Lecture 1/Chapter 1 – What is Psychology?  

What is psychology?

Psychology is…

… the study of the mind (mental activity), brain (contain the biological processes that  produce the mental activity), and behavior (observable human actions)  … a young field, with many “known” matters still being debated today

… about describing phenomena AND “understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of  such phenomena”

Psychologists…  

… study “normal” brain functions and behaviors

… often prove common sense to be WRONG  

… want to know WHY an answer is as such (emphasis on questions)  

Critical thinking = to systematically question and evaluate info using well-supported info  Requires healthy questioning and optimism  

Who is the father of psychophysics?

In psych, this adds to our understanding of how people typically think when presented  with info  

 Many of us function as “intuitive psychologists,” but many of our intuitions &   beliefs are wrong  

Typical errors of psychological science:  

Confirmation bias - ignoring evidence that doesn’t support our own belief  Self-serving bias – ignoring our own inadequacies  

 Inaccurately judging source credibility  

 Misunderstand/Not using statistics

 Seeing relationships that do not exist  

 Making relative comparisons

What is evolutionary?

 Accepting post-facto explanations

 Mental shortcuts

**Ignore names, focus on ideas  Don't forget about the age old question of What is phosphofructokinase?

History of Psychology:  

Nature/Nurture Debate – whether psychological characteristics are embedded in our DNA or  acquired through education, experience, and culture  

Mind/Body Problem – whether mind and body are separate and distinct, or is the mind the  physical brain’s subjective experience  

*Early psychological research was largely aimed towards understanding the subjective mind

Aristotle: The heart is the center of our sensory experience, and the brain is for cooling the blood  Until 1860’s, psychology was a sub-discipline of philosophy  

Phrenology = it was believed that one’s character traits can be interpreted from the localized  bumps on one’s head If you want to learn more check out What is wax?

A precursor to psychology & neuroscience  

2 big ideas they discovered:  

1) Computational Organology = the brain can be split into different regions,  each with different functions ???? space in the brain matters  

Why false? They didn’t parcel it accurately  

2) Experienced Dependent Plasticity = brain changes as a result of use; the  tissue is constantly growing  

Why false? They used localized bumps on a person’s head to interpret character  traits, but the brain can’t “push out” large bone  

Gustav Fechnar: A physicist interested in the relationship between the external environment and  internal mental state  

Father of psychophysics – how the world and the stimuli outside of us effect the stimuli  inside our mind  We also discuss several other topics like Classical realism
Don't forget about the age old question of What is cross price elasticity of demand?

Wilhelm Wundt: 1st person to measure the speed of a thought (speeded reaction time)  

Sigmund Freud: Theory of personality and methods of therapy that emphasized unconscious  motives and conflict  

His ideas are non-falsifiable (can’t be proven wrong)  

Freudianism lead to ???? Behaviorism Don't forget about the age old question of who insisted on accuracy and comprehensive coverage in the new york world?

Freudianism = the emphasis on unconscious  

Behaviorism (Watson & Skinner) = theory that focused only on how observable environmental stimuli affect behavioral responses  Don't forget about the age old question of What institutionalized system of communication conveys information and symbolic messages to audiences through print and technology?

Mental processes were deemed scientifically irrelevant in explaining behavior  Their ideas of “what is the mind” were all assumed  

When simple laws of behaviorism could not explain all learning…

Miller: Cognitive Revolution = the study of how people think, learn, and remember  (Actually the 2nd cognitive revolution)

Cognitive psychologists joined forced with neuroscientists, computer scientists, and  philosophers ???? emergence of cognitive neuroscience

Perspectives in psychology:  

Behavioral = Belief: all behavior is acquired from learning  

Focus: observable behavior  

Prominent in animal training  

Cognitive = Focus: mechanistic understanding of internal mental processes  Divides the brain into individual processes (i.e. memory, attention, perception, decision  making, language)  

Neuroscience = Biological bases for mind and behavior  

Evolutionary = Belief: human behavior & processes as evolved adaptation via natural selection  Psychoanalytic = Belief: our behavior & feelings are affected by unconscious motives (stem  from childhood experiences)

