unit 1 test
what are independent variables?
the factors being manipulated or changed in the experiment by the experimenter; the variables the experimenter controls
What is neurogenesis?
the formation of new neurons
in a survey, what is population?
Everyone in the group you are studying
what is a survey?
a descriptive reseach technique where the self-reported attitudes, behaviors, etc. of a group are gathered and analyzed
what are motor neurons?
neurons that carry outgoing command information from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands, triggering them to take action
what are interneurons?
neurons within the rain and spinal cord that communicate internally and process information in between the sensory inputs and the motor outputs
what is the most commonly used dangerous stimulant drug?
nicotine
Is psychology really just a matter of common sense and intuition?
no
are all neurotransmitters present in all synapses?
no
can you use volunteers as subjects?
no
can you usually study everyone in the population you are interested in?
no
do we really only use 10% o our brain?
no
does a negative correlation between two things mean that there is not a significant correlation between them?
no
does correlation demonstrate causation?
no
does it make sense to think of some people as "left-brained" and some people as "right-brained"
no
in general, in psychological research should the people who create the experiments be the people who actually carry them out to get the data?
no
in the brain, do neurons connect only in a straight line, one by one?
no
is it safe for women to use marijuana when they are pregnant?
no
is marijuana a useful treatment for social anxiety?
no
is there a "god spot" in the brain, responsible for religious eliefs and experience?
no
is there any scientific evidence of consciousness occurring outside the biological functioning of the brain?
no
is there good evidence that marijuana either treats or causes glaucoma, heart disease, stroke, alcoholism, weakened immune systems, depression, and/or most anxiety disorders?
no
What is the relationship between psychological and biological aspects of behavior and mental processes?
Everything psychological is simultaneously biological.(There are no exceptions and no purely psychological events.)
should people gathering the data for the experiments be aware of the hypotheses of the experiments?
no
Are our dreams generally pleasant?
no, 80% negative
Where do many of our erroneous beliefs come from?
Over Confidence, Belief Perseverance, Counterfactuals
how would you know id the drug was effective, or not?
nobody know who actually got the drug
what is the possible range of correlation coefficients?
-1 to 1
how much credit or blame should parents be given for the outcomes of their children?
not so much credit
how vaild is this ojection
not that vaild
How common is narcolepsy?
1 in 2 thousand adults
what is the main shortcoming of a case study?
1 individual chosen to study might not be typical
qhat percentage of smokers never succed in quitting?
50%
Daylight Savings Time to Standard
6% decrease in traffic accident
about how many hours a year do we spend dreaming?
600 hours
when legitimate social scientists investigated the same subject with true random samples, what did they find instead?
7% was the more accurate amount of affairs
approxiamtely what percentage of the human cortex consists of association areas?
75%
what percentage of sexual assaults among college students come after alcohol use?
80% males; 70% female victims
approximately how many neurons are there in your brain?
86 billion
what would be an example of a case study?
90 year old grandpa you ask what his secret is
About what percent of personality is genetically determined, and about what percent of personality is environmentally determined?
90% genetically 10% enviornmentally
how useful and valid is dream interpretation?
not valid or useful
how similar in personality are siblings who are not genetically identical twins?
not very similar
do these tools allow us to reliably detect lying, predict consumer behavior, predict crime?
not yet
what happens if humans are directly stimulated in these areas?
rather mild pleasure
What would the dependent bariable be?
recovery from cold
what effect do the opiate drugs have on pain?
reduce pain
What is Regression toward the mean?
the tendency for extreme events or results to e followed by ones closer to the average
What are endorphins?
natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters produced in your own brian, that are linked to pain control and to pleasure
Wha tis the cerebral cortex?.
a complex fabric of interconnected neural cells forming a thin outer surface layer of the brain, covering the cerebral hemisphere; the ultimate control and information-processing center of the brain, also providing our conscious awareness
generally, does marijuana either treat or cause cancer?
neither
what are excitatory neural impulses?
neural impulses that, when they reach a neuron's dendrites, are designed to trigger the action potential
what is a case study?
a descriptive research technique in which a single individual (of sometimes a single group among many groups) is studied in depth in the hope of discovering things that would be true of everyone, beyond that individual(or single group)
What is naturalistic observation?
