NMAT

• Sensory Memory


  (< 1 sec)
• Short-term Memory


  (< 1 min)
• Types of Long-term Memory

  • Explicit Memory (conscious)
  • Implicit Memory (unconscious)
• Types of Explicit Memory

  • Declarative Memory (facts, events)
  • Procedural Memory (skills, tasks)
• Types of Declarative Memory

  • Episodic Memory (events, experiences)
  • Semantic Memory (facts, concepts)
• Encoding


  The process of putting new information into memory
• Semantic networks


  Facts are stored via interconnected nodes
• Retrieval


  Often based on priming interconnected nodes of the semantic network
• Recognition


  Stronger than recall
• Other Senses


  • Smell: detection of volatile or aerosolized chemicals by olfactory chemoreceptors (olfactory nerves)
  • Taste: detection of dissolved compounds by taste buds in papillae
  • Somatosensation: four touch modalities (pressure, vibration, pain, and temperature)
  • Kinesthetic sense (proprioception): ability to tell where one's body is in space
• Types of Object Recognition

  • Bottom-up (data-driven) processing: recognition of objects by parallel processing and feature detection. Slower, but less prone to mistakes
  • Top-down (conceptually-driven) processing: recognition of an object by memories and expectations, with little attention to detail. Faster, but more prone to mistakes
• Gestalt principles


  Ways that the brain can infer missing parts of an image when it is incomplete
• Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

  • Sensorimotor stage
  • Preoperational stage
  • Concrete operational stage
  • Formal operational stage
• Problem-Solving Techniques


  • Trial-and-error
  • Algorithms
  • Deductive reasoning (deriving conclusions from general rules)
  • Inductive reasoning (deriving generalizations from evidence)
• Decision-Making Aids


  • Heuristics (simplified principles used to make decisions, "rules of thumb")
  • Biases
  • Intuition
  • Emotions
• Selective attention


  Allows one to pay attention to a particular stimulus while determining if additional stimuli require attention in the background
• Divided attention


  Uses automatic processing to pay attention to multiple activities at one time
• Language Areas in the Brain

  • Wernicke's area: language comprehension; damage results in Wernicke's aphasia (fluent, nonsensical aphasia with lack of comprehension)
  • Broca's area: motor function of speech; damage results in Broca's aphasia (nonfluent aphasia in which generating each word requires great effort)
  • Arcuate fasciculus: connects Wernicke's and Broca's areas; damage results in conduction aphasia (the inability to repeat words despite intact speech generation and comprehension)
• Motivation


  The purpose or driving force behind our actions
• Types of Motivation


  • Extrinsic: based on external circumstances
  • Intrinsic: based on internal drive or perception
• Motivation Theories


  • Instinct theory: innate, fixed patterns of behavior in response to stimuli
  • Arousal theory: the state of being awake and reactive to stimuli; aim for optimal level of arousal for a given task (Yerkes–Dodson law)
• Arousal


  Optimal arousal leads to optimal performance; too much arousal impairs performance due to strong anxiety
• Stages of Consciousness


  • Awake: Beta and alpha waves; able to perceive, process, access, and express information
  • Light sleep: Theta waves
  • Sleep spindles and K complexes: Theta waves
  • Slow-wave sleep; dreams; declarative memory consolidation; some sleep disorders: Delta waves
  • Appears awake physiologically; dreams; paralyzed; procedural memory consolidation; some sleep disorders: Mostly beta waves
• Sleep Disorders


  • Dyssomnias (amount or timing of sleep), such as insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, and sleep deprivation
  • Parasomnias (odd behaviors during sleep), such as night terrors and sleepwalking (somnambulism)
• Drug addiction


  Mediated by the mesolimbic pathway, which includes the nucleus accumbens, medial forebrain bundle, and ventral tegmental area; Dopamine is the main neurotransmitter
• Consciousness-Altering Drugs


  • Depressants (alcohol, barbiturates, benzodiazepines): Sense of relaxation and reduced anxiety
  • Stimulants (amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy): Increased arousal
  • Opiates/opioids (heroin, morphine, opium, pain pills): Decreased reaction to pain; euphoria
  • Hallucinogens (LSD, peyote, mescaline, ketamine, psilocybin-containing mushrooms): Distortions of reality and fantasy; introspection
• Marijuana has some features of depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens (in very high doses)
• Types of Learning


  • Habituation: the process of becoming used to a stimulus
  • Dishabituation: occurs when a second stimulus intervenes, causing a resensitization to the original stimulus
  • Observational learning: the acquisition of behavior by watching others
  • Associative learning: pairing together stimuli and responses, or behaviors and consequences
• Classical conditioning


  A form of associative learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus such that the neutral stimulus alone produces the same response as the unconditioned stimulus; the neutral stimulus thus becomes a conditioned stimulus
• Operant conditioning


  A form of associative learning in which the frequency of a behavior is modified using reinforcement (increases behavior) or punishment (decreases behavior)
• Operant Conditioning Quadrants


  • Positive reinforcement: Stimulus added, behavior continues
  • Negative reinforcement: Stimulus removed, behavior continues
  • Positive punishment: Stimulus added, behavior stops
  • Negative punishment: Stimulus removed, behavior stops
• Drive reduction theory


  Individuals act to relieve internal states of tension
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs

  Prioritizes needs into five categories: physiological needs (highest priority), safety and security, love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization (lowest priority)
• Universal Emotions


  • Happiness
  • Sadness
  • Contempt
  • Surprise
  • Fear
  • Disgust
  • Anger
• Theories of Emotion


  • James-Lange: Nervous system arousal, then conscious emotion
  • Cannon-Bard: Stimulus, then nervous system arousal and conscious emotion
  • Schachter-Singer: Nervous system arousal and cognitive appraisal, then conscious emotion
• Stress


  The physiological and cognitive response to challenges or life changes
• Stages of the General Adaptation Syndrome


  • Alarm
  • Resistance
  • Exhaustion
• Stress response


  Good health, then breakdown (burnout), then panic zone
• Freud's Stages of Psychosexual Development

  • Based on tensions caused by the libido, with failure at any given stage leading to fixation
• Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development

  • Trust vs. mistrust
  • Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
  • Initiative vs. guilt
  • Industry vs. inferiority
  • Identity vs. role confusion
  • Intimacy vs. isolation
  • Generativity vs. stagnation
  • Integrity vs. despair