Research Methods
This research method involves the researcher observing and recording behavior in its natural environment, without manipulating variables.
What is naturalistic observation?
This part of the brain controls basic life functions such as breathing and heartbeat.
What is the medulla?
The minimum amount of stimulus energy required to detect a stimulus 50% of the time is called this.
What is the absolute threshold?
This term refers to a behavior that is learned through reinforcement or punishment.
What is operant conditioning?
This type of memory holds information for a brief period and is often forgotten after a short time unless encoded into long-term memory.
What is short-term memory?
This type of research method uses questionnaires or interviews to gather self-reported data from a large number of people.
What is a survey?
This neurotransmitter is most closely associated with mood regulation and is often implicated in depression when levels are too low.
What is serotonin?
This phenomenon occurs when stimuli are below the threshold of conscious awareness but still affect behavior.
What is subliminal perception?
This psychologist is known for his work on classical conditioning, using dogs to demonstrate how neutral stimuli can trigger conditioned responses.
What is operant conditioning?
This is the brief sensory memory of visual stimuli that lasts only a fraction of a second.
What is iconic memory?
This research method involves manipulating one variable to observe its effect on another variable, allowing the researcher to draw conclusions about cause and effect.
What is an experiment?
This area of the brain is primarily responsible for voluntary movement and motor coordination.
What is the cerebellum?
This is the process by which sensory information is transformed into neural signals that the brain can interpret.
What is transduction?
This type of reinforcement schedule provides reinforcement after a set number of behaviors have been performed.
What is a fixed ratio schedule?
This problem-solving strategy guarantees a solution if applied correctly, but can be time-consuming.
What is an algorithm?
This bias occurs when participants in an experiment are aware of the experimental condition, which may influence their behavior.
What is participant bias (or the Hawthorne effect)?
This part of the nervous system is responsible for the "fight or flight" response.
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
This theory explains color vision by suggesting that there are three types of color receptors in the retina.
What is the trichromatic theory?
This form of learning occurs when an individual learns by observing the behaviors of others and imitating them.
What is observational learning?
This common error in thinking occurs when we judge the likelihood of something based on how well it matches a prototype.
What is the representativeness heuristic?
This term refers to the ability to generalize research findings to a larger population, often based on the sample used in the study.
What is external validity?
This neurotransmitter is involved in muscle movement and is linked to the development of Parkinson's disease when levels are depleted.
What is dopamine?
This depth cue involves the ability to perceive the distance of an object based on the convergence of the eyes.
What is binocular convergence?
This type of learning involves associating an emotional response with a previously neutral stimulus.
What is classical conditioning?
This memory failure happens when we cannot recall a memory because it was never encoded properly.
What is encoding failure?