a descriptive research technique in which behavior is observed and recorded in its natural setting, with no attempt to manipulate or change it
how do endorphins get their name?
a grammatical contraction from the phrase "endogenous morphine"'
what are nerves?
a group of axons that are bundled together to form neural "cables" that connect the central nervous system with the sense organs, muslces, and glands
what is the limbic system?
a system of neural structure at the border of the brain stem and the cerebral hemispheres, associated with emotions such as fear and aggression and drives such as for food and sex; includes the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the hypothalamus
what is the reticular formation?
neural network that travels through the brainstem into the thalamus and plays an important part in controlling arousal
what are inhibitor neural impulses?
neural that, when they reach a neuron's dendrites, are designed to stop the action potential
what are sensory neurons?
neurons that carry incoming information from the sense receptors to the central nervous system
fMRI
a technique for revealing blood flow and, therefore, brain activity in certain areas of the brain, by comparing successive MRI scans, showing both brain function as it occurs and also brain structure
MRI scan
a technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer generated images of soft tissue that can reveal brain anatomy
What is the synaptic gap or synaptic cleft, and how wide is ti?
a tiny, fluid-filled space, less than one-millionth of an inch wide, separating the axonic fibers of the sending neuron form the dendritic fiber of the receiving neuron
What is one way to summarize plasticity?
"The brain you were born with is not the brain you will die with"
What are glia, or glial cells?
"support" cells that surround, nourish, support, and protect neurons
How do men's "word clouds" differ?
****, shit, fight, football
what sorts of correlation coefficients would e more typical in actual research?
-.4 to .4
if you used a true random sample of adult Americans, how many people would you have to survey in order to accurately predict the attitudes and opinions of all Americans?
1,500
what did SHERE HITE find?
1. 70% married for 5 years or more were cheating 2. 95% felt emotional abused by their husband
why might you want to engage in lucid dreaming?
1. Fun 2. Kick in input of both halfs of your brain
What would be some examples of naturalistic observation?
1. Great Apes of Africa 2. prof. enrolled in class; passed as student 3. coming of age in samoa
What two questions must we ask (and have "yes" answers to) before we accept and use a research finding in psychology?
1. Is it statistically Significant? 2. Is it meaningful and useful?
what can you control during lucid dreaming?
1. What you want to dream about 2. decide how it goes
what happens, then, when people try to stop taking the opiate drugs?
1. bothered by things that didn't normally bother them before. 2. bad withdrawal
if two things are correlated, what would be the three possible explanations for this?
1. first thing eing cause by second thing 2. second thing being caused by first thing 3. both being caused by third thing
What does a .01 level of statistical significance mean?
1. no more than 1% chance of results 2.99% confidence
What does a .05 level of statistical significance mean?
1. no more than 5% chance of results 2. 95% confidence
how did SHERE HITE fail to use a random sample in her study of gender attitudes and marital behaviors among American women?
1. sent out 100 thousand surveys; got back 4,500 2. sent them to all members of women groups
what sorts of tasks does the left hemisphere normally take the lead in?
1. speech and language 2.mathematics 3.logical reasoning
what are the three methods using in Descriptive research?
1.Case study 2.Survey 3. Naturalistic Observation
what normal activities promote neurogenesis?
1.exercise 2.sleep 3.sex 4.non-stressful stimulation
why do we dream--what purposes does dreaming serve?
1.helps consolidate long term studies 2. helps neuro pathways
What mental functions can be facilitated by glia?
1.learning 2.thinking 3.memory
what sorts of tasks does the right hemisphere normally take the lead in?
1.perceptual tasks 2. emotions self-awareness
what two things does alcohol tend to reduce?
1.self awarness 2. Self control
when hormones act on the brain, what are some of the things they may affect our interset in?
1.sex 2.food 3.aggression
How much of our lives do we typically spend sleeping?
1/3; 25 years
in a given year, what percentage of smokers who want to quit will succeed in doing so?
1/7
haw many years of life do smokers lose, on average, compared to nonsmokers?
10 years
How much do man typically dream about sex?
10%
how common is insomnia in most adults?
10%
Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time
10% increase in traffic acciednts
How and when was rapid eye movemnet sleep discovered?
