Psychology 1: Midterm #2

extinction

gradual reduction and eventual elimination of the conditioned response after the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus

tonotopy in basilar membrane (where diff tones are processed)

hair cells at base of bm are excited by high pitch tones hair cells at top of bm are excited by low pitch tones (place theory)

tip of the tongue phenomenon

knowing that we know something but being unable to access it

observational learning

learning by watching others (a form of latent learning) - not directly observable ex: bobo doll study

operant conditioning

learning controlled by the consequences of the organism's behavior

acquisition

learning phase during which a conditioned response is established ex: trials of classical conditioning

elaborative rehearsal

linking stimuli to each other in a meaningful way to improve retention of information in short-term memory ex: dog-shoe, picturing a dog wearing a shoe

interference

loss of information from memory because of competition from additional incoming information

oval window

membrane covered opening from the middle ear to the cochlea of the inner ear - moves fluid to the cochlea and activates receptors for hearing

basilar membrane

membrane supporting the organ of Corti and hair cells in the cochlea

memory storage in the brain

memories of different features of an experience are stored in different brain regions

short-term memory

memory system that retains information for limited durations/amounts of time - after construction happens (short-term memory), we either move it to the warehouse (long term) or scrap it - "working memory" - probably no longer than 20 sec - our ability to hold onto info we're currently thinking about

negative reinforcement

removal of a stimulus that strengthens the probability of the behavior ex: ending a child's time out when they stop whinning

olfaction

smell

how gustation and olfaction work together - their survival value

smell is linked to taste, if we smell something disgustingm we /our brains will be enticed not to ear it, and this is a means for our survival (evolutionary) - sends messages (similar messages) to the same area of the brain

sound waves

sound is vibration, a kind of mechanical energy traveling through the air. The disturbance created by a vibration of molecules of air produces waves (sound waves) that can travel through solid, liquid, and gas

how sound waves are transducted to electrical signals

sound waves are absorbed by eardrum which transmits it to the cochlea, and the cochlea sends the info the basilar membrane containing the organ of coti and hair cells. The hair cells contain a fluid that passes onto the primary auditory cortex which sends info through the thalamus and the rest of the brain

pitch/frequency

sounds have pitch, which corresponds to the frequency of the wave (high freq - high ptich, and vice versa)

depth perception: binocular disparity, monocular cues

stimuli that enables us to judge depth using both eyes monocular cues - size, texture, interposition, linear perspective, height, light and shadow binocular cues - two eyes binocular disparity - difference in image location of an object seen by both eyes

unconditioned stimulus

stimulus that elicits an automatic (reflexive response) ex: meat powder

context-dependent learning

superior retrieval of memories when the external context of the original memories matches the retrieval context ex: taking an exam, recalling the words better in the same room you took the notes

state-dependent learning

superior retrieval of memories when the organism is in the same physiological or psychological state as it was during encoding ex: being drunk, forgetting your keys wanting to get drunk again to find them

5 tastes

sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami

primacy effect

tendency to remember words at the beginning of a list especially well

recency effect

tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well

perception

the brain's interpretation of raw sensory inputs - sensation allows us to detect signals, perception allows us to make those signals meaningful

negative punishment

removal of a stimulus that weakens the probability of behavior ex: taking away a child's favorite toy, stopping future tantrums

rehearsal

repeating info to extend the duration of retention in short-term memory

maintenance rehearsal

repeating stimuli in their original form to retain them in short-term memory

conditioned response

response previously associated with a non-neutral stimulus that is elicited by a neutral stimulus through conditioning

types of amnesia: retrograde and anterograde

retrograde: loss of memories from the past anterograde: inability to encode new memories from our experiences

tonotopy in primary auditory cortex

(frequency theory) - rate at which neurons fire the action potential reproducing the pitch

blind spot

(optic disc) where the optic nerve leaves the eye; there are no photoreceptor cells here (visual field we can't see bc of an absence of rods and cones)

Learning Tips at the end of CH 7

- Distributed vs masses study (spread out your study time - increments instead of cramming) - Testing effect (put down what you've read, test yourself frequently) - Elaborative rehearsal (connect new knowledge with existing knowledge instead of memorizing facts and names) - levels of processing (capture meaning instead of word for word, use your own words and concepts) - Mnemonic Devices (the more reminders or cues you can connect to new material, the more likely you are to recall it)

examples of operant conditioning in daily life

- animal training - procrastination - hospitals (psych wards)

three processes of memory: encoding, storage, and retrieval

- encoding: the process of getting info into our memory banks - storage: the process of keeping info in memory - retrieval: the process of reactivating or reconstructing our experiences from our memory stores

the binding problem

- greatest mysteries of psychology - when we perceive an apple, different regions of our brain process different aspects of it. Yet somehow we don't know how our brains manage to "bind" these pieces of info into a unified whole

