Mind Body Brain Problem

Free Will Vs Determinism

Nature vs Nurture

Are mind/body/ brain independent of each other

what does the brain actually do?

Do we have conscious control over our actions, or are we controlled by our brain and its reactions to stimuli?

genetics or environment affecting who we develop into

Established first psychological lab in Germany

attempted to scientifically study components of experience and the mind

he measured different types of sensory and physiological responses to stimuli

hit ppl in head w/ something

First psych lab in US

Studien structuralism- study ofbasc lements and structures of the mind

majority of work done through introspection

look into yourself

what differentates an orange from something else you see

originally used by Wundt, modified by Titchener

Functionalism-what is purpose of our mind and its actions

wrote "The Principles of Psyschology"

terminology, approaches to research, areas of exploration

His ideas of subconscious in "The Interpretation of Dreams"

A number of his ideas are still in circulation today despite most of them being restructured or entirely removed

motivation, persistence, memory distortions, clinical psychology

new ways to measure brain and its activity began to push field in new direction.

Humors theories- liquids

hydraulic- engine

spirtual theory

Ramon y Cajal's theories and improvements to staining methods

helped us discover the presence of neurons

Specialized cells that receive and transmit information throughout the body and brain

roughly 80-100 billon in the brain and CNS by adulthood

located throughout the body with highest concentration in CNS

come in number of shapes and sizes, used for a number of different tasks

A very small space that seperates the terminal buttons of one neuron from the dendrites of another

Neurotransmitters- chemixals that are released by the terminal buttons of neurons

Neurotransmitters can excite= increase chace of next neurotransmitter firing

or inhibit-reduce chance that second neuron releases its neurotransmitters

When dendrites are excited, they start action potential-

an all or none action signal that is sent along the axon of the neuron

starts at axon hillock and continues to terminal buttons

involves exchange of positively and negative charged ions along the length of the axon

Other thinks that happen in the Synapse:

Activation

Reuptake

Diffusion/Metabolized

activation= neurotransmitters can temporarily cling to dendrites of another neuron and influence this nueron based on what type of neurotransmitter was released

Reuptake- the axon terminal can eventually suck back the neurotransmitter that it released

diffusion/metabolized- neurotransmitter can be broken down, washed away, or used up by other cells and enzymes that are located in the synapse

Acetylcholine- released at every motor neuron, skeletal muscle synapses, also related to memory (alzeheimer's link)

Dopamine- linked to coordination between areas of the brain, implicated in reward/positive emotional sensation, motivation, high levels of dopamine associated with schizophrenia and hallucinations

Serotonin- psychological wellness and mood

also linked to areas that control hunger, sleep cycles, and arousal

Made up of brain, spinal cord, and neurons connected to them

spinal cord and connected nerves allow our brains to effectively communicated with our bodies and vice versa

Our knowledge about how the brain and nervous system are organizd and work is still limited

Sensory + movement

part of parietal lobe dedicated to hand movement

left side- analytic, thought, logic, lone age, science + math

right side= holistic thought, intuition, creativity, music

cochlea moves and allows people to hear different tones

olfactory bulbs help smell recognition, connected to amygdala- emotions attached to smells

connected to hippocampus- memories evoked from smella

experimentation on animals- nervous sytesm, monkeys moving mechanical arms w/brain activity

Wernicke's = not speaking real words, not understanding that they speak wrongly

Broca's- people know they are not speaking coherently, but they still try to speak

Strengths- can determine necessity of a reason for certain cognitive process

Weakness= lack of experimental control, time for plasticity, low number of subjects

Have magnetic coils temporarily block out a part of the brain

pulse a person for some amount of time you want to test them for

person feels flinch in brain

Eeg= shows neuron activity in graphs combined neuron activity shows activity during different ations

Event related potentials

ECog- connected directly to brain, looking at it open

Blood Flow: Neuroimaging

PET

Magnetic Resonance imaging

noninvasive, allows carger, samples of individuals, allows us to more accurately measure location of activity. Detect how long it takes the brain to replenish itself