1952 A student hooked up an EEG to sleeping son, and EEG went wild for small intervals of time
how much of our body weight does the brain typically account for, and how much of the body's glucose does the brain typically use?
2% of the weight 20% of the body's glucose
In a study of long-haul truck drivers, how much did texting while driving increase the odds of a collision or crash?
23x
How common is insomnia in older adults?
25%
in another study, how did a later school starting time affect auto accident rates in teens?
25% reduction in accidents
How many automobile accidents involve use of cell phones while driving?
28%
How much do women typically dream about sex?
3%
what percentage of smokers wish they could quit?
3/4
approximately how many synaptic connections is the cerebral cortex estimated to have?
300 trillion
How much does talking on a cell phone, even a hand-free cell phone, while driving increase the odds of an accident?
4x
how common is sleep apnea?
5% adults
if you smoke throughout your life, beginnning in your teens, what are the oods that smoking will be what kills you?
50%
how do anecdotes mislead us about evidence? What must we remember?
Anecdote are not evidence, everyone loves a good story
What happens in de-myelinatting diseases?
Attack the myelin sheath and breaks it down
what attitudes must we take in psychology(and in any science)?
Curiosity, Skepticism, Humility
what are three general approaches to research in psychology?
Descriptive/Observational, Correlational, Experimental
how can these differences be observed?
find active part of the brain
How is neural firing and ALL_OR_NONE Response, and what would be an analogy for this?
Like a gun, the neuron either fires, full strength or it does not fire at all; approximately the same amount of energy is released each time it fires
What happens when the action potential reaches the tip of the sending axon?
Neurotransmitters are released into the synaptic gap
Do most neurons regenerate?
No
what are the stage of sleep?
Pre-Sleep, NREM-1 sleep, NREM-2 sleep, NREM-3 sleep,REM
What is an example of a medical use of the reuptake process?
SSRIs (selective Serotonin reuptake inhibitors)
When do our normal, story-like dreams occur?
REM
what does randomly assigning subjects to the experimental group or the control group accomplish?
Random assignment minimizes any pre-existing differences(differences before the experiment starts) between the experimental groups and control groups; this makes it highly likely that if there are any differences in the dependt variables(the results) between the experimental groups and the control groups, then those differences were CAUSED by the independent variables
How must subjects be assigned to the experimental groups or the control groups?
Randomly, such that each subject has an equal chance of being in the experimental group or control group
What is narcolepsy?
Sleep attacks
what is the main active ingredient in marijuana?
THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol)
What would be a simple example illustrating the need for statistical significance?
flip a coin
why is replication so important?
To make sure a finding is repeatable
What happens when the neurotransmitters are released, and how fast does it happen?
Within one ten-thousandth of a second, the neurotransmitter chemicals cross the synaptic gpa and may bind to receptor sites on the adjacent receiving neuron, influencing whether or not that receiving neuron will fire.
what is the corpus callosum?
a large band of neural fibers deep in the brain, connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrign messages between them; the primary means of communication between the two brain hemispheres
What is the Myelin sheath?
a layer of segmented fatty tissue surrounding some axons, that greatly speeds up the transmission of neural impulses and increases their effectiveness
what is correlation coefficient?
a mathematically calculated index of how much two thing are correlated(the extent to which they change together, and thus the extent to which one can be predicted from the other)
what is the hippocampus?
a neural center located in the limbic system that helps process conscious memories for facts and events into memory storage
what is the action potential?
a neural impulse; a very brief electrical charge, a wave of electro-chiemical energy, that travels very rapidly, down the axon, always in the direction from the input end of the neuron toward the output end
what is the hypothalamus?
a neural structure lying below the thalamus, directing various maintenance activites, such as hunger and eating, thirst and drinking, body and temperature, and sexual behavior; influences the pituitary gland to influence the rest of the endocrine glands; the hypothalamus is also linked to emotion and reward
what is a placebo?
a neutral, harmless, inconsequential substance or treatment designed to make subjects think they are getting the real thing
what are the adrenal glands?
a pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys, they secrete the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine, which arouse the body in times of stress, by increasing heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar, providing a surge of energy and alertness
what is the pituitary gland?
