Download Introductory Psychology 85-102 2013 Exam I Review Notes The

Introductory Psychology 85-102 2013 Exam I Review Notes The following things would be good knowledge to have.
Be able to identify each topic and feel comfortable writing a short essay on it. Your notes and the book and associated
readings have everything you need to know. This is only a review or guide. It is intended to help you organize your
notes and study for the exam and is in no way a substitute for your attending class and taking a good set of notes for
yourself.
I. Sleep and Dreaming (Ch. 6 , Ch. 15: pg 605-615
Why do we sleep? Is it biologically necessary in some restorative sense, or merely a useful-adaptive behavior (see your
notes). There are many arguments/pieces of experimental evidence that bear on this issue (strength of the motivation,
correlation with some psychological disorders, the fact that we make up some lost sleep (or lost dream time),
hallucinations when deprived, wide disparity in amount of sleep, animal sleep deprivation studies, people who sleep
very little, and people who thru training learn to sleep much less). A consensus (sort of) is that sleep is a biologically
adaptive behavior--ie. it is sleep itself that is useful, rather than allowing some function to occur within sleep that is
"life-necessary". This doesn't deny that there are some metabolic and possibly memory enhancement (consolidation)
processes that are enhanced during sleep, as well as a few studies showing deleterious effects of sleep loss.
Theories of Dreaming:
Freud (know about the whole "wish fulfillment" expression of id desires idea; latent dream, manifest dream,
remembered dream); his theory was all about mental conflict. The result is 2 forces in dreaming: one trying to express
and one trying to repress; the dream is a compromise between these two forces (see your notes and ch. 15 pages) and
functions, according to his theory, to prevent the repressed impulses from disturbing sleep. Dreamwork (symbolization,
etc.) converts latent or "real" dream into manifest dream that you actually dream, and together with a second
mechanism, forgetting, helps maintain the "repression". He also had the idea that dreams are an attempt to preserve
sleep against disturbing stimuli from either the outside (alarm clock or some noise initiating the dream) or from the
inside, the repressed material trying to force its way into consciousness as the censoring forces relax during sleep.
Aserinsky, Dement, & Kleitman: discovered REM; found they occurred with dreaming; stages of REM regular
periodicity of sleep cycles and of dreaming. How does this work on dream regularity and also that of Hall on dream
series and Cartwright on the emotional content of dreams collected in dream series support or modify the Freudian
theory?
Physiology: Hobson-->initially, dream only a physiological event, random neural activity--no function whatsoever (very
radical stand!); Has now shifted to the view that dreams do have content that exhibits regularity in subject shifts and in
other aspects as well; i.e. they do have content and even meaning. The view is that they are generated by waves that
start in the brainstem and travel up to the visual cortex--thus causing visual hallucinations, and easier/greater spreading
of activation from ideas to other ideas--accounting for the jumps of subject/time/place that occur in dreams. His
Activation-Synthesis hypothesis states that while the dream generation process might be more or less random or nonmeaningful, the higher brain centers impose meaning on the activity, with the result that the dream can be randomly
generated but still meaningful! Others say we dream to purge unwanted neural connections; some say it's for a sorting
function (integrate important days events into memory and discard the unimportant ones) or simply to make permanent
(consolidate) important learnings from the day. This latter view of consolidating or making permanent the days' learning
of important information has received lots of support, including from recent studies of the pattern of neural activity
during dreams mimicking the patterns found during initial learning in studies with rats learning mazes. There are also
neuroimagining studies of dreaming that are broadly consistent with Freud’s view viz a viz emotional content of dreams:
see your notes.
II. Methodology: Intro & Ch. 1
The material on scientific method and data representation was mainly covered in your testbook and/or in recitation and
a reasonable expectation is that an overview of the material (your having read it and understood the major points) is the
most that will be expected. Specific issues that are of importance are:
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What a correlation expresses (the degree of relationship between two variables)
The fact that you can't make conclusions about cause and effect from correlational data
That you need an experiment, where you manipulate one variable (the independent variable) and measure its
effect on another variable (the dependent variable) in order to discover a cause-effect relationship
That in doing experiments you have to be careful not to have confounds (other variables in addition to the
independent variable) that might account for the data--including the subjects' or experimenters' knowledge or
expectations about what should occur! This is referred to as "experimental control".