Lecture 2/Chapter 2 – Methods  

The Scientific Method: Theory, Hypothesis, Research  

4 primary goals of science: description, prediction, control, & explanation  The scientific method helps psychologists achieve this  Cyclical process:  

Theory  

(explanation based on observation)  

Hypothesis  

(prediction based on theory)  

Research  

(test of the hypothesis that leads to data that…)

Support Theory  

(refine with new hypotheses  and research)  

Reject/Doesn’t Support Theory  (discard or revise & test again)

Good theory evolves over time ???? more accurate model of natural phenomena  Good theory ???? many testable hypotheses/predictions  

Hypothesis vs. Prediction  

Hypothesis = an [unconfirmed] suspicion that is used to draw conclusions based on known facts  Lead to further investigation  

Prediction = the action of guessing future events (example: a prophecy, the forecast)  EXAMPLE:  

Observation: Computer is not turning on  

Hypothesis 1: Battery ran out of charge  

Hypothesis 2: Computer needs to be replaced  

Prediction 1 (with methods): Plugging the computer into the charger will  make it the computer turn on after a couple of minutes  

“If the dead battery hypothesis is correct, and I plug the computer into the charger, then  the computer will turn on”

Computer turns on!  

Test of hypothesis 1 supports the hypothesis ???? the above hypothesis is both  testable and falsifiable  

Focus on a hypothesis ???? make a prediction ???? do research ???? analyze weather the data supports  or rejects the hypothesis ???? report results & conduct further research  

Unexpected discoveries sometimes occur, but they are only beneficial to researchers who are  prepared to see their importance  

3 Types of Designs:  

Research Method:  

Experimental Non-Experimental  

Descriptive Correlation  

Observational Developmental  

Longitudinal Cross-sectional

1) Descriptive = observing the behavior of subjects  

 a) Observational Studies:  

Advantages:  

 Valuable in initial stages of research when characterizing phenomena   Occur in real-life setting (natural)  

Disadvantages:  

 Occur in real-life setting (little control)  

 People might change their behavior if they know someone is watching them   Observer bias = errors from observer expectations   Naturalistic observations = passive  

 Participant observations = active  

 b) Developmental Designs:  

 1. Longitudinal = observing one same group of people over a long period of time   Advantages:  

Informs researchers about developmental changes (effects of age on the  

same people)  

 Disadvantages:  

 Expensive (time & $)  

 Lose participants over time  

 2. Cross-sectional = observing multiple groups at the same time   Advantages:  

 Fast & cheap  

 Disadvantages:  

Cohort effect = unidentifiable variables may be involved; not  

generalizable  

2) Correlational = examine how variables are naturally related in real life; no manipulations  Correlation Coefficient = a value between -1.0 and +1.0 that indicates the strength (-/+)  of a relationship  

Advantages:  

 Rely on naturally occurring relationships  

 Allows measurement of variables that most likely can’t be controlled   Ex: criminal activity  

Disadvantages:  

CORRELATION ≠ CAUSATION  

Just because there is a correlation between people who text while driving  and people who die in car accidents, does NOT mean that all people who  

die in car accidents were texting!!

 Cannot be used to make casual conclusions  

3rd variable problem – researches cannot be confident that there isn’t another  variable that is actually causing the difference in the variables of interest  

3) Experimental = researcher manipulates one variable to examine the effect on a second  variable  

Independent Variable = the manipulated variable  

Dependent Variable = the variable being measured  

 Independent ???? (causes) change in the Dependent

Experimental Group = the group that receives the independent variable  

Control Group = the comparison group that does NOT receive the independent variable  (given placebo)  

Confound = another variable (other than the independent variable) that affects the  dependent variable  

Random Sampling:  

Psychologists want to generalize findings from a sample of individuals to the population of  people beyond the study

External Validity = the degree to which the findings can be generalized outside the lab  Random Sampling = everyone in the population has an equal chance of being selected  Selection Bias = groups aren’t entirely equal because participants in different groups  differ in unexpected ways, affecting the dependent variable  

Solution:  

Random Assignment = each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to  any level of the independent variable  

Balances out known & unknown factors, increasing likelihood that groups are  equal  

Data Collecting Methods:  

1) Observation – systematic evaluation and coding of evident behavior  

What should the researcher consider?  