PET- measures variations in cerebral blood flow by tracking the decay of a radioactive tracer (unstable isotope) that's inserted into the brain

Decent spatial resolution, good at measuring neurotransmitter metabolism

Cons= radioactive, very expensive, poor temporal resolution (minutes), cannot detect the neural response to discrete cognitive events

Advances over PET= noninvasive, better spatial resolution, better temporal resolution

Measures changes in blood flow, blood flow is meausred in deoxygenating blood in your brain through a giant magnet spinning around your head

Temporal resolution still not as good as electrical activity measures, costs a lot, tells activity not necessity of specific areas

Sensation= conversion of energy from the environment into a pattern of responses by that nervous system

PErception- the interpretation of sensory information

Ears have specialized cells that can convery tiny mechanical movement caused by changes in air pressure into a neurological signal

Our touch system contains receptiors that are sensitive to physical pressure and chemical stimulation

our nose and tongue have cells that can convert moelcues into signals

It's most widely studied topic in neurobiology

it's critical to human experience

we know more about the eye than any other sense organ

It's compused of pulses of electromagnetic energy that vary in both wavelength and amplitude

amplitude of electromagnetic wave is what deterines the inensity (brightness) of light

Wavelength- frequency determines the hue (color) of ligh wave

They're in the back of our eyes- they convery electromagnetic energy from light into a recognizable pattern

Pupil- small adjustable opening in eye, through which light enters

Iris= colored adjustable part that is responsible for controlling the amount of light entering eye through pupil

Iris gets smaller and pupil gets larger when you're interested in something or it's night when you need to take in more light

iris gets larger to make pupil smaller to take in less light when it is bright our or when you're not very interested in something

Cornea- protectice surface on outer surface of eye that focuses light toward fovea

LEns- clear, flexible structure located behind cornea that can vary in thickness (different depths), and focus incoming light rays into an image on the back of our eyes

Retina- responsible for converting light rays into neural information

Fovea- central area of retina adapted for Detailed Vision

Rods and Cones: 3 types

Rods= vision in dim light, primary purpose is to detect motion

Cones= receptors adapted for color vision, daytime vision, and detailed vision

fovea has many cones

Layering and Columns related to brain structures and the paths to those structures

we have 3 types of receptors that are sensitive to 3 colors: red, blue, and green

color vision depends on the relative rate of response by the three types of cones

Each combination allows us to detect a different color, and location of the combinations tell us location of color

Only see 2 colors= dichromat miss some colors so can't differentiate colors like normal person

thrichromats- most of us have 3 types of cones- l cones, m cones, s cones

Momochromatism, protonapia

Alternate Option

Problem with trichromatic theory- negative afterimages

light and dark contrasts

We see color in ratios, opponent process theory- we colors in paired opposites:

red vs green

blue vs yellow

black vs white

Our cerabral cortex plays a role in how we interpret color

Calculating light hitting eyes and what light signal means in context of where you are

color constancy- comparing different patterns of light from different areas of the retina helps us estimate the color of what we're seeing

Lets you know people didn't change their clothes when light dims

Gestalt perception helps explain our interpretations

A field that focuses on our ability to perceive overall patterns

the whole is different and often greater than the sum of its parts

our perception is based on our attempts to create semblance out of mess of stimuli that we are presented

Gestalt principles-rules for how we make sense of the world

Binocular Cues

Retinal Disparity

Convergence

two eyes,

the position of an object is determined by the different signals received by the two eyes

Convergence- distance of object is determined by amound of eye mevement required to focus on an object

NEarer objects look bigger

Accommodation- our brains can detect how much the lens of the eye needed to shift in order to focus on an object

Detail- more detail signifies a closer object

Perceptual cues- motion parallax- close objects seem so move daster and farther objects move slower

surroinding cues

Nuerons that attend movement- ever-expanding activity

Nonsense syllable experiment where he attempted to examine how memory works (he was the subject)

Based on determining how fast a normal individual can learn and forget information, can form learning curve, forgetting curves

