PSYCH 1 FINAL REVIEW

Who was Charles Darwin and what was a species of bird he studied, and what did he discover about them?

-A naturalist -finches - same species, but had different sized beaks (the difference of environment caused natural variation)

What was Pavlov's procedure? Why is this form of learning called associative learning?

1. present the US, which will give the UR 2. Present with the NS, which should give no response 3. Present with US and NS, should give the same response as UR (repeat) 4. present CS (formerly NS), should give CR It is called associative learning because the subject associates the stimuli

How does color vision happen?

2 theories: Trichromatic color theory - Perception of color is based on the response rates of three kinds of cones (RGB) opponent-process theory - here are pairs of associated colors in the brain that cancel each other out. When one color's sensory cells are tired out, this creates a perception of the other. ( Red & Green/Blue & Yellow/Black & White)

What is an epigenetic modification? Is it a change in the DNA sequence?

A change in expression or function of genes, without a change in gene sequence

Who was H.M. and what did he contribute to our scientific understanding of how memory works?

A man who had his hippocampal formations removed to stop seizures and consequently lost his ability to form new memories. This made scientists understand how different parts of the brain are used in memory

Define learning

A relatively permanent change in behavior or the capacity for behavior that occurs due to experience

Understand the basic idea how a stimulus in the environment that gives off physical energy is 'recreated' in our brains so we can perceive it.

A stimulus is detected by the sensory receptors. Then the is translated into chemical and electrical signals (transduction) and is transmitted to the brain. From there the brain processes the neural signals and interprets the stimulus.

In what animals might you expect to find big bulbs?

Animals that rely heavily on scent, such as dogs

What is the difference between top down and bottom up processing of sensory information?

Bottom-up - Perception based on the physical features of the stimulus. Top-up - How knowledge, expectations, or past experiences shape the interpretation of sensory information.

Know the difference between CLASSICAL CONDITIONING and OPERANT CONDITIONING

CLASSICAL: associations between a stimulus and a natural innate response OPERANT: associations between behavior and a consequence (reinforcement/punishment)

How did Thorndike study operant conditioning?

Cats in puzzle boxes: he used a box with levers and doors...escape being the reinforcement, to test his theory.

What are false or repressed memories?

False - Memories that can be distorted, or even implanted, by false information. Repressed - allegedly memories that have been forgotten due to the trauma (not proven to be real)

Name the Gestalt Principles

Figure-ground, proximity, continuation, similarity, closure

What does Gestalt refer to in terms of perception?

Gestalt means "organized whole." a series of laws to explain how our brains group the perceived features of a visual scene into organized wholes.

What are the two types of single stimulus learning? What are examples of these in real life?

Habituation - After living next to an airport for a long time, I no longer hear the sound of planes overhead Dishabituation - After being habituated to the planes, and even louder plane flies by, releasing me from habituation

What is sensory memory?

Holds large amounts of incoming information for very short periods of time. (iconic/echoic)

What are the different forms of sexual selection?

Intrasexual - Competition for mates Intersexual - Visual display present across all mammals and bird species

How does altruism impact evolution?

It increases the chance of survival

What would happen if you rang the bell (the NS) and then waited 15 min before presenting the food (the US)? How well would the animal learn the association?

It would be less effective because it is harder for the animal to associate the stimuli with such a big time between

How did Lamarck's theory differ from Darwin's?

Lamarck's theory proposed that animals changed and adapted throughout their life and passed that on (in affect changing their genes) while Darwin's theory proposed that animals changed and adapted over time/generations through natural selection

What is Classical conditioning (or Pavlovian conditioning)?

Learning through the association between a stimulus and a natural response

What is explicit (declarative) memory and what are the types?

Memories that we are consciously aware of and can be described verbally episodic - personally experienced events semantic - facts and knowledge

Define long term memory

Memory in which information is represented on a permanent or near permanent basis.

Is there a 'taste' map on the tongue?

No

Understand punishment—positive and negative-- and the rules of how it can work as well as the bad side effects of punishment

Positive punishment: something (bad) DELIVERED that occurs after the behavior to DECREASE the chance behavior will occur again Negative punishment: something (good) TAKEN AWAY that occurs after the behavior to DECREASE the chance behavior will occur again RULES: must be consistent or and/or severe SIDE EFFECTS: Risk of injury Induces fear, hostility, and anger Organisms learn only which response not to make Punishment does not teach the organism desirable responses, or what to do.

Understand reinforcement--- positive and negative

Positive reinforcement: something DELIVERED that occurs after the behavior to increase the chance behavior will occur again. Example: Reward. Negative reinforcement: something TAKEN AWAY that occurs after the behavior to increase the chance behavior will occur again.

retrieval

Recovery of stored information when it is needed

Sensastion vs. Perception

Sensation: Receive signals from the environment. Perception: Organizing and interpreting these signals.

