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Psych Exam #1: Thinking Critically and Neuroscience

Terms

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Aristotle
Knowledge grows from the experiences stored in our memories.

Events experienced under strong emotion are better recalled than unemotional ones.

We recall memories through a network of associations among stored experiences.

Mind and body connected.
Descartes
Mind and body are distinct.

Spirits flowed from the brain through nerves to the muscles, provoking movement.
Bacon
Interested in the failings of the human mind. i.e. hunger to percieve order in random events.
Locke
The mind at birth is a blank slate.

Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Wundt
Established first psychology laboratory at the University of Liepzig, Germany.
Titchener
Structuralism - used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind.
Darwin
Influenced James/Functionalism with Theory of Evolution and Natural Selection
James
Functionalism - instincts and how they enable organisms to adapt, survive, and flourish
Calkins
Harvard woman - earned a PhD but was denied it by Harvard because she was a woman.

Became a memory researcher and APA president in 1905.
Washburn
First woman to recieve a psychology PhD

Second female APA president
Functionalism
instincts and how they enable organisms to adapt, survive, and flourish
Structuralism
used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind
Introspection
looking inward

"the rose is smooth-petaled, sweetly aromatic"
Natural Selection
Those with better traits will survive and reproduce more.
Nature vs. Nurture
Are humans shaped solely by genetics or through experience?
Neuroscience
how the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences
Evolutionary
How the natural selection of traits promotes the perpetuation of one's genes

Ancient adaptations to environment
Behavior Genetics
How much our genes and our environment influence our individual differences.

Relationship between genes and behavior
Psychodynamic
How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts

Unconscious mind/unresolved conflict
Behavioral
How we learn observable responses

Role of environment and learning
Cognitive
How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information

language, thinking, problem solving, memory
Social-cultural
How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures

influences of interactions with others
Critical Thinking
Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions.

Examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions
Theory
Explains observations more or less well.

An explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes and predicts observations.
Hypothesis
Testable predictions.
Operationalize
A statement of the procedures used to define research variables.

Allows for replication of data.
Descriptive
describe psychological phenomena - doesn't explain, only describes/observes
Descriptive Examples
Case study
Surveys
Naturalistic Observations
Correlational
Identify strength of relationships between observations

Show relationship on scatter plot

Quantify relationship
Correlational Examples
Height/Weight Chart
Percieving order in random events
Korsakoff's Syndrome
Experiment
Test for effects of one factor in isolation of many others
Experiment Examples
Korsakoff's Syndrome
Evaluating Therapies

Need for:
control conditions
random assignments
double-blind
Hindsight Bias
The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it

"I knew it all along"
Illusory Correlation
the perception of a relationship where none exists

(Korsakoff's Syndrome)
Random Sample
a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion
Making Inferences
Broad samples better than selective samples

More cases better than fewer

Statistics does not "prove" something is true
Statistics
Statistics help determine the likelihood that result could have been obtained by chance.
Central Tendency
Mode - most commonly occurring

Mean - average

Median - middle

Ways of analyzing can make a difference, especially when data is asymmetric.
Measures of Variability
Range
Central Tendency
Nervous System
1. Peripheral 2. Central
A.Autonomic B. Somatic
a.Sympathetic
b. Parasympathetic
Central Nervous System
Brain and spinal cord
Autonomic
controls self-regulated action of internal organs and glands
Sympathetic
arousing
Parasympathetic
calming
Somatic
controls voluntary movements of all skeletal muscles
Sensory Neurons
Neurons that carry incoming information from the sense receptors to the central nervous system
Motor Neurons
neurons that carry outgoing information from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands
Interneurons
central nervous system neurons that internally communicate and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs
Hypothalamus
controls maintenance functions such as eating; helps govern endocrine system; linked to emotion and reward
Thyroid Gland
affects metabolism, among other things
Testis
secretes male sex hormones
Pituitary Gland
secretes many different hormones, some of which affect other glands
Parathyroids
help regulate the level of calcium in the blood
Adrenal Glands
inner part, called the medulla, helps trigger the "fight or flight" response
Pancreas
regulates the level of sugar in the blood
Ovary
secretes female sex hormones
hormones
chemical messengers, mostly those manufactured by the endocrine glands, that are produced in one tissue and affect another
Dendrite
receive messages from other cells
Axon
passes messages away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands
Terminal Branches of Axon
form junctions with other cells
Cell Body
the cell's life-support center
Neural Impulse
electrical signal traveling down the axon
Myelin Sheath
covers the axon of some neurons and helps speed neural impulses
Resting Membrane Potential
-70 mv resting potential
Action Potential first generated at...
axon hillock

Pumps positive ions in and out of membrane
Refractory Period of Neuron
a resting pause when the neuron pumps the positively charged sodium atoms back outside
Excitatory Neuron Signals
like pushing accelerator
Inihibitory Neuron Signals
like pushing the brake
Acetylcholine
Enables muscle action, learning, and memory

Curare: Ach blocker; antagonist

Nicotine: Ach substitute, Agonist
Dopamine
influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion

Cocaine: dopamine reuptake inhibitor

L-DOPA: dopamine precursor; Parkinson's treatment
Serotonin
affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal

Zoloft, anti-depressants

Ecstacy: Enhances release of serotonin
Norepinephrine
Helps control alertness and arousal
GABA
Major inhibitory neurotransmitter

Valium: Enhances binding of GABA; Agonist
Glutamate
Major excitatory neurotransmitter; involved in memory
Antagonist
interferes - blocks neurotransmitter
Corpus Callosum
axon fibers connecting two cerebral hemispheres
Thalamus
relays messages between lower brain centers and cerebral cortex
Hippocampus
a structures in the limbic system linked to memory
Amygdala
neural centers in the limbic system linked to emotion
Medulla
controls heartbeat and breathing
Cerebellum
coordinates voluntary movement and balance
Spinal Cord
pathway for neural fibers traveling to and from brain; controls simple reflexes
Reticular Formation
helps control arousal
Visual Cortex
receives written words as visual stimulation
Angular Gyrus
transforms visual representations into an auditory code
Wernicke's Area
interprets auditory code; controls language reception
Broca's Area
controls speech muscles via the motor cortex
Motor Cortex
word is pronounced
Brain Study
Lesion: tissue dissection
Electroencephalography
CT Scan
PET Scan
MRI
fMRI

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