PSY 432: Cognitive Development: Language, Thinking, and Perception

Explore the divisions of the nervous system and discover which one is responsible for the startle response. Learn about the roles of the parasympathetic, central, somatic, sympathetic, and autonomic systems in our body's functioning.

Discover various psychological interpretations of dreams, from Freud's repressed desires to cognitive processes. Learn about the activation-synthesis model that attributes dreams to random neural activity. Understand how the mind crafts narratives from seemingly random dream sequences.

Explore different psychological schools and their approaches to introspection, from Darwinism and Empiricism to Structuralism and Behaviorism. Discover which school used self-reflective introspection to understand the elements of human experience.

Explore the tenets of deism, a philosophical perspective from the Enlightenment that emphasizes belief in a creator who doesn't intervene in the universe's affairs. Delve into its rise alongside scientific inquiry and its influential proponents, such as Paine, Jefferson, and Franklin.

Discover how perception shapes experiences through the concepts of absolute and difference thresholds. Understand Marisol's ski trip sensations in terms of these psychological phenomena. Learn how individual factors can create unique perceptual moments.

Discover the captivating science of how neural networks evolve in complexity. Learn about the intricate processes, like dendritic branching, that shape our nervous system. From neural connections to performing tasks, understand the beauty of neuroscience.