Psychology Final Exam Review CORE INFO PDF

**Psychology CORE INFO -- Final Exam Study Review** **Mitchell Reid** ### **Psychology Lecture \#6** **Consciousness** - **Definition**: Person's subjective experience of the world and the mind. - **Phenomenology**: How things seem to the conscious person. **Mysteries of Consciousness*...

**Psychology CORE INFO -- Final Exam Study Review** **Mitchell Reid** ### **Psychology Lecture \#6** **Consciousness** - **Definition**: Person's subjective experience of the world and the mind. - **Phenomenology**: How things seem to the conscious person. **Mysteries of Consciousness** - **Problem of Other Minds**: Difficulty in perceiving others' consciousness. Judged by capacity for experience and agency. - **Mind-Body Problem**: Relationship between mind, brain, and body. Descartes: pineal gland. Modern view: mental events tied to brain events. **Four Basic Principles** 1. **Intentionality**: Directed toward an object. 2. **Unity**: Resistance to division. 3. **Selectivity**: Inclusion of some objects over others. 4. **Transience**: Tendency to change. **Levels of Consciousness** - Range: Minimal consciousness → Full consciousness → Self-consciousness. **Suppressing Thoughts** - **Mental Control**: Changing conscious states of mind. - **Thought Suppression**: Avoiding a thought. - **Rebound Effect**: Suppressed thoughts return more frequently. **The Unconscious Mind** - **Dynamic Unconscious** (Freud): Hidden memories, desires, and struggles. - **Repression**: Removing unacceptable thoughts from consciousness. - **Cognitive Unconscious**: Mental processes not consciously experienced. - **Dual Process Theories**: - **System 1**: Fast, automatic, unconscious. - **System 2**: Slow, effortful, conscious. **Sleep and Dreaming** - **Altered States**: Changes in thinking, time perception, control, emotions, self-image, and sensory distortions. - **Theories of Sleep**: - **Adaptive Theory**: Evolutionary self-preservation. - **Restorative Theory**: Restores brain/body and removes wastes. **Sleep Cycle** - **Circadian Rhythm**: 24-hour biological cycle. - **Stages**: 1--4 (non-REM) and REM (dreaming, body immobilized). - **Sleep Needs**: Memory deteriorates without sleep. REM and slow-wave deprivation most harmful. **Sleep Disorders** - **Insomnia**: Difficulty falling/staying asleep. - **Sleep Apnea**: Breathing stops briefly. - **Somnambulism**: Sleepwalking. - **Narcolepsy**: Sudden sleep attacks. - **Sleep Paralysis**: Waking up unable to move. - **Night Terrors**: Panic and emotional arousal during sleep. **Dreams** - **Characteristics**: Intense emotion, illogical thought, meaningful sensation, uncritical acceptance, difficulty remembering. - **Theories**: - **Freud**: Dreams hold meaning (manifest vs. latent content). - **Activation-Synthesis**: Brain imposes meaning on random neural activity. **Drugs and Consciousness** - **Addiction**: Physical vs. psychological dependence. **Depressants** - Slow CNS activity, reduce anxiety, impair cognition. - Examples: Alcohol, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, inhalants. **Stimulants** - Excite CNS, increase arousal, and elicit euphoria. - Examples: Caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine, MDMA. **Narcotics** - Pain-relieving, derived from opium. - Examples: Heroin, morphine, methadone, codeine. **Hallucinogens** - Alter perception, cause hallucinations. - Examples: LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, PCP, ketamine. **Marijuana** - THC induces mild hallucinations, impairs judgment/memory, controversial medicinal use. - Considered a gateway drug. **Harm Reduction**: Focus on minimizing harm of high-risk behaviors. ### **Psychology Lecture \#7** **Language and Communication** - **Language**: System for communication using signals combined by grammar rules to convey meaning. - **Grammar**: Rules specifying how units of language combine to create meaningful messages. - **Human Language**: - More complex than other forms of communication. - Represents intangible concepts and supports abstract thinking. **Structure of Language** - **Human Languages**: \~4,000 with basic sound and rule structures. - **Basic Characteristics**: - **Phoneme**: Smallest sound units recognized as speech. - **Phonological Rules**: Govern phoneme combinations. - **Morpheme**: Smallest meaningful language units. - **Morphological Rules**: Govern morpheme combinations. - **Syntactical Rules**: Govern word combinations into phrases/sentences. **Language Development** - Children: - Learn language rapidly. - Make few errors. - Develop passive mastery faster than active mastery. - **Fast Mapping**: Learning new words after a single exposure (Carey & Bartlett, 1978). **Theories of Language Development** - **Behaviourist**: Language learned via operant conditioning/imitation (but lacks explanation for creativity/errors). - **Nativist**: Language is innate; universal grammar facilitates learning (Chomsky). - **Interactionist**: Language develops through interaction between social experience and biological abilities. **The Brain and Language** - **Broca's Area**: