is
ar stu
ed d
vi y re
aC s
o
ou urc
rs e
eH w
er as
o.
co
m
Research Methods:
o Five basic tenets of the scientific approach
o Observe Events
o Develop a Theory
o Hypothesis
o Conduct empirical research
o Communicate your findings
o What is determinism?
o Everything is caused by some identifiable factors (Everything happens for a
reason)
 Psychology: All behavior is caused by something
o Characteristics of a good theory:
o Testable
 If theory can’t be empirically tested can’t be falsified, can never be proven
o Parsimony
 The simplest explanation
o Fruitfulness
 Raises many new questions
 Doesn’t just end w/ proving hypothesis
o Hypothesis: A prediction or statement about the relationship between two or more
variables
o What is reliability?
o Inter-rater reliability: To what extent different raters agree in behavior observation
o Test-retest reliability: Being able to conduct a test multiple times and get the same
answer
o Why do we randomly assign?
o To get rid of any bias
o Can’t do an experiment without randomness
sh
Th
Biological Basis of Behavior:
o Be able to explain why a neuron is like a battery:
o What is graded potential:
o The stimulation of neurons by other neurons (Up until the axon hillock)
o Exciation Response: (Depolarized) Increasing the likelihood of an AP
o Inhibited Response: (Hyperpolarized) Decreasing the likelihood of an AP
o Spatial Summation/temporal summation: Graded potentials measured through
space/time
o Be able to describe time course: Look at graph
o What is myelination?
o Use of the myelin sheath to speed up connectivity
o Describe how action potentials reflect activity of a neuron despite all action potentials
being identical
o The degree of activation of a neuron corresponds to firing rate
o Because of the absolute refractory period, there is a maximal firing rate (toilet ex)
This study source was downloaded by 100000831203021 from CourseHero.com on 10-11-2021 21:02:48 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/51437688/Psych-1-study-guide-chapter-1-7docx/
sh
Th
is
ar stu
ed d
vi y re
aC s
o
ou urc
rs e
eH w
er as
o.
co
m
o The more charges in a given amount of time, the more active the neuron is
o What is Synaptic Transmission?
o Action potential reaching terminal button of presynaptic neuron releases
neurotransmitters stored in vesicles into synaptic cleft
o Describe the major parts and subparts of the nervous system
o Central Nervous System:
 Brain connected to the spine
 Brainstem: connects spinal cord to rest of the brain
o Hindbrain: Structures needed for survival
 Reticular activating system: consciousness
 Cerebellum: Motor control
o Midbrain: Control sensory processes
 Forebrain:
o Thalamus: It relays station for all sensory information
(except for smell)
o Hypothalamus: Controls autonomic NS and pituitary
hormone production
o Limbic System: ***
 Amygdala: Linked to emotions
 Hippocampus: Processing new memories
o Cerebrum: 90% of the brain
 Frontal Lobe: Motor control, attention, planning,
social skills, memory, personality
 Broca’s Area: Speech production (left
hemisphere)
 Temporal: Hearing, language processing
 Wernicke’s area: Speech comprehension
(Left hemisphere)
 Parietal: touch, movement, detection, object
location
 Occipital: vision
o Cerebral Cortex: Cerebrum’s Outside Layer
 Lateralization:
o Left Hemisphere: Language, logic and complex moter
behavior
o Right Hemisphere: Non-linguistic functions including
recognition of faces, places and sounds (music)
o Contralateral: Right hemisphere controls left side & Left
hemisphere controls right side (PSY)
o Corpus Callosum: Connects left and right hemispheres
o Split-Brain Study:
 Corpus callosum is severed
 Two sides cannot communicate with each other
 Cannot say something that is in the left visual field
o Peripheral Nervous System:
This study source was downloaded by 100000831203021 from CourseHero.com on 10-11-2021 21:02:48 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/51437688/Psych-1-study-guide-chapter-1-7docx/
Autonomic:
 “Automatic” bodily functions
o Sympathetic:
 “Fight, freeze or flee”
o Parasympathetic:
 Calms us down
o **Separation of sympathetic and parasympathetic NS in the
spinal cord**
 Somatic:
 **Gaps in spinal cord correspond to the somatic NS**
Sensation and Perception:
o Name 3 basic principles regarding sensation (give examples of each)
o Not one-to-one correspondence between physical and psychological reality
 Ambiguous figures
o Active processes (sensation and perception)
 Turning head to get better look
o Adaptive (sensation and perception, evolutionary perspective)
 Face perception, speech perception
o Distal stimulus
o Actual object
o Proximal stimulus
o Image on retina
o Transduction
o Translate physical stimulation into neural signals
o Absolute threshold
o Minimal amt of physical energy for stimulus to be detected 50% of time
o Relative (difference) threshold
o Minimal amount of change in intensity of physical energy for difference to be
detected
o Just noticeable difference & weber fraction
o JND (minimum difference in stimulation that is just noticeable 50% of time)
o Weber fraction (change in intensity ÷ intensity = constant)
 Signal detection theory (to determine threshold)
 Absolute threshold (signal presented/not presented)
 Difference threshold (difference exists/does not exist)
o Dimensions that characterize sound waves
o Frequency (pitch)
o Amplitude (loudness)
o Complexity (timbre)
o 2-5 khz, b/c it is speaking level
o dB scale (intensity based on amt of energy)
 logarithmic b/c large range where each 10 dB increase (intensity)
corresponds to 10-fold increase (energy)
o auditory absolute threshold
sh
Th
is
ar stu
ed d
vi y re
aC s
o
ou urc
rs e
eH w
er as
o.
co
m

