MCAT Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior

Flow of verbal inputs to the ear (hemispheres)

1. Verbal inputs to the ear first go to the auditory cortex in the right hemisphere 2. and are then processed by the language areas of the left hemisphere

sensory memory

<1 sec stimuli received through the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, which are retained accurately, but very briefly.

insecure attachment

A child with the anxious-avoidant insecure attachment style will avoid or ignore the caregiver - showing little emotion when the caregiver departs or returns

subset of counterculture

A counterculture is a subculture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, often in opposition to mainstream cultural mores

nature vs nurture

a debate regarding the contributions of genetics (nature) and environment (nurture) to an individual's traits. Family, twin, and adoption studies are used to study nature vs. nurture --> aggression is very much environmentally linked

Divided attention

a higher-level skill where you have to perform two (or more) tasks at the same time, and attention is required for the performance of both (or all) the tasks

life course approach to health

a holistic perspective that calls attention to developmental processes and other experiences across a person's life

recovered memory

a memory of a traumatic event (such as sexual abuse) experienced typically during childhood that is forgotten and then recalled many years later that is sometimes held to be an invalid or false remembrance generated by outside influence

false memory

a memory report that is inaccurate but expressed with extreme confidence

autobiographical memory

a memory system consisting of episodes recollected from an individual's life, based on a combination of episodic (personal experiences and specific objects, people and events experienced at particular time and place) and semantic (general knowledge and facts about the world) memory

amnesia

a partial or total loss of memory

social status

a person's standing or importance in relation to other people within a society

Sensory coding

a process wherein there is a one-to-one correspondence that occurs between the attributes of the stimulus and the attributes of the neuronal activity

Research on cognitive aging has demonstrated that, in general, aging does NOT diminish a person's:

ability to retrieve general information --> The capacity for retrieving general information is unaffected by aging --> capacity for acquiring new declarative information, capacity of controlling his or her memory processes, ability to cope with Alzheimer's Disease IS affected by aging

context effects

an aspect of cognitive psychology that describes the influence of environmental factors on one's perception of a stimulus. The impact of context effects is considered to be part of top-down design --> e.g., seeing a word with a missing letter and being able to identify the word, based on the sentence in which it is contained

reminiscence bump

an atypical finding that represents enhanced memory performance in an otherwise decreasing retention function --> It is an increase in early memories above what would be expected by a monotonically decreasing retention function, as normally seen with forgetting over time

Directly related

as one amount increases, another amount increases at the same rate

How neurotransmitters function

binds to a receptor on a postsynaptic membrane within the CNS --> neurotransmitters are manufactured in neurons and are exocytosed from presynaptic neurons into a synaptic cleft

hypothalamus

concerned largely with the maintenance of homeostatic equilibrium --> damage to the hypothalamus would be unlikely to interfere with discrimination learning or attention skills --> maintains homeostasis and integrates with the endocrine system through the hypophyseal portal system that connects it to the anterior pituitary

In operant conditioning studies, the subject's motivational state is most typically operationally defined by

depriving the subject of some desirable stimulus item for a period of time

Gestalt theory

emphasizes the idea that the ways in which people's visual perceptual experience is organized results from how human brains are organized (similarity, continuation, closure, proximity, figure and ground) --> figure and ground: The eye differentiates an object form its surrounding area. a form, silhouette, or shape is naturally perceived as figure (object), while the surrounding area is perceived as ground (background)

episodic memory

events, experiences --> declarative information people have of specific experiences

hindsight bias

explains the tendency of people to overestimate their ability to have predicted an outcome that could not possibly have been predicted

semantic memory

facts, concepts

norepinephrine/epinephrine

fight-or-flight (sympathetic) responses, wakefulness, alertness

dizygotic twins

fraternal twins --> meaning that they develop from two different eggs. In fraternal twins, each twin is fertilized by its own sperm cell

front stage self

front stage behavior is what we do when we know that others are watching or aware of us. In other words, it's how we behave and interact when we have an audience

source amnesia

he inability to remember where, when or how previously learned information has been acquired, while retaining the factual knowledge

Predictive validity

how well a specific tool predicts future behavior

monozygotic twins

identical twins --> meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two embryos

sensitive period

identifies a point in early development that can have a significant influence on physiological or behavioral functioning in later life