false memories

- memories that we believe we have, but don't - can be the result of source monitoring confusion - can be shaped by suggestive techniques

patient HM

- had epileptic seizures, in order to fix them doctor removed chunks of his temporal lobe, where they though the seizures originated (left and right hippocampi), he developed anterograde amnesia - revealed hippocampus and amygdala (which was also damaged) is critical to explicit memory

differences between operant and classical conditioning

- in CC organism's response is elicited or "pulled out" of the organism by the UCS and later CS. In OC, organism's response is emitted, generated by the organism in a seemingly voluntary fashion - reward is unconditional (CC), regardless of how much it salvates. In OC, reward is dependent on behavior (if the dolphin doesn't jump through the hoop, it won't get a treat) - in CC, response comes out of or depends on the autonomic nervous system, whereas in OC, it depends on the skeletal muscles

parts of implicit memory - procedural, priming, conditioning, habituation

- procedural: memory of motor skills and habits - priming: our ability to identify a stimulus more easily or quickly after we've encountered similar stimuli - conditioning: learned behaviors - habituation: when you stop reacting to a stimuli

parts of explicit memory: semantic memory and episodic memory

- semantic: our knowledge of facts about the world - episodic: recollection of events in our lives

learning fads

- sleep assisted learning: learning new material while asleep, seems to have evidence to support but need to make sure participant is actually sleeping - accelerated learning: allow people to pick up new info at anywhere from 25-100 times their normal learning speed by relying on a mix of techniques - encouragment, visualization, classical music, breathing) - discovery learning: giving students experimental materials and asking them to figure out the scientific principles on their own - learning styles: all individuals have preferred or optimal methods of acquiring new info

taste pathway to gustatory cortex

- taste info interacts with buds - it enters brain, reaching a taste related area called the gustatorycortex, somatosensory cortex (bc food also has texture) and parts of the limbic system - region of frontal cortex is a site of convergence for smell and taste - parts of limbic system (amygdala) help us distinguish feelings of pleasence from disgust (from smell + taste)

emotional memories

- the emotions of our memories are believed to be in large part stored in the amygdala - which helps us recall fear associated with scary experiences - hippocampus: factual component in memories - the amygdala: emotional component in memories

mnemonic devices

A learning aid/strategy that enhances recall

vision: parts of the eye - cornea

curved, transparent dome that bends incoming light waves so the image can be focused on the retina

Three systems of memory

Sensory memory, short-term, long-term memory - vary along two important dimensions (span - how much info it can hold, and duration - how long)

Learning

a change in an organism's actions, thoughts, behavior, or emotions as a result of experience

memory illusion

a false but subjectively compelling memory ex: seeing the word sleep when also seeing a list of words similar to sleep

Classical/Pavlovian Conditioning

a form of learning in which animals come to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus, that elicits an automatic response

auditory nerve

a nerve traveling to the brain through the thalamus which is a sensory relay station - sends auditory info to auditory cortex

phobias

a persistent or excessive fear to an object, thing, or situation (can be the result of classical conditioning) ex: Little Albert, grew to fear rats with gong sounds

spontaneous recovery

a phenomenon where there is a sudden reemergence of an extinct conditional response after a delay in exposure to the conditioned stimulus ex: dog starts salvating at the bell days or weeks after it had been unpaired

face perception is handled largely by a specialized region of the visual cortex

fusiform gyrus

ear drum/tympanic membrane

accepts sound waves, vibrates when sound hits it (located in middle ear)

olfaction relation to limbic system (emotions, memories, disgust)

after odors interact with sense receptors, enters the brain/limbic system - limbic system contains amygdala which deals with emotion, memory, and disgust (also with pleasure and disgust)

role of attention

attention to our environments is crucial to our survival/well-being - we're constantly receiving inputs to all our sensory channels, it is up to us to attend to or be selective about the info we receive - we can select or zero in on one channel and ignore the others

unconditioned response

automatic response to a non neutral stimulus that does not need to be learned ex: salvation

cochlea

bony, spinal-shaped sense organ used for hearing - converts vibration into neural activity

sensory memory

brief storage of perceptual information before it is passed to short-term memory - our brain retaining each "frame" of a video, movie, etc - buys our brain time to process incoming sensations

motion perception is done by comparing visual frames done in a specialized region of visual cortex

called MT or V5

mirror neurons

cells in the prefrontal cortex that become activated when an animal performs an action or observes it being performed - neurons "imagine" what it would be like to perform that action - become active when we watch someone similiar to us perform a behavior

fovea

central area of the retina where light rays are most sharply focuses; greatest density of cones

iris

colored area containing muscles that control the pupil

timbre

complexity or quality of sound that makes musical instruments, human voices, or other sources sound unique

top down processing

conceptually driven processing influenced by beliefs/expectancies - beliefs and expectations impose on raw stimuli we perceive perception: interferes with how we perceive the world - ex: We often read right over typographical errors in text. Because the preceding text gives us a lot of context information, we know what words to expect and automatically and unconsciously correct the incorrect letter(s) in the stimulus.