This study source was downloaded by 100000831203021 from CourseHero.com on 10-11-2021 21:02:48 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/51437688/Psych-1-study-guide-chapter-1-7docx/
sh
Th
is
ar stu
ed d
vi y re
aC s
o
ou urc
rs e
eH w
er as
o.
co
m
o generated b/c can’t hear anything from 20-20,000 hz (20 kHz)
o 2-5
o higher frequency hearing loss (mosquito)
 ear decay of auditory canal/aging
o anatomy of ear
o auditory canal (amplifies sounds 2-5kHz)
o stapes/stirrups (vibrates against oval window, creates pressure waves, leads to
transduction by hair cells on basilar membrane in cochlea)
o determining frequency of sound
o place theory (different places of basilar membrane sensitive to diff frequencies,
especially for high frequencies)
o frequency theory (higher frequency, more frequently basilar membrane vibrates,
especially for low frequencies, low frequencies travel further)
 Be able to describe the flow of information (i.e., visual pathway) from the left and
right eyes to the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe and further along the
“what” and “where” pathways:
o Visual Pathway:
 The distal stimulus is what you see
 The light reflected off of the object you are viewing goes to the back of
your eye (retina)
 Light hits the photoreceptors (rods and cones)
 Information from the photoreceptors then creates an excretory or
inhibitory response that ganglion cells respond to
 The retina (Ganglion cells) then sends information the LGN
 LGN the Primary Visual Cortex (V1) (In the occipital lobe)
 “Where” – Where pathway to Parietal Lobe
 “Ventral” – What pathway to Temporal Lobe
 Know what the 2 general classes of photoreceptors are and where they are located
relative to the fovea on the retina. Be able to describe ON center – OFF center
receptive field organization.
o Two general classes: Rods and Cones
o Rods
 Located on the outside of the retina
 A LOT more rods than cones
o Cones
 Located on the inside of the retina
o Fovea is in the retina – allows you to focus on a singular point
o The photoreceptors create an ON Center or OFF Center reaction in the Ganglion
Cell
 ON Center – excitatory
 Circle Example: + on inside
 OFF Center – Inhibitory
 Circle Example: - on inside
 Be able to describe the activity of a ganglion cell in response to a spot of light
somewhere in its center-surround receptive field and how that activity changes
This study source was downloaded by 100000831203021 from CourseHero.com on 10-11-2021 21:02:48 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/51437688/Psych-1-study-guide-chapter-1-7docx/
sh
Th

