PSYCH1101
Your classmate Jared says he does not need to be concerned about ethical standards for his naturalistic observation study because he won't be manipulating any variables. On the basis of what you have learned from this chapter, your reply should be:
"You're wrong. All psychological research is subject to ethical guidelines."
The human genome, or sum total of all the genes necessary to build a human being, contains approximately ________.
20,000 to 25,000 genes
How did Gestalt psychologists influence the way we think about perception? What aspects of life do humanistic psychologists stress?
According to Gestalt psychology, perception depends on the human tendency to see patterns, to distinguish objects from their backgrounds, and to complete pictures from a few clues. In this emphasis on wholeness, the Gestalt school differed radically from structuralism.
How does the deterioration of the brain help to explain forgetting?
According to the decay theory, memories deteriorate because of the passage of time. Severe memory loss can be traced to brain damage caused by accidents, surgery, poor diet, or disease. Head injuries can cause retrograde amnesia, the inability of people to remember what happened shortly before their accident. The hippocampus may have a role in long-term memory formation. Below-normal levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine may be implicated in memory loss seen in Alzheimer's disease.
What obstacles did women face in the early years of psychology?
Although psychology has profited from the contributions of women from its beginnings, women often faced discrimination: Some colleges and universities did not grant degrees to women, professional journals were often reluctant to publish their work, and teaching positions were often closed to them. In recent decades, the situation has changed dramatically.
How repeatable are the results of psychological research?
Although reproducibility is central to all sciences, there are a number of reasons why research may not always lead to reproducible results. Though there is considerable evidence that the reproducibility of psychological research is high, researchers and journal editors are attempting to improve it.
Why are people with amygdala damage sometimes unable to "read" facial expressions, even though they recognize the person's face?
Amygdala damage often renders people unable to form new emotional memories or remember the emotional content of past memories.
What kinds of research questions are best studied by experimental research?
An experiment is called for when a researcher wants to draw conclusions about cause and effect. In an experiment, the impact of one factor can be studied while all other factors are held constant. The factor whose effects are being studied is called the independent variable because the researcher is free to manipulate it at will. The factor on which there is apt to be an impact is called the dependent variable. Usually, an experiment includes both an experimental group of participants and a control group for comparison purposes. Often, a neutral person records data and scores results, so experimenter bias doesn't creep in.
What methods have been developed to study the brain?
An increasingly sophisticated technology exists for investigating the brain. Among the most important tools are microelectrode techniques, macroelectrode techniques (EEG), structural imaging (CT scanning and MRI), and functional imaging (EEG imaging, MEG, and MSI). Two new functional imaging techniques, PET scanning and fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), allow us to observe not only the structure, but also the functioning of parts of the brain. Scientists often combine these techniques to study brain activity in unprecedented detail—information that can help in the treatment of medical and psychological disorders.
________________ are impairments of the ability to use or understand language.
Aphasias
Clinical and counseling psychology
Applies the principles of psychology to mental health and adjustment. Clinical psychology focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, while counseling psychology is more concerned with "normal" adjustment issues such as making difficult choices or coping with a troubled relationship.
Industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology
Applies the principles of psychology to the workplace.
What kinds of events are most likely to be remembered?
Autobiographical memory refers to recollection of events from one's life. Not all of these events are recalled with equal clarity, of course, and some are not recalled at all. Autobiographical memories are typically strongest for events that had a major impact on our lives or that aroused strong emotion.
You want to answer the question, "Do opposites really attract?" As a critical thinker using the scientific method, it is most important that you do which of the following?
Be skeptical of self-reports as they may be biased.
Why do people from different cultures develop different neural networks?
Because people from different cultures often have very different experiences
What factors explain why we sometimes forget?
Both biological and experiential factors can contribute to our inability to recall information.
__________ is defined as the nearness of a color to white as opposed to black.
Brightness
What is the difference between correlation and cause and effect?
Correlational research investigates the relation, or correlation, between two or more variables. Although two variables may be related to each other, that does not imply that one causes the other.
What factors can influence how well you remember a specific incident?
Cultural values and customs profoundly affect what people remember and how easily they recall it. So do the emotions we attach to a memory, with some emotion-laden events being remembered for life. Also affecting how well we remember are the strategies we use to store and retrieve information.
Which of the following is a part of the American Psychological Association (APA) code of ethics regarding psychological experiments?
Deception about the goals of the research can be used only when absolutely necessary to the integrity of the research.
Which of the following did Elizabeth Loftus do with her research on memory?
Demonstrated that eyewitness testimony is unreliable.
Why have psychologists studied vision more than any other sense?
Different animal species depend more on some senses than others. In bats and dogs, hearing and sense of smell, respectively, are particularly important. In humans, vision is paramount, which is why it has received the most research attention.
Are STM and LTM found in the same parts of the brain?
Different parts of the brain are specialized for the storage of memories. Short-term memories seem to be located primarily in the prefrontal cortex and temporal lobe. Long-term memories seem to involve both subcortical and cortical structures. Semantic and episodic memories seem to be located primarily in the frontal and temporal lobes of the cortex, and procedural memories appear to be located primarily in the cerebellum and motor cortex. The hippocampus seems especially important in the formation of semantic, episodic, and procedural memories. Emotional memories are dependent on the amygdala.
What role does sleep play in memory?
During deep sleep, the same hippocampal neurons and patterns of neuron activity that accompany initial learning are reactivated. As a result, new memories are further strengthened.
Which of the following correctly describes the role of sleep in the formation of memories?
During sleep, the neurons involved in initial learning reactivate and strengthen their connections.
How do types of LTM differ?
Episodic memories are personal memories for events experienced in a specific time and place. Semantic memories are facts and concepts not linked to a particular time. Procedural memories are motor skills and habits. Emotional memories are learned emotional responses to various stimuli.
Where do evolutionary psychologists look for the roots of human behavior? What new focus is positive psychology bringing to the study of human behavior? Is there a single perspective dominating psychology today?
Evolutionary psychology focuses on the functions and adaptive value of various human behaviors and the study of how those behaviors have evolved. Positive psychology studies subjective feelings of happiness and well-being; the development of individual traits such as integrity and leadership; and the settings that encourage individuals to flourish. Most contemporary psychologists do not adhere to a single school of thought. They believe that different theories can often complement one another and together enrich our understanding of human behavior.
What are the differences between implicit and explicit memories?
Explicit memory refers to memories we are aware of, including episodic and semantic memories. Implicit memory refers to memories for information that either was not intentionally committed to LTM or is retrieved unintentionally from LTM, including procedural and emotional memories. This distinction is illustrated by research on priming, in which people are more likely to complete fragments of stimuli with items seen earlier than with other, equally plausible items.
Social psychology
Explores how society influences thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
How are psychologists helping us to understand the differences between men and women?
Feminist theory explores the differences and similarities in thought and behavior between the two sexes or genders. Culturally generated beliefs regarding these differences are called gender stereotypes. Psychologists are trying to determine the hereditary and cultural causes of gender differences as well as the origins of sexual orientation.
How do we detect the basic tastes?
