Physiological Psychology Lecture #6 Flashcards
Language
- Larynx changes location 300,000 years ago.
- More sounds, greater vulnerability to choking.
- Speech gene evolved by natural selection 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
When did language emerge?
over 100,000+ years ago.
Lateralization Issues
Left: language in most person (95%)
Right: narrative speech, map reading, prosody, also language.
Left Handedness
10% of the population
- Excel in visual spatial analysis?
- Top 0.1% of SAT 2x as likely to be left-handed.
- Higher level of education.
- Overly represented at the other end of the continuum = criminals
- 2018, more than 2x the risk of developing breast cancer before reaching the menopause than right-handed women.
- Less lateralization than right-handers: 70% (15% R; 15% both).
Future of Language
6000 languages exist.
-80% have not been documented
-90% will become extinct in the coming century.
-One language dies every 14 days.
Broca’s Aphasia
“Broken, Non-fluent”
- Anterior to motor cortex = impaired speed processing.
- Expressive aphasia.
- Worsens with anxiety or pressure demands.
- Generally aware.
BMF = Broca, motor, frontal lobe
Wernicke’s Aphasia
“Fluent”
- Posterior portion of temporal lobe and by the primary auditory cortex = impaired comprehension.
- Receptive aphasia.
- Impaired language comprehension.
- Often unaware.
- Can occur in those who are deaf.
W = wacky, words, or word salad.
Global Aphasia
Impairments in both.
Learning
Acquisition for new information.
Stages of Learning
- Sensory Information
- Short-Term Memory
- Long-Term Memory
Stage 1 of Learning
Sensory Information
- Information is first processed through out senses.
- <1 second
Stage 2 of Learning
Short-Term Memory
- Meaningful/salient information.
- <1 minute.
- Can support via repetition and chunking (7 +/- 2 Rule)
Stage 3 of Learning
Long-Term Memory
- Short term memories are converted into long term memories = consolidation.
- Can be retrieved across a lifetime.
- Increase retrieval (rehearsal = strengthening of memory)
- Involves the hippocampus.
What is the 7 +/- 2 Rule?
*Can remember 7 +/- 2 things at a time
What are the types of learning?
- Stimulus-Response Learning
- Motor Learning
- Perceptual Learning
- Observational Learning
Stimulus Response Learning
Perform behavior when stimulus is present.
Classical Conditioning involves the:
- Amygdala
- Hippocampus
- Thalamus
Operant Conditioning involves the:
- Positive and negative reinforcement/punishment.
- Mesolimbic and mesocortical system support learning.
- Basal Ganglia - takes over actions as “over learned motor behaviors.
Motor Learning
Learning a skilled task and then practicing with a goal in mind until the skill is executed automatically.
- Moving an action from the conscious to unconscious –> Basal Ganglia.
Perceptual Learning
When repeated exposure enhances the ability to discriminate between two (or more) otherwise confusable stimuli.
- Allows us to identify and categorize objects.
- Prior experience influence your perception of stimuli (attribution bias, confirmation bias)
Observational Learning/Social Learning Theory
Process of learning by watching behaviors of models.
- Occurs via operant conditions and vicarious conditioning.
More likely to mimic models who:
- Positive perception
- Shared (perceived) traits
- Stand out
- Familiarity
- Self-Efficacy in mimicry
- Social Media
- Violence in games and entertainment.
Prosocial Modeling
Prompts engagement in helpful and healthy bx.
Antisocial Modeling
Prompts other to engage in aggressive/unhealthy bx.
EXAMPLE: Bandura Bo Bo Doll–physical aggression.
Mirror Neurons
Type of brain cell that respond equally when we perform an action and when we witness someone else perform the same action.
- Essential Neurons for social interactions.
- Lower number is psychopathy and ASD.
- Brain responds the same way to performing, witnessing, and hearing an action.
Believes to enable:
- Empathy/intention
- Skill building through mimicry
- Vicarious experience
No Evidence for What Learning Types?
- Learning styles exist.
- “Mozart Effect”
Evidence exists for what kind of learning?
- Interleaving/spacing learning
- Writing rather than typing
- Studying in natural light.
- Power nap (caffeine hack)
- Context-Dependent Learning
Interleaving
Concerns shorter periods of time–altering between topics during on study session.
Spaced Learning
Enhances when knowledge is repeated after certain intervals.
Procedural Memory
Unconscious recall of how to perform an action or skill. (i.e. how to ride a bike)
Episodic Memories
Involve context–must be learned all at once (i.e. where you park your car)
Semantic Memories
Involve facts without context.
- Facts for which the context does not matter (i.e. the sun is s star)
- Can be acquired gradually over time.
HM and the Hippocampus
Prior to Surgery: suffered from severe, intractable epilepsy. Seemed to have epileptic foci in both medial and temporal lobes.
Bilateral medial temporal lobectomy.
- Included removal of hippocampus and amygdala.
RESULTS:
- Convulsions reduced in severity and frequency.
- IQ increased from 104 to 118
- Remained emotionally stable with generally superior psychological abilities.
- Also produced devastating amnesia.
When does memory peak?
Age 8
What strengthens long term memory/storage?
Reviewing/rehearing materials.
- Storage is not permanent for a few hour to days.
Anterograde Amnesia
- Failure in explicit memory
- Declarative
- Info available to consciousness
- Capable of perceptual, motor, and SR learning
- Failure of relational learning
Retrograde Amnesia
- Failure of implicit memory.
- Non-declarative.
Strokes
“Occurs when something blocks blood supply to part of the brain or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts”.
Infarcts
Tissue necrosis d/t stroke
Incidence rates of strokes in the U.S.
averaages over 750,000 per year
Risk Factors for CVDs
- Hypertension
- Diabetes
- Smoking
- OSA
- Obesity
Ischemic Strokes
Obstruct the flow of blood.
- Thrombus or Embolus
