Exam 1 Study Guide - Brian Rabinowitz, Intro to Psych as a Natural Science PDF

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Brian Rabinowitz, Intro to Psych as a Natural Science...

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201 Exam 1 Terms and Concepts to Know: 1. Background and History: 1. Nativism vs empiricism 1. Essentially nature v. nurture, nativism putting emphasis on being born with certain innate traits, while empiricism emphasizes that all knowledge is learned from experience. 2. psychology, mind and behavior (definitions) 1. Psychology: The scientific study of mind and behavior. 2. Mind: Private inner experience. 3. Behavior: Observable actions of human beings and non human animals. 3. Massed vs spaced learning and Keppel’s experiment 1. Massed Practice refers to conditions in which individuals practice a task continuously without rest. Spaced Practice refers to conditions in which individuals are given rest intervals within the practice sessions. 2. Geoffrey Keppel (1967) had college students learn pairs of nonsense syllables and adjectives (e.g., lum-happy). 3. All subjects studied the list eight times 4. For half of the participants, all eight trials occurred on the same day (massed practice) 5. For half of the participants, studied the list two times on each of four successive days (spaced/distributed practice). 6. Memory for the list was then tested both 24 hours after the final study session, and a week later. 7. After one day, groups recalled information nearly equally (massed slightly more). After one week, distributed group remembered the information almost equally as they did after one day, while massed group remembered significantly less information. 4. Breadth of psychology and the focus of different disciplines within psychology 5. Wundt and his contributions 1. Established the first formal laboratory for research in psychology at the University of Leipzig in 1879. 2. In recognition of this landmark event, 1879 is generally seen as psychology’s “date of birth” 3. Established the first journal devoted to research on psychology. 4. Widely characterized as the founder of psychology. 5. Wundt sought to unite physiology with philosophy. 6. Structuralist 6. William James and his contributions 1. Functionalist 2. Stressed the stream of consciousness can’t be understood as separate parts. 7. Structuralism vs Functionalism 1. Structuralism: thought psychology should analyze consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are related. 1. William Wundt 2. Depended on the method of introspection: the careful, systematic self-observation of one’s own conscious experience.

3. Trained introspectionist- someone who’s trained to “look into their mind” and inspect + break down what’s inside into components, and to understand the structure of the components. 1. Problematic because to know if someone’s a “trained introspectionist”, they had to “see” the same things others “saw”. 2. Functionalism: thought psychology should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness, rather than its structure. 1. Associated with William James 2. Connections between thoughts + functions of the brain as a flow of the brain. 8. Watson, Skinner, and Behaviorism 1. Behaviorism: scientific psychology should study only observable behavior. 2. John B. Watson, inspired Pavlov and founded this major shift. 3. Structuralism, functionalism, psychoanalysis- all of them “study” concepts not directly observed. 4. Behavior: any overt (observable) response or activity by an organism. 5. Watson’s view on nature vs. nurture: 1. Argued that all are made, not born. 2. Discounted the importance of heredity. 3. Maintained that behavior is governed entirely by the environment. 6. B.F. Skinner 1. B.F. Skinner follows Watson 2. Insisted that internal mental events could not be studied scientifically 3. Maintained that there was no reason to study internal mental events 4. Very successful researcher and clearly defined differences between classical and operant conditioning. 5. Asserted that all behavior is fully governed by external stimuli. 1. Everything you do is determined in predictable ways by lawful principles 2. Just like a billiard ball hitting another billiard ball 3. So we are all controlled by our environment, not by ourselves 6. Concluded that free will is an illusion. 9. Behaviorism vs Cognitive approach (major difference) 1. Behaviorism: scientific psychology should study only observable behavior. 2. Cognitive approach: the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge. 1. Cannot directly observe the mental processes, but can design experiments where behaviors can support or refute a theory. 3. Behaviorism is hard to refute because it studies easily observable behaviors. It argues that it is impossible to study mental processes because they aren’t observable.

10. Relative popularity over time of approaches in psychology (cognitive, behavioral, neuroscience) 1. Since the cognitive revolution, cognitive psychology has grown and behaviorist approaches have diminished. 2. With new technology, renewed interest in connecting physiological understanding to study of mental events. 1. fMRI, PET, EEG 3. Cognitive neuroscience takes everything from cognitive psychology and adds examination of physiological brain function in relation to cognitive processes.

