PSYCH; Lecture 1, 2, 3 and 4 - Introduction, Health, beliefs and behaviour, Attention and Perception, Brain and Behaviour

Question 1

What is learning?

Answer 1

A process by which experience produces a relatively enduring change in an organisms behaviour or capabilities - behavioural (overt) or cognitive (covert)

Question 2

What are the three elements of a behaviour?

Answer 2

Antecedent (env conditions or stimulus changes that exist before the behaviour of interest, may either be internal/external to subject) ===> Behaviour (behaviour of interest emitted by the subject and future instances of this behaviour will be influenced by both antecedents and consequences) ===> Consequence (stimulus change that follows the behaviour of interest)

Question 3

What are the basic learning processes?

Answer 3

Classical conditioning (learning what events signal), operant conditioning (learning one thing leads to another) and observational learning (learning from others)

Question 4

What is an unconditioned stimulus?

Answer 4

A stimulus that elicits a reflexive or innate response (the UCR) without prior learning

Question 5

What is an unconditioned response?

Answer 5

A reflexive or innate response that is elicited by a stimulus (the UCS) without prior learning

Question 6

What is a conditioned stimulus?

Answer 6

A stimulus that, through association with a UCS, comes to elicit a conditioned response similar to the original UCR

Question 7

What is a conditioned response?

Answer 7

A response elicited by a conditioned stimulus.

Question 8

What is classical conditioning and when is it strongest?

Answer 8

Repeated CS-UCS pairings; UCS is more intense and sequence involves forward pairing (CS -> UCS); time interval between CS and UCS is short

Question 9

What is extinction?

Answer 9

The weakening and eventual disappearance of a response because it is no longer reinforced - when CS is presented without the pairing of UCS, it leads to extinction

Question 10

What is stimulus generalisation?

Answer 10

A tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar, but not identical , to a conditioned stimulus. E.g. responding to a buzzer, or a hammer banging, when the conditioning stimulus was a bell; CR is elicited but in a weaker form

Question 11

What is stimulus discrimination?

Answer 11

The ability to respond differently to various stimuli. E.g. A child will respond differently to various bells (alarms, school, timer); A fear of dogs might only include certain breeds

Question 12

What is overshadowing?

Answer 12

When two or more more stimuli are present, and one stimulus produces a stronger response than the other because it is more relevant or salient.- e.g. cancer patients which were given novelty drinks when going to clinic reduced their nausea

Question 13

What was Little Albert’s experiment?

Answer 13

Five days after conditioning he was tested with other objects like rats, wooden blocks, rabbit, dogs, Santa Claus mask -> led to strong fear to rat, rabbit, dog and coat but nothing to the mask

Question 14

What is fear learning - needle injection e.g.?

Answer 14

Traumatic injection -> pain and fear; so trauma (UCS) and needle (CS) -> fear response (UCR); then leads to clinic setting (CS) leading to fear response (CR)

Question 15

What is the two factor theory of maintenance of classically conditioned associations?

Answer 15

The UCS+CS-> UCR (fear response) which leads to avoidance of CS (injections), which reduces fear and tendency to avoid is reinforced

Question 16

What is thorndike’s law of effect?

Answer 16

A response followed by a satisfying consequence will be more likely to occur. A response followed by an aversive consequence will become less likely to occur

Question 17

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 17

Behaviour learned and maintained by its consequences

Question 18

What is positive reinforcement?

Answer 18

Occurs when response is strengthened by subsequent presentation of reinforcer

Question 19

What are primary/secondary reinforcers?

Answer 19

1ry: those needed for survival -> food, water, sleep, sex; 2ry: stimuli that acquire reinforcing properties through their association with 1ry reinforcers -> money, praise

Question 20

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 20

Occurs when a response is strengthened by removal/avoidance of aversive stimulus e.g. painkiller use is reinforced by removing pain

Question 21

What is positive punishment?

Answer 21

Response is weakened by presentation of stimulus (squirting cat with water when it jumps on table)

Question 22

What is negative punishment?

Answer 22

Occurs when response is weakened by removal of stimulus (phone confiscated)

Question 23

What is the difference between reinforcement and punishment?

Answer 23

Reinforcement is a more potent influence on behaviour than punishment as punishment can only make response less frequent, not teaching a new behaviour

Question 24

What is resistance to extinction?

Answer 24

Degree to which non-reinforced responses persist

Question 25

What are the different kind of schedules for reinforcement and how do they affect the response to the stimulus?

