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Test 1
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95
Physiology
Undergraduate 2
09/26/2013

Additional Physiology Flashcards

 


 

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Term
cognitive psychology
Definition
is the scientific study of the mental processes that underlie behavior
Term
Aristotle in 1879-the year experimental psychology started
Definition
September 11 1956-when cognitive psychology began
Term
Aristotle
Definition

1) orginator of psychology

2) used rational approach (hypothesis thinking) to understand behavior through reason and intuition

 

Term
Wilhelm Wundt
Definition

1) Father of scientific psychology

2) used empirical approach

3) understand behavior using direct oberservation and testing

Term
Edward Tichener
Definition
  • school of though of sturalism
  • focused on struture of mind/consciousness
  • brought wundts psy. to US
  • main method=introspection
Term
introspection
Definition
  • to look inward to see how you percieve things and do things.
  • introspec should never be used by it self said wundt
  • when you introspec you break things down to it's most basic componets.
Term
williams James (Fuctionalism)
Definition
  • very influenced by theory of evolution (changes within organism)
  • interested in fuction of mind. (ex. learning b/c it's adpative to society)
Term
John Watson (Behaviorism)
Definition
  • offically began in 1913 (strongest in 1930s-1950s)
  • major school of thought
  • studied only objective, obsverable behavior
  • focused on learning
Term
Miller, Lashley, Hebb & Neisser (Cognitive)
Definition
  • revolts against behaviorism
  • emphasized internal, mental entities
  • began in 1956 (millers 7+/-2 article)
Term
Mind-body problem
Definition
the problem of how a physcal substanace (the brain ) can give rise to our feelings, thoughts and emotions (our mind)
Term
dualism
Definition
the belief that mind and brain are made up of different kinds of substances
Term
dual-aspect theory
Definition
the mind and brain are tow levels of description of the same thing
Term
Broca documented two cases in which acquired brain damage had:
Definition
imparied the ability to speak but left other aspects of cognition relatively intact. he conclued that language could be localized to a particular region of the brain.
Term
top-down processing
Definition

the influence of later stages on the processing of earlier ones (memory influences on perception).

  • ex. when you look at grandma's face brain regions that store info. about what faces look like, particularly those that are familiar to us can help you to perceive and recognize the specific visual stimulus
Term
parallel processing
Definition
different information is processed at the same time (parallel)
Term
temportal resolution
Definition
the accuracy with which one can measure when an event is occurring. The effects of brain damage are perminent and so this has no temporal resolution as such. Methods such as EEG, MEG, TMS anad single-cell recording have millisecond resolution. Pet and fMRI have temporal resolutions of minutes and seconds, respectively that reflect the slower haemodynamic response.
Term
Spatial resolution
Definition
the accuaracy with which one can measure where an event is occurring. Lesion and fuctional imaging methiods have comaparle resolution that millimetre leve, whereas single-cell recrding have spaial resolution at the level of the neurons.
Term
invasiveness
Definition
methods refers to whether or not the equipment is located internally or externally. PET is invasive b/c it requies an injection of a radio-labelled isotope
Term
thoery of modularity
Definition
  • the notion that certain cognitive processes (or regions of the brain) are restricted in the tupe of information they process
Term
Fodors (thoery of modularity) classes of cognitive process
Definition
  • Modules are held to be demain specific in that they rpocess only one particular type of info. (color, shape, words, faces).
  • Central systems are held to be domain independant in that the type of information processed in non-specific (memory, attention, executive functions)
Term
Sensation
Definition
the act of using our sensory systems to detect environmental stimuli
Term
perception
Definition

