PSYCH 202 FINAL EXAM - DR. GALLIMORE - UNIVERSITY OF WICSONSIN-MADISON

Sensation & Perception

Scientists interested in both physiological aspects of sensory systems as well as in the psychological experience of sensory information

Operational Definition

a description of how we measure our variables so everyone understands and interprets data correctly and similarly

Cofounding Variable

a factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect in an experiment

Cochlea

a fluid-filled, seal-shaped structure that contains the resort receptor cells (hair cells) of the auditory system

Informed Consent

a form that must be signed by participants of a study before they participate

Unconditioned Response

a natural reaction to a given stimulus

Humanism

a perspective within psychology that emphasizes humanity's innate capacity for good

Introspection (Wundt)

a process by which someone examines their own conscious as objectively as possible

Classical Conditioning

a process by which we learn to associate stimuli and, consequently, to anticipate events

Cross-Sectional Research

a researcher compares multiple segments of the population at the same time; information is not as good as longitude research, but it is cheaper and can be done faster

Timbre

a sound's purity

Unconditioned Stimulus

a stimulus that elicits a reflective response in an organism

Conditioned Stimulus

a stimulus that elicits a response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus

Short-Term Memory

a temporary storage system that processes incoming sensory memory

Procedural Memory

a type of implicit memory that stores information on how to do things

Decibles

a unit of sound intensity; how loudness is measured

Recall

accessing information without cues

Misinformation Effect Paradigm

after exposure to incorrect information, a person may misremember the original event

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

aimed at an audience of professionals and scholars who are actively involved in research themselves

Trichromatic Theory of Color Vision

all colors in the spectrum can be produced by combining red, green and blue, the three types of cones are receptive to each color

Flashbulb Memory

an exceptionally clear recollection of an important event

Industrial-Organizational Psychology

applies psychological theories, principles, and research findings in industrial and organizational settings

Temporal Lobe

auditory cortex

Hair Cells

auditory receptor cells of the inner ear embedded in the basilar membrane

Medulla

autonomic nervous system

Fixed Interval Reinforcement Schedule

behavior is rewarded after a set amount of time

Law of Effect

behaviors that are followed by consequences that are satisfying to the organism are more likely to be repeated, and behaviors that are followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated

Vicarious Reinforcement

being more motivated to imitate behavior if you saw that the behavior brought positive reinforcement (opposite = vicarious punishment)

Skinner

believed that reinforcement and punishment were major factors in driving behavior; behaviorist

Resting Potential

between signals, the neuron's membrane potential is held in a state of readiness

Antagonist Medication

block or impede the normal activity of a neurotransmitter at the receptor site to weaken its effects

Congenital Deafness

born deaf

Central Nervous System (CNS)

brain and spinal cord

The Experimental Hypothesis

cannot use limited personal observations and anecdotal evidence to rigorously test hypothesis; must use real-world data

Optic Nerve

carries visual information from retina to brain

Soma

cell body; houses the nucleus; has branching extensions called dendrites

Pheromones

chemical messages

Mylein Sheath

coats the axon and acts as an insulator, increasing signal speed

Surverys

collect data from subjects who respond to a series of questions about behaviors and opinions, often in the form of a questionnaire; not in depth and not always accurate because not objective

Opponent-Process Theory

color is coded in opposing pairs (black/white, yellow/blue, green/red), and some cells of the visual system are excited by one of the colors and inhibited by its opponent color

Iris

colored portion of the eye

Behavior

comes from intention & perceived behavioral norm; intention comes about through one's attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral norm

Institutional Review Board

committee that must approve that a study is safe and ethical before it can be done

Statistical Analysis

conducted to find out if there are meaningful differences between the two groups

Ganglion Cells

connect rods and cones

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

connects CNS to the rest of the body (nerves)

Terminal Buttons

contain synaptic vesicles that house neurotransmitters

Middle Ear

contains 3 tiny bones known as ossicles

Inner Ear

contains semi-circular canals which are involved in balance and movement and the cochlea

