Biology glossary

Question 1

what is structural MRI?

Answer 1

a technique of studying the brain by capturing a high resolution static picture of it. MRI works by aligning the hydrogen atoms in a body using a powerful magnet, then sending radio waves to disturb this alignment; as the atoms return to their original state, they emit signals that are detected and converted into detailed images by a computer.

Question 2

what is localisation of function?

Answer 2

principle that argues that specific brain areas specialise in particular cognitive functions.

Question 3

neuroplasticity?

Answer 3

brain’s ability to adapt and rewire to the surroundings or trending challenges that it faces by increasing the volume of areas that are responsible for the specific activity

Question 4

neurotransmission?

Answer 4

electro-chemical signaling across neurons and synapses, responsible for stimulating the brain - cognition.

Question 5

role of an antagonist/agonist?

Answer 5

boosts/slows down neurotransmission by heightening/lowering the post-synaptic activation, which leads to faster and more qualitative/slower and less qualitative cognition

Question 6

effect of a hormone on behaviour?

Answer 6

hormones are chemical messages that are released to the bloodstream and regulate slow-acting physiological processes, and indirectly, cognition by up- or down- regulating certain genes that affect cognition, for example high cortisol in bloodstream down-regulates long term potentiation (streghtening of neurons) genes, which results in poorer declarative memory

Question 7

effect of a potential pheromone on behaviour?

Answer 7

mhc is a combination of 6 different genes that determine main characteristics of our immune system; because of evolutionary reasons - diversity and better procreation - humans are wired to be attracted to people who have more varied mhc gene combination

Question 8

role of genes in behaviour?

Answer 8

genes are responsible for creating proteins that affect our nervous system, an consequently, cognition and behaviour

Question 9

genetic similarities in understanding behaviour?

Answer 9

help estimating heritability of certain behaviours by comparing individuals with shared dna

Question 10

use of kinship/twin studies?

Answer 10

bailey and pillar compared concordance of similarity in sexualities monozigotic twin, dizagotic twin, and adoptive brothers and results were 50, 20 and 10 percent respectively, which highly suggests that there is a genetic component in sexual orientation

Question 11

multi store memory model

Answer 11

sensory memory, short term memory and long term memory.s

Question 12

schema theory

Answer 12

schemas are mental frameworks that we create from experience and they help us think understand and predict things and just intrpreting information quickly in general but it may cause memory dstortions

Question 13

dual-processing model?

Answer 13

theory that there are two main systems of cognition: system 1 that is faster and automated but prone to bias and errors and system 2 that takes more time and effort to operate but is more precise and conscious

Question 14

working memory model

Answer 14

divides the short term memory into few pockets that operate seperately: central executive which controls attention and switches tasks, phonological loop that holds verbal and sound information, visuospatial. sketchpad that holds visual and spatial info and episodic buffer which combines all sensory input recieved into an “episode”

Question 15

reconstrictive memory

Answer 15

idea that memory is not perfect - cannot remember everything, - and uses schemas to fill in the gaps it forgets

Question 16

one bias in thinking and decision-making

Answer 16

systematic errors in thinking like relying on the first piece of information while making decisions is called anchoring

Question 17

social identity theory

Answer 17

identity is partially shaped by groups that we belong in, which leads to social categorisation (division), social identification (emotionally tying to the group we stick to), and social comparison (seeing our group as better to boost self-esteem)

Question 18

social cognitive theory

Answer 18

theory that people learn by seeing other people’s behaviour, especially if the role model is similar to them, is rewarded or is appearing frequently - vicarious learning (learning by seeing other’s outcomes)

Question 19

stereotypes

Answer 19

oversimplified generalisations that come from personal experience, media, bias in thinking and social identity

Question 20

culture and behaviour

Answer 20

individualism vs collectivism - iniuits vs temme people - asch test - temme people proven to conform more, which supported the study’s hypothesis that culture plays role in behaviour when it comes to conforming

Question 21

enculturation

Answer 21

learning normes, rules and ideals of a culture through childhood experiences - growing up and school or media

Question 22

acculturation

Answer 22

being in an enviroment with a new culture and adjusting to its rules values and ideals which may lead to identity conflict, acculturative stress or mental health challenges