Alisson Quintana Rivera - Study Guide for Biology Test - PDF

Study Guide for the Test through Units 4&5: “Sensation & Perception” & “States of Consciousness” This is the corrected version There are 50 multiple-choice questions on this Test. Module Approximate number of questions from Module Approximate number of questions from...

Study Guide for the Test through Units 4&5: “Sensation & Perception” & “States of Consciousness” This is the corrected version There are 50 multiple-choice questions on this Test. Module Approximate number of questions from Module Approximate number of questions from this Module this Module 1 0 14 0 2 0 15 0 3 0 16 3 4 0 17 2 5 0 18 13 6 0 19 4 7 2 20 6 8 0 21 7 9 2 22 0 10 0 23 2 11 1 24 2 12 2 25 1 13 0 81 0 Try to answer all sample questions. You may use the readings, your Notes, the PowerPoint Presentations, etc. If you cannot find an answer, please ask in class before the Test. Objective 7-1 In a normal curve, the mean, median, and mode are the same number and the curve is symmetrical. In a skewed distribution, the mode remains under the highest part of the curve. But the median and mode are pulled to one side or the other and they are affected by the extreme scores that made the curve asymmetrical. 1. Where is the mean in relation to the median in a negatively skewed curve? The mean is smaller than the median and mode, and to the left. 2. Where is the mean in relation to the median in a positively skewed curve? The mean is smaller than the median in a positively skewed curve. Here’s a link to a YouTube video about skewed distributions: Skewness - Positive & Negative Skew And some diagrams of three frequency distributions: 3. In a normal distribution, what percentage of data always falls within one standard deviation above and one standard deviation below the mean? 68% 4. What percentage of data always falls within two standard deviations above and two standard deviations below the mean? 95% Here’s a link to a YouTube video about the normal distribution: The Normal Distribution and the 68-95-99.7 Rule (5.2) Objective 9-2 5. Describe the resting potential of a neuron: The resting potential refers to the state of a neuron when it is not firing. The inside of the neuron is negatively charged, and the outside is positively charged due to the seperation of ions across the cell membrane. This polarized state is maintained by the selective permeability of the membrane. 6. Describe the action potential of a neuron: Action potential is the electrical charge that travels down the axon when the neuron fires. This occurs when the neuron is stimulated, causing depolarization, where positively charged sodium ions enter the cell, reversing the charges across the membrane. This triggers a chain reaction along the axon​ 7. Describe the refractory period of a neuron: The refractory period is a brief time after a neuron fires during which it cannot fire again. This allows the neuron to reset by pumping out sodium ions and restoring its resting potential​ Objective 9-4 8. Describe the normal functions of several neurotransmitters (Table 4.1, p. 54 PLUS read descriptions of neurotransmitters on the same page). Acetylcholine (ACh): Enables muscle action, learning, and memory. Dopamine: Influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion. Serotonin: Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal. Norepinephrine: Controls alertness and arousal. GABA: Inhibits neural activity (calms the nervous system). Glutamate: Excitatory neurotransmitter, involved in memory​ Objective 11-3 9. Which part of the brain is involved in regulating body temperature and feelings of hunger and thirst in order to give humans homeostasis? The hypothalamus is responsible for regulating body temperature, hunger, and thirst to maintain homeostasis. 10. What would happen to someone if they had damage to this part of the brain? Difficulty regulating body temperature, resulting in overheating or hypothermia. Loss of appetite or excessive hunger (eating disorders). Excessive thirst or lack of thirst. Hormonal imbalances due to its role in governing the endocrine system. Emotional and behavioral changes, as it is linked to the limbic system. Objective 12-1 11. Which lobe of the brain contains the primary visual cortex responsible for vision? Occipital Lobe. 12. Which part of the brain helps adults think through the consequences of their behaviors and is associated with planning, decision-making, and impulse control? Prefrontal cortex found in the frontal lobe. 13. Connections between this part of the brain and others are not fully developed until humans are adults. What behaviors would we expect of teenagers before this growth of connections? Impulsiveness: Acting without considering long-term consequences. Risk-taking: Engaging in dangerous activities without weighing risks. Emotional reactivity: Strong emotional responses with less control. Difficulty planning: Struggling with long-term goals and structured thinking. 