Shared Flashcard Set

Details

PSYCH15
Final Exam
140
Psychology
Undergraduate 1
12/06/2011

Additional Psychology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
What are the 4 main phases of sexual behavior?
Definition
  1. Sexual attraction
  2. Appetitive Behavior
  3. Copulation
  4. Postcopulatory behavior
Term
Sexual Attraction
Definition
  • Def: physiological readiness to reproduce; indicated by estrogen levels in females
  • Brings males and females together
Term
Appetitive Behaviors
Definition
  • Vary enormously among species
  • Male behaviors include: staying near female, sniffing, singing, nest-building
  • Female behaviors: a proceptive female may approach males or perform "ear wiggling"
Term
Copulation
Definition
  • Involves one or more intromissions in which the male penis is inserted into the female vagina
  • Following stimulation the male ejaculates sperm-bearing semen into the female
Term
Postcopulatory Behavior
Definition
  • Vary enormously among species
  • In a copulatory lock, occuring in dogs and some mice, the penis swells temporarily and cannot be withdrawn from the female
  • May also include parental behaviors to nurture offspring
Term
Alfred Kinsey
Definition
  • 1940s-1950s
  • Created questionnaires about sexual behavior
  • One of the first researchers of sex
Term
William Masters and Virginia Johnson
Definition
  • 1960s to 1970s
  • Proposed the Human Sexual Response Cycle
Term
Human Sexual Response Cycle
Definition
  1. Excitement
  2. Plateau
  3. Orgasm
  4. Resolution
Term

Autonomic Activity:

Excitement

Definition

Sympathetic:

  • Increased heart rate, respiration, blood pressure
  • Erection of nipples

Parasympathetic:

  • Males: penis becomes erect, swells
  • Females: labia majora thins, labia minora swells, vaginal lubrication
Term

Autonomic Activity:

Plateau

Definition

Sympathetic:

  • Increased heart rate, respiration, blood pressure

Parasympathetic:

  • Males: urethral sphincter closes, testes drawn upward, seminal fluid released
  • Females: labia minora continues to swell, clitoris withdraws, vaginal lubrication continues, vagina wall tightens
Term

Autonomic Activity:

Orgasm

Definition

All sympathetic:

  • Both: waves of lower pelvic muscle contraction, vocalization, heart rate increases further
  • Males: ejaculation of semen
  • Females: contraction of vaginal walls and uterus
Term

Autonomic Activity:

Resolution

Definition
  • Both: muscles relax, blood pressure drops
  • Males: refractory period, less-likely to achieve arousal
  • Females: may return to plateau phase for further orgasm
Term

Brain Mechanisms:

Excitement/Plateau

Definition

 

Both:

  • amygdala - decrease
  • somatosensatory cortex - increase

Males:

  • claustrum and middle temporal gyrus - increase

Females:

  • motor cortex - increase

 

Term

Brain Mechanisms:

Orgasm

Definition

Both:

  • cerebellum - increase
  • cortex - decrease

Male:

  • periaqueductal grey - increase

Female:

  • insular cortex (associated w/emotion) - increase
Term
Sexual differentiation
Definition

General process by which individuals develop bodies and behaviors that are either male or female

  • male: XY
  • female: XX
Term
Sex determination
Definition

The early developmental event that decides if the fetus is male or female

 

 

 

Term
Early indifferent gonads
Definition
  • Develop in the embryo
  • Begin to change into ovaries or testes in the first month
Term
SRY-gene
Definition
  • Stands for Sex determination Region on the Y chromosome
  • Produced by the indifferent gonad
  • Codes for the SRY protein
  • Responsible for the development of testes: causes the core of the gonad to proliferate at the expense of the outer layer (w/o this the ovary forms)
Term
Sex-specific ducts
Definition

 

