Science Psychology Flashcards
(57 cards)
What is Psychology?
The scientific study of human thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
What are behaviours?
Directly observable actions.
What are mental processes?
Indirectly observable; private and internal.
What is psychology vs Psychiatry? + examples
Psychology:
no referral needed.
cannot prescribe medication or admit to hospital.
Mental
Psychiatry:
Referral needed
Medical doctor
Can prescribe medication and admit patients to hospital
Role of the cerebral cortex
The outer layer of the brain (only a few millimetres thick,
Processing of complex sensory information, the initiation of voluntary movements, language/symbolic thinking and the regulation of emotion, including localisation of function.
What are the cerebral hemispheres?
Two almost symmetrical brain areas running from front to back of the brain (left hemisphere and right hemisphere).
What does the left hemisphere do?
Receive and process sensations from right side of body.
control voluntary movement on right side of body.
Verbal and analytical functions.
Analysis (Maths, sequential tasks).
Logical reasoning.
What does the right hemisphere do?
Receive and process sensations from left side of body.
control voluntary movement on left side of body.
non-verbal tasks and processing of the whole.
Spatial and visual thinking.
creativity, fantasy, appreciation of art and music
recognising emotions.
What are the cortical lobes?
Areas of the cerebral cortex associated with different functions.
Frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, temporal lobe.
Role of the frontal lobe.
Located at the front of the cerebral cortex.
Estimates, attention, decisions, personality, expressing emotions, movement, language, controlling emotions, problem solving, planning.
Role of the parietal lobe.
Located at the upper middle of the cerebral cortex.
Body senses-somatosensory cortex, spatial reasoning, attention.
Role of the occipital lobe.
Located at the back of the cerebral cortex.
Visual information.
Role of the temporal lobe.
Emotional memories, memory, facial recognition, language, sounds.
What is sensation?
Physiological process of sense organs and receptors detecting and responding to raw sensory, stimulating information.
What is perception?
Process of giving meaning and use to sensory information. How we interpret sensory information.
What is the order of processes?
Reception, Transduction, Transmission, Selection, Organisation, Interpretation.
What is reception?
1st process of visual perception system (Sensation)
Detecting, receiving and responding to sensory information.
Receptive field is the area of space in which a receptor can respond to a stimulus.
What is transduction?
2nd process of visual perception system (Sensation)
The information is converted into a neural impulse.
What is transmission?
3rd process of visual perception system (Sensation)
The information is sent to the brain for perceptual processing. (still not consciously aware of the sensory stimuli).
What is selection?
4th process of visual perception system (Perception)
Certain sensory stimuli or their features are attended, and other features are ignored.
What is organisation?
5th process of visual perception system (Perception)
Selected features of sensory stimuli are regrouped so that they are cohesively arranged.
What is interpretation?
6th process of visual perception system (Perception)
The organised sensory information is understood in a way that depends on the meaning that is assigned to it. (Individual is now consciously aware of sensory stimuli in the way that they interpreted it).
What is the pupil and where is it located?
Black opening in the centre of the iris which allows light to pass through it. Located at the front of the eye
What is the iris and where is it located?
Controls the amount of light entering the eye by adjusting the size of the pupil. Located at the front of the eye.