Intro to Psych Exam One

___ relay messages from sensory neurons to other interneurons or to motor neurons; the bulk of all neurons

Random assignment confirms participants have an equal likelihood of being assigned to any condition within an experiment

An independent variable is the causal variable that a researcher can manipulate such as

Idea that a single image at sensory level may result in many interpretations at the perceptual and identification levels

Psychologists want to describe...

Correlational methods are concerned with

Coordinates movement, posture, and balance

The scientific study of the behavior of individuals and their mental processes based on behavior is known as

Select each answer that describes a function of glial cells

Process by which stimulation of sensory receptors produces impulses that represent experiences inside/outside the body

Select all of which can influence perception

A specialized cell used to receive, process, and transmit information to other cells within the body

Sensory adaptation is the increasing responsiveness of your senses to prolonged stimulus input

The minimum amount of physical energy needed to produce a sensory experience

The nonwestern approach to dream analysis: dream interpretation is part of culture and religion

The primary function of the _____ is to provide the CNS with information from sensory receptors

This model states electrical discharges in the brain's cortex trigger memories/connections w/ dreamer's past experiences

Select the four lobes of the cerebrum

The phenomena stating once excitatory inputs sum to reach the threshold level, a uniform action potential is generated

Vivid dreams occur; increases as the night progresses; brain most active; body most relaxed (rapid eye movement)

A loud bang grabs your attention while you are trying to study, and you find that you can no longer attend to your notes

The slight polarization that is necessary for an action potential to occur

Select the types of consciousness discussed in class

Which of the following is NOT a step of the research process?

Which of the following are subdivisions of the autonomic nervous system?

What produces the action potential?

What are some of the issues concerning objectivity?

Interneurons carry messages away from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands

Select all the ways we can deal with confounding variables

The major task of perception is determining the distal stimulus from info contained in the proximal stimulus

Action potential arrives at the terminal buttons, makes the synaptic vessels move & affix to the interior membrane

Select all choices that make up the central nervous system

Distal stimulus is the optical image on the retina

We need to be consciously aware because of survival and constructions of reality

Describe the roots and the focus of the psychodynamic perspective:

An organized set of concepts that explains a phenomenon or set of phenomena is known as a

Hallucinations: heightened arousal of the senses, states of intense need, or the inability to supress threatening ideas

Involved in controlling one's emotions

Psychologists hope to improve the likelihood of behavior that may (or may not) occur based on treatment and observations

This layer is primarily involved with autonomic processes like heart rate, breathing, blood pressure etc

Neurons or nerve cells are generated in the brain; phase is most active during prenatal development

Behavior & mental processes follow patterns that are revealed and understood through research that are known as

Thalamus channels incoming sensory information to appropriate areas in the cerebral cortex

Incorporates past knowledge, motivations, & cultural backgrounds, involves concepts stored about various things in world

Tendency for observers to favor particular responses based on factors unrelated to the sensory features of the stimulus

Involved with emotion, motivation, and memory. It regulates body temperature, blood pressure, and blood-sugar levels

Which is not one of the three classes of neurons

The medulla is the center of breathing, blood pressure, and heartbeat regulation. Damage is fatal

The information produced by research accurately measures the psychological variable it is intended to

The goal of this research method is to make strong causal claims about the impact of one variable on another

The three stages of perception are sensation, perceptual organization, and identification/recognition

Psychologists hope to predict the likelihood of behavior that may (or may not) occur based on treatment and observations

Sensory neurons carry messages from sense receptors toward the central nervous system

Psychologists hope to explain why people behave the way they do based upon surrounding factors like...

Modern psychologists utilize an approach that combines both:

A person physically acts out vivid, unpleasant dreams with vocal sounds and sudden limb movement during REM sleep

The optic nerve crosses at the

When trying to recall a memory from childhood, you are accessing information stored in the ________.

The self-propagating characteristic of action potentials states that

The process that occurs when the eye receives light input from the outside world is called

A person who suffers from uncontrollable sleep attacks that may lapse directly into REM sleep at inopportune times has

Taking sensory data to the brain for analysis of important info. Transforms real info into representations in the brain.

The dream as the dreamer remembers it is the latent content

Simple cells respond to ____, complex to _________, and hypercomplex to ________

A person who experiences a sudden loss of muscle tone while awake without warning may experience

____ is the study of structure of the mind and behavior

Regulates the brain's higher cognitive functions and controls the mind

The value the difference threshold is known as the just noticeable difference

The western approach to dream analysis pays little attention to dreams as meaningful messages

Which of the following is not a goal of psychology?

What system is responsible for dealing with emergency situations? It initiates the "fight or flight" response

Goal directed selection (select the definition and example)

The core of most psychological theories. All events "determined by" causal factors within the person or the environment.

This relies on rays of light being reflected from the object to your photoreceptors; light is described in wavelengths.

The parasympathetic nervous system is concerned with the body's internal functions like calming down after an emergency

The humanistic perspective suggests that humans are good and their goal is to be self-actualized

Describe the behaviorist perspective

Consciously aware that one is dreaming/controlling direction of one's dreams according to personal goals/current needs

Cells in the retina that combine impulses from receptors and send them to ganglion cells are

Psychologists want to control every aspect of a person's life rather than teach coping mechanisms and habits

Cells split, ½ fibers from each retina remain on original side, others cross at the midline. This forms the optic tract

Occurs after the action potential has passed down a segment of the axon, and the cell cannot produce another AP

Functionalism describes the idea of "minds with purpose"

Integrate/coordinate all bodily functions, process incoming neural messages & send commands to different body parts

Synaptic vesicles rupture and release neurotransmitters across the synaptic cleft

The thalamus provides input to other structures in the brain stem, like a subway system.

What does it mean to have an integrative approach?

The cognitive perspective suggests that how we behave is based upon how we think about a situation

A factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect in an experiment

Select the three layers of the brain

A hypothesis is an educated guess!!!

Select the choices that make up the peripheral nervous system

Proximal stimulus is the optical image on the retina

Neurotransmitters attach to receptor sites embedded into the postsynaptic membrane

Regulates physiological processes in motivated behavior like eating, drinking, and regulating temperature

Nerve impulse activated in a neuron that travels down the axon & cause neurotransmitters to be released into the synapse

The chance that a similar study will yield similar results for years to come describes the ____ of research