14. What would happen to a person if these connections were severed in adulthood (as was the case of Phenias Gage)? Personality changes: Gage became irritable, profane, and irresponsible. Loss of inhibitions: Difficulty regulating impulses or making morally appropriate decisions. Impaired judgment and planning: Struggles with decision-making and organizing tasks. Moral disconnection: Behaviors may no longer align with typical social and moral standards. Objective 16-1 15. Define top-down processing: Top-down processing is the use of preexisting knowledge, expectations, or experience to interpret sensory information. It’s driven by cognition, influencing how we perceive stimuli based on what we already know. 16. Describe top-down processing for the gustatory sense (gustation): When tasting food, top-down processing helps us identify flavors based on previous experiences and expectations. For example, if you expect a sweet flavor from a dish, your brain might interpret it as sweeter than it actually is, based on past experiences. They will use their tongue in order to taste the food. Already has some expectations, tasting 7ũ76it, using their senses to confirm what they already expect. 17. Define bottom-up processing: Bottom-up processing is the process of starting with basic sensory information and building up to a more complex perception. It’s data-driven, where perception begins with the stimulus itself rather than prior knowledge. 18. Describe bottom-up processing for the sense of sight (vision): When we see an image, the raw sensory data (such as light patterns hitting the retina) is sent to the brain, where it’s processed into shapes, colors, and depth perception. This allows us to identify objects from the visual data. They would have no idea what they’re putting in their mouth. Objective 16-2 19. Define inattentional blindness: Inattentional blindness occurs when we fail to notice an unexpected stimulus in our environment because our attention is focused on something else. 20. Describe inattentional blindness for the sense of hearing (audition): Inattentional blindness for audition: When you’re concentrating on a conversation or listening to music, you may not notice other sounds around you, like a doorbell ringing, because your focus is entirely on the sounds you’re paying attention to. Objective 16-4 21. Define absolute threshold: Absolute threshold is the minimum amount of stimulus required for a person to detect a sensation 50% of the time. 22. Describe absolute threshold for the sense of sight (vision): The absolute threshold for vision refers to the faintest light or smallest amount of light intensity that a person can detect, such as seeing a candle flame at 30 miles on a dark, clear night. 23. Define Weber’s Law: Weber’s Law states that the just noticeable difference (JND) between two stimuli is proportional to the magnitude of the original stimulus. This means the larger the stimulus, the larger the change required to notice a difference. 24. Describe how Weber’s Law affects the difference threshold for comparing the weights of objects: If you’re holding a heavy weight, such as 100 pounds, it will take a larger additional weight to notice a difference (for example, adding 5 pounds might be noticeable). For lighter weights, such as 10 pounds, a smaller change (like adding 0.5 pounds) might be noticeable. It has to be a 5% difference. You need to have a constant proportion difference when the magnitude goes up. Bigger difference when there is bigger weights. Objective 16-5 25. Define sensory adaptation: Sensory adaptation is the process by which our sensory receptors become less sensitive to constant, unchanging stimuli over time. 26. Describe sensory adaptation for smell (olfactory sense): When you enter a room with a strong smell, like a perfume or food, you may notice the scent strongly at first, but after a while, your sensory receptors adapt and you no longer perceive the smell as intensely. Objective 17-1 27. Define perceptual set: Perceptual set refers to a mental predisposition to perceive things in a certain way based on prior experiences, expectations, or beliefs. It affects how we interpret sensory information by influencing our expectations and assumptions. 28. Describe how perceptual set may apply to one person (with a belief or expectation) perceiving another person as fitting into one category (their job, for example) and not another: If someone believes that a particular profession is associated with specific characteristics, like thinking of a nurse as being kind or nurturing, they may expect the person in that role to display those traits, even if those traits are not present. This can lead them to perceive the individual as fitting that category (e.g., as a "kind" person) because of their preconceived expectations. 