PSYCH 101 Exam Review: Research Methods, Biopsychology, Learning and Memory

Terms in this set (30)

1. What is the difference between an independent variable and a dependent variable?The independent variable is the factor the researcher manipulates; the dependent variable is the outcome that is measured to see whether it changed because of the manipulation.
2. Why can a correlational study not establish causation?Two variables may be related because of a third variable, or the direction of influence may be reversed. Only an experiment with random assignment and controlled conditions supports causal claims.
3. Random sampling vs random assignmentRandom sampling (choosing participants from a population by chance) improves generalizability. Random assignment (placing participants into conditions by chance) makes groups equivalent so differences can be attributed to the IV.
4. What does a correlation coefficient of r = -0.80 tell you?A strong negative relationship: as one variable increases, the other tends to decrease. The sign gives direction and the absolute value (0 to 1) gives strength.
5. What is a double-blind procedure and why use it?Neither participants nor the researchers collecting data know who is in which condition. It controls for both placebo effects and experimenter expectancy effects.
6. Operational definitionA precise statement of how a variable will be measured or manipulated in a study, e.g. defining 'aggression' as the number of times a child hits a toy in 10 minutes.
7. Reliability vs validity of a measureReliability is consistency (the measure gives similar results each time). Validity is accuracy (it measures what it claims to measure). A measure can be reliable without being valid.
8. What are the three main parts of a neuron and their roles?Dendrites receive signals, the cell body (soma) integrates them and holds the nucleus, and the axon carries the action potential to terminal buttons that release neurotransmitter.
9. Describe the action potential in terms of ion movement.When the membrane reaches threshold, voltage-gated Na+ channels open and Na+ rushes in (depolarization); then K+ channels open and K+ flows out (repolarization), briefly overshooting (hyperpolarization).
10. What is the all-or-none law?A neuron either fires a full-strength action potential or does not fire at all. Stimulus intensity is coded by firing rate and number of neurons, not by the size of each spike.
11. What role does the myelin sheath play?It insulates the axon and allows saltatory conduction, where the impulse jumps between nodes of Ranvier, greatly increasing conduction speed.
12. Dopamine: main functionsInvolved in reward, motivation and voluntary movement. Loss of dopamine neurons is linked to Parkinson's disease; excess dopamine activity is associated with positive symptoms of schizophrenia.
13. Agonist vs antagonist drugAn agonist mimics or enhances a neurotransmitter's effect; an antagonist blocks or reduces it, often by occupying receptors without activating them.
14. Sympathetic vs parasympathetic nervous systemBoth are branches of the autonomic nervous system. Sympathetic prepares the body for fight or flight (raises heart rate); parasympathetic supports rest and digest (conserves energy).
15. Which lobe contains the primary visual cortex?The occipital lobe, at the back of the brain.
16. What did the case of Phineas Gage suggest about the frontal lobes?After an iron rod damaged his frontal lobe, his personality and self-control changed while basic intellect remained, suggesting the frontal lobes are important for planning, judgment and impulse control.
17. Broca's area vs Wernicke's areaBroca's area (left frontal lobe) supports speech production; damage gives slow, effortful speech. Wernicke's area (left temporal lobe) supports language comprehension; damage gives fluent but meaningless speech.
18. Role of the hippocampusA limbic structure essential for forming new explicit (declarative) long-term memories. Damage, as in patient H.M., causes anterograde amnesia.
19. Sensation vs perceptionSensation is the detection of physical energy by sensory receptors; perception is the brain's organization and interpretation of that input into meaningful experience.
20. What is transduction?The conversion of physical stimulus energy (light, sound waves, pressure) into neural signals by sensory receptors.
21. Rods vs conesRods are very sensitive to dim light and do not code colour; they dominate the periphery. Cones need brighter light, code colour and detail, and are concentrated in the fovea.
22. Weber's lawThe just noticeable difference is a constant proportion of the original stimulus intensity. Example: if JND is 2% for weight, you notice 2 g added to 100 g but need 20 g added to 1000 g.
23. In classical conditioning, identify the US, UR, CS and CR in Pavlov's dogs.US = food, UR = salivation to food, CS = the tone (originally neutral), CR = salivation to the tone after pairing.
24. Extinction vs spontaneous recoveryExtinction is the weakening of a CR when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US. Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of the weakened CR after a rest period.
25. Negative reinforcement vs punishmentNegative reinforcement removes an aversive stimulus to increase a behaviour (taking aspirin removes a headache). Punishment decreases a behaviour. Negative reinforcement is not punishment.
26. Which reinforcement schedule produces the highest, most extinction-resistant response rates?Variable-ratio schedules, where reinforcement follows an unpredictable number of responses (e.g. slot machines).
27. What did Bandura's Bobo doll study demonstrate?Children who watched an adult act aggressively toward a doll later imitated that aggression, showing observational learning without direct reinforcement.
28. List the three stages of the Atkinson-Shiffrin memory model.Sensory memory (very brief, large capacity), short-term memory (about 7 plus or minus 2 items, roughly 20 seconds without rehearsal), and long-term memory (relatively permanent, vast capacity).
29. Explicit vs implicit memoryExplicit (declarative) memory is consciously recalled facts (semantic) and events (episodic). Implicit memory shows up in performance without conscious recall, e.g. procedural skills and priming.
30. Proactive vs retroactive interferenceProactive: old learning disrupts recall of new information. Retroactive: new learning disrupts recall of old information.