 Whether to conduct in a lab or natural environment  

 How to collect the data  

 Whether or not the observer should be visible  

Reactivity: People being observed might change their behavior if they know they’re  being observed  

2) Case Studies – intensive examinations of “unusual” subjects

Patient H.M. lobotomy ???? discoveries about many functions in the brain, including  amnesia, memory formation, motor skills, & more.  

Advantages:  

 Provides extensive data about a few individuals/group  

Gives opportunity to investigate a situation that can’t be manipulated in a lab  Disadvantages:  

Hard to determine how much info taken from case studies can be generalized to  normal population  

3) Self-report – surveys or interviews are used to gather data from a lot of people in a short time  Advantages:  

 Gather large sums of data in a short amount of time

 In-person interviews gives the researcher a chance to try new lines of questioning  Disadvantages:  

 Interviewer might influence report  

 Participants may not remember info correctly  

 Participants might bring bias into their own self reports  

 Hard to determine if an answer is honest

Socially desirable responding = someone responds in a way that is  

socially desirable but not accurate  

Better-than-average effect = someone might describe him/herself more  

positively than accurate  

4) Behavioral Response Performance – researchers quantify cognitive processes in response to  a particular stimulus  

 2 major measures:  

 1. Reaction time  

 2. Response accuracy  

Advantages:  

 Simple way to measure cognition & perception  

 Less likely to contain observer bias (when designed properly)  Disadvantages:  

 Potentially expensive & time consuming  

 Not sure how generalizable findings are to real-life setting  5) Body/Brain Activity – how the body/brain (physiology) responds to events  Polygraph = measures physiological activity (heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration  rate) related to behaviors or mental condition  

Electrophysiology: = a way to collect data by measuring electrical activity in the brain  Electroencephalograph (EEG) = a device that measures brain activity  

The relationship between the brain activity responses on the paper and  

their localization in the brain is slightly off  

 Brain Imaging:  

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) = a device that produces a computer aided reconstruction of the brain’s metabolic activity by tracking a radioactive  substance  

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) = a device that produces a strong magnetic  force that the brain tissue respond to  

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) = a device that indirectly  measures blood flow by evaluating the changes in the blood’s oxygen level  Brain Stimulation:  

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) = a device with a very fast,  

powerful magnetic force disrupts brain activity momentarily in a specific brain  region  

Example: placing it over the part of the brain that controls vision will  

temporarily cause someone to lose their ability to see

Useful for examining which regions are required for certain psychological  functions  

Advantages:  

 Identify physical response to external events  

 Connects neural processes & behavior  

Disadvantages:  

 Expensive  

Many of these techniques are affected by 3rd variables (correlational – excluding  brain stimulation)  

Can be hard to decipher relevant data  

6) Animal Research – assumes that forces that control the behavior of all animals apply their  effects in similar ways

 Used because some research can’t [ethically] be performed on humans  

Lecture 3/Chapter 3 – Neuroscience  

Neurons = basic building blocks of the nervous system; receive & send out info throughout the  nervous system  

Neural Networks = a string of neurons  

Electrical Impulses = the power behind neurons  

Chemical Signals = the way that neurons communicate with other nerve cells  Dendrites = senses chemical signals from neighboring neurons  

Soma (cell body) = keeps the neuron alive & functioning; produces neurotransmitters Axon = transmits electrical impulses (can be as long as 2 meters in humans)  Myelin sheath = fatty fibers that surrounds & insulates axons; made up of glial cells,  which facilitate transmission  

 Impaired ???? MS

Terminal buttons = bulbous end of an axon; the end at which communication between  neurons occurs  

Synapse = gaps between neurons that supports the neurons’ chemical communication   1. Presynaptic neuron = neuron before  

 2. Postsynaptic neuron = neuron after  

1.  

2.

Process: Messages are received by the dendrites ???? transmitted along the axon ???? sent to other  neurons via chemical substances released from the terminal buttons across the synaptic cleft  

Neutral Responses:  

Electrical Voltage = the balance between positive & negative ions within the cell that determine  the condition of the neuron  

Resting membrane potential = when the negative to positive ion ratio is greater INSIDE the  neuron than outside (resting state is slightly neg.)  