  • Wolffian and mullerian ducts connect the gonads to the body wall
  • Females: mullerian ducts develop into fallopian tubes, uterus, vagina (only remnants of wolffian ducts remain)
  • Males: wolffian ducts develop into epididymis, vas deferans, and seminal vesicles (only remnants of mullerian ducts remain)
Term
Mammalian gender default?
Definition
  • Early in development testes produce several hormones
  • Developing ovaries produce very few
  • Embryos have early tissues for male/female structures
  • In the absence of these secreted hormones, these structures will express feminine characteristics
Term
Masculine hormones
Definition
  • testosterone promotes the development of the wolffian system
  • anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) induces regressino of the mullerian system
Term
Testosterone also masculinizes other structures
Definition
  • Induces formation of prostate gland from epithileal tissue near the urethra
  • Converted into dihydrostesterone (DHT) by the 5α-reductase (enzyme) to stimulate the formation of male external genitalia
Term
Copulant
Definition
sexual secretion that attracts males to females
Term
Neurochemicals associated with initiation of sex
Definition
  • androstenone: males release
  • testosterone: makes males more competitive, triggers sex drive
Term
Neurochemical associated with addictive qualities of sex
Definition

dopamine: 

  • gives feeling of tension, elation
  • in drugs like cocaine, addictive
  • thrill sports provide dopamine rush
  • made in the ventral tegmental area (VTA)
Term
Neurochemicals associated with pair bonds
Definition
  • vasopressin: found high levels in monogamous prairie voles
  • oxytocin: found in females, associated with roles during and after childbirth
Term
Circadian Rhythym
Definition
A biological function that waxes and wanes over a perid of about 24 hours
Term
Learning
Definition
a change in the mechanisms of behavior or cognition as a result of prior experience with stimuli and responses
Term
Memory
Definition
the enduring retention of learned information across time
Term
Karl Lashley
Definition
  • used the lesion method in rats to attempt to find where a memory is stored in the brain [1920s]
  • removed large portions of cortex and found rats could still learn (i.e. spatially navigate a maze)
  • conclusions: memories are not localized, but rather distributed
Term
Declarative memory
Definition
a memory that can be stated or described (facts or information)
Term
Non-declarative memory
Definition
(procedural memory) memory about perceptual or motor procedures; shown by performance rather than by conscious recollection
Term
Amnesia
Definition
severe impairment of memory
Term
Retrograde amnesia
Definition
difficulty in retrieving new memories beginning with the onset of a disorder
Term
Anterograde amnesia
Definition
the inability to form new memories beginning with the onset of a disorder
Term
Declarative memory consolidation
Definition
  • consolidation of memory involves the hippocampus but the hippocampal system does not store long-term memory (LTM)
  • LTM storage occurs in the cortex, near where the memory was first processed and held in short-term memory
  • Brain correlates: hippocampus, cortex
Term
Episodic memory
Definition
  • memory of a particular incident or a particular time or place
  • brain correlates: parietal lobe, hippocampus
Term
How do we spatially navigate through the world?
Definition
  • as we navigate the world, we learn a relative spatial organization of objects
  • develop a map (Tolman, 1949) of your environment in the hippocampus
  • contains place cells that become active when in, or moving toward, a particular location
Term
Hippocampus & spatial memory
Definition
  • comparisons of behaviors and brain anatomy show increased demand for spatial memory results in increased hippocampal size in mammals and birds
  • in food-storing species of birds, the hippocampus is larger but only if used to retrieve stored food
  • more experience ~ larger hippocampus
Term
4 subtypes of non-declarative memory
Definition
  • skill or habit learning
  • priming
  • conditioning
  • non-associative learning
Term
Skill or habit learning
Definition

learning to perform a task

 

brain correlates:

  • cerebellum
  • motor cortex
  • basal ganglia
Term
Priming
Definition

phenomenon by which exposure to a stimulus facilitates subsequent responses to the same or a similar stimulus

 

brain correlate:

  • cortex
Term
Conditioning
Definition

 

a form of learning in which an organism comes to associate two stimuli, or a stimulus and a response

 

subtypes:

  • Pavlovian conditioning: a neutral stimulus is paired with another stimulus that elicits a response (e.g. The Office example with Dwight and Jim)
  • instrumental (operant) conditioning: form of associative learning in which the likelihood that an act will be performed depends on the consequences (e.g. training a dog with treats)

brain correlates:

