Psychology Chapter 5 Quiz

Nervous System Overview

• Nervous system is the command center of the body, controlling movement, thoughts, and automatic responses.
• Neurons are the cells of the nervous system; they receive and transmit information via electrochemical impulses.

Nervous System Cells

• Cell body: Contains the nucleus of the neuron.
• Dendrites: Widely branching structures that receive input from other neurons.
• Axon: A single, long, thin fiber with branches near its tip; transmits information to other cells.
• Myelin sheath: Insulating layer that speeds up transmission along the axon.

Action Potential

• Transmission process in neurons involving electrical impulses.
• Function of an axon: Conveys information over long distances (e.g., skin to spinal cord, spinal cord to muscle).
• Action potential: An excitation traveling along the axon at a constant strength, irrespective of distance.
• Nerve signals are action potentials that are generated and conducted by neurons to target tissues.
• Example: Sending a message from the brain to the hand to pick up a glass of water.

How Action Potential Works

• Prior to action potential, a neuron's inside is negatively charged, and the outside is positively charged.
• The membrane has a resting potential—an electrical polarization across the membrane of the axon.
• A sodium-potassium pump pushes sodium ions out of the axon and pulls potassium ions in.
• Sodium ions are more concentrated outside the axon, and potassium ions are more concentrated inside.
• During action potential, sodium gates on the axon's membrane open, letting sodium ions enter (carrying a positive charge).
• The inward rush of positively charged sodium ions causes action potential.
• This positive charge stimulates the next point along the axon, opening more sodium channels.
• After action potential, sodium gates close and potassium gates open, allowing potassium ions to flow out of the axon.
• This restores the inside of the cell to its negative resting potential.

Synapse

• Specialized junction between neurons where information is passed from one neuron to the next.
• Neurotransmitter: Chemical that activates receptors on other neurons (e.g., presynaptic cell).
• Synapse is the junction of a presynaptic (message-sending) cell and a postsynaptic (message-receiving) cell.
• Neurotransmitter can either excite or inhibit the next neuron.

Neurotransmitters

• Dopamine: Controls movement, memory, and thinking; affected by antipsychotic drugs (reduction) and L-dopa (increase).
• Serotonin: Influences motivated and emotional behaviors; affected by antidepressant drugs.
• Norepinephrine: Controls movement, memory, and thinking; affected by antipsychotic drugs and L-dopa.
• Histamine: Increases arousal and alertness; blocked by antihistamines.
• Endorphins: Decrease pain and increase pleasure.

Brain & Behaviour

• Monism: The idea that mental activity and brain activity are inseparable.

Nervous System Components

• Central nervous system (CNS): Brain and spinal cord.
• Peripheral nervous system (PNS): Nerves connecting the spinal cord with the rest of the body.

Brain Lobes

• Occipital lobe: Located at the back of the head, responsible for interpreting incoming visual information.
• Temporal lobe: Located near the side of the head, responsible for hearing and certain aspects of vision.
• Frontal lobe: Located at the front of the brain, responsible for higher cognitive functions (e.g., decision-making, problem-solving, attention), and controls fine movements.
• Prefrontal cortex (frontal lobe): Responsible for higher-level cognitive functioning.

Hemispheres and Connections

• Left hemisphere: Specialized for language.
• Right hemisphere: Important for understanding spatial relationships and interpreting emotional expressions.
• Corpus callosum: A large set of nerve fibers connecting the left and right hemispheres, allowing information to be communicated between them.

Subcortical Areas

• Thalamus: Involved in relaying information between the cortex and brain stem.
• Limbic system: Consists of structures like the amygdala (processes emotions and memories associated with fear), the hippocampus (important for memory), and hypothalamus (regulates hunger, thirst, temperature, sex, and motivated behaviors).

Spinal Cord

• Structure controlling muscles from the neck down; controls reflexes (e.g., knee-jerk reflex).

Autonomic Nervous System

• Section of the nervous system controlling organs (heart, digestive system, etc.).
• Sympathetic nervous system: Activates the "fight/flight" response during perceived threat.
• Parasympathetic nervous system: Restores the body to a calm state.

Endocrine System

• Made up of glands that secrete hormones to coordinate bodily functions.

How Genes Affect Behavior

• Genes alter brain chemistry to affect behavior.
• Multiplier effect: A small initial advantage in behavior, potentially genetic, can be amplified by environmental factors.

Sensation & Perception

• Sensation: Conversion of energy into nervous system signals (e.g., light rays striking the eye).
• Perception: Interpretation of sensed signals (e.g., recognizing a roommate).
• Detection of light: Stimuli (energies from the environment) affect sensory organs (e.g., eyes). Receptors convert environmental energies into signals for the nervous system.
• Structures of the eye: Pupil (adjustable opening), iris (colored), and retina (visual receptors).
• Cornea & lens: Focus light on the retina.
• Fovea: Central area of the retina with the highest density of receptors.

Visual Receptors (Retina)

• Cones: Visual receptors adapted for color vision and daytime/detailed vision.
• Rods: Visual receptors adapted for vision in dim light.