Action potential (neural firing) = when a neuron transports an electrical signal to another  neuron; there is an increase in voltage that goes beyond the neuron’s firing threshold Process:  

Resting state – when the ion channels are closed; the neuron creates an action  potential because of the difference in concentration between the intercellular  space and the extracellular space (high concentration of Na+ outside neuron and of  K+ inside) –voltage difference = -70mV (created by leaky ion channels)  

Sodium-Potassium pump = exchanges 3 Na+ ions out for 2 K+in

Depolarization – when a neuron is stimulated by a presynaptic neuron the Na+  channels open & positive ions enter (more + inside than outside) ???? chain reaction  down the axon. These will then close and K+ channels will open, letting out  positive K+ ions  

Repolarization – intercellular space becomes negative again  

Hyperpolarization – when the cell has let out too many ions & it becomes more  negative than the cell’s resting potential  

Neurotransmitters:  

Neurotransmitters = chemicals that are released from the neuron’s terminal buttons due to  action potentials  

 The chemical that allows 2 neurons to communicate  

Travel across the synaptic cleft and are received by receptors on the postsynaptic  neurons’ dendrites.  

When the neurotransmitters binds with a receptor the neuron’s voltage is altered  

Agonist = drugs/chemicals that increase the effect of the neurotransmitter  How? Increases neurotransmitter production  

 Helps increase the release

 Activates the receptors to the neurotransmitters  

Antagoist = drugs/chemicals that decrease the effect of the neurotransmitter  How? Interferes with the release of the neurotransmitter  

Occupies the receptors thereby blocking the neurotransmitters from being  received  

 Causes the neurotransmitters to leaf from the synaptic vesicles  

All-or-none Principle:  

All-or-none principle states that “a neuron will either fire or not (no ‘weak’ or ‘strong’)” Neuronal intensity is determined by the frequency of signals it receives, per unit time  (spikes/sec)  

Adult brain has approx. 100 billion neurons!  

2 types of Cranial Tissue:  

Gray Matter = dendrites & cell bodies of neurons  

TRICK (when looking at a diagram): the flowers/leaves  

White Matter = myelinated axons  

TRICK (when looking at a diagram): the branches/trunk  

Basic Components:  

1) Central Nervous System = BRAIN & SPINAL CORD*  

The Spinal Cord = the main line connecting the brain to the outside world  Biological Purpose: sends sensory info to the brain & sends motor signals from  the brain  

 Physical Purpose: connects central & peripheral nervous systems   Damage ???? paralysis  

The Brain Stem = survival basis (houses breathing, heartbeat, pain, consciousness)   Damage ???? death  

The Cerebellum = function basis (important for normal motor skills, motor memory, &  learning)  

Damage: [to side lobes] ???? can’t control your limbs

 [to nodes on the bottom] ???? balance problems  

Subcortical Structure:  

1. Hypothalamus = body function regulator

Job: regulates internal organ function, body temp, body rhythms, blood pressure,  & blood glucose levels  

Also used for “hormone-driven motivated behaviors” (thirst, hunger,  

anger, lust)  

 Damage ???? regulatory problems, like overeating  

2. Thalamus = sensory gateway  

 Job: receives, organizes & sends out sensory info to the cortex (EXCEPT smell)   Partially closes to incoming sensations during sleep   Damage ???? sensory shortage  

3. Hippocampus = memory headquarters  

 Job: involved in how we remember the arrangement of places & objects in space   Damage ???? memory-related impairment; issues with special navigation; Anmesia  4. Amygdala = emotion base (TRICK: Amy is an emotional bitch)  

Job: involved in our development of negative & positive emotional responses  Damage ???? heavily reduced fear and anger  

5. Basal ganglia = tells us to move (TRICK: when a gang comes near you, you are  motivated to move!)  

Job: produces movement, and important for motivating behavior & experiencing  reward  

Damage ???? Parkinson’s Disease (or similar actions); can affect one’s ability to  learn movements and habits  

The Cortex: 2 hemispheres, 4 lobes  

Split into 2 hemispheres (left & right)  

Cerebral Cortex = the outer layer of the cerebral hemisphere  

Purpose: hosts all thoughts, detailed perceptions & complex behaviors  

Corpus Callosum = a huge axon bridge connecting the 2 hemispheres  

 Purpose: serves as a info passageway between the hemispheres   Damaged ???? hands work independent of each other  