  • cerebellum
  • amygdala
  • basal ganglia
Term
Non-associative learning
Definition

 

type of learning involving a single stimulus presented once or repeated

 

subtypes:

  • habituation: decreased response to repeated presentation of a stimulus
  • dishabituation: restoration of response after habituation
  • sensitization: prior strong stimulation increases response to most stimuli (e.g. enhanced startle)

 

Term
Ivan Pavlov
Definition

 

(1849-1936)

  • Proposed learning could be studied experimentally by examining reflexes
  • Demonstrated that not all reflexes were innate and that new reflexes could be established through mechanisms of associations

 

  • innate reflexes: unconditional responses (will happen no matter what)
  • new flexes: conditional responses
Term
Fear
Definition
the perception, recognition of danger, the learning and remembering about dangerous experiences, and the coordination of defensive behaviors to environmental threat
Term
Physiological and behavioral fear response
Definition
  • tachycardia, galvanic skin response, pupil dilation, blood pressure
  • ulcers, urination, defecation, bradycardia
  • panting, respiratory distress
  • behavioral and EEG arousal, increased vigilance, increased attention
  • freezing
  • facial expression of fear
  • corticosteroid release
Term
Anxiety disorders
Definition
  • specific phobia
  • panic disorders
  • generalized anxiety disorder
  • PTSD
Term
Synaptic plasticity
Definition
  • greater release of neurotransmitter molecules and/or greater effects because the receptor molecules become more numerous or more sensitive
  • increase in size of postsynaptic potential
  • extra depolarization or hyperpolarization of the axon terminals and changes in the amount of neurotransmitter released
Term
Circadian rhythyms
Definition
a pattern of behavioral, biochemical, or physiological fluctuation that waxes and wanes over a period of about 24 hours
Term
Diurnal
Definition
active during the light periods of the daily cycle (e.g. humans)
Term
Nocturnal
Definition
active during the dark periods of the daily cycle (e.g. mice)
Term
Free-running
Definition
referring to a rhythm of behavior shown by an animal deprived of external cues about time of day
Term
3 physiological functions (apart from activity) that can show 24 hour rhythms
Definition
  • hormone secretion
  • temperature
  • drug sensitivity
Term
Phase shift
Definition
a shift in the activity of a biological rhythm, typically provided by a synchronizing environmental stimulus
Term
Entrainment
Definition
the process of synchronizing a biological rhythm to an environmental stimulus
Term
Zeitgeber
Definition
means "time-giver" in German; the stimulus (usually the light-dark cycle) that entrains circadian rhythms
Term
SCN
Definition
  • stands for suprachiasmatic nucleus
  • subregion of the hypothalamus, located above the optic chiasm
  • serves as a biological clock
  • studies show that circadian rhythms were disrupted in SCN-lesioned animals
  • isolated SCNs can maintain electrical activity synchronized to previous light cycle
Term
Tau gene
Definition
  • mutation found in hamsters that made their circadian rhythm shorter than 24 hours
  • transplant studies showed that when hamsters received SCN tissue transplant from hamsters w/tau gene, their circadian rhythms were restored but matched shorter period of the donor
Term
Pathway that entrains circadian rhythms to light-dark cycles varies depending on the species
Definition
  • amphibians & birds: the pineal gland, a secretory gland in the brain that is responsible for releasing melatonin, is sensitive to light
  • mammals: retino-hypothalamic pathway projects retinal ganglion cells to the SCN directly; the retinal ganglion cells contain a special photopigment melanopsin that makes them sensitive to light (rods and cones are not responsible) and that also inform the brain about light to control pupil diameter
Term
Circannual rhythms
Definition
  • other biological rhythms that modulate body weight, menstrual and reproductive cycles
  • do not arise from the circadian clock, seem to involve a mechanism that is separate from the SCN
Term
Ultradian rhythms
Definition
biological rhythms whose period is less than 24 hours long (e.g. activity, feeding, hormone release)
Term
Infradian rhythms
Definition
biological rhythm whose period is longer than a day (e.g. menstrual cycle)
Term
Methods of measuring stages of sleep
Definition

