AP Psych Review Research Methods 1 Case Study Individual Unit Phineas Gage 2 Naturalistic Observation A unit is observed in its natural habitat without any manipulation by the observer 3 Survey A general examination Correlation Measures relationship between 2 variables Income and Education Higher income more years of education Experiments Isolate cause and effect Allows for casual explanations Independent Variable variable changed manipulated Age 1 Operational Definition Make construct measurable 2 3 Dependent Variable Variable measured Number of words known 4 Random Assignment best insurance of equal groups 5 Random Selection Everyone in a given population has an equal change of being selected 6 Sample Size Better representation and impact of outliers is reduced 7 Control comparison 8 Correlation strength of relationship 9 Operationalization making a hypothesis measurable 10 Double Blind Procedure used in drug studies neither the researcher nor the participant knows who received the treatment 11 3 elements of successful experiment Random assignment large sample size and operational definitions BIG IDEAS Know parts of Neuron 1 Everything psychological is simultaneously physiological Voodoo Death 2 Cells that fire together wire together Practice makes Permanent 3 Much of our everyday thinking feeling behavior operates outside our conscious awareness work together 4 Dual Parallel processing Brain is a collection of mini processors that usually 5 Hierarchical control Further up the brain we go more conscious our behavior 6 Unity Theory Brain works as one 1 Axon tubelike extension of a neuron Specialized to carry messages An axon of one neuron may have enough branches to make contact with up to 1 000 other neurons Some axons are covered by a sheath of white fatty substance called myelin The myelin increases the speed of impulses along the axons Myelin also casues the distinction between the grey matter and white matter in the nervous system White matter is made up mostly of axons that have white sheaths of myelin Myelin is formed in the PNS 2 Dendrites Branching tubelike extensions of the body that forms a pattern resembling the limbs of a tree Most neurons have about six main dendrites Specalized structures for receiving impulses from the axon of another neuron Dendrites and axons do not quite touch each other They are separated by narrow space called the synaptic cleft Places where one neuron communicates with another are called snyapses 3 Approximately 1 trillion glial cells in the human brain They guide neurons to their proper place during fetal development Aid in recovery from injury and are necessary to create new snyapses 4 Neurons that move muscles are body parts are called motor neurons Neurons that receive messages are called sensory neurons Neurons that connect motor and sensory neurons are called interneuron s Outside of brain is grey matter 5 Action Potential the electric nerve impulse Trigger changes the cells from negative to positive 70 40MV 6 Central Nervous System and Peripheral Nervous System a Somatic Voluntary and Autonomic Involuntary 1 Sympathetic fight Flight Hypothalamus Parasypathetic calming Vagus Nerve Crainial 10 80 7 Reuptake The absorption of neurotransmitters from the synapse back into the terminal button 8 Place where neurons send signals to each other is the synapse Chemicals called neurotransmitters are released by the axon and absorbed in the dendrites of the neuron 9 Once a neurotransmitter has locked into its receptor site on the neuron it is absorbed broken down and reused 10 Types of Neurotransmitter a ACH Enable muscle action learning and memory Alzheimer s b Dopamine influence smovement learning attention and emotion Schizophrenia Shortage of dopamine linked to Parkinson s c Serotonin affects mood hunger sleep Linked to depression d Norepinephrine Helps control alertness and arousal Undersupply can depress mood e GABA Alcohol f Glutamate Memory Glue g Endorphins pain relief The Brain 1 Medulla Controls breathing heart rate vomiting coughing and sneezing reflexes 2 Vagus Nerve Cranial 10 80 of parasympathetic outflow 3 Hypoglossal Nerve Cranial 12 Hypoglossal 4 Cranial Nerve 1 Smell Cranial Nerve 2 Sight Reticular Formation Responsible for bodily arousal runs through medulla and pons M M stimulated cats causing them to awake Pons Above the medulla Joins both halves of the cerebellum Involved in control of sleep Thalamus All incoming sensory information filter for electrical impulses Cerebellum Motor function and balance muscle memory Limbic System Borders the brain stem and medulla Limbis means border It has been linked to a number of important functions and behaviors Fine tuning motor movement pleasure center and addictions emotion and memory Hippocampus Seahorse helps process memories You ll always remember a hippo on campus Amygdala Almond Emotional center scans all incoming stimuli for danger Hard wired to notice differences in your environment Amygdala and Hippocampus right next to each other Hypothalamus Most important brain structure 1 Maintains homeostasis 2 Hunger 3 Sex 4 Fight Flight 5 Controls Immune System 6 Controls the pituitary gland Endocrine system pituitary gland known as master gland because it triggers release of numerous hormones Cortex Divided into four lobes Occipital Lobe Frontal Lobe Parietal Lobe and Temporal Lobe Frontal Lobe Planning judgement reasoning speaking contains motor cortext controls short term memory Seat of Executive Functioning Emotion does not reside in the frontal lobes and cannot be created there The frontal lobes can exert influence on the amygadala emotional capacity however Parietal Lobes Contains sensory cortex located at top of head Occipital Lobes Controls visual areas located at the back of the head Temporal Lobes Area of the brain containing auditory cortex Left hemisphere language Right hemisphere music Fluent speech which makes no sense Wernicke s aphasia Inability to form the right words Broca s aphasia Association Areas Brain areas where high level cognitive functioning learning remembering takes place Five examples of executive functioning reasoning creativity decision making working memory focus attention voluntary motor movement Left Hemisphere The hemisphere most responsible for language production Corpus Callosum Neural Cable that connects the left and right hemisphere Left Hemisphere Self motivated behavior execution of routine tasks language selective attention well established