There is also an important issue of how you frame questions--the terms must be well defined if you are to be
able to do good empirical work. One example of this is the question of "Do we need to sleep?" where we saw
that a lot depended on how you define "need" as a strong desire/motivation or a life necessity.
You should also know how to calculate a mean for a set of data
How to plot two variables against each other on a two dimensional graph (see for ex. fig. 1.11, 3.10 or 4.25 in
chapters 1, 3 and 4 of the textbook.
III. Biology of Behavior (Ch 3 + Related readings & Film)
The basic model here is a mechanistic (be aware of mechanist-vitalist debate and the respective positions of each
side). The view is of a small set of physical forces that give rise to electrical and chemical (concentration)
processes that can be assembled into increasingly complex behavior.
Simple behaviors: kinesis (undirected movement), taxis (directed movement as in phototaxis of the moth), simple reflex
(unlearned behavior --stimulus--sensory nerve--interneurons (sometimes) --motor nerve--effector (usually muscle)-response). Also Braitenberg's artificial examples: "vehicles" that exhibit behavior based on very simple mechanisms are
a nice analogy to the argument that behavior can emerge from mechanistic processes.
Cephalization is a principle that was talked about a lot. What is it? What implication does it have for us? (increased
effect of learning on behavior, longer development (due to large head); increased flexibility/adaptability in behavior-->
for example, humans can learn to do more than frogs, such as talk, think, etc). The question: "Why is the brain in the
head?" is part of this.
The neuron. Major parts (dendrites, axons, etc) Resting potential established by chemicals (ions)? These ions are
located, inside and outside the neuron. Remember: inside of neuron negative with respect to the outside. Mostly
potassium (K+) inside, mostly sodium (Na+) outside. Large anions (A-) are inside and can't get out; they outnumber the
K+ (that's why the inside is negative--because some of the K+ can leak out). Also, chloride ions (Cl-) are mostly outside
but some leak in so it is outnumbered outside by the positive Na+. Know the forces that act on the ions (answer:
concentration forces or gradients and electrical forces; see your notes) Action potential: something makes ion channels
open and Na+ rushes in to cause rising phase; as voltage increases further, sodium channels close and potassium
channels open and K+ then leaves to cause fall. AP goes from -70 or -75 to around +35 to +40 millivolts; threshold is
around -55 millivolts. Resting potential is around -70 to -75 millivolts. Be able to draw an action potential and label all
of the major parts. How fast does the electrical signal move? (answer: about 40 meters per second (m/sec.) Helmholtz's
discovery in the frog leg experiment, but can vary from less than 1 m/sec.. to more than 120 m/sec.--varies widely
across neurons & species). How long does action potential take? --about a millisecond or slightly less.
The synapse & neurotransmitters. Excitatory and inhibitory synapses; know about some of the main neurotransmitters
(such 'as acetylcholine & dopamine). Remember that virtually all drug effects are occurring at the level of the synapse.
What is a reflex and how does it work? Who came up with the concept of the reflex and why is it important to the idea
of mechanism or the mechanist position in the mechanist-vitalist debate?
Brain: cephalization again; dichotomies in the nervous system: Central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and
Peripheral nervous system (everything outside CNS); also, sensory (inputs to the spinal cord and up to brain) and motor
(signals to muscles so action can occur).
Know the trip from the spinal cord to the cerebral cortex: hindbrain (brainstem--> biological functions such as heart
beat and breathing), midbrain (includes some control of sleep and waking); forebrain (includes hypothalamus--brain
area controlling endocrine system via the pituitary, sleep, many motivations); thalamus (a relay station--it relays sensory
inputs to the cortex); limbic system (emotion--> Also formation of long term memories--> hippocampus); cerebral
cortex-->higher mental functions.
Organizing principles of nervous system: localization of function (see your notes): Localization is a major organizing
principle, but the phrenologists who started it made a scam out of it, remember? Know where some functions are
localized (for example, vision in the occipital lobe, language in the left hemisphere, somato- (body) sensory in the
parietal lobe, motor control and consciously directed and higher level thinking in the frontal lobe, etc. How do we know
about localization of function? Begins with Phineas Gage who lost frontal lobe and with it executive functioning,
stimulation of motor cortex results in movement of limbs, etc. The connections between brain regions are also
important, review how we know this. Also review the split brain material in the text--a high level example of interesting
localization that is visible under very special (split brain) conditions.