29. List some possible places that may give context effects and influence whether we perceive one thing and not another (in this place, we expect to see some things and not others): Restaurants: You might expect to see food or people eating, influencing your perception of what's happening around you. Schools or workplaces: People expect to see students or employees engaged in tasks, and this expectation affects how we perceive actions or behaviors. Sports arenas: Spectators expect to see players, coaches, and fans, so an unexpected object or action, like a person running onto the field, might be perceived differently. Concert halls: Expecting to see musicians and hear music, anything out of the ordinary may stand out more because of the context. Homes or personal spaces: When we expect to see family members or household items, an unexpected visitor or object might seem out of place. Objective 18-1 This is the corrected version In general, how does wavelength relate to the perception of color? More specifically, 30. Which wavelengths are perceived as red? Wavelength determines the color we perceive; shorter wavelengths correspond to blue and violet colors, while longer wavelengths are associated with red and orange. 31. Which wavelengths are perceived as blue? Wavelengths around around 620-750 nm. 32. Which wavelengths are perceived as green? Wavelengths around 495-570 nm. 33. Which part of the eye helps us maintain focus on objects as we shift our gaze from objects that are near to objects that are far? The lens adjusts its shape (accomodation) to focus on objects at varying distances. 34. Describe the function of rods in the eye: Rods are responsible fo rvision in low light (night vision) and detecting motion, but they do not detect color. 35. Describe the function of cones in the eye: Cones are responsible for detecting color and fine detail in bright light. 36. Where are the cones mostly concentrated? Cones are concentrated in the fovea, the central part of the retina. 37. Describe the function of the ganglion cells? Ganglion cells transmit visual information from the retina to the brain through their axons, which form the optic nerve. 38. What causes the blindspot in human vision? The blind spot is causede by the absence of photoreceptor cells where the optic nerve exits the retina. 39. How do our brains compensate for the blind spot? The brain fills in the missing visual informarion based on surrounding details and patters. Objective 18-2 40. Describe the supercell clusters of the brain that help us recognize human faces: supercell clusters are located in the temporal lobe and specialize in recognizing complex patterns, such as faces. 41. What is prosopagnosia (described in the introduction to Unit IV on page 150 of the textbook before Module 16)? A neurological consition characterized by the inability to recognize to faces, even though other aspects of the vision remain intact. Objective 18-3 42. Describe the Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory: This theory suggests that the retina has three types of color receptors (cones), each sensitive to red, green, or blue light. The combination of activity across these cones allows us to perceive a range of colors. 40. What would happen if a person was born without one of the three types of cones (missing just red-sensitive cones for example)? The person would have difficulty distinguishing between certain colors and would experience partial colorblindness, such as red-green colorblindness. 43. What would happen if a person was born with only one of the types of cones sensitive to either red, OR green, OR blue (what is it called and what does the world look like)? This condition is called monochromacy, and the world would appear in shades of gray because the individual would be unable to perceive color. 44. Describe the opponent-process theory: This theory proposes that color vision depends on opposing retinal processes (e.g., red-green, blue-yellow, black-white) where some cells are stimulated by one color and inhibited by its opposite. 45. Which theory of color vision explains why we see a green afterimage after staring at a red object? The opponent-process theory explains this phenomenon, as the red-sensitive cells become fatigued, and the opposing green pathway is more active when looking at a neutral background. Objective 19-1 46. Describe the Gestalt principle of closure: The Gestalt principle of closure refers to the tendency of the brain to fill in gaps in incomplete or fragmented visual information to perceive a whole, complete object. When part of an object or image is missing, our minds tend to 'close' the gaps, creating the perception of a complete form. Filling in the gap with your mind. Example: L_ake Br_a__ock. 47. Describe how closure may influence a person’s perception of familiar words despite an incomplete image: Closure influences a person's perception of familiar words by allowing them to recognize the word even when it’s incomplete or missing letters. For example, if a word is partially obscured or jumbled, the brain uses context and familiarity to 'fill in' the missing parts, enabling us to recognize the word despite the incomplete image. Objective 19-2 48. Describe convergence (as described in class and in the Module 19 PowerPoint Presentation under the title Binocular Cues): Convergence is a binocular cue that refers to the inward movement of the eyes when focusing on a nearby object. As the object gets closer, the eyes converge (move towards each other) to maintain focus on the object. The amount of convergence helps the brain perceive how far away the object is, contributing to depth perception. 