Know the main idea of how receptors in the skin work to alert us to touch.

Stimulus touches skin > registers temperature and pressure > receptors transmit signals to the thalamus > thalamus sends it to the somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobe

What is psychophysics?

Study of the relationship between physical stimuli and perceptual experience.

What is sound localization and how do we know from which direction a sound is coming from?

The TIMING in which the physical aspects of sound hit the two cochlea allows the person or animal to detect the location of the sound in the environment. INTENSITY matters too. The sound will be louder in the ear that is closest to the source of the sound.

Weber's Law

The amount of difference that can be detected depends on the intensity of stimuli being compared.

What is convergence?

The degree to which the eyes turn in to focus on a close object.

Know the basics of visual pathways in the brain and the parts of the eye.

The left visual field processes stimuli seen by the right eye, and the right does vice versa lens - where the light is bent and focused to form an image on the retina iris - circular muscle that determines the eyes' color and controls pupil size cornea - thick transparent outer layer pupil - opening in the iris, determines how much light enters the eye optic nerve sclera - white of eye fovea - small region near the retina's center where all the cones are packed

storage

The retention of information over time

What are perceptual constancies?

The tendency to perceive objects as the same even when their physical characteristics change (size, shape, brightness, color)

encoding

The transformation of information from one form to another

What parts of the ear help us understand where our body is in space? Or maintain balance? Are these structures fluid filled?

The vestibular system. Semicircular canals - respond to rotational movement of head. Vestibular sacs (saccules or otolith organs)- fluid filled sacs sensitive to movement acceleration, gravity

What is sound as a stimulus> what are its properties?

Travels in waves amplitude - loudness frequency - pitch

What is light as a stimulus> what are its properties?

Travels in waves wavelength - color amplitude - brightness

Define US, UR, CS, CR and NS

Unconditioned Stimulus - A stimulus that naturally and reliably evokes a response Unconditioned Response - The response that is naturally and reliably elicited by the unconditioned stimulus Neutral Stimulus - A stimulus that does not initially elicit the unconditioned response Conditioned Stimulus - A stimulus that was once neutral but, through association with the US, now elicits a response Conditioned Response - After conditioning has occurred, the response that is elicited by the conditioned stimulus

What happened to Little Albert?? And what did science learn about associations from him?

Watson conditioned him to become afraid of a white mouse.

What is the olfactory bulb?

a brain structure that receives and sends messages regarding smell; the brain center for smell

What is imprinting?

a critical period, early in an animal's life, when it forms attachments and develops a concept of its own identity.

What is short-term memory and what are its limits?

a memory storage system that briefly holds a limited amount of information in awareness.

spontaneous recovery

a process in which a previously extinguished conditioned response reemerges after the presentation of the conditioned stimulus.

Extinction

a process in which the conditioned response is weakened when the conditioned stimulus is repeated without the unconditioned stimulus.

variable-ratio schedule

a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses ex: slot machines

variable-interval schedule

a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals ex: fishing

fixed-ratio schedule

a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses ex: getting a treat every 3 times a dog barks

fixed-interval schedule

a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed ex: getting a treat only in 30 minute intervals

What is a token economy?

a system in which targeted behaviors are reinforced with tokens (secondary reinforcers) and later exchanged for rewards (primary reinforcers).

What is aversion therapy?

a type of behavior therapy designed to make a patient give up an undesirable habit by causing them to associate it with an unpleasant effect.

Shaping

an operant-conditioning technique that consists of reinforcing behaviors that are increasingly similar to the desired behavior

What was Lamarck's theory?

animals adapted and changed throughout life due to environmental changes, and these 'acquired characteristics' were heritable and passed on.

Who was Skinner?

behaviorist who proposed that the consequences of a behavior are critical for learning

What is Temporal Contiguity - and what sort of timing is the best for learning in classical conditioning?

closeness in time between pairs of events is important for learning to occur. Delayed conditioning is best for learning

What types of cells are in the retina and what do they code for?

cones - bright light, colors and central vision rods - peripheral vision, dim light, no color

Know the major theories of forgetting

decay theory - gradual fading of memory over time interference theory - disruption of memory cause by the interference of either old material or new material retrieval theory - failure to access material stored in memory because of encoding failure or lack of retrieval cues motivated forgetting - repression of anxiety-provoking material

How do cells in the retina work?

detect light and then convert light waves into signals, which are processed by ganglion cells. Ganglion cells generate Action potentials that are sent to the brain by the optic nerve

three primary stages of memory

encoding, storage, and retrieval

What is sociobiology?

he scientific study of the biological (especially ecological and evolutionary) aspects of social behavior in animals and humans

What kinds of memory are controlled by the hippocampus, cerebellum etc.?

hippocampus - spatial memory cerebellum - motor action learning and memory prefrontal cortex - working memory temporal lobe - declarative memory amygdala - fear learning

What parts of the brain are involved in memory?

hippocampus, cerebellum, prefrontal cortex, tempral lobe, amygdala

Sensory Coding

how our brain interprets that sensation.

