Week 11 flashcards

• What is the bystander effecr

  People are more likely to help when they are alone than with others
• What are the 3 reasons someone wouldn’t help someone else , according to the bystander effect

  Pluralistic ignorance - If no one else is helping, neither will I (ISI)

  Audience Inhibition- Dont want to look silly infront of others

  Diffusion of responsibility- Less likely to help when more people
• What would people do according to the bystander effect in Latene & Darleys study ? (Smoke filled room )

  More likely to get the experimenter for help when alone than with strangers, and even less likely when there is confederates
• How did research by Piliavin et al contradict findings by Latane & Darley on the bystander effect?


  
  

  The number of bystanders did not affect whether someone helped the individual who was collapsed . Helping behaviour was high
• Did findings from research by Beaman et al indicate that education influences people helping others?

  More people who watched lectures on the bystander effect helped the individual who fell off the bike
• What is prosocial behaviour in helping?

  Behaviour that will benefit others , dosent matter whether they are doing it to gain something or just help
• What is altruism in helping behaviour?

  Motivated by selfishness
• Why do we help others according to the negative state relief model?

  To help remove feelings of distress
• What did results from Manucia eat al find about helping?

  People help when it will be likely to get rid of the feeling of sadness
• What is the empathy- altruism hypothesis?

  theory that when we share feelings with the person in need we are more likely to help

  low empathy -selfish

  high empathy- selfless
• What are well defined problems?

  Problems with a clear goal/ solution

  Specific rules

  Eg: completing a maths problem
• What are Ill defined problems ?

  Where the goal is unclear

  No obvious solution

  Such as : Designing a new product ( most real-world problems are ill-defined)
• What are the three challenges in problem representation ?

  Surface feature— Looking past surface features

  Functional fixedness- Staying stuck on the usual use of problems

  Einstellung- tendency to rely on solutions and missing better solutions
• What is analogical transfer In problem solving?

  Applying a solution from a previous problem to a new and similar problem
• When is analogical transfer successful?

  When problems are similar

  When we notice the steps to solve would be similar
• What is the computational approach to problem solving ?

  The mind works like a computer to arrive at solutions…

  Problem space - all possible states between initial state and goal state

  Operators- actions that can change the current state
• What is the general problem solver ( part of computational approach ) ?

  An AI system which solves problems when well-defined and has been given problem knowledge
• What is backtracking and means end analysis ?

  Backtracking- exploring possible solutions until a dead end is reached

  means End- analysis- breaking the problem into smaller sub problems to reduce the gap between the current state and the goal
• How do we develop expertise?

  improving the specific skill , rather than general abilities
• How do we expert memory?

  Identify meaningful chunks

  Remember cues to chunks
• How do we see expertise through attention ?

  Expertise can train attention to diagnostic information.

  Eg doctors can rapidly detect abnormalities in medical images, expert finger print examiners can locate fingerprint features
• How can expertise lead to improvements in problem solving and reasoning ?

  from learning different strategies to solving problems (schemas)

  Similarity of the problem- principles helpful in solving the problem
• How was the brain studied in historical perspectives?

  Franz Gall observed a few people with excellent verbal memories and bulging eyes . From this he concluded the brain area concerned with verbal memory was behind the eyes , those with good verbal memories had big area (hence the buldging eyes)
• what is phrenology 


  Buldges and depressions on the skull correspond with specific brain areas and therefore specific behaviours
• Why has phrenology been debunked

  Because research is usually conducted on individuals with behavioural differences

  The skull has no impact on brain
• What is a histological procedure on neuroanotomical techniques to look at the brain

  Staining and viewing slices of the brain under a microscope

  Different stain techniques are used … 1.Cell body stains

  2.Myelin stains - Colour the myelin sheath to observe bundles of myelinated nerve fibres

  3. Membrane stains- shows dendrites

  Different colour stains allow identification of different parts of the brain
• What are histochemical techniques

  Use the staining techniques but take advantage of an immunocytochemical reaction

  Identifying proteins with antibodies
• What are CT/ CAT scans and how do they study the living brain

  X-rays pass through the patients head

  2D image is produced

  The whiter the image the denser the tissue
• How do MRIS observe the brain?

  Uses powerful magnet that makes the hydrogen atoms line up to show key structures

  Can produce images from horizontal, sagital and coronal planes
• What are FMRIS when observing the brain

  The greater oxygen use in certain areas of the brain, the greater the activity there

  Looks at structure and function, unlike MRIs which only look at structure
• How do FMRIS indicate activity from colour

  hotter colours- Greater activity

  Colder colours- less activity
• What are PET scans when observing the brain?

  Radioactive glucose is injected into the patient to trace where it is going

  If a part of the brain is working hard, it is consuming glucose so you can see it being used up in real time
• Advantages of brain imaging

  non invasive

  Can be used to compare healthy vs diseased brains And activity during tasks
• Disadvantages of brain imaging

  risks from radiation

  Noisy / claustrophobic/ scary

  FMRI is expensive
• What is spatial resolution Vs temporal resolution

  Level of detail in the image vs how Precise the timing of brain function can be measured
• How do we measure electrical activity Mainly in animals

  Micro electrodes- implant nodes into the brain to monitor individual neurons - records precisely but highly invasive and not used on humans
• How do we measure electrical activity in humans?

  Macro electrodes- Nodes around the scalp to detect neural activity and measure it
• What do macro electrodes (EEGS) tell us about different states?

  Beta- highest frequency, shows a person is actively attending to events

  Alpha- awake but not actively processing info , relaxed

  Theta- light sleep

  Delta- lowest frequency , deep sleep
• how are Alzheimer’s brain scans different?


  Shrinkage of cortex, ventricle enlargement.
• What are the 2 key features in Alzheimer’s brains ?

  neurofibrillary tangles - not working properly

  Amyloid plaques- excessive amounts , preventing communication between neurons