Negative correlation

if one variable is increased the other is decreased, and vice versa

incentive stimulus

includes a motivational component to a rewarding stimulus

instinctual drift

instinctual drift is the tendency of an animal to revert to instinctive behaviors that interfere with a conditioned response --> the phenomenon whereby established habits, learned using operant techniques, eventually are replaced by innate food-related behaviors. So the learned behavior "drifts" to the organism's species-specific (instinctual) behavior

partial reinforcement

Partial reinforcement, unlike continuous reinforcement, is only reinforced at certain intervals or ratio of time, instead of reinforcing the behavior every single time

practice effects

Practice effects are influences on test results when a test is taken more than once. As a simple example, a practice effect occurs when you take multiple practice SAT exams; practice can increase your overall score

feature detectors

The ability to detect certain types of stimuli, like movements, shape, and angles, requires specialized cells in the brain called feature detectors

Positive correlation

The correlation in the same direction is called positive correlation. If one variable increases, the other also increases and if one variable decreases, the other also decreases

hippocampus

memory

decay

memory fades due to the mere passage of time

serotonin

mood, sleep, eating, dreaming

Interpretation of intelligence test scores is based on the assumption that the scores are normally distributed within a population such that:

more than two-thirds of children will score between 85 and 115 --> Based on the standardization system used to score IQ, the Wechsler Scales of Intelligence (WISC) scores are "normalized" to a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. So 68% of the scores will be between 85 and 115.

agent of socialization

parts of society that are important for socialization (the process of learning the norms and values in a society) e.g. popular culture, schools, family, religion, media

flashbulb memory

people claimed to remember detail of what they were doing when they received news about an emotionally arousing event

bottom-up processing

processing sensory information as it is coming in

statistical adjustment

refers to controlling for variables that could affect the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable

agent of social reproduction

refers to the emphasis on the structures and activities that transmit social inequality from one generation to the next

chunking

refers to the process of taking individual pieces of information (chunks) and grouping them into larger units. By grouping each piece into a large whole, you can improve the amount of information you can remember.

sensory stimulus

refers to the type of information being received by your receptors which elicits a response (i.e., light, heat, touch, sound)

thalamus

relay station for sensory information

partial report technique

requires participants to identify a subset of characters from a visual display using cued recall. Due to the fact that participants do not know which row would be cued for recall, performance in the partial report condition can be regarded as a random sample of an observer's memory for the entire display

top-down processing

sensory perception driven by cognition

dopamine

smooth movements, postural stability

Sensory memory

the ability to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimuli have ended. It acts as a kind of buffer for stimuli received through the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, which are retained accurately, but very briefly

Recall

the act of retrieving information or events from the past while lacking a specific cue to help in retrieving the information

distal stimulus

the actual stimulus or object in the real world that you end up sensing and then perceiving, which results in the proximal stimulus

Selective attention

the capacity for or process of reacting to certain stimuli selectively when several occur simultaneously

culture shock

the feeling of disorientation experienced by someone who is suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set of attitudes

culture lag

the notion that culture takes time to catch up with technological innovations, and that social problems and conflicts are caused by this lag

recency effect

the phenomenon that when people are asked to recall in any order the items on a list, those that come at the end of the list are more likely to be recalled than the others

spacing effect

the phenomenon whereby learning is greater when studying is spread out over time, as opposed to studying the same amount of time in a single session. That is, it is better to use spaced presentation rather than massed presentation

cultural assimilation

the process by which a person's or group's culture come to resemble those of another group

Discrimination learning

the process by which animals or people learn to respond differently to different stimuli

medicalization of illness

the process by which human conditions and problems come to be defined and treated as medical conditions, and thus become the subject of medical study, diagnosis, prevention, or treatment --> this act of reducing illness to strictly a medical definition ignores the social context of disease

repression

the psychological attempt made by an individual to direct one's own desires and impulses toward pleasurable instincts by excluding the desire from one's consciousness and holding or subduing it in the unconscious

Why is continuous reinforcement the best for the beginning of the acquisition phase of operant conditions

the schedule unambiguously informs the subject which behavior is correct --> Thereafter, if every correct response is reinforced, other (incorrect) responses are infrequent and the behavior gains strength and learning results

serial-position effect

the tendency of a person to recall the first and last items in a series best, and the middle items worst

proactive interference

the tendency of previously learned material to hinder subsequent learning

proximal stimulus

the type of stimulus registered by the sensory receptors (e.g. the pattern of light falling on the retina) --> the stimulation that actually occurs when your sensory receptors are activated, i.e. the neural activity

cultural transmission

the way a group of people within a society or culture tend to learn and pass on information. Learning styles are greatly influenced by how a culture socializes with its children and young people

similarity

things that look alike are more likely to be grouped together during perceptual processing

