Psychology Test #3 Book Notes
What was a study using coma patients? Are you able to communicate from a coma? are people in comas conscious or unconscious?
-54 coma patients, 5 willfully control brain activity to communicate → -29 yr old man able to answer ⅚ yes/no questions correctly by thinking of one type of image to answer yes and another type to answer no -ability to communicate from a coma might allow some patients to express thoughts, ask for more medication, and increase the quality of their lives -some people in comas are conscious → people with brain injuries able to make some deliberate movements, such as following an object with their eyes
Within the previous study, what edit was made? what does it say about our perceptions of the world, and awareness?
-Edited: stranger easily recognizable type of person from different social group → experimenters dressed as construction workers + asked college students for directions → college students failed to notice replacement -people with greater ability to maintain attention in face of distracting info less likely to experience a similar type of change blindness. -perceptions of world often inaccurate, little awareness of perceptual failures → students using cell phones while walking across campus failed to notice clown riding unicycle heading toward their walking path (those listening to music more likely to notice)
Within this article, what kind of children were identified? Then, what happened? What does child cataract surgery consist of?
-Identified children who could benefit from treatment (ophthalmic screening at camps in rural areas) → examined for vision problems, eye infections, treatable blindness -thorough examination -child cataract surgery: general anesthesia, intensive follow-up care, breaking up hardened opaque lens into small pieces + replacing damaged natural lens with synthetic one
what is obstructive sleep apnea? What is narcolepsy?
-Obstructive sleep apnea: a disorder in which a person (while asleep) stops breathing because his throat closes → results in frequent awakenings during the night --> snoring -narcolepsy: experience excessive sleepiness during normal waking hours, sometimes going limp and collapsing. Rare. -may experience muscle paralysis that accompanies REM sleep - affects neural transmission of specific neurotransmitter in hypothalamus -most widely used treatments=drugs that act as stimulants (although some found evidence that may be autoimmune disorder)
what are REM dreams more likely to be? what do the content of dreams result from? What are non-REM dreams more likely to be?
-REM dreams more likely to be bizarre, intense emotions, visual + auditory hallucinations, uncritical acceptance of illogical events -activation of brain structures associated with motivation, emotion, + reward (amygdala), activation of visual association areas, deactivation of prefrontal cortex (self-awareness, reflective thought, conscious input from external world) non-REM dreams: dull, deactivation of brain regions
What was a study related to this to see if the "memories" related to abduction could be connected to PTSD? How did the participants compare with neutral, control subjects? When PTSD veterans responded and participated in the study, how did they compare to the "abductees"
-Study: see if people who hear audiotaped scripts of traumatic "memories" related to abduction would exhibit profile of reactivity on measures of heart rate, skin conductance, facial electromyographic activity similar to those seen in PTSD research -abductee: each wrote brief narratives describing his/her alien abduction encounters, another highly stressful experience, Very positive experience, neutral experience → then, converted into 30 sec audiotapes (which they then heard) -after hearing tapes, exhibited greater responses on all 3 physiological measures while listening to their traumatic stressful scripts relative to those describing positive or neutral memories -control subjects: hardly responded at all -psychological responses to traumatic abduction scripts larger than those of PTSD patients to scripts of own experiences
What is depth perception, and why are we able to perceive depth in 2D patterns? What are binocular depth cues? monocular depth cues?
-able to perceive depth in 2D patterns of photos, movies, etc because brain applies same rules/mechanisms that it uses to work out the spatial relations between objects in 3D world (draws on existing knowledge + creates relationships between 2D image cues and 3D world) Binocular depth cues-cues of depth perception that arise from the fact that people have 2 eyes → contribute to bottom-up processing Monocular depth cues- cues of depth perception that are available to each eye alone (organizational info for top-down processing)
As the brain develops, what happens to our brain connections? What is a study that relates to this?
-as brain develops, connections we use grow stronger + more active, where rest weaken and can be lost altogether -babies 2-4 months old made associations between certain colors + shapes -8 months old- did not make associations, already shed the links among the processing centers for colors and shapes -most people tend to pair high-pitched sounds with light colors, sweet tastes, spiky things -low-pitched sounds with dark colors, sour tastes, round items -brain links and synchronizes sensory information from many sources + in ways cannot consciously observe
What is the optic nerve? what does this produce? optic chiasm?
-axons gather in bundle=optic nerve (exits eye at back of retina.. Produces blind spot in each eye) -optic chiasm- ½ axons in optic nerves cross, causes all info from left side of visual space to be projected to right hemisphere of brain + vice versa → info goes to visual areas of thalamus → primary visual cortex (occipital lobes)
what is seen by blind individuals with intact retinal ganglion cells? Why are ganglion cells important? Where does the retina send signals to?
-blind individuals with intact retinal ganglion cells remain sensitive to brightness (but not conscious of it) -ganglion: produce melanopsin, enables them to detect light directly -retina sends signals down more than 1 pathway in the brain → most info travels through the thalamus to the visual cortex → regions that perform conscious processing -some diverges to motor centers + suprachias-matic nucleus (biological clock, enables certain blind individuals' unconscious ability to navigate obstacles + maintain healthy circadian rhythms)
what is bottom-up processing? top-down processing?
-bottom-up processing- perception based on the physical features of the stimulus → as each sensory aspect of a stimulus is processed, aspects build up into perception of that stimulus -Top-down processing- how knowledge, expectations, or past experiences shape the interpretation of sensory info
What is sonic vision and what is it related to? Who is a prime example of this? Wen blind people use sensory substitution devices, what is active?
-brain good at substituting one sensory input for another Daniel Kish: lost eyes to cancer 1 yr old. If made clicks with tongue and listened to echoes, could get around his neighborhood pretty well (human echo-location) → often uses vocabulary of sight to describe echolocation -brain scanned: while listened to recording of clicks + their echos, + listened to recordings without echoes → visual cortex active only in echolocators and only when they listened to the echoes → auditory cortex played no special role in turning echoes into images -visual cortex active when blind people use sensory substitution devices
Within sound localization, what does the brain integrate? What is most of the auditory localization research on? What ist eh vestibular sense?
-brain integrates different sensory information coming from each ear -auditory localization research → barn owls (finely tuned hearing to locate prey) → uses 2 cues: time the sound arrives in each ear and the sound's intensity in each ear Vestibular sense: perception of balance determined by receptors in the inner ear, uses info from receptors in semicircular canals of inner ear, contains liquid that moves when head moves, bending hair cells at ends of canal. Bending generates nerve impulses + responsible for sense of balance
What is a study related to emotional arousal and its effects? What influence how emotional memories develop over time?
-effects of emotional arousal sometimes become more apparent when memory tested after longer delays -interactions between amygdala + hippocampus influence how emotional memories develop over time Issue: possible that patients encode/retrieve emotional info differently than healthy individuals, or effects of amygdala activation on encoding, consolidation, + retrieval lead to effects
What does emotion encourage? What conditions in sleep ideal for? What is episodic memory?
