Chapter 1-4
A falsified technique for "mapping" areas of the brain is called phrenology and was founded by
Franz Joseph Gall.
Dr. Kivitz is testing pain thresholds in people. Which of the following participants will most likely have the lowest pain threshold?
Katrina, a middle-aged natural red head
Which of the following best summarizes the benefits of using nonhuman animals in research?
Without nonhuman animal research, we'd know relatively little about the physiology of the brain.
There is an area right in front of your eyes all the time that you are unable to notice and cannot see. This region of the retina has no rods or sense receptors to capture light, yet your brain simply fills in the area based on what each eye does see. This is called
a blind spot.
Psychics who perform poorly in laboratory tests and then blame their poor performance on "bad vibes" from skeptical researchers are displaying which sign of pseudoscience?
ad hoc immunizing hypotheses
Which hormone triggers the opening of bronchioles in the lungs and the breakdown of glycogen into glucose?
adrenaline
Wilhelm Wundt developed the first full-fledged psychological laboratory in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany. He pioneered the technique of __________, in which trained observers reflected on and reported on their own mental experiences.
introspection
The type of thinking that allows us to operate on "autopilot" and make snap decisions is called
intuitive
Questionnaires fall into which category of measurement tools?
self-report measures
What does your body use to transduce specific external stimuli into neural activity?
sense receptors
Some main warning signs of pseudoscientific claims include overreliance on anecdotes, exaggerated claims, absence of connectivity to other research, lack of peer review, and
use of scientific-sounding terms that make little sense.
Alice is looking for an effective diet program. She is able to evaluate the claims of competing programs in an open-minded and careful fashion by __________, the hallmark of scientific skepticism.
using her critical thinking skills
Clarice has just designed a questionnaire to measure stress in children. She wants to make sure that it truly measures stress and not something like anxiety, fear, or frustration. She is wanting to make sure her measure is
valid
The authors accept the philosophical belief that science is __________; that is, neither good nor bad in itself.
value-neutral
What shameful experiment was conducted over the course of 40 years to determine what would happen if syphilis was left to run its course in unsuspecting "subjects" (at a time when a cure for the disease was already available)?
the Tuskegee study
Which part of the peripheral nervous system controls involuntary actions of internal organs and glands?
autonomic nervous system
The APA Ethical Principles for Human Research indicate that psychologists must take reasonable steps to
avoid harming participants.
Which of the following is the portion of a neuron that sends a signal to other neurons?
axon
In people with multiple sclerosis, the degradation of the __________ causes neural messages to become scrambled, creating many physical and emotional symptoms.
myelin sheath
Which term describes the commonsense belief that we see the world as it really is?
naive realism
You are wanting to study how people respond to being frightened. You set up a scenario where people who are just turning the corner of the building are met with a realistic-looking snake toy. You record their behavior from the time they see the snake toy to when they finally calm down. This type of study is known as a(n)
naturalistic observation.
As recently as two decades ago, scientists believed we were born with all the neurons we would ever have. But the discovery of __________ occurring in certain brain areas in monkeys gave rise to the hope that someday scientists will be able to induce the adult human brain to heal itself.
neurogenesis
Endorphins are a type of __________, short strings of amino acids that are narrowly targeted to perform a specific job. For instance, endorphins specialize in reducing pain.
neuropeptide
Horace has had a head injury. A scientist meets with him to use sophisticated tests to examine his reason, attention, and verbal and spatial abilities to determine what parts of the brain have been injured. The scientist Horace met with is a
neuropsychologist
If as a young person, you liked to attend loud Motorhead stadium concerts or lived next to an airport, by the time you are elderly you may well find you do not hear as well as you used to. This is most likely due to
noise-induced hearing loss.
Also called kinesthesia , which of the following is the term for your sense of the position of your own body?
proprioception
Which Gestalt principle holds that objects physically close to each other tend to be perceived as unified wholes?
proximity
The story of how facilitated communication was debunked is a powerful illustration of the triumph of science over
pseudoscience.
