Psychology

Annotations:

• explores and attempts to understand the relationship between brain processes, human behaviour and psychological functioning different psychological processes are controlled by different brain regions (or a combination)

1. Classic Cases
   1. Phineas Gage

      Annotations:

      • railroad worker tamping iron pierced skull under left eye, damaging pre-frontal cortex significantly (orbitofrontal lobe) changes in personality & behavioural change after recovery why? pre-frontal cortex restrains limbic system from constant firing of emotional messages - Gage became less calm, more excitable, etc.
   2. Tan

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      • had brain lesions which impaired frontal lobe funcioning could only say 'Tan' upon arriving at Paul Broca's practice lesions were impairing part of brain used for language production ^ Broca's discovery revived support for LOCALISATION of function
   3. HM

      Annotations:

      • hippocampus damaged in surgery to relieve epilepsy
2. History

   Annotations:

   • In the 19th century, the brain was thought to work as a single organ. Franz Gall discovered that specific brain areas or a combination of brain areas control particular aspects of mental life.
3. Testing
   1. Individualised assessment

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      • uniquely tailored to patient allows measurement of specific problems often used together with standard tests
   2. Standardised Test battery

      Annotations:

      • designed to complement each other (tests) and comprehensively address psych functioning carefully prepared and validated often used together with individualised assessment
4. Main causes of brain damage
   1. Stroke

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      • loss of blood supply to brain results in disruption of some aspect of behaviour or mental processes involves little or not pain, often leading to costly delay in treatment
   2. Trauma

      Annotations:

      • impact on brain caused by a blow or sudden, violent movement of the head causes brain to slide around within CSF and hit skull e.g. Blast (explosion) -primary = blast -secondary = shrapnel -tertiary = brain hits back and then front of skull
   3. Neurodegeneration

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      • gradual process of brain cell damaage, usually caused by disease e.g. Parkinsons, Alzheimers, Huntingtons
5. Disorders
   1. Visual Agnosia

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      • Person no longer knows what objects are based on their appearance can still see, describe and draw those objects "Although his vision was perfect, he often had difficulty recognising familiar people and objects"
      1. Similtanagnosia

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         • person can see parts of a visual scene but has difficulty perceiving the whole scene damage/dysfunction on upper regions of parietal lobe
   2. Hemineglect

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      • Condition involves difficulty in seeing, responding to, or acting on information coming from one side of the world may see both sides but are likely to pay attention to one side of the world and ignore the other often occurs after a stroke damage/dysfunction to parietal lobe most often on right hemisphere

1. Cerebral Lobes

   Annotations:

   • Frontal Lobe: thought planning, movement, inhibition, working memory Parietal Lobe: touch, spatial relations Temporal Lobe: hearing, memoryOccipital Lobe: vision
2. Neurons
   1. Action Potentials

      Annotations:

      • 1) Resting membrane potential (regulated ion flow) 2) excitatory/inhibitory messages from other neurons (via dendrites) exceed threshold (~55 millivolts) 3) rapid depolarisation initiated  at the axon hillock which creates a current called the action potential 4) the charge can't carry itself - oligodendrocytes (type of glial cells) that form myelin sheath wrap around axon and prevent ions from leaving - Nodes of Ranvier are depolarised during depolarisation and regenerate the signal, allowing it to reach the end of the neutron 5) current reaches end of axon (presynaptic axon terminal) where the neurotransmitters are released into the synaptic cleft and attach to the other receptors on the dendrites of adjacent neurons6) excitatory post-synaptic potential (EPSP) - depolarises neuroninhibitory post-synaptic potential (IPSP) - hyper polarises neuron
3. Limbic System

   Annotations:

   • Amygdala: emotional processing Hippocampus: laying down memories; short term --> long term memory Olfactory bulb: smell linked directly to limbic system Basal Nuclei: motor suppression, motor learning, muscle memory, motor response selection Cerebellum: complex movements, stores procedural memories (motor learning) Brainstem: breathing, sleep

Annotations:

• Start with curiosity Ask Questions to get meaningful answers (phrase as a hypothesis) Always be skeptical (ask: really?)

1. Steps

   Annotations:

   • 1) What am I being asked to believe? 2) What is the supporting evidence? 3) Is there an alternate interpretation/explanation? 4) What is the supporting evidence? 5)  Conclusion
2. Designs

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   • Within subjects - participants in both variable and control groups Between subjects - participants in one or the other group
3. Methods of Research

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   • Main Goals   •describe phenomena   •explain phenomena   •control phenomena   •make predictions
   1. Observational
   2. Case Studies

      Annotations:

      • up-close, in-depth, and detailed examination of a subject
   3. Surveys
   4. Correlational Studies

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• A process that results in a relatively consistent change in behaviour/behaviour potential based on experience

1. Associative
   1. Classical Conditioning

      Annotations:

      • Behavour controlled by associations Ivan Pavlov (dogs – measuring saliva) dog doesn't respond to bell, salivates to food *food is associated with bell* dog salivates to bell, learned to associate bell w/ food
   2. Operant Conditioning