a pea-sized structure located in the core of the brain and controlled by the hypothalamus; the most influential gland in the endocrine system, controlling the other endocrine glands and also regulating body growth
What is an experiment?
a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors, called independent variables, while keeping everything else the same, to observe the effect on behaviors or mental processes, which would then be called dependent variables
what is a random sample?
a sample that is a fair representation f the total population, where all members of the total group have an equal chance of being included in the study
what is the endocrine system?
a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream
What is a theory?
a set of principles that organizes and predicts observations
What is a Neuron?
a single nerve cell in the entire nervous system that consists of billions of neurons
What is a hypothesis?
a specific prediction that we can put to a test generally derived from and/or implied by a theory; therefore something that, if test, could partly confirm or disconfirm the theory
what is informed consent?
a subject's permission to e studied, to be given only after the subject has been clearly and completely informed of any potential risks and any other information that would reasonably be expected to affect their choice as to whether or not to participate
Pet Scan
a visual display of brain activity after radioactive glucose has been put into the bloodstream, based on the absorption of radioactive glucose in ares of the rain that are involved in certain tasks, as active areas asorb more of the nutrient glucose because of the greater energy an active part of the brain consumes
how do we use the scientific method?
a. make observations b. form theories to explain the observations c. come up with specific hypotheses and predictions to test the theory d. make new observations to test whether the facts support the theory, hypotheses, and predictions e. Use new observations (the facts, the evidence) to modify and improve the theory and come up with new hypotheses and predictions to test
approximately how many neurons does the cortex have?
about 20-23 billion
what happens if you electrically stimulate the amygdala of a lab animal?
aggressive rrage or induce fear
what is the most commonly used depressant drug
alcohol
what is the nervous system?
all the nerve cells of the body; the body's speedy, electrochemical communication network, allowing information to be taken in, decisions to be made, and orders to be carried out
what is the relative speed at which the effects of neural and hormonal messages dissipate?
almost instantly
in social sciences, how often do we see correlation coefficients at the extreme ends of the possible range?
almost never -1 or 1
how often are both sides of the brain involved in complex tasks?
always
EEG
an amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity taking place in areas of the brain under electrodes that are placed on the scalp.
what is the somatosensory cortex?
an area at the front of the parietal lobes that receives and processes sensations of touch and movement from your body
what is the motor cortex?
an area at the rear of the frontal lobes, that controls voluntary movemnets
What is the Axon?
an elongated structure on the output end of the neuron, on the opposite end of the dendrites, ending in tiny, branching fibers that can pass messages to other adjacent neurons or to adjacent muscle cells or glands
what is a double blind procedure?
an experimental procedure in which neither the subjects nor the experimenters gathering the results are aware of who is receiving the treatment and who is receiving the placebo at the time the experiment is being carried out
what may epigenetic explain?
antisocial personality is order differences between genetically identical people.
When can some kind of dreaming occur?
anytime
what are the association areas?
areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary sensory or motor functions, but rather are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and language; they show no observable response to direct electrical stimulation
what would be some everyday examples of hormone hangover?
arguments
About how many dreams do we have in a year?
around 100,000
what is positive correlation?
as one thing changes the other go on the same direction
what is negative correlation?
as one thing goes up the other goes down
What is selective attention?
focusing our conscious attention only on certain very limited stimuli
how do endorphins relate to "runner's high"
as they run mile after mile the brain relate endorphins and gives them more energy
About how long will most people sleep if they are undistracted and can choose any amount of sleep they want?
at least 9 hours
how many different neurotransmitters are there?
at least several dozen
what happens if you destroy the amygdala of a normally fierce, aggressive animal like a wild rat or wolverine or a rhesus monkey?
become calm, passive
What are circadian rhythms?
biological changes within our bodies that operate on 24-hour cycles, repeating daily
How does the corpus callosum work during everyday experiences?
both sides of the brain knows any commands coming to the brain
what effect ddo the opiate drugs have on endorphin production?
brain shut down its production of endorphins
how were the reward centers of the hypothalamus discovered?
by accident
How did an eminent Harvard University astronomer describe the human brain?
by far the most complex physical object we know of in the entire cosmos
why is random sampling so important?