Answer 25

* Fixed interval schedule: reinforcement occurs after fixed time interval. * Variable interval schedule: the time interval varies at random around an average. * Fixed Ratio Schedule: reinforcement is given after a fixed number of responses. * Variable Ratio Schedule: reinforcement is given after a variable number of responses, all centered around an average. * Continuous produces more rapid learning than partial reinforcement (association between behaviour and consequences is easier to understand) BUT continuously reinforced responses extinguish more rapidly than partially reinforced responses (shift to no reinforcement is sudden and easier to understand)

Question 26

How is chronic pain operantly conditioned?

Answer 26

Chronic pain behaviour is often reinforced by family/staff by being overly sympathetic which is also reinforced by gratitude signals from patient - cycle where patient receives =ve consequences for being in pain so pain = more likely

Question 27

What is the cognitive approach?

Answer 27

Humans are active info processors and think about relationship between behaviour and consequence -\> social imitation may hasten/short-cut the acquisition of new behaviours without the necessity of reinforcing

Question 28

What is Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory - observational learning and reinforcement?

Answer 28

Obs learning: observe behaviours of other and consequence of those behaviours; vicarious reinforcement: if their behaviours are reinforced we tend to imitate the behaviours

Question 29

When does observational learning occur and what are the steps to successful modelling?

Answer 29

Occurs by watching and imitating actions of other person/noting consequences of person's actions - NB: before direct practice is allowed. Steps to successful modelling = pay attention to model; remember what was done; able to reproduce modeled behaviour and if successful/behaviour is rewarded then more likely to occur

Question 30

What is the Bobo doll experiment?

Answer 30

Question 31

When is social learning more likely to occur?

Answer 31

If model is seen to be rewarded; high status; similar to us; friendly

Question 32

What is sensation?

Answer 32

The stimulus detection system by which our sense organs respond to and translate environmental stimuli into nerve impulses that are sent to the brain

Question 33

What is perception?

Answer 33

The active process of organising the stimulus output and giving it meaning

Question 34

What are the 5 senses?

Answer 34

Question 35

How is perception an active process?

Answer 35

Top-down: Processing in light of existing knowledge: motives, expectations, experiences, culture. E.g. ‘backmasking Bottom up: Individual elements are combined to make a unified perception

Question 36

Which factors affect perception (top down)?

Answer 36

Attention; Past experiences (Poor children and adults overestimate the size of coins compared to affluent people (Ashley et al., 1951)); Current drive state (e.g. arousal state) (Hunger: when hungry, more likely to notice food-related stimuli ( Seibt et al., 2007)); Emotions (Anxiety increases threat perception); Individual values; Environment; Cultural background

Question 37

What are figure-ground relations?

Answer 37

Our tendency to organise stimuli into central or foreground and a background - focus if figure, all else is background

Question 38

What is the continuity Gestalt Law?

Answer 38

When eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object

Question 39

What is the similarity Gestalt Law?

Answer 39

Similar things are perceived as being grouped together

Question 40

What is the proximity Gestalt Law?

Answer 40

Object near each other are grouped together

Question 41

What is the closure Gestalt Law?

Answer 41

Things are grouped together if they seem to complete some entity

Question 42

What is visual agnosia?

Answer 42

Basic vision spared; Primary visual cortex can be mostly intact; Patient not blind; Knowledgeable about information from other senses (e.g. if they touch an object then naming is typically simple) - associated with bilateral lesions to the occipital, occipitotemporal, occipitoparietal

Question 43

What are the 2 types of visual agnosia?

Answer 43

Question 44

What is the difference in the types of visual agnosia?

Answer 44

Question 45

What is attention?

Answer 45

Process of focusing conscious awareness, providing heightened sensitivity to a limited range of experience requiring more intensive processing -\> focus on certain aspect and filter out other info

Question 46

What are the 2 components of attention?

Answer 46

Focused attention (spotlight); divided attention (paying attention to more than one thing at once)

Question 47

Which stimulus factors affect attention?

Answer 47

Question 48

Which personal factors affect attention?

Answer 48

Motives, interests, threats, mood, arousal

Question 49

What is the link between attention and response?

Answer 49

Intertwined with other cognitive processes (e.g. memory and perception). Sensory buffers register information for a few seconds which can be used to select which information to focus on. Limited capacity for short term memory. But, there is evidence that we can unconsciously perceive information not attended to.

Question 50

What is the cocktail party effect?

Answer 50

We can focus our attention on one person’s voice in spite of all the other conversations - but when we hear our name we can process that information and react to it

Question 51

What occurs when automatic tasks are taken up whilst multitasking?

