Nervous System

Introduction to Psychology

Introduction to Psychology

Having Trouble Meeting Your Deadline?

Get your assignment on Nervous System completed on time. avoid delay and – ORDER NOW

Get a 20% Discount

Lumen Learning

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Introduction to Psychology by Lumen Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License,

except where otherwise noted.

Except where expressly noted otherwise, the contents of this course are based on materials originally published by OpenStax

College under a CC-BY Creative Commons Attribution License. Download the original material for free at http://cnx.org.

Cover Art is by the CADARN project, http://www.cadarn.ac.uk/ CC BY license.

CONTENTS

Course ContentsCourse Contents …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 77 • About This Course …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7 • Course Contents at a Glance ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8 • Learning Outcomes ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 11

Module 1: Psychological FoundationsModule 1: Psychological Foundations ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1616 • Why It Matters: Psychological Foundations……………………………………………………………………………………….. 16 • The History of Psychology ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 20 • The History of Psychology Continued……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 31 • Domains in Psychology ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 39 • Careers in Psychology……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 54 • Putting It Together: Psychological Foundations …………………………………………………………………………………. 60 • Discussion: Foundations of Psychology ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 64

Module 2: Psychological ResearchModule 2: Psychological Research ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6666 • Why It Matters: Psychological Research …………………………………………………………………………………………… 66 • The Scientific Method …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 69 • Descriptive Research……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 79 • Correlational Research …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 89 • Experiments………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 95 • Statistical Thinking……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 102 • How to Read Research…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 116 • Psych in Real Life: Brain Imaging and Messy Science………………………………………………………………………. 125 • Putting It Together: Psychological Research……………………………………………………………………………………. 133 • Discussion: Research in Psychology………………………………………………………………………………………………. 134

Module 3: BiopsychologyModule 3: Biopsychology ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 135135 • Why It Matters: Biopsychology ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 135 • Neural Communication …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 137 • The Nervous System and Endocrine System …………………………………………………………………………………… 142 • Parts of the Brain …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 152 • The Limbic System and Other Brain Areas ……………………………………………………………………………………… 166 • Brain Imaging………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 174 • Lateralization and Neuroplasticity…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 178 • Nature and Nurture ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 179 • Gene-Environment Interactions ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 189 • Putting It Together: Biopsychology …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 193 • Discussion: Biopsychology ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 195

Module 4: Sensation and PerceptionModule 4: Sensation and Perception ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 196196 • Why It Matters: Sensation and Perception ………………………………………………………………………………………. 196 • Sensation and Perception……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 200 • Vision …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 212 • Hearing ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 227 • Taste and Smell…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 237 • Touch and Pain……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 240 • The Vestibular Sense …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 248 • Perception…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 251 • Illusions………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 263 • Putting It Together: Sensation and Perception …………………………………………………………………………………. 274 • Discussion: Sensation and Perception ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 276

Module 5: State of ConsciousnessModule 5: State of Consciousness ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 277277

• Why It Matters: States of Consciousness ………………………………………………………………………………………… 277 • Consciousness and Biological Rhythms………………………………………………………………………………………….. 285 • Psych in Real Life: Consciousness and Blindsight ……………………………………………………………………………. 299 • Sleep and Sleep Stages ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 305 • Dreams and Dreaming………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 318 • Sleep Problems and Disorders ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 321 • Drugs and Consciousness…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 327 • Hypnosis and Meditation ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 339 • Putting It Together: States of Consciousness…………………………………………………………………………………… 342 • Discussion: States of Consciousness……………………………………………………………………………………………… 344

Module 6: LearningModule 6: Learning………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 345345 • Why It Matters: Learning……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 345 • What Is Learning?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 348 • Classical Conditioning ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 351 • Operant Conditioning……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 364 • Reinforcement Schedules……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 373 • Latent Learning……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 379 • Observational Learning…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 387 • Putting It Together: Learning …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 395 • Discussion: Learning ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 396

Module 7: MemoryModule 7: Memory………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 397397 • Why It Matters: Memory………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 397 • Memory Encoding………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 401 • Storage ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 406 • Retrieval……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 413 • Parts of the Brain Involved with Memory …………………………………………………………………………………………. 417 • Amnesia and Forgetting………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 423 • Flashbulb Memories …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 432 • Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Construction…………………………………………………………………………….. 432 • Ways to Enhance Memory…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 439 • Putting It Together: Memory ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 446 • Discussion: Memory …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 447

Module 8: Thinking, Language, and IntelligenceModule 8: Thinking, Language, and Intelligence ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 449449 • Why It Matters: Thinking and Intelligence………………………………………………………………………………………… 449 • What Is Cognition? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 454 • Solving Problems…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 461 • Psych in Real Life: Choice Blindness ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 477 • Language and Language Use ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 485 • Language Development………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 491 • Intelligence and Creativity……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 497 • Measures of Intelligence……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 506 • The Source of Intelligence …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 514 • Putting It Together: Thinking and Intelligence ………………………………………………………………………………….. 520 • Discussion: Thinking and Intelligence……………………………………………………………………………………………… 521

Module 9: Emotion and MotivationModule 9: Emotion and Motivation ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 522522 • Why It Matters: Emotion and Motivation ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 522 • Motivation …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 530 • Psych in Real Life: Growth Mindsets ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 553 • Hunger and Eating……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 567 • Sexual Behavior…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 577 • Emotion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 588 • Expressing and Recognizing Emotion …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 594

• Putting It Together: Motivation and Emotion…………………………………………………………………………………….. 601 • Discussion: Motivation and Emotion……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 602

Module 10: Lifespan DevelopmentModule 10: Lifespan Development ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 603603 • Why It Matters: Introduction to Lifespan Development ………………………………………………………………………. 603 • What Is Lifespan Development?…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 611 • Psychosexual and Psychosocial Theories of Development ……………………………………………………………….. 618 • Cognitive Development…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 622 • Moral Development………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 627 • Prenatal Development ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 639 • Childhood……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 645 • Adolescence ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 655 • Adulthood……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 661 • Death and Dying ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 665 • Putting It Together: Lifespan Development ……………………………………………………………………………………… 667 • Discussion: Lifespan Development…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 668

Module 11: PersonalityModule 11: Personality ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 670670 • Why It Matters: Personality……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 670 • Personality and the Psychodynamic Perspective ……………………………………………………………………………… 676 • Neo-Freudians: Adler, Erikson, Jung, and Horney ……………………………………………………………………………. 689 • Explaining Personality: Learning and Humanistic Approaches …………………………………………………………… 695 • Explaining Personality: Biological Approaches and Trait Theories………………………………………………………. 703 • Personality Assessment ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 716 • Psych in Real Life: Blirtatiousness, Questionnaires, and Validity ………………………………………………………… 731 • Resource: Personality Tests………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 741 • Putting It Together: Personality ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 742 • Discussion: Personality…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 743

Module 12: Social PsychologyModule 12: Social Psychology ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 745745 • Why It Matters: Social Psychology …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 745 • Social Psychology and Influences on Behavior ………………………………………………………………………………… 753 • Social Norms and Scripts ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 760 • Attitudes and Persuasion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 765 • Group Behavior……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 775 • The Bystander Effect and Altruism …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 786 • Attraction and Love………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 792 • Psych in Real Life: Love and Pain ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 807 • Prejudice and Discrimination …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 816 • Aggression………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 824 • Putting It Together: Social Psychology ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 827 • Discussion: Social Psychology ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 830

Module 13: Stress, Lifestyle, and HealthModule 13: Stress, Lifestyle, and Health ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 831831 • Why It Matters: Stress, Lifestyle, and Health ……………………………………………………………………………………. 831 • Stress…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 844 • Stressors…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 857 • Stress and Illness ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 865 • Regulating Stress ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 877 • Positive Psychology……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 886 • Psych in Real Life: Habits……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 898 • Putting It Together: Stress, Lifestyle, and Health ……………………………………………………………………………… 908 • Discussion: Stress, Lifestyle, and Health…………………………………………………………………………………………. 910

Module 14: Psychological DisordersModule 14: Psychological Disorders ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 911911 • Why It Matters: Psychological Disorders …………………………………………………………………………………………. 911

• Introduction to Psychological Disorders…………………………………………………………………………………………… 925 • Anxiety Disorders…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 937 • OCD and PTSD …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 946 • Mood Disorders …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 954 • Schizophrenia and Dissociative Disorders ………………………………………………………………………………………. 966 • Personality Disorders……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 976 • Childhood Disorders …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 985 • Review: Classifying Psychological Disorders …………………………………………………………………………………… 992 • Putting It Together: Psychological Disorders……………………………………………………………………………………. 994 • Discussion: Psychological Disorders ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 995

Module 15: Therapy and TreatmentModule 15: Therapy and Treatment ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 996996 • Why It Matters: Therapy and Treatment ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 996 • Mental Health Treatment: Then and Now………………………………………………………………………………………. 1003 • Types of Treatment and Psychoanalysis……………………………………………………………………………………….. 1012 • Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1016 • Humanistic Therapy and Other Treatments……………………………………………………………………………………. 1023 • Psych in Real Life: Reconsolidation ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 1040 • Treatment Modalities ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1049 • Putting It Together: Treatment and Therapy…………………………………………………………………………………… 1058 • Discussion: Therapy and Treatment……………………………………………………………………………………………… 1059

Module 16: Industrial-Organizational PsychologyModule 16: Industrial-Organizational Psychology ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10611061 • Why It Matters: Industrial-Organizational Psychology ……………………………………………………………………… 1061 • Industrial-Organizational Psychology ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 1067 • Selecting Employees ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1074 • Job Satisfaction …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 1086 • Leadership and Organization……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1091 • Human Factors Psychology and Workplace Design………………………………………………………………………… 1097 • Putting It Together: Industrial-Organizational Psychology ………………………………………………………………… 1101 • Discussion: Industrial-Organizational Psychology …………………………………………………………………………… 1103

COURSE CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS COURSE

This comprehensive, ready-to-adopt Introduction to Psychology course provides thorough coverage of all topics covered in a typical introductory course, including biological psychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, social and personality psychology, and mental and physical health.

The course is organized around the recently recommended model from the American Psychological Association, which encompasses the five psychological domains, or pillars: biological psychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, social and personality psychology, and mental and physical health psychology (see “Strengthening Introductory Psychology: A New Model for Teaching the Introductory Course”).

With the OpenStax Psychology textbook as a foundation, this contains other material curated by Lumen Learning and created by Patrick Carroll of the University of Texas at Austin. The course enriches learning with frequent application, curated videos, selected NOBA content, and interactive learning activities to foster practical skills. Engaging “Psychology in Real Life” features use recent research to help students think critically about experimental design.

What’s New?

We believe in making continual improvements to the course in order to enhance and facilitate student learning. This newest version of the course includes additional Psych in Real Life pages, which provide learners with the opportunity to think deeply about relevant psychological research. These 2019 additions include:

• Psych in Real Life: Brain Imaging and Messy Science ◦ Dive into a psychological research article (McCabe and Castel) and learn more about the

replication crisis • Psych in Real Life: Consciousness and Blindsight

◦ Describe unconscious perception as it relates to blindsight • Psych in Real Life: Choice Blindness

◦ Understand decision-making processes and choice blindness, based on research done by Johannson and Hall

• Psych in Real Life: Love and Pain ◦ Look at two studies (Sarah Master and Jarred Younger) related to romantic love and the

experience of pain • Psych in Real Life: Blirtatiousness, Questionnaires, and Validity

◦ Understand how personality tests are created, then examine how validity is measured • Psych in Real Life: Growth Mindsets

◦ Dive into Dweck’s research on growth mindsets • Psych in Real Life: Reconsolidation

◦ Understand how memory reconsolidation can be used as a therapy technique • Psych in Real Life: Habits

◦ Look at research on habitual behavior and popcorn eating by Wendy Wood and David Neal

In additional to these new pages, there are also several new assignments options. We have also used data to find areas in the course in need of further clarification or interactives, such as this one about reliability and validity.

About Lumen

Lumen Learning’s mission is to enable unprecedented learning for all students.

We do this by using open educational resources (OER) to create well-designed and low-cost course materials that replace expensive textbooks. Because learning is about more than affordability and access, we also apply learning science insights and efficacy research to develop learning activities that are engineered to improve subject mastery, course completion and retention.

If you’d like to connect with us to learn more about adopting this course, please Contact Us.

