Biological Bases of Behavior 2
The brain’s sensory control center, located on top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas.
What is the Thalamus?
The minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time.
What is the Absolute Threshold?
Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.
What is Sensory Adaptation?
This Russian physiologist discovered classical conditioning through his work with dogs and saliva.
Who is Ivan Pavlov?
The reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response.
What is Spontaneous Recovery?
The large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres.
What is the Corpus Callosum?
Retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and detect fine detail and color.
What are Cones?
An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.
What is the Phi Phenomenon?
Adding a desirable stimulus after a response to increase the likelihood of that response recurring.
What is Positive Reinforcement?
A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses (like a "buy 10, get 1 free" punch card).
What is a Fixed-Ratio Schedule?
The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations.
What is the Sympathetic Nervous System?
The coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses.
What is the Cochlea?
The Gestalt principle explaining our tendency to fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object.
What is Closure?
Removing an aversive stimulus after a response to increase the likelihood of that response recurring.
What is Negative Reinforcement?
The psychologist known for the Bobo doll experiment studying aggression and observational learning.
Who is Albert Bandura?
The base of the brainstem that controls heartbeat and breathing.
What is the Medulla?
The scientific term for the sense of smell.
What is Olfaction?
The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts.
What is Kinesthesia?
Learning by watching and imitating others.
What is Observational Learning?
Edward Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely.
What is the Law of Effect?
The endocrine system’s most influential gland, operating under the influence of the hypothalamus.
What is the Pituitary Gland?
Young and Helmholtz's theory that the retina contains three different color receptors.
What is the Trichromatic Theory?
In hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the exact location where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated.
What is Place Theory?
An operant chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer.
What is a Skinner Box?
The biological predisposition to learn associations, such as between taste and nausea, that have survival value.
What is Preparedness (or Taste Aversion)?