Afterimage

continuation of a visual sensation after removal of the stimulus

Long-Term Memory

continuous storage or information

Persistence

continuously remembering something to the point that you can't get it out of your head

Vestibular Sense

contributes to our ability to maintain balance and body posture

Autonomic Nervous System

controls internal organs and glands, considered to be outside the realm of voluntary control, and can be divided into sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems

Feminist Psychology

criticized male psychologists for constructing the psychology of women entirely out of their own cultural basis and without careful experimental tests to verify any of their characterizations of women

Lens

curved, transparent structure that provides additional focus after light enters the pupil

Forensic Psychology

deals with questions of psychology as they arise in the context of the justice system

Extinction

decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the conditioned stimulus

Longitudal Fissure

deep grove that separates the brain into two halves

Meniere's Disease

degeneration of inner ear structures that can lead to hearing loss

Suggestibility

describes the effects of misinformation from external sources that leads to the creation of memories

Ruffini Corpuscles

detect stretch

Pacinian Corpuscles

detect transient pressures and high frequency vibrations

Place Theory

different portions of the basilar membrane are sensitive to sounds of different frequencies

Congenital Insensitivity to Pain

disorder in which one cannot feel pain

Conductive Hearing Loss

due to age, genetic predisposition, or environmental effects

Tympatic Membrane

eardrum

Perceptual Hypothesis

educated guesses that we make while interpreting sensory information

Amygdala

emotional processing

James-Lange Theory

emotions come from physical symptoms that arise due to stimuli

Inductive Reasoning

empirical observations lead to new ideas

Visual Encoding

encoding of images

Acoustic Encoding

encoding of sounds, especially words

Semantic Encoding

encoding of words and their meaning; deep level of processing

random assignment

every participant in a study has an equal chance of being assigned to either group

Biopsychology

explores how our biology influences our behavior

Inattentional Blindness:

failure to notice something that is completely visible because of a lack of attention

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

failure to transmit neural signals from the cochlea to the brain

A scientific hypothesis must be...

falsifiable, or capable of being shown as incorrect

Clinical or Case Studies

focus on one person or a few individuals; information collected is unmatched but cannot be generalized to the population

Counseling Psychology

focuses on emotional, social, vocational, and health-related outcomes in individuals who are considered psychologically healthy

Health Psychology

focuses on how health is affected by the interaction of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors (biopyschosocial model)

Clinical Psychology

focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior

Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud)

focuses on the role of the unconscious mind & childhood experiences and how these two things affect the conscious mind

Personality Psychology

focuses on through and behaviors that make each individual unique; Freud proposed that personalities arise from conflicts between the conscious and unconscious minds

Taste Buds

formed by groupings of taste receptor cells with hair-like extensions that protrude into the central pore of the taste bud

Temporal Theory for Pitch Perception

frequency is coded by the activity level of a sensory neuron

Sulci

grooves between gyri

Experimental Group

group that is exposed to the independent variable that is being tested

Secondary Reinforcer

has no inherent value and has only reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer

Confirmation Bias

having a hunch about something and searching for facts to support it instead of objectively looking at facts

Just Noticeable Difference or Difference Threshold Or Weber's Law

how much difference in stimuli is required to detect a difference between them

Social Psychology

how we interact with and relate to others

Top-Down Processing

how we interpret sensations is influenced by our available knowledge, our experiences, and out thoughts

The Scientific Process (2)

hypothesis/general premise --> deductive reasoning --> empirical observations --> inductive reasoning --> hypothesis/general premise --> and so on...