You can also make an appointment for OER Office Hours to connect virtually with a live Lumen expert about any question you may have.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

COURSE CONTENTS AT A GLANCE

The following list shows the module-level topics for the course. To see all of the course pages, visit the Table of Contents.

Module 1: Psychological Foundations

• The History of Psychology • Domains in Psychology • Careers in Psychology

Module 2: Psychological Research

• The Scientific Method • Descriptive Research • Correlational Research • Experiments • Statistical Thinking • How to Read Research • Biological Psychology Domain

Module 3: Biopsychology

• Neural Communication • The Nervous System and Endocrine System • Parts of the Brain • The Limbic System and Other Brain Areas • Brain Imaging • Nature and Nurture • Gene-Environment Interactions

Module 4: State of Consciousness

• Consciousness and Biological Rhythms • Sleep and Sleep Stages • Dreams and Dreaming • Sleep Problems and Disorders • Drugs and Consciousness • Hypnosis and Meditation • Cognitive Psychology Domain

Module 5: Sensation and Perception

• Sensation and Perception • Vision • Hearing • Taste and Smell • Touch and Pain • The Vestibular Sense • Perception • Illusions

Module 6: Thinking and Intelligence

• What Is Cognition? • Solving Problems • Language and Language Use • Language Development • Intelligence and Creativity • Measures of Intelligence • The Source of Intelligence

Module 7: Memory

• Memory Encoding • Storage • Retrieval • Parts of the Brain Involved with Memory • Amnesia and Forgetting • Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Construction • Ways to Enhance Memory • Developmental Psychology Domain

Module 8: Learning

• What Is Learning? • Classical Conditioning • Operant Conditioning • Reinforcement Schedules • Latent Learning • Observational Learning

Module 9: Lifespan Development

• What Is Lifespan Development? • Psychosexual and Psychosocial Theories of Development • Cognitive Development • Moral Development • Prenatal Development • Childhood • Adolescence • Adulthood • Death and Dying • Social and Personality Psychology Domain

Module 10: Social Psychology

• Social Psychology and Influences on Behavior • Social Norms and Scripts • Attitudes and Persuasion • Group Behavior • The Bystander Effect and Altruism • Attraction and Love • Prejudice and Discrimination • Aggression

Module 11: Personality

• Personality and the Psychodynamic Perspective • Neo-Freudians: Adler, Erikson, Jung, and Horney • Explaining Personality: Learning and Humanistic Approaches • Explaining Personality: Biological Approaches and Trait Theories • Personality Assessment

Module 12: Emotion and Motivation

• Motivation • Hunger and Eating • Sexual Behavior • Emotion • Expressing and Recognizing Emotion

Module 13: Industrial-Organizational Psychology

• Industrial-Organizational Psychology • Selecting Employees

• Job Satisfaction • Leadership and Organization • Human Factors Psychology and Workplace Design • Mental and Physical Health Domain

Module 14: Psychological Disorders

• Introduction to Psychological Disorders • Anxiety Disorders • OCD and PTSD • Mood Disorders • Schizophrenia and Dissociative Disorders • Personality Disorders • Childhood Disorders

Module 15: Therapy and Treatment

• Mental Health Treatment: Then and Now • Types of Treatment and Psychoanalysis • Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy • Humanistic Therapy and Other Treatments • Treatment Modalities

Module 16: Stress, Lifestyle, and Health

• Stress • Stressors • Stress and Illness • Regulating Stress • Positive Psychology

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Course Contents at a Glance. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Binoculars Icon. Authored byAuthored by: Musmellow. Provided byProvided by: Noun Project. Located atLocated at: https://thenounproject.com/term/binoculars/1234056/. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The content, assignments, and assessments for this course are aligned to the following learning outcomes. A full list of course learning outcomes can be viewed here: Complete Learning Outcomes.

This course provides coverage for the broad range of learning outcomes that may be taught in introductory psychology courses. With the goal of supporting faculty in the selection of content for their courses, we have organized this course around the 5 pillars, or domains, of psychology as recently recommended by the APA: biological pillar, cognitive pillar, developmental pillar, social and personality pillar, mental and physical health pillar.

While we hope that organizing the modules in this fashion proves helpful to faculty, faculty have complete freedom to select and organize modules for their course as they choose, as modules may easily be reorganized.

• Module 1: Psychological Foundations

◦ Describe the evolution of psychology and the major pioneers in the field ◦ Identify the various approaches, fields, and subfields of psychology along with their major

concepts and important figures ◦ Describe the value of psychology and possible careers paths for those who study psychology

• Module 2: Psychological Research

◦ Define and apply the scientific method to psychology ◦ Describe the strengths and weaknesses of descriptive, experimental, and correlational research ◦ Define basic elements of a statistical investigation

Biological Psychology Domain

• Module 3: Biopsychology

◦ Identify the basic structures of a neuron, the function of each structure, and how messages travel through the neuron

◦ Describe the role of the nervous system and endocrine systems ◦ Identify and describe the parts of the brain

◦ Explain how nature, nurture, and epigenetics influence personality and behavior

• Module 4: State of Consciousness

◦ Describe consciousness and biological rhythms ◦ Describe what happens to the brain and body during sleep ◦ Explain how drugs affect consciousness

Cognitive Psychology Domain

• Module 5: Sensation and Perception

◦ Differentiate between sensation and perception ◦ Explain the process of vision and how people see color and depth ◦ Explain the basics of hearing ◦ Describe the basic anatomy and functions of taste, smell, touch, pain, and the vestibular sense ◦ Define perception and give examples of gestalt principles and multimodal perception

• Module 6: Thinking and Intelligence

◦ Describe cognition and problem-solving strategies ◦ Describe language acquisition and the role language plays in communication and thought ◦ Describe intelligence theories and intelligence testing

• Module 7: Memory

◦ Explain the process of memory ◦ Explain and give examples of forgetting and memory failure ◦ Recognize and apply memory-enhancing strategies

Developmental Psychology Domain

• Module 8: Learning

◦ Explain learning and the process of classical conditioning ◦ Explain operant conditioning, reinforcement, and punishment ◦ Describe latent learning and observational learning

• Module 9: Lifespan Development

◦ Compare and contrast theories lifespan development theories ◦ Explain the physical, cognitive, and emotional development that occurs from infancy through

childhood ◦ Describe physical, cognitive, and emotional development in adolescence and adulthood

Social and Personality Psychology Domain

• Module 10: Social Psychology

◦ Recognize aspects of social psychology, including the fundamental attribution error, biases, social roles, and social norms, in your daily life

◦ Describe how attitudes can be changed through cognitive dissonance and persuasion ◦ Explain how conformity, obedience, groupthink, social facilitation, social loafing, and altruism

relate to group behavior ◦ Explain prejudice, discrimination, and aggression

• Module 11: Personality

◦ Define personality and the contributions of Freud and neo-Freudians to personality theory ◦ Describe and differentiate between personality theories ◦ Explain the use and purpose of common personality tests

• Module 12: Emotion and Motivation

◦ Explain motivation, how it is influenced, and major theories about motivation ◦ Describe hunger and eating in relation to motivation, obesity, anorexia, and bulimia ◦ Describe sexual behavior and research about sexuality ◦ Explain theories of emotion and how we express and recognize emotion

• Module 13: Industrial-Organizational Psychology

◦ Describe the purpose of industrial-organizational psychology and examine its application to the workforce

◦ Explain how industrial-organizational psychologists assess leadership and organization

Mental and Physical Health Domain

• Module 14: Psychological Disorders

◦ Define psychological disorders and explain how they are classified ◦ Describe the features and characteristic symptoms of anxiety disorders (generalized anxiety

disorder, panic disorder, phobias), obsessive-compulsive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder; differentiate these anxiety disorders from each other

◦ Describe the characteristic symptoms and risk factors of mood disorders, including major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder

◦ Explain symptoms and potential causes of schizophrenic and dissociative disorders ◦ Define personality disorders and distinguish between the three clusters of personality disorders ◦ Explain common childhood disorders, including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and

autism spectrum disorder

• Module 15: Therapy and Treatment

◦ Describe the treatment of mental health disorders over time ◦ Identify and explain the basic characteristics of various types of therapy ◦ Explain and compare treatment modalities

• Module 16: Stress, Lifestyle, and Health

◦ Describe stress, its impact on the body, and identify common stressors ◦ Explain the negative physiological responses to stress ◦ Describe methods to cope with stress and explain ways to increase happiness

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Learning Outcomes. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Magnify. Authored byAuthored by: Eucalyp. Provided byProvided by: Noun Project. Located atLocated at: https://thenounproject.com/term/magnify/1276779/. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. (credit “background”: modification of work by Nattachai Noogure; credit

“top left”: modification of work by U.S. Navy; credit “top middle-left”: modification of work by Peter Shanks; credit “top middle-right”:

modification of work by “devinf”/Flickr; credit “top right”: modification of work by Alejandra Quintero Sinisterra; credit “bottom left”:

modification of work by Gabriel Rocha; credit “bottom middle-left”: modification of work by Caleb Roenigk; credit “bottom middle-

right”: modification of work by Staffan Scherz; credit “bottom right”: modification of work by Czech Provincial Reconstruction

Team)

MODULE 1: PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS

WHY IT MATTERS: PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS

Clive Wearing is an accomplished musician who lost his ability to form new memories when he became sick at the age of 46. While he can remember how to play the piano perfectly, he cannot remember what he ate for breakfast just an hour ago (Sacks, 2007). James Wannerton experiences a taste sensation that is associated with the sound of words. His former girlfriend’s name tastes like rhubarb (Mundasad, 2013). John Nash is a brilliant mathematician and Nobel Prize winner. However, while he was a professor at MIT, he would tell people that the New York Times contained coded messages from extraterrestrial beings that were intended for him. He also began to hear voices and became suspicious of the people around him. Soon thereafter, Nash was diagnosed

with schizophrenia and admitted to a state-run mental institution (O’Connor & Robertson, 2002). Nash was the subject of the 2001 movie A Beautiful Mind. Why did these people have these experiences? How does the human brain work? And what is the connection between the brain’s internal processes and people’s external behaviors? This course will introduce you to various ways that the field of psychology has explored these questions.

This module will introduce you to what psychology is and what psychologists do. You’ll learn the basic history of the discipline and about the major domains and subdivisions that exist within modern psychology. Lastly, you’ll consider what it means to study psychology and what career options are available for those who do. AnswerAnswer

American Board of Forensic Psychology. (2014). Brochure. Retrieved from http://www.abfp.com/brochure.asp

American Psychological Association. (2014). Retrieved from www.apa.org

American Psychological Association. (2014). Graduate training and career possibilities in exercise and sport psychology. Retrieved from http://www.apadivisions.org/division-47/about/resources/training.aspx?item=1

American Psychological Association. (2011). Psychology as a career. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ education/undergrad/psych-career.aspx

Ashliman, D. L. (2001). Cupid and Psyche. In Folktexts: A library of folktales, folklore, fairy tales, and mythology. Retrieved from http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/cupid.html

Betancourt, H., & López, S. R. (1993). The study of culture, ethnicity, and race in American psychology. American Psychologist, 48, 629–637.

Black, S. R., Spence, S. A., & Omari, S. R. (2004). Contributions of African Americans to the field of psychology. Journal of Black Studies, 35, 40–64.

Bulfinch, T. (1855). The age of fable: Or, stories of gods and heroes. Boston, MA: Chase, Nichols and Hill.

Buss, D. M. (1989). Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 12, 1–49.

Carlson, N. R. (2013). Physiology of Behavior (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Confer, J. C., Easton, J. A., Fleischman, D. S., Goetz, C. D., Lewis, D. M. G., Perilloux, C., & Buss, D. M. (2010). Evolutionary psychology. Controversies, questions, prospects, and limitations. American Psychologist, 65, 100–126.

Crawford, M., & Marecek, J. (1989). Psychology reconstructs the female 1968–1988. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 13, 147–165.

Danziger, K. (1980). The history of introspection reconsidered. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 16, 241–262.

Darwin, C. (1871). Thedescent of man and selection in relation to sex. London: John Murray.

Darwin, C. (1872). The expression of the emotions in man and animals. London: John Murray.

DeAngelis, T. (2010). Fear not. gradPSYCH Magazine, 8, 38.

Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Projected future growth of the older population. Retrieved from http://www.aoa.gov/Aging_Statistics/future_growth/future_growth.aspx#age

Endler, J. A. (1986). Natural Selection in the Wild. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Fogg, N. P., Harrington, P. E., Harrington, T. F., & Shatkin, L. (2012). College majors handbook with real career paths and payoffs (3rd ed.). St. Paul, MN: JIST Publishing.