 

  • electroencephalography (EEG): records electric activity of several thousands of neurons from large electrodes placed on the scalp
  • electro-oculography (EOG): electrical recording of eye movements
  • electromylography (EMG): electrical recording of muscle activity

led to discovery of different classes of sleep

Term
Slow-wave sleep
Definition
  1. stage 1: characterized by small amplitude EEG waves of irregular frequency, slow heart rate [8-12 Hz], reduced muscle tension, slowed heart rate, vertex spikes
  2. stage 2: defined by bursts of regular 12-14 Hz EEG waves called sleep spindles and K complexes, sharp negative EEG potentials
  3. stage 3: defined by large amplitude, very slow waves called delta waves that occur about once a second
  4. stage 4: delta waves are present at least half of the time
Term
REM sleep
Definition
  • stands for rapid eye movement
  • active EEG w/small amplitude, high frequency waves like an awake person
  • in other words, brain waves look awake but musculature is flaccid and unresponsive -> paradoxical sleep
Term
Typical night of adult sleep
Definition
  • 7-8 hours long
  • 50% stage 2 sleep
  • 20% REM
  • cycles typically last 70-110 minutes, but cycles earlier in the night have more stage 3/4 SWS, later on cycles have more REM sleep
  • first REM period is shortest while the last one is longest, up to 40 minutes
Term
How do dreams differ between the two types of sleep
Definition

 

  • REM sleep: characterized by visual imagery, story-like structure, sense that the dreamer is there
  • SWS: thinking type, often about problems

 

  • nightmare: long, frightening dream that awakens the sleeper from REM sleep
  • night terror: sudden arousal from stage 3/4 sleep marked by intense fear and autonomic activation
Term
Biological functions of sleep
Definition
  1. energy conservation: muscular tension, heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, rate of respiration reduced
  2. niche adaptation: sleep helps animals avoid predators; animals sleep during the day when most vulnerable
  3. body restoration: replenishes metabolic requirements like proteins; most growth hormone released only during SWS
  4. memory consolidation: sleep during intervals between learning/recollection of material may reduce interfering stimuli; memory typically decays and sleep may slow this down; REM may actively contribute through processes that consolidate the learned material
Term
Challenges to notions about sleep
Definition
  • few people who seem perfectly normal and healthy but hardly sleep at all
  • more efficient sleepers? less stage 1 and stage 2 sleep, more stage 3/4 and REM
Term
Hans Selye
Definition
  • 1950s, University of Montreal 
  • first applied the word stress to humans (previously only used by engineers); wrote The Stress of Life
  • argued that there are also good stressors, or eustress
Term
Stress
Definition
the physiological demands placed on an organism in response to either physical, immunological, cognitive, emotional stimulus
Term
General adaptation syndrome
Definition
  1. alarm reaction: increase in vigilance (fight or flight), sympathetic nervous system: release of norepinephrine, epinephrine
  2. adaptation stage: cortisol release, involves parasympathetic nervous system, if appropriate responses are taken to minimize stressor -> body returns to homeostasis
  3. exhaustion: cortisol feedback inhibition fails, impaired immune function, neuron death, memory and cognitive deficits, organ disease
Term
Psychoneuroimmunology
Definition
the study of stress influences on health
Term
James-Lange theory
Definition
emotions are perceived when we experience the bodily sensations that are triggered by particular stimuli
Term
Cannon-Bard theory
Definition

argued that the experience of emotion most likely starts before the autonomic changes can occur because many different strong emotions are accompanied by similar patterns of bodily reactions

 

the function of emotion is to help us deal with a changing environment

 

the cerebral cortex simultaneously decides on the appropriate emotional response

 

 

Term
Schachter theory
Definition

emphasizes central processes, nonspecific physiological arousal is sensed and labeled via a cognitive process

 

emotional labels (e.g. anger, fear, joy) are attributed to the relatively nonspecific feelings of physiological arousal; these attributions are arrived at by internal cognitive systems that interpret our current social, physical, cognitive situation (context + stimulus) to appropriately label the emotion