The media reports that new research shows cell phone usage is associated with tumor formation in the brain just above the ear. In the report, they describe the research findings and then publish interviews with three local cell phone distributors who voice concerns about how the study was conducted and who provided the primary funding for the study. This results in
pseudosymmetry.
The __________ is a relay station for the senses.
thalamus
Alaya sees a black dog running toward her excitedly wagging its tail. The idea that Alaya can integrate the color of the dog, the perception that it is running, and that it is wagging its tail is part of
the binding problem.
You are watching as a red ball bounces toward you. The fact that your brain perceives that the object is round and that it is red and that it is approaching you in a bouncing motion is called
the binding problem.
A central issue in considering medical and psychological research using nonhuman animals is balancing the advances gained through such experimentation against
the costs in death and suffering they produce for the test subjects.
In thinking of the multiple levels of analysis in psychology, the neurochemical level is considered to be __________ because this level is more closely tied to biological influences.
toward the lower end of the ladder
A sensation related to "meaty" or "savory" taste is called
umami
What is the crucial drawback in using family studies to try to determine the risk of a genetic disorder among relatives sharing a household?
Sharing both an environment and genetic background can make nature hard to distinguish from nurture.
An approach to psychology that relied heavily on dream interpretation, symbolism, unconscious motives, and the suppression of sexual and aggressive urges was developed by
Sigmund Freud.
Which of the following responses is created by the sympathetic nervous system, which is active during the fight-or-flight response?
Stomach slows digestion.
Sherri wants to design a self-report measure for her study of personality traits, but she knows she should be concerned that respondents might distort their answers, especially to paint themselves in a positive light. This tendency is known as __________.
a response set
Of the 3,500 or so self-help books published every year, what percentage are scientifically tested?
about 5 percent
An inability to hear due to ossicle failure is an example of
conductive deafness.
Juan believes in ESP because one day he was walking down the street thinking of his friend Julio, when Julio suddenly turned the corner, literally running into Juan. Juan immediately thought, "It must be ESP". This is an example of
an illusory correlation.
The following scores are obtained when observing reaction time after participants consume alcohol. Data set: 2.4, 3.2, 1.8, 2.9, 10.9, and 3.1. What is the technical term for the 10.9 measure, which lies outside the range of the other scores?
an outlier
Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman refers to intuitive thinking as System 1. What type of thinking does Kahneman refer to as System 2?
analytical
The idea of placing a third brake light at the base of a car's back windshield and changing the color of fire engines from red to yellow are examples of __________.
applied psychological research
Georgio does not want to take the SAT or ACT exams because he thinks they will not accurately reflect his ability to succeed in college and are no more useful than flipping a coin. His guidance counselor explains that psychologists have determined that, although not perfect, these tests are significantly better than chance at predicting college success. These psychologists are sharing some __________ with Georgio.
applied research
Which term refers to our sense of hearing?
audition
Twin and adoption studies addressing the nature-nurture debate are typically conducted by __________.
behavior geneticists
The phrase "don't confuse me with the facts" would best describe which self-deception trap?
belief perseverance
Libre is blind but can make some accurate guesses about the location of objects in his environment. This is an example of
blindsight
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measures changes in __________, which indirectly indicate neural activity.
blood oxygen levels
The mental procedure that we use to create a whole by perceiving its parts is called
bottom-up processing.
Dr. Nadica believes that the new medication he is testing helps treat anxiety. As he runs his experiment testing the medication, every time he sees a participant stutter or show nervousness, he attributes it to their newness to the experiment and does not record it as an anxious behavior. Dr. Nadica is showing
confirmation bias.
One reason that intuition and common sense are not a good basis for scientific psychology is that we often do not notice __________.
contradictions between our views
Which of the following is a binocular cue to distance?
convergence
Which of the following is responsible for transferring information from one side of the brain to the other, and when cut, prevents information from the visual field on one side from reaching the visual cortex on the other side?
corpus callosum
The "third variable problem" is associated with which scientific thinking principle?
correlation is not causation
Psychological researchers have become more aware of the importance of replicating research results. Part of this awareness is driven by the observation that the size of certain psychological findings appears to be shrinking over time. This phenomenon is known as the
decline effect.
