Psychologist
Created functionalist school of thought.
William James
The first step in memory; the process by which information gets into memory storage.
Encoding
Learning process in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an innately meaningful stimulus and acquires the capacity to elicit a similar response.
Classical conditioning
and almond-shaped structure within the base of the temporal lobe that is involved in the discrimination of objects that are necessary for the organism's survival, such as apprppriate food, mates and social rivals
amygdala
The operation in sensation and perception in which sensory receptors register information about the external environment and send it up to the brain for interpretation.
bottom up processing
Developed psychoanalysis; considered to be "father of modern psychiatry"
Sigmund freud
A continuum of memory processing from shallow to intermediate to deep, with deeper processing producing better memory.
Levels of processing
The initial learning of the connection between the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus when these two stimuli are paired.
Acquisition
the structure in the limbic system that has a special role in the storage of memories
hippocampus
Specialized cells that detect stimulus information and transmit it to sensory (afferent) nerves and the brain.
Sensory receptors
Known for his 8-stage theory of Psychosocial Development.
Erik Erikson
Memory system that involves holding information from the world in its original sensory form for only an instant, not much longer than the brief time it is exposed to the visual, auditory, and other senses.
Sensory memory
The tendency of a new stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus to elicit a response that is similar to the conditioned response.
Generalization
structures located at the back of the head that respond to visual stimuli.
Occipital lobes
The receptor cells in the retina that are sensitive to light but not very useful for color vision.
rods
Known for his 8-stage theory of Psychosocial Development
Abraham Masclow
Limited-capacity memory system in which information is usually retained for only as long as 30 seconds unless the individual uses strategies to retain it longer.
Short term memory
The process in classical conditioning by which a conditioned response can recur after a time delay, without further conditioning.
Spontaneous recovery
part of the forebrain, the outer layer of the brain, responsible for the most complex mental functions, such as thinking and planning
Cerebral cortex
Theory stating that cells in the visual system respond to complementary pairs of red-green and blue-yellow colors; a given cell might be excited by red and inhibited by green, whereas another cell might be excited by yellow and inhibited by blue.
opponent process theory
Early behaviorist; famous for the "Little Albert" experiments on fear conditioning
John B Watson
Remembering information about doing something in the future; includes memory for intentions.
Prospective memory
Rewarding successive approximations of a desired behavior.
Shaping
large neuron clusters located above the thalamus and under the cerebral cortex that work with the cerebellum and the cerebral cortex to control and coordinate voluntary movements
Basal Ganglia
The principle by which we organize the perceptual field into stimuli that stand out (figure) and those that are left over (ground).
figure ground relationship