Term
Roll's theory
Definition
  1. stimulus - primary reinforcer
  2. emotion experienced [s+ rewarding, s- punishing]
    [s+] ecstasy <- elation <-pleasure - apprehension -> fear -> terror [s-]
  3. specific auotnomic arousal 
Term
Plutchik's view of emotion
Definition

8 basic emotions: 4 pairs

  • joy / sadness
  • acceptance / disgust
  • anger / fear
  • expectation / surprise
Term
4 different aspects of emotion
Definition
  1. feelings: self-report; private, subjective
  2. actions: facial expressions, laughter, crying, fight, flight, freeze
  3. physiological arousal: distinctive autonomic and somatic responses
  4. motivation: emotions are motivational programs that coordinate responses to resolve specific adaptive problems; seek pleasure, avoid pain
Term
Ekman's view of emotion
Definition

 

there are distinct expressions for:

  • anger
  • sadness
  • happiness
  • fear
  • disgust
  • surprise
  • contempt
  • embarrassment

these different emotions can be detected in facial expressions that are similar across cultures

Term
Emotions from an evolutionary viewpoint
Definition

Darwin's Expression ofd the Emotions in Man and Animals presented evidence that certain expressions of emotions are universal across cultures and some species

 

He suggested that these expressions and emotions came from a common ancestor

 

Noted the similarities in facial musculature and nerves in human and nonhuman primates:

  1. grimace: fear, surprise
  2. tense mouth: anger
  3. play face: laugh
Term
emotions [0-3 months]
Definition
  • general contentment or pleasure
  • sadness
  • disgust
  • joy, excitement
  • interest or attention
Term
emotions [4-6 months]
Definition
  • surprise
  • anger
Term
emotions [7-9 months]
Definition
  • fear
Term
emotions [18-24 months]
Definition
  • emergence of self-consciousness or self-awareness
  • embarrassment 
  • envy
  • empathy
Term
emotions [2-3 years]
Definition

evaluative emotions:

  • pride
  • guilt
  • regret
  • shame
Term
Individual response stereotypy
Definition

the tendency of individuals to show the same response pattern to particular situations throughout their life span

 

Kagan: infants who were high reactives to stimuli (with exceptionally strong reactions) later as children were more shy and had increased phobias or fear responses

 

Schwartz: high reactives became adults with greater activation of the amygdala to stranger faces

Term
Limbic system
Definition
  • def: portion of the cortex that sits in the medial aspect of the cerebral hemisphere surrounding the thalamus
  • Paul Broca coined the term "le grande lobe limbique"
  • proposed as a circuit underlying emotions
Term
Kluver-Bucy Syndrome
Definition

a condition brought about by bilateral amygdala damage, that is characterized by dramatic emotional changes including reduction in fear and anxiety

 

bilateral surgical removal of medial temporal lobe in monkeys:

  • unable to visually recognize an object
  • increased orality
  • dietary changes
  • "tameness" or "placidity" (were previously wild and fearful of humans)
  • hyper-sexuality

 

Term
Neural circuitry of emotions
Definition
  • disgust -> activates the insula and putamen
  • laughter -> activates the prefrontal cortex of both hemispheres
Term
Depression
Definition
  • most common mood disorder (17% of US and 10% of world)
  • inheritance is a major factor: monozygotic twins  - 60% (despite environmental conditions)
  • characterized by symptoms: unhappy mood, loss of interests, energy and appetite, difficulty concentrating, restless agitation
Term
Major (unipolar) depression
Definition
depression that alters with normal emotional states
Term
Depression - sex differences
Definition

 

women are more than twice as likely to suffer from depression:

  • may reflect the fact that women are more likely to ask for help
  • differences in endocrine physiology -> occurrence of clinical depressions often is related to events in the female reproductive cycle: before menstruation, during use of birth control, following childbirth, menopause

postpartum depression, a bout of depression that afflicts a woman either immediately before or right after giving birth, suggests that some hormones can precipitate depression