implicit memory

unconscious

psychophysical discrimination testing

varying a physical stimulus slightly and observing the effect on a subject's experience or behavior in order to better understand perceptual processing. (ex. change the size slightly between two objects until subject notices a difference)

back stage self

what we do when no one's looking, or when we think no one is looking

Inversely related

when one value decreases at the same rate that the other increases

Interpreting p values

≤ 0.05 = statistically significant --> A small p-value (typically ≤ 0.05) indicates strong evidence against the null hypothesis, so you reject the null hypothesis. --> A large p-value (> 0.05) indicates weak evidence against the null hypothesis, so you fail to reject the null hypothesis. --> null hypothesis: the hypothesis that there is no significant difference between specified populations, any observed difference being due to sampling or experimental error.

Interpreting a normal distribution curve

--> n normal distribution, 68 percent of all values lie within one standard deviation --> 95.45 percent within two standard deviations --> and 99.8 within three standard deviations --> In a normal distribution, the mean, mode and median are all the same

Interpreting correlation coefficients

--> Exactly -1. A perfect downhill (negative) linear relationship --> -0.70. A strong downhill (negative) linear relationship --> -0.50. A moderate downhill (negative) relationship --> -0.30. A weak downhill (negative) linear relationship --> 0. No linear relationship --> +0.30. A weak uphill (positive) linear relationship --> +0.50. A moderate uphill (positive) relationship --> +0.70. A strong uphill (positive) linear relationship --> Exactly +1. A perfect uphill (positive) linear relationship

social network

A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors.

operational span testing

A task in which subjects are asked to perform a simple mathematical verification (e.g., 4/2 +1 = 3) and then read a word, with a recall test following some number of those verify/read pairs. The maximum number of words that can be recalled is the "operation span".

Shadowing

An experimental technique in which subjects repeat speech immediately after hearing it

Effects of cocaine

Because cocaine is a stimulant, it would have a physiological effect similar to stress and hence glucose metabolism is expected to increase

Behaviorist theory

Behaviorism is a learning theory that only focuses on objectively observable behaviors and discounts any independent activities of the mind. Behavior theorists define learning as nothing more than the acquisition of new behavior based on environmental conditions

closure

Closure occurs when an object is incomplete or a space is not completely enclosed. If enough of the shape is indicated, people perceive the whole by filling in the missing information.

Cognitive theory

Cognitive theory is focused on the individual's thoughts as the determinate of his or her emotions and behaviors and therefore personality

continuity

Continuation occurs when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object

recall cues

Cued recall is the retrieval of memory with the help of cues. Such cues are often semantic. Cued recall differs from free recall in that a cue or word is presented that is related to the information being remembered. This aides in the process of memory retrieval.

frontal lobe

Executive function, impulse control, long-term planning (prefrontal cortex), motor function (primary motor cortex), speech production (Broca's area)

word association testing

In a word association test, the researcher presents a series of words to individual respondents. For each word, participants are instructed to respond with the first word (i.e., associate) that comes to mind.

social construction of illness

For the medical profession, disease is a biological condition, universal and unchanging; social constructionists define illness as the social meaning of that condition -->In social constructionist theory impairment refers to a physical illness or injury; disability is the social experience of impairment. -->Illness can reshape an individual's identity. For example, deafness can be a cultural identity that supplants individual identity.

Humanistic theory

Humanism is a psychological perspective that emphasizes the study of the whole person. Humanistic psychologists look at human behavior not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving

stimulus generalization

In the conditioning process, stimulus generalization is the tendency for the conditioned stimulus to evoke similar responses after the response has been conditioned

What area of the brain is linguistic information processed?

Left hemisphere

subset of material culture

Material culture refers to the physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their culture. These include homes, neighborhoods, cities, schools, churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, offices, factories and plants, tools, means of production, goods and products, stores, and so forth

proximity

Proximity occurs when elements are placed close together. They tend to be perceived as a group.

What area of the brain is the auditory cortex located?

Right hemisphere

Kohlberg's theory of moral development

Six stages are divided into three main phases: pre-convential, conventional, and post-conventional --> A person promoting social welfare as their reason for moral behavior is at the highest level

socioeconomic gradient in health

Social scientists have examined the associations between social class and health. In general, wealthy people are found to live longer on average than middle-class people, and middle-class people live longer than poor people, but not longer than rich people

assimilation

The process by which a person or persons acquire the social and psychological characteristics of a group

operant extinction

When operant behavior that has been previously reinforced no longer produces reinforcing consequences the behavior gradually stops occurring