-emotion: encourages certain aspects of experiences to become durable parts of our memory stores sleep=ideal conditions for memory consolidation (manipulating it can give info ab storage + evolution of emotional memories) → enhances likelihood that select pieces of an experience are stabilized in memory -episodic memory=long-term retention of contextually rich representations of past experiences -remembering specific past events + recalling spatial + temporal context or recollecting perceptual or conceptual details in those events
what must be needed for successful retrieval? How does emotion work with this?
-experience must be properly encoded -information must be durably stored in a manner that can withstand the passage of time (memory consolidation) -emotion strong/powerful influence on memories, can alter likelihood that experience will be encoded in memory, consolidated, affect how events re-experienced at retrieval
the farther away an object is, the ___ the retinal image
-farther away object is, smaller retinal image -object may look bigger/smaller than actually is if size perception fails → normal perceptual processes incorrectly represent distance between viewer and stimuli (depth cues vs lack of depth cues)
Even though the features of the aliens were difficult to see in the darkness, what did the researchers do to address this? Based on this method, what did the aliens look like? how did the participants differ when looking at psychometric measures vs different DES and absorption scale ratings?
-features of alien sometimes difficult to discern in bedroom darkness → several years after most recent sleep paralysis episode, most had undergone hypnotic regression → recovered vivid visual "memories" of what aliens looked like that fit cultural stereotypes -psychometric measures: very little evidence of current distress among abductees: -symptoms of depression + anxiety=normal limits, but scored significantly higher on DES, absorption scale, Magical ideation scale in comparison to control group -DES: looks at alterations in consciousness -Absorption: ability to become engaged in imaginative experiences (fantasies) -magical ideation scale: belief in unconventional phenomena
what is sleep paralysis, and what is likely to happen?
-hallucinated "intruders" have been interpreted as male or female demons, witches, aliens -Studied sleep paralysis in people reporting memories of childhood sexual abuse + alien abduction
in motion perception, what do we have that are specialized for detecting movement? What is the MP case?
-have neurons specialized for detecting movement MP case: after receiving damage to secondary visual areas of brain (critical for motion perception) saw the world as a series of snapshots rather than as a moving image → perceive objects and colors but not continuous movement.
What is hue? Saturation? Lightness?
-hue=distinctive characteristics that place a particular color in the spectrum (depend on light's dominant wavelength) -Saturation=purity of the color (varies according to mixture of wavelengths) -Lightness=color's perceived intensity
Since humans are well able to perceive and interpret facial expression, what are they more readily able to do? What are humans better at recognizing and why is this?
-humans well able to perceive + interpret facial expressions → can more readily discern info about a person's mood, attentiveness, sex, race, etc by looking at their face vs listening to them talk/studying clothing -better at recognizing members of their own race or ethnic group (more exposure)
When identifying figures, what does the brain do? What did Nisbett demonstrate? What does this show about how processing is shaped?
-in identifying figures, brain assigns the rest of the scene to the background → visual perception dynamic + ongoing -Nisbett: demonstrated cultural differences between Eastern + Western people's perceptions → easterners focus on scene holistically (more likely influenced by background), westerners focus on single elements in forefront (more likely to extract figure from its background) -experience can inform shape processing (ex animal in camouflage... once finally see it (based on contours), can not unsee it)
What is an infant's perceptual world like? What is intramodal vs intermodal organization?
-infant's perceptual world period of complex bombardment of shape, color, + movement that precedes maturation of visual system → wondered if mirrors experiences of newly sighted Prakash children -various pieces of image must cohere into distinct objects to see- intramodal organization -intermodal organization- has to do with interaction of vision with other senses
What produces haptic experiences? are the brain areas involved in touch sensation less responsive or more responsive to self-produced tactile stimulation in comparison to external tactile stimulation? What are the brain areas involved in touch sensation?
-integration of various signals and higher-level mental processes produces haptic experiences -brain areas involved in touch sensation respond less to self-produced tactile stimulation than to external tactile stimulation → touch info goes to thalamus → primary somatosensory cortex (parietal lobe)
What happened in the case of sleep paralysis + reports of alien abduction?
-interviewed 10 abductees who mentioned apparent sleep paralysis episodes accompanied by hypnopompic hallucinations -hallucinatory content- included feeling electrical sensations, seeing alien beings in bedroom, flashing/glowing Objects, feelings of levitating off bed -8 abductees: assistance from mental health professions, used hypnotic methods to "help" them recover additional Memories... 7 recalled having participating in "hybrid" breeding programs
What are the lower ventral streams specialized for? What are the upper dorsal streams specialized for? What is the case of DF and how does it relate to the "what" vs "where" pathways?
-lower ventral streams-specialized for the perception + recognition of objects -upper dorsal stream- specialized for spatial perception DF: suffered carbon monoxide poisoning, damaged visual system → "what" pathways damaged (couldn't recognize faces of friends + family, objects, etc.) Could recognize people by voices or through touch -"where" pathway intact → could use information about size + location of objects despite her lack of awareness about those objects
What is magnetic perception? What kinds of animals are likely to have this?
-magnetic perception: many animals can perceive directions and geographic location by sensing the earth's magnetic field -migratory animals → evolved this to help travel long distances -sharks
what are the aftereffects of motion? What happens when you stare at a moving stimulus for long enough? What happens if the stimulus is suddenly removed?
-motion aftereffects: may occur when gaze at a moving image for a long time and then look at stationary scene → experience momentary impression that new scene is moving in opposite direction from the moving image -when stare at moving stimulus long enough, direction-specific neurons (in visual cortex) begin to adapt to motion (become tired + less sensitive) → is stimulus suddenly removed, motion detectors that respond to all other directions more active than the fatigued → new scene moves in other direction
neural connections made during the day are ___ during sleep when you sleep after learning, how is your recall in comparison to control situations where you remain awake? What is a study in relation to this?
-neural connections made during the day are strengthened during sleep -when sleep after learning, recall better than in control conditions where participants remain awake participants learned how to run complex maze → those who slept for 90 minutes performed better on the maze than the sleepless competitors, but those who dreamed about the maze performed the best -when students study more, experience more REM sleep → promotes development of brain circuits for learning, supported by changes in sleep patterns that occur over life.
How does smell prove to be connected to other senses? What is an example experiment relating to this?
-neurons in olfactory system in mice fired electrical pulses in responses to tones as well as odors (some neurons had stronger or weaker responses to odors in the presence of certain sounds... sounds fine-tune perception of smell)
how does occurrence of emotional reaction affect the likelihood that an experience will become consolidated? What are the connections to the brain?
-occurrence of emotional reaction enhances likelihood that an experience will become consolidated -when emotional reaction occurs, stress hormones released, activation of amygdala (strongly connected to hippocampus, critical for consolidation of episodic memories) → amygdala activation by stress hormones increases hippocampus activity, facilitating memory consolidation -correlations between amygdala + hippocampal activity could reflect effects during initial encoding phase of memory rather than during later consolidation phase
What do optical illusions reveal? What did Gestalt theorize? How does his theory relate to proximity? Similarity? Continuity? Closure? Illusory contours?