Term
Treatments for depression
Definition
  • cognitive behavioral therapy
  • monoamine oxidase (MAOs)
  • selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
  • electroconvulsive shock therapy (ECT)
  • transcranial magnetic stimulation
  • deep brain stimulation
Term
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Definition
psychotherapy aimed at training individuals to reevaluate negative thoughts and to promote increased interpersonal relationships
Term
MAO inhibitors
Definition

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors:

inhibit the enzyme monoamine oxidase, which breaks down serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine (therefore increasing the levels of these)

 

this suggests that depressed people don't get enough stimulation at those synapses (it also explains why the drug reserpine, which reduces the norepinephrine and serotonin release in the brain may cause profound depression)

Term
SSRIs
Definition

selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors:

 block the reuptake of serotonin (having little effect on norepinephrine or dopamine synapses)

 

increase the production of brain steroids that may contribute to their effectiveness by stimulating GABA receptors and reducing anxiety

Term
ECT
Definition

electroconvulsive shock therapy:

causes a seizure by passing an electrical current through the brain

Term
DBS
Definition

deep brain stimulation:

mild electrical stimulation of brain sites (cingulate cortex) through a surgically implanted electrode

Term
Possible mechanisms for depression
Definition
  • elevated levels of cortisol
  • depression is consistent with hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis dysfunction
Term
Phobic disorders
Definition
an intense, irrational fear that becomes centered on a specific object, activity, or situation that a person feels compelled to avoid
Term
Anxiety disorders
Definition
  • panic disorders: characterized by recurrent transient attacks of intense fearfulness; sympathetic nervous system overdrive
  • generalized anxiety disorder: persistent, excessive anxiety and worry over everyday things are experienced for months
  • posttraumatic stress disorder: flashbacks and nightmares of the original trauma resulting in increased arousal and anger and hypervigilance
  • obsessive compulsive disorder
Term
Mechanisms of anxiety disorders
Definition

may result from

  • increased capacity for fear learning
  • persistence of fear memories
  • inability to inhibit fear responses

brain correlates:

  • amygdala
  • hippocampus
  • prefrontal cortex
Term
Treatment of anxiety disorders
Definition
  • cognitive behavioral therapy
  • anxiolytics: class of substances that are used to combat anxiety including alcohol, opiates, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines, a class of antianxiety drugs tat bind with high affinity to receptor molecules in the central nervous system (e.g. Valium, Librium)
Term
Schizophrenia
Definition

characterized by dissociative thinking or impaired logical thought

 

other symptoms

  • auditory hallucinations
  • personalized delusions
  • emotional disturbance
Term
Positive symptoms (of schizophrenia)
Definition

def: abnormal behaviors that are gained

  • hallucinations
  • delusions
  • excited motor behavior
Term
Negative symptoms (of schizophrenia)
Definition

def: result of lost functions

  • slow thought and speech
  • emotional and social withdrawal
  • blunted emotional expression
Term
Etiology of schizophrenia
Definition
  • partly heritable
  • family, twin, adoptive studies show a higher incidence amongst biological relatives
  • monozygotic twins - concordance rate 50% -> points to genetic factor
  • rate of discordance suggests that environmental  influences and developmental difficulties (low birth weight, impaired motor coordination) also play a role
  • a few genes have been identified as abnormal in schizophrenics
  • paternal age may be a factor (older fathers are more likely to have a child with schizophrenia)
Term
Toxoplasmosis Gondi (TG)
Definition
  • 15 studies found positive correlation with schizophrenia
  • also found that positive correlation was more likely to include children and a household with kittens
  • people with TG were 2.7 times more likely to develop schizophrenia
  • rats with TG showed decreased fear
  • mice with TG showed deficits in motor coordination with sensory deficits but normal cognitive functions
Term
Childhood onset schizophrenia
Definition
  • 1 to 40,000 children develop schizophrenia
  • onset typically occurs before age 12
  • recall: video of January Schofield
Term
Broad definitions of attention and consciousness
Definition
  • self-awareness
  • subjectie experience (qualia)
  • remembering the past
  • experience emotions
  • free will or cognitive control
Term
Function of consciousness
Definition
  • provides the framework to act, "free will"
  • allows us to make sense of the world to produce best current interpretation of environment -- in the light of past experiences -- and to make it available, for a sufficient time, to the parts of the brain which contemplate, plan, and execute voluntary motor outputs (including languages)
  • contrast with non-declarative production of stereptyped behaviors (i.e. reflexes, conditioned responses)
Term
Working memory
Definition