What is iconic memory and echoic memory?

iconic - Visual Sensory Memory- briefly holds an 'image' of what you have seen. echoic - Auditory Sensory Memory- briefly. holds a 'sound clip' of what you have just heard

What are considered adaptive behaviors?

imprinting, altruism

intermittent reinforcement

increases the resistance to the effects of extinction.

JND

just noticeable difference, smallest difference in a stimulus that a person can detect

What is stimulus generalization?

learning that occurs when stimuli that are similar, but not identical, to the conditioned stimulus produce the conditioned response

What is implicit (non-declarative) memory and what are the types?

memories that cannot be described verbally, and those that we aren't consciously aware of. classical conditioning - memory for associations learned through Pavlovian conditioning. procedural - memory for motor skills priming - the change in our response to a stimulus due to pre-exposure to related stimuli

What are flashbulb memories?

memories that seem permanently etched into our brains from intense events

What are some examples of both monocular and binocular cues to depth?

monocular - light/shadow, texture gradient, overlapping, linear perspective, relative size binocular - convergence

What is the difference between monocular and binocular cues to depth?

monocular requires the use of one eye, binocular requires the use of both

What are different reproductive strategies species take to further their existence?

monogamy, polygamy, parental investment

Does evolutionary theory posit that humans were once chimpanzees?

no

What is taste aversion?

occurs when an animal associates the taste of a certain food with symptoms caused by a toxic, spoiled, or poisonous substance. Generally, taste aversion is developed after ingestion of food that causes nausea, sickness, or vomiting.

What part of the brain do the olfactory receptors provide input to?

olfactory bulb

Who was Hebb?

one of the first to describe how learning happens in the brain, in his 1949 book "The Organization of Behavior" In Hebb's interpretation, memories are stored in multiple regions of the brain, and they are linked through memory circuits. "What fires together, wires together"

What are primacy and recency effects?

primacy - people gave a good memory for the items at the beginning of a list recency - people gave a good memory for the items at the end of a list

Understand proactive versus retroactive interference

proactive - old information blocks new information retroactive - new information displaces old information

What is altruism?

pure selflessness, is a psychological phenomenon that has evolved in humans and is most likely present in the great apes. Increases chance of survival.

Contrast recall versus recognition...is it easier to recall information without cues or to recognize correct information from a list of choices?

recall - bringing up memory of information from your stores without having the options available (free response tests) recognition - recognizing the correct answer from a series of options (multiple choice test) It is easier to recognize information from a list of choices

What is gustation?

sense of taste

What are taste buds?

sensory organs in the mouth that contain the receptors for taste, they send signals to the thalamus when stimulated

Know the basics of the auditory pathways in the brain.

sound waves enter the outer ear > eardrums vibrate > pass to middle ear > ossicles and oval window vibrate > pass to cochlea (inner ear) > pressure waves in the cochlea move the basilar membrane > stimulates sensory receptors (hair cells) > auditory nerves send signal to thalamus > passes to the primary auditory cortex

Know the parts of the ear and how the cells in the cochlea work to let us hear sounds...

sound waves enter the outer ear > eardrums vibrate > pass to middle ear > ossicles and oval window vibrate > pass to cochlea (inner ear) > pressure waves in the cochlea move the basilar membrane > stimulates sensory receptors (hair cells) > auditory nerves send signal to thalamus > passes to the primary auditory cortex

and what are the qualities of taste?

sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami

What is Signal detection method and why would you use it?

the best way to determine a person's sensitivity to the occurrence of a particular stimulus

Understand and define the Law of Effect

the consequences of a behavior determine whether the behavior is likely to be repeated.

What is suggestibility and how does it influence our memory for events?

the development of biased memories from misleading information It can create false or distorted memories of events

Threshold

the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse

difference threshold

the minimum amount of change required for a person to detect a difference between two stimuli

Absolute threshold

the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

Transduction

the process by which the sensory organs convert energy from environmental event into neural activity.

acquisition

the process of learning to make a response... or learning not to respond

What are the 3 main tenets of evolution?

variation, selection, retention

Why is working memory a better name for short term memory?

working memory is a better name because it is actually an active processing unit that deals with multiple types of information