-optical illusions reveal mechanisms that help visual systems determine the sizes + distances of objects in the environment -Gestalt: perception more than the result of accumulating sensory data... thought that brain sues innate principles to organize information into organized wholes Proximity- the closer two figures are to each other, more likely we are to group them and see them as part of the same object Similarity- we tend to group figures according to how closely they resemble each other Continuity- tend to group together edges or contours that have the same orientation Closure- tend to complete figures that have gaps Illusory contours- sometimes perceive contours + cues to depth even when they do not exist
What is a study in relation to selective attention?
-people told to attend to message coming in one ear 'they threw stones at the bank yesterday." same time: unattended ear presented with "river" or "money" → after, participants couldn't report the unattended words, but those presented with "river" interpreted the sentence to mean someone had thrown stones at a riverbank + those with "money" interpreted it as someone had thrown stones at a financial institution --> extracted meaning from words
What is blindsight? What is an example of this? What is ordinary vision? How can certain visual information take alternative routes?
-people with damage to primary visual cortex (image-processing center) → woman who lost entire primary visual cortex (so blind) still can swerve to avoid things (unconscious visual brain) → "blindsight" -blindsight=kind of information detour in cortically damaged brains -ordinary vision- images on retina get mapped to neurons in primary visual cortex → signals diverge into 2 distinctive channels → one path tape into memory to identify objects + forms + other leads to evolutionary ancient parts of brain (some control reflexive movements) -when primary visual cortex damaged: -some visual info can take alternative routes → arrives at brain's motor centers without ever passing through the parts of the cortex involved in memory + consciousness
What is propagnosia, and how did DF show this? What is the fusiform gyrus in the right hemisphere most important for? Within a study, was it found that people can more quickly and accurately recognize angry or happy facial expressions?
-prosopagnosia- deficits in ability to recognize faces (but not with objects) DF: has prosopagnosia but can still judge whether something is a face or not and whether it is upside down or not -fusiform gyrus in right hemisphere- imp for perceiving faces (but most strongly to upright faces) Study: people more quickly + accurately recognize angry facial expressions than happy ones, + most people recognize anger more quickly on man's face (reverse for happiness)
What is psychophysics? What does it examine? For sensory thresholds, what is the absolute threshold? What about the difference threshold? how does it change as stimulus becomes more intense?
-psychophysics- examines our psychological experiences of physical stimuli Absolute threshold- the minimum intensity of stimulation that must occur before you experience a sensation. The level of intensity at which participants (correctly) detect a stimulus on 50% of the trials in which it is presented Difference threshold: the minimum amount of change required for a person to detect a difference between 2 stimuli (min amount of change required for a person to detect a difference) → increases as stimulus becomes more intense
What is qualitative information about a stimulus? What about quantitative information? How do the sensory receptors respond to these differences within both situations?
-qualitative=most basic qualities of a stimulus → differences in stimuli coded by the rate of a particular neuron's firing (more rapid=responding at higher frequency to more intense stimulus) -sensory receptors respond to qualitative differences by firing in different combinations. -quantitative=consists of the degree/magnitude of those qualities -sensory receptors respond to quantitative differences by firing at different rates
What is the restorative theory? what does sleep help "clear out"? When looking at a study displaying 2-3 days of sleep deprivation, what does it have little effect on? Large effect on?
-restorative theory: sleep allows the body to rest + repair itself -sleep may help brain clear out metabolic by-products of neural activity - 2-3 days of sleep deprivation has little effect on strength, athletic ability, or performance of complex tasks (but people find it difficult to perform quiet tasks + nearly impossible to perform boring or mundane tasks) -mood problems, decreases cognitive performance
Within a study comparing a 90 minute daytime nap vs two wake control conditions, when did it suggest the beginnings of memory consolidation were? How does time affect memory consolidation? longer delays=
-showed same collective consolidation of emotional objects... compared 90 min daytime nap to two wake control conditions → suggested that beginnings of memory consolidation occur after brief amount of sleep -further intensified following 24 hr and month delay (but only when sleep directly follows encoding of emotional scenes) -longer delays: emotional object memories continue to be protected, but additional suppression of memory for
what do sleep-mediated consolidation processes solidify? What do recent sleep studies emphasize about the details of emotional experiences with the passage of time?
-sleep-mediated consolidation processes solidify negative emotional aspects of an experience into a durable memory trace (while allowing less emotional aspects to deteriorate) -memory for central, emotional info often remembered at expense of background details -recent sleep studies emphasize that the details of emotional experiences continue to be altered w passage of time, fundamentally influenced by sleep-based consolidation processes
what is sleep? does the brain still process information while you are sleeping? What are the stages of sleep, and what are they marked by?
-sleep: conscious experience of outside world turned off, but brain still processes info + analyzes potential dangers, controlling body movements, shifting body parts to maximize comfort Stage 1: theta waves (when drift off to sleep) Stage 2: breathing becomes more regular, less sensitive to external stimulation (theta waves + occasional bursts of activity ("sleep spindles") and large waves (K-complexes) Stages 3 + 4: marked by large, regular brain patterns (delta waves) and is often referred to as slow-wave sleep → very hard to wake, still process some info, mind continues to evaluate environment for potential danger
On the topic of sleep paralysis and reports of childhood sexual abuse, what may some adults interpret episodes of sleep paralysis of? What groups were given the sleep experiences questionnaire within the study?
-some may misinterpret episodes of sleep paralysis as signifying return of dissociated fragments of incest memories -Sleep Experiences Questionnaire given: Repressed memory group: people who believed sexually molested as children but no autobiographical memories of abuse Recovered memory group: people who reported remembered episode of CSA after years of having not though about it Continuous memory group: reported always having remembered abused control=denied CSA history
What is transliminality? What are the indicators of this? How do measures of psychological distress of CSA participants compare to abductees?
-transliminality: tendency for psychological material to cross thresholds into or out of consciousness → indicators=absorption, fantasy proneness, creativity, paranormal activity measures of psychological distress usually much higher among CSA participants than abductees -cultural narratives (+ their credibility to person seeking to explain it) shape how person interprets sleep paralysis
What tends to participate in visual perception? What transmit visual information to the brain? What does what we see result from? What is the biological pathway of the eye?
-up to half cerebral cortex may participate in visual perception in a way Sensory Receptors in the eye transmit visual info to the brain: -what we see results from constructive processes that occur throughout the brain -light passes through cornea (thick, transparent outer later... focuses incoming light) → lens (light bent father inward + focused) → forms image on retina (thin inner surface of the back of the eyeball; contains sensory receptors that transduce light into neural signals)
What is an example of a brain imaging study used to identify those who are conscious but unable to respond? What was seen within the brain activity in comparison to control subjects?
