The Brain
What is:
Brain stem
Keeps us alive; breathing , heart rate, BP, pain Midbrain- Pons, Medulla-breathing heart rate, basic functions
Cerebellum
Balance, motor control, located in lower back portion of the brain.
Cortex
Outer portion, looks like brain intestines
If we attend to it we file it away (encoding)
The information is kept in our memory until we need it (storage)
Some time later we pull that information out of memory (retrieval)
Assimilation: Interpreting one’s new experiences in terms of one’s existing schemas. Fits new information into an existing category
Accommodation: Revising one’s current understanding to incorporate new information.
Change schema
Changes in behavior resulting from experience
-->Classical Conditioning (Pavlov)
-->Operant Conditioning (Skinner)
--->Observational Learning (Bandura)
The cells that receive and send the electrical impulses through the body, spinal cord, and brain.
Signal always travels from dendrites to axon
Dendrites: Receive input from neighboring neurons
Cell body: Information from thousands of neurons is integrated
Nucleus looking thing inside the dendrites
Axon: carries information to other neurons
Myelin: Insulates the axon
Nodes of Ranvier: gaps in the section of myelin
Sodium goes in Potassium goes out.
The neuron is negative when at rest.
WM: "7 plus or minus 2", 20-30 seconds, (know these words: Phonological loop- Episodic buffer- Visuospatial sketch pad) "Chunking"
LTM: Declarative (Semantic v Episodic) and Nondeclarative (implicit), serial position effect
Preoperational (2-6)
Concrete Operational (6-12)
Formal Operational (12-adulthood)
GO THROUGH EACH?
Broca’s Area
Lower left frontal lobe
Involved in the production of speech
Broca’s Aphasia
When damaged, difficulty producing speech, but comprehension is unaffected
Wernicke’s area
Involved not only production of speech, but also understanding written and spoken language
Wernicke’s aphasia
Trouble finding the right words and have difficulty comprehending written or spoken communication
Located in the temporal lobe
What is: Mental structures that help us interpret, remember, and organize information in LTM
Double-edged sword
Schemas can lead to memory errors!!
Autonomy v Shame/doubt
Initiative v Guilt
Industry v Inferiority
identity v role confusion
intimacy v isolation
generativity v stagnation
integrity v despair
What is External Validity: Generalizable (...), can be done again by someone else and have the same results
Internal Validity: Done "right", Being sure that the IV is the only thing that could possibly be causing change in the DV
Tell me about: Two ways to ensure high internal validity:
Control over the variables (manipulating the independent variable)
Random assignment to conditions
Thalamus
Jelly bean shaped, “gateway to the cortex” Takes senses and relays to the cortex. Messages come to the Thalamus first and then sent to various portions of the cortex. Switchboard
Hypothalamus
Right below the Thalamus. Regulates a lot of body function. Fight Flight Feeding and Fornication- connected to the pituitary gland.
Amygdala
Attached to emotion and particularly fear.
Basal Ganglia
Involved in movement- memory for habits, eye movements, teeth grinding and voluntary moving of our muscles. Wrapped up parallel with hippocampus and looks like movie reel.
Hippocampus
Looks like a pea pod. Hippocampus has two p’s. Involved in the formation of new memories. Rapes up and around like horns.
Proactive interference
Old information inhibits ability to learn new information
Retroactive interference
New information inhibits ability to remember old information
Prolonged adolescence typical in industrialized nations
-->“Psychosocial moratorium”
-->Getting married later
Exploring life directions
“Roleless role”
-->Less likely to be constrained by role requirements
Demographic diversity
Residential mobility
Emphasis on change and exploration
and Positive and Negative Punishment
Positive Reinforcement-Give something good(give a dog a bone.)
Negative Reinforcement- take away something negative (stop shocking a dog)
Positive Punishment- give something negative(shock a dog)
Negative Punishment- take away something positive(take the bone from the dog)
What is: Knowing that two variables are related does not mean that one of the variable caused the other to occur
Acetylcholine (ACh):
Memory
Neuromuscular junction- involved with movement, lack or absence of this could cause paralysis.
Very similar structure of nicotine so nicotine increases the action of Acetylcholine.
Botox is bachillism which is poison so it paralyzes their face muscles. Botox blocks acetylcholine.
Also linked to Alzheimer's.
Dopamine:
related to our pleasure and reward system.
Gambling and addictive drugs are associated.
Parkinson’s is related to a lack of dopamine.
Associated with smoother and voluntary muscle movement
Norepinephrine:
Vigilance, alertness, arousal.
PTSD could come from too much Norepinephrine.
Bipolar- too much Norepinephrine in Manic episodes, not enough in Depressed episodes.
Serotonin:
involved with mood, appetite, and sleep. Emotional states.
Patients with depression or depressive like symptoms usually don’t have enough serotonin.
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) Used to treat Depression.
GABA (Gamma Aminobutyric Acid):
Inhibitory neurotransmitter
Stress management system
Alcohol acts on GABA receptors
Endorphins
Pain management/reduction
“Endogenous Morphine”
Usually results from brain injury, disease, or psychological trauma
Retrograde Amnesia
->Difficulty remembering memories before point of trauma
->Can’t remember old memories
Anterograde Amnesia
->Trouble forming new memories
Too rigid
Some argue that children don’t go through the stages in that order.
Underestimated children’s abilities
Cross-cultural?
Theory tested on children in Geneva, Switzerland