Flavor is a complex blend of taste and smell. There are five basic ones—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami—and other tastes derive from combinations of these. The five receptors for taste are housed in the taste buds on the tongue. When these receptors are activated by the chemical substances in food, their adjacent neurons fire, sending nerve impulses to the brain.
What does it mean to say "Psychology has a long past, but a short history"?
For centuries, philosophers wondered about human nature but it was not until the late 1800s that the scientific method began to be applied to understanding psychology.
_____ theory holds that it is how fast neurons fire that determines what pitch we hear, and the _____ principle holds that auditory neurons fire in sequence to send a more rapid series of impulses to the brain.
Frequency; volley
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Historically, some colleges refused to grant degrees in psychology to women.
Nature-Nurture:
How do genes and experiences interact to influence behavior?
What causes sensory experiences?
Humans have sensory experiences of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, pain, and balance, which are known as sensations. These experiences begin when the body's sensory receptors are stimulated. In each case, some form of physical energy is converted into neural impulses that are carried to the brain.
What personal factors influence our perceptions?
In addition to past experience and learning, our perceptions are also influenced by our motivation, values, expectations, perceptual style, experience and culture, and personality.
Diversity-Universality:
In what ways do people differ in how they think and act?
What would happen if auditory information faded as quickly as visual information fades?
Information entering a sensory register disappears very quickly if it isn't processed further. Information in the visual register lasts for only about a quarter of a second before it is replaced by new information. If sounds faded from our auditory register as rapidly as this, spoken language would be more difficult to understand. Luckily, information in the auditory register can linger for several seconds.
The American Psychological Association's Code of Ethics governing research requires which of the following?
Informed consent must be documented.
Experimental psychology
Investigates basic psychological processes such as sensation and perception, memory, intelligence, learning, and motivation.
Physiological psychology
Investigates the biological basis of behavior. Includes neuroscience, biological psychology, and behavior genetics.
Which of the following is true about the spinal cord?
It contains two major neural pathways.
Which of the following is a reason feminist theory has been important in expanding traditional psychological theories?
It examines similarities and differences and puts a spotlight on gender stereotypes.
How was Watson's approach to human behavior different from that of Freud? How did Skinner expand behaviorism?
John B. Watson, a spokesman for behaviorism, argued that psychology should concern itself only with observable, measurable behavior. - B. F. Skinner's beliefs were similar to those of Watson, but he added the concept of reinforcement or reward. In this way, he made the learner an active agent in the learning process.
How much can we trust eyewitness testimony?
Jurors tend to put their faith in witnesses who saw an event with their own eyes. However, some evidence suggests that eyewitnesses sometimes are unable to tell the difference between what they witnessed and what they merely heard about or imagined.
How does light create a neural impulse?
Light enters an eye through the cornea (a transparent protective coating) and passes through the pupil (the opening in the iris) as well as through the lens, which focuses it onto the eye's light-sensitive inner lining called the retina. Neural impulses are generated in the retina by receptor cells known as rods and cones. The rods and cones connect to nerve cells called bipolar cells, which in turn connect to ganglion cells. The axons of ganglion cells converge to form the optic nerve, which carries to the brain the neural impulses triggered in the retina. Light and dark adaptation occur as the sensitivity of rods and cones changes with the availability of light.
What does psychology have in common with other sciences?
Like the other sciences, psychology relies on the scientific method to find answers to questions. This method involves careful observation and collection of data, the development of theories about relationships and causes, and the systematic testing of hypotheses (or predictions) to disprove invalid theories.
What types of information are retained in long-term memory?
Long-term memory (LTM) stores everything we learn.
What is the limit of LTM?
Long-term memory can store a vast amount of information for many years.
Neurons belonging to the somatic nervous system are involved in which of the following?
Making voluntary movements of the skeletal muscles
What are some of the ethical issues that arise as society gains more control over genetics?
Manipulating human genes in an effort to change how people develop is a new technology that makes many people uneasy, but their concerns may be exaggerated because genes are not all-powerful. Both heredity and environment play a part in shaping most significant human behaviors and traits.
Are the memory tasks in Western schools different from those in cultures that pass on traditions orally?
Many Western schools stress being able to recall long lists of words, facts, and figures that are divorced from everyday life. In contrast, societies in which cultural information is passed on through a rich oral tradition may instead emphasize memory for events that directly affect people's lives.
What does multimethod research allow psychologists to do?
Many psychologists overcome the limitations of using a single research method by using multiple methods to study a single problem.
What is the role of sensory registers?
Many psychologists view memory as a series of steps in which we encode, store, and retrieve information, much as a computer does. This is called the information-processing model of memory. The first step in the model is inputting data through our senses into temporary holding bins, called sensory registers. These registers give us a brief moment to decide whether something deserves our attention.
What role do neurons play in memory?
Memories consist of changes in the chemistry and structure of neurons. The process by which these changes occur is called long-term potentiation (LTP).
How are most memories encoded in LTM?
Most of the information in LTM seems to be encoded according to its meaning.
What happens as information moves from one neuron to the next?
Neurotransmitter molecules, released by synaptic vesicles, cross the tiny synaptic space (or cleft) between an axon terminal (or terminal button) of a sending neuron and a dendrite of a receiving neuron. Here they latch on to receptor sites, much as keys fit into locks, and pass on their excitatory or inhibitory messages. Psychologists need to understand how synapses function because neurotransmitters affect an enormous range of physical and emotional responses.
Following the rise of behaviorism, what led to a renewed interest in things we cannot observe directly, like thoughts, by the science of psychology?
New research methods made the scientific study of mental processes possible.
Is there a single perspective dominating psychology today?
No. Psychologists are more flexible in considering new approaches and combining elements of different perspectives.
How likely is it that a recording that claims to use subliminal messages to help the listener quit smoking will have the desired result?
Not likely, because the effect of subliminal messages outside of a controlled laboratory setting is negligible.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does the tree make a sound?
Our ability to hear sound is important as it permits us to understand language and communicate with other people.
Why do we have so few memories from the first 2 years of life?
People generally cannot remember events that occurred before age 2, a phenomenon called childhood amnesia. Childhood amnesia may result from the incomplete development of brain structures before age 2, from the infants' lack of a clear sense of self, or from the lack of language skills used to consolidate early experience. Research also suggests it may be related to an adult's inability to recall memories that were, in fact, stored during the first 2 years.
What differences among people have an effect on the degree of pain they experience?
People have varying degrees of sensitivity to pain based on their physiological makeup, their current mental and emotional state, their expectations, and their cultural beliefs and values. One commonly accepted explanation of pain is the gate-control theory, which holds that a "neurological gate" in the spinal cord controls the transmission of pain messages to the brain. Biopsychosocial theory proposes that pain results from the interaction of biological, psychological, and social mechanisms. As pain reducers, placebos and acupuncture work in part through the release of pain-blocking neurotransmitters called endorphins.
You are trying to explain to someone that "forgetting" sometimes occurs because of the reconstructive nature of long-term memory. Which of the following would be an example that you might use to support your position?
People often rewrite their memories of past events to fit their current view or desired view of themselves.
What is a photographic memory?
People with exceptional memories have carefully developed memory techniques. Mnemonists are individuals who are highly skilled at using those techniques. A phenomenon called eidetic imagery enables some people to see features of an image in minute detail.