reconition and identification of a sensory stimulus

  • perception involves both bottom-up and top-down processing occurring at the same time
Term
Absolute threshold
Definition
a stimulus must, however, reach a certain level of intensity before we can detect it, because the conversion of physical stimuli into neural impulses only ocurs when the stimuli reach this level or threshold. the minimal stimulus necessary for dection by an individual (ex.detecting a candal flame a mile away on a clear night)
Term
Difference threshold/just noticable difference
Definition
the minimal ifferece between two stimuli necessary for detection of a difference between the two
Term
bottom-up
Definition
  • perception that proceeds by transducing environmental stimuli into neural impulses that move onto successively more complex brain regions
  • ex. when you look at the face of your grandmother, your eyes convert light energy into neural impulses, which travel into the brain to visual regions.
Term
Odorants
Definition
  • sensation of smell begins when (blank) enter the nose.
  • they are converted to neural signals at the sensory receptors located in our nasal mucosa.
  • these sensory receptors are located on the cilia or hairlike structures of olfactory receptor neurons
  • these chemicals bind to receptors however continous binding will result in fatigue of the olfactory receptor receptor neurons to which they bind.
  • in other words the cell will stop responding to the odorant unless it's given a chance to recoverso it can fire again
  • Ex. when you walk into a resturant you smell all the different ingrediants within the food that is being made. if you stay in the resturant long enough the receptors will stop responding to the good food smell however if you walk outside to talk on your phone then walk back in you will gain that sense of smell again because your olfactory receptor neurons would have gotten a break from constant exposure to the food odorants.
Term
gustatory Sense (Taste)
Definition
  • is independent of smell its major organ is the tongue
Term
Papillae
Definition
clumps of taste buds each of which contins sixty to one hundred sensory receptors cells for taste
Term
Four major kinds of taste receptors
Definition

Bitter, salt, sweet, sour

fifth is called umami used in cooking asian food and american fast food

Term
capsaicin-from chili peppers, activates pain receptors located in the tongue.
Definition
insula-is associated with the emotion of disgust
Term
olfactory bulb
Definition
located at the base of the front of the brain, beneath the frontal lobes. Olfactory information is then sent to regions of the cerebral cortex that are important for recognizing and discriminating among odors, indluding the prirform cortex
Term
studies have shown that piriform cortex is plastic or changeable in adulthood
Definition
for children one of the most enjoyable types of somatosensory input is being tickled
Term
top-down processing example
Definition

exposure to one of the chemicals is paired with a painful shock to the leg, humans can be taught to discriminate between the odors.

  • learning about associations between ordors and other experiences (such as shock) can influence our ability to perceive sensory information in the future
Term
anosmia-inability to smell
Definition
ageusia-inability to taste
Term
reflex epilepsy-to experience a seizure only after exposure to a specific odor.
Definition
familial dysautonomia-inability to detect pain or temperature (unable to feel pain )
Term
contralaterally
Definition
human brain processes tactile information on the opposite side of the brain from the side of the body where the touch occurred.
Term
Fast pathway
Definition

uses myelinated axons that signals faster than unmyelinated axons.

  •  Pain inforamtion recieved via the fast pathway helps us to respond quickly with a withdrawal reflex, such as fulling a hand away from touching a hot stove
Term
free nerve endings
Definition
located mostly near the surface of skin and fuction to detect touch, pressure, pain and temperature
Term
messner's corpuscles
Definition
transduce information about sensitve touch and are found in the hairless regions of the body, such as fingertips, lips and palms
Term
Merkel's Disc
Definition
transduce information about light to moderate pressure against the skin
Term
rufftni's End-organ
Definition
are located deep in the skin. They resgister heavy pressure and movement of the joints
Term
Pacinian Corpuscles
Definition
Are also buried deep in the skin and respond to vibrations and heavy pressure.
Term
gate control theory of pain
Definition
suggest that certain patterns of neural activity can close a gate or keep pain information from traveling to parts of the brain where it is perceived
Term
Chronic pain
Definition
most common abnormality association with the somatosensory system is that of (blank) pain lasting for longer than 3 months.
Term
endrophines & enkephlains
Definition
  • naturally occuring pain-killing chemicals in the brain
  • they both belong to a class of moleules called opiates
  • runners high allows people to perform heroic physical actions under extreme duress (endrophine)
Term
cingulotomy
Definition
an extreme from of neurosurgery to relieve intractable chronic pain (destruction of the cingulate cortex)
Term
Phanton Limb sensation
Definition

when people experience sensations that are actually felt pervioiusly as opposed to random seantions.

ex. someone who previously wore a ring or a watch is more liley have the sense of wearing one after an amputation than is a person who didn't wear a watch or ring.