can not be confident that what you found is a good representation of everyone in the whole group
what are the three parts of a neurons?
cell body, dendrites, axon
What are neurotransmitters?
chemical "messengers" that are released into the stnaptic gap when a sending neuron fires
what are hormones?
chemical messengers, some of them chemically identical to neurotransmitters, manufactured by the endocrine glands, that are produced in one part of the body but effects elsewhere, affecting other tissues
what group of people often practice sleep bulimia?
college students
what is a substance use disorder?
continued substance craving and use despite significant life disruption and/or physical risk
what is the purpose of a placebo? what does it control?
control group doesnt know it
what is "sleep bulimia"?
deprive yourself of sleep during weekdays and weekends binge sleep
How does alcohol affect you academic performance?
disrupts memory
how does the hippocampus change as we grow old?
doesn't work as well
What is PIZZA DREAMING, and what benefit might you get from it?
dreaming more after eating pizza and feeling better the next day
At what ages do we see the least plasticity in the brain?
elderly people
What seems to trigger narcolepsy?
emotional arousal
what very important general principle is illustrated in studies like this?
expectations/?(of both subjects and experimenters) must be controlled for
correlation cannot tell us about causation. what can tell us about causation?
experimentation(the experimental approach to psychological research; the experimental method)
what may common sense seem to do well?
explain what has already happened
What is debriefing?
explaining to subjects the exact purpose of the study, informing them of any deceptions that may have occurred, ensuring that they leave the experiment in at least as good a psychological(and physical) state as when they entered it, and offering to share the results of the study with the subjects when it has been completed and analyzed
what mistake do mathematical statistics protect us from in psychological research?
failure to recognize when results/observations are random, are just due to chance, rather than being part of a reliable, systematic pattern
What is inattentional blindness?
failure to see readily apparent objects when our attention is directed elsewhere
what do you do instead of studying everyone in a population?
get a sample of them
What would you do with the Experimental Group?
give cold, drug
What would you do with the control group?
give cold, sugar pill
how similar in personality are two genetically unrelated person who were raised in the same home as adopted children?
hardly any
what would be some examples of things controlled by the autonomic nervous system?
heartbeat digestion breathing
how much have these modern techniques done to advance neuroscience?
helped knowledge explode
what are neural prosthetics, and how do they work?
highly experimental devices that take information from recording electrodes placed in the motor cortex or speech centers of the brain and use that information to operate mechanical devices to perform some of the functions of damaged, missing, or unusable body parts or synthesize speech
What is the process of reuptake?
if neurotransmitters do not bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, they are either broken down by enzymes in the synapse, or else those neurotransmitters are reabsorbed y the neuron that released them. that reabsorption is the process of reuptake.
How is the brain "cross wired" with respect to neural messages coming in form and going out to parts of the body?
if you shake someone's hand with right hand it signals in the left side of the brain
What did one study show about the effects of sleep on happiness?
increase happiness
why can alcohol increase violent behavior?
inhibit good judgement before violent impulses
is careful, moderate marijuana use likel to shorten your life?
it will not
how does this compare to the brains of lower animals?
less
in our walking life, when we are not asleep, how much do women typically think about/ daydream about sex?
less often, more romantic
what is an example of hindsight bias?
long distance relationship
what is lucid dreaming?
low level conscious awareness
how is sleep a 90-minute cycle?
many stages
what are some other examples of behaviors shared by genetically related people?
many wives with the same name similar divorce rates
what is the most common used mild hallucinogenic drug?
marijuana
how important is the brain, and why?
master organ of the body, the one part of you that you cant do without
Correlation
measuring how different things occur/ change together
MEG
measuring magnetic fields generated by the natural electrical activity of the brain
in our walking life, when we are not asleep, how much do men typically think about/ daydream about sex?
more often; more physical
how many different areas of the brain are involved in religious states and experiences?
more than 40
What is the most frequent example of a de-myelinatting diease?
multiple sclerosis
Descriptive/Observational
observing and describing/ recording what we see
hindsight bias
once an outcome is known, the tendency to believe it was obvious and predictable (the "i knew it all along" phenomenon)
what happens if the corpus callosum is severed?
one half of the brain wouldnt know what the other half was doing
what would be an example of a nerve, and how many axons does it contain?