Left frontal cortex; language production. - **Wernicke's Area**: Left temporal cortex; language comprehension. - **Right Hemisphere**: - Processes verbal meaning. - Active during language tasks. - Damage causes comprehension issues. - Retains some language ability if left hemisphere is removed in children. **Concepts and Categories** - **Concepts**: Mental representations grouping shared features of related stimuli. - **Necessary Condition**: Must be true for category membership. - **Sufficient Condition**: Proves category membership if true. - **Theories**: - **Prototype Theory**: Compare new objects to the most typical category member. - **Exemplar Theory**: Judge by comparing new instances to stored memories of other category examples. **Brain Areas** - **Left Hemisphere & Visual Cortex**: Forming prototypes. - **Right Hemisphere, Prefrontal Cortex, Basal Ganglia**: Recognizing exemplars. **Category-Specific Deficit** - Neurological syndrome affecting recognition of specific categories while sparing others. - **Warrington & Shallice (1984)**: - Four patients with bitemporal damage had deficits in recognizing living things and food but could recognize inanimate objects. - Symptoms included amnesia, speech issues, and comprehension deficits for "concrete topics." ### **Psychology Lecture \#8** **What Is Learning?** - **Learning**: Acquiring knowledge, skills, or responses from experience, leading to a relatively permanent change in behavior or understanding. **Non-Associative Learning** - **Habituation**: Gradual reduction in response after repeated exposure to a stimulus. - **Sensitization**: Increased response following a stimulus presentation. **Associative Learning** 1. **Classical Conditioning (Pavlov)**: Behavior controlled by external stimuli. a. **Unconditioned Stimulus (US)**: Naturally evokes a response. b. **Unconditioned Response (UR)**: Reflexive response to the US. c. **Conditioned Stimulus (CS)**: Neutral stimulus that evokes a learned response. d. **Conditioned Response (CR)**: Learned reaction to the CS resembling the UR. e. **Processes**: Acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, second-order conditioning. f. **Generalization**: CR occurs with stimuli similar to the CS. g. **Discrimination**: Differentiating between similar stimuli. **Fear Conditioning**: Amygdala involvement in associating stimuli with fear (e.g., Little Albert experiment by Watson). 2. **Operant Conditioning (Thorndike & Skinner)**: Behavior influenced by its consequences. h. **Law of Effect**: Behaviors followed by positive outcomes are repeated; negative outcomes decrease behavior likelihood. i. **Reinforcement**: i. **Positive Reinforcement**: Adding a stimulus to increase behavior. ii. **Negative Reinforcement**: Removing a stimulus to increase behavior. j. **Punishment**: iii. **Positive Punishment**: Adding a stimulus to decrease behavior. iv. **Negative Punishment**: Removing a stimulus to decrease behavior. k. **Schedules of Reinforcement**: v. **Fixed Interval (FI)**: Reward after a fixed time. vi. **Variable Interval (VI)**: Reward after varying time intervals. vii. **Fixed Ratio (FR)**: Reward after a set number of responses. viii. **Variable Ratio (VR)**: Reward after a varying number of responses. **Cognitive Elements of Operant Conditioning** - **Latent Learning**: Learning without immediate behavioral expression. - **Cognitive Map**: Mental representation of an environment (Tolman). **Neural Elements** - Brain pathways and structures deliver rewards, reinforcing learned behaviors. **Observational Learning (Bandura)** - **Definition**: Learning by observing others. - **Bobo Doll Experiment**: Demonstrated the impact of observing aggression. - **Diffusion Chain**: Behaviors spread across cultures through observation. - **Mirror Neurons**: Facilitate observational learning (frontal and parietal lobes). **Implicit Learning** - Learning occurs without conscious awareness (e.g., grammar acquisition). **Factors That Facilitate Learning** - Timing, context, attention, social interaction, and sleep. **Decision Making and Problem Solving** - **Rational Decision-Making**: Based on probabilities and value judgments. - **Availability Bias**: Overestimating the likelihood of memorable events. - **Heuristics**: Quick strategies that don\'t guarantee a solution. - **Optimism Bias**: Belief in higher personal likelihood of positive outcomes. - **Problem Solving Strategies**: - **Means--Ends Analysis**: Breaking down the goal into manageable steps. - **Algorithms**: Defined procedures that guarantee a solution. ### **Psychology Lecture \#9: What Is Memory?