Another principle of the brain: topographic projections (the idea that things close to each other on the body are close to
each other in the brain--remember the sensory and motor maps. Also remember how it is distorted--some areas more
sensitive than others, require more brain representation.
Other principles to recall: All or none law for action potentials with result that size of action potential can't encode
intensity of stimulus, it's the frequency that codes intensity (the idea that the rate at which a neuron fires codes how
intense the stimulation is-- along with recruitment of other neurons into the set that is firing). ; also, doctrine of specific
nerve energies (how the brain knows about the outside world--> brain knows by way of what area of the brain is active
(or what inputs are active)). Other generalizations are genetic determination of neural organization vs. many types of
adaptiveness/modifiability of nervous tissue with experience (remapping of neural tissue or neuroplasticity): both play a
role.
Be familiar with the major points of Matt’s lecture that described the central role dopamine plays in motivated behavior
and the role or usefulness of prediction for an organism. Be familiar with some of the dis-regulations that can occur;
including impulsive behavior going from limbic areas up to frontal cortex and lack of inhibition coming back down
from frontal cortex—often leading to great impulsivity that is hard to control (think Phineas Gage). Other brain injuries
were also described—Wernike’s aphasia and Broca’s aphasia as well as ataxias and the effects of split brain operations
that demonstrate the inter-relation of brain structure and function.
IV. Motivation (Ch 12 + Related readings) We will be covering mostly motivation material at this time rather
than the end of the chapter material on emotion.
The basic model here is a mechanistic one of organisms needing to adapt to highly volatile environments by
means of homeostatic mechanisms and motivational systems that have evolved to maintain a degree of inner
constancy in the face of a changing external environment. (It is also the case that not all motivations fit the basic
model (ex. hunger only partially fits--there are also non-homeostatic influences on our hunger).)
Maslow's hierarchy and what it implies (answer: need to satisfy lower level needs before progressing: you wouldn't
worry about love if you were in a burning building. (but his critics might say you're likely to run back in and try to save
one you love!) While not totally accurate it expresses an interesting generalization about there being at least a partial
priority ordering of motivations while recognizing that at any one time, we can be motivated by multiple motives, even
from different levels, with each exhibiting different strengths.
The basic model: Primary drives are those that take care of our biological self (things like thirst and hunger). Their
operation can be described as a negative feedback loop. Walter Cannon/Claud Bernard view of dual output regulation;
physiological and psychological (motivational) as an adaptation to living in a highly variable environment. Idea of
general control systems (the negative feedback systems, including regulators and setpoints, that accomplish homeostasis
and other forms of control).
Autonomic nervous system (parasympathetic and sympathetic divisions that have somewhat opposing actions.) Prepares
body (long term--energy storage) and short term--arousal/emergency response (Cannon-flight-fight-fright).)
Motivation has two consequences: makes us move more (increases our activity) and makes us goal oriented (remember
the "cold" example from class--> what happens when we get cold? remember that cells in the hypothalamus are
temperature sensitive and start the whole process of adjusting when we get cold by shivering, goose bumps, etc.)
Another example of motivation: dehydration. Hypothalamus, in response to osmotic pressure changes, causes pituitary
to release anti-diuretic hormone that acts on kidney re-absorbtion of water. Also pressure receptors that respond to
overall fluid volume. Here the physiology can't solve the problem itself because water will always be lost. As a result
we need to invoke motivation--motivation to go find something to drink (thirst). (Also, if we lose water via sweat, we
need to replace both salt & water.)
Hunger: Role of the hypothalamus in the homeostatic control of hunger. Two parts (1) lateral hypothalamus (2)
ventromedial hypothalamus. Ventromedial called "satiety center" and seems to move the set point for how much you'll
eat. Rats who have this part destroyed will over eat, but they are not hungrier than normal rats. Lateral hypothalamus
has feeding centers. Rats won't eat and may actually starve if this area is destroyed (see notes).
Other regulators of eating: Glucose/Glycogen: Glucose turned into glycogen for storage; glycogen turned into glucose
for fuel. When the reaction in your body is going from glycogen to glucose there is hunger; but when it's going the other
direction there is no hunger. This suggests that you become hungry before you need food--and thus have the energy
needed to go look for or capture it!