__________ is the brain's interpretation of sensory information so as to give it meaning.
Perception
How do we perceive movement?
Perception of movement is a complicated process involving both visual messages from the retina and messages from the muscles around the eyes as they shift to follow a moving object. At times our perceptual processes trick us into believing that an object is moving when in fact it is not. There is a difference, then, between real movement and apparent movement. Examples of apparent movement are the autokinetic illusion (caused by the absence of visual cues surrounding a stationary object), stroboscopic motion (produced by rapidly flashing a series of pictures), and the phi phenomenon (produced by a pattern of flashing lights).
How do we perceive things as unchanging despite changing sensory information?
Perceptual constancy is our tendency to perceive objects as unchanging even given many changes in sensory stimulation. Once we have formed a stable perception of something, we see it as essentially the same regardless of differences in viewing angle, distance, lighting, and so forth. These size, shape, brightness, and color constancies help us better to understand and relate to the world.
five enduring issues of psychology
Person-Situation Nature-Nurture Stability-Change Diversity-Universality Mind-Body
What are the major structures and areas of the brain, and what functions do they serve?
Physically, the brain has three more-or-less distinct areas: the central core, the limbic system, and the cerebral hemispheres. The central core consists of the hindbrain, cerebellum, midbrain, thalamus and hypothalamus, and reticular formation. The hindbrain is made up of the medulla, a narrow structure nearest the spinal cord that controls breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure, and the pons, which produces chemicals that maintain our sleep-wake cycle. The medulla is the point at which many of the nerves from the left part of the body cross to the right side of the brain and vice versa. The cerebellum controls the sense of balance and coordinates the body's actions. The midbrain, which is above the cerebellum, is important for hearing and sight and is one of the places in which pain is registered. The thalamus is a relay station that integrates and shapes incoming sensory signals before transmitting them to the higher levels of the brain. The hypothalamus is important to motivation, drives, and emotional behavior. The reticular formation, which is woven through all of these structures, alerts the higher parts of the brain to incoming messages. The cerebrum takes up most of the room inside the skull. The outer covering of the cerebral hemispheres is known as the cerebral cortex. They are the most recently evolved portion of the brain, and they regulate the most complex behavior. Each cerebral hemisphere is divided into four lobes, delineated by deep fissures on the surface of the brain. The occipital lobe, located at the back of the head, receives and processes visual information. The temporal lobe, located roughly behind the temples, helps us perform complex visual tasks, such as recognizing faces. The parietal lobe, which sits on top of the temporal and occipital lobes, receives sensory information from all over the body and oversees spatial abilities. Messages from sensory receptors are registered in the primary somatosensory cortex. The frontal lobe receives and coordinates messages from the other lobes and keeps track of past and future body movement. The prefrontal cortex is primarily responsible for goal-directed behavior, the ability to control impulses, judgment, and metacognition. The primary motor cortex is responsible for voluntary movement. The insula, which lies between the temporal and parietal lobes, is involved in the conscious expression of emotion, desire, and addiction. The association areas—areas that are free to process all kinds of information—make up most of the cerebral cortex and enable the brain to produce behaviors requiring the coordination of many brain areas. The limbic system, a ring of structures located between the central core and the cerebral hemispheres, is a more recent evolutionary development than the central core. It includes the hippocampus, which is essential to the formation of new memories; the amygdala, which, together with the hippocampus, governs emotions related to self-preservation; and the cingulate gyrus, which is involved in the processing of emotions and cognition. Other portions of the limbic system heighten the experience of pleasure. In times of stress, the limbic system coordinates and integrates the nervous system's response.
What methods do psychologists use to study the effects of genes on behavior?
Psychologists use a variety of methods to study heritability—that is, the contribution of genes in determining variations in certain traits. Strain studies approach the problem by observing strains of highly inbred, genetically similar animals, whereas selection studies try to determine the extent to which an animal's traits can be passed on from one generation to another. In the study of humans, family studies tackle heritability by looking for similarities in traits as a function of biological closeness. Also useful in studying human heritability are twin studies and adoption studies.
Why is a natural setting sometimes better than a laboratory for observing behavior
Psychologists use naturalistic observation to study behavior in natural settings. Because there is minimal interference from the researcher, the behavior observed is likely to be more accurate, spontaneous, and varied than behavior studied in a laboratory. Researchers using this method must be careful to avoid observer bias.
What are some of the research methods that psychologists use in their work?
Psychologists use naturalistic observation, case studies, surveys, correlational research, and experiments to study behavior and mental processes.
Which of these is the modern, formal definition of psychology?
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
Why are psychologists interested in racial and ethnic differences?
Race, a biological term, refers to subpopulations that are genetically similar. Ethnicity involves a shared cultural heritage based on common ancestry, which can affect norms of behavior.
__________ is a biological term used to refer to a subpopulation whose members have reproduced exclusively among themselves, while __________ is based on cultural characteristics.
Race; ethnicity
How can sampling affect the results of a research study?
Regardless of the research method used, psychologists usually study a small sample of subjects and then generalize their results to larger populations. Proper sampling is critical to ensure that results have broader application. Random samples, in which each potential participant has an equal chance of being chosen, and representative samples, in which subjects are chosen to reflect the general characteristics of the population as a whole, are two ways of doing this.
How does experience change the brain? Can the brain and the nervous system repair themselves?
Research demonstrates that experiences in our environments can produce changes in the brain, a principle called neural plasticity. Neural plasticity leads to the development of neural networks—neurons that are functionally connected to one another. Human brains also are capable of neurogenesis—the production of new brain cells. The study of neurogenesis may help treat neurological disorders, but also raises ethical questions.
When can a case study be most useful?
Researchers conduct a case study to investigate in depth the behavior of one person or a few persons. This method can yield a great deal of detailed, descriptive information that is useful for forming hypotheses, but is vulnerable to observer bias and overgeneralization of results.
What concept accounts for why you might be unable to remember a previous phone number that you used for years, but you are able to recall your current phone number immediately?
Retroactive interference—learning the new phone number "pushed aside" the old one in your memory.
How is perception different from sensation?
Sensation refers to the raw sensory data that the brain receives from the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, balance, touch, and pain. Perception, which takes place in the brain, is the process of organizing, interpreting, and giving meaning to those data.
Which items in a list are hardest to remember?
Short- and long-term memory work together to explain the serial position effect, in which people tend to recall the first and last items in a list better than items in the middle. The recency effect explains that items at the end are still held in STM, whereas the primacy effect describes the extra LTM rehearsal given to items early in the list.
What are the two primary tasks of short-term memory? How much information can be held in short-term memory?
Short-term memory (STM), also called working memory, holds whatever information we are actively attending to at any given time. Its two primary tasks are to store new information briefly and to "work" on information that we currently have in mind. We can process more information in STM by grouping it into larger meaningful units, a process called chunking.
Rote rehearsal helps us store conceptually meaningless information such as:
Social Security numbers.
Which of the following is true regarding the use of animals in psychological research?
Some people question whether it is ever ethical to use nonhuman animals in psychological research
Which psychologist's controversial 1963 experiment involved participants being told to administer increasingly intense shocks to other participants?