Deductive Reasoning

ideas are tested against empirical world

The Scientific Process

ideas are tested against the world, those observations lead to more ideas, those are tested, and so on; circular

Threshold of Excitation

if a neuron's charge reaches a certain level, the neuron becomes active and active potential begins

Equipotentiality Hypothesis

if part of one area of the brain involving memory is damaged, another part of the same area can take over that memory function

Models

individuals that are performing imitative behavior

PET Scan

ingest radioactive tracer which binds to glucose in blood; more blood flow = more cerebral activity

Acquisition

initial period of learning in classical conditioning; an organism learns to connect neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus

The Spinal Cord

initiates automatic reflexes; messages do not have to be sent to the brain

Neurons

interconnected information processors that are essential for all the tasks of the nervous system

Electrochemical Event

involves electric and chemical process; inside the neuron is electrical process, in the synapse is chemical process

Deception

involves purposefully misleading participants in order to maintain integrity of the experiment, but not to the point where it could be harmful; participants are debriefed by the end of the study

Hippocampus

learning and memory

Observational Learning

learning by watching others and then imitating what they do or say

Latent Learning

learning that occurs but is not observable in behavior until there is a reason to demonstrate it

Retina

light-sensitive lining of the eye

Epigenetics

looks beyond the genotype itself and studies how the same genotype can be expressed in different ways

Watson

majorly involved in shifting the study of psychology at the time from the mind to behavior; behaviorist

Inter-rater Reliability

measure of agreement among observers on how they record and classify a particular event

Limbic System

mediates emotion and memory

Transience

memories can fade over time

Subliminal Messages

messages that are presented below the threshold for conscious awareness

Agnonist Medication

mimic a neurotransmitter at the receptor site and strengthen its effects

Sound Localization

monaural cues and binaural cues are used to localize sound

Dopamine

mood, sleep, learning; increased pleasure, suppressed appetite

Frontal Lobe

motor cortex, language

Reuptake

neurotransmitter is pumped back into the neuron that released it in order to clear the synapse

Approaches to Research

observational techniques, interactions between researcher and individual, well-controlled experiments; these are all correlational; researchers can speak to important relationships that might exist between two or more variables of interest, cannot be used to make claims on cause-and-effect relationships; correlation does not equal causation

Associative Learning

occurs when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment

"5 Big Traits"

openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism

Stimulus Generallization

opposite of stimulus discrimination; when an organism demonstrates the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus

Variable Interval Reinforcement Schedule

organism gets the reinforcement based on a varying amount of time, which is unpredictable

Operant Conditioning

organism learns to associate a behavior and its consequence

Partial Reinforcement

organisms does not get reinforced every time they perform the desired behavior

Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection

organisms that are better suited for their environment will survive and reproduce, while those that are poorly suited for their environment will die off

Pattern Perception

our ability to discriminate among different figures and shapes

Genetic Environmental Correlation

our genes influence our environment, and our environment influences the expression of our genes

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee

oversees ensuring that all animal participants are treated humanely

Neuropathic Pain

pain signals sent to the brain are exaggerated when damage to neurons of either PNS or CNS takes place

Inflammatory Pain

pain that signals tissue damage

Gyri

patterns of fold and bumps on cerebral cortex

Illusionary Correlation

people believe that relationships exist between two things when no such relationship exists

Proprioception

perception of body perception

Bottom-Up Processing

perceptions are built from sensory input

Rods

photoreceptors located in the remainder of the retina (not the fovea); work well in low light conditions; perception of movement in the peripheral

Cones

photoreceptors that work best bring light conditions; very sensitive to acute detail; found on fovea

EEG

picks up electrical charge of neuron firing & measures them

Blind Spot

point in the visual field where even when light from a small object is focused on the blind spot, we cannot see it

Sympathetic Nervous System

prepares the body for stress-related event

Substantia Nigra & Ventral Tegmental Area

produce dopamine; critical for movement

Receptors

proteins on the cell surface where neurotransmitters attach

Sport and Exercise Psychology

psychological aspects of sports performance: motivation and performance anxiety, effects of sport on mental and emotional well-being

Biological Perspective of Psychological Disorders

psychological disorders are associated with imbalances in one or more neurotransmitter systems