2. Research Methods: 1. Three major goals of the scientific method 1. Measurement and description: 2. Understanding and prediction 3. Application and control 2. Hypothesis vs theory, testable, falsifiable, operational definition (operationalization) 1. Hypothesis: a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables. 2. Variables: any measurable conditions, events, characteristics, or behaviors that are controlled or observed in a study. 3. Theory: a system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations 4. Operationalization: clearly defining actions used to measure a variable 5. Falsifiability is the capacity for some proposition, statement, theory or hypothesis to be proven wrong. 3. Steps of a scientific investigation (5 steps) 1. Step 1: formulate a testable hypothesis 1. Operational definition 2. Step 2: select the research method and design the study 1. Participants/subjects 3. Step 3: collect the data 1. Data collection techniques 4. Step 4: analyze the data and draw conclusions 5. Step 5: report the findings 1. Journal 6. Developing a theory is not one of the steps 4. independent and dependent variables (IV and DV) – definitions, be able to identify 1. IV: what the experimenter manipulates 2. DV: what is measured to see if it affected by the IV 5. sample vs population, random sampling, sampling bias 1. The portion of people we test is referred to as the sample that is chosen from a larger population (the population is the group we are interested in studying.

2. Sampling bias is a bias in which a sample is collected in such a way that some members of the intended population have a lower sampling probability than others. 3. Random sampling: Random sampling is a procedure for sampling from a population in which (a) the selection of a sample unit is based on chance and (b) every element of the population has a known, non-zero probability of being selected. 6. Experimental and control groups (comparison groups) 1. Experimental group: receive some special treatment in regard to the independent variable 2. Control group: do not receive the special treatment given to the experimental group. 1. Can be thought of as a comparison group 7. random assignment vs self-selection (why need random assignment) 1. Bias can occur when participants could select what group they are in. 2. To ensure matching groups, two major possibilities: 1. Random assignment 2. Within-subject comparison (repeated measures design) (opposite is between-subject comparison) 8. confounding variables and the third-variable problem 1. Confounding variables: any variable other than the IV that may influence the dependent variable in a study 2. Third variable problem: type of confounding in which a third variable leads to a mistaken causal relationship between two others. 9. between-subjects vs within-subjects designs (and benefits of each) 1. Between-subjects (or between-groups) study design: different people test each condition, so that each person is only exposed to a single user interface. 1. Designs minimize the learning effects across conditions, lead to shorter sessions. 2. Within-subjects (or repeated-measures) study design: the same person tests all the conditions (i.e., all the user interfaces). 1. Requires fewer participants and increases the chance of discovering a true difference among your conditions 10. observational study: when needed (limits of controlled experiments) 1. We can’t control everything in an experiment 11. Research ethics: 3 principles of respect for persons, justice and beneficence from The Belmont Report 1. Respect for persons: Why you must have informed consent to participate in research 2. Justice: Everyone should benefit equally from research and be equally likely to participate 3. Beneficence: Making sure to care for participants’ well-being (do not harm, maximize possible benefits and minimize possible harms) 12. IRB, informed consent 1. Assessed through an institutional review board (IRB)

1. Informed consent and debriefing 2. Informed consent: permission granted in the knowledge of the possible consequences.

