EXAM 1 Frank Johnson EXP3202 CLASS NOTES What is Psychology brain o Psychology focuses on a set of mental states that exist only on the inside of the human o As psychologists our ability to detect and measure the diversity of human mental states is influenced to a large degree by the type of society that we live in o I think the best place to study psychology is in an open society where humans are free to act on their psychology i e act on what s inside o When humans are free to act on what s inside we see astonishing intelligence and grace but also staggering evil ignorance and disease the price we pay for living in a free society The diversity of human mental states is obviously quite large and wide ranging o Which way it goes seems to be shaped by two forces our environment and our biology where what we sense and perceive is transformed into how we think and feel and what we actually do o Psychology is the interface between these two force o Human psychology is unique because our psychology is not limited by the biology of our sensory and motor systems o While a small number of other animal species have developed the ability to exceed the biological limits of their motor systems what we call tool use o We are the only species to have created tools specifically designed to exceed the biological limits of our sensory systems allowing us to perceive and think about the world in ways that were previously impossible o This means that we are the only species to formally recognize the limitations of our sensory systems We know that there is much more to the world than what we can sense o This achievement has changed us in ways that we are still trying to understand but we can say with certainty that is has significantly broadened the interface between our environment and our biology it has broadened our psychology o As psychologists we are trying to understand something that appears to be changing rapidly with no obvious end in sight Not true of other sciences A warning to those who think it is their job to explain the present o Nothing about the human brain predicted this change but this change would have been impossible without it Psychological evolution Biological evolutions Both Can t be biological and appears to be entirely psychological o Psychology seeks to understand how the potential for change is built into the human brain and why it seems to have lain dormant for most of human history Key Points What is real o We only experience the reality that is created by our brains o The physical sciences Physics Chemistry have enabled us to see the world as it truly o Psychophysics allows us to establish relationships between our brain based reality and the true physical world Na ve realist o These relationships are rarely linear i e the brain does not function like a mirror o Someone who thinks that their brain is reporting the actual content of the world around exists them o Perception of shape is actual a linear relationship When you see a rectangle it really is a rectangle o Vision is an exaggeration of what is actually happening Till the visual system receives more light and makes an underestimation o Above the diagonal overestimation o Below the diagonal underestimation How does it all work o The real world Stimulus receptor neurons sensation analysis perception synthesis our version of the world with color due to wavelength When we sleep our sensory systems are down Our dream are our perceptions Whatever mechanisms of perception they can operate independently of sensory input If we were to lose all our senses we still have some sense of perception o The real world Physics o Things Retina is tuned to photons wavelength color Atoms ions sense of taste smell o Events mechanical Things vibrating Things bumping into other things o Receptor neurons Detect variables in the environment and transduce it into an electrical signal If we do not have a particular receptor neuron for a thing or event than our mind is unable to understand it Unless you believe you have extra sensory perception dreaming o Drugs What are we made up of Alters the processing of incoming signals which depending on what it does can alter perception o Cells Bags of water that consume transduce store expend energy Make proteins DNA RNA Protein Replication Make more cells o Plasma Membrane altered in ways to tune cells to particular stimulus that it will detect Neurons in the brain are connected If we lost one it wouldn t really affect our brain Simple interconnected o Neurons Yes No More Sensory Transducers Use of action potential to transmit messages Things and events in the physical world become a pattern of electrical signals How do we differentiate Hypothesize Patterns are different depending on where the stimulus is received from Each are processed in distinct locations in the brain Organize Receptor neurons as 2 dimensional sheets of cells Length and width no depth Stimuli encoded as 2 dimensional maps of electrical activity Note Impossible to encode receptors as 3 dimensional But in some cases we perceive 3 dimensional How o We have two eyes and two ears o They are separate from each other allowing the brain to compare input from one another Vision and hearing are 3 dimensional senses Sound is perceived as being out in the environment Vision is striking our eyes but we perceive it as being out in the environment Connections in the brain between neurons o Connections are only sent in one direction o 1 1 relay o Many 1 Amplification gain sensation Several weak responses and integrate them to one strong response complexity perception simple responses that equal once complex response o 1 Many arousal Pattern of connections that release neurotransmitters dopamine serotonin etc Final words o 1 Sensation analysis Perception synthesis Break down our environment for analysis and put it together again for a full picture of perception o 2 Sensation Detect or Identify No sensory system can do both really well Human sensory system is designed to identify Helps humans to identify other humans This causes our vision to have high thresholds o 3 Perception Model or Representations Humans are able to use language to represent or explain a model HOUSE describes a drawing of a house Vision for shape allows one to see a house and create a model in the mind Same is true for colors Our eyes detect wavelengths and the brain generates colors Why are brains ugly childbirth meaningful o Although the brain to body ratio is high in
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