Franko, D. L., et al. (2012). Racial/ethnic differences in adults in randomized clinical trials of binge eating disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 80, 186–195.

Friedman, H. (2008), Humanistic and positive psychology: The methodological and epistemological divide. The Humanistic Psychologist, 36, 113–126.

Gordon, O. E. (1995). A brief history of psychology. Retrieved from http://www.psych.utah.edu/gordon/Classes/ Psy4905Docs/PsychHistory/index.html#maptop

Greek Myths & Greek Mythology. (2014). The myth of Psyche and Eros. Retrieved from http://www.greekmyths- greekmythology.com/psyche-and-eros-myth/

Green, C. D. (2001). Classics in the history of psychology. Retrieved from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Krstic/ marulic.htm

Greengrass, M. (2004). 100 years of B.F. Skinner. Monitor on Psychology, 35, 80.

Halonen, J. S. (2011). White paper: Are there too many psychology majors? Prepared for the Staff of the State University System of Florida Board of Governors. Retrieved from http://www.cogdop.org/page_attachments/0000/ 0200/FLA_White_Paper_for_cogop_posting.pdf

Hock, R. R. (2009). Social psychology. Forty studies that changed psychology: Explorations into the history of psychological research (pp. 308–317). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Hoffman, C. (2012). Careers in clinical, counseling, or school psychology; mental health counseling; clinical social work; marriage & family therapy and related professions. Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~psyugrad/ advising/docs/Careers%20in%20Mental%20Health%20Counseling.pdf

Jang, K. L., Livesly, W. J., & Vernon, P. A. (1996). Heritability of the Big Five personality dimensions and their facets: A twin study. Journal of Personality, 64, 577–591.

Johnson, R., & Lubin, G. (2011). College exposed: What majors are most popular, highest paying and most likely to get you a job. Business Insider.com. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/best-college-majors- highest-income-most-employed-georgetwon-study-2011-6?op=1

Knekt, P. P., et al. (2008). Randomized trial on the effectiveness of long- and short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy and solution-focused therapy on psychiatric symptoms during a 3-year follow-up. Psychological Medicine: A Journal of Research In Psychiatry And The Allied Sciences, 38, 689–703.

Landers, R. N. (2011, June 14). Grad school: Should I get a PhD or Master’s in I/O psychology? [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://neoacademic.com/2011/06/14/grad-school-should-i-get-a-ph-d-or-masters-in-io- psychology/#.UuKKLftOnGg

Macdonald, C. (2013). Health psychology center presents: What is health psychology? Retrieved from http://healthpsychology.org/what-is-health-psychology/

McCrae, R. R. & Costa, P. T. (2008). Empirical and theoretical status of the five-factor model of personality traits. In G. J. Boyle, G. Matthews, & D. H. Saklofske (Eds.), The Sage handbook of personality theory and assessment. Vol. 1 Personality theories and models. London: Sage.

Michalski, D., Kohout, J., Wicherski, M., & Hart, B. (2011). 2009 Doctorate Employment Survey. APA Center for Workforce Studies. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/workforce/publications/09-doc-empl/index.aspx

Miller, G. A. (2003). The cognitive revolution: A historical perspective. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 141–144.

Munakata, Y., McClelland, J. L., Johnson, M. H., & Siegler, R. S. (1997). Rethinking infant knowledge: Toward an adaptive process account of successes and failures in object permanence tasks. Psychological Review, 104, 689–713.

Mundasad, S. (2013). Word-taste synaesthesia: Tasting names, places, and Anne Boleyn. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21060207

Munsey, C. (2009). More states forgo a postdoc requirement. Monitor on Psychology, 40, 10.

National Association of School Psychologists. (n.d.). Becoming a nationally certified school psychologist (NCSP). Retrieved from http://www.nasponline.org/CERTIFICATION/becomeNCSP.aspx

Nicolas, S., & Ferrand, L. (1999). Wundt’s laboratory at Leipzig in 1891. History of Psychology, 2, 194–203.

Norcross, J. C. (n.d.) Clinical versus counseling psychology: What’s the diff? Available at http://www.csun.edu/~hcpsy002/Clinical%20Versus%20Counseling%20Psychology.pdf

Norcross, J. C., & Castle, P. H. (2002). Appreciating the PsyD: The facts. Eye on Psi Chi, 7, 22–26.

O’Connor, J. J., & Robertson, E. F. (2002). John Forbes Nash. Retrieved from http://www-groups.dcs.st- and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Nash.html

O’Hara, M. (n.d.). Historic review of humanistic psychology. Retrieved from http://www.ahpweb.org/ index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&layout=item&id=14&Itemid=24

Person, E. S. (1980). Sexuality as the mainstay of identity: Psychoanalytic perspectives. Signs, 5, 605–630.

Rantanen, J., Metsäpelto, R. L., Feldt, T., Pulkkinen, L., & Kokko, K. (2007). Long-term stability in the Big Five personality traits in adulthood. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 48, 511–518.

Riggio, R. E. (2013). What is industrial/organizational psychology? Psychology Today. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201303/what-is-industrialorganizational- psychology

Sacks, O. (2007). A neurologists notebook: The abyss, music and amnesia. The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/09/24/070924fa_fact_sacks?currentPage=all

Shedler, J. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 65(2), 98–109.

Soldz, S., & Vaillant, G. E. (1999). The Big Five personality traits and the life course: A 45-year longitudinal study. Journal of Research in Personality, 33, 208–232.

Thorne, B. M., & Henley, T. B. (2005). Connections in the history and systems of psychology (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Tolman, E. C. (1938). The determiners of behavior at a choice point. Psychological Review, 45, 1–41.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2013). Digest of Education Statistics, 2012 (NCES 2014-015).

Weisstein, N. (1993). Psychology constructs the female: Or, the fantasy life of the male psychologist (with some attention to the fantasies of his friends, the male biologist and the male anthropologist). Feminism and Psychology, 3, 195–210.

Westen, D. (1998). The scientific legacy of Sigmund Freud, toward a psychodynamically informed psychological science. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 333–371.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Psychology Introduction. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:6HoLG-TA@5/Introduction. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/ contents/[email protected]

THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

What you’ll learn to do: describe the evolution of psychology and the major pioneers in the field

Antonio Canova’s sculpture depicts Eros and Psyche.

Plato, Aristotle, and other ancient Greek philosophers examined a wide range of topics relating to what we now consider

psychology.

Many cultures throughout history have speculated on the nature of the mind, heart, soul, spirit, and brain. Philosophical interest in behavior and the mind dates back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China, and India, but psychology as a discipline didn’t develop until the mid-1800s, when it evolved from the study of philosophy and began in German and American labs. This section will teach you more about the major founding psychologists and their contributions to the development of psychology.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Define Psychology • Define structuralism and functionalism and the contributions of Wundt and James in the development

of psychology • Describe Freud’s influence on psychology and his major theoretical contributions • Describe the basic tenets of Gestalt psychology

What is Psychology?

In Greek mythology, Psyche was a mortal woman whose beauty was so great that it rivaled that of the goddess Aphrodite. Aphrodite became so jealous of Psyche that she sent her son, Eros, to make Psyche fall in love with the ugliest man in the world. However, Eros accidentally pricked himself with the tip of his arrow and fell madly in love with Psyche himself. He took Psyche to his palace and showered her with gifts, yet she could never see his face. While visiting Psyche, her sisters roused suspicion in Psyche about her mysterious lover, and eventually, Psyche betrayed Eros’ wishes to remain unseen to her. Because of this betrayal, Eros abandoned Psyche. When Psyche appealed to Aphrodite to reunite her with Eros, Aphrodite gave her a series of impossible tasks to complete. Psyche managed to complete all of these trials; ultimately, her perseverance paid off as she was reunited with Eros and was ultimately transformed into a goddess herself (Ashliman, 2001; Greek Myths & Greek Mythology, 2014).

Psyche comes to represent the human soul’s triumph over the misfortunes of life in the pursuit of true happiness (Bulfinch, 1855); in fact, the Greek word psychepsyche means soul, and it is often represented as a butterfly. The word psychology was coined at a time when the concepts of soul and mind were not as clearly distinguished (Green, 2001). The root –ologyology denotes scientific study of, and psychology refers to the scientific study of the mind. Since science studies only observable phenomena and the mind is not directly observable, we expand this definition to the scientific study of mind and behavior.

The scientific study of any aspect of the world uses the scientific method to acquire knowledge. To apply the scientific method, a researcher with a question about how or why something happens will propose a tentative explanation, called a hypothesis, to explain the phenomenon. A hypothesis is not just any explanation; it should fit into the context of a scientific theory. A scientific theory is a broad explanation or group of explanations for some aspect of the natural world that is consistently supported by evidence over time. A theory is the best understanding that we have of that part of the natural world. Armed with the hypothesis, the researcher then makes observations or, better still, carries out an experiment to test the validity of the hypothesis. That test and its results are then published so that others can check the results or build on them. It is necessary that any explanation in science be testable, which means that the phenomenon must be perceivable and measurable. For example, that a bird sings because it is happy is not a testable hypothesis, since we have no way to measure the

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1698

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1698

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1698

TRY ITTRY IT

happiness of a bird. We must ask a different question, perhaps about the brain state of the bird, since this can be measured. In general, science deals only with matter and energy, that is, those things that can be measured, and it cannot arrive at knowledge about values and morality. This is one reason why our scientific understanding of the mind is so limited, since thoughts, at least as we experience them, are neither matter nor energy. The scientific method is also a form of empiricism. An empirical methodempirical method for acquiring knowledge is one based on observation, including experimentation, rather than a method based only on forms of logical argument or previous authorities.

It was not until the late 1800s that psychology became accepted as its own academic discipline. Before this time, the workings of the mind were considered under the auspices of philosophy. Given that any behavior is, at its roots, biological, some areas of psychology take on aspects of a natural science like biology. No biological organism exists in isolation, and our behavior is influenced by our interactions with others. Therefore, psychology is also a social science.

Psychology is a relatively young science with its experimental roots in the 19th century, compared, for example, to human physiology, which dates much earlier. As mentioned, anyone interested in exploring issues related to the mind generally did so in a philosophical context prior to the 19th century. Two men, working in the 19th century, are generally credited as being the founders of psychology as a science and academic discipline that was distinct from philosophy. Their names were Wilhelm Wundt and William James.

Wundt and Structuralism

Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) was a German scientist who was the first person to be referred to as a psychologist. His famous book entitled Principles of Physiological Psychology was published in 1873. Wundt viewed psychology as a scientific study of conscious experience, and he believed that the goal of psychology was to identify components of consciousness and how those components combined to result in our conscious experience. Wundt used introspection (he called it “internal perception”), a process by which someone examines their own conscious experience as objectively as possible, making the human mind like any other aspect of nature that a scientist observed. Wundt’s version of introspection used only very specific experimental conditions in which an external stimulus was designed to produce a scientifically observable (repeatable) experience of the mind (Danziger, 1980). The first stringent requirement was the use of “trained” or practiced observers, who could immediately observe and report a reaction. The second requirement was the use of repeatable stimuli that always produced the same experience in the subject and allowed the subject to expect and thus be fully attentive to the inner reaction. These experimental requirements were put in place to eliminate “interpretation” in the reporting of internal experiences and to counter the argument that there is no way to know that an individual is observing their mind or consciousness accurately, since it cannot be seen by any other person. This attempt to understand the structure or characteristics of the mind was known as structuralismstructuralism. Wundt established his psychology laboratory at the University at Leipzig in 1879. In this laboratory, Wundt and his students conducted experiments on, for example, reaction times. A subject, sometimes in a room isolated from the scientist, would receive a stimulus such as a light, image, or sound. The subject’s reaction to the stimulus would be to push a button, and an

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1698

TRY ITTRY IT

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1698

apparatus would record the time to reaction. Wundt could measure reaction time to one-thousandth of a second (Nicolas & Ferrand, 1999).

(a) Wilhelm Wundt is credited as one of the founders of psychology. He created the first laboratory for psychological research. (b)

This photo shows him seated and surrounded by fellow researchers and equipment in his laboratory in Germany.

However, despite his efforts to train individuals in the process of introspection, this process remained highly subjective, and there was very little agreement between individuals. As a result, structuralism fell out of favor with the passing of Wundt’s student, Edward Titchener, in 1927 (Gordon, 1995).