3. Nervous System: 1. CNS vs PNS 1. Central Nervous System (CNS): part of the nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord. 2. Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): the nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord. 2. Somatic vs Autonomic systems and what each does 1. Subdivisions of the PNS. 2. Somatic: The part of the peripheral nervous system that transmits signals from the central nervous system to skeletal muscles, and from receptors of external stimuli, thereby mediating sight, hearing, and touch. 3. Autonomic: Acting or occurring involuntarily, without conscious control, ex: breathing, heart beat 3. Sympathetic vs Parasympathetic systems and what each does (and both a part of autonomic) 1. Subdivisions of the autonomic nervous system 1. Sympathetic: activates what is often termed the fight or flight response. 2. Parasympathetic: conserves energy as it slows the heart rate, increases intestinal and gland activity, and relaxes sphincter muscles in the gastrointestinal tract. 4. brain stem, hindbrain, midbrain, cerebellum, forebrain/ cerebral cortex, lobes: frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal, and what each of the 4 do in a general sense; limbic system and what it does (including amygdala and hippocampus), hemispheres, spit-brain patients, contralateral organization, corpus callosum, evolutionary complexity in different parts of the brain 1. Brain stem: top of the brain, controls key life-sustaining functions, oldest part of the brain, includes medulla & pons 1. Medulla: responsible for autonomic (involuntary) functions ranging from vomiting to sneezing. 2. Pons: upper part of the brainstem, control of breathing, communication between different parts of the brain, and sensations such as hearing, taste, and balance. 2. Hindbrain: the lower part of the brainstem, comprising the cerebellum, pons, and medulla oblongata, coordinates functions that are fundamental to survival, including respiratory rhythm, motor activity, sleep, and wakefulness. 3. Midbrain: Above the pons, involved in processing of sensory information and early regulatory functions such as Alertness, Sleep/wake, Temperature regulation, motor movement, considered part of the brainstem

4. Cerebellum: behind the brainstem, means “little brain”, Involved in movement, motor learning, and sensory integration, but also involved with pattern recognition and other functions. 5. Forebrain/cerebral cortex: the outer layer of neural tissue of the cerebrum of the brain, divides into four lobes 1. Longitudinal fissure of cerebral cortex divides brain into left and right hemispheres 2. Most structures in brain are paired with one on left and other on right connected by corpus callosum 6. Frontal lobe: cognitive functions and control of voluntary movement or activity. 7. Parietal lobe: processes information about temperature, taste, touch and movement 8. Occipital lobe: controls vision 9. Temporal lobe: processes memories, integrating them with sensations of taste, sound, sight and touch. 10. Limbic system: involved in motivation, emotion, learning, and memory. Located in the center of the brain. 1. Amygdala: responsible for detecting fear and preparing for emergency events. 2. Hippocampus: consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory, and in spatial memory that enables navigation. 11. Right hemisphere: controls left side of the body, performs tasks that have do with creativity and the arts. 12. Left hemisphere: controls right side of the body, performs tasks that have to do with logic, such as in science and mathematics. 13. Split-brain patients: having the corpus callosum severed or absent, so as to eliminate the main connection between the two hemispheres of the brain. After the right and left brain are separated, each hemisphere will have its own separate perception, concepts, and impulses to act. 14. Contralateral organization: organization of the forebrain, the hemispheres of the cerebrum and the thalamus represent mainly the contralateral side of the body. 15. Corpus callosum: integrates motor, sensory, and cognitive performances between the cerebral cortex on one side of the brain to the same region on the other side. 5. primary motor and sensory strips and degree of representation of different parts of the body and location of these strips 1. Primary sensory cortex: responsible for processing somatic sensations that arise from receptors positioned throughout the body that are responsible for detecting touch, proprioception (i.e. the position of the body in space), nociception (i.e. pain), and temperature.located right of the primary motor cortex.

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2. Primary motor cortex: generates neural impulses that control the execution of movement, located as a strip in the middle of the brain left of the sensory cortex. localization of function – Broca’s and Wernike’s aphasia, hemispheric neglect, prosopagnosia 1. Broca’s area: production of speech. 2. Wernike’s area: responsible for the comprehension of speech. 3. Hemispheric neglect: Unconsciously can’t comprehend one hemisphere. 4. Prosopagnosia: inability to recognize faces plasticity – what is it, be able to identify 1. Plasticity: the ability of the brain to change continuously throughout an individual's life. 1. Examples: changes in the amount of neurotransmitter a particular presynaptic neuron releases, changes in the effect of neurotransmitters on a postsynaptic neuron, creating new connections between neurons and the growth of new dendritic spines. 2. Or, entire regions of brain architecture can change, like area for finger representation in musicians. neurons, glial cells (major function of astrocytes and microglia) 1. Neurons: a specialized cell transmitting nerve impulses; a nerve cell. 2. Glial cells: Non-neural cells playing supportive function (but critical), like Guide growth, Remove metabolic waste, Grow and maintain myelin sheaths. 1. Astrocytes and microglia: clean up debris myelin, nodes of ranvier, oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells, white matter vs grey matter 1. Myelin: an insulating layer, or sheath that forms around nerves, including those in the brain and spinal cord. It is made up of protein and fatty substances. Allows electrical impulses to transmit quickly and efficiently along the nerve cells. 2. Nodes of ranvier: a gap in the myelin sheath of a nerve, between adjacent Schwann cells, allow for ions to diffuse in and out of the neuron, propagating the electrical signal down the axon. (located in between myelin sheath sections) 3. Oligodendrocytes: produce myelin, provide support and insulation to axons, located in CNS, multiple axons at once 4. Schwann cells: produce myelin, provide support and insulation to axons, located in PNS, one axon at once 5. White matter vs. grey matter: 1. White matter contains relatively few cell bodies and is composed chiefly of long-range myelinated axon tracts. (less cell bodies, more myelinated axons) 2. Grey matter contains numerous cell bodies and relatively few myelinated axons. 1. (more cell bodies, less myelinated axons).