What part of the neuron appears to be damaged or destroyed by alcohol?
dendrites
Genes are composed of __________ that is/are arranged on __________.
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA); chromosomes
Questions such as, "What is the average level of extraversion in this sample?" call for the use of which kind of statistics?
descriptive
A friend says he will not have his new baby inoculated against any childhood diseases because he is afraid the shots will cause autism. You point out that there is no scientific evidence to support that idea. He says he knows that, but he just feels that it is true. What logical fallacy is at work?
emotional reasoning fallacy
Lada was feeling overwhelmed and hopeless and concluded that the problems she was facing could not be solved. Lada is subject to the
emotional reasoning fallacy.
Helga wants to be a scientist. She believes that observation is the best way to gain knowledge. Helga believes in
empiricism
You want to design a study that will be high in internal validity and will allow you to infer causation. Which research design should you use?
experimental design
One of the great debates that has shaped the field of psychology is the question of whether people choose their behaviors or are obliged to act in certain ways by factors beyond their control. This is known as the __________ debate.
free will-determinism
Alcohol and antianxiety drugs both increase __________ activity, which is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter.
gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)
Our current understanding of pain has been vastly informed by the __________, proposed by Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall.
gate control model
PET scans are dependent on activated cells in the brain increasing their intake of ___________ when they are active.
glucose
Research involving nonhuman animals can generate strong, often negative, feelings among people. This is especially so when the research involves __________ procedures that cause physical harm to the nonhuman animal research participants.
invasive
According to philosopher of science Sir Karl Popper, for a scientific claim to be meaningful, it must be falsifiable, which means __________.
it can be tested to determine if it is false
The pituitary hormone oxytocin has been called the "love molecule" because
it plays roles in maternal and romantic love.
Evolutionary psychology has been criticized because
its predictions are difficult to falsify.
From "neurons to neighborhoods" represents the multiple __________ found in the discipline of psychology.
levels of analysis
Ways of thinking that appear to make intuitive sense but are actually traps that lead to mistaken conclusions are called __________.
logical fallacies
A patient who suffered a traumatic injury has his arm amputated just above the elbow. He complains that he can still feel the missing limb and that it feels cramped in a painful position. What tool could help this patient feel better?
mirror box
Twin studies work best when using identical or __________ twins, because these twins share all of their genetic material in common.
monozygotic
During an experiment investigating the effects of hormones on behavior, men who were exposed to a certain chemical in a nasal spray were more likely to give money to a team partner during a risky investment game. That chemical was
oxytocin
Freda is reading a journal article in psychology, and sees that a statistically significant outcome would have occurred by chance alone only 5 out of 100 times. This statement would be summarized in the journal article as
p < 0.05.
After studying her psychology text, Gwen was asked which of the early perspectives in psychology she was most attracted to. Gwen replies, "The perspective that focused on internal psychological processes of the unconscious." Gwen likes
psychoanalysis
Megan wanted to get a measure of the amount of variability in her set of data, so she subtracted the lowest score from the highest score. Megan computed the
range
Identify the term that behavioral geneticists use to describe the extent to which genes limit how much a trait can change in response to new environments.
reaction range
Anastasia is shy and introverted. Hanging out with other shy people, she becomes even more shy and introverted. She is being impacted by what Bandura called
reciprocal determinism.
When a neuron is neither being stimulated nor inhibited, the neuron is described as having a(n)
resting potential.
One important aspect of a research study that peer reviewers consider is whether the study considers alternate explanations. This is called
ruling out rival hypotheses.
To be sure that we are not fooled by popular media reports about psychology research, we should be on the lookout for
sharpening and leveling.