"system which actively holds information in the mind to do verbal and nonverbal tasks such as reasoning and comprehension, and to make it available for further information processing"

 

requires prefrontal cortex

Term
Self-awareness
Definition

the ability to recognize one's self

 

mark or mirror test is used to test the ability of an individual to recognize themself

 

other animals that have self-awareness:

  • great apes
  • dolphins
  • orcas
  • elephants
Term
Theory of mind
Definition

the ability to attribute mental states (beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge) to oneself and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, and intentions that are different from one's own

 

  • emerges around 3-4 years
  • autistics may not have

brain correlates:

  • tempero-parietal junction
  • prefrontal cortex
  • pre-motor neurons (mirror neurons)
Term
Infantile amnesia
Definition

the inability to form long-term declarative memories of events in one's life prior to the age of 3 or 4 years

 

Freud: thought that we suppressed early memories

 

modern neuroscience suggests that infantile amnesia results from the immaturity of the hippocampus and cortex

Term
Attention
Definition
process of selecting or focusing on one or more stimuli
Term
Types of attention
Definition
  • overt attention: occurs when the focus coincides with the sensory orientation (i.e. object at the center of your gaze)
  • covert attention: the focus is independent of sensory orientation (i.e. attending to peripheral info)
  • endogenous attention: voluntary attention towards specific aspects of the environment, in accordance with our interest and goals [top-down]
  • exogenous attention: reflexive attention, the involuntary reorienting of attention toward a stimulus source, cued by an object or event [bottom-up]
Term
Top-down process of attention
Definition

higher order cognitive processes control lower-order systems, often with conscious control

 

endogenous (voluntary) attention is an example of this

Term
Bottom-up process of attention
Definition

lower-order mechanisms, like sensory inputs, trigger further processing by higher-order cognitive systems (there may be no conscious awareness until late in the process)

 

exogenous attention is an example

Term
Cocktail party effect
Definition
selectively enhanced attention to filter out other stimuli
Term
Arousal
Definition
the global level of alertness in an individual
Term
Dichotic presentation
Definition
simultaneous delivery of different stimuli to both ears at the same time
Term
Shadowing
Definition

task requiring focusing attention on one ear and repeating what is heard, while  receiving stimulus in both ears

 

subjects can report little about the stimuli heard in the non-attended ear

Term
Inattentional blindness
Definition
when an individual fails to perceive the nonattended stimuli in a shadowing task (i.e. basketball/gorilla video)
Term
Divided attention task
Definition

subjects are asked to process two or more simultaneous stimuli (multi-tasking)

 

these tasks show that attention is a limitied resource

Term
Attention spotlight
Definition
the shifting of our limited selective attention around the environment to highlight stimuli for enhanced processing
Term
Stroop task
Definition
Term
Stroop task
Definition

irrelevant information interferes with the target stimuli at a semantic level

 

accurate attention in this task must involve late attentional selection

Term
Sustained attention task
Definition

a single stimulus must be held in the spotlight for a length of time

 

stimulus cuing: tests reaction time to stimuli, by first presenting a cue to the location of the stimulus

Term
Areas associated with consciousness
Definition
  • frontoparietal lobe
  • medial frontal cortex
  • cingulate
Term
Cognitively impenetrable
Definition
referring to data-processing operations of the nervous system that are unconscious (i.e. we cannot break down the idea of 'salty' into smaller components)
Term
Problems in assessing consciousness
Definition
  • easy: how to read current conscious experiences from people's brains as they are happening
  • hard: how to read people's subjective experiences of consciousness or qualia (subjective experiences of emotion)
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