audition: parts of ear: outer ear

consists on pinna (part of ear we see, skin and cartilage flap)

hair cells

convert accoustic info into action potentials

sensation

detection of physical energy by sense organs, which then send information to the brain

interaural time difference - sound localization

difference in arrival time of sound in two ears, involves sound localization as this detects the direction or angle of the sound source ex: clear vs muffles, loud vs quiet

decay

fading of info from memory over time

simple cell responses to V1

feature detector cells that detect lines and edges, there are more complex feature detectors cells at higher levels of visual processing

conditioned taste aversion

form of CC in which one trial (taste) made you sick, and then you are conditioned to never want to taste that thing again - differs from CC: one trial, delay between CS and UCS can be as long as 6-8 hours, little evidence of stimulus generalization

McGurk Effect - what it is, how it works

hearing the audio track of one syllable (ba) spoken repeatedly while seeing a video track of a different syllable being spoken (ga) producing the illusion of a third sound (da), the third sound is the best guess at integrating the info - effect demonstrates that we integrate visual/auditory info when processing spoken language and our brains calculate the most probable sound given the info from the two sources

amplitude/loudness

height of the sound wave that corresponds to loudness, loud noises result in increased wave amplitude bc there's more disturbance, more vibrating airborne molecules

retrieval cues

hints that make it easier for us to recall information

gate control model of pain

idea that pain is blocked or gated from consciousness by neural mechanisms in spinal cord

trichromatic theory

idea that we base our color vision on three primary colors: blue, green, and red - there are three cones, each sensitive to different wavelengths of light

olfactory bulb location and pathway to the brain

in frontal lobe (orbitofrontal cortex) and pathway: olfactory bulb - olfactroy cortex - limbic system

nerves in skin and muscle

in your skin and muscle you have nerve endings (free nerve endings) that receive your somatosensory info (fingertips, lips, face, hands, feet) nerves are specialized for different types of touch light touch, deep pressure, temp, and pain

pathway to somatosensory cortex, location of somatosensory cortex

info about body touch, temp, pain travels in our somatic nerves - spinal cord - local spinal reflexes - brain stem - thalamus - somatosensory cortex - Location: parietal lobe

conditioned stimulus

initially neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a response due to association with an unconditioned stimulus ex other than Pavlov: vegetative state individuals, puff of air to the eye)

retina

innermost layer of the eye, were incoming light is converted into nerve impulses; contains photoreceptor cells

two things humans are good at perceiving

motion and faces

partial reinforcement

occasional reinforcement of a behavior, resulting in slower extinction than if the behavior had been reinforced continually

pheramones

odorless chemicals that serve as social signals to members of one's species - alter sexual behavior - animals responds in mating, humans may be insensitive to it (don't have organ that detects pheramones in the first place)

olfactory receptors in nose

odors interact with sense receptors in the nasal passages, resulting info enters the brain reaching olfactory cortex and parts of the limbic system - only sense that does not go through the thalamus (cortex instead) - olfactory receptors signal to olfactory bulb

neutral stimulus

one that doesn't elicit any type of response

pupil

opening in the center of the iris that changes size depending on the amount of light in the environment

visual information pathway to the brain

optic nerve, contains axons of ganglion cells, travels from retina to the rest of the brain, optic nerve leaves both eyes, comes to a fork in the road called the optic chiasm, optic nerve enters the brain, turning to optic tracts, optic tracts sends axons to thalamus, and then the primary visual cortex (V1) the primary route for visual perception

after-image effect

optical illusion in which retinal impressions persist after the removal of a stimulus (image) believed to be causes by the continued activation of the visual system

chunking

organizing material into meaningful groups (expanding our short-term memory) ex: AICSAU - CIA, USA

proprioception

our sense of body position

vestibular sense

our sense of equilibrium or balance

role of olfaction in social interactions

our smells (the smells we detect) can influence our behavior and interpretation of others - babies can identify mother's smell

reinforcement

outcome or consequence of a behavior that strengthens the probability of the behavior

punishment

outcome or consequence of a behavior that weakens the probability of the behavior

phantom-limb syndrome

pain or discomfort felt in missing limb, remapping of somatosensory cortex - "mirror box" method - although mysterious, it may occur bc nerves in parts of your spinal cord and brain "rewire" when they lose signals from the missing arm or leg. As a result, they send pain signals, a typical response when your body senses something is wrong through the area where the limb is missing

nocieceptors

pain receptors

hippocampus

part of the brain that plays a role in spatial memory

phonological loop

part of working memory that deals with spoken and written material

visuospatial sketchpad

part of working memory that deals with storing and processing info in visual or spatial forms as well as location or speed of objects in space