is
ar stu
ed d
vi y re
aC s
o
ou urc
rs e
eH w
er as
o.
co
m

before, during, and after presentation of a small spot of light in the center of the
receptive field. Know that the ganglion cells are involved in form perception by
detecting edges of objects via contrast.
o Lights hits the retina (photoreceptors)
o That light/information goes to the Ganglion Cells
o Depending on the amount of light received it creates an expiatory or inhibitory
responses to the LGN
 This enables us to see edges
o Before? During? After?
Be able to describe the perceptual evidence and physiological basis for the two
different theories of color vision.
o Trichromatic Theory
 Perceptual Evidence
 Additive Theory
 Subtractive Theory
 Color Blindness
 Physiological Basis
 3 cone types
o Short: Blue
o Medium: Green
o Long: Red
 2 types of Photoreceptors
o Rods and cones
o Opponent Process Theory (After Images)
 Physiological Evidence
 Ganglion Cells
 Ganglion Cell Receptive Fields
o Black/white (Luminance)
o Red/Green (Chrominance)
o Blue/Yellow (Chrominance)
Monocular/Binocular cues
o Monocular Cues: Details

interposition, relative height/size, linear perspective, texturegradient, figure ground, shadow
o Binocular Cues
 vergance (feedback from eye muscles provide info about extent to which
eyes are fixating on far vs. near point
 retinal disparity, dept corresponds to lateral diff in relative positions of
images from left/right eye, very sensitive
 binocular sterogram (stimulus can be recognizable monocularly, but don’t
need to be)
 primary visual cortex = binocular input, left eye = black, right = white
Be able to describe and identify the gestalt principles or organization and the
perceptual constancies.

This study source was downloaded by 100000831203021 from CourseHero.com on 10-11-2021 21:02:48 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/51437688/Psych-1-study-guide-chapter-1-7docx/



sh


is
ar stu
ed d
vi y re
aC s
o
ou urc
rs e
eH w
er as
o.
co
m

Th

o tendency for perceived objects to lead to similar perceptual experiences despite
varying conditions of observation
 size
 shape
 lightness
o Gestalt priniciples
 figure and ground
 perceptual grouping (proximity, similarity, good continuation, closure,
common fate)
consciousness
o state of awareness of internal sensations
o knowledge of thoughts/internal dialogue
o cognizance of self as separate from others
o understanding of external environment
o function (restrict stimuli focused/noticed, select info for memory, plan based on
past and future)
REM sleep
o periods get longer as night progresses
o 90 min
o decreases drastically in first few years, relatively constant after 9 y.o.
o rapid eye movements = dreaming
o increased autonomic NS activity
o motor paralysis (except diaphragm)
REM vs. NREM
o more dreams in REM, dreams in NREM less sensory info/more like daytime
thought
Freudian dream analysis
o all dreams are instances of wish fulfillment
o appear in disguised form b/c harboring hidden desires
 latent content (true, undisguised meaning of dream)
 manifest content (dream as dreamer reports it)
contemporary approaches to dream analysis
o early research = activation synthesis model (signals from brain stem produce
random memories and connections with dreamer’s past
o current research = dreams from same processes as daydreaming, hippocampus
and amygdala (memory) are active during REM sleep
sleep consolidates new memories, encodes new info, prevents forgetting learned info
stages of memory
o sensory input  sensory
o attention  working/short term
o encodinglong-term (long-term  working = retrieval)
processes of memory
o encoding, storage, retrieval
whole / partial report for iconic memory
o whole: report as many as you can


This study source was downloaded by 100000831203021 from CourseHero.com on 10-11-2021 21:02:48 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/51437688/Psych-1-study-guide-chapter-1-7docx/