James and Functionalism

William James (1842–1910) was the first American psychologist who espoused a different perspective on how psychology should operate. James was introduced to Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection and accepted it as an explanation of an organism’s characteristics. Key to that theory is the idea that natural selection leads to organisms that are adapted to their environment, including their behavior. Adaptation means that a trait of an organism has a function for the survival and reproduction of the individual, because it has been naturally selected. As James saw it, psychology’s purpose was to study the function of behavior in the world, and as such, his perspective was known as functionalismfunctionalism. Functionalism focused on how mental activities helped an organism fit into its environment. Functionalism has a second, more subtle meaning in that functionalists were more interested in the operation of the whole mind rather than of its individual parts, which were the focus of

structuralism. Like Wundt, James believed that introspection could serve as one means by which someone might study mental activities, but James also relied on more objective measures, including the use of various recording devices, and examinations of concrete products of mental activities and of anatomy and physiology (Gordon, 1995).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1698

TRY ITTRY IT

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1698

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1698

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1698

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1698

TRY ITTRY IT

William James, shown here in a self-portrait, was the first American psychologist.

The Early Schools of Psychology (No Longer Active)The Early Schools of Psychology (No Longer Active)

School ofSchool of PsychologyPsychology

DescriptionDescription Historically ImportantHistorically Important

PeoplePeople

Structuralism Focused on understanding the conscious experience through introspection

Wilhelm Wundt

Functionalism Emphasized how mental activities helped an organism adapt to its environment

William James

Adapted from Early Schools of Psychology from the Open Learning Initiative’s Introduction to Psychology. CC- BY-NC-SA.

Figure 1. (a) Sigmund Freud was a highly influential figure

in the history of psychology. (b) One of his many books, A

General Introduction to Psychoanalysis, shared his ideas

about psychoanalytical therapy; it was published in 1922

Image of a clip-art iceberg, with large portions of its superego and ego under the surface of the water, with the id at the bottom of the iceberg. The exposed portion is conscious experience.

Figure 2. Freud’s theory of the unconscious Freud

believed that we are only aware of a small amount of our

mind’s activity, and that most of it remains hidden from us

in our unconscious. The information in our unconscious

affects our behavior, although we are unaware of it.

Psychoanalytic Theory

Perhaps one of the most influential and well-known figures in psychology’s history was Sigmund Freud. Freud (1856–1939) was an Austrian neurologist who was fascinated by patients suffering from “hysteria” and neurosis. Hysteria was an ancient diagnosis for disorders, primarily of women with a wide variety of symptoms, including physical symptoms and emotional disturbances, none of which had an apparent physical cause. Freud theorized that many of his patients’ problems arose from the unconscious mind. In Freud’s view, the unconscious mind was a repository of feelings and urges of which we have no awareness. Gaining access to the unconscious, then, was crucial to the successful resolution of the patient’s problems. According to Freud, the unconscious mind could be accessed through dream analysis, by examinations of the first words that came to people’s minds, and through seemingly innocent slips of the tongue. Psychoanalytic theoryPsychoanalytic theory focuses on the role of a person’s unconscious, as well as early childhood experiences, and this particular perspective dominated clinical psychology for several decades (Thorne & Henley, 2005).

The Id, Ego, and Superego

Freud’s structural model of personality divides the personality into three parts—the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is the unconscious part that is the cauldron of raw drives, such as for sex or aggression. The ego, which has conscious and unconscious elements, is the rational and reasonable part of personality. Its role is to maintain contact with the outside world to keep the individual in touch with society, and to do this it mediates between the conflicting tendencies of the id and the superego. The superego is a person’s conscience, which develops early in life and is learned from parents, teachers, and others. Like the ego, the superego has conscious and unconscious elements. When all three parts of the personality are in dynamic equilibrium, the individual is thought to be mentally healthy. However, if the ego is unable to mediate between the id and the superego, an imbalance is believed to occur in the form of psychological distress.

Psychosexual Theory of Development

Freud’s theories also placed a great deal of emphasis on sexual development. Freud believed that each of us must pass through a series of stages during childhood, and that if we lack proper nurturing during a particular stage, we may become stuck or fixated in that stage. Freud’s psychosexual model of development includes five stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. According to Freud, children’s pleasure-seeking urges are focused on a different area of the body, called an erogenous zone, at each of these five stages. Psychologists today dispute that Freud’s psychosexual stages provide a legitimate explanation for how personality develops, but what we can take away from Freud’s theory is that personality is shaped, in some part, by experiences we have in childhood.

Freud’s ideas were influential, and you will learn more about them when you study lifespan development, personality, and therapy. For instance, many therapists believe strongly in the unconscious and the impact of early childhood experiences on the rest of a person’s life. The method of psychoanalysis, which involves the patient talking about their experiences and selves, while not invented by Freud, was certainly popularized by him and is still used today. Many of Freud’s other ideas, however, are controversial.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1698

TRY ITTRY IT

Figure 3. When you look at this image, you may see a

duck or a rabbit. The sensory information remains the

same, but your perception can vary dramatically.

Figure 4. The “invisible” triangle you see here is an

example of gestalt perception.

TRY ITTRY IT

Gestalt Psychology (Wertheimer, Koffka, and Köhler)

Max Wertheimer (1880–1943), Kurt Koffka (1886–1941), and Wolfgang Köhler (1887–1967) were three German psychologists who immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century to escape Nazi Germany. These men are credited with introducing psychologists in the United States to various Gestalt principles. The word Gestalt roughly translates to “whole;” a major emphasis of Gestalt psychology deals with the fact that although a sensory experience can be broken down into individual parts, how those parts relate to each other as a whole is often what the individual responds to in perception. For example, a song may be made up of individual notes played by different instruments, but the real nature of the song is perceived in the combinations of these notes as they form the melody, rhythm, and harmony. In many ways, this particular perspective would have directly contradicted Wundt’s ideas of structuralism (Thorne & Henley, 2005).

Unfortunately, in moving to the United States, these men were forced to abandon much of their work and were unable to continue to conduct research on a large scale. These factors along with the rise of behaviorism (described next) in the United States prevented principles of Gestalt psychology from being as influential in the United States as they had been in their native Germany (Thorne & Henley, 2005). Despite these issues, several Gestalt principles are still very influential today. Considering the human individual as a whole rather than as a sum of individually measured parts became an important foundation in humanistic theory late in the century. The ideas of Gestalt have continued to influence research on sensation and perception.

Structuralism, Freud, and the Gestalt psychologists were all concerned in one way or another with describing and understanding inner experience. But other researchers had concerns that inner experience could be a legitimate subject of scientific inquiry and chose instead to exclusively study behavior, the objectively observable outcome of mental processes.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1698

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

empirical method:empirical method: method for acquiring knowledge based on observation, including experimentation, rather than a method based only on forms of logical argument or previous authorities

functionalism:functionalism: focused on how mental activities helped an organism adapt to its environment

-ology:-ology: suffix that denotes “scientific study of”

psyche:psyche: Greek word for soul

psychoanalytic theory:psychoanalytic theory: focus on the role of the unconscious in affecting conscious behavior

psychology:psychology: scientific study of the mind and behavior

structuralism:structuralism: understanding the conscious experience through introspection

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Freud is probably one of the most well-known historical figures in psychology. Where have you encountered references to Freud or his ideas about the role that the unconscious mind plays in determining conscious behavior?

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification and adaptation. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike • Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Early Roots of Psychology; The Id, Ego, and Superego and Psychosexual Theory. Provided byProvided by: Boundless. Located atLocated at: https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/introduction-to- psychology-1/introduction-to-the-field-of-psychology-22/early-roots-of-psychology-110-12647/. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Psychology 101 – Wundt & James: Structuralism & Functionalism – Vook. Provided byProvided by: VookInc's channel. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW6nm69Z_IE. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY CONTINUED

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Define behaviorism and the contributions of Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner to psychology • Explain the basic tenets of humanism and Maslow’s contribution to psychology • Describe the basics of cognitive psychology and how the cognitive revolution shifted psychology’s

focus back to the mind • Summarize the history of psychology, focusing on the major schools of thought

Figure 1. John B. Watson is known as the father of

behaviorism within psychology.

Behavioral Psychology

Early work in the field of behavior was conducted by the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936). Pavlov studied a form of learning behavior called a conditioned reflex, in which an animal or human produced a reflex (unconscious) response to a stimulus and, over time, was conditioned to produce the response to a different stimulus that the experimenter associated with the original stimulus. The reflex Pavlov worked with was salivation in response to the presence of food. The salivation reflex could be elicited using a second stimulus, such as a specific sound, that was presented in association with the initial food stimulus several times. Once the response to the second stimulus was “learned,” the food stimulus could be omitted. Pavlov’s “classical conditioning” is only one form of learning behavior studied by behaviorists.

John B. Watson (1878–1958) was an influential American psychologist whose most famous work occurred during the early 20th century at Johns Hopkins University. While Wundt and James were concerned with understanding conscious experience, Watson thought that the study of consciousness was flawed. Because he believed that objective analysis of the mind was impossible, Watson preferred to focus directly on observable behavior and try to bring that behavior under control. Watson was a major proponent of shifting the focus of psychology from the mind to behavior, and this approach of observing and controlling behavior came to be known as behaviorismbehaviorism. A major object of study by behaviorists was learned behavior and its interaction with inborn qualities of the organism. Behaviorism commonly used animals in experiments under the assumption that what was learned using animal models could, to some degree, be applied to human behavior. Indeed, Tolman (1938) stated, “I believe that everything important in psychology (except … such matters as involve society and words) can be investigated in essence through the continued experimental and theoretical analysis of the determiners of rat behavior at a choice-point in a maze.”

Behaviorism dominated experimental psychology for several decades, and its influence can still be felt today (Thorne & Henley, 2005). Behaviorism is largely responsible for establishing psychology as a scientific discipline through its objective methods and especially experimentation. In addition, it is used in behavioral and cognitive- behavioral therapy. Behavior modification is commonly used in classroom settings. Behaviorism has also led to research on environmental influences on human behavior.

B. F. Skinner (1904–1990) was an American psychologist. Like Watson, Skinner was a behaviorist, and he concentrated on how behavior was affected by its consequences. Therefore, Skinner spoke of reinforcement and punishment as major factors in driving behavior. As a part of his research, Skinner developed a chamber that allowed the careful study of the principles of modifying behavior through reinforcement and punishment. This device, known as an operant conditioning chamber (or more familiarly, a Skinner box), has remained a crucial resource for researchers studying behavior (Thorne & Henley, 2005).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1614

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1614

TRY ITTRY IT

Figure 2. (a) B. F. Skinner is famous for his research on operant conditioning. (b) Modified versions of the operant conditioning

chamber, or Skinner box, are still widely used in research settings today. (credit a: modification of work by “Silly rabbit”/Wikimedia

Commons)

The Skinner box is a chamber that isolates the subject from the external environment and has a behavior indicator such as a lever or a button. When the animal pushes the button or lever, the box is able to deliver a positive reinforcement of the behavior (such as food) or a punishment (such as a noise) or a token conditioner (such as a light) that is correlated with either the positive reinforcement or punishment.

Skinner’s focus on positive and negative reinforcement of learned behaviors had a lasting influence in psychology that has waned somewhat since the growth of research in cognitive psychology. Despite this, conditioned learning is still used in human behavioral modification. Skinner’s two widely read and controversial popular science books about the value of operant conditioning for creating happier lives remain as thought-provoking arguments for his approach (Greengrass, 2004). During the early 20th century, American psychology was dominated by behaviorism and psychoanalysis. However, some psychologists were uncomfortable with what they viewed as limited perspectives being so influential to the field. They objected to the pessimism and determinism (all actions driven by the unconscious) of Freud. They also disliked the reductionism, or simplifying nature, of behaviorism. Behaviorism is also deterministic at its core, because it sees human behavior as entirely determined by a combination of genetics and environment. Some psychologists began to form their own ideas that emphasized personal control, intentionality, and a true predisposition for “good” as important for our self-concept and our behavior. Thus, humanism emerged.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1614

Figure 3.

TRY ITTRY IT

Maslow, Rogers, and Humanism

HumanismHumanism is a perspective within psychology that emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans. Two of the most well-known proponents of humanistic psychology are Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers (O’Hara, n.d.). Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) was an American psychologist who is best known for proposing a hierarchy of human needs in motivating behavior. Although this concept will be discussed in more detail in a later section, a brief overview will be provided here.