23 yr old woman in apparent coma asked to imagine playing tennis or walking through a house → women's pattern of brain activity became similar to the patterns of control subjects who also imagined playing tennis or walking through a house → can understand language + respond to the experimenter's request
In comparison to the control group, what were the rates of sleep paralysis for the CSA groups? Based on those reporting sleep paralysis, how did their scores differ? Based on this, the people who reported either being abducted by aliens or being sexually abused as children experiences episodes of sleep paralysis at ___ rates than normal. When looking at measures of dissociation and absorption, how did the participants reporting alien abduction or CSA compare to the control group?
3 CSA groups combined had significantly higher rate of sleep paralysis than control group -those reporting sleep paralysis had significantly higher dissociation scores, depression scores, marginally higher absorption scores -people who report being either abducted by space aliens or sexually abused as children experience episodes of sleep paralysis at higher rates than normal ... interpreted it as linked to their experiences heightened scores
Does ESP, or a 6th sense, exist? what is the 6th sense? What are observations going against this? What was Bem and Horonton's evidence of this?
6th sense ("unexplainable" feeling that something is going to happen?) -many reports supported only be anecdotes (not valid evidence) + many claims ab people being able to predict events can be explained by logic -a lot of times, can experience things like this ("predicting") just by chance -Bem and Horonton evidence: -"sender" in soundproof room focused on randomly generated image. "Reciever" in another room tried to sense the sender's imagery. Reciever then asked to choose among 4 alternatives (only 1 correct) -by chance: should have been right 25% time. results; right 33% time -sender-receiver paradigm fMRI study: included twins as sender/receiver pairs + used emotional stimuli (supposed to enhance ESP effects) -if existed, reciever's brains should have responded differently to the images the senders thought about than to the images the senders didn't see → no differences in brain responses → since all experience + behavior result from brain activity, absense of any such activity=strong evidence against existence of ESP
What are Ames boxes? Ponzo illusion?
Ames boxes: contain powerful depth illusions → inside rooms play w linear perspective + distance cues (ex: makes far corner appear the same distance away as a near corner) -Ponzo illusion: monocular depth cues make the 2D figure seem 3D → seemingly parallel lines appear to converge in distance, tricks brain into thinking parallel → perceive two parallel lines in the center as if they are at different distances + different in size (when are actually the same)
how are we able to hear? What does hearing result from? What is the process of this? what does amplitude determine? What does frequency determine?
Audition (hearing) results from changes in air pressure -begins when movement + vibrations of objects cause displacement of air molecules, producing change in air pressure (sound wave=pattern of changes in air pressure during period of time; produces percept of a sound) -amplitude determines loudness, frequency determines pitch -high-amplitude wave creates perception of loud sound, low-amplitude=soft sound -low-frequency=perception of low-pitched sound, high-frequency=perception of high-pitched sound
what is binocular disparity? stereoscopic vision? convergence? these are binocular depth cues!
Binocular disparity- a depth cue; because of the distance between the two eyes, each eye receives a slightly different retinal image Stereoscopic vision: ability to determine an object's depth based on that object's projections to each eye Convergence: a cue of binocular depth perception; when a person views a nearby object, the eye muscles turn the eyes inward -when eye views nearby object, eye muscles move eyes towards each other
what is brain death? What is locked-in syndrome? With Erik Ramsay, what did they find when electrodes were placed in the speech region of his left hemisphere?
Brain death: irreversible loss of brain function, no activity found in any region of brain (when brain dead, person is dead) Erik Ramsay: woke up, all could move is eyelids (couldn't talk/respond), brain stem damaged in car accident -locked-in syndrome: all or nearly all of a person's voluntary muscles are paralyzed -placed electrodes in speech region of his left hemisphere → simulation of each vowel sound should produce own distinct pattern of brain activity → hope to create a voice synthesizer that translates neural patterns into understandable speech
What is a real life example of synesthesia? what does synethesia allow us to conclude?
Bryan Alvarez- sees blocks of colors (each blending into the next) for each letter synesthesia (feel shapes when taste foods, smell odors when hear musical notes, see colors when read words) -exceptions to basic rules of perception - sensory systems much more interconnected + widespread in the brain than thought previously
What is Charles Bonnet Syndrome? What are visual hallucinations caused by? What are they the result of?
Charles Bonnet Syndrome (condition in which visual hallucinations caused by recent visual field loss + sometimes brain tumor) -visual hallucinations...brain tumor + visual hallucinations resulted from bilateral temporal visual field defects due to compression of optic nerves at optic chiasm by pituitary adenoma -hallucinations: result of brain trying to make up for newly acquired missing pieces in vision → when surgical resection of pituitary adenoma performed, hallucinations stopped. -newly acquired vision loss --> visual hallucinations
What are cochlear implants, and what do they do?
Cochlear implants: small electronic device, helps provide sense of sound to person with severe hearing impairment (due to loss of hair cells in inner ear) -directly stimulates auditory nerve
What is synethesia? What is associated with this? Do peoples associations with synesthesia change? When brain scans were looked at, what did they figure out?
Color evoking smells, sights evoking sounds, numbers coming in colors. Associations for a person with synesthesia do not change -brain area involved in seeing colors near brain area involved in understanding numbers → theorized that people with color/number synesthesia has these two brain areas connected (one area of brain may have adopted the other's role) -brain scans when looked at black numbers on white background-neural activity in brain area responsible for color vision (not seen for control) → shows that not perfect correspondence between physical world + our experience of it.
Based on neuroimaging and an fMRI study, is a single night of sleep sufficient to provoke changes in emotional memory circuitry? what strengthens the modulatory effect of amygdala on regions of emotional memory network?
Evidence from Neuroimaging: -fMRI study: evidence that single night of sleep sufficient to provoke changes in emotional-memory circuitry → increased activity within amygdala + ventromedial prefrontal cortex → strengthened connectivity between amygdala + Hippocampus + ventromedial prefrontal cortex -sleep strengthens modulatory effect of amygdala on other regions of emotional memory network (consolidation theory)
What is hypnosis induced through? What is hypnosis? what is a post-hypnotic suggestion?
Hypnosis is induced through suggestion: Hypnosis: social interaction during which a person, responding to suggestions, experiences changes in memory, perception, and/or voluntary action -post-hypnotic suggestion- when hypnotist suggests that (after session) listener will experience change in memory, perception, or voluntary action
what is hypnotic analgesia?
Hypnotic analgesia: form of pain reduction, reliable → ex: person places arm into extremely cold water, painful, can leave in for about 30 seconds. Person given hypnotic analgesia can hold for longer -helps w dealing w immediate pain
When can individuals with brain damage expose and develop? What do recent studies reveal about human sensory systems? healthy people may possess ___ developed multi-sensory skills...