10. sensory neurons, interneurons, motor neurons 1. Sensory neurons: transform stimuli outside the body into electrical signals 2. Interneurons: neurons in the brain and spinal cord that form neural circuits, responsible for non-sensory processing (memory, cognition, decision making, conscious sensation). 3. Motor neurons: transfer electrical signals into muscle movement. 11. soma, dendrites, dendritic spines, axon, axon hillock 1. Soma: cell body; contains nucleus and other organelles 2. Dendrites: projections from the soma that receive information. 3. Dendritic spines: a small membranous protrusion from a neuron's dendrite that typically receives input from a single axon at the synapse, serve as a storage site for synaptic strength and help transmit electrical signals to the neuron's cell body. 4. Axon: extension that conducts electrical signals from the cell body to the terminal buttons. 5. Axon hillock: connects to the axon, controls the firing of the neuron. 12. action potential, all-or-none, synapse, neurotransmitter, receptor, presynaptic, postsynaptic, vesicle 1. Action potential: The process that results in a neuron firing a neurotransmitter, occurs when the membrane potential of a specific cell location rapidly rises and falls: this depolarisation then causes adjacent locations to similarly depolarise. 2. All-or-none: the principle that the strength by which a nerve or muscle fibre responds to a stimulus is independent of the strength of the stimulus. If that stimulus exceeds the threshold potential, the nerve or muscle fibre will give a complete response; otherwise, there is no response. 3. Synapse: structure that permits a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or to the target effector cell. 4. Neurotransmitter: a chemical substance that is released at the end of a nerve fiber by the arrival of a nerve impulse and, by diffusing across the synapse or junction, causes the transfer of the impulse to another nerve fiber, a muscle fiber, or some other structure. 5. Receptor: a physiological term for the part of a nerve that receives and reads chemical signals (neurotransmitters) from other nerves to transmit the electrical signals that transfer information through the brain and nervous system. 6. Presynaptic: a nerve cell that releases a transmitter substance into a synapse during transmission of an impulse. 7. Postsynaptic: a temporary change in the electric polarization of the membrane of a nerve cell (neuron). The result of chemical transmission of a nerve impulse at the synapse (neuronal junction), the postsynaptic potential can lead to the firing of a new impulse. 8. Vesicle: a fluid-filled sac-like structure, like any of the synaptic vesicles inside axon terminals which consist of neurotransmitter molecules. 13. ionotropic vs metabotropic receptor

1. Ionotropic receptor: membrane-bound receptor proteins that respond to ligand binding by opening an ion channel and allowing ions to flow into the cell, either increasing or decreasing the likelihood that an action potential will fire. 2. Metabotropic receptor: a type of membrane receptor of eukaryotic cells that acts through a second messenger. It may be located at the surface of the cell or in vesicles. 3. Ionotropic receptors form an ion channel pore. In contrast, metabotropic receptors are indirectly linked with ion channels on the plasma membrane of the cell through signal transduction mechanisms. 14. equilibrim, electrical and chemical gradient 1. Equilibrium: a state of balance between individuals' mental schemata, or frameworks, and their environment. 2. Chemical gradient: difference in solute concentration across a membrane. 3. Electrical gradient: difference in charge across a membrane. 15. lipid bilayer (important in not allowing ions to pass through), membrane, resting potential 1. Lipid bilayer: a thin polar membrane made of two layers of lipid molecules. These membranes are flat sh...