Stanley Milgram
Personality psychology
Studies the differences between individuals on such traits as sociability, emotional stability, conscientiousness, and self-esteem.
What activates the sense of smell?
Substances carried by airborne molecules into the nasal cavities activate highly specialized receptors for smell. From here, messages are carried directly to the olfactory bulb in the brain, where they are sent to the brain's temporal lobe, resulting in our awareness of smell. Pheromones are chemicals produced by organisms to communicate using their sense of smell.
What are some of the benefits of survey research?
Survey research generates a large amount of data quickly and inexpensively by asking a standard set of questions of a large number of people. Great care must be taken, however, in the wording of questions and in the selection of respondents.
Are there ethical guidelines for conducting psychological research? What objections have been raised regarding research on animal subjects?
The APA has a code of ethics for conducting research involving human participants or animal subjects. Researchers must obtain informed consent from study participants. Participants must be told in advance about the nature and possible risks of the research. People should not be pressured to participate. - Although much of what we know about certain areas of psychology has come from animal research, the practice of experimenting on animals has strong opponents because of the pain and suffering that are sometimes involved. Although APA and the federal government have issued guidelines for the humane treatment of laboratory animals, many animal rights advocates argue that the only ethical research on animals is naturalistic observation.
Which of these is a major benefit of naturalistic observation as a research method?
The behavior observed in everyday life is likely to be more natural, spontaneous, and varied than that observed in a laboratory.
Which of the following led to the rise of behaviorism?
The belief that if you cannot measure something, it cannot be an object of scientific study.
Which of the following is a current scientific theory about the cause of childhood amnesia?
The brain is not fully developed yet.
Why are psychologists interested in hormones?
The endocrine system is the other communication system in the body. It is made up of endocrine glands that produce hormones, chemical substances released into the bloodstream to either trigger developmental changes in the body or to activate certain behavioral responses. The thyroid gland secretes thyroxin, a hormone involved in regulating the body's rate of metabolism. Symptoms of an overactive thyroid are agitation and tension, whereas an underactive thyroid produces lethargy. The parathyroids control and balance the levels of calcium and phosphate in the blood and tissue fluids. This process in turn affects the excitability of the nervous system. The pineal gland regulates activity levels over the course of the day and also regulates the sleep-wake cycle. The pancreas controls the level of sugar in the blood by secreting insulin and glucagon. When the pancreas secretes too much insulin, the person can suffer hypoglycemia. Too little insulin can result in diabetes mellitus. Of all the endocrine glands, the pituitary gland regulates the largest number of different activities in the body. It affects blood pressure, thirst, uterine contractions in childbirth, milk production, sexual behavior and interest, and the amount and timing of body growth, among other functions. Because of its influences on other glands, it is often called the "master gland." The gonads—the testes in males and the ovaries in females—secrete hormones called androgens (including testosterone) and estrogens. Testosterone plays an important role during critical periods of prenatal development to organize sex typed behaviors, and has long been linked to aggressive behavior. Each of the two adrenal glands has two parts: an outer covering, the adrenal cortex, and an inner core, the adrenal medulla. Both affect our response to stress, although the adrenal cortex affects other body functions, too. One stress-related hormone of the adrenal medulla is epinephrine, which amplifies the effects of the sympathetic nervous system.
How does culture contribute to human diversity?
The intangible aspects of culture—the beliefs, values, traditions, and norms of behavior that a particular people share—make an important contribution to human diversity. Because many subcultural groups exist, psychology must take both inter- and cross-cultural influences into account.
How is the nervous system organized?
The nervous system is organized into two parts: the central nervous system (CNS), which consists of the brain and spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system (PNS), made up of nerves that radiate throughout the body, linking all of the body's parts to the CNS.
Which of the following illustrates resting potential in a neuron?
The neuron has a slightly higher concentration of negative ions inside than there are outside of it.
Why does some information capture our attention, while other information goes unnoticed?
The next step in the memory process is attention—selectively looking at, listening to, smelling, tasting, or feeling what we deem to be important. The nervous system filters out peripheral information, allowing us to zero in on what is essential at a particular time. Unattended information receives at least some processing, however, so that we can quickly shift attention to it if it suddenly strikes us as significant.
How does the brain communicate with the rest of the body? How is the autonomic branch of the peripheral nervous system involved in controlling emotions?
The peripheral nervous system (PNS) contains two types of neurons: afferent neurons, which carry sensory messages to the central nervous system, and efferent neurons, which carry messages from the CNS. Neurons involved in making voluntary movements of the skeletal muscles belong to a part of the PNS called the somatic nervous system, whereas neurons involved in governing the actions of internal organs belong to a part of the PNS called the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is itself divided into two parts: the sympathetic division, which acts primarily to arouse the body when it is faced with threat, and the parasympathetic division, which acts to calm the body down, restoring it to normal levels of arousal.
How do we distinguish low-frequency and high-frequency sounds?
The place theory holds that the brain distinguishes low-frequency sounds from high-frequency sounds by noting the place on the basilar membrane at which the greatest stimulation is occurring. For high-frequency sounds, this is the base of the basilar membrane; for low-frequency sounds, it is the membrane's opposite end. According to the frequency theory of pitch discrimination, the frequency of vibrations on the basilar membrane as a whole is translated into an equivalent frequency of nerve impulses that travel to the brain. This theory, with its associated volley principle, can account for pitch detection up to frequencies of about 4000 Hz. Above that, the place theory seems to provide a better explanation.
How are traits passed from one generation to the next?
The related fields of behavior genetics and evolutionary psychology explore the influences of heredity on human behavior. Both are helping to settle the nature-versus-nurture debate over the relative contributions of genes and the environment to human similarities and differences. Genetics is the study of how traits are passed on from one generation to the next via genes. This process is called heredity. Each gene, or basic unit of inheritance, is lined up on tiny threadlike bodies called chromosomes, which in turn are made up predominantly of a complex molecule called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The human genome is the full complement of genes necessary to build a human body—approximately 20,000 to 25,000 genes. The Human Genome Project has produced a rough map of the genes on the 23 pairs of human chromosomes. Each member of a gene pair can be either dominant or recessive. In polygenic inheritance, a number of genes interact to produce a trait.
What types of sensory messages are sent from the skin to the brain?
The skin is the largest sense organ, and sensations that arise from the receptors embedded in it produce our sensation of touch, which includes pressure, temperature, and pain. Research has not yet established a simple, direct connection between these three sensations and the various types of skin receptors whose nerve fibers lead to the brain.
What does the spinal cord do? How does it work with the brain to sense events and act on them?
The spinal cord is a complex cable of nerves that connects the brain to most of the rest of the body. It is made up of bundles of long nerve fibers and has two basic functions: to permit some reflex movements and to carry messages to and from the brain. When a break in the cord disrupts the flow of impulses from the brain below that point, paralysis occurs.
Developmental psychology
The study of how people grow and change physically, cognitively, emotionally, and socially, from the prenatal period through death. Includes child, adolescent, and life-span psychology.
How might the process of natural selection influence human social behaviors?
