psychology david myers 8th ed

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a nerve cell;the basic building block of the nervouse system: neuron
the bushy, branching extentions or a neuron that recieve messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body: dendrite
the extention of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands: axon
a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon. the action potential is generated by the mevement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axon's membrane: action potential
the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the recieving neuron.: synapse
chemical messengers that traverse the synaptic gaps between neurons. when released by the sending neuron, they travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the recieving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural im: neurotransmitters
natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure: endorphines
the body's speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervouse systems: nervouse system
the brain and spinal cord: central nervouse system (CNS)
the sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervouse system (CNS) to the rest of the body: peripheral nervouse system (PNS)
neural "cables" containing many axons. these bundled axons, which are part of the peripheral nervous system, connect the central nervouse system with muscles, glands, and sense organs.: nerves
neurons that carry incoming info from the sense receptors to the central nervouse system: sensory neurons
neurons that carry outgoing information from the central nervouse system to the muscles and glands: motor neurons
central nervous system neurons that internally communicate and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs: interneurons
the division of the peripheral nervouse system that controls the body's skelital muscles: somatic (skelital) nervous system
the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs.: autonomic nervous system
the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations: sympathetic nervous system
the division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy: parasympathetic nervous system
a simple, automatic, inborn response to a sensory stimulus, such as a knee-jerk response: reflex
interconnected neural cells. with experience, networks can learn, as feedback strengthens or inhibits connections that produce certain results.: neural networks
the bodys "slow " chemical communication system. a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream: endocrine system
chemical messengers, mostly those manufactured by the endocrine glands, that are produced in one tissue and affect another: hormones
a neural structure lying below the thalamus; it directs several maintenance activities, helps govern the endocrine systems via the petuitary gland, and is linked to emotion: hypothalamus
the intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells that covers the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center: cerebral cortex
an area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movement: motor cortex
the area at the front of the pariental lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations: sensory cortex
areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking: association areas
the brains capacity for modification, as evedent in brain reorganization following damage and in experiments on the effects of experience on brain development: plasticity
the large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them: corpus callosum
a condition in which the two hemispheres of the brain are isolated by cutting the connecting fibers between them: split brain
a relatively permanent change in an organism's behavior due to experience: learning
a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli: classical conditioning
the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that(2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes.: behaviorism
in classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occuring response to the unconditioned stimulous: unconditioned response (UR)
in classical conditioning, a stimulouse that unconditionally- naturally and automatically-triggers a response: unconditioned stimulouse (US)
in classical conditioning, the learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulouse: conditioned response (CR)
in classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulouse that, after association with an unconditioned stimulouse, comes to trigger a conditioned response.: conditioned stimulous (CS)
the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus; occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced: extinction
the reapperance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response.: spontaneous recovery
the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses: generalization
unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members: discrimination
a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher: operant conditioning
an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior: shaping
in operand conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows: reinforcer
increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food.: positive reinforcement
increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock: negative reinforcement
an innately reinforcing stimulous, such as one that satisfies a biological need: primary reinforcer
a stimulous that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer: conditioned (secondary) reinforcer
reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs: continuous reinforcement
reinforcing a response only part the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement: partial (intermittent) reinforcement
in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses: fixed-ratio schedule
in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses: variable-ratio schedule
in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed.: fixed-interval schedule
in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals: variable-interval schedule
an event that decreases the behavior that it follows: punishment
a desire to perform a behavior for its own sake: intrinsic motivation
a desire to perform a behavior due to promised rewards of threat of punishment: extrinsic motivation
learning by observing others: observational learning
the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior: modeling
frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so.: mirror neurons
positive, constructive, helpful behavior.: prosocial behavior
the persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information: memory
a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event: flashbulb memory
the processing of information into the memory system: encoding
the retention of encoded information over time: storage
the process of getting information out of memory storage: retrieval
the immediate, very brieg recording of sensory information in the memory system: sensory memory
activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the info is stored or forgotten: short-term memory
the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.: long-term memory
a newer understanding of short-term memory that involves conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information ritrieved from long term memory.: working memory
unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings: automatic processing
encoding that requires attention and conscious effort: effortful processing
the conscious repitition of information, either to maintain it in consciousness or to encode it for storage: rehearsal
the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention that is achieved through massed study or practice: spacing effect
memory aids, expecially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices: mnemonics
organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically: chunking
a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve info learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test: recall
a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test: recognition
a meamory measure that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time: relearning
the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response.: priming
the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood: mood-congruent memory
the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information: proactive interference
the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information: retroactive interference
psychoanalytic defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated: repression
incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event: misinformation effect
all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating: cognition
a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people: concept
a mental image or best example of a category.: prototype
a methodical, logical rule of procedure that gaurantees solving a particular problem.: algorithm
a simple thinking strategy that allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently: heuristic
a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem: insight
a tendency to search for information that confirms one's preconceptions: confirmation bias
judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes.: representativeness
estimating the likelihood of eventsbased on their availibility in memory: availibility heuristic
the tendency to be more confident than correct: overconfidence
the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgements: framing
the tendency for one's preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning, sometimes by making invalid conclusions seem valid, or valid conclusions seem invalid: belief bias
clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited: belief perserverance
periodic physiological fluctuations: biological rhythms
the biological clock; regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24-hour cycle: circadian rhythm
a recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur.: REM sleep
false sensory experiences, such as seeing something in the absence of an external stimulus: hallucinations
a sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings: sleep apnea
a sleep disorder characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified. occur 2 to 3 hrs after falling asleep during stage 4, cant be remembered: night terrors
a sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person's mind.: dream
according to freud, the remembered story line of a dream: manifest content
according to freud, the underlying meaning of a dream: latent content
the tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation: REM rebound
a social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain perseptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaniously occur: hypnosis
a split in consciousness, which allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously: dissociation

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