Experiments varied in # of syllables in the list, length of time before checking his memory after learning syllables, length of time before checking memory after reading syllables

free recall- ebbinghaus' work- study list of items and recall them in any order

cued- with hints, famous authors

recogniton- multiple choice

savings- ppl who relearn things relearn them easily

implicit memory example- ride bike, it's harder to explain it in words than just show someone

Capacity - infinite or really large

most info lasts only for a fraction of a second

after fraction, your brain breaks down info and attempts to remember only information deemed relevant

involves all senses including vision

Short Term Memory (Working MEmory)

7 +/- 2

Nonsense syllables example

phonological loop- stores and rehearses speech based information, contains information deemed relevant for time being, information sotred b/w 10 seconds to a few days, some sceintists say up to 6 years

after that, memories are forgotten(info not regarded as important) or placed into long-term memory store

Episodic buffer- link visual/verbal to long-term memory

visual spatial sketchpad manupulated visual information

Long Term Memory

Collection of information that we value, have time to remember, and/or deem of use in the future

information in this part of our memory if often very complex, but also subject to distortions , fabrications

Debate to whether or not we actually ever forget information once it's stored in long-term memory,

neurons associated with memory die, or brain is rewitign itself, reusing neurons for other things

permanent storage sometimes needs cues to recall information, mixture of memories that are sometimes forgotten or changed as stated above

explivit- declarative with conscious recall verbal

facts-general knowledge- semantic

personally experienced- episodic

i

implicit (nondeclarative) without conscious recall

-skills motor, dispositions

Encoding/ Consolidation Problems in Memory

Primacy Effect

Recency Effect

Primacy effect decreases when you are distracted by something before you start  task

Distracted at end of list reduces recency effect

Interference

Proactive

Retroactive

A loss of memory accuracy due to overlap of imformation when trying to recall specific details of lists/ events/ people

Proactive- new material is lost due to old material, ne addresses

Retroactive0 old material lost due to new material,

specific details about ex's

past material becomes coulded

Storage Retrieval Problems in memory

Reconstruction Effect

our tendency to include inaccurate information into our memories in an attempt to fill in the gaps

adding details to our reconstructed stories

Freud's work on repression, Loftus' research kids getting lost at mall, told parents-> never happened, but parents made up story anyway

Hindsight bias- you say you thought something would happen

We're more likely to reember information when we are in a conditoin that resembles the conditoin that we wre in when we learned the information

when you're using cafferine, same amount needed when you want to recall, related to working memory where you're presented info if best place to reproduce it

increased number of learning sessions allows for deeper processing, enhance primacy and recency effects

mnemonic devices, chunking, method of loci=add to things you remember well, visualize outragrous actions in home to help you remember wat you need to buy

Spearman's G factor

Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

one specific overall level of intelligence, could be result of outside factors/ eg health

3 main levels of intelligence (componential, experimental, contextual)

but one general intelligence since overlap

Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences

looking at basic skills in children. they have to identify major ideas

Mental age- age tht child's responses were indicative of

chronological age- actual age of the child

intelligence quotient- ma/ca *100

fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visualspatial reasoning, working memory

comparisons to others within age group

Stanford Binet Test- fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantative reasoning, visual spatial reasoning, and working memory

in comparison with others in your age group

David Wechsler made it less culturally dependent, intelligence scale for children

problems= culturally dictated based on english languaguage

subcomponents got at different types of intelligence

his test allowed ppl to look at different subscales verbal skills, performance,non verbal, working memory, and processing speed

different age groups- WAIS- aduilt intelligence

WISC-intelligence scale children up to 16

new tests have been created to counteract cultural biases of Stanford Binet and Wechsler test

-verbal ability

-fluency in English language

-knowledge of American culture

some ppl say Weschler's test with pictures is culturally biased,

ability to pick up on patterns

Heritability

Nature

Nuture

proportion of a characteristic that can be attributed to genetic makeup of parents

Nature-amount of a characteristic that can be attributed to our genes

nuture-amount of a characteristic that can be attributed to our environment

high level of inheritance of intelligence

when you get older, your inheritance of intelligence increases

worldwide increases in intelligence over the past few decades

each successive generation tends to score better on the previous generation's tests