Fat cell storage hypothesis: Fat is stored in fat cells. Fat cells are established during infancy and mainly through
heredity. In order to satisfy hunger in the long run you want to fill up the fat cells. If you have more fat cells, you have
more room to fill up with fat and so you're obese. So, if you diet to lose weight, you reduce the fat in the fat cells.
However, there is pressure to keep the fat cells full (to reach homeostasis), so there is pressure to eat. The fat cell
hypothesis then predicts that diets will fail in the long run because of this. Probably genetically determined. Leptin
release signals that fat cells are full and reduces hunger/feeding via its action on inhibiting neuropeptide Y (NPY) which
strongly stimulates appetite.
Schacter: Externality Hypothesis: Some people are more sensitive to bodily cues than others. Obese people turn out to
be less sensitive to bodily cues than non-obese people (non-obese people are more "plugged into" their body). Evidence
for this: Lab experiment with an inaccurate clock (found obese people would eat when it was noon, regardless if they
were hungry or not). Also the liquid diet in hospitals: obese people reduced their caloric intake because of the change in
food; non-obese people were less affected by these external changes. Finally, the fasting study looking at people fasting
during Yom Kipper. When inside the synagogue without any external cues, non-obese people found it harder to fast
than obese people (because their bodies told them they were hungry). However, outside the synagogue, obese people
had a harder time because all of the external cues to eat (such as being near normal dinner time).
Another interpretation is that of distinction between restrained and non-restrained eaters, with the former eating vast
amounts once they "break" through some inhibition of eating--i.e., the first milk shake might be might be resisted, but
once eaten, there will be four more. The idea is that many people are strongly inclined to look thin in this culture and
spend lots of effort and time trying to control their food intake in various ways.
Other phenomena that have to do with motivation include the Yerkes-Dodson Law--there is a "best" level of arousal for
performance--too low or too high reduces performance. As the task becomes easier (or equivalently, you become more
expert/practiced at it) the optimum level of performance occurs at higher arousal levels. (The neophyte actor may get
overwhelmed on openng nite but the experienced (and highly practiced actor) doesn't. Think about cockroaches or other
situations involving the arousing presence or absence of other actors or observers.
V. Learning Ch. 7. The behaviorist (and other) views of learning as a modification in behavior based on
experience.
The basic model (or models) here are of basic learning mechanisms that allow an organism to learn what things
go together in the world (or what are reliable signals of impending events) and also organisms learning to repeat
behaviors that "work" in leading to pleasure (which often results from the satisfaction of basic drives and thus
has adaptive value). Not all behavior or learning fits these basic models, but they are nonetheless of great use.
1. Pavlov and classical conditioning. Conditioned and unconditioned stimuli and responses. Learning what goes with
what in the world--to respond to a new stimulus in a manner similar to how you responded to an original one. We do
this because the new one (the cs) is a signal that the original one is about to appear. Stimulus generalization and
stimulus discrimination. An important way of learning about the regularities in the world--what is associated with what.
Pavlov's work showed that learning can happen at low levels of the nervous system.
2. Thorndike's law of effect and its later modification by Skinner into instrumental learning. Reward based learning.
Role of punishment. Extinction and resistance to extinction. Impact of different schedules of reinforcement--strong
impact on how easy or hard it is to extinguish behavior. Stimulus generalization and stim. discrimination. Shaping or
successive approximation. Real world applications. of instrumental learning principles.
3. Long term potentiation as a mechanism of learning. Experiments with Aplysia and classical conditioning (neural
model of learning).
4. Modern cognitive "reinterpretation" of what is learned--> a more central & representational view of learning that
modifies some of the overgeneralized or overextended claims of behaviorism. Issues such as belongingness,
informational value of stimuli as signals of impending events, (contingency). Remember the smart apes!
5. What is the usefulness/functionality of the Behaviorist view of learning--how has it been applied/can it be applied?
How might you use both of these basic models of learning? Which do you think is the more useful or important? Can
we separate the usefulness from the ideology? In particular, how does learning couple with motivation (homeostatic
control) to make animals adaptive to their changing environments?
Good Luck!!!
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