Individuals with brain damage can expose/develop unusual perceptual abilities that provide clues for how we detect the world around us Recent studies reveal that human sensory systems are much more interconnected than previously thought Healthy people may possess less developed multi-sensory skills, including basic echolocation + rudimentary form of synesthesia
what is insomnia? pseudoinsomnia? What is a major cause of insomnia? most successful treatment?
Insomnia: disorder characterized by an inability to sleep that causes significant problems in daily living → associated with diminished psychological well-being -pseudoinsomnia: dream they are not sleeping -Major cause of insomnia=worrying about sleep → may be tired enough to sleep, but as try to fall asleep, worry about whether they will get to sleep/panic about how a lack of sleep will affect them → heightened arousal which interferes with normal sleep patterns -treatment: drug therapy + cognitive behavioral therapy
what is a study in which students were assigned to subliminal programs meant to improve confidence or memory? Based on this experiment, what can material presented subliminally influence? what is supporting evidence of this?
Intentionally mislabeled some of subliminal tapes (½ labeled memory actually self-confidence, vice versa) → people's beliefs about the tapes influenced the effects of the messages (people thought hearing subliminal messages ab memory reported improved memory, etc.) -material presented subliminally can influence how people think (even if it has little or no effect on complex actions) → participants exerted greater physical effort when large images of money flashed at them, even though flashes so brief participants didn't report seeing it (produced brain activity in areas of limbic system, involved in emotion + motivation) -may be most powerful when work w emotions
what is noise-induced hearing loss caused by?
Noise-induced hearing loss caused by exposure to "sounds that are too loud or loud sounds that last a long time" → loud noises can permanently damage sensitive hair cells in ear canals (that transmit signals to nerves involved in sound perception)
Pictoral depth cues: What is occlusion? relative size? familiar size? linear perspective? texture gradient? position relative to horizon?
Occlusion: near object blocks an object that is farther away Relative size: far-off objects project smaller retinal object that close objects do if far-off + close objects same size Familiar size: because we know how large familiar objects are, can tell how far away they are by the size of their retinal images Linear perspective: seemingly parallel lines appear to converge in the distance Texture gradient: as uniformly textured surface recedes, texture continuously becomes denser Position relative to horizon: object below horizon that appear higher in visual field perceived as being father away, objects above horizon that appear lower in visual field perceived as being father away
What is the opponent-process theory? What is an example of this? How does this relate to 2nd stage visual processing within ganglion cells?
Opponent-process theory: red and green are opponent colors, as are blue and yellow → see "afterimages" of the other color when we stare at a colored image for some time) -ex: when stare at red image, receptors of red become fatigued, but green receptors are not so afterimage appears green when look away -2nd stage visual processing (in ganglion cells): different combinations of cones converge on ganglion cells in retina (one type receives excitatory input from L cones but inhibited by < cones) → create perception that red and green are opponents -another type ganglion cell- excited by input from S cones but inhibited by L and M cone activity (create perception that blue + yellow opponents)
Where are pain receptors located? What is the actual experience of pain created by? What are nerve fibers? What is the difference between fast-acting receptors and slow-acting receptors?
Pain receptors all throughout body, but actual experience of pain created by brain (ex: "phantom limb") -most result when damage to the skin activates haptic receptors -nerve fibers: fast fibers=sharp, immediate pain. Slow fibers=chronic, dull, steady pain -myelinated axons can send info quickly, non myelinated send slowly -fast-acting receptors activated by strong physical pressure + temperature extremes -slow-acting receptors activated by chemical changes in tissue when skin damaged -fast pain=protective, slow pain=recuperation
What are phermones, and what do they trigger? How are we able to feel touch (haptic sense) and pain?
Pheromones: chemicals released by animals, trigger physiological or behavioral reactions in other animals and insects → specialized receptors in nasal cavity respond to the presence of pheromones How are we able to feel touch (haptic sense) and pain? Kinesthetic sense: perception of the positions in space and movements of our bodies and limbs (sensations come from receptors in muscles, tendons, + joints)
What is pitch encoded by? What is temporal coding? Place coding? What is the basilar membrane's role in place coding?
Pitch is Encoded by frequency and location: Temporal coding: mechanism for encoding low-frequency auditory stimuli in which the firing rates of cochlear hair cells match the frequency of the sound/pressure wave Place coding: a mechanism for encoding high-frequency auditory stimuli in which the frequency of the sound wave is encoded by the location of the hair cells along the basilar membrane Different frequencies activate similar receptors at different locations on the basilar membrane Basilar membrane: vibrates in resonance with sound... since stiffness decreases along length, higher frequencies vibrate better at its base + lower frequencies vibrate more towards its tip → frequency of sound wave encoded by receptors on the area of the basilar membrane that vibrates the most
What is the pupil? What is the Iris? What is accomodation?
Pupil- small opening in front of the lens (determines how much light enters eye) Iris-determine eye's color and controls pupil size Accomodation: muscles that flatten lens to focus on distant objects + thicken it to focus on closer objects
What is the REM phase important to? How does it compare to wakefulness? What is REM sleep associated with? What is sleep associated with?
REM phase: imp for modulatory effects on emotional memory → medial temporal regions more active during REM than wakefulness, + REM sleep correlated with memory for emotional info -associated with marked increases in cortisol (stress hormone imp for modulation of emotional memory via interactions between amygdala + hippocampus) Sleep: associated w intense neuronal activity and functional increases in brain regions necessary for emotion + memory processing
What is a research studying in regards to signal detection? What does it involve? What is response bias within this? what is a "hit," "miss", "false alarm", or "correct rejection"?
Research study on signal detection: involves series of trials in which stimulus presented in only some trials (in each trial, participant must state whether he sensed stimulus. -signal presented + detected=hit. Signal presented + not detected=miss. Detected and not presented=false alarm. Not presented + doesn't detect=correct rejection Response bias: participant's tendency to report detecting the signal in an ambiguous trial
What is SLEEPLESS? What is the suprachiasmatic nucleus? where does it send a signal to? What suppresses the production of melatonin? What triggers the release? What is melatonin necessary for?
SLEEPLESS: gene that regulates a protein that reduces action potentials in brain → loss of this protein leads to 80% reduction in sleep suprachiasmatic nucleus: in hypothalamus, information ab light detected by the eyes sent there ---> pineal gland, secretes melatonin (hormone that affects receptors in body) -bright light suppresses production of melatonin, darkness triggers release -melatonin=necessary for circadian cycles that regulate sleep
What is sensation? What is perception? What are they both integrated into?
Sensory information is translated into meaningful signals: Sensation- detection of physical stimuli + transmission of that information to the brain (but no interpretation) Perception- brain's further processing, organization, and interpretation of sensory information (construction of useful + meaningful info about a particular sensation) Both integrated into experience stimulus --> sensation (eyes detect stimulus) --> sensory coding (stimulus transduced) --> perception (brain processes neural signals + interprets them)
What is shadowing? what is the result of a study regarding this?