There are three major types of ESP or so-called psychic phenomena : precognition, clairvoyance, and __________.
telepathy
Which part of the brain is used for hearing, understanding language, and storing memories, and is separated from the rest of the cortex by the lateral fissure?
temporal lobe
If subjects' scores on a self-esteem scale are consistent over time, the scale has high __________ reliability.
test-retest
Women's bodies produce about one-twentieth the amount of which hormone compared to men's bodies?
testosterone
There is a popular idea that people are either "left-brained" (scholarly, logical, analytical) or "right-brained" (artistic, creative, emotional). The authors of the text note that these claims are
vast oversimplifications based on a small nugget of truth.
Which of the following senses allows us to maintain balance by using fluid-filled canals in the inner ear?
vestibular
Your neighbor's garage band is playing loudly into the night. When you hear the sound, you are experiencing __________, mechanical energy traveling through the air.
vibration
Jackie is looking at a box, but she finds she cannot name it. She can tell you it is square and that it is brown, but she just can't name it. Jackie suffers from
visual agnosia.
The ossicles, the smallest bones in the body, are found where?
middle ear
Prior to participating in a study, Danielle received a form that describes what she is expected to do or encounter during the study. Danielle is participating in
informed consent.
A popular notion is that people only use about 10 percent of their brains and that the remaining 90 percent has untapped potential. In fact, researchers now know that we use more of our brains than previously thought. The true brain use percentage is closer to
100 percent.
Humans do not have the best sense of smell. Dogs, for example, are typically about __________ times more sensitive to scents than people are.
100,000
Subliminal perception is quite different from subliminal persuasion . Although we may perceive stimuli that are below the threshold of conscious awareness, they do not necessarily spur us to action. Why is that?
We cannot engage in very much in-depth processing of the subliminal message; therefore, there is not much effect on our attitudes and decisions.
Two brown-eyed parents have a blue-eyed child. How is this possible?
Both parents carry a recessive gene for blue eyes.
Research has found that a single area of the brain can have multiple functions. Which brain area plays a role in speech and also lets us know when a musical note is off key?
Broca's area
When evaluating a story about psychology research, we should generally place more confidence in a reputable science journal than a popular magazine. Which phrase encapsulates that idea?
Consider the source.
"Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes" could be rewritten as
Don't shoot until you see their scleras.
Which rule tells us that the stronger the stimulus, the bigger the change needed for a change in stimulus intensity to be noticeable?
Weber's law
Jorge's classmate arrived late to class and threw her backpack down as she slid into her seat in the third row. Jorge immediately assumed that his classmate was irresponsible and had slept late after a night of partying. Jorge relied on __________ to reach his conclusion. Jorge later found out that his classmate was late because her appointment at the hospital for her cancer treatments had started late.
System 1 thinking
Besse believes that food supplements are very dangerous and should be avoided because they do not pass the tests of the Food and Drug Administration. For Besse to be convinced to take a food supplement, which of the following will need to occur?
The evidence for the food supplement's effectiveness and safety would have to be very persuasive.
__________ is the process by which the nervous system converts an external stimulus (such as sound waves or light energy) into electrical signals within neurons.
Transduction
__________ explains how we can see a range of colors, whereas __________ explains why we see afterimages.
Trichromatic theory; opponent process theory
Which theory must be used to understand how we perceive a tone of 2,000 Hz?
Volley theory
Bruno is asked to estimate which California city occupies a greater area: San Francisco or San Jose. "San Francisco is a big city," he muses, "whereas San Jose is out in the suburbs. San Francisco must be bigger." In actuality, San Francisco occupies about 48 square miles, compared to San Jose's 180 square miles. Bruno was mislead because he relied on
a heuristic.
Dr. Rand conducts a study to determine the relationship between the hours of sleep a student gets the night before an exam and their actual performance on the exam. Dr. Rand graphs her data to make it easier to see the relationship between the two variables. She finds that the two variables are positively correlated. Her data is best represented by a graph with
a line that slopes up from left to right.
The idea that we can dismiss scientific theories (such as Darwinian evolution) from serious consideration because a theory "is just an educated guess" is
a misconception.
According to astronomer Carl Sagan, scientific skepticism includes (1) a willingness to keep an open mind to all claims, and (2) a willingness to __________.
accept claims only after researchers have subjected them to careful scientific tests
The basic difference between being biologically male or female comes down to chromosomes. Females have an XX pair and males have
an XY pair.