The theory of evolution by natural selection states that organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive, transmitting their genetic characteristics to succeeding generations, whereas organisms with fewer adaptive characteristics tend to die off. Evolutionary psychology analyzes human behavioral tendencies by examining their adaptive value from an evolutionary perspective. While not without its critics, it has proved useful in helping to explain some of the commonalities in human behavior that occur across cultures.
How do we see color?
The trichromatic theory of color vision is based on the principles of additive color mixing. It holds that the eyes contain three different kinds of color receptors, one of which is most responsive to red, another to green, and another to blue. By combining signals from these three types of receptors, the brain can detect a wide range of shades. In contrast, the opponent-process theory of color vision maintains that receptors in the eyes are specialized to respond to one member of three basic color pairs: red-green, yellow-blue, and black-white (or light-dark). Research gives some support for both these theories. There are indeed three kinds of color receptors in the retinas, but the messages they initiate are coded by other neurons into opponent-process form. Hue, saturation, and brightness are properties of color vision.
How are the left and right hemispheres specialized for different functions?
The two cerebral hemispheres are linked by the corpus callosum, through which they communicate and coordinate their activities. Nevertheless, each hemisphere appears to specialize in certain tasks (although they also have overlapping functions). The right hemisphere excels at visual and spatial tasks, nonverbal imagery, and the perception of emotion, whereas the left hemisphere excels at language and perhaps analytical thinking, too. The right hemisphere controls the left side of the body, and the left hemisphere controls the right side.
How do we know which way is up and whether we are moving or standing still?
The vestibular senses provide information about our orientation or position in space, such as whether we are right side up or upside down. The receptors for these senses are in two vestibular organs in the inner ear—the semicircular canals and the vestibular sacs. The vestibular organs are responsible for motion sickness. This queasy feeling may be triggered by discrepancies between visual information and vestibular sensations. The kinesthetic senses provide information about the speed and direction of our movements. They rely on feedback from specialized receptors, which are attached to muscle fibers and the tendons that connect muscle to bone.
What three processes are used to hold information in LTM?
The way in which we encode material for storage in LTM affects the ease with which we can retrieve it later on. Rote rehearsal is particularly useful for holding conceptually meaningless material, such as phone numbers, in LTM. Through the deeper and more meaningful mechanism of elaborative rehearsal, we extract the meaning of information and link it to as much material as possible that is already in LTM. Memory techniques such as mnemonics rely on elaborative processing. - A schema is a mental representation of an object or event that is stored in memory. Schemata provide a framework into which incoming information is fitted. They may prompt the formation of stereotypes and the drawing of inferences.
Can people be persuaded to "create" new memories about events that never occurred?
There are many cases of people who experience a traumatic event, lose all memory of it, but then later recall it. Such recovered memories are highly controversial, since research shows that people can be induced to "remember" events that never happened. So far there is no clear way to distinguish real recovered memories from false ones.
In contrast to experimental studies, correlational studies are generally characterized by which of the following?
They are unsuitable for drawing inferences about causality.
Which of the following is true of macroelectrode recording techniques?
They are used to study brain waves.
What makes neurons different from other cells?
They have dendrites and axons.
Which of the following is true about dendrites?
They pick up incoming messages and transmit them to the cell body.
Which of the following is an advantage of case studies?
They yield a great deal of detailed information that can be useful for forming hypotheses.
What does it mean to "think critically"?
Thinking critically means that you think like a scientist. You base your beliefs on solid evidence, analyze assumptions, avoid oversimplifying, and draw conclusions carefully.
How can we hold information in STM?
Through rote rehearsal, or maintenance rehearsal, we retain information in STM for a minute or two by repeating it over and over again. However, rote memorization does not promote long-term memory.
What environmental factors contribute to our inability to remember?
To the extent that information is apparently lost from LTM, researchers attribute the cause to inadequate learning or to interference from competing information. Interference may come from two directions: In retroactive interference, new information interferes with old information already in LTM; proactive interference refers to the process by which old information already in LTM interferes with new information. When environmental cues present during learning are absent during recall, context-dependent forgetting may occur. The ability to recall information is also affected by one's physiological state when the material was learned; this process is known as state-dependent memory. Sometimes we "reconstruct" memories for social or personal self-defense. Research on long-term memory and on forgetting offers ideas for a number of steps that can be taken to improve recall.
Stability-Change:
To what extent do we stay the same as we develop and how much do we change?
Person-Situation
To what extent is behavior caused by processes inside the person as opposed to factors outside the individual?
How do we organize our perceptual experiences?
Twentieth-century Gestalt psychologists believed that the brain creates a coherent perceptual experience that is more than simply the sum of the available sensory data. The brain imposes order on the data it receives partly by distinguishing patterns such as figure and ground, proximity, similarity, closure, and continuity.
What are the chemical senses?
Two senses—smell and taste—are designed to detect the presence of various chemical substances in the air and in food.
Why is it important to distinguish between correlation and cause and effect?
Two variables can be related to each other, but that does not imply that one causes the other.
What causes visual illusions?
Visual illusions occur when we use a variety of sensory cues to create perceptual experiences that do not actually exist. Some are physical illusions, such as the bent appearance of a stick in water. Others are perceptual illusions, which occur because a stimulus contains misleading cues that lead to inaccurate perceptions.
How do we know how far away something is?
We perceive distance and depth through both monocular cues (received even by one eye alone) and binocular cues (requiring the interaction of both eyes). Examples of monocular cues are interposition (in which one object partly covers another), linear perspective, elevation (or closeness of something to the horizon), texture gradient (from coarser to finer depending on distance), shadowing, and motion parallax (differences in the relative movement of close and distant objects as we change position). An important binocular cue is stereoscopic vision, which is derived from combining our two retinal images to produce a three-dimensional effect. Two other binocular cues are binocular disparity (the difference between the two separate images received by the eyes) and convergence of the eyes as viewing distance decreases. Just as we use monocular and binocular cues to sense depth and distance, we use monaural (one-ear) and binaural (two-ear) cues to locate the source of sounds.
The principle that the just-noticeable difference (jnd) for any given sense is a constant fraction or proportion of the stimulation being judged is known as __________.
Weber's law
Mind-Body:
What is the relationship between experiences such as thoughts and feelings and biological processes?
What "language" do neurons speak?
When a neuron is at rest (a state called the resting potential), there is a slightly higher concentration of negatively charged ions inside its membrane than there is outside. The membrane is said to be polarized—that is, the electrical charge inside it is negative relative to its outside. When an incoming message is strong enough, this electrical imbalance abruptly changes (the membrane is depolarized), and an action potential (neural impulse) is generated. Incoming messages cause graded potentials, which, when combined, may exceed the minimum threshold of excitation and make the neuron "fire." After firing, the neuron briefly goes through the absolute refractory period, when it will not fire again, and then through the relative refractory period, when firing will occur only if the incoming message is much stronger than usual. According to the all-or-none law, every firing of a particular neuron produces an impulse of equal strength. More rapid firing of neurons is what communicates the strength of a message.
Under what circumstances might messages outside our awareness affect our behavior?
When people respond to sensory messages that are below their threshold level of awareness, they are said to be responding subliminally. Such subliminal processing can occur in controlled laboratory settings, but there is no scientific evidence that subliminal messages have any effect in everyday life.
What path does sound follow from the ear to the brain?