Scientific Method

question why something happens --> purpose hypothesis --> test hypothesis --> make observations --> come up with theory

False Memory Syndrome

recall of false autobiographical memories

Cerebellum

receives messages from body; balance

Hypothalamus

regulates homeostasis

Pons

regulates sleep

Primary Reinforcer

reinforcers that have innate reinforcing qualities

Binocular Cues

rely on the use of both eyes

Monocular Cues

require only one eye; depth in images when they are only 2D

Effortful Processing

requires much work and attention in order to encode information

Merkel's Disks

respond to light pressure (regular touch)

Meissner's Corpuscles

respond to pressures and low frequency vibrations

Parasympathetic Nervous System

returns the body to routine operations (homeostasis)

The Cognitive Revolution

revived interest in the mind as a focus of scientific inquiry

Shaping

reward successive approximations of a target behavior

Evolutionary Psychology

seeks to study the ultimate biological causes of behavior; how universal patterns of behavior change over time

Outer Surface of Brain

semipermeable membrane

Thalamus

sensory relay center

Nociception

signal indicating potential harm and maybe pain

Suggestibility

similar to misattribution, but instead of creating a false memory entirely on your own, it comes from someone else

Olfactory Receptors

small hair-like extensions from taste buds that serve as sites for odor molecules with chemical receptors located on these extensions

Fovea

small indentation in the back of the eye; part of the retina; contains densely packed photoreceptor cells

Pupil

small opening in the eye through which light passes; controlled by mucus

Pariental Lobe

somatosensory cortex

Lateralization

specialization of function in each hemisphere; left side of brain controls right half of body, right half of brain controls left side of body

Sensory Receptors

specialized neurons that respond to specific types of stimuli

Neutral Stimulus

stimulus that does not naturally elect a response

Sensory Memory

storage of brief sensory events

Declarative Memory

storage of facts and events we personally experienced

Arousal Theory

strong emotions trigger the formation of strong memories, and weaker emotional experiences form weaker memories

Olfactory Bulb

structure at the tip of the frontal lobe where olfactory nerves begin

Pavlov

studied condition reflex (classical conditioning); behaviorist

Behavioral Genetics

studies how individual differences arise, in the present, through the interaction of genetics and environment

Naturalistic Observation

studies humans in their natural state; very useful if obtained, but hard to obtain because we cannot spy on people, people tend to change their behavior if they know someone is watching, people have a hard time being honest, observer bias, inter-relator reliability

Double-Blind Study

study in which both of the groups are unaware as to which group they are in

Single-Blind Study

study in which one of the groups are unaware as to which group they are in while researcher knows

Multicultural Psychology

studying effects of the same stimulus on different cultures showed different results

Random Sample

subset of a larger population in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected

Glial Cells

supports neurons

Cerebral Cortex

surface of the brain

Chemical Senses

taste and smell; both have sensory receptors that responds to molecules in the food we eat and the air we breathe

Thermoreception

temperature perception

Observer Bias

tendency of observers to see what they expect to see

Longitudinal Research

tests the same group of individuals repeatedly over a long period of time; information is unmatched, but cannot be generalized

Signal Detection Theory

the ability to identify a stimulus when it is embedded in a. distracting background

Retrieval

the act of getting information out of memory storage and back into conscious awareness

Cognitive Psychology

the area of psychology that focuses on studying conditions, or thoughts, and their relationship to our experiences and our actions

Neurotransmitters

the chemical messengers of the nervous system

Rehearsal

the conscious repetition of information to be remembered

Transduction

the conversion from sensory stimulus energy to action potential

Storage

the creation of a permanent record for information; must go through sensory memory, short-term memory, and then long term memory

Membrane Potential

the difference in charge across the membrane which proves energy for the signal; inside is negative, outside is positive

Action Potential

the electrical signal that typically moves from the cell body down the axon terminals; all-or-none phenomenon