The reason stem cells are so interesting to researchers is that stem cells
are not yet specialized for a specific function.
We perceive the __________ of an object based on the intensity of the light that is reflected to our eyes.
brightness
The cases of facilitated communication and lobotomies demonstrate that good research design is important because intelligent, well-trained people __________.
can be swayed into believing that a treatment is effective when it is not
Sensory information comes into which part of the two-way nervous system "superhighway"?
central nervous system
Which term refers to the type of descriptive statistic that tells us where the scores tend to cluster in a set of measurements?
central tendency
The central nervous system is organized into various areas. Which structure controls balance and coordinates fine or precise movements?
cerebellum
Dr. Goldschmidt is a psychologist. He works with individuals who have serious mental illness by giving them assessments, diagnosis, and treatment. Specifically, Dr. Goldschmidt is a
clinical psychologist.
Which part of the ear is shaped like a spiral with a bony outer portion and an inner cavity filled with a thick fluid?
cochlea
In the 1950s and 1960s, many psychologists were disillusioned with behaviorism's neglect of the mental processes involved in different aspects of thinking. Arguing that thinking has a powerful effect on behavior, psychologists such as Jean Piaget began to develop the field of __________.
cognitivism
The fact that you can recognize your red jacket in both bright light and shadow is an example of the effect of
color constancy.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses magnetic fields to measure the release of energy from water in biological tissues. MRI is better than __________ for detecting soft tissues, such as brain tumors.
computed tomography (CT)
Which of the following is found on the retina of the human eye?
cones
Your friend is an emergency room nurse. He tells you the ER is always busier when there is a full moon; he claims it is because unstable people are more affected by the moon's gravitational pull. To evaluate his claim, you should understand that __________.
correlation is not causation
Carlotta wants to determine if achievement is associated with a child's birth order in their family. It would be best if Carlotta conducted a(n) __________ study.
correlational
Located on top of the kidneys, the adrenal glands release adrenaline and __________ during times of emotional arousal.
cortisol
What we perceive as delicious or disgusting is shaped by
culture
Which of the following brain structures is part of the brain stem?
midbrain
Based on their relative __________ level, the sound of a nearby clap of thunder will be perceived as louder than that of a lawn mower.
decibel
You meet a psychologist who tells you that she conducts research on children to determine how their cognitive processes differ as the child gets older. You recognize that this person is most likely a(n)
developmental psychologist.
To test his theory that attention passes through a mental filter that gives priority to important information, Donald Broadbent used __________, an experimental technique in which listeners hear different messages in each ear.
dichotic listening
Ten-year-old Candace Newmaker died as a result of a pseudoscientific treatment called "rebirthing therapy." This is an example of pseudoscience causing
direct harm.
According to the gate control model, __________ is an effective way of short-circuiting painful sensations.
distraction
Bethany is especially prone to trying to find patterns in meaningless stimuli. According to research, Bethany most likely
does not feel a sense of control.
Which group at every major American research college and university reviews all research carefully to protect participants against abuses?
institutional review board
Dr. Sardonicus is designing a case study in order to demonstrate that a particular psychological phenomenon actually happens. Case studies can be useful in providing this kind of demonstration, also known as
existence proof.
The only research designs that allow us the possibility of drawing cause-and-effect inferences are
experimental designs.
Dr. Ingo Larsen is testing the effectiveness of a new memory-enhancing study technique. He greets each participant at the door and escorts them into either the control group (that receives the old memory technique) or the experimental group (that receives the new memory technique). He then conducts the experiment and analyzes the results. This is all quite problematic, because of the potential presence of
experimenter expectancy effects.
Dr. Frohardt is a psychology professor who has been asked to explain what all people will look at first when they view photographs of dangerous animals. Dr. Frohardt will find this task difficult because
eye-tracking studies show differences between cultures when inspecting visual materials.
