Theories & Research
This early school of psychology emphasized our tendency to perceive an entire pattern rather than simply its individual pieces.
Gestalt Psychology
When several axons are bundled together in the peripheral nervous system, they form this.
Nerve
After several minutes in a room with a humming air conditioner, you barely notice the sound anymore.
Sensory adaptation
The process by which the brain organizes and interprets sensory information.
Perception
Regular fluctuations in alertness and bodily functioning occurring on an approximately 24-hour schedule.
circadian rhythms
This perspective emphasizes personal growth, individual experiences, and people's unique characteristics.
humanistic perspective
If stimulation of a neuron fails to reach this critical level, the neuron will not fire an action potential.
Threshold
The smallest difference between two stimuli that a person can reliably detect is called this.
Sleeping, daydreaming, being highly focused, and being fully alert are examples of different versions of this.
States of consciousness
This temporary loss of voluntary muscle activity during REM sleep helps prevent people from physically acting out their dreams.
REM muscle atonia
A psychologist gathers detailed information about one individual with an extremely unusual neurological condition.
Case study
These chemical messengers travel across the synapse to allow neurons to communicate.
Neurotransmitters
These photoreceptors are particularly important for seeing fine details and color.
Cones
When expectations and previous experiences influence how you interpret sensory information, you are using this type of processing.
According to this explanation of dreaming, the cerebral cortex constructs a meaningful story from relatively random neural activity.
activation-synthesis hypothesis
Researchers discover that as Variable A increases, Variable B tends to decrease.
Negative correlation
Planning, decision-making, and other executive functions are strongly associated with this lobe.
Frontal Lobe
This snail-shaped structure in the inner ear contains sensory receptors necessary for hearing.
Cochlea
This theory proposes that pain depends partly on whether neurological "gates" in the spinal cord allow pain signals to reach the brain.
Gate-control theory of pain
Alcohol belongs to this category of psychoactive drugs, which generally slows activity within the nervous system.
depressants
Researchers randomly assign students to watch either comedy videos or nature videos before completing a creativity test. What is the independent variable?
Type of video watched
In a traditional split-brain procedure, surgeons sever this structure connecting the brain's two hemispheres.
Corpus collosum
You can touch your nose with your eyes closed because this sense provides information about the position and movement of your body parts.
Kinesthesia
After an inner-ear infection, a gymnast has difficulty maintaining balance. Name the sense and the structures most closely associated with this problem.
vestibular sense and semicircular canals
Irritability, jitteriness, and other unpleasant symptoms occurring after someone stops using nicotine are examples of this.
withdrawal symptoms