Think like a Scientist
Seeing patterns in random or meaningless information
What is patternicity?
Observing behaviour in real-world settings without manipulating it
What is naturalistic observation?
The mean of 2, 3, 3, 7, and 10
What is 5?
The part of a neuron that receives information from other neurons
What are dendrites?
This structure controls balance and coordinated movement
What is the cerebellum?
Holding onto a belief even after it has been shown to be wrong
Any difference between experimental and control groups other than the independent variable
The consistency of a measurement
What is reliability?
The brain’s major inhibitory neurotransmitter, increased by alcohol
What is GABA?
This lobe processes visual informaiton
What is the occipital lobe?
The principle that, when two explanations fit equally well, we prefer the simpler one
What is Occam's razor (parsimony)?
Statistically combining the findings of many studies
What is meta-analysis?
Explaining the study and any deception to participants afterward
What is debriefing?
The process of neurotransmitters returning to the releasing axon terminal
What is reuptake?
The "master gland" that directs other glands
What is the pituitary gland?
A scientific claim must be capable of being disproven; this is the principle
What is falsifiability?
A double-blind design is used to reduce this
What is the experimenter expectancy effect?
This kind of significance asks whether a result matters in the real world
What is practical significance?
A neuron that is not firing, with its inside more negative than outside, is in this state
What is resting potential?
This branch of the autonomic nervous system is engaged in fight-or-flight
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
Some findings shrink in size over time, which has increased interest in replication; this is the name of that pattern
What is the decline effect?
When participants pick up clues about the hypothesis and change their behaviour, these are at work
What are demand characteristics?
r = -0.27 and r = +0.27 have equal ___, but opposite ___
What are strength and direction?
A drug that blocks or decreases neurotransmitter activity
What is an antagonist?
The extent to which genes contribute to differences in a trait within a group.