optic nerve; a million axons bonded together
What is consciousness?
our subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment; the process of focusing our awareness on internal or external event s and experiences that we can report or put into words
why may alcohol seem to be a stimulant drug? What does it act as?
people drink at parties to make it fun; a disinhibitor
what can you not use volunteers as subjects?
people who volunteer are not typically of all people
Who would be the subjects in the experiment, and how would you get them?
people with a cold; put out an ad
Experimental
performing a controlled study to see if one thing is causing another
What is insomnia?
persistent, recurring condition, trouble going to sleep
what would be an example of correlation coefficient?
positive correlation ACT score& college scores
what may common sense often do much less well?
predict what will happen
if you gave the subjects in the experimental group the drug, ut you gave the subjects in the control group nothing, would the drug be the only difference between the two groups?
psychological effect of day
how did a study demonstrate "inattentional deafness"?
questions lead through voice> voice changes most didn't notice
How would you assign subjects tot he experimental and control groups?
randomly
What is Replication?
repeating an experiment to see if a similar result is obtained; this is done keeping the essential elements of the experiment the same, but with new, different subjects (participants; the people or animals being studied) and sometimes different experimenters
how is sleep a circadian rhythm?
repeats everyday
How does this compare to the risk of drunk driving?
same
roughly how fast do messages reach distant parts of the body when delivered by hormonal activity?
several seconds
How do women "word cloud" differ?
shopping, love, cute
How many concussions form violent sports change the hippocampus and our ability to remember?
shrinks the hippocampus
what is Dual Processing?
simultaneously processing information on separate conscious and unconscious tracks in the brain
What is our most profound and frequent altered state of consciousness?
sleep
is smoking marijuana associated with an increase in respiratory disorders?
slightly yes
roughly how fast do messages reach distant parts of the body when delivered directly through neural firing?
small fraction of a second
What was found in a Study of Stanford University basketall players?
some players sleep an additional 2 hours 9% performance increase
what is the cerebellum?
sometimes called "little brain," a baseball-size structure attached to the rear of the brain stem, processes some sensory input, helps coordinate voluntary movement and balance, enables nonverbal learning and nonverbal memory
In order to interpret how much of the variability in one thing is connected to(accounted for, predictable from) variability in the order, what must we do with the correlation coefficient?
square it
What are Dendrites?
structures on the input end of the neuron that are bushy, branching extensions from the neuron that allow it to receive and integrate incoming messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body
what is a frequent and dangerous real-world example of selective attention?
talking/texting while driving
What is sleep apnea?
temporarily stopping breathing while sleeping
What is the Synapse?
the area where the to\ip of sending neuron comes together with the dendrites
What is the medulla?
the base of the brain stem, controlling heartbeat and breathing
wha tis the central nervous system?
the brain and spinal cord
what is the relationship between the brain, the pituitary, other glands, and hormones?
the brain influences the hypothalamus, which influences the pituitary gland, which influences other glands, which secrete hormones, which enter the bloodstream and influence the body, including the brain
What is plasticity?
the brain's ability to change, by building new neural pathways based on experience, and/or by reorganizing the way it accomplishes things after parts of the brain are damaged or removed
what is the thalamus?
the brain's sensory control center, located on top of the brain stem, directing messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmitting replies to the cerebellum and medulla
what is the Cell Body?
the central part of the neuron, that contains the nucleus of the nerve cell and regulates the cell's biochemical reactions that act as life support for that cell
What are Control conditions and control groups?
the conditions you use for comparison, to see if the experimental condition changed the dependent variables; control groups are the suject you use to compare the experimental groups to, to see if the experimental groups really changed in a meaningful way in which the control groups did not change on the dependent variables
what are wording effects?
the effects that even small changes in the wording of questions have on the way that people taking surveys answer them
what are the cerebral hemispheres?
the left and right halves of the large, almost spherical, main part of the brain, the cerbrum, that sits atop the brain stem
what is the threshold of neural firing?
the level of stimulation required to trigger neural firing, when the excitatory impulses significantly exceed the inhibitory impulses
What is statistical significance?
the odds that the results observed, often differences between groups or correlations between variables, could have happened naturally just by chance, through entirely random variation
what is the brain stem?
