Chapter 1
The field of study looks into behavior and mental processes.
What is psychology?
A well-developed set of ideas that propose an explanation for observed phenomena.
What is a theory?
The division of the nervous system that includes the brain and spinal cord.
What is the central nervous system (CNS)?
The conversion from sensory stimulus energy to action potential.
What is transduction?
The statistical measure representing the most frequently occurring score in a dataset.
What is the mode?
The process of answering a question that involves forming a hypothesis, collecting data, and using the results to evaluate the hypothesis.
What is the scientific method?
A researcher uses this research method to determine how many MVC students use the library by asking them to complete a questionnaire about their usage.
What is a survey?
A name of the state that a neuron is in when it is at rest and in a constant state of readiness.
What is resting potential?
The principle explaining why hearing your neighbor's annoying German Shepherd bark for 20 minutes straight becomes less annoying after a certain point.
What is sensory adaptation?
The part of the eye with rods and cones.
What is the retina?
A scientist refusing a popular explanation to a question because everyone believes it and pursues their own evidence and explanations exhibits this characteristic.
What is skepticism?
A testable prediction about how the world will behave if our idea is correct.
What is a hypothesis?
A neuron receives information through the _____, sends the signal down the ____, and releases the neurotransmitters at the _____.
What is dendrites, axon, and terminal buttons?
Looking at a blurry image knowing it's supposed to be a cat makes your brain interpret the shape as a cat is an example of this principle.
What is top-down processing?
The division of the autonomic nervous system that activates when a person gets scared by a loud noise and experiences an increase in heart rate and prepares to respond to a potential threat.
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
A researcher conducts an experiment hoping to support their favorite theory but analyzes the data using the same standards of a scientist who couldn't care less about the theory exhibits this characteristc.
What is objectivity?
The principle that an incoming signal from another neuron is either sufficient or insufficient to reach the threshold of excitation.
What is all-or-none?
The ability of a mother being able to hear her child's scream in a noisy playground is an example of this principle.
What is signal detection theory?
A researcher wanting to see how children interact with each other on a playground would best benefit from this research method.
What is naturalistic observation?
Find what is incorrect with this conclusion: Listening to classical music while studying improves test scores.
What is CORRELATION DOES NOT PROVE CAUSATION??!!!
A researcher wants to study anxiety in all 20,000 students at a university but can only collect data from 500 students.
The 20,000 students are the _____, while the 500 students are the _____.
What is population; sample?
A person understands spoken language but has difficulty speaking back has damage in this brain area.
What is Broca's area?
The minimum amount of stimulus energy that must be present for the stimulus to be detected 50% of the time.
What is absolute threshold?
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The Gestalt principle that explains why these dashes aren't seen as unrelated and are instead grouped by your brain.
What is proximity?