psych 102 final - long answer questions

• Neural communication is an electro-chemical process
• action potential: electrical impulse that travels down the axon, triggering the release of neurotransmitters

  • all-or-none principle: either a neuron will "fire" or it won't
• synapse: small gap between two connecting neurons through which messages are transmitted chemically
• neurotransmitters: chemical messengers that allow neurons to communicate
• vesicles: small sac containing neurotransmitters
• presynaptic neuron: neuron that is sending the message

  • is before the synapse

  postsynaptic neuron: neuron that is receiving the message

  • is after the synapse

  most neurons are both presynaptic and postsynaptic
• Neural communication - how it works:
• Central nervous system:

  • part of the nervous system containing the brain and spinal cord that controls mind and behaviour

  Key areas:

  • cerebrum
  • limbic system
  • brainstem
• Frontal lobe:

  • front portion of cerebral cortex
  • central suculus: divides the frontal lobe from the rest of the cerebral cortex

  Motor cortex:

  • involved in voluntary movement
• prefrontal cortex:

  • personality, planning, decision making
  • self-awareness
  • language - Broca's area
• Parietal lobes:

  • upper - middle portion of cerebral cortex

  somatosensory cortex:

  • just behind central suculus
  • sensations of touch, pain, pleasure

  important functions of parietal lobes:

  • spatial perception and tracking
  • relays information to motor complex
• Temporal lobes

  • lower part of cerebral cortex

  important functions:

  • hearing
  • language comprehension
  • memory storage
  • episodic and semantic
  • object and facial recognition
• Occipital lobes:

  • located at the rear of the brain

  important functions:

  • visual processes (visual cortex)
  • humans have a comparatively large visual cortex
• localization of function:

  • cognitive functions are multiply-determined
  • areas critical for functioning are not the only area responsible for it
  • brain areas often serve multiple functions
• Hemispheric specialization:

  • functioning or mental processes within the brain tend to rely more heavily on one hemisphere or tend to be performed differently in the two hemispheres
  • most functions require contributions from both sides of the brain
• bottom-up processing:

  • analysis and integration of basic units into a perceptual unit
  • features combine to make object
  • inability leads to being unable to draw certain shapes
• parallel processing:

  • system in which many different steps happen simultaneously

  --> perception of different features (shape, colour size)

  • if the perception of these things happened one at a time, it would take a lot longer to process things
• top-down processing:

  • when context and higher-level knowledge influences lower-level processing
  • allows for the ability to make judgements quicker

  Perception is not a perfect representation of the world
• consciousness: our subjective experiences of the world, our own bodies and our mental perspectives

  • attention: ability to select relevant information and ignore irrelevant information
• Insomnia: difficulty falling and staying asleep

  • most common disorder: 9-15% report chronic insomnia
  • subjective insomnia: people who complain about lack of sleep but show normal sleep patterns
• narcolepsy: disorder characterized by rapid, often unexpected, onset of sleep

  • go straight to REM sleep
  • many people who experience narcolepsy also experience cataplexy
  • cataplexy: sudden complete loss of muscle tone
• Sleep apnea: disorder characterized by blockage of an airway during sleep, resulting in multiple awakenings

  • most common in men over 40, overweight and who indulge in alcohol/smoking
• night terrors: sudden waking episodes characterized by screaming and confusion, followed by a return to sleep

  • usually occur in children
  • last few minutes
• Sleepwalking: disorder characterized by walking when fully asleep

  • occurs during non-REM sleep
  • more often in children than adults
• Three step sequence for memory:

  1. encoding: initially putting information into brain

  • mnemonic device: an active strategic learning device or method that enhances recall
  • acronyms are a simple type of mnemonic
  • 2. storage: process of keeping information in memory
  • schemas: organized knowledge structures or mental models that we've stored in memory
  • provides a frame of reference
  • ex: scripts
  • 3. retrieval: retrieve information from long-term memory
  • retrieval cues: pieces of information that serve to help us retrieve information.
  • ex: word pairs: dog-book
• (Three step sequence for memory)

  Library example

  1. encoding: librarian enters a book's catalogue information into database in exchange for understanding where the book needs to be shelved.
  2. storage: librarian puts book in proper place according to how to had been catalogued.
  3. retrieval: when the librarian needs to access the book, they look up the catalogue info to know the location of the book, and is then able to retrieve it.
• system 1 thinking (intuitive):

  • quick and reflexive
  • little mental energy required
  • relies on heuristics

  we need to process huge amounts of information all the time, this allows us to attend to what is meaningful and manageable

  system 2 thinking (analytical)

  • slow and reflective; deliberate
  • requires mental effort
  • associated with agency
• belief perseverance: maintaining a belief despite learning information that contradicts it
• why we need research designs:

  • avoid biases when evaluating information
  • attempt to see the world as it really is
• research design summary:

  Naturalistic observation

  • high external validity
  • cannot draw causal inferences

  Case studies:

  • provide depth; especially to unique cases
  • cannot draw causal inferences

  surveys and correlational designs:

  • provide description and prediction
  • cannot draw causal inferences

  Experimental designs:

  • can draw causal inferences
  • low in external validity; narrow focus
• 1. observational research: non-experimental studies in which behaviour is systematically watched and recorded
  2. naturalistic observation: watching behaviour in real-world settings without trying to manipulate the situation
  3. participant observation: the observer becomes part of the group or social setting being observed (ex: ethnography)
  4. structured observation: researchers configure the setting in which behaviour will be observed
• Case study: an in-depth analysis of an individual, social unit, event or other phenomenon
• survey: uses questionnaires to gather information about people

  • examines traits, beliefs, opinions, feelings

  1. representative sample: reflects the important characteristics in a population
  2. random selection: ensures that every person in a population has an equal chance of being selected
• correlational design: research design that examines the event to which two variables are associated
• positive correlation: higher scores of one variable tend to be associated with higher scores of another variable

  • as x increases, y increases

  negative correlation: lower scores of one variable tend to be associated with lower scores of another variable

  • no correlation: no association between variables
  • Pearsons r: measures direction and strength of a linear relationship between two variables
• positive correlation: higher scores of one variable tend to be associated with higher scores of another variable

  • as x increases, y increases

  negative correlation: lower scores of one variable tend to be associated with lower scores of another variable

  • no correlation: no association between variables
  • Pearsons r: measures direction and strength of a linear relationship between two variables

  ex: -.51 is stronger than +.29
• illusory correlation: the perception of a statistical association between two variables when none exist
• experimental designs:

  • experiments manipulate variables while other designs only measure variables
  • allows us to make causal inferences

  Experiment is made up of:

  1. random assignment of participants to conditions
  2. manipulation of an independent variable

  the researcher manipulates variable(s) and then measure how it affects the participants response
• random assignment: participants are randomly assorted into groups

  • experimental group: group that receives the manipulation
  • control group: group that does not receive the manipulation
• (experimental research designs)

  between-participants: each participant takes part in only one condition

  • randomly assigned to different groups

  within-participants: each participant engages in every condition of the experiment

  • randomly assigned to order of conditions