Maslow asserted that so long as basic needs necessary for survival were met (e.g., food, water, shelter), higher- level needs (e.g., social needs) would begin to motivate behavior. According to Maslow, the highest-level needs relate to self-actualization, a process by which we achieve our full potential. Obviously, the focus on the positive aspects of human nature that are characteristic of the humanistic perspective is evident (Thorne & Henley, 2005).

Humanistic psychologists rejected, on principle, the research approach based on reductionist experimentation in the tradition of the physical and biological sciences, because it missed the “whole” human being. Beginning with Maslow and Rogers, there was an insistence on a humanistic research program. This program has been largely qualitative (not measurement-based), but there exist a number of quantitative research strains within humanistic psychology, including research on happiness, self-concept, meditation, and the outcomes of humanistic psychotherapy (Friedman, 2008).

Carl Rogers (1902–1987) was also an American psychologist who, like Maslow, emphasized the potential for good that exists within all people. Rogers used a therapeutic technique known as client-centered therapy in helping his clients deal with problematic issues that resulted in their seeking psychotherapy. Unlike a psychoanalytic approach in which the therapist plays an important role in interpreting what conscious behavior reveals about the unconscious mind, client-centered therapy involves the patient taking a lead role in the therapy session. Rogers believed that a therapist needed to display three features to maximize the effectiveness of this particular approach: unconditional positive regard, genuineness, and empathy. Unconditional positive regard refers to the fact that the therapist accepts their client for who they are, no matter what he or she might say. Provided these factors, Rogers believed that people were more than capable of dealing with and working through their own issues (Thorne & Henley, 2005).

Humanism has been influential to psychology as a whole. Both Maslow and Rogers are well-known names among students of psychology (you will read more about both men later in this text), and their ideas have influenced many scholars. Furthermore, Rogers’ client-centered approach to therapy is still commonly used in psychotherapeutic settings today (O’hara, n.d.).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1614

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1614

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1614

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1614

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1614

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1614

The Cognitive Revolution

Behaviorism’s emphasis on objectivity and focus on external behavior had pulled psychologists’ attention away from the mind for a prolonged period of time. The early work of the humanistic psychologists redirected attention to the individual human as a whole, and as a conscious and self-aware being. By the 1950s, new disciplinary perspectives in linguistics, neuroscience, and computer science were emerging, and these areas revived interest in the mind as a focus of scientific inquiry. This particular perspective has come to be known as the cognitive revolution (Miller, 2003). By 1967, Ulric Neisser published the first textbook entitled Cognitive Psychology, which served as a core text in cognitive psychology courses around the country (Thorne & Henley, 2005).Although no one person is entirely responsible for starting the cognitive revolution, Noam Chomsky was very influential in the early days of this movement. Chomsky (1928–), an American linguist, was dissatisfied with the influence that behaviorism had had on psychology. He believed that psychology’s focus on behavior was short-sighted and that the field had to re-incorporate mental functioning into its purview if it were to offer any meaningful contributions to understanding behavior (Miller, 2003).

Noam Chomsky was very influential in beginning the

cognitive revolution. In 2010, this mural honoring him was

put up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (credit: Robert

Moran)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1614

TRY ITTRY IT

European psychology had never really been as influenced by behaviorism as had American psychology; and thus, the cognitive revolution helped reestablish lines of communication between European psychologists and their American counterparts. Furthermore, psychologists began to cooperate with scientists in other fields, like anthropology, linguistics, computer science, and neuroscience, among others. This interdisciplinary approach often was referred to as the cognitive sciences, and the influence and prominence of this particular perspective resonates in modern-day psychology (Miller, 2003).

Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive psychology is radically different from previous psychological approaches in that it is characterized by both of the following:

1. It accepts the use of the scientific method and generally rejects introspection as a valid method of investigation, unlike phenomenological methods such as Freudian psychoanalysis.

2. It explicitly acknowledges the existence of internal mental states (such as belief, desire, and motivation), unlike behaviorist psychology.

Cognitive theory contends that solutions to problems take the form of algorithms, heuristics, or insights. Major areas of research in cognitive psychology include perception, memory, categorization, knowledge representation, numerical cognition, language, and thinking.

Multicultural Psychology

Culture has important impacts on individuals and social psychology, yet the effects of culture on psychology are under-studied. There is a risk that psychological theories and data derived from white, American settings could be assumed to apply to individuals and social groups from other cultures and this is unlikely to be true (Betancourt & López, 1993). One weakness in the field of cross-cultural psychology is that in looking for differences in psychological attributes across cultures, there remains a need to go beyond simple descriptive statistics (Betancourt & López, 1993). In this sense, it has remained a descriptive science, rather than one seeking to determine cause and effect. For example, a study of characteristics of individuals seeking treatment for a binge eating disorder in Hispanic American, African American, and Caucasian American individuals found significant differences between groups (Franko et al., 2012). The study concluded that results from studying any one of the groups could not be extended to the other groups, and yet potential causes of the differences were not measured.

This history of multicultural psychology in the United States is a long one. The role of African American psychologists in researching the cultural differences between African American individual and social psychology is but one example. In 1920, Cecil Sumner was the first African American to receive a PhD in psychology in the United States. Sumner established a psychology degree program at Howard University, leading to the education of a new generation of African American psychologists (Black, Spence, and Omari, 2004). Much of the work of early African American psychologists (and a general focus of much work in first half of the 20th century in psychology in the United States) was dedicated to testing and intelligence testing in particular (Black et al., 2004).

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Learn more about the history of psychology through the following PsychSim Tutorial. The tutorial is only intended for practice. Please disregard the final screen that requests you submit answers to your instructor.

• Psychology’s Timeline

That emphasis has continued, particularly because of the importance of testing in determining opportunities for children, but other areas of exploration in African-American psychology research include learning style, sense of community and belonging, and spiritualism (Black et al., 2004).

The American Psychological Association has several ethnically based organizations for professional psychologists that facilitate interactions among members. Since psychologists belonging to specific ethnic groups or cultures have the most interest in studying the psychology of their communities, these organizations provide an opportunity for the growth of research on the impact of culture on individual and social psychology.

Summary of the History of Psychology

Before the time of Wundt and James, questions about the mind were considered by philosophers. However, both Wundt and James helped create psychology as a distinct scientific discipline. Wundt was a structuralist, which meant he believed that our cognitive experience was best understood by breaking that experience into its component parts. He thought this was best accomplished by introspection.

William James was the first American psychologist, and he was a proponent of functionalism. This particular perspective focused on how mental activities served as adaptive responses to an organism’s environment. Like Wundt, James also relied on introspection; however, his research approach also incorporated more objective measures as well.

Sigmund Freud believed that understanding the unconscious mind was absolutely critical to understand conscious behavior. This was especially true for individuals that he saw who suffered from various hysterias and neuroses. Freud relied on dream analysis, slips of the tongue, and free association as means to access the unconscious. Psychoanalytic theory remained a dominant force in clinical psychology for several decades.

Gestalt psychology was very influential in Europe. Gestalt psychology takes a holistic view of an individual and his experiences. As the Nazis came to power in Germany, Wertheimer, Koffka, and Köhler immigrated to the United States. Although they left their laboratories and their research behind, they did introduce America to Gestalt ideas. Some of the principles of Gestalt psychology are still very influential in the study of sensation and perception.

One of the most influential schools of thought within psychology’s history was behaviorism. Behaviorism focused on making psychology an objective science by studying overt behavior and deemphasizing the importance of unobservable mental processes. John Watson is often considered the father of behaviorism, and B. F. Skinner’s contributions to our understanding of principles of operant conditioning cannot be underestimated.

As behaviorism and psychoanalytic theory took hold of so many aspects of psychology, some began to become dissatisfied with psychology’s picture of human nature. Thus, a humanistic movement within psychology began to take hold. Humanism focuses on the potential of all people for good. Both Maslow and Rogers were influential in shaping humanistic psychology.

During the 1950s, the landscape of psychology began to change. A science of behavior began to shift back to its roots of focus on mental processes. The emergence of neuroscience and computer science aided this transition. Ultimately, the cognitive revolution took hold, and people came to realize that cognition was crucial to a true appreciation and understanding of behavior.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1614

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1614

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

behaviorism:behaviorism: focus on observing and controlling behavior

humanism:humanism: perspective within psychology that emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1614

Early Schools of Psychology: Still Active and Advanced Beyond Early Ideas

School ofSchool of PsychologyPsychology

DescriptionDescription EarliestEarliest PeriodPeriod

HistoricallyHistorically Important PeopleImportant People

Psychodynamic Psychology

Focuses on the role of the unconscious and childhood experiences in affecting conscious behavior.

Very late 19th to Early 20th Century

Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson

Behaviorism Focuses on observing and controlling behavior through what is observable. Puts an emphasis on learning and conditioning.

Early 20th Century

Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner

Cognitive Psychology Focuses not just on behavior, but on on mental processes and internal mental states.

1920s

Ulric Neisser,Noam Chomsky, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky

Humanistic Psychology

Emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans and rejects that psychology should focus on problems and disorders.

1950s Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Addition of link to learning. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• History of Psychology. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:lAYBvVZM@5/History-of-Psychology. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

• Cognitive Psychology. Provided byProvided by: Boundless. Located atLocated at: https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/introduction-to-psychology-1/theoretical-perspectives-in-modern- psychology-23/cognitive-psychology-115-12652/. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

• Early Schools of Psychology: Still Active and Advanced Beyond Early Ideas Table. Provided byProvided by: Open Learning Initiative. Located atLocated at: https://oli.cmu.edu/jcourse/workbook/activity/ page?context=4c39410080020ca60127b04635de0b80. ProjectProject: Introduction to Psychology. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

DOMAINS IN PSYCHOLOGY

What you’ll learn to do: identify the various approaches, fields, and subfields of psychology along with their major concepts and important figures

This section will provide an overview of the major domains of psychology today, as well as some additional sub- fields and content areas. This is not meant to be an exhaustive listing, but it will provide insight into the major areas of research and practice of modern-day psychologists. You’ll come to see that while psychology is defined as the study of the mind and behavior, there are many different types of psychologists who emphasize and apply psychological principles in various ways.

For example, imagine that a woman is diagnosed with depression. What is the cause of the depression? Is it her biology or chemical imbalances in her brain? Evolutionary predispositions? Perhaps it is caused by experiences in her past, or something else that triggered a downward spiral of emotions? Or maybe it is caused by social factors, or cultural expectations? All of these things could, in fact, play a role in her depression. In this section, you’ll see

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Please visit this website to learn about the divisions within the APA. Student resources are also provided by the APA.

how psychologists analyze behavior from a variety of perspectives and better understand the breadth of psychology.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• List and define the five major domains, or pillars, of contemporary psychology • Describe the basic interests and applications of biopsychology and evolutionary psychology • Describe the basic interests and applications of cognitive psychology • Describe the basic interests and applications of developmental psychology • Describe the basic interests and applications of social psychology and personality psychology • Describe the basic interests and applications of abnormal, clinical, and health psychology • Define industrial-organizational psychology, sport and exercise psychology, and forensic psychology

Introduction to Contemporary Psychology

Contemporary psychology is a diverse field that is influenced by all of the historical perspectives described in the previous section of reading. Reflective of the discipline’s diversity is the diversity seen within the AmericanAmerican Psychological AssociationPsychological Association (APA). The APA is a professional organization representing psychologists in the United States. The APA is the largest organization of psychologists in the world, and its mission is to advance and disseminate psychological knowledge for the betterment of people. There are 56 divisions within the APA, representing a wide variety of specialties that range from Societies for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality to Exercise and Sport Psychology to Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology. Reflecting the diversity of the field of psychology itself, members, affiliate members, and associate members span the spectrum from students to doctoral-level psychologists, and come from a variety of places including educational settings, criminal justice, hospitals, the armed forces, and industry (American Psychological Association, 2014).

Psychologists agree that there is no one right way to study the way people think or behave. There are, however, various schools of thought that evolved throughout the development of psychology that continue to shape the way we investigate human behavior. For example, some psychologists might attribute a certain behavior to biological factors such as genetics while another psychologist might consider early childhood experiences to be a more likely explanation for the behavior. Many expert psychologists focus their entire careers on just one facet of psychology, such as developmental psychology or cognitive psychology, or even more specifically, newborn intelligence or language processing.