Shadowing: participant wears headphones that deliver one message to one ear and a different message to the other → person asked to attend to ½ message and "shadow" it by repeating it aloud -receives different auditory message in each ear. Then required to repeat only 1 of the messages result: person usually notices unattended sound but will have little knowledge about its content -some important/personally relevant information can get through filter of attention
What does skin contain? Is is the largest organ for sensory reception? What are haptic receptors for temperature and pressure? What about receptors for warmth + cold? Pressure?
Skin contains sensory receptors for touch and pain (tactile stimulation → feeling of touch): Skin largest organ for sensory reception -haptic receptors for temperature and pressure=sensory neurons that reach to the skin's outer layer (axons enter CNS through spinal or cranial nerves) -receptors for warmth + for cold, but intense stimuli can trigger both → produces strange sensory experiences -receptors for pressure= nerve fibers at bases of hair follicles + other 4=capsules in skin → respond to continued vibration, light (fast pressure), light (slow pressure), or stretching and steady pressure
What is the sociocognitive theory of hypnosis? What about the neodissociation theory of hypnosis?
Sociocognitive theory of hypnosis: hypnotized people behave as they expect hypnotized people to behave, even if those expectations are faulty (playing a role) Neodissociation theory of hypnosis: acknowledges the importance of social context to hypnosis, but views the hypnotic state as an altered state (hypnosis=trancelike state in which conscious awareness separated from other aspects of consciousness) brain follows hypnotic suggestions: hypnotized participants asked to imagine black-and-white objects as having color, showed activity in visual cortex regions involved in color perception. Those asked to drain color from colored images showed diminished activity
What do studies support about sleep in long-term storage of episodic information? What happens when emotional items are intermixed with neutral items?
Studies: support role for sleep in long-term storage of episodic info → sleep benefits memory for neutral episodic memory materials. -When emotional items intermixed with neutral items, sleep disproportionately benefits consolidation of emotional relative to neutral memories -full night of sleep improves memory accuracy for recognition of negatively arousing pictures relevant to period of daytime wakefulness -sleep has role in processing memory for emotional experiences
When looking at a study in which participants were shown scenes depicting negative or neutral objects against neutral backgrounds, what were the results? How does this display the difference between daytime wakefulness and sleep?
Study: presented participants with scenes depicting negative or neutral objects against neutral backgrounds... 9 am, 9 pm --> 12 hours later (after day spent awake or night with 6+ hours sleep): tested memory for objects + backgrounds separately Daytime wakefulness: forgetting of negative arousing scenes in entirety, both subjects +backgrounds suffering forgetting Sleep: selective preservation of negative objects but not accompanying backgrounds... -sleeping brain "unbinds" scenes to consolidate only most emotionally salient elements
what is subliminal perception? What does evidence suggest about subliminal messages and their effects on behavior?
Subliminal perception: people can be influenced by hidden messages... processing of info by sensory systems without conscious awareness, occurs when stimuli gets processed by sensory systems but (because of their short durations or subtle forms) do not reach consciousness -evidence suggests that subliminal messages (if work at all) have minimal effects on most behavior
How are we able to taste? What happens when taste buds are stimulated? What does taste arise from? What does taste rely heavily on? Who are supertasters?
Taste receptors part of taste buds- sensory organs in the mouth that contain the receptors for taste → when stimulated, send signals to thalamus → frontal lobe (produces experience of taste) -5 qualities: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami -taste arises from detection of glutamate -taste relies heavily on sense of smell (+ texture matters) experience especially intense taste sensations, more taste buds than normal people (but underlying genetics main determinant) -extreme dislike of bitter substances, highly aware of flavors/textures
What is the color of light determined by? What is the range of nm for visual light? trichromatic theory? red-green colorblindness vs blue-yellow colorblindness and how it relates to the trichromatic theory?
The color of light is determined by its wavelength: Visual light=400-700 nm Trichromatic theory: color vision results from activity in 3 different types of cones → receptors sensitive to different wavelengths -one cone (S)=sensitive to short wavelengths (blue-violet), other (M)=sensitive to medium (yellow-green), third (L)=longer wavelengths (red-orange) Red-green colorblindness: missing photopigment sensitive to either medium or long wavelengths Blue-yellow: missing short-wavelength photopigment
What is transduction? What does it involve? What brain regions are seen within transduction? -what does each sense organ contain? What is different about smell?
Transduction: the process by which sensory stimuli are converted to signals the brain can interpret → involves sensory receptors which receive stimulation (physical or chemical) → sensory receptors pass resulting impulses to the brain in neural impulses -most goes to thalamus (except for smell- goes directly to cortex) -each sense organ contains different types of receptors designed to detect different types of stimuli
What does transmission from the eye to the brain start with? What does the decomposition of photopigments alter? What are ganglion cells, and what do they do?
Transmission from eye to brain: starts with generation of electrical signals by sensory receptors (containing photopigments) in retina -decomposition of photopigments → alters membrane potential of photoreceptors, triggers action potentials in downstream neurons -ganglion cells- first neurons in the visual pathway with axons + first to generate action potentials → send signals along axons from inside eye to thalamus
What happens to consciousness following brain injury? What causes traumatic brain injury to be more permanent? What is nonresponsive wakefulness syndrome?
Traumatic brain injury: impairments in mental functioning caused by a blow to or very sharp movement of the head → can impair thinking, memory, emotions, personality -greater severity=more likely TBI will be permanent Nonresponsive wakefulness syndrome: appear to have emerged from coma but don't respond to external stimuli for 1+ months (not associated with consciousness
What is Weber's law? more intense stimulus=
Weber's law: just noticeable difference between two stimuli is based on a proportion of the original stimulus rather than on a fixed amount of difference. More intense stimulus=bigger change needed for you to notice
What is REM sleep, and what kind of wave activity is seen? What is it marked by?
after 90 min of sleep, returns to stage 1 → see beta wave activity that represents awake/alert mind → rapid eye movements, paralysis of motor systems, and dreaming -some neurons in brain (in occipital cortex + brainstem regions) more active during REM sleep
What does blindsight seem to play a role in? What is a study related to this that compared the brain scans of a sighted person with those of partially blind-sighted patients?
appears to play a role in recognizing emotions + triggering mood: -Study: some affected patients could accurately guess whether face happy or angry + could sense when body postures were threatening + flexed facial muscles and dilated pupils in response -brain scans of sighted person + partially blindsighted patient w just one damaged hemisphere compared → same neural connections between eye and the emotion centers of the brain in both individuals, but links much stronger in the blindsighted hemisphere
What study supports the fact that the brain may be wired to use signals from the ears and skin?
blindfolded volunteers for 5 days + periodically scanned brains as solved puzzles involving hearing or touch -by 5th day, could observe certain vision centers becoming more engaged, + performance on some tasks improved → can't grow new circuits, but can strengthen old connections + put them to use
What happens when part of ones vision goes missing due to damage from eye disease or illness? What are hallucinations associated with? Are they temporary?