** #### **Memory Defined** - **Memory:** The ability to store and retrieve information over time. - **Three Key Functions of Memory:** - **Encoding:** Transforming perceptions into an enduring memory. - **Storage:** Maintaining information in memory over time. - **Retrieval:** Bringing to mind information previously encoded and stored. #### **Encoding: Transforming Perceptions into Memories** - Memories are **constructed** by combining existing knowledge with new information. - **Three Major Encoding Methods:** - **Semantic Encoding:** Relating new information meaningfully to existing knowledge. - **Visual Imagery Encoding:** Storing information by converting it into mental pictures. - **Organizational Encoding:** Categorizing information by relationships among items. **Encoding of Survival-Related Information:** - Evolutionary theories suggest memory mechanisms aiding survival are passed down. - Experiments with survival-encoding tasks showed better memory recall, emphasizing elaborative, visual imagery, and organizational encoding. #### **Storage** **Sensory Storage:** - Holds sensory information briefly. - **Iconic Memory:** Fast-decaying store of visual information. - **Echoic Memory:** Fast-decaying store of auditory information. **Short-Term Memory (STM):** - Stores non-sensory information for a short duration (a few seconds to under a minute). - Limited to approximately **seven items**. - **Rehearsal:** Repeating information to maintain it in STM. - **Chunking:** Grouping small bits of information into larger, manageable units. - **Working Memory:** Active maintenance and manipulation of information in STM. **Working Memory Model:** - Limited-capacity system with two subsystems, coded by the episodic buffer: - **Visio-spatial Sketchpad.** - **Phonological Loop.** **Long-Term Memory (LTM):** - Stores information for extended durations (hours, days, years). - Has no known capacity limits. **Hippocampus and Memory:** - Case Study: **HM** (hippocampus removal for seizure prevention): - Retained STM but lost ability to transfer new information to LTM (**anterograde amnesia**). - **Retrograde amnesia:** Inability to recall information from before a specific date. - **Consolidation:** Stabilizes memories in the brain. - **Reconsolidation:** Previously recalled memories require re-stabilization. **Memories, Neurons, and Synapses:** - Strengthened connections (synapses) in the hippocampus are crucial for memory. - **Long-Term Potentiation (LTP):** Communication across synapses strengthens connections. - **NMDA Receptor:** Influences information flow and initiation of LTP. #### **Retrieving Memories** **Retrieval Cues:** - External information triggers retrieval of stored memories. - **Encoding Specificity Principle:** A cue is effective if it recreates the initial encoding context. - **State-Dependent Retrieval:** Information is better recalled when the encoding and retrieval states match. - **Transfer-Appropriate Processing:** Effective memory transfer occurs when contexts match between encoding and retrieval. **Consequences of Retrieval:** - Retrieval can: - Strengthen or weaken subsequent memory. - Change subsequent memory. #### **Types of Long-Term Memory** **Explicit Memory:** - Conscious retrieval of past experiences. - **Semantic Memory:** General knowledge and facts. - **Episodic Memory:** Personal experiences tied to specific times and places. - Facilitates divergent creative thinking and envisioning personal futures. **Implicit Memory:** - Influence of past experiences on behavior without conscious awareness. - **Procedural Memory:** Gradual acquisition of skills through practice. - **Priming:** Enhanced ability to recall stimuli after recent exposure. - **Perceptual Priming:** Linked to the visual cortex. - **Conceptual Priming:** Linked to the frontal lobes. #### **Forgetting and Memory Failures** **Why We Forget:** - **Decay Theory:** Neglected memories fade over time. - **Forgetting Curve:** Rapid initial memory loss followed by stable retention. - **Interference:** - **Proactive Interference:** Old information disrupts new learning. - **Retroactive Interference:** New information disrupts old memories. **Seven Types of Memory Failures:** 1. **Transience:** Forgetting over time. a. Shift from specific to general memories. 2. **Absentmindedness:** Lapses in attention causing memory failure. b. **Prospective Memory:** Remembering future tasks. 3. **Blocking:** Inability to retrieve stored information. c. **Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon.** 4. **Misattribution:** Assigning memory to the wrong source. d. **False Recognition:** Familiarity with unseen stimuli. 5. **Suggestibility:** Incorporating misleading information into memory. 6. **Bias:** Current knowledge distorts past recollection. e. **Consistency Bias:** Reconstructing past to align with the present. f. **Egocentric Bias:** Overestimating positive changes over time. 7. **Persistence:** Unwanted recollection of traumatic events. g. **Flashbulb Memories:** Detailed recall of shocking events. **Other Memory Mishaps:** - **Jamais Vu:** Lack of familiarity in familiar contexts. - **Time-Gap Experience:** Performing tasks without recollection. - **Cryptomnesia:** Mistaking others' ideas for one's own (unintentional plagiarism). #### **Memory and Emotion** **Amygdala's Role in Memory:** - Enhances recall of emotional events. - Individuals with amygdala damage cannot differentiate emotional from non-emotional memories. **Adaptive Nature of Memory "Sins":** - The seven memory sins reflect the trade-offs for a memory system optimized for general accuracy and adaptability.