The APA Ethical Principles for Human Research state: "A contact [person] who can answer questions about the research and the participant's rights should be provided." This statement is most relevant in which of the following aspects of ethical research?
informed consent
If you wanted to rapidly excite neurons, you would drop __________ into the synapses of cells.
glutamate
In evolutionary terms, "fitness" means that an organism __________ than other organisms in its environment.
has a better chance of passing on its genes
The extent to which genes contribute to differences in a trait among a group of individuals is known as
heritability
A mental shortcut or "rule of thumb" is referred to as a(n) __________ by psychologists.
heuristic
Because carefully controlled studies generate more trustworthy results, the high internal validity of these studies can lead to
high external validity.
Ingo Larsen is a psychologist who specializes in designing workplace environments to improve human efficiency, reduce worker fatigue, and decrease work-related stress and strain. What type of psychology does Ingo practice?
human factors
A psychologist who designs technology that functions better for the people who use it, based on what we know about how the human mind and body work, is working in the field of
human factors.
One primary purpose of sending research articles to peer reviewers prior to publication is to
identify flaws in the research.
When we perceive a reliable association between two events (although none exists), such as the presence of rainy weather and arthritis flare-ups, we are experiencing the phenomenon called
illusory correlation.
The theoretical framework of psychology known as structuralism had two major problems. One was that highly trained introspectionists often disagreed on subjective reports. The other was the discovery of __________.
imageless thought
The two kinds of statistics used by psychologists are descriptive statistics and __________ statistics.
inferential
As a researcher, if you needed to track brain changes over milliseconds (1/1000 of a second), the imaging technology you would most likely choose would be
magnetoencephalography (MEG).
We say that a result has practical significance if it
makes a difference in the real world.
The hormone testosterone is found in
males and females.
The two ingredients that make a research study an experiment are 1) random assignment of participants to conditions, and 2) __________.
manipulation of an independent variable
When a politician makes the statement that the average tax return will be $5,000 for citizens of her state, we should be suspicious of her statistics. It would be more meaningful to report the __________ as a measure of central tendency.
median or mode
Smell is to __________ as taste is to __________.
olfaction; gustation
Bud and Sandy are discussing the merits of new automobiles. Bud noted, "This car model has been tested by four different consumer agencies in hundreds of tests with virtually the same outcomes each time; it is very reliable." Sandy countered, "Yeah, but my neighbor down the street bought that car, and he has had nothing but problems. I would stay away from it." Which hallmark of pseudoscience has Sandy fallen prey to?
overreliance on anecdotes
Numerous taste buds are contained in the little bumps called __________ on our tongues.
papillae
Regina enjoys the smell of the fajitas that strikes her senses as she bites into the first delicious bite. As she chews, she enjoys the colorful display of peppers, beans, and rice on her plate. This combination of sensory experiences is due to her brain being able to use
parallel processing.
You have just had a nice dinner and are nodding off on the sofa. At this time, which part of your nervous system is going to work?
parasympathetic
Zhanna was lying in the grass looking at the sky when a cloud floated by that Zhanna thought looked like a dinosaur. This tendency to perceive patterns in meaningless things in our environment is called
patternicity.
The process of soliciting feedback from qualified experts in a research area prior to publishing the results of a research study is called
peer review.
Our brains rely on knowledge and experience to make educated guesses about the sensory information we receive. Which of the following is formed when our expectations influence our perceptions?
perceptual set
According to David Hume, an eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher, the more a claim contradicts what we already know, the more __________ must be the evidence for the claim.
persuasive
When a dog marks its territory, it releases odorless chemicals, known as __________, in its urine.
pheromones
Which gland was once thought of as the "master gland" because it controls the other glands in the body?
pituitary
When you learn something new, a new pathway is actually built and reinforced in the brain. This change in the brain is called
plasticity
What is the name for the part of the brain stem connecting the cortex to the cerebellum?
pons
Laurie told her friend Sandi, "I had a headache this morning, so I used an old family cure: Three sips of ginger ale, and an hour later my head felt better." Sandi replied, "I am glad you are feeling more comfortable now, but maybe the sheer passage of time made your headache go away." Sandi is offering a(n) __________ in response to Laurie's explanation.
rival hypothesis
Arno did a study to demonstrate the relationship between age and intellect. To best represent his data, Arno should use a
scatterplot
Because religious concepts cannot be tested scientifically, we should consider that
science and religion are nonoverlapping realms of knowledge.