While the field of study is large and vast, this text aims to introduce you to the main topics with psychology. You’ll get exposure to the various branches and sub-fields within the discipline and come to understand how they are all interconnected and essential in understanding behavior and mental processes. The five main psychological pillars, or domains, as we will refer to them, are:

1. Domain 1: Biological (includes neuroscience, consciousness, and sensation) 2. Domain 2: Cognitive (includes the study of perception, cognition, memory, and intelligence) 3. Domain 3: Development (includes learning and conditioning, lifespan development, and language) 4. Domain 4: Social and Personality (includes the study of personality, emotion, motivation, gender, and

culture) 5. Domain 5: Mental and Physical Health (includes abnormal psychology, therapy, and health psychology)

HELPFUL HINTSHELPFUL HINTS

A neat way to remember the major perspectives in psychology is to think about your hand and associate each finger with a psychological approach:

• ThumbThumb: your thumb can move around in PSYCHO ways—it’s so versatile! This is the psychodynamicpsychodynamic perspective.

• Index FingerIndex Finger: Tap your finger to the temple of your head as if you were THINKING about something. This is the cognitivecognitive perspective.

• Middle Finger:Middle Finger: If you stuck up your middle finger to flip someone off, that would be bad BEHAVIOR in many cultures. This is the behavioralbehavioral perspective.

• Ring Finger:Ring Finger: This is where you would wear a wedding band. A humanistichumanistic psychologist would emphasize everyone’s potential for marriage, or more likely, for self-actualization.

• Pinky Finger:Pinky Finger: This little finger was born this way—short. Thank your BIOLOGY for that. BiologicalBiological perspective.

• Palm of hand:Palm of hand: Socio-culturalSocio-cultural. In many cultures, giving a high-five is an acceptable greeting.

Figure 1. The five pillars, or domains, of psychology. Image adapted from Gurung, R. A., Hackathorn, J., Enns, C., Frantz, S.,

Cacioppo, J. T., Loop, T., & Freeman, J. E. (2016) article “Strengthening introductory psychology: A new model for teaching the

introductory course” from American Psychologist.

These five domains cover the main viewpoints, or perspectives, of psychology. These perspectives emphasize certain assumptions about behavior and provide a framework for psychologists in conducting research and analyzing behavior. They include some you have already read about, including Freud’s psychodynamic perspective, behaviorism, humanism, and the cognitive approach. Other perspectives include the biological perspective, evolutionary, and socio-cultural perspectives.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

TRY ITTRY IT

The Biological Domain Biopsychology—also known as biological psychology or psychobiology—is the application of the principles of biology to the study of mental processes and behavior. As the name suggests, biopsychologybiopsychology explores how our biology influences our behavior. While biological psychology is a broad field, many biological psychologists want to understand how the structure and function of the nervous system is related to behavior. The fields of behavioral neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychology are all subfields of biological psychology.

Figure 2. Different brain-imaging techniques provide scientists with insight into different aspects of how the human brain functions.

The research interests of biological psychologists span a number of domains, including but not limited to, sensory and motor systems, sleep, drug use and abuse, ingestive behavior, reproductive behavior, neurodevelopment, plasticity of the nervous system, and biological correlates of psychological disorders. Given the broad areas of interest falling under the purview of biological psychology, it will probably come as no surprise that individuals from all sorts of backgrounds are involved in this research, including biologists, medical professionals, physiologists, and chemists. This interdisciplinary approach is often referred to as neuroscience, of which biological psychology is a component (Carlson, 2013).

Evolutionary Psychology

While biopsychology typically focuses on the immediate causes of behavior based in the physiology of a human or other animal, evolutionary psychology seeks to study the ultimate biological causes of behavior. To the extent that a behavior is impacted by genetics, a behavior, like any anatomical characteristic of a human or animal, will demonstrate adaption to its surroundings. These surroundings include the physical environment and, since interactions between organisms can be important to survival and reproduction, the social environment. The study of behavior in the context of evolution has its origins with Charles Darwin, the co-discoverer of the theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin was well aware that behaviors should be adaptive and wrote books titled, The Descent of Man (1871) and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), to explore this field.

Evolutionary psychology, and specifically, the evolutionary psychology of humans, has enjoyed a resurgence in recent decades. To be subject to evolution by natural selection, a behavior must have a significant genetic cause. In general, we expect all human cultures to express a behavior if it is caused genetically, since the genetic differences among human groups are small. The approach taken by most evolutionary psychologists is to predict the outcome of a behavior in a particular situation based on evolutionary theory and then to make observations, or conduct experiments, to determine whether the results match the theory. It is important to recognize that these types of studies are not strong evidence that a behavior is adaptive, since they lack information that the behavior is in some part genetic and not entirely cultural (Endler, 1986). Demonstrating that a trait, especially in humans, is naturally selected is extraordinarily difficult; perhaps for this reason, some evolutionary psychologists are content to assume the behaviors they study have genetic determinants (Confer et al., 2010).

One other drawback of evolutionary psychology is that the traits that we possess now evolved under environmental and social conditions far back in human history, and we have a poor understanding of what these conditions were. This makes predictions about what is adaptive for a behavior difficult. Behavioral traits need not be adaptive under current conditions, only under the conditions of the past when they evolved, about which we can only hypothesize.

There are many areas of human behavior for which evolution can make predictions. Examples include memory, mate choice, relationships between kin, friendship and cooperation, parenting, social organization, and status (Confer et al., 2010).

Evolutionary psychologists have had success in finding experimental correspondence between observations and expectations. In one example, in a study of mate preference differences between men and women that spanned 37 cultures, Buss (1989) found that women valued earning potential factors greater than men, and men valued potential reproductive factors (youth and attractiveness) greater than women in their prospective mates. In general, the predictions were in line with the predictions of evolution, although there were deviations in some cultures.

Sensation and Perception

Scientists interested in both physiological aspects of sensory systems as well as in the psychological experience of sensory information work within the area of sensation and perception. As such, sensation and perception research is also quite interdisciplinary. Imagine walking between buildings as you move from one class to another. You are inundated with sights, sounds, touch sensations, and smells. You also experience the temperature of the air around you and maintain your balance as you make your way. These are all factors of interest to someone working in the domain of sensation and perception.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

TRY ITTRY IT

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

TRY ITTRY IT

The Cognitive Domain As mentioned earlier, the cognitive revolution created an impetus for psychologists to focus their attention on better understanding the mind and mental processes that underlie behavior. Thus, cognitive psychologycognitive psychology is the area of psychology that focuses on studying cognitions, or thoughts, and their relationship to our experiences and our actions. Like biological psychology, cognitive psychology is broad in its scope and often involves collaborations among people from a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds. This has led some to coin the term cognitive science to describe the interdisciplinary nature of this area of research (Miller, 2003).

Cognitive psychologists have research interests that span a spectrum of topics, ranging from attention to problem solving to language to memory. The approaches used in studying these topics are equally diverse. The bulk of content coverage on cognitive psychology will be covered in the modules in this text on thinking, intelligence, and memory. But given its diversity, various concepts related to cognitive psychology will be covered in other sections such as lifespan development, social psychology, and therapy.

The Developmental Domain Developmental psychologyDevelopmental psychology is the scientific study of development across a lifespan. Developmental psychologists are interested in processes related to physical maturation. However, their focus is not limited to the physical changes associated with aging, as they also focus on changes in cognitive skills, moral reasoning, social behavior, and other psychological attributes. Early developmental psychologists focused primarily on changes that occurred through reaching adulthood, providing enormous insight into the differences in physical, cognitive, and social capacities that exist between very young children and adults. For instance, research by Jean Piaget demonstrated that very young children do not demonstrate object permanence. Object permanence refers to the understanding that physical things continue to exist, even if they are hidden from us. If you were to show an adult a toy, and then hide it behind a curtain, the adult knows that the toy still exists. However, very young infants act as if a hidden object no longer exists. The age at which object permanence is achieved is somewhat controversial (Munakata, McClelland, Johnson, and Siegler, 1997).

Figure 3. Piaget is best known for his stage theory of

cognitive development.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

TRY ITTRY IT

While Piaget was focused on cognitive changes during infancy and childhood as we move to adulthood, there is an increasing interest in extending research into the changes that occur much later in life. This may be reflective of changing population demographics of developed nations as a whole. As more and more people live longer lives, the number of people of advanced age will continue to increase. Indeed, it is estimated that there were just over 40 million people aged 65 or older living in the United States in 2010. However, by 2020, this number is expected to increase to about 55 million. By the year 2050, it is estimated that nearly 90 million people in this country will be 65 or older (Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.).

Behavioral Psychology

Another critical field of study under the development domain is that of learning and behaviorism, which you read about already. The primary developments in learning and conditioning came from the work of Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, Edward Lee Thorndike, and B. F. Skinner. Contemporary behaviorists apply learning techniques in the form of behavior modification for a variety of mental problems. Learning is seen as behavior change molded by experience; it is accomplished largely through either classical or operant conditioning.

The Social and Personality Psychology Domain

Social psychology is the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. This domain of psychology is concerned with the way such feelings, thoughts, beliefs, intentions, and goals are constructed, and how these psychological factors, in turn, influence our interactions with others.

Social psychology typically explains human behavior as a result of the interaction of mental states and immediate social situations. Social psychologists, therefore, examine the factors that lead us to behave in a given way in the

Figure 4. Stanley Milgram’s research demonstrated just

how far people will go in obeying orders from an authority

figure. This advertisement was used to recruit subjects for

his research.

presence of others, as well as the conditions under which certain behaviors, actions, and feelings occur. They focus on how people construe or interpret situations and how these interpretations influence their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (Ross & Nisbett, 1991). Thus, social psychology studies individuals in a social context and how situational variables interact to influence behavior.

Some social psychologists study large-scale sociocultural forces within cultures and societies that affect the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals. These include forces such as attitudes, child-rearing practices, discrimination and prejudice, ethnic and racial identity, gender roles and norms, family and kinship structures, power dynamics, regional differences, religious beliefs and practices, rituals, and taboos. Several subfields within psychology seek to examine these sociocultural factors that influence human mental states and behavior; among these are social psychology, cultural psychology, cultural-historical psychology, and cross-cultural psychology.

There are many interesting examples of social psychological research, and you will read about many of these in a later in this textbook. Until then, you will be introduced to one of the most controversial psychological studies ever conducted. Stanley Milgram was an American social psychologist who is most famous for research that he conducted on obedience. After the Holocaust, in 1961, a Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann, who was accused of committing mass atrocities, was put on trial. Many people wondered how German soldiers were capable of torturing prisoners in concentration camps, and they were unsatisfied with the excuses given by soldiers that they were simply following orders. At the time, most psychologists agreed that few people would be willing to inflict such extraordinary pain and suffering, simply because they were obeying orders. Milgram decided to conduct research to determine whether or not this was true.

As you will read later in the text, Milgram found that nearly two-thirds of his participants were willing to deliver what they believed to be lethal shocks to another person, simply because they were instructed to do so by an authority figure (in this case, a man dressed in a lab coat). This was in spite of the fact that participants received payment for simply showing up for the research study and could have chosen not to inflict pain or more serious consequences on another person by withdrawing from the study. No one was actually hurt or harmed in any way, Milgram’s experiment was a clever ruse that took advantage of research confederates, those who pretend to be participants in a research study who are actually working for the researcher and have clear, specific directions on how to behave during the research study (Hock, 2009). Milgram’s and others’ studies that involved deception and potential emotional harm to study participants catalyzed the development of ethical guidelines for conducting psychological research that discourage the use of deception of research subjects, unless it can be argued not to cause harm and, in general, requiring informed consent of participants.

Personality Psychology

Another major field of study within the social and personality domain is, of course, personality psychologypersonality psychology. Personality refers to the long-standing traits and patterns that propel individuals to consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways. Our personality is what makes us unique individuals. Each person has an idiosyncratic pattern of enduring, long-term characteristics, and a manner in which they interact with other individuals and the world around them. Our personalities are thought to be long-term, stable, and not easily changed. Personality psychology focuses on

Each of the dimensions of the Five Factor model is shown in this figure. The provided description would describe someone who scored highly on that given dimension. Someone with a lower score on a given dimension could be described in opposite terms.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

TRY ITTRY IT

• construction of a coherent picture of the individual and their major psychological processes. • investigation of individual psychological differences. • investigation of human nature and psychological similarities between individuals.