When sound waves strike an eardrum and cause it to vibrate, three bones in the middle ear—the hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup—are stimulated to vibrate in sequence. These vibrations are magnified in their passage through the middle ear and into the inner ear beyond it. In the inner ear, movement of the basilar membrane stimulates sensory receptors in the organ of Corti. This stimulation of the hair cells produces auditory signals that travel to the brain through the auditory nerve.
How did Wundt help to define psychology as a science of the mind? Why did James think that sensation and perception alone couldn't explain behavior? Why was Freud's theory of the unconscious shocking at the turn of the 20th century?
Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology laboratory in 1879 at the University of Leipzig in Germany. His use of experiment and measurement marked the beginnings of psychology as a science. One of his students, Edward Titchener, established a perspective called structuralism, which was based on the belief that psychology's role was to identify the basic elements of experience and how they combine. - In his perspective known as functionalism, American psychologist William James criticized structuralism, arguing that sensations cannot be separated from the mental associations that allow us to benefit from past experiences. James believed that our rich storehouse of ideas and memories is what enables us to function in our environment. - The psychodynamic theories of Sigmund Freud, his colleagues, and successors added another new dimension to psychology: the idea that much of our behavior is governed by unconscious conflicts, motives, and desires.
Are flashbulb memories always accurate?
Years after a dramatic or significant event occurs, people often report having vivid memories of that event as well as the incidents surrounding it. These memories are known as flashbulb memories. Recent research has challenged the assumptions that flashbulb memories are accurate and stable.
According to the APA code of ethics, are researchers who use animals in experiments ever allowed to subject those animals to pain or stress?
Yes, but only when an alternative procedure is unavailable and the goal is justified by its prospective scientific, educational, or applied value.
What is the link between the development of language skills and childhood amnesia?
Young children don't have the language skills necessary to strengthen the memory of early experiences.
If a psychologist gave one group of rats extra handling and an enriched environment and deprived a second group of rats, then measured how quickly each group learned a maze, he or she would be engaged in:
a controlled experiment.
In a study of experienced passenger jet pilots practicing landings using a realistic flight simulator, most of them landed their plane despite the presence of a huge freight plane parked on the passenger jet runway in one of the simulations. The most likely explanation for this is:
a freight plane parked on their runway was so unexpected they did not perceive it.
One theory for explaining how autobiographical memories work uses the concept of "event clusters." An event cluster refers to:
a group of memories on a related theme or that take place close together in time.
A psychologist who asked you to make a series of judgments to determine whether or not a light was present in an unlighted room would be trying to assess your __________ for perceiving light.
absolute threshold
Alex's elderly father has been having problems with memory and speech, and Alex suspects he may have Alzheimer's disease. This diagnosis is later confirmed by his father's doctor, who explains to Alex that Alzheimer's has been linked to degradation of the brain cells that produce and respond to ________
acetylcholine
Odessa is 37 and is pregnant with her third child. Her obstetrician tells her that her pregnancy is high risk because of her age and suggests she undergo a test to screen for genetic defects. She explains that the test involves harvesting cells from the fluid in which the fetus grows. Odessa's doctor is referring to ________.
amniocentesis
Biological processes
are the basis of our thoughts, feelings, and actions. All of our behaviors are kept in tune with our surroundings and coordinated with one another through the work of two interacting systems: the nervous system and the endocrine system.
The process of selectively looking, listening, smelling, tasting, and feeling (touch) is the definition of _____.
attention
The _________________ is the part of the peripheral nervous system that carries messages between the central nervous system and the internal organs.
autonomic nervous system
A chromosome is to a necklace cord like the genes are to the _____.
beads
Which of the following is not a compelling reason for why psychologists should study human diversity?
because diversity psychology is one of the major subdivisions of psychology.
Why do left-hemisphere strokes typically lead to aphasias?
because language is primarily controlled by the left cerebral hemisphere
If you subscribe to this school of psychology, you believe that psychology is the study of only what is observable and measurable. This historical and modern perspective is better known as __________.
behaviorism
Which of the following skills is likely to be most indicative of having a "good memory" in non-Western cultures?
being able to recite the lines of descent of families
Suppose we assume that brown eyes are dominant, and blue eyes are recessive. If a child inherits the blue-eye gene from one parent and the brown-eye gene from the other, what color eyes will the child have?
brown
We encode verbal information for storage in STM phonologically, meaning __________.
by its sound
Andrew believed that ignoring pain was a sign of strength. When he seriously injured his foot, he tried to tough it out, but eventually the pain was so bad he couldn't walk. Even after the injury healed, his foot still hurt. His doctor explained to him that chronic pain actually:
can alter nerve sensitivity.
The ________ includes the brain and the spinal cord, which together contain more than 90% of the body's neurons.
central nervous system
A highly trained classical guitarist sustained brain damage as the result of an automobile accident. Despite recovering most of her memory, language, and cognition, she is unable to play the guitar. Because her loss of function appears principally to affect her motor control and coordination, it is most likely that her __________ was damaged in the collision.
cerebellum
Because of the Gestalt principle of perceptual organization known as __________, we are inclined to overlook incompleteness in sensory information and to perceive a whole object even if none exists.
closure
Donald Broadbent suggested we filter incoming information, and Anne Treisman suggested we monitor information we are not paying attention to; the _____ phenomenon is an example of their theories.
cocktail party
Noah met an old friend at a coffee shop. He jotted down the friend's new phone number, but later that afternoon he could not find it or remember what he had done with it. A couple of days later, Noah went back to the coffee shop, and while waiting in line, he suddenly remembered where he had put the phone number. This is an example of:
context-dependent memory.
Because what we remember has practical consequences and takes place in context, _____ has significant effects on what we remember and what information we remember most easily.
culture
Damage to the hypothalamus might result in which of the following problems?
difficulty controlling emotions
Decay theory, which holds that the passage of time causes forgetting, derives support from:
distractor studies.
Understanding how and why groups differ in their values, behaviors, approaches to the world, thought processes, and responses to situations—in other words, understanding human _____, —gives us tools to reduce interpersonal tensions.
diversity
Which of the following structures is the first to be affected by sound waves entering the ear?
ear drum
Alessio believes that men's and women's gender roles are the result of biological adaptations in our deep ancestry. Women cared for children and men hunted and defended territory, he says, so it makes sense that, even today, women should be responsible for domestic duties and men should work outside the home. Alessio is using theories based in __________ to explain his views on gender roles.
evolutionary psychology
In psychology, the idea that adaptive traits that increase survival chances will become more common in a species, as those who survive long enough will pass on the genes for those traits to more members of their species, is known as:
evolutionary psychology.
Natural selection is a concept from:
evolutionary psychology.
More than 40 years of research by Elizabeth Lofus has demonstrated that:
eyewitness testimony is unreliable.
Schemata are to information as a folder is to a _____.
file
Your grandparents are having a conversation about what they were doing when they heard that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Your grandfather was having lunch and remembers exactly what he was eating and what his waitress's name was. Your grandmother was in her car with a friend when she heard the news on the radio and can recall the details of what she and the friend were wearing. These kinds of memories are known as __________.
flashbulb memories
Information stored in the LTM can potentially endure for how long?
for a lifetime
In sound, the primary determinant of pitch is __________.
frequency
The ability of the ear to respond to high frequency sound waves is best explained by:
frequency theory.
