Chapter 1

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.

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

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

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

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

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

The record of visual information in our sensory register is the __________.

icon

The dual coding of images explains why:

it is sometimes helpful to form a mental picture of something we are trying to learn.

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)

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.

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

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

Which of the following secretes insulin and glucagon to regulate blood sugar levels?

pancreas

Mnemonists is a term used to describe:

people with highly developed memory skills.

"The role of the frontal cortex in self-control." An article such as this would most likely be written by a:

physiological psychologist.

"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.

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

To ensure that the results of a particular study apply to a larger population, researchers use __________ or __________ samples.

random; representative

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.

Not being able to recall what happened to you just prior to sustaining head trauma is called:

retrograde amnesia.

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

Critical thinkers are willing to __________.

subject their own deeply held beliefs to scrutiny

The _______________ is the tiny gap between the axon terminal of one neuron and the dendrites or cell body of the next neuron.

synaptic cleft

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

The most important factor in determining the degree of interference is __________.

the similarity of the competing items

Which of the following is true about dendrites?

they pick up incoming messages and transmit them to the cell body.

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

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.

The human genome, or sum total of all the genes necessary to build a human being, contains approximately ________.

20,000 to 25,000

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.

________________ are impairments of the ability to use or understand language.

Aphasias

The ________ includes the brain and the spinal cord, which together contain more than 90% of the body's neurons.

Central Nervous system

Which of the following did Elizabeth Loftus do with her research on memory?

Demonstrated that eyewitness testimony is unreliable.

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.

The American Psychological Association's Code of Ethics governing research requires which of the following?

Informed consent must be documented.

Neurons belonging to the somatic nervous system are involved in which of the following?

Making voluntary movements of the skeletal muscles

Is there a single perspective dominating psychology today?

No. Psychologists are more flexible in considering new approaches and combining elements of different perspectives.

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.

Which of these is the modern, formal definition of psychology?

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

__________ 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

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.

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

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 is a current scientific theory about the cause of childhood amnesia?

The brain is not fully developed yet.

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.

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 an advantage of case studies?

They yield a great deal of detailed information that can be useful for forming hypotheses.

The ___________ is the level an impulse must exceed to cause a neuron to fire.

Threshold of excitation

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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."

A recessive gene can control the appearance of a certain trait only if it is ________.

paired with another recessive gene

The three key terms that constitute the definition of psychology are __________.

scientific, behavior, and mental processes

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

Which of these is among the five enduring issues of psychology? person-situation friends-family opportunity-disenfranchisement youth-age

person-situation

Episodic memories are __________ rather than __________.

personal memories; historical facts

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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 statements is true?

Historically, some colleges refused to grant degrees in psychology to women.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Encoding, storage, and retrieval are steps in a model that compares the brain to a computer. This model is called the _____ model.

information-processing

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.

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.