Several individuals (e.g., Freud and Maslow) that we have already discussed in our historical overview of psychology, and the American psychologist Gordon Allport, contributed to early theories of personality. These early theorists attempted to explain how an individual’s personality develops from his or her given perspective. For example, Freud proposed that personality arose as conflicts between the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind were carried out over the lifespan. Specifically, Freud theorized that an individual went through various psychosexual stages of development. According to Freud, adult personality would result from the resolution of various conflicts that centered on the migration of erogenous (or sexual pleasure-producing) zones from the oral (mouth) to the anus to the phallus to the genitals. Like many of Freud’s theories, this particular idea was controversial and did not lend itself to experimental tests (Person, 1980).

More recently, the study of personality has taken on a more quantitative approach. Rather than explaining how personality arises, research is focused on identifying personality traitspersonality traits, measuring these traits, and determining how these traits interact in a particular context to determine how a person will behave in any given situation. Personality traits are relatively consistent patterns of thought and behavior, and many have proposed that five trait dimensions are sufficient to capture the variations in personality seen across individuals. These five dimensions are known as the “Big Five” or the Five Factor model, and include dimensions of conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion (shown below). Each of these traits has been demonstrated to be relatively stable over the lifespan (e.g., Rantanen, Metsäpelto, Feldt, Pulkinnen, and Kokko, 2007; Soldz & Vaillant, 1999; McCrae & Costa, 2008) and is influenced by genetics (e.g., Jang, Livesly, and Vernon, 1996).

Figure 5. Each of the dimensions of the Five Factor model is shown in this figure. The provided description would describe

someone who scored highly on that given dimension. Someone with a lower score on a given dimension could be described in

opposite terms.

The Mental and Physical Health Domain This domain of psychology is what many people think of when they think about psychology—mental disorders and counseling. This includes the study of abnormal psychology, with its focus on abnormal thoughts and behaviors, as well as counseling and treatment methods, and recommendations for coping with stress and living a healthy life.

The names and classifications of mental disorders are listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM is currently in its 5th edition (DSM-V) and has been designed for use in a wide variety of contexts and across clinical settings (including inpatient, outpatient, partial hospital, clinic, private practice, and primary care). The diagnostic manual includes a total of 237 specific diagnosable disorders, each described in detail, including its symptoms, prevalence, risk factors, and comorbidity. Over time, the number of diagnosable conditions listed in the DSM has grown steadily, prompting criticism from some. Nevertheless, the diagnostic criteria in the DSM are more explicit than those of any other system, which makes the DSM system highly desirable for both clinical diagnosis and research.

Figure 6. Lifetime prevalence rates for major psychological disorders.

Clinical Psychology

Clinical psychologyClinical psychology is the area of psychology that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior. As such, it is generally considered to be a more applied area within psychology; however, some clinicians are also actively engaged in scientific research. Counseling psychology is a similar discipline that focuses on emotional, social, vocational, and health-related outcomes in individuals who are considered psychologically healthy. As mentioned earlier, both Freud and Rogers provided perspectives that have been influential in shaping how clinicians interact with people seeking psychotherapy. While aspects of the psychoanalytic theory are still found among some of today’s therapists who are trained from a psychodynamic perspective, Roger’s ideas about client-centered therapy have been especially influential in shaping how many clinicians operate. Furthermore, both behaviorism and the cognitive revolution have shaped clinical practice in the forms of behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Issues related to the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and problematic patterns of behavior will be discussed in detail later in this textbook.

Figure 7. Cognitive-behavioral therapists take cognitive

processes and behaviors into account when providing

psychotherapy. This is one of several strategies that may

be used by practicing clinical psychologists.

By far, this is the area of psychology that receives the most attention in popular media, and many people mistakenly assume that all psychology is clinical psychology.

Health Psychology

Health psychology focuses on how health is affected by the interaction of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. This particular approach is known as the biopsychosocial modelbiopsychosocial model. Health psychologists are interested in helping individuals achieve better health through public policy, education, intervention, and research. Health psychologists might conduct research that explores the relationship between one’s genetic makeup, patterns of behavior, relationships, psychological stress, and health. They may research effective ways to motivate people to address patterns of behavior that contribute to poorer health (MacDonald, 2013).

Figure 8. The biopsychosocial model suggests that health/illness is determined by an interaction of these three factors.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

TRY ITTRY IT

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

Other Psychological Subfields

Industrial-Organizational Psychology

Industrial-Organizational psychology (I-O psychology) is a subfield of psychology that applies psychological theories, principles, and research findings in industrial and organizational settings. I-O psychologists are often involved in issues related to personnel management, organizational structure, and workplace environment. Businesses often seek the aid of I-O psychologists to make the best hiring decisions as well as to create an environment that results in high levels of employee productivity and efficiency. In addition to its applied nature, I-O psychology also involves conducting scientific research on behavior within I-O settings (Riggio, 2013).

Sport and Exercise Psychology

Researchers in sport and exercise psychologysport and exercise psychology study the psychological aspects of sport performance, including motivation and performance anxiety, and the effects of sport on mental and emotional wellbeing. Research is also conducted on similar topics as they relate to physical exercise in general. The discipline also includes topics that are broader than sport and exercise but that are related to interactions between mental and physical performance under demanding conditions, such as fire fighting, military operations, artistic performance, and surgery.

Forensic Psychology

Forensic psychologyForensic psychology is a branch of psychology that deals questions of psychology as they arise in the context of the justice system. For example, forensic psychologists (and forensic psychiatrists) will assess a person’s competency to stand trial, assess the state of mind of a defendant, act as consultants on child custody cases, consult on sentencing and treatment recommendations, and advise on issues such as eyewitness testimony and children’s testimony (American Board of Forensic Psychology, 2014). In these capacities, they will typically act as expert witnesses, called by either side in a court case to provide their research- or experience-based opinions. As expert witnesses, forensic psychologists must have a good understanding of the law and provide information in the context of the legal system rather than just within the realm of psychology. Forensic psychologists are also used in the jury selection process and witness preparation. They may also be involved in providing psychological treatment within the criminal justice system. Criminal profilers are a relatively small proportion of psychologists that act as consultants to law enforcement.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Check out the APA website for more information on psychological subfields and possible career paths here.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

American Psychological Association:American Psychological Association: professional organization representing psychologists in the United States

biopsychology:biopsychology: study of how biology influences behavior

biopsychosocial model:biopsychosocial model: perspective that asserts that biology, psychology, and social factors interact to determine an individual’s health

clinical psychology:clinical psychology: area of psychology that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior

cognitive psychologycognitive psychology: area of psychology that focuses on studying thoughts and their relationship to our experiences and actions

developmental psychology:developmental psychology: scientific study of development across a lifespan

forensic psychology:forensic psychology: area of psychology that applies the science and practice of psychology to issues within and related to the justice system

personality psychology:personality psychology: study of patterns of thoughts and behaviors that make each individual unique

personality trait:personality trait: consistent pattern of thought and behavior

sport and exercise psychology:sport and exercise psychology: area of psychology that focuses on the interactions between mental and emotional factors and physical performance in sports, exercise, and other activities

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1629

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Contemporary Psychology. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:tEHxTRok@5/Contemporary-Psychology. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

• Biopsychology information. Provided byProvided by: Boundless. Located atLocated at: https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/introduction-to-psychology-1/theoretical-perspectives-in-modern- psychology-23/biopsychology-117-12654/. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

• Abnormal Psychology. Provided byProvided by: Boundless. Located atLocated at: https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/introduction-to-psychology-1/theoretical-perspectives-in-modern- psychology-23/abnormal-psychology-512-16738/. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

Public domain contentPublic domain content

• woman at subway. Authored byAuthored by: Eutah Mizushima. Provided byProvided by: Unsplash. Located atLocated at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/train-underground-subway-person-7533/. LicenseLicense: Public Domain: No Known Copyright

CAREERS IN PSYCHOLOGY

What you’ll learn to do: describe the value of psychology and possible careers paths for those who study psychology

Figure 1. An Army psychologist reviewing medical information.

Generally, academic careers in psychology require doctoral degrees. However, there are a number of nonacademic career options for people who have master’s degrees in psychology. While people with bachelor’s degrees in psychology have more limited psychology-related career options, the skills acquired as a function of an

Figure 1. Doctoral degrees are generally conferred in

formal ceremonies involving special attire and rites.

(credit: Public Affairs Office Fort Wainwright)

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this brief video that describes some of the questions a student should consider before deciding to major in psychology.

undergraduate education in psychology are useful in a variety of work contexts and are applicable to a wide variety of careers. Basically, studying psychology is never a bad choice!

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain why an education in psychology is valuable • Describe educational requirements and career options for the study of psychology

Merits of an Education in Psychology

Often, students take their first psychology course because they are interested in helping others and want to learn more about themselves and why they act the way they do. Sometimes, students take a psychology course because it either satisfies a general education requirement or is required for a program of study such as nursing or pre-med. Many of these students develop such an interest in the area that they go on to declare psychology as their major. As a result, psychology is one of the most popular majors on college campuses across the United States (Johnson & Lubin, 2011). A number of well-known individuals were psychology majors. Just a few famous names on this list are Facebook’s creator Mark Zuckerberg, television personality and political satirist Jon Stewart, actress Natalie Portman, and filmmaker Wes Craven (Halonen, 2011). About 6 percent of all bachelor degrees granted in the United States are in the discipline of psychology (U.S. Department of Education, 2013).

An education in psychology is valuable for a number of reasons. Psychology students hone critical thinking skills and are trained in the use of the scientific method. Critical thinking is the active application of a set of skills to information for the understanding and evaluation of that information. The evaluation of information—assessing its reliability and usefulness— is an important skill in a world full of competing “facts,” many of which are designed to be misleading. For example, critical thinking involves maintaining an attitude of skepticism, recognizing internal biases, making use of logical thinking, asking appropriate questions, and making observations. Psychology students also can develop better communication skills during the course of their undergraduate coursework (American Psychological Association, 2011). Together, these factors increase students’ scientific literacy and prepare students to critically evaluate the various sources of information they encounter.

In addition to these broad-based skills, psychology students come to understand the complex factors that shape one’s behavior. They appreciate the interaction of our biology, our environment, and our experiences in determining who we are and how we will behave. They learn about basic principles that guide how we think and behave, and they come to recognize the tremendous diversity that exists across individuals and across cultural boundaries (American Psychological Association, 2011).

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=43

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=43

TRY ITTRY IT

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Why are you taking this course? What do you hope to learn about during this course?

Careers in Psychology

Psychologists can work in many different places doing many different things. In general, anyone wishing to continue a career in psychology at a 4-year institution of higher education will have to earn a doctoral degree in psychology for some specialties and at least a master’s degree for others. In most areas of psychology, this means earning a PhD in a relevant area of psychology. Literally, PhD refers to a doctor of philosophy degree, but here, philosophy does not refer to the field of philosophy per se. Rather, philosophy in this context refers to many different disciplinary perspectives that would be housed in a traditional college of liberal arts and sciences.

The requirements to earn a PhD vary from country to country and even from school to school, but usually, individuals earning this degree must complete a dissertation. A dissertation is essentially a long research paper or bundled published articles describing research that was conducted as a part of the candidate’s doctoral training. In the United States, a dissertation generally has to be defended before a committee of expert reviewers before the degree is conferred. Once someone earns her PhD, she may seek a faculty appointment at a college or university. Being on the faculty of a college or university often involves dividing time between teaching, research, and service to the institution and profession. The amount of time spent on each of these primary responsibilities varies dramatically from school to school, and it is not uncommon for faculty to move from place to place in search of the best personal fit among various academic environments. The previous section detailed some of the major areas that are commonly represented in psychology departments around the country; thus, depending on the training received, an individual could be anything from a biological psychologist to a clinical psychologist in an academic setting.

Figure 2. Individuals earning a PhD in psychology have a range of employment options.

Other Careers in Academic Settings

Often times, schools offer more courses in psychology than their full-time faculty can teach. In these cases, it is not uncommon to bring in an adjunct faculty member or instructor. Adjunct faculty members and instructors usually have an advanced degree in psychology, but they often have primary careers outside of academia and serve in this role as a secondary job. Alternatively, they may not hold the doctoral degree required by most 4-year institutions and use these opportunities to gain experience in teaching. Furthermore, many 2-year colleges and schools need faculty to teach their courses in psychology. In general, many of the people who pursue careers at these institutions have master’s degrees in psychology, although some PhDs make careers at these institutions as well.

Some people earning PhDs may enjoy research in an academic setting. However, they may not be interested in teaching. These individuals might take on faculty positions that are exclusively devoted to conducting research. This type of position would be more likely an option at large, research-focused universities.