Answer 51

Multi-tasking is easiest when skills are automatic and tasks are not too similar (e.g. writing an essay whilst listening to music). But, multitasking leads to competing processes and influences how each task is carried out

Question 52

When do incorrect actions occur?

Answer 52

Correct response is not most habitual or strongest; Full attention not given to task; High levels of stress or anxiety present

Question 53

When do medical mistakes occur?

Answer 53

Question 54

What is medical student syndrome?

Answer 54

A psychological condition amongst medical trainees that experience symptoms of the disease or diseases that they are studying; High workload, stress of exams, high anxiety related to new clinical experiences, and exposure to medical knowledge. This knowledge affects symptom perception via expectations are beliefs that arise from it. This leads to selective attention to physical symptoms and misinterpretation (e.g. I have X disease) leading to preoccupation

Question 55

How do we perceive bodily symptoms?

Answer 55

Focus of attention contributes to the perception of our bodily symptoms

Question 56

What is pain?

Answer 56

Important sign that body has been damaged/ something s wrong -\> acute pain protects us from damage/ infection

Question 57

How is chronic pain different to acute pain?

Answer 57

If its there for 3 months/longer, it is possible that original damage has healed but pain pathways are more oversensitised/disregulated -\> after 3 months of stimulation to pain pathway,, molecular changes to RNA in neurones of spinal cord -\> cortical reorganisation demonstrated s result of maladaptive comping strategies

Question 58

How is pain perceived in chronic pain?

Answer 58

Question 59

What is the gate theory of pain?

Answer 59

Pain signals compete to get through gate whch can be opened/closed by psych factors -\> explains pain relief by rubbing it better

Question 60

How does the mind process pain? (not exam important)

Answer 60

Very complex -\> various areas to deal with pain; chronic pain lights up different areas of the brain c.f. to acute pain

Question 61

What is the fear-avoidance model of chronic pain?

Answer 61

There is strong relationships between areas; pain breeds avoidance which perpetuates stress, low moods, anxiety

Question 62

What is language?

Answer 62

A system of symbols and rules that enables us to communicate -\> no humans yet discovered without language -\> innate vs exposure with bone env and organic factors important

Question 63

What is the structure of language?

Answer 63

Phoneme: smallest unit of speech sound in a language that can signal a difference in meaning (44 in english); morphemes: smallest units of meaning in a language (typically consist of one syllable, and combined into words)

Question 64

What is syntax?

Answer 64

Rules and principles which govern the way in which morphemes and words can be combined to communicate meaning in a particular language -\> universal grammar is widely accepted (under normal conditions develop language with particular properties

Question 65

How does language develop (1-12 months)?

Answer 65

Question 66

How does lamguage develop (12months - 5years)?

Answer 66

Question 67

What is the critical period in language acquisition?

Answer 67

Question 68

When is it easiest to acquire a second language?

Answer 68

Question 69

How does genetics affect language development?

Answer 69

Huge individual differences in language ability, some of which depends on genetic factors

Question 70

Where is language located in the brain?

Answer 70

Hemispheric specialization for language. 95% of right-handed people have left-hemisphere dominance for language, 18.8% of left-handed people have right-hemisphere dominance for language function. Additionally, 19.8% of the left-handed have bilateral language functions.

Question 71

What is Broca's Aphasia?

Answer 71

Non-fluent speech impaired repetition, poor ability to produce syntactically correct sentences, intact comprehension

Question 72

What is Wernicke's aphasia?

Answer 72

Problems in comprehending speech (input/reception of language); fluent meaningless speech; paraphasias, semantic/phonemic paraphasias, neologisms; poor repetition, impairment in writing

Question 73

What is paraphasias - semantic and phonemic?

Answer 73

Errors in producing specific words -\> semantic (subs in words with similar meaning); phonemic (subs in words with similar sounds)

Question 74

What are neologisms?

Answer 74

Non-words - e.g.: galump

Question 75

What is the arcuate fasciculus?

Answer 75

Bundle of axons that forms part of the superior longitudinal fasciculus. The arcuate bidirectionally connects caudal temporal cortex and inferior parietal cortex to locations in the frontal lobe.

Question 76

Summarise the different types of aphasias explaining comprehension and expression capabilities

Answer 76

Question 77

Which conditions are associated with aphasia?

Answer 77

Question 78

What is dysexecutive syndrome?

Answer 78

Disruption of executive function and is closely related to frontal lobe damage -\> Cognitve, emotional and behavioural synptoms

Question 79

What are executing functioning skills?

Answer 79

The mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully.

Question 80

What are the causes of dysexecutive syndromes?

