Psychology exam 2 Flashcards
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What is myelin and what does it do
Protective fatty layer around axons that protects them from damage and speeds up neural transmission
What areas are un-myelinated
Gray matter isn’t myelinated to pack more neuron density
What happens if myelin is degraded
Called Multiple Sclerosis This leads to poorer reaction times because signals travel slower
What is stimulus
The raw sensory input that comes from the environment
Sensation
When your sense organs detect the stimulus
Transduction
sensory receptors convert to electrical signals
Perception
Nerve signals reaches cortex where it is perceived
what is Absolute threshold
Minimum stimulus to experience a sensation
What is difference threshold
minimum change in stimulus to notice a change
what is Weber’s Law
Difference threshold varies based on magnitude of pre-existing stimulus
Where is the primary somatosensory cortex
On the parietal lobe
What is a Human Motor Homunculus
A depiction of a person with overrepresented areas because of they have the most sensory receptors (tongue, lips, hands)
What does the occipital lobe do
Processes visual information responsible for vision
What is the cerebral cortex
The outside layer of the brain that processes mental activity
what does the Frontal lobe do
It is responsible for planning, reasoning, language, and cognition
What does the Temporal lobe do
it is responsible for auditory information and language comprehension
What does the Parietal lobe do
It is responsible for touch sensory
What is Aphasia
damage to the frontal lobe which makes it difficult to understand things but can speak perfectly fine
What is Aphasia in Wernicke’s Area
Easy to comprehend things but difficult to speak
How is the brain divided and what is the hemisphere of the brain
It is divided into two halves the center is called the hemisphere
What are the two halves of the brain responsible for
Some functions of the brain are stronger in one half than the other like language is stronger on the left
What is bottom-up processing
Raw sensory input, slow process
What is Top-down processing
Background knowledge influences, perception to fill in the blanks, much faster
what is Fusiform gyrus
The area that is responsible for face-processing information