The cortex is made up of 4 lobes:  

1. Frontal – complex reasoning, thinking, planning  

 Disproportionally larger in humans  

Damage ???? can’t make decisions ???? impulsivity & risky behavior  

2. Parietal – touch, spatial sense & navigation, spatial attention  

Damage ???? impaired motor control & spatial neglect (no spatial  

understanding)

3. Temporal – audio processing  

 Portion of temporal cortex known as “Wernike’s area”

 Damage [to Wernike’s area] ???? can’t understand language  4. Occipital – vision (TRICK: same letters as “optical”)

 Job: converts light from your eyes into your “rick subjective percept”

The Endocrine System:  

Endocrine System = a communication network that uses hormones to influence  thoughts, behaviors, & actions  

Hormones = chemical substances released into the bloodstream by the “ductless  endocrine glands” (pancreas, thyroid & testes/ovaries)

Hormone organs (and location):  

Pineal, Hypothalamus & Pituitary (brain)  

Thyroid & Parathyroid (neck-region)  

Thymus (upper chest)  

Adrenal & Pancreas (midsection)  

Ovaries & Testes  

Gonads = Endocrine glands that influence sexual behavior  

 Gonadal hormones: generally the same in males & females but…  Androgens (testosterone) = prevalent in males  

 Estrogens (estradiol, progesterone) = prevalent in females  Pituitary gland (“master gland”) = tells your body to release hormones from the rest of  the endocrine glands that are responsible for major bodily processes  

2) Peripheral Nervous System = EVERY OTHER NERVE CELL IN THE BODY   2 main components:  

1. Somatic Nervous System = transports sensory signals from skin, muscles & joints  to/from the central nervous system  

2. Autonomic Nervous System = regulates the inside of the body by stimulating glands  and internal organs & transports their signals to the central nervous system  Sympathetic division = prepares the body for action (fight or flight)  

Physical examples: dilates pupils, relaxes lungs, accelerates & strengthens  heartbeat, suppresses bowl movement, contracts vessels  

 Parasympathetic division = returns body to normal resting state  Physical examples: contracts pupils, constricts lungs, slows heartbeat,  

activates bowl movement, dilates vessels

Both systems control most internal organs, but increased anxiety ???? sympathetic  dominance  

How the Brain Changes:  

Brain is malleable  

Plasticity = a property of the brain that allows it to change as a result of experience, drugs, or  injury  

 Reflects the relationship between our biological & environmental influences   The biological basis for learning  

These changes usually strengthen preexisting connections  

Hebb’s “fire together, wire together” catchphrase: “When 2 neurons fire simultaneously,  the synaptic connection between them strengthens”

New connections can form between neurons – learning (in general) usually causes connections to  break  

Synesthetes:  

Synesthesia = sensory experiences are crossed for synesthetes  

One sense is used to stimulate another sense in the body  

Neuroplasticity is not just about making new neural connections, but pruning preexisting ones  

Lecture 4/Chapter 5 – Perception  

Sensation & Perception  

Sensation = detection of the nervous system  

Perception = brain processing  

The brains processing of detected signals results in internal representation of the stimuli that  form a conscious experience of the world  

Qualitatively & Quantitatively  

The brain needs both info about the stimulus  

Qualitative – what is the identity of the signal?  

Quantitative – how much of the signal is there?  

How to measure perception:  

Psychophysics = A subfield of psychology that measure the relationship between stimuli &  perception, examining our psychological experiences of physical stimuli  Often interested in assessing thresholds of perceptual abilities  

 2 types of thresholds:  

1. Absolute threshold = the minimum intensity of stimulation required before  someone experience a sensation  

Ex: the absolute threshold for hearing is the faintest sound a person can  

detect (usually a dog whistle)  

2. Difference threshold = the minimum amount of change required for someone  to detect a difference (the “just noticeable difference”)

Weber’s Law = the “just noticeable difference” between 2 stimuli is based on a  proportion of the original stimulus rather than on a fixed amount of difference    

Primary modes of sensation:  

1) Taste

Gustation = the sense of taste  

Taste buds = sensatory organs, mostly on the tongue  

Stimulated taste buds send signals to the brain which produce taste  

Disclaimer: different regions of the tongue are NOT sensitive to certain tastes  Every taste experience is composed of a mixture of 5 basic qualities: sweet, sour,  salty, bitter, & umami  

2) Smell

Olfaction = the sense of smell

Literally a linking of molecules to specific receptors, each with their own unique  identity. Works like a ‘lock (receptor) and key (odorant molecule)’.  