Term
tympanic membrane-the ear drum
Definition
ossicles-tiny bones in the ear called the hammer, anvil, and stirrup
Term
oval window
Definition
a membrance separating the ossibles and teh inner ear, deflection of which causes a wave to form in the cochlea
Term
cochlea
Definition
fluidfilled structure in the inner ear, contains the hair cells
Term
basilar membrane
Definition
struture in the cochlea where the hair cells are located
Term
hair cells
Definition
sensory receptors that convert sound waves into neural impulses
Term
freguency theory
Definition

suggest that different sound frequencies are converted into difference rates of action potentials or firing in our auditory nerves.

According to this theory, high frequency sounds produce a more raid firing than do low-frequency sounds although there may be some truth to frequency theory different firing rates contributr to sound perception of low tones.

researches agree that this theory cannot fully explain sound perception

Term
place theory
Definition
holds that differences in sound frequency activiate different regions on the basilar membrane. regions along the basilar membrane send inputs to the brain that are encoded according to the place along the membrane where the inputs originated.
Term
cocktail party effect (top-down processing)
Definition

the brain is able to attend to and pick up on relevant sounds even in a very noisy environment.

ex. (your name, or names of ppl who interest you, grap your attention and focus your auditory perception because you hve perviously learned their importance.

Term
how auditory system localize sound
Definition
if your dirving in a car and you hear the sound of an ambulance siren, you need to determine whether the ambulance is far away or close up in order to decide whether or not to pull over to the side of the road to let the ambulance pass. you also need to determine from which direction the sound is approaching you
Term
How the auditory system localize sound
Definition
  • general loudness- loud sounds are closer than quiet sounds.
  • loudness in ear ear-the ear closer to the sound hears louder noise than the ear farther from the sound
  • timing-sound waves will reach the ear closer to the source of the sound before they reach the ear farther away.
Term
auditory assoication areas ( in cortex)
Definition
help to link the sounds we hear with parts of the brain involved in the language comprehension
Term
absolute pitch
Definition
the ability to recognize or produce any note on a musical scale
Term
tinnitus-ringing in the ear
Definition
blind spot-location where your optic nerve leaves your retina
Term
photons
Definition
  • light is made of of particles
  • the light that we see can is part of the electromagnetic spectrum of energy that also incldues many forms we cannot see such as X-ray and radio waves.
Term
Retina
Definition
  • a specialized sheet of nerve cells in the back of the eye containing the sensory receptors for vision
  • it reduces transduce light waves into neural impulses that the brain can process
Term
Photoreceptors
Definition
  • the sensory receptor cells for vision, located in the retina
Term
rods
Definition
  • photoreceptors most responsive to levels of light and dark
  • critical for night vision
  • over 100 million in the human retina
  • concentrated at the peripheral edges of the retina
Term
cones
Definition
  • photoreceptors responsive to color
  • cones are concentrated more in the center than periphery of the retina
Term
optic nerve
Definition

the bundle of axons of ganglion cells that carries visual information form the eye to the brain

 

Term
fovea
Definition
  • the region of the retina and where our vision is at its sharpest, is entirely made up of cones.
Term
hue
Definition
  • the wave-length of light that the visual stimulus produces
  • the most basic aspect of color
Term
saturation
Definition

refers to how pure and deep the color appears

ex. how much white is mixed into the color

Term
brightness
Definition
how much light emanates or reflected from the visual stimulus
Term
trichromatic theory of color
Definition
  • maintains that there are three difference sensors for color and that each type of sensor responds to a different range of wave-lengths of light
  • this theory is largely correct in that people with normal color vision have three difference kinds of cones. one tupe responds to light in the yellowish-red wave-length, another to the green wavelengths, and the thrid to the light in the bluish-purple wave-length.
Term
oppenent process theory
Definition
  • colors pars work to inhibit one another in the perception of color.
  • ex. red inhibits the perception of green, yellow inhibitsblue, and black inhibits white there is also some truth to this theory because we cannot mix certain combinations of colors. for example we cannot see reddish green or blush yellow; instead we see brown or green
  • ex. staring at a white dot in the middle of a green and black flag. after about 30 seconds if you stare at a white sheet of paper, you will see an afterimage that is red and white

 

 

Term
lateral geniculate nucleus
Definition

activity in a region of the thalmus that receives visual information

inputs to this nucleus from one color of an opposing pair inhibit those from the other color in the pair.

so inputs carring red information prevent the firing og neurons that convey green information.