schedule of reinforcement

pattern of reinforcing a behavior

cross-model processing

perceiving that involves interactions between two or more different sensory modalities (synesthesia condition) ex: hearing sounds when seeing colors

pain threshold

point at which we perceive stimuli to be painful - differs from person to person

positive reinforcement

presentation of a stimulus that strengthens the probability of the behavior ex: give a treat to a child who picked up his toys

the law of effect

principle asserting that if a stimulus followed by a behavior results in a reward, the stimulus is more likely to give rise to the behavior in the future

stimulus generalization

process by which conditioned stimuli similar, but not identical, to the original conditioned stimulus elicit a conditioned response ex: different tones of a bell

stimulus discrimination

process by which organisms display a less pronounced (CR) to conditioned stimuli that differ from the original conditioned stimulus ex: why we can enjoy scary movies

bottom up processing

processing in which a whole is constructed from parts - raw stimuli into concepts ex: if you see an image of an individual letter on your screen, your eyes transmit the information to your brain, and your brain puts all of this information together.

Gestalt principles of perception: how we percieve objects as whole

proximity - objects physically close to each other tend to be seen as whole similarity - similar objects comprising a whole more than dissimilar continutity- seeing things as whole even when things are in the way closure - when something's missing, our brain fills it in symmetry - symmetrical wholes figure ground - focus on main object, not the background

taste receptors

receptor proteins that recognize ligands belonging to one of their five taste modalities

continuous reinforcement

reinforcing a behavior every time it occurs, resulting in faster learning but faster extinction than only occasional reinforcement

long-term memory

relatively enduring (from minutes to years) retention of information stored regarding our facts, experiences, and skills

taste buds

sense receptor in the tongue that responds to sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami, and perhaps fat

perceptual set

set formed when expectations influence perceptions ex: seeing H or A dependent on surrounding letters

Skinner's box

small animal chamber constructed by Skinner to allow sustained periods of conditioning to be administered and behaviors to be recorded unsupervised - light comes on, rat presses bar, gets food (reward)

impaired vision or blindness

the inability to see, the presence of vision less than 20/200 out of 20/20

engram

the physical trace of each memory in the brain

positive punishment

the presentation of a stimulus that weakens the probability of behavior ex: spanking

higher-order conditioning

the process by which organisms develop classically conditioned responses to previously neutral stimuli that later become associated with the original CS ex: responding to circle as well as a bell) - with higher order conditioning, each progressive level results in weaker conditioning or strength

transduction

the process by which the nervous system converts an external stimulus like light or sound into electrical signals within neurons - sense receptors transduce a specific stimulus

habituation

the process by which we respond less strongly overtime to repeated stimuli (Ex: sea slug retracts its gills after being poked, stops retracting after repetitive poking) - not all stimuli is habituated - only those deemed safe or worth ignoring (not electric shocks)

sensitization

the process by which we respond more strongly overtime to repeated stimuli (Ex: studying hear sounds, sounds become more annoying)

perceptual constancy

the process in which we perceive stimuli constantly across varied conditions (see a door, no matter what color)

explicit/declarative memory

the process of recalling info intentionally

implicit/non-declarative memory

the process of recalling info we don't remember deliberately

active reconstruction of memory

the process of which when we try to recall an event, we actively reconstruct our memory using cues and info available to us (sometimes involves looking back over the memory and seeing "you" from a far)

psychophysics

the study of how we perceive sensory stimuli based on their physical characteristics

ossicles

the three tiniest bones in the body, vibrate at the frequency of the sound wave, transmitting it from the eardrum to the inner ear

echoic memory

the type of sensory memory that applies to hearing (lasts for about 5-10 sec)

Within sensory memory: iconic memory

the type of sensory memory that applies to vision (lasts for only about a sec)

opponent process theory

theory that we perceive colors in terms of three pairs of opponent colors: either red or green, blue or yellow, or black or white - afterimages occur bc when one of the pairs is activated, (say red) it inhibits its pair (the green), so that when you stop looking at red, it takes away the inhibition of the green as though the activity has been increased and you see the color (even when you may be looking at a blank wall)

organ of corti

tissue containing the hair cells necessary for hearing

the role of attention

to encode something in our memory, we must first attend to it, if we don't pay attention or are distracted, we don't encode it into our memory

somatosensation

touch

optic nerve

transmits visual info from retina to the brain

lense

transparent disc that changes shape to bring objects into focus

ethnic differences in pain threshold/racial bias in treatment of pain

we might have different thresholds dependent on our genetics, racial bias in treatment of pain: black people have lower pain tolerance, more likely to encounter negative stereotypes among physicians underestimating their pain, leading to inadequte pain tolerance and suffering