unit 1&2
revolutionized psychology with his psychoanalytic theory; believed the unconscious mind must be examined through dream analysis, word association, and other psychoanalytic therapy techniques; criticized for being unscientific and creating unverifiable theories
Sigmund Freud
-control center of neuron
-integrates inputs from all dendrites
-determines whether neuron should fire or not
soma (cell body)
a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli. A neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus (US) begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for the unconditioned stimulus. Also called Pavlovian or respondent conditioning.
classical conditioning
the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses
generalization
a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event
flashbulb memory
the brain's sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla
thalamus
(hindbrain) "little brain"
-coordinates voluntary movement and balance
-damaged in people with autism
cerebellum
rapid eye movement sleep; a recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. Also known as paradoxical sleep, because the muscles are relaxed (except for minor twitches) but other body systems are active.
REM sleep
an organism's decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure to it
habituation
the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information
proactive interference
cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons
glial cells
-made up of two major components: brain and spine
-receives, processes, interprets, and stores incoming sensory info.
-sends out messages for muscles, glands, and internal organs.
Central Nervous System (CNS)
A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; also known as secondary reinforcer.
conditioned reinforcer
Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely
law of effect
in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)
morpheme
the division of the perihperal nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles
somatic nervous system
(midbrain)
-body movements and speech
-overactive: Tourrette's, under-active= Parkinson's
basal ganglia
a powerfully addictive drug that stimulates the central nervous system, with speeded-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes; over time, appears to reduce baseline dopamine levels
methamphetamine
frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so. The brain's mirroring of another's action may enable imitation, language learning, and empathy.
mirror neurons
estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common
availability heuristic
when groups are not randomly assigned during an experiment; increases the chance of participants in the two groups differ in any meaningful way
participant-relevant confounding variables
-stimulated brain with electrical probes while patients underwent surgery for epilepsy
-created maps of sensory and motor cortices
Wilder Penfield
suggestion, made during a hypnosis session, to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotized; used by some clinicians to help control undesired symptoms and behaviors.
posthypnotic suggestion
a system for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state, such as blood pressure or muscle tension
biofeedback
a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds
echoic memory