49. Describe the monocular cue called relative size: Relative size is a monocular cue that allows us to perceive the size of an object by comparing it to the size of other objects around it. If two objects are of similar size, the one that appears smaller is perceived as farther away, while the larger one is seen as closer. This cue helps with depth perception when viewing objects from a distance. Objective 19-3 50. Define perceptual constancy: Perceptual constancy is the ability to perceive objects as stable and unchanging, despite changes in sensory input. This includes constancies in color, brightness, shape, and size, allowing us to recognize objects under various conditions, such as changes in lighting or distance. 51. Describe objects that we perceive as remaining constant despite changes to their sensations of color, brightness, shape, or size: Objects that we perceive as remaining constant despite changes in their sensations of color, brightness, shape, or size include a car that looks the same color whether it's in bright sunlight or under dim streetlights (color constancy), or a book that appears the same size whether it's near or far away (size constancy). Our brain compensates for changes in perception based on contextual cues, so the object’s true properties remain constant in our perception. Objective 20-1 52. If a sound has a short wavelength, how will it likely be perceived? It will likely be perceived as having a high pitch. Shorter wavelengths correspond to higher frequencies, which produce higher pitched sounds, like a violin. 53. If a sound has a high amplitude, how will it likely be perceived? A sound with a high amplitude will likely be perceived as louder. The amplitude of sound waves determines their loudness, and higher amplitudes result in louder sounds. 54. What causes sensorineural hearing loss? Sensorineural hearing loss is caused by damage to the cochlea’s hair cell receptors or their associated nerves. This can be due to various factors, including biological changes related to heredity, aging, or prolonged exposure to loud noises. In some cases, disease may also contribute to this type of hearing loss. Objective 20-2 55. Describe place theory of pitch perception: Place theory suggests that we perceive different pitches because different sound waves stimulate activity at different places along the cochlea’s basilar membrane. The brain identifies the pitch of a sound by recognizing which specific area of the basilar membrane is generating the neural signal. High-frequency sounds cause large vibrations near the beginning of the cochlea, while low-frequency sounds cause vibrations further along the membrane. 56. What range of pitches does place theory help us perceive? Place theory helps us perceive high-pitched sounds, as it explains how sound waves with high frequencies trigger activity in specific areas near the beginning of the cochlea. 57. Describe frequency theory: Frequency theory suggests that pitch is perceived by the rate at which neural impulses travel up the auditory nerve, matching the frequency of the sound wave. 58. What range of pitches does frequency theory help us perceive? Frequency theory helps us perceive low-pitched sounds, as the frequency of neural impulses can correspond to the frequency of low-pitched sound waves. 59. Describe the volley principle (the AP Psychology Exam calls it the volley theory): The volley principle states that groups of neurons alternate firing to handle frequencies above 1000 waves per second, allowing perception of higher-pitched sounds. Objective 20-3 60. What is sound localization? The process by which the auditory system determines the location of a sound source in the environment. This ability relies on cues such as the slight differences in the timing (interaural time difference) and intensity (interaural level difference) of sound waves reaching each ear. The brain uses these differences to calculate the direction and distance of the sound. Trying to locate where a sound is coming from. Objective 21-1 61. What are the four basic skin sensations? Pressure, warmth, cold and pain 62. Without specific receptors in our skin for sensations like tickle, wetness, or hot, describe how we can feel these sensations: - Tickle: activation of adjacent pressure points. - Wetness: the combination of cold and pressure sensations - Heat: activation of both warm and cold spots Objective 21-2 63. Describe the gate-control theory (where is the “gate” and what activates and opens or closes the gate)? The “gate” is located in the spinal cord. It opens to allow pain signals to travel to the brain or closes to block them. Small nerve fibers open the gate (activating pain), and large nerve fibers or brain signals close it. Objective 21-3 64. Describe our sense of taste (gustation): sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. 