brain becomes hyperactive + tries to compensate for missing area by displaying images has stored over time ... NOT representative of beginning of mental illness/cognitive decline -hallucinations associated with recent visual field loss due to disease/eye damage=temporary → once brain accustomed to newly acquired visual field loss/change, stops trying to compensate for empty space with images
What is an example of a man with congenital aphakia, and how he struggled to interpret seeing? What does this show about static images vs motion? How did this change over time?
congenital aphakia (born without lenses in eye) → when got glasses, visual world was "bewildering collection of many regions of different colors and brightnesses, with little to glue them together into coherent entities" → when motion occurred, became interpretable -difficult interpreting static images -1.5 years after initial intervention, could correctly parse static images -eventually succeed in organizing their perceptions into coherent objects over time (time depends on age received treatment. younger=more rapid learning) -underlying: motion may train visual system to parse images even when they are static → visual system can eventually learn to group images via static attributes like color and orientation
what is the global workspace model in regards to consciousness? Is there any one particular area of the brain responsible for general "awareness"?
consciousness arises as a function of which brain circuits are active (experience your brain regions' output as conscious awareness) -no single area of the brain is responsible for general "awareness" → different areas of brain deal with different types of info (responsible for conscious awareness of its type of info) Prefrontal cortex: understanding plans Frontal motor cortex: movement Parietal lobe: spacial awareness Temporal lobe: hearing Occipital lobe: seeing
What is consciousness, and what does it involve? What is consciousness according to Descartes?
consists of one's moment-by-moment, personal experiences -involves sensations + thoughts but also memories + anything you're experiencing in the moment Brain activity gives rise to consciousness: -dualism: Descartes, thought mind physically distinct from the brain -introspection=subjective, not good
What is object constancy? What happens when you change an object's angle, distance, or illumination? What is size constancy? shape constancy? color constancy? lightness constancy?
correctly perceiving objects as constant in their shape, size, color, and lightness, despite raw sensory data that could mislead perception (lead you to think otherwise) -for most part, changing object's angle, distance, or illumination doesn't change our perception of that object's size, shape, color, or lightness -size constancy: need to know how far the object is from us -shape constancy: what angles we are seeing the object from -color constancy- compare wavelengths of light reflected from the object with those reflected from its background -lightness constancy- how much light is being reflected from the object + from its background -brain computes relative magnitude rather than relying on each sensation's absolute magnitude
What is sensory adaptation?
decrease in sensitivity to a constant level of stimulation (if stimulus presented continuously, response of sensory systems that detect it tend to diminish over time)
How are we able to smell? What does smell detect? What is the olfactory epithelium? What tells you whether or not smell is good or bad? Where is the intensity of smell processed?
detects odorants: small something when chemical particles pass into nose + into nasal cavity's upper + back portions Olfactory epithelium- thin layer of tissue, within the nasal cavity, that contains the receptors for smell (each receptor responsive to different odorants) -possible that each odorant stimulates several types of receptors and the activation pattern across these receptors determines the olfactory perception -smell receptors transmit info directly to olfactory bulb (brain center for smell, located below frontal lobes) → other brain areas -whether smell good or bad? Prefrontal cortex -intensity of smell processed in brain areas involved in emotion + memory (so olfactory stimuli can evoke feelings + memories)
if eyes and brain areas are not subject to intensive use during the "critical period" in childhood, can visual functions face irretrievably?
do not face irretrievably (but early visual experience still imp) want to use functional magnetic resonance imaging to look at changes in cerebral cortex of newly sighted child (comparing results of treatment beginning at different ages + determining how late in life brain can reorganize itself)... other senses "hijack" area of cortex usually reserved for visual processing
What did Tong examine the relationship between? What study did he use, and what did he find? What do brain activity patterns show?
examined relationship between consciousness + neural responses in brain → showed images of houses superimposed on faces, used fMRI to measure neural responses in participants' brains → -when participants reported seeing a face, neural activity increased in brain regions associated with face recognition. -When reported seeing a house, neural activity increased in brain regions associated with object recognition → different types of sensory info processed by different brain areas -brain activity patterns show whether you are looking at faces or bodies, which emotions experiencing, or whether you are thinking of yourself of a close friend
What is perceptual over-fragmentation? What is grouping heuristics, and what does it allow for?
experience after gaining sight- unable to organize many regions of different colors + brightness into larger assemblies, many features of ordinary objects perceived as entirely separate objects (not component parts of larger structures) -grouping heuristics: brain naturally arranges visual inputs into these → allow individuals with normal vision to parse complex images correctly → cues not affected for Prakash children immediately after gaining sight -difficult to interpret static images?
where does visual info travel from? what study displays how the brain relies on light to form images and set its internal clock?
eyes → thalamus → relay station located above brainstem → visual cortex mice can adjust their behavior to synchronize with a new day-night cycle, but mice without eyes cant -mutant mice lacking rods and cones- can reset their clock fine
What is the issue of blindness within India?
home to one of the world's largest populations of blind children -mortality rates high, not a lot of opportunity, 40% of children blindness treatable or preventable -70% of India's population lives in villages, but treatment facilities concentrated in major cities
What is the circadian rhythm theory?
leep has evolved to keep animals quiet and inactive during times of the day when there is the greatest danger (dark) → only need limited amount of time each day to accomplish necessities of survival, + adaptive to spend remainder of time inactive -small animals tend to sleep a lot, large animals vulnerable to attack dont, large predatory animals that are not vulnerable sleep a lot
What is selective attention, and what stimuli tend to demand attention? What objects tend to produce stronger attentional response? When are decisions on what to attend to made?
limited capacity for sensory info → attention is like a "gate" that opens for imp info and closes for irrelevant info -stimuli that demand attention or info that evokes emotions → attention (provide important information about potential threats in an environment) -object produces stronger attentional response when viewed as socially relevant than when viewed as nonsocial -decisions on what to attend to made early in perceptual process
what does long-term meditation bring about within ones brain? What is a study displaying how meditation compares to relaxation?
long-term meditation brings about structural changes in brain that help maintain brain function over life span → volume gray matter diminishes with age, but not for older adults who practiced zen meditation (may help preserve cognitive functioning as people age) -participants randomly assigned to 5 days of intensive meditation training or relaxation training → meditation training=greater stress reduction, more significant improvement in attention
What is meditation? What is a TM meditation program? what is a study comparing an educational program vs a TM program?
meditation=mental procedure that focuses attention on an external object or on a sense of awareness → tranquility T M: meditating with great concentration 20 min, 2x/day → benefits=lower blood pressure, fewer reports of stress, changes in hormonal responses underlying stress -heart patients randomly assigned to T M or educational program → 16 weeks=patients performing T M improved more on # of health measures
What is melanopsin, and where is it found? With a woman with her rods and cones destroyed but her ganglion cells still intact, what was seen? What is a fact supporting the importance of ganglion cells?