sh
Th

is
ar stu
ed d
vi y re
aC s
o
ou urc
rs e
eH w
er as
o.
co
m

o partial: report only subset of stimuli designated by hi, med, low tones (can
accurately report composition of row, but not letter vs. number)
divided attention (shadowing task)
o echoic memory
o auditory modality analogous to iconic memory, duration up to 4 sec
o explains where you don’t hear something b/c not paying attention, but can “hear”
what was said when called on if occurring within 2-4 sec of occurrence
o can hear change of gender and own name
working memory
o central executive – controls attention, coordinates info from phonological loop
and visuo-spatial sketchpad
o phonological loop – speech-based info, overlaps with STM
o visuospatial sketchpad—analogous to phonological loop for visual info
o episodic buffer – combines current and LTM info
Short term memory
o 15-30 sec w/o maintenance rehearsal / repeated
o capacity ~ 7 + 2 items / chunks of info
o chunking = LTM info used to increase item size in STM
Long term memory
o representations of facts/images/actions and skills needed for life
o procedural memory (riding bike)
o declarative memory (facts/events, semantic/episodic)
levels of processing
o elaboration
o self-reference effect (associating info w/oneself to help w/retrieval)
o generation effect (memory better for info created by self)
context-dependent memory studies
o location
 study (on land or underwater)
 test (on land or underwater)
 performance better if study & test identical
massed vs. distributed practice
o massed=cramming, need more time
organization of concepts
o not in isolation but building blocks of memory
 basic level category (level where ppl best categorize and think about
objects), depends on experience
o concepts are building blocks for complex mental structures called schemas that
are conceptual frameworks (ex. kitchen, restaurant)
prototype concepts (most average member of category)
exemplar concepts (remember specific examples)
remembering=reconstructive process
o reconstruct info based on LTM info
o misinformation effect: adding new incorrect info to memory
theories of forgetting
This study source was downloaded by 100000831203021 from CourseHero.com on 10-11-2021 21:02:48 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/51437688/Psych-1-study-guide-chapter-1-7docx/









sh
Th

is
ar stu
ed d
vi y re
aC s
o
ou urc
rs e
eH w
er as
o.
co
m

o decay theory (memory like fading neural trace weakened w/disuse)
o interference theory (conflict btwn new/old memories)
 proactive interference (old info interferes w/new info)
 retroactive interference (new info interferes w/old info)
o motivated forgetting/repression (forgetting avoids painful memories)
o forgetting can be beneficial (in relearning, can gain insight)
serial position effect
o primacy (first) b/c distinctive & recency (last) context most similar to current
times effect
cerebellum
o procedural memory
o memory acquired by repetition
o classically conditioned responses
striatum
o habit formation & stimulus response connections
cerebral cortex
o sensory memories & associations btwn sensations
hippocampus
o declarative memory, special memory, consolidation
amygdala
o emotional memories
subtractive method
serial/parallel processes
o controlled processes require attn., automatic processes don’t
language structure
o grammar – field of study describing way language structured & used
 phonology – study of sounds put together to form words
 phoneme – smallest unit of speech distinguishes btwn 2 things, i.e.
b & p bin/pin (symbolic)
 phonetics – study and classification of speech sounds in real life
 syntax – way/how words strung together to make sentence
 morpheme = minimum distinctive unit of grammar that can’t be
divided w/o losing meaning, bins = 2 morphemes bin & s
 semantics – study of meanings of words & changes over time
 lexical meaning – dictionary meaning of word
 pragmatics – rules for participation in conversations
o competence – idealized capacity (linguistics)
o performance – actual performance (psychology)
mental imagery (visual cognition)
o the more the figure was rotated from upright, longer reaction time
problem solving
o when initial and goal states well defined, possible to find solution using algorithm
o heuristics (strategies) when algorithms unavailable
o think-aloud protocols – participants verbalize
o problem solving by analogy
This study source was downloaded by 100000831203021 from CourseHero.com on 10-11-2021 21:02:48 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/51437688/Psych-1-study-guide-chapter-1-7docx/



sh
Th
is
ar stu
ed d
vi y re
aC s
o
ou urc
rs e
eH w
er as
o.
co
m

inductive reasoning
o from specific observations to general propositions
deductive
o drawing conclusion from assumptions
o conclusion true if premises true
o syllogism = set of formal statements used in deductive reasoning, are
premise/conclusion (if/then)
heuristics
o cognitive shortcuts for selecting alternative w/o considering each alternative
o ppl infer frequency of event based on how readily comes to mind
o adaptive b/c things remember tend to be impt
o can lead to biased judgement when memorable events infrequent
when human reasoning/judgements/decision making not rational
o emotions = illogical responses
This study source was downloaded by 100000831203021 from CourseHero.com on 10-11-2021 21:02:48 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/51437688/Psych-1-study-guide-chapter-1-7docx/
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)