Answer 80

Head trauma, tumours, degenerative diseases, and cerebrovascular disease, as well as in several psychiatric conditions

Question 81

What are other parts of the brain involved in executive syndromes?

Answer 81

Pre-frontal cortex and subcortical structures -\> explains how parkinson's shows some prefrontal cortex issues

Question 82

What are the behavioural and emotional aspects of the dysexecutive syndrome?

Answer 82

Question 83

What are the cognitive aspects of the dysexecutive syndrome?

Answer 83

Attentional and working memory difficulties; Poor planning and organisation; Difficulty coping with novel situations and unstructured tasks; Difficulty switching from task to task; Difficulty keeping track of multiple tasks; Difficulty with complex/abstract thinking

Question 84

Why are we getting fatter?

Answer 84

Obesity is complex but there is increased calorie intake, auto-dependency (obesity falls with increased walking/cycling)

Question 85

What are the 5 modern day killers?

Answer 85

Dietary excess, alcohol consumption, lack of exercise, smoking, unsafe sexual behaviour

Question 86

How do we tackle disease?

Answer 86

We can change behaviour

Question 87

What is health behaviour?

Answer 87

Any activity undertaken by an individual believing himself to be healthy, for the purpose of preventing disease or detecting it at an asymptomatic stage

Question 88

What did the alameda study discover?

Answer 88

List of 7 health behaviours which if you practice all 7, have mortality reduced by 1/4 than those who practiced 3 or less -\> Not smoking/snacking, eating breakfast, regular exercise, getting 7-8h sleep, moderate alcohol, moderate weight

Question 89

At what level can we intervene to change health behaviours?

Answer 89

Popn, community or individual

Question 90

What is an example of a popn-wide intervention?

Answer 90

Change 4 life

Question 91

What is the role of education in health behaviour change?

Answer 91

Information has important role -\> effective for discrete behaviours; messages tailored to particular audience (more effective) -\> BUT often need more than knowledge to change habitual lifestyle behaviours, particularly addictive behviours

Question 92

What are the cues for unhealthy eating?

Answer 92

Visual (eg. fast food signs, sweets at checkout) Auditory (eg. ice cream bell) Olfactory (eg. smell of baking bread) Location (eg. the couch or car) Time (eg. evening)/ Events (eg. end of TV programme ) Emotional (eg. bored, stressed, sad, happy).

Question 93

What are the reinforcement contingencies?

Answer 93

Positive reinforcement (DA, fills empty void/boredom), negative RI (avoid painful emotions by comfort eating); Punishment (preparing a low fat meal is criticised) -\> limited/delayed positive reinforcement for healthy eating as efforts at dietary change/ weight loss go unnoticed by others

Question 94

What are the behaviour modification techniques you can use?

Answer 94

Stimulus control techniques (keep danger foods out of the house, avoid keeping biscuits with tea/coffee, eat only at dining table, use small plates); counter conditioning (ID high risk situation/cues and healthier responses); contingency management (involve significant others to praise healthy eating choices; plan specific rewards for successful weight loss); naturally occurring reinforcers (improved self esteem (+ve RI), reduction in symptoms of breathlessness (-ve RI)

Question 95

What are the limitations of reinforcement programmes?

Answer 95

Lack of generalisation (only affects behaviour regarding specific trait that is being rewarded), poor maintenance (rapid extinction of desired behaviour once reinforcer disappears); impractical and expensive

Question 96

Does fear arousal work for health campaigns?

Answer 96

According to study of 50 high school students on dental health, \<10% change in behaviour was seen in those with high fear levels

Question 97

Why is social learning important at a young age?

Answer 97

Adolescents are particularly susceptible to social influences given their developmental stage and importance of school and peer groups

Question 98

What is the expectancy-value principle?

Answer 98

The potential for a behaviour to occur in any specific situation is a function of the expectancy that the behaviour will lead to a particular outcome and the value of that outcome

Question 99

What is the health-belief model?

Answer 99

x

Question 100

What influences the decision to get the flu vaccine?

Answer 100

Susceptibility, seriousness, benefits, costs/barriers, cues

Question 101

What are the types of efficacy beliefs?

Answer 101

Outcome efficacy (individuals expectation that behaviour will lead to particular outcome); self efficacy (belief that one can execute the behaviour required to produce the outcome)

Question 102

What factors influence self efficacy?

Answer 102

Mastery experience, social learning, verbal persuasion/encouragement, physiological arousal

Question 103

What is the theory of planned behaviour?

Answer 103

Question 104

What is the transtheoretical model?

Answer 104