melanopsin=protein that makes some skin cells in frogs darken in the presence of light → found in cells of the retina/ganglion cells (which are not rods or cones) -rods + cones destroyed, ganglion cells intact → could adjust sleep patterns + sense whether room bright or dark (even though claimed couldn't see any source of light) → hidden detectors in our eyes guide our biological clocks -blind patients: light intensifies migraine pain only when ganglion cells healthy
What is the gate control theory? What is pain based on this theory? What can close the gates, and what can open the gates wider?
neural "gates" in the spinal cord allow signals through. Those gates can be closed when information about touch is being transmitted → experience pain when pain receptors activated + neural "gate" in spinal cord allows signals through to the brain -pain=conceptual experience within the brain rather than simply response to nerve stimulation (pain signals transmitted by small-diameter nerve fibers) → sensory nerve fibers can "close a gate" and prevent or reduce the perception of pain -distraction + cognitive states can close the gates -some mental processes (ex worrying/focusing on pain) seem to open pain gates wider: research participants who well-rested rate same level of painful stimulus as less painful than those who are fearful, anxious, depressed (+ positive moods help people cope w pain)
what is change blindness? What is a study in relation to this?
often blind to large changes in our environment, failure to notice large changes in one's environment -participants on college campus when stranger approached + asked for directions. Then, stranger momentarily blocked by large object + while out of view was replaced with another person of same sex + race. 50% never noticed that were talking to different person when giving directions -older people especially likely not to notice
How do soundwaves travel? What is the primary auditory complex? What is the cochlea's role in sound?
outer ear → auditory canal → eardrum (thin membrane that marks the beginning of the middle ear, sound waves cause it to vibrate) → vibrations go to ossicles → oval window (within cochlea in inner ear) → create pressure waves in cochlear fluid → basilar membrane oscillates + stimulates hair cells to bend + send info to auditory nerve -primary auditory complex=temporal lobe Cochlea: fluid-filled tube that curls up into snail-like shapecenter=thin basilar membrane, membrane at end=round window
what study displays how posthypnotic suggestion really affects ones behavior?
participants received posthypnotic suggestion to feel pang of discuss whenever read certain neutral word → made more severe moral judgements when reading stories that included the word (surprised by their reactions + sometimes made up justifications to explain harsh ratings) → suggests that left hemisphere interpreter might be involved in people's understanding their own behavior -works primarily on those who score high on standardized tests for hypnotic suggestibility
How are cultural influences seen within taste? What is a study on this?
pregnant women assigned two 4 groups: some drank carrot juice every day during last 2 months pregnancy, then drank carrot juice again every day during first two months after childbirth -some drank comparable amount of water every day during those periods -some drank water 1st period, carrot juice second. -all moms breastfed babies (so taste within breast milk) -babies several months old: all fed carrot juice → infants whose mothers drank carrot juice during months before childbirth, after childbirth, or both periods showed preference for carrot juice in comparison to others
What is Hobson's activation-synthesis theory? During sleep, what happens with random brain activity and neural firing? What is the source of dreams' emotional content?
proposes that the brain tries to make sense of random rain activity that occurs during sleep by synthesizing the activity with stored memories. -random brain activity occurs during sleep, neural firing can activate mechanisms that normally interpret sensory input → mind tries to make sense of resulting sensory activity by synthesizing it with stored memories -source of dreams' emotional content=activation of limbic regions associated with emotion + motivation
What are the retina receptor cells? What are rods? What are cones? What are fovea? Where are rods more concentrated at?
rods + cones rods=retinal cells that respond to low levels of light and result in black and white perception (poor at fine detail, don't support color vision Cones=retinal cells that respond to higher levels of light and result in color perception, less sensitive to low levels of light Fovea=the center of the retina, where cones densely packed -rods concentrated at retina's edges
Within the "match-to-sample" experiment with the Prakash children right after their surgeries, what was found? 1 day after surgery vs 1 week? What does this surgery allow us to conclude in terms of neural plasticity?
sees or touches simple object on blank background (sample) and has to choose it from a pair of two different objects presented visually or by touch -YS (8 yr old boy, dense congenital cataracts in both eyes): intervening sheet ensured that couldn't see hands. Given one object (sample) to feel in his hands. Then, would take sample and another object + sample in his hands and asked to return the former → had no trouble in picking out the sample -in purely visual domain, flawless performance -in crucial transfer task (recognizing visually what he had felt by hand), bad performance -immediately after onset of vision, no discernible transfer of information from touch to vision takes place 1 week later: performance on transfer task → near-perfect level → identifying an object they had felt by touch, pointing to a latent ability for rapid learning to associate different senses -neural plasticity (ability of visual system to adapt to new experiences) exists even later in childhood or in adults that would benefit from eye surgeries
What regulate alternating cycles of REM and non-REM?
sleep paralysis + hypnopompic hallucinations (when waking up) related to REM sleep → inability to move, intrusion Of dream into waking consciousness (idea that can see things from in your dream) -people with narcolepsy often have these experiences -interactions between "off" and "on" cells in brainstem regulate alternating cycles of REM and non-REM sleep.. blocks sensory/motoric input, furnishes brain w internal stimuli that forms content of dreams
What did the findings with Prakash participants show about some aspects of vision? How do the kids prove to adjust over time?
some aspects of vision like acuity (how fine a visual pattern can be resolved,) spatial contrast (changes in acuity as image contrast shifts) + optical stability) compromised by extended deprivation → appear to be permanent -significant skill acquisition (differentiate objects in an image + link w other senses), improvements in face detection + mentally reason about spatial arrangements of objects they observe, etc.
what study relates to "all nighters" like those pulled in college?
students who were sleep deprived for 1 night showed reduced activity the next day in the hippocampus (brain area essential for memory) + showed poorer memory at subsequent testing -sleep consolidates memories + prepares brain for its memory needs for the next day
What is the signal detection theory? What are the two components to this?
theory of perception based on the idea that the detection of a stimulus requires a judgement → not an objective process. 2 components: 1) sensitivity to the stimulus in the presence of distractions from other stimuli 2) criteria used to make the judgement from ambiguous information -competing internal and external sources affect judgment and attention
What is unconscious influence? What do unconscious processes tend to influence? What is a study that displays the power of unconscious influences?
unconscious processes influence people's thoughts and actions participants supplied with words → some supplied with words associated with the elderly, + asked to make sentences out of the words. After made up sentences, told experiment was over (when actually being observed) -participants primed with stereotypes about old people walked much more slowly than did those who had been given words unrelated - when questioned, slow-walking group not aware that the concept of "elderly" had been activated or that changed behavior → human behavior can occur without awareness or intention
Is there a flexibility in memory? What does sleep consolidate?
yes, memories change with time.. Consolidation process not always yielding accurate representations of past experiences -flexibility -sleep consolidates memories + transforms them to make them less accurate but more useful/adaptive in longrun -leads to flexible restructuring of memory traces so insights can be made, inferences drawn, integration + abstraction, emotionally salient info can be selectively remember over neutral aspects