What practice of adoption agencies can make adoption studies problematic for researchers interested in disentangling genetic and environmental contributions to human behavior?
selective placement
As you walk into an elevator, you notice the powerful scent of perfume left behind by someone who has just exited. By the time you reach your floor, you find that you hardly notice the smell anymore. What phenomenon is at work?
sensory adaptation
You enter a room and there is a low hum coming from a fan in the ceiling. After a few minutes you no longer notice the hum unless someone mentions it to you. You have experienced
sensory adaptation.
The police have arrested a suspect in an assault case and the victim has agreed to look at a lineup to see if he can identify the person who attacked him. Gary, a police psychologist, is advising the detectives on the most accurate way to put together a lineup. What should he recommend that they use?
sequential lineup
In the popular media (as opposed to scientific journals), research results can be presented in a misleading way because reporters have the tendency to exaggerate the gist or central message of the study. This is called
sharpening.
Which theory addresses signal-to-noise ratio as a fundamental element of understanding perception?
signal detection theory
Analytical thinking is __________ compared to intuitive thinking.
slow
The endocrine system is __________ the neurochemical system of the brain.
slower than
With so few taste receptors, our sense of taste needs help from another sense. Which of the following senses helps the sense of taste?
smell
Eccles reaches out to grab a stuffed animal sitting on a fence. As he grabs the animal, he encodes how soft the animal is at the same time as he feels the pain from the splinter that enters his thumb. Which system is Eccles using to process his sense of touch and pain?
somatosensory
Which structure extends from the brain down to the middle of our backs and contains everything needed for a reflex response?
spinal cord
What event affecting the brain can cause bizarre behavioral outcomes, such as the extreme example of one hand refusing to cooperate with the other, as in the case of the man whose left hand turned off the television and hit his family members?
split-brain surgery
Which term indicates applying mathematics to describe and analyze data?
statistics
Mark Twain referred to three kinds of untruths: "Lies, damned lies, and statistics," because
statistics sometimes can be used to mislead people.
Frida believes that psychological experience can be understood by breaking it down into its basic elements. Frida believes in
structuralism
Your amazing psychology professor uses a PowerPoint presentation while lecturing. In the lecture your professor has embedded slides that flash on the screen so quickly that you are not consciously aware they are there. The slides say "study" "long" "study" "hard." This is an example of using ___________ presentation in hopes that it will impact behavior.
subliminal
When Angel is crossing the street, a car comes speeding at him and almost hits him. Angel's body prepares him for fight-or-flight. The part of Angel's system that is preparing his body for the danger is the __________ nervous system.
sympathetic
As neurotransmitters exit the sending axon and before passing into the receiving dendrite, they must pass through the
synaptic cleft.
Your sister tells you that to her, the numeral 7 is always green and 4 is always red. She is surprised to find that you do not share this experience. You are surprised to discover that she has a rare condition known as
synesthesia
British philosopher John Locke stood on the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate, comparing the mind of a newborn to a sheet of paper that had yet to be written on. Others later used which term to describe the same idea?
tabula rasa
To see as we do, the human eye responds to a narrow range of light's wavelengths known as
the human visible spectrum.
You see someone that you find physically attractive. What structure in your eye can expand and bring in more information about that person as a response of the autonomic nervous system?
the pupil
In a study to test the effects of a new memory technique, students are given one of two different memory techniques to use for their next exam. Their scores on the next exam are used to determine the effectiveness of the two techniques. In this study, what is the dependent variable ?
the students' scores on the next exam
What classic experiment designed by Eleanor Gibson established that infants can perceive depth?
the visual cliff
You meet your brother's new girlfriend and are immediately put off by the grating quality of her voice. Which aspect of her voice is bothering you?
timbre
