PSY 101 Exam Review: Research Methods, Brain, Learning, Memory and Development

Terms in this set (30)

1. Independent vs dependent variableThe independent variable is what the researcher manipulates; the dependent variable is the outcome that is measured to see if it changed.
2. Why can't a correlational study establish causation?A third variable may cause both, or the direction may be reversed. Only a true experiment with random assignment and manipulation supports causal claims.
3. Random sampling vs random assignmentRandom sampling picks participants from a population so results generalize. Random assignment places participants into conditions by chance so groups are equivalent, allowing causal conclusions.
4. What does a correlation coefficient of r = -0.85 mean?A strong negative relationship: as one variable increases the other tends to decrease. The sign shows direction; the absolute value shows strength.
5. What is a double-blind procedure and why use it?Neither participants nor the researchers who interact with them know who gets the treatment, reducing placebo effects and experimenter bias.
6. What are the main parts of a neuron and their roles?Dendrites receive signals, the cell body (soma) integrates them, the axon carries the action potential, and axon terminals release neurotransmitters into the synapse. Myelin speeds conduction.
7. What is the all-or-none principle?A neuron either fires a full-strength action potential when the threshold is reached or does not fire at all; stimulus intensity is coded by firing rate, not spike size.
8. Match: dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholineDopamine: reward, movement (low levels in Parkinson's). Serotonin: mood, sleep, appetite (targeted by SSRIs). Acetylcholine: muscle contraction, memory (low in Alzheimer's).
9. Sympathetic vs parasympathetic nervous systemSympathetic: fight or flight (raises heart rate, dilates pupils). Parasympathetic: rest and digest (calms the body and conserves energy).
10. Name the four cerebral lobes and a main function of each.Frontal: planning, decisions, motor control. Parietal: touch and spatial processing. Temporal: hearing and language comprehension. Occipital: vision.
11. Broca's area vs Wernicke's areaBroca's area (left frontal lobe) supports speech production; damage gives halting speech. Wernicke's area (left temporal lobe) supports comprehension; damage gives fluent but meaningless speech.
12. What do the hippocampus and amygdala do?The hippocampus helps form new explicit memories. The amygdala processes emotions, especially fear.
13. Sensation vs perceptionSensation is detection of physical energy by sensory receptors; perception is the brain's organization and interpretation of that input.
14. What is an absolute threshold vs a difference threshold?Absolute threshold: the minimum stimulus detected 50 percent of the time. Difference threshold (JND): the smallest detectable change; by Weber's law it is a constant proportion of the original stimulus.
15. In Pavlov's experiment, identify the US, UR, CS and CR.US: food. UR: salivation to food. CS: the tone, originally neutral, after pairing. CR: salivation to the tone alone.
16. Extinction vs spontaneous recovery in classical conditioningExtinction: the CR weakens when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US. Spontaneous recovery: the extinguished CR reappears after a rest period.
17. Positive vs negative reinforcementBoth increase a behavior. Positive reinforcement adds a pleasant stimulus; negative reinforcement removes an unpleasant one (e.g., taking aspirin removes a headache).
18. Negative reinforcement vs punishmentNegative reinforcement increases behavior by removing something aversive. Punishment decreases behavior, by adding something aversive (positive) or removing something pleasant (negative).
19. Which reinforcement schedule is most resistant to extinction?Variable-ratio schedules, where reinforcement comes after an unpredictable number of responses (as with slot machines).
20. What did Bandura's Bobo doll study show?Children who watched an adult act aggressively toward a doll imitated that aggression, demonstrating observational learning.
21. Describe the three stages of the Atkinson-Shiffrin memory model.Sensory memory (very brief), short-term or working memory (about 7 plus or minus 2 items, lasting seconds without rehearsal), and long-term memory (relatively permanent, large capacity).
22. Explicit vs implicit memoryExplicit (declarative) memory is conscious recall of facts (semantic) and events (episodic). Implicit memory is unconscious, such as procedural skills and priming.
23. Proactive vs retroactive interferenceProactive: old learning disrupts recall of new information. Retroactive: new learning disrupts recall of old information.
24. What is the serial position effect?Items at the beginning (primacy) and end (recency) of a list are recalled better than items in the middle.
25. List Piaget's four stages of cognitive development.Sensorimotor (0-2, object permanence), preoperational (2-7, egocentrism), concrete operational (7-11, conservation), formal operational (12+, abstract reasoning).
26. What did Harlow's monkey studies show about attachment?Infant monkeys preferred a soft cloth mother over a wire mother that provided food, showing contact comfort matters more than feeding for attachment.
27. What is the fundamental attribution error?The tendency to overemphasize personality traits and underestimate situational factors when explaining other people's behavior.
28. What did Milgram's obedience study find?About two-thirds of participants obeyed an authority figure to deliver what they believed were maximum-voltage shocks, showing strong situational pressure to obey.
29. What are the Big Five personality traits?Openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism (OCEAN).
30. What is cognitive dissonance and how do people reduce it?When beliefs and actions conflict, people feel tension (dissonance) and reduce it by changing a belief, changing the behavior, or adding justifications.