the oldest part and centrla core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; responsible for automatic survival functions
what is sympathetic nervous system?
the part of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body and mobilizes its energy, getting it ready for action, including: dilates pupils of the eyes; accelerates heartbeat; inhibits digestion; stimulates glucose release by the liver; stimulates adrenal glands to secrete epinephrine and norepinephrine
what is the parasympathetic nervous system?
the part of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body and conserves its energy, including:constricts pupils of the eyes; slows heartbeat; stimulates digestion; dos not stimulate glucose release or adrenal gland release
what is the somatic nervous system?
the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's voluntary skeletal muscles
what is the automatic nervous system?
the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs that operate automatically, without conscious decision or commands
what are experimental conditions and experimental groups?
the parts of the experiment that expose subjects to the treatment, to one version of the independent variables; these subjects are the experimental groups' the subjects you try out the independent variables on, often the subjects you try something new on
what are subjects in an experiment?
the people or animals being studied or experimented on
where are the occipital lobes, and what do they do?
the portion of the cerebral cortex at the back of the head, just above the neck; recieve visual inputs
where are the parietal lobes, and what do they do?
the portion of the cerebral cortex beneath the top of the head, toward the rear; recieve sensory sensroy input for touc and body position
where are the frontal lobes and what do they do?
the portion of the cerebral cortex just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movemnets and making plans and judgments
where are the temporal lobes, and what do they do?
the portion of the cerebral cortex relatively low on the side, in the region above the ears; receive auditory inputs
What are dependent variables?
the results the experimenters are examining; the factors the experimenters expect may change when the independent variables are changed
Psychology
the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
what is the peripheral nervous system?
the sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body
What is the resting potential?
the stable state of the neuron when it is not firing
what is epigenetic?
the study of environmental influences that, if experienced, trigger genetically determined behavior
What very basic fact must we remember about consciousness and information processing?
the vast majority of our information processing goes on OUTSIDE our conscious awareness; we are consciously aware of only an extremely tiny fraction of the information being processed inside our own brain and nervous system
What are variables?
things that can change
how many neurons may a single neuron connect to?
thousands
how many total synaptic connections does that create?
trillions
what is the amygdala?
two neural clusters shaped and sized roughly like small almonds or lima beans, that are linked to emotion
At what ages do we see greatest plasticity in the brain?
very young people
what psychological myth has this led to?
we only use 10% of our brain
Why should we keep this fact in mind when we have a dream, and then it actually happens in real life?
when something happens in real life and also in your dream, its not crazy
what is correlation?
when two things(variables) that can change or cary tend to change together(if they change together, then knowing one of them allows you to predict the other one)
what is hormone hangover?
when you are upset and someone calm you down but you are still upset
What would the independent variable be?
whether they got druged or not
Is it possible for a finding to be statistically significant but not meaningful and useful?
yes
can you develop a substance use disorder with marijuana?
yes
do human have hypothalamic reward centers?
yes
does marijuana use impair attention, learning, memory, and/or good judgment?
yes
does marijuana use significantly increase the risk of automoblie accidents?
yes
does the brain routinely process information during sleep?
yes
is consciousness a biological function of the brain?
yes
is marijuana a helpful treatment for chronic pain?
yes
is marijuana a helpful treatment for nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing chemo?
yes
how have critics tired to explain phenomena like these?
you can take any unrelated people and they have alot in common
How do the circadian sleep patterns of older adults and younger adults differ?
young adults-evening people older adults-morning people
on average, about how many pieces of information do we take in each second, and how many of those are we consciously aware of?
~11 million inputs ~40 consciously aware of ~99.9997%
what two things must we remember about almost all drugs?
~Drugs are a controlled use of poison ~drugs have side effects
what you be some examples of wording effects in surveys of important social issues?
~How many of you are in favor of ading the needy ~How many of you are in favor of welfare
what are some of the tools and methods that allow scientists to study brain activity and function, and how do they work?
~examining the effects of accidental or medical brain injuries, seeing what functions are lost when certain parts of the brain are damaged or destroyed ~lesion
How does neural firing vary?
~the rate an individual neuron fires ~the number of different neurons in a particular area that are firing at a given time