Automatic Processing

the encoding of details

Construction

the formulation of new memories

Pitch

the frequency of a sound wave

Control Group

the group that does not receive the experimental treatment

Amplitude

the heigh of a wave measured from the highest point (peak/crest) to the lowest point (trough)

Encoding

the input of information into the memory system

Wavelength

the length of a wave from one peak to the next

Absolute Threshold

the minimum amount of stimulus energy that must be present for the stimulus to be detected 50% of the time

Variable Ratio Reinforcement Schedule

the number of responses needed for a reward varies

Frequency

the number of waves that pass a given point in a given time period, expressed in hertz

Visible Light Spectrum

the portion of the larger electromagnetic radiation that occurs in our environment

Reconstruction

the process of bringing up old memories

Spontaneous Recovery

the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a resting period

Binocular Disparity

the slightly different view of the world that each of our eyes receives; work in 3D sense

Developmental Psychology

the study of development across a lifespan

Self-Reference Effect

the tendency for an individual to have better memory for information that relates to oneself rather than to material that has less personal relevance

Behaviorism

the theory that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning

Client-Centered Therapy

the therapist maximizes unconditional positive regard, genuineness, and empathy; therapist acts as a mirror for client to see themselves in an objective manner

Perception

the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced; involves bottom-up and top-down processing

Fixed Ratio Reinforcement Schedule

there are a set number of responses that must occur before the behavior is rewarded

Correlational Research

there is a relationship between two or more variables, but they are not dependent on each other; +1 or -1 to determine how closely related they are; +1 is strongest positive correlation, -1 is strongest negative correlation; correlation might equal causation sometimes, but most of the time there is a cofounding variable

Corpus Callosum

thick band of neural fibers connecting the brain's two hemispheres

Basilar Membrane

thin strip of tissue within the cochlea

Principle of Similarity

things that are alike tend to be grouped together

Proximity

things that are close to one another tend to be grouped together

Implicit Memory

those that are not part of our consciousness

Explicit Memory

those we consciously try to remember and recall

Memory Consolidation

to move short-term memory into long-term memory

Dendrites

transmit signals across soma and down the axon, which ends at terminal buttons

Cornea

transparent covering over the eye; serves as a barrier between the inner eye and the outside world; involved in focusing light waves that enter the eye

Psychotropic Medications

treat psychiatric symptoms by restoring neurotransmitter balance

Archival Research

use existing records to answer various research questions

Rodgers

used client-centered therapy; humanist

fMRI

uses BOLD signals to look at metabolization of oxygen

CT Scan

uses x-ray to look at different densities

Higher Order or Second Order Conditioning

using a conditioned stimulus to condition another stimulus

Synapse

very small space between two neurons, important site where communication between neurons occurs

Structuralism (Wundt)

view each part of a system independently and observe it's individual function

Functionalism (James)

views system as a whole instead of as individual parts as well as how it works as a whole

Pinna

visible part of the ear that protrudes from the head

Occipital Lobe

visual cortex

Law of Continuity

we are more likely to perceive continuous, smooth flowing lines rather than jagged, broken lines

Sensory Adaptation

we don't perceive stimuli that remain relatively constant over prolonged periods of time

Principle of Closure

we organize our perception into complete objects rather than a series of parts

Linear Perspective

we perceive depth when we see two parallel lines that seem to converge into an image

Figure-Ground Relationship

we tend to segment our visual world into figure and ground (person = figure, ground = background)

Continuous Reinforcement

when an organism receives a reinforcer each time is displays a behavior

Retroactive interference

when information learned more recently hinders the recall of older information

Proactive Interference

when old information hingers the recall of newly learned information

Sensation

when sensory information has been detected by a sensory receptor, sensation has occurred

Habituation

when we learn how to not respond to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly without change

Misattribution

when you confuse the source of your information

Recognition

when you identify information that you have previously learned after encountering it again

Optic Chaism

where the optic nerve from each eye merges, just below the brain