      Annotations:

      • Behaviour controlled by consequences Edward Thorndike  (cats in puzzle boxes with out-lever) Burrhus F Skinner  (mouse in box with food lever) If an action brings a reward that action becomes stamped in the mind
2. Non-assosciative
   1. Habituation

      Annotations:

      • response to stimuli decrease w/ frequent exposure experience ∴ learning  (not just fatigue)
   2. Sensitisation

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      • response to stimuli increase w/ frequent exposure generally short lived

1. Memory
   1. Types
      1. Sensory memory

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         • fraction of a second - constant flow of information briefly retains information picked up by sensory organs has no meaning
      2. Short-term memory

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         • temporarily holds information in consciousness holds information active for breif periods of time limited capacity - chunking increases capacity for more immediate retention of information duration: 2 - 18 seconds
         1. "working memory"

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            • allows us to mentally manipulate the information    - mental arithmetic    - understand sentences
      3. Long-term memory

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         • Can retain information for long periods of time Large capacity  -> recognition ~35 years Standing et al. (1970) presented 2560 slides - had 63% accuracy, even 1 year after initial viewing Anything from first day of primary school to what you had for breakfast yesterday. Maintenance rehearsal & intention do not help LTM (much)
   2. Forgetting

      Annotations:

      • Bulk of forgetting occurs soon after study Less is forgotten if subject sleeps after learning - less interference from new material
      1. Amnesia

         Annotations:

         • Retrograde - inability to recall past memories (frequently reduced over time after trauma) Anterograde - inability to make new memories (famous test subject HM) Can occur due to...... vitamin deficiency   alcoholism (slow event) brain damage      -head trauma (e.g. no helmet)      -surgical trauma/disease (e.g. stroke) Amnesiacs can use implicit memory, but not explicit memory :HM met with psychiatrist, shook hand, given electric shock Next day, HM didn't remember psychiatrist (nor anything about the previous day), but refused to shake his hand
   3. Remembering
      1. Explicit

         Annotations:

         • INTENTIONAL retrieval (attempt) one becomes consciously aware of the memory (if retrieved) Tests:      - recall      - recognition
      2. Implicit

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         • UNINTENTIONAL influence of prior experiences on behaviour (deja vu) without conscious awareness Tests:      - perceptual identification      - fragment completion      - repetition priming
2. Judgement
   1. Heuristics

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      • rules of thumb judgements made on partial data only - intuitive and efficient (but also subject to bias and failure)
      1. Availability

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         • When asked to asses likelihoods or proportions people judge ease with which instances come to mind (famous people vs unknowns) Consequences overestimated due to bias "What's more likely to cause death: any accident or a stroke?"      -strokes are twice as likely to cause death      - media reports accidents, not strokes      - participants guess accidents more likely to cause death
      2. Unavailability

         Annotations:

         • Missing knowledge (partial ignorance can be exploited) "Which city has the larger population?"     - participants choose familiar sounding city's name over unknown city's name     - but if both are recognised, too much information creates a problem in deciding Ignorance trumps - implication of the recognition heuristic (people who recognise only half of stimuli do better than those who "know more" and recognise all options
   2. Confessions

      Annotations:

      • Confessions are the most powerful evidence in court (even those that are seen as coerced) US Police interviews seek confessions    - isolation weakens resistance    - confrontation where guilt is assumed    - minimisation (crime 'excused')    - 80% confession rate UK police use peace techniques - lying is not permitted REASONS FOR CONFESSION     - voluntary             - attention-seeking             - protecting real perp             - don't understand     - police induced             - complaint (escape stress)             - convinced of guilt     - innocence             - waive rights to a lawyer             - don't accept plea offers             - confess, expect release

Annotations:

• Sensation - feel, sight, taste, pressure - physical input the body receives (not aware) Perception - what we notice

1. The eye

   Annotations:

   • pupil – light enters iris – (colour) muscles that control pupil diameter sclera – ‘white of eye’ , protective outer layer cornea – see through 'window' over liquid (bulge) lense – fine tunes focus
   1. Retina
      1. Rods & Cones

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         • photoreceptors Rods: sensetive to longer wavelengths - primarily scotopic (night) Cones: three different types for different wavelengths - primarily photopic (day)
      2. Ganglion cells
         1. Parvo cells

            Annotations:

            • parvo = 'small' in Latin slow conductors sustained response (continued responses to something in visual field) foveal (info from cones)
         2. Magno cells

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            • magno = 'large' in Latin fast conductors transient response (one response to something in edge of visual field) eccentric (info from rods)
2. Trichromatic Theory

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   • 3 Primary colours = all other colours theory that human perspective works the same evidence: cones show 3 distinct patterns of wavelength sensitivity -blue -green -red
   1. Visual Defects
      1. Rod Monochromatic

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         • no cones no colour vision poor visual acuity "day blindness"
      2. Cone Monocrhomatic