The _____ cells in the cochlea send signals to the _____ nerve.
hair; auditory
The aspect of a color that corresponds to names like red, orange, or violet is the color's __________.
hue
Jasper is late for work and decides to skip breakfast. As lunchtime draws near, he begins to feel shaky and weak, and when he gets up to go to the cafeteria for lunch, he faints. His coworkers call an ambulance, and at the hospital, tests reveal there is an unusually low amount of sugar in his blood and urine. Jasper is suffering from ________.
hypoglycemia
A(n) __________ is a specific, testable prediction derived from a theory.
hypothesis
The record of visual information in our sensory register is the __________.
icon
Looking at a large crowd of people and failing to recognize that one of the people in the very front of the crowd is dressed as a clown is an example of:
inattentional blindness.
In an experiment to test the effects of sleep deprivation on test performance, a researcher who manipulates the amount of sleep that participants get is controlling the _____.
independent variable
Do we store material in short-term memory as it sounds or as it looks?
information can be stored in STM according to the way it sounds, the way it looks, or its meaning. Verbal information is encoded by sound, even if it is written rather than heard. The capacity for visual encoding in STM is greater than for encoding by sound.
Encoding, storage, and retrieval are steps in a model that compares the brain to a computer. This model is called the _____ model.
information-processing
Cognitive psychology
is the study of mental processes in the broadest sense, focusing on how people perceive, interpret, store, and retrieve information. Unlike behaviorists, cognitive psychologists believe that mental processes can and should be studied scientifically. This view has dramatically changed American psychology from its previous behaviorist focus.
The dual coding of images explains why:
it is sometimes helpful to form a mental picture of something we are trying to learn.
Masha has been taking yoga classes and is amazed at how well it has improved her posture and her sense of how her muscles move in tandem with each other. Not surprised, her friend says, "Yoga is known to really improve one's __________ senses."
kinesthetic
Senses of muscle movement, posture, and strain on muscles and joints are known as the __________ senses.
kinesthetic
The __________ is the transparent part of the eye behind the pupil that focuses light onto the retina.
lens
The fact that two parallel lines seem to come together at the horizon is a cue to depth and distance known as __________.
linear perspective
Chemical and structural changes take place in the brain, forming new neural networks in which neurons become more connected and fire electrical charges together more easily in the process called _____.
long-term potentiation (LTP)
Tiffany has a final exam coming up and is studying by repeating the information over and over. She is using a process called _____.
maintenance rehearsal
Long-term memories are often not exact but, instead, contain the main points of what we are trying to remember. This is because long-term memories are principally coded by:
meaning.
People who experience a head trauma, such as may happen in an automobile accident, often have trouble remembering what happened moments before the accident. This is known as retrograde amnesia, and is thought to occur because:
memories that took place just prior to the accident haven't had a chance to fully consolidate in the brain
Hank wonders how we know objects are not moving, even though when we look around us, the images move across our retinas. After studying this chapter, he knows it is because:
messages from our eye muscles counteract the changing information from our retina.
Dr. Skalski wants to study the effects of drugs and toxins on single neurons. She researches what types of recording techniques have been utilized to study the functions of single neurons and finds she would be best served by using ________.
microelectrode techniques
Marlisa is a researcher who is studying brain MRIs of patients with severe anxiety. She hopes to identify exactly how brain chemistry changes during an anxiety attack. Marlisa is working in which field of psychology?
neuropsychology
The sense of smell is triggered when odor molecules in the air reach the ___________ located inside the top of the nose.
odor-detecting cells
Eva has been unable to sleep lately, and she notices that her attention span has decreased significantly. She has also noticed that she seems to become overstimulated and overexcited in certain situations. After explaining these symptoms to her primary care physician, he suggests she might be suffering from an ________.
overactive thyroid gland
A recessive gene can control the appearance of a certain trait only if it is ________.
paired with another recessive gene
Which of the following secretes insulin and glucagon to regulate blood sugar levels?
pancreas
Information from sensory receptors in the skin is sent to the brain by two routes, one ending at the _____ lobes and the other at the _____ formation.
parietal; reticular
Mnemonists is a term used to describe:
people with highly developed memory skills.
Which of these best illustrates the phi phenomenon?
perceiving motion in neon signs
Translating sensory information into organized, meaningful personal experiences describes the psychological process known as:
perception.
The tendency to perceive objects as stable despite changing sensory information such as distance, angle of view, or amount of light, is known as:
perceptual constancy.
You are seated at a small table talking to a friend opposite you who is drinking coffee. As she lifts the cup off the saucer and raises it to her mouth, the image made on your retina by the cup actually changes shape, but you still "see" it as being a cup. This is due to:
perceptual constancy.
Which of these is among the five enduring issues of psychology?
person-situation
Episodic memories are __________ rather than __________.
personal memories; historical facts
"The role of the frontal cortex in self-control." An article such as this would most likely be written by a:
physiological psychologist
Which of the following releases melatonin, which helps regulate sleep-wake cycles?
pineal gland
Located on the underside of the brain and often called the "master gland," the __________________ gland is connected to the hypothalamus and produces the largest number of different hormones.
pituitary
The idea that pitch is determined by the place on the basilar membrane where vibration is greatest is called the:
place theory.
"Historically, psychology has been focused on understanding mental illness. It is time to turn some of our attention to understanding human strengths and virtues, happiness, well-being, and wisdom." This quotation most accurately represents which of the following new directions in psychology?
positive psychology.
Sound waves are changes in __________ caused when molecules of air or fluid collide with one another and then move apart again.
pressure
In serial learning, the __________ effect occurs because of the opportunity to rehearse the first few items in a list and transfer them to long-term memory.
primacy
The novel In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust famously begins with the narrator eating a madeleine cake dipped in tea, which brings back previously forgotten childhood memories of his family's country home. The smell and taste of the cake have __________ the narrator's memory, triggering distinct memories associated with that sensory experience.
primed
If a person's cerebellum were damaged, it would most likely lead to ________.
problems in movement
According to Broadbent, even though you heard it, you normally cannot remember what was said at neighboring tables at a restaurant because _____ of the information did not continue long enough.
processing
When every member of a population has an equal chance of being chosen for a study, the individuals who are selected to participate constitute a(n)______ sample.
random
To ensure that the results of a particular study apply to a larger population, researchers use __________ or __________ samples.
random; representative
A specialized cell that responds to a particular type of energy is a __________.
receptor cell
Francesca's mother accused her of lying when she overheard Francesca retelling the story of a car accident she had been in and changing the details to leave out that she had been texting when it happened. It is very possible that instead of lying, Francesca's memory had just undergone the normal process of _____.
reconstruction
Episodic memory can be best described as a:
recording of events as they have been subjectively or personally experienced in a specific time and space.
If you stare long enough at a green object, look to a neutrally colored wall, and see a negative afterimage, what color will you be seeing?
red
Sensation
refers to our experience of sensory stimulation. Perception refers to the interpretation of sensory information to give it meaning.
