothetical physical unit of storage of a memory |
| equipotentiality hypothesis | when one part of a brain is damaged, other parts of the brain can take over the function of the damaged part |
| flashbulb memory | a vivid memory about an emotionally significant event, usually a historic or other notable event |
| persistence | the ability to keep going with a behavior to reach a goal, even when the task is difficult or takes a long time |
| retrograde amnesia | when you can't recall memories from your past |
| transience | the decreasing accessibility of memory over time |
| necessary to make research ethical | privacy/confidentiality, informed consent, protection from harm |
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emw24geneseo
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