Psychology Basics
This term refers to the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
Psychology
Researchers watch children interacting on a playground without interfering with their behavior. Name the research method.
Naturalistic observation
Researchers test whether caffeine affects reaction time. One group receives caffeine and another does not. Identify the independent variable.
Receiving caffeine
These bushy extensions of a neuron receive and integrate incoming information and carry it toward the cell body.
Dendrites
Following an injury, a patient can remember old information but can no longer form new memories of facts and events. Damage to this structure would be suspected.
Hippocampus
A researcher makes a specific, testable prediction about what will happen if their theory is correct. This prediction is called this.
Hypothesis
A researcher wants to estimate how common test anxiety is among Auburn students and asks 1,500 students to report their experiences. Name the best research method for collecting this much data.
In that same experiment, researchers record how quickly participants respond to a visual stimulus. Identify the dependent variable.
Reaction or response time
A neuron sends an electrical signal down its axon. Name this electrical nerve impulse.
Action Potential
This structure helps regulate maintenance activities and influences the endocrine system through its relationship with the pituitary gland.
Hypothalamus
Instead of immediately accepting the claim “Humans only use 10% of their brains,” a student examines the evidence, questions the source, and considers alternative explanations. This type of thinking is being demonstrated.
Critical Thinking
A psychologist spends several years studying one individual with an extremely rare form of brain damage. Name the research method.
Case study
Researchers test whether studying with music affects memory. One group studies with music and another studies in silence. Everyone then completes the same memory test. Identify both the IV and DV.
study condition (music vs. silence) as the IV and memory-test performance as the DV
Complete this phrase correctly: “________ listen; ________ speak.”
Dendrites; axons
Damage occurs to the front of a patient's parietal lobe. They subsequently have difficulty processing information about touch and the position of their body. Name the cortical area most likely damaged.
Somatosensory cortex
Before a study begins, researchers explain its procedures and risks and tell participants they are free to stop participating at any time. This ethical safeguard has been provided.
Informed Consent
Researchers find that students who report sleeping more also tend to have higher GPAs. They conclude that getting more sleep causes better grades. What is the major problem with their conclusion?
Correlation does NOT establish causation!!!!
Researchers test whether a new medication improves attention. One group receives the medication, while another receives a pill with no active drug but believes it could be the medication. What is the inactive pill called, and why is it used?
placebo, used as a comparison/control condition
You touch a hot stove. Information reaches the spinal cord, where these neurons communicate between sensory and motor neurons and help process the information.
Interneurons
After a brain injury, a patient struggles with complex functions such as thinking, remembering, learning, and language, even though basic sensory and motor functions remain relatively intact. Damage to these areas of the cerebral cortex could explain the symptoms.
Association areas
A researcher predicts that sleep improves exam performance. After collecting data, the results show no relationship between sleep and exam scores. Rather than ignoring the findings, the researcher considers whether the prediction was wrong. This illustrates why a scientific hypothesis must be capable of being ________.
Accept: tested and potentially disconfirmed.
A researcher wants their sample of Auburn students to better represent the entire student population. Instead of recruiting only students from psychology classes, they use a procedure in which every student has an equal chance of being selected. Name that procedure.
Random sampling
A researcher investigates whether studying with music affects exam performance. The music group studies for 60 minutes, while the silence group studies for 30 minutes. The music group then scores higher. Identify the problem that prevents the researcher from confidently concluding that music caused the difference.
Confounding variable
After an injury, a person experiences a reduction in the body's natural ability to decrease pain and produce pleasurable sensations. Dysfunction involving this type of neurotransmitter could help explain the problem.
Endorphins
A child experiences a brain injury but gradually develops new neural pathways that allow other areas to compensate for some lost functions. Name the property of the brain illustrated by this recovery.
Neuroplasticity