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         • only one cone no colour vision no "day blindness" better visual acuity than rod monochromats
      3. Dichromatic

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         • most common cause of colour blindness most often found in men - transmitted on X chromosome
         1. Protanopia

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            • no red cones
         2. Duteranopia

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            • no green cones
         3. Tritanopia

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            • no blue cones
3. Opponent process Theory

   Annotations:

   • Ewald Herring "pure colours" -red -blue -yellow -green* certain combinations are never used: "bluish yellow" "reddish-green" =different processes in the brain? Colour vision organised into three opposing neural pairs: Red-green = excited by red, inhibited by green Blue-yellow = excited by blue, inhibited by yellow Black-white = brightness Evidence = ganglion cells receptor field firing rates
4. Psychophysics

   Annotations:

   • relationship between stimuli and sensation/preceptions evoked

Annotations:

• Genetic material does provide some constraints on learning. Genes can influence environment      - genetics influence the type of environment to which the child is exposed      - home environment + neurotic parent = neurotic child      - evocative influence: genetically influenced behaviours evoke responses from others      - genetically based traits affect the environments we select Genes can explain heritability within a group, but not heritability between two groups

1. Personality Development
   1. 5 Factor Model

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      • OCEAN Openness to experience Conscientiousness Extraversion - Intraverstion Agreeableness Neuroticism
2. How do we learn?
   1. Behaviourism

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      • The laws of learning that apply to (virtually) all organisms Organism starts as a blank slate
   2. Ethology

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      • evolutionary differences between species
      1. Adaptive Significance

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         • Behaviour affects chances of reproduction & general survival
      2. Fixed action pattern

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         • Instinctive behaviour is triggered by a particular stimulus
   3. Environment
      1. Species adaption

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         • influence from environment through natural selection
      2. Personal adaption

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         • interactions with immediate and past environment 
      3. Types of environment
         1. Shared

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            • many common experiences  e.g. parents, schooling, socioeconomic status, etc.
         2. Unshared

            Annotations:

            • experiences are unique e.g. friendships, different school teachers for siblings

1. Characteristics

   Annotations:

   • Subjective & private Dynamic Self-reflective (aware of consciousness) Linked to selective attention
2. Measuring
   1. Self-report

      Annotations:

      • Difficulties: lack of consciousness influenced - what they think experimenter wants to hear
   2. Behavioural

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      • tasks e.g. mirror task Difficulties: can only infer state of mind (e.g. drug self portraits)
   3. Physiological

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      • Difficulties:  subjective experience
3. Levels

   Annotations:

   • Complimentary forms of information processing that work in harmony
   1. Automatic (unconscious)

      Annotations:

      • impacts on behaviour subjects with visual agnosia (can see but not recognise objects) can still use objects - information is processed unconsciously, doesn't reach conscious processing subject affected by emotional information subconsciously - bad dream not remembered but still affects subject
   2. Controlled (conscious

      Annotations:

      • can become automatic if repeated multiple times
4. Neural basis

   Annotations:

   • No single place in the brain where consciousness resides The mind is a collection of separate
5. Altered states
   1. Sleep

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      • Alpha waves Theta waves Sleep spindles Delta waves, slow wave sleep Dreams occur in all stages, but most common in REM sleep
      1. Sleep deprivation

         Annotations:

         • impairs cognitive functioning affects mood affects physical performance
         1. Restoration model

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            • to recharge our bodies and recover from physical and mental fatigue  evidence: more sleep after exercise
         2. Evolutionary model

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            • increase species' chance of survival in relation to environmental demands (predators vs. prey) evidence: sleep patterns across different species
         3. Memory consolidation

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            • transfer of information to long-term memory takes place in REM sleep evidence: body needs REM sleep - if woken, someone in REM sleep will go back to sleep and start REM waves immediately counter: some drugs affect REM sleep but not memory
   2. Drugs
      1. Agonistic

         Annotations:

         • e.g. amphetamines increases neurotransmitter synth
      2. Antagonistic

         Annotations:

         • e.g. anti-psychotics decrease neurotransmitter synth decrease NS activity
      3. Ecstasy

         Annotations:

         • synthetic drug MDMA - stimulant with hallucinogenic properties ingested - takes ~1hr acute effects: -heightened perceptions (neocortex) -reduced appetite (hypothalamus) -stimulation (basal ganglia) -elevated mood (amygdala) adverse effects: -clouded thinking -hyperthermia -disturbed behaviour -jaw clenching (can also cause arrhythmias and renal failure) Long term effects: -decreased serotonin & metabolites -reduced serotonin transporters -degeneration of serotonin terminals -dammage to neocortex & hippocampus = memory impairment
   3. Hypnosis

Annotations:

• Motivation - a process influencing the direction, persistence and vigour of goal-directed behaviour *cannot be directly observed

1. Sources
2. Theories
3. Emotions
   1. Expressive Behaviours
   2. Theories