Chemical substances in food dissolve in saliva and come into contact with taste buds that respond by:
releasing a neurotransmitter.
Not being able to recall what happened to you just prior to sustaining head trauma is called:
retrograde amnesia.
Dark and light adaptation involves changes in the sensitivity of the _____ and _____ to light.
rods; cones
The emergence of psychology as a science in the 1900s can be seen as having occurred in the following three stages:
science of the mind, the behaviorist decades, the cognitive revolution
The three key terms that constitute the definition of psychology are __________.
scientific, behavior, and mental processes
Which type of study assesses heritability in animals and helps determine the degree to which a trait is inherited?
selection study
The hippocampus plays a pivotal role in the formation of new long-term __________ memories.
semantic and episodic
After you eat a bag of salted potato chips, your threshold for the taste of salt is increased. This is due to __________.
sensory adaptation
Samuel is sexually attracted to both men and women. Samuel's __________ is bisexual.
sexual orientation
Fiona's brain is getting information about her movements and her external environment. The part of the central nervous system that is communicating this is called the _____ nervous system.
somatic
Image that you are counting to 99 by threes. Which one of the following sensory inputs is MOST likely to interfere with you doing it successfully?
someone asking for your phone number
Which of these people is most at risk for hearing damage on the job?
someone who operates a leaf blower daily without hearing protection
Francesca is studying behavior genetics with mice that have been bred to be genetically similar to each other. This type of research is called a _____ study.
strain
Glutamate enhances learning and memory by ________.
strengthening synaptic connections between neurons
Critical thinkers are willing to __________
subject their own deeply held beliefs to scrutiny
Dilated pupils and bronchi, a relaxed bladder, and an accelerated heart rate would all be attributed to the stimulation of the ________.
sympathetic division
The area comprising one neuron's axon terminal, the synaptic space, and the dendrite or cell body of the next neuron is called the:
synapse.
The _______________ is the tiny gap between the axon terminal of one neuron and the dendrites or cell body of the next neuron.
synaptic cleft
In a photo of a rocky beach, the rocks farther down the beach appear to be smoother and less detailed. Which of the following distance cues is giving the impression of distance?
texture gradient
What are the limits on our ability to sense stimuli in our environment?
the amount of physical energy that reaches sensory receptors must be of a minimal intensity to produce a detectable sensation. The least amount of energy needed to produce a sensation 50% of the time is called the absolute threshold. For hearing, the absolute threshold is roughly the tick of a watch from 6 m (20 feet) away in a very quiet room, and for vision, it is a candle flame seen from 50 km (30 miles) on a clear, dark night. Absolute thresholds vary according to the intensity of the stimulus present at any given time—a process called adaptation. Also, we are very sensitive to changes in the stimulus intensity. The difference threshold or the just-noticeable difference (jnd) is the smallest change in stimulation that can be detected 50% of the time.
What types of cells are found in the nervous system?
the basic building block of the nervous system is the neuron, or nerve cell. Neurons have several characteristics that distinguish them from other cells. Neurons receive messages from other neurons through short fibers called dendrites. A longer fiber, called an axon, carries outgoing messages from the cell. A group of axons bundled together forms a nerve or tract. Some axons are covered with a fatty myelin sheath made up of glial cells; this increases neuron efficiency and provides insulation. There are many different types of neurons including: sensory or afferent neurons, motor or efferent neurons, interneurons or association neurons, and mirror neurons, which are involved in imitation.
Behavioral genetics focuses on which of the following?
the extent to which heredity accounts for individual differences in behavior and thinking
Which brain center plays a pivotal role in the formation of new long-term memories?
the hippocampus
We cannot understand human behavior without also understanding:
the influence of culture on human diversity.
Juanita walks out to the garage to get something out of her car. Suddenly a possum scurries out from behind an old carpet, and Juanita tenses, screams, and jumps back. Her heart is racing, and she is breathing rapidly. Once the possum scurries away and Juanita realizes she isn't in danger, her heart begins to slow, and her breathing begins to return to normal. This calming effect is promoted by which of the following?
the parasympathetic division
How do the characteristics of sound waves cause us to hear different sounds?
the physical stimuli for the sense of hearing are sound waves, which produce vibration in the eardrums. Frequency, the number of cycles per second in a sound wave, is the primary determinant of pitch (how high or low the tones seem to be). The complex patterns of overtones that accompany real-world sounds determine the timbre or texture of a sound. Amplitude, or loudness, refers to the magnitude of a sound wave, and is measured using a decibel scale.
Someone who is given a pill with no active ingredients, but nonetheless reports a decrease in symptoms, is likely experiencing __________.
the placebo effect
How is energy, such as light or sound, converted into a message to the brain?
the process of sending a sensory message to the brain begins when energy stimulates receptor cells in one of the sense organs. Through the process of transduction, receptor cells convert the stimulation into coded signals that vary according to the characteristics of the stimulus. Further coding occurs as the signal passes along sensory nerve fibers, so that the message finally reaching the brain is very detailed and precise.
Psychology is:
the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Through its many subdivisions, its proponents seek to describe and explain human thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and actions.
The most important factor in determining the degree of interference is __________.
the similarity of the competing items
Which branch of the autonomic nervous system prepares the body for quick action in an emergency?
the sympathetic division
Freud's psychodynamic theory emphasized the importance of:
the unconscious.
The difference between a visual icon and an auditory echo is that:
the visual icon lasts less than a second, while an auditory echo may last several seconds
The ___________ is the level an impulse must exceed to cause a neuron to fire.
threshold of excitation
What is the primary responsibility of the parathyroid glands?
to balance levels of calcium and phosphate in the body
The two important functions of short-term memory are to:
to briefly store new information and to work on, or actively process, information.
What is the main function of the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system?
to calm and relax the body after intense arousal
The process of converting physical energy into coded neural signals is __________.
transduction
The taste quality __________ accounts for our sensitivity to MSG and related proteins.
umami
DeShawn is researching the effects of brain lesions on depression. For ethical reasons, he is not able to cut into the brains of study participants. What is one research method that DeShawn might consider that could shed light on this problem without violating APA ethical guidelines?
using animals as test subjects
Consider the following experiment. Children are drawn from high-, middle-, and low-income households. All the children are divided into two groups. One group watches Sesame Street on TV every day for a month. The other group watches cartoons. Both groups are then given a test that measures creativity. In this study, the independent variable is:
what the children watch on TV.
Humanistic psychology
with its focus on meaning, values, and ethics, emphasizes the goal of reaching one's fullest potential.
Short-term memory is also called __________.
working memory
Problem solving, combining information into meaningful units, and active rehearsal may all take place in short-term term memory, which helps explain why it is sometimes called:
working memory.
When you mix yellow and blue paint pigments, the result is green. The reason this happens is that:
yellow and blue pigments absorb all wavelengths except green.
Imagine that you are wearing a multicolored shirt when you go out for a walk on a dark night. During the walk you look down and notice that the colors all look like patches of gray. The reason that you no longer see the colors as different hues is that:
you are seeing primarily with the rods.
When you were young, perhaps your parents insisted that you eat broccoli or spinach. You were only able to do so by holding your nose. The reason is that when you hold your nose:
you experience only the five basic taste qualities.