Theories of Color Vision

• Trichromatic theory: Color vision depends on the relative response rate of three types of cones (sensitive to short, medium, and long wavelengths).
• Retinex theory: Brightness contrast, where an object's apparent brightness is affected by comparison to surrounding objects.

Hearing & Sound Waves

• Sound waves are vibrations that translate into electrical impulses by hair cells in the cochlea.
• Gate theory: Pain messages pass through a gate in the spinal cord which can block the messages.
• Endorphins: Chemical messenger that weakens pain sensations.

Gestalt Psychology

• Emphasizes perception of overall patterns rather than component parts.

Principles of Gestalt Psychology

• Proximity: Perceiving objects close together as a group.
• Similarities: Perceiving similar objects as a group.
• Closure: Perceiving incomplete figures as complete.
• Good figure/good continuation: Perceiving simple, symmetrical figures.

Depth Perception

• Perception of distance enabling us to experience the world in 3D.
• Factors important for depth perception include retinal disparity and convergence.

Development in Infants & Childhood

• Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS): Physical and mental impairments caused by alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
• Dishabituation: Response to a change in stimulus.
• Piaget's stages of cognitive development: Sensorimotor, Pre-operational, Concrete-operational, Formal-operational (stages discussed in text, including egocentrism and object permanence).

Erik's Psychosocial Stages

• Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy): Developing a sense of world safety.
• Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (1-3 years): Realizing independence in decision-making.
• Initiative vs. Guilt (3-6 years): Ability to try new things and handle failure.
• Industry vs. Inferiority (6-12 years): Learning skills and working with others.
• Identity vs. Role Confusion (Early teens): Seeking self-identity, life goals.
• Intimacy vs. Isolation (Late teens): Ability to care for others, experience strong relationships.
• Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle age): Contributing to younger people.
• Integrity vs. Despair (Later life): Viewing life as satisfactory.

Attachment Theory

• Strange Situation Test: Standardized procedure to observe attachment security in children within the context of caregiver relationships.
• Attachment styles: Securely attached, anxious (or resistant), and avoidant.

Learning (Operant and Classical Conditioning)

• Operant conditioning = changing behavior by providing a reinforcer after a response.
• Reinforcement = increases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated.
• Punishment = decreases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated.
• Reinforcement types: Positive (addition of something desirable) and Negative (removal of something undesirable).
• Classical conditioning: Learning through association between stimuli.

Social Learning

• Emphasizes learning by observing the behaviors of others.
• Vicarious reinforcement/punishment: Learning by observing the consequences of others' actions (reinforcement/punishment).
• Self-efficacy: Belief in one's ability to successfully perform a task (influences imitation).

Memory

• Methods of testing memory: Free recall, cued recall, recognition, savings.
• Explicit memory: Consciously recalled memories.
• Implicit memory: Unconsciously influence behavior. Includes procedural memory (how to do things) and other forms of implicit memory.
• Short-term memory: Temporary storage of recent events.
• Long-term memory: Relatively permanent storage; includes short-term memory, sensory memory, semantic memory (general knowledge), and episodic memory (personal experiences).
• Capacity of memory: Short-term memory has limited capacity; long-term memory has a vast capacity.
• Decay of memory: Brain representations weaken over time.
• Interference: Similar memories making it harder to recall.

Working Memory

• System for dealing with current information involving flexible attention shifts.
• Executive functioning: Cognitive processes that control attention.
• Factors influencing encoding (e.g., emotional arousal, repetition).
• Mnemonic devices: Aids to memory (e.g., method of loci).

Memory Impairments

• Amnesia: Loss of memory (anterograde – new memories; retrograde – past memories).
• Alzheimer's disease: Progressive brain disease causing memory loss.

Cognition and Learning

• Attention: Focusing on specific stimuli.
• Attention processes: Bottom-up (sensory input grabbing attention) and top-down (using experience and expectations)
• Conceptual networks & Priming: Activation of one concept activating related concepts.
• Thinking & problem-solving: Maximizing (finding the best choice) and satisficing (finding a satisfactory choice).
• Near/Far transfer: Skills learned in one context can transfer to another (near: similar; far: different).

Consciousness

• Subjective experience of self and surroundings.
• Measuring brain activity: EEG, MEG, fMRI.
• Ways of controlling consciousness (masking, flash suppression, binocular rivalry).
• States of consciousness: Coma, vegetative state, minimally conscious state.
• Circadian rhythms: Internal body clock regulating daily activity.
• Sleep stages (NREM 1-3, REM).
• Sleep disorders(Insomnia, Sleep Apnea, Narcolepsy)

Personality

• Psychodynamic approach (Freud): Unconscious forces, conflicts, and childhood experiences.
• Components of personality (Id, Ego, Superego).
• Defense mechanisms (e.g., repression, denial, rationalization, displacement).
• Jung's theory, collective unconscious, archetypes.
• Adler's theory, social interest, inferiority complex.
• Rogers' humanistic theory, self-concept, ideal self, unconditional positive regard.
• Big five model of personality: Openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism.