Pysch notes1pyschology: study of behaviour and mental processes2methods and scopepyschological research:involves research question and research designExamples at MSU:behavioral neuroscience: how do hormones or genes contribute to the development of behavior and antomical differences between sexes; use zebra finches and lizards; animals (develop faster, control environment, ethical issues, etc.)clinical: what are developmental signs of autism, how are nonverbal social skills delayedor deviant, what are useful interventions; genetic, neurobiologic, environmental cause of eating disorder and how factors interact; disorders, pathology, treatmentcognitive neuorscience: seeing thoughts; how do people stay on task moment to momentand underlying cognitive software; role of sleep in learning and consolidation of memories; observationof mental processesdevelopmental: big changes across life; what information sources do kids trust, how does gender affect judgement; typically work with kidsecological community: “specialty program”; how legal, medical, mental health institutions respond to need of rape survivors, how to improve response; community related barriers to putting HIV preventive science into practice; interaction between individual and institution; main barrier is building trustorganizational: how trainees interact with training technologies, how teams adapt to longterm missions; go in to company and improve training, selection, etc.; adaptation to changing goalsSocial/personality: how can persuasive messages be crafted to maximize effect given recipients motivational orientation (promotion v prevention); interaction with peopleOther: school, counseling, educational; human factors, neuropsychology, forensic psychology, behavioral economics, neuromarketingResearch design:Observational: study world as is—case studies, correlational studies, quasi-experiments, relationships between variables.Experimental: manipulate world to test effect; goal—compare two or more conditions that differ only in terms of the experimental manipulationElements of an experiment:variable: something whose value can changeindependent variable: manipulation—each value is a “level” or “condition”dependent variable: what you measureconfounding variable: extra independent variable that invalidates the experimentMatching groups:want conditions to differ ONLY on independent variables—no confoundingapproaches to matching:random assignment: randomly assign people to each group; large enough sample should cancel out any differences between the groupswithin-subjects manipulation: participate in both sides or all conditions or levels or independent variable; possible concerns-order effects (counter balance by random assignment)explicitly match on particular variables3methods and scopeVariability: low variability- same results occurred oftenRole of statistics: larger difference in means, relative to variability, lower probability of a difference occuring by random chanceconvention: difference in means is statistically significant if probability it occurred by chance in less than five percentInternal validity: aspects of study that support a strong causal inferencemay be skewed by confounding variables; observers may produce biasBlind study or Double Blind study: experimenters must be blind to the condition or hypothesis being testeddemand characteristics: aspect of experimental context that participants perceive as demanding particular behaviorsExternal validity: replicates with more complex material and more realistic context3Organization of the brain:mental processes and the brain: run on neurons—cells that signal each other; make simple yes or no as to whether or not to propagate signal; hundreds of billions“thought”: chunk or network of neural tissue signaling faster than baselineCentral Nervous System (CNS):saggital view: from side, cut down midlinespinal cord: simple reflexesbrain stem: breathing, heart, stress responsethalamus: sensory switchboardlimbic system: memory for events, location, emotionhippocampus: event memory; limited storage; smallamygdala: emotional memorycortex (gray matter): high level functions; thin layer of neurons;computing happenswhite matter: infrastructure and wiring for communicationcontralateral organization: vision pathways—sight→thalamus→visual cortex (back)Primary visual cortex: “grabs” image or pattern; topographic—preserve spatial relationshipsCortical regions:occipital lobe: at back; primary visual cortexviews: superior-top, inferior-bottom, anterior-front, posterior-back, lateral- side, saggital-side view cut down longitudinal fissureCorpus callosum: allows communication between two halvesAxons (wires and cables)- neuron outputs; Sulcus- dip in brain tissue; Gyrus- hill in brain tissueSensorimotor areas: left brain affects right side of bodysomatosensory: signals from body; behind central sulpusmotor projection: anterior side of central sulpusmuch taken up for face to produce right movements for complicated speechAssociation areas (everything not sense or motor cortex)nonsensorimotor cortical areas: integrate and connect informationfrontal lobe: thinking, planning, attending, working memory, inhibition (impulse control)parietal lobe: long term memory storage of images; “where” systemtemporal lobe: long term storage of meanings; “what” systemBrains across species: animals have less association areas; more sensory, less thinking—frontal lobe where thinking happens decreases4Neurons and Neural Computation:The neuron:resting state—imbalance of electrical charge; maintain through ion pumps in membranepolarization: imbalance of electrical charge across cell membranehyperpolarized: more - chargede-polarized: more + charge; cause the firing of neurons; send action potential to axonAction potential: local depolarization→triggers a chain reaction or wave/spike of depolarization“spike train”: sequence or set of action potentialssynapse: neurotransmitters transfer signal or messageexcitatory: increase in frequency of action potential produces a denser spike trainadd mostly + for more potential for depolarizationinhibitory: hyperpolarization—more – charge; cancels effect of extra + chargeneurons are always firing: density of spike train can be above or below baselineabove baseline represents informationSensation: early stages of processingbegins with transduction: light, sound, pressure to neural signalsvision: photoreceptors (rods-