65. Where are the receptor cells for taste? Found in taste buds located on the tongue, cheeks, roof of the mouth, and throat. 66. How does our brain’s circuitry help explain why we have remarkable capacity to recognize long-forgotten odors and their associated memories (where is the olfactory bulb in relationship to the limbic system with its memory storage)? The olfactory bulb is near the limbic system, which handles emotions and memory. This proximity explains why certain smells can trigger vivid memories. Objective 21-4 67. Describe the kinesthetic sense (kinesthesia): It refers to the awareness of body part position and movement. 68. Where are the receptors for kinesthesia? Located in muscles, tendons, and joints. 69. Describe the vestibular sense: It detects body position, balance, and movement. 70. Where are the receptors for the vestibular sense? Found in the inner ear, specifically in the semicircular canals and vestibular sacs. Objective 21-5 71. Describe sensory interaction: The principle that one sense can influence another, like smell affecting taste. 72. What happens to our sense of taste if we temporarily reduce our sense of smell (by plugging our nose or if we have a stuffy nose)? Without smell, flavors are less intense, as smell and taste work together to create a full perception of flavor. Objective 23- 73. Describe REM sleep (what happens with the brain? what happens with the body?): Brain: During REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, brain activity increases significantly, resembling an awake, alert state. This is the stage where vivid dreams occur due to heightened brain activity in regions like the amygdala and visual centers. Body: The body is essentially paralyzed (called REM atonia) to prevent acting out dreams, except for minor movements like twitching. However, the eyes move rapidly under closed eyelids. Heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure become irregular during this stage. 74. Describe the differences between the EEG brain wave patterns for NREM-1, NREM-2, and NREM-3 (which is the slowest, most rhythmic brain wave pattern)? NREM-1: Brain waves transition from alpha waves (relaxed awake state) to theta waves. These waves are slower than alpha but still irregular and light. You may experience hallucinations or a sensation of falling. NREM-2: Characterized by theta waves with periodic bursts of rapid brain activity called sleep spindles and K-complexes (large, high-voltage waves). Sleep deepens here but isn’t the deepest stage. NREM-3: The slowest, most rhythmic brain wave pattern occurs here with delta waves, which are large, slow brain waves. This stage is also called slow-wave sleep and is the deepest stage of NREM sleep. It’s crucial for physical restoration and growth. Objective 24- 75. Describe insomnia: Recurring problems in falling asleep or staying asleep. The patient wants to sleep, but can’t fall asleep or wakes up frequently. Most patients overestimate the problem. The most common treatments (sleeping pills or alcohol) may make the problem worse by recuding REM sleep. Also, there is the risk of intolerance- increasing doses are needed. 76. Describe narcolepsy: Cataplexy: Patients collapse due to loss of muscle tension. Characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks. The patient may lapse directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times. When emotionally aroused- laughing or angry. Patients collapse due to loss of muscle tension. They sleep for about 5 minutes. 77. Describe sleep apnea: Charcaterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings. Associated with the size and shape of the patient’s body- specifically air passages. The airways close up while asleep, and the lack of air wakes them up- sometimes hundreds of times throughout the night. The pation often doesn’t even know. 78: Describe sleep walking (somnambulism): sleepwalking and sleeptalking are sleep disorders, but they are usually not problems for people. There is nothing inherently dangerous about sleepwalking. Talking in one’s sleep is now known to be meaningless and should be ignored. Objective 25- Psychoactive drugs may act as agonists, antagonists,or they may act as reuptake inhibitors which block the reabsorption of neurotransmitters back into a cell. 79. Describe the activity of cocaine and crack as a stimulant: It blocks the reuptake of neurotransmitters. They excite neural activity and arouse body functions, pupils dilate, heart rate and breathing rate increases. Decrease appetite, increase energy and self confidence.