Term
color blindness-most common is red-green
Definition
prosopagnosia-cannot recognize faces
Term
visual agnosia
Definition
  • patients with damage to the part of the temporal cortex which houses the what pathway cannot recognize objects visually.
  • ex. when shown a rose, they can descrie it, but they cannot name it. if they are allowed to touch or smell the rose, however, they can immdiately identity it as a rose

 

Term
hemi-neglect
Definition
  • damage to the where pathway
  • ex. when given the task of puring water form a pitcher into a glass, they will ivariably miss and pour the water onto the table or floor.
  • patients with this particular kind of damage completely ignore one side of their vidual field.
  • because nerves that carry visual information cross to the opposite sides of the brain, people with damage to the left side of their where pathways neglect the right side and vice versa
Term
Gestalt psychology
Definition
the area of study focused on understanding principles by which we perceive and recognize visual stimuli in the their entirety despite limited information.
Term
proximity (gestalt psy)
Definition

this law indicates that vidual stimuli near to one another tend to be grouped together.

ex. AA AA AA is seen as three groups while AAA AAA is seen as two groups

Term
Similarity
Definition

the stimuli resembling one another tend to be grouped together.

AAaa is viewed as two groups because of the dissimilar appearance of upper and lowercase letters

 

Term
Continuity
Definition
indicates that stimuli falling along the saem plane tend to be grouped togetherAAA  wold be organized into two perceptual groups because they are not on the same line.
Term
Good form
Definition

indicates that stimuli forming a shape tend to be grouped together while those that do not remain ungrouped.

ex. a similey face verus :) the latter is percieved as 2 separate symbols.

Term
closure
Definition
we tend to fill in small gaps in objects so that they are still perceived as whole objects.
Term
retinal disparty
Definition
  • the slight difference in images processed by the retinas of each eye
  • ex. holding up a finger at arm's length away from your face. close first one eye, then the other, and note how the position of your finger seems to change relative to objects in the background beyound the finger.
Term
convergence
Definition
  • inward movement of the eyes to view objects close to oneself.
  • ex. put finger at arms lenth from you and watch it as you bring it closer and closer to your face. note the sensation you feel as you do so.
Term
monocular cues
Definition
  • visual clues about depth and distance that can be perceived using information from only one eye.

 

Term
perceptual constancies
Definition
  • our tendencies to view objects as unchanging in some ways, even though the actual visual sensaton we reeive are constantly shifting.
  • ex. when a resturant owner dimes the lights for the evening and the actual light waves we are receiving change in intensity, a phenomenon known as color constancy
Term
shadowing
Definition
participants hear a tape recording of someone speaking and must echo this speech back, word for word, while they are listening to it.
Term
attended channel
Definition
the message to be shadowed.
Term
unattended channel
Definition
  • presented in the left earphone, and participants are instructed to ignore this message
  • we somehow block procewssing of the inputs we're not interested in, much as a sentry blocks the path of unwanted guests buy simply stands back and allows legitimate guest to pass.
Term
dichotic listening-is when you listen to the attended channel then ignore the unattended channel
Definition
divided attention-the attempt to do two things at once
Term
inattentional blindness
Definition
  • failure to see caused by inattention
  • ex. if someone is told to look at a + sign and nothing else then comes a triangle shape they will probably miss it because they weren't paying attention to the shape but to the + sign.
Term
change blindness
Definition
  • observes inability to detect changes in scenes they are looking directly at.
  • ex. if pictures in the pair are identical except for some single aspect: an extra engine shown on the airplane in one picture and not in the other.
Term
neutral (priming)
Definition

before each pair, participants saw a warning signal.

this signal wared participants that the stimuli were able to arrive but provided no other information

 

Term
two types of priming (high validity)
Definition

expectation based.

created only when the participant believes the prime allows a prediction of what's to come

Term
low validity
Definition

stimulus based.

produced merely by presentation of the priming stimulus, which no role for expectation.

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