Humans have ~900 receptors!  

Process:  

 1. Odorant molecules pass into the nose & nasal cavity  

2. They contact a layer of tissue embedded with smell receptors (= olfactory epithelium)  3. Smell receptors relays info to the olfactory bulb, which begins the perceptual  processing of smell and sends it to the rest of the brain  

3) Touch

Haptic sense = conveys sensations of temperature, pressure, pain, & and the localization  of our limbs in space  

Receptive field = region in space that a sensory neuron is sensitive to  

 Parts of the body are more sensitive to touch than others  

Ex: fingers are more sensitive to touch than your calf  

Pain is part of a warning system that prevents you from continuing activities that may  harm you  

 2 kinds of nerve fibers have been identified for pain:  

1. Fast fibers for sharp, immediate pain; activated by strong physical pressure &  high temperatures  

2. Slow fibers for chronic, dull, steady pain; activated by chemical change in  tissue when skin is damaged  

4) Hearing  

Audition = the sense of sound  

When objects vibrate, air molecules are displaced, producing a sound wave which  are converted into brain activity (change in air pressure that travels through the  air)  

Ear decomposes sound before it’s processed by the brain

Amplitude = quantity of sound wave ???? determines loudness  

Frequency = quality of sound wave ???? determines pitch  

The cochlea (part of the ear) is arranged tonotopically (= it codes frequency as a function  of distance across the cochlea)  

There are little hairs in the cochlea that vibrate with sound; they vibrate differently to  different frequencies (differ in rigidity)  

 The mechanical vibration is transduced into a neural response  

Frequency insensitivity = when the hairs break from being exposed to a strong  frequency intensity

5) Vision

 Most of the scientific study of sensation and perception is concerned with vision   *images are inverted when first seen by the eye  

 Parts of the eye (in order of operation):  

Pupil = determines how much light gets through  

Iris = controls the size of the pupil  

Cornea = focuses the incoming light  

Lens = focuses the light to project and upside-down image on the retina  

Retina = transduces the light into a neural response and disperses that signal to  the rest of the brain through the bundle of axons (optic nerve)  

Contains 2 types of receptor cells that have photopigments (initiate the  

transduction of light waves into electrical neural impulses:  

1. Rods = respond to very low levels of light like night vision;  

located at the outer edges of the retina  

Important for peripheral vision  

2. Cones = respond to high levels of light and for color & detail;  

located heavily near ‘fovea’  

Sensation to Perception:  

*All sensory info first given to the thalamus (except olfaction)  

Perceptual processes really begin in the cortex  

Hearing:  

 Auditory neurons in the thalamus extend their axons to the primary auditory cortex  Sound Localization = the spatial identification of a sound source based on subtle in time  it takes for a sound to hit each ear; localizations is processed in the auditory cortex  Cocktail party effect = selective listening  

Vision:  

Very little ‘seeing’ actually takes place in the eye

 Vision is a result of constructive processes that occur throughout much of the brain  Primary Visual Cortex (VI) = transforms light on the retina into psychologically  relevant info  

 Contains a retinotopic map of the visual scene  

Orientation selectivity = when our visual system detects edges (one of first  things)  

Filled with detectors that are sensitive to edge orientation, each giving certain info  about the visual scene

Process: Light pixels ???? edges ???? contours ???? shapes ???? objects!  

 2 parallel visual processing pathways:  

 1. Dorsal Stream (where): spatial perception  

 2. Ventral Stream (what): perception & object recognition   Some cortical regions are sensitive to facial expression & gaze direction  Perceptual constancy = the brain views objects as constant despite sensory info that  might lead it to think otherwise  

The brain computes a ratio based on relative magnitude rather than on sensations’  absolute magnitude  

Colors don’t usually appear in isolation, rather in a scene

Color Contrast = the effect when one color differs from another color near it