In some areas in psychology, it is common for individuals who have recently earned their PhD to seek out positions in postdoctoral training programs that are available before going on to serve as faculty. In most cases, young scientists will complete one or two postdoctoral programs before applying for a full-time faculty position. Postdoctoral training programs allow young scientists to further develop their research programs and broaden their research skills under the supervision of other professionals in the field.

Career Options Outside of Academics

Individuals who wish to become practicing clinical psychologists have another option for earning a doctoral degree, which is known as a PsyD. A PsyD is a doctor of psychology degree that is increasingly popular among individuals interested in pursuing careers in clinical psychology. PsyD programs generally place less emphasis on research-oriented skills and focus more on application of psychological principles in the clinical context (Norcorss & Castle, 2002).

Regardless of whether earning a PhD or PsyD, in most states, an individual wishing to practice as a licensed clinical or counseling psychologist may complete postdoctoral work under the supervision of a licensed psychologist. Within the last few years, however, several states have begun to remove this requirement, which would allow someone to get an earlier start in his career (Munsey, 2009). After an individual has met the state requirements, his credentials are evaluated to determine whether he can sit for the licensure exam. Only individuals that pass this exam can call themselves licensed clinical or counseling psychologists (Norcross, n.d.). Licensed clinical or counseling psychologists can then work in a number of settings, ranging from private clinical practice to hospital settings. It should be noted that clinical psychologists and psychiatrists do different things and receive different types of education. While both can conduct therapy and counseling, clinical psychologists have a PhD or a PsyD, whereas psychiatrists have a doctor of medicine degree (MD). As such, licensed clinical psychologists can administer and interpret psychological tests, while psychiatrists can prescribe medications.

Individuals earning a PhD can work in a variety of settings, depending on their areas of specialization. For example, someone trained as a biopsychologist might work in a pharmaceutical company to help test the efficacy of a new drug. Someone with a clinical background might become a forensic psychologist and work within the legal system to make recommendations during criminal trials and parole hearings, or serve as an expert in a court case.

While earning a doctoral degree in psychology is a lengthy process, usually taking between 5–6 years of graduate study (DeAngelis, 2010), there are a number of careers that can be attained with a master’s degree in psychology. People who wish to provide psychotherapy can become licensed to serve as various types of professional counselors (Hoffman, 2012). Relevant master’s degrees are also sufficient for individuals seeking careers as school psychologists (National Association of School Psychologists, n.d.), in some capacities related to sport psychology (American Psychological Association, 2014), or as consultants in various industrial settings (Landers, 2011, June 14). Undergraduate coursework in psychology may be applicable to other careers such as psychiatric social work or psychiatric nursing, where assessments and therapy may be a part of the job.

As mentioned in the opening section of this chapter, an undergraduate education in psychology is associated with a knowledge base and skill set that many employers find quite attractive. It should come as no surprise, then, that individuals earning bachelor’s degrees in psychology find themselves in a number of different careers, as shown in the table. Examples of a few such careers can involve serving as case managers, working in sales, working in human resource departments, and teaching in high schools. The rapidly growing realm of healthcare professions is another field in which an education in psychology is helpful and sometimes required. For example, the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) exam that people must take to be admitted to medical school now includes a section on the psychological foundations of behavior.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch a brief video describing some of the career options available to people earning bachelor’s degrees in psychology.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=43

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=43

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=43

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=43

TRY ITTRY IT

Table 1. Top Occupations Employing Graduates with a BA in Psychology (Fogg, Harrington, Harrington, & Shatkin, 2012)

RankingRanking OccupationOccupation

1 Mid- and top-level management (executive, administrator)

2 Sales

3 Social work

4 Other management positions

5 Human resources (personnel, training)

6 Other administrative positions

7 Insurance, real estate, business

8 Marketing and sales

9 Healthcare (nurse, pharmacist, therapist)

10 Finance (accountant, auditor)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=43

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=43

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

dissertation:dissertation: long research paper about research that was conducted as a part of the candidate’s doctoral training

PhD:PhD: (doctor of philosophy) doctoral degree conferred in many disciplinary perspectives housed in a traditional college of liberal arts and sciences

postdoctoral training program:postdoctoral training program: allows young scientists to further develop their research programs and broaden their research skills under the supervision of other professionals in the field

PsyD:PsyD: (doctor of psychology) doctoral degree that places less emphasis on research-oriented skills and focuses more on application of psychological principles in the clinical context

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=43

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Which of the career options described in this section is most appealing to you?

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Careers in Psychology. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:iLkaPS1F@4/Careers-in-Psychology. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/.

• iDeclare – Why major in Psychology?. Provided byProvided by: humbiomovies's channel. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hOfn0Xj8cs. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

PUTTING IT TOGETHER: PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

In this module, you learned to

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1700

WORD AVERSIONWORD AVERSION

People Magazine—psycholinguistics’ most trusted lexicon—defines “moist” as “the most cringeworthy word” in American English. When they asked some of the sexiest men alivesexiest men alive to try and make the word sound sexy, it was pretty clear they could not. One viewer respondedOne viewer responded that the video was “pure sadism” and that the only way to recover would be to “go Oedipal and gouge your eyes out.”

There is something interesting going on with this word. Several people have documented the weirdnessweirdness of “moist”, speculatedspeculated on why it is aversive, or used the phenomenon for comedic effect.

In a recent series of studiesseries of studies published in PLOS ONE, several members of my lab and I sought to answer some initial questions about word aversion. Specifically:

1.1. How prevalent is an aversion to “moist” and who’s averse?

2.2. What does it mean to be averse to a word?

3.3. And, what makes a word aversive?

Five experiments, conducted over about four years, with almost 2,500 participants from the general population of American English speakers provide some answers.

How prevalent is an aversion to “moist” and who’s averse?

On average, about 18 percent of our participants identified as categorically averse to the word. Women, younger people, and those with more education, who tended to score higher on measures of disgust toward bodily function and neuroticism (a personality trait characterized by increased feelings of anxiety, worry, anger and guilt), were particularly likely to find the word unpleasant.

• describe the evolution of psychology and the major pioneers in the field • identify the various approaches, fields, and subfields of psychology along with their major concepts

and important figures • describe the value of psychology and possible careers paths for those who study psychology

Psychology is a rapidly growing and ever-evolving field of study. In this module, you learned about its roots in early philosophy and the development of psychology as a distinct field of study in the late 1800s. Since that time, various schools of psychology have dominated the scene at different points in time, from structuralism and functionalism, to Freud’s psychodynamic theory, behaviorism, humanism, and the cognitive revolution. In modern psychology, researchers and practitioners consider some of these historical approaches but also approach the study of mind and behavior through a variety of lenses, including biological, cognitive, developmental, social, and health perspectives. Watch the following Crash Course Psychology video for a good recap of the topics covered in this module:

Consider a fascinating example of psychological research conducted by is an Assistant Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Oberlin College, Paul Thibodeau. His focus is on language, specifically how people utilize metaphors and analogies, but he did one study on word aversion that he explains in his own words in the following example. As you read it, consider the breadth of coverage that psychologists cover as well as the importance of the scientific method and research to the investigative process. We’ll learn more about experiments and psychological research in the next module, but if you could design a psychological study based on the topics that piqued your interested in this text so far, what would it be? Where do your interests lie? Remember, there are nearly endless possibilities for research within the vast field of psychology, and studying the subject will serve to your advantage, no matter your chosen field or career path.

Controlling for these factors, we found no differences in a person’s likelihood of finding “moist” aversive based on their political ideology, religiosity, disgust toward sex, or any other personality variables.

What makes a word aversive?

We considered three possible reasons for moist-aversion:

1. Sound.1. Sound. The sound of the word itself may be the cause of peoples’ aversion to “moist.” Some work in psychology has found that certain sounds are inherently unpleasant—like fingernails scratching a chalkboard. Other work has found evidence of a “facial feedback hypothesis:” “moist” may be aversive because saying the word engages the same facial muscles that contract when we see (or smell or hear) something disgusting. This may, in fact, cause people to feel disgusted by saying the word “moist:” patterns of facial muscle constriction not only signal our emotional states to other people, we also learn about ourselves from our unconscious physiological responses to stimuli in the world.

2. Connotation.2. Connotation. An alternative possibility is that the word is associated in people’s minds with other words or things things that they already find disgusting, like vomit, phlegm, or aspects of sex. Of course, “moist” also has some positive connotations—who doesn’t love a moist piece of chocolate cake? So a related possibility might be that the word is aversive because it simultaneously calls to mind positive and negative associations. Maybe when someone encounters the word they are hit with images of cake and sweaty armpits—not an ideal combination.

3. Social transmission.3. Social transmission. A final possibility is that the word may have become aversive because of the attention it has received in popular and social media. Word aversion may result from a conscious process of thinking about how certain words are gross. This would suggest that there is a “good” psychological reason for the aversion—that it is grounded in the sound or connotation of the word—but that it is triggered by deliberation and may spread like a virus. Anecdotal evidence for this possibility comes from the growing number of people who seem to find the word unpalatable: as the word gains attention, more and more people seem to find the word aversive. Alternatively, moist-aversion may just be a fad. If so, the “good” psychological reason for the phenomenon might simply be to identify oneself as part of a group—a group of people who find “moist” cringeworthy.

The experiments provided the most support for a combination of the second and third possibilities: that aversion to “moist” may spread socially but it is also grounded in feelings of disgust toward bodily functions.

Here’s the evidence for why moist-aversion seems to be tied to disgust toward bodily function. First, recall that people who scored higher on a measure of disgust toward bodily function were more likely to find “moist” aversive. Second, people who identified as categorically averse to “moist” also found words like “phlegm” and “vomit” more aversive than people who didn’t have a strong unpleasant reaction to “moist.” In contrast, moist- averse participants were not more sensitive to words that had similar phonological properties to “moist” like “foist,” “hoist,” or “rejoiced” or to words related to sex like “vagina” and “penis” (or a variety of other words related to sex that you can find in the paper).

Third, when we used a common statistical technique (latent semantic analysis) to figure out how similar in meaning the words in our set were to “moist,” the result was a good predictor of peoples’ perceptions of word- averseness. That is, moist-averse participants showed a stronger aversion to words that were related in meaning to “moist,” like “wet” and “damp.” There was no difference in ratings of aversiveness of words like “hoist” and “love” that are less similar in meaning to “moist.”

Interestingly, participants’ speculation on the cause of moist-aversion was inconsistent with the behavioral data. Often, moist-averse participants pointed to the sound of the word as the source of their aversion. “The ‘oy’

sound juxtaposed to ‘ss’ and ‘tt.’ It’s not a word that sounds pleasant. Neither does hoist or foist,” wrote one participant. Non-averse participants pointed to the word’s association with sex: “It reminds people of sex and vaginas.” This kind of data from introspection can be misleading. There is a long history in psychology showing that people regularly don’t know why they think and behave the way that they do. In this case, both groups were wrong: people who identified as averse to “moist” may think the sound of the word itself is the cause of their aversion because their reaction is fast and visceral—so it must have something to do with the sound of the word. Similarly, although “moist” may have associations to sex, these associations don’t seem to be the primary cause of moist-aversion.

The strongest evidence that moist-aversion is transmitted socially and may be triggered by a process of conscious deliberation came from one of our studies that was designed to induce an aversion to the word. One group of people watched the video that was made by People Magazine, while another watched a “control” video that showed actors using the word “moist” to describe the taste of cake. After watching the cringe-inducing video, people considered “moist” not only more aversive, but said that it was a word they used relatively infrequently and that the word had a more negative connotation. In other words, watching the video that made “moist” seem aversive shifted the entire profile of the word to be more consistent with the perceptions of people who were already averse to the word.

What do we learn from these studies?

There are a few important lessons to be learned from these studies. Two are fairly obvious: we now have a better sense of what makes the word “moist” aversive and another demonstration that we’re not particularly good at reflecting accurately on why we think what we think.

More relevant to broader theories in psychology, the work has implications for theories of language processing and the psychology of disgust. Emotional language is processed differently than “neutral” language: it grabs our attention, engages different parts of the brain, and is more likely to be remembered. This can be good or bad: cake mixes that advertise themselves as “moist” may make some people more likely to buy them because they catch our eye, but they may make us less likely to buy them because of the word’s association with disgusting bodily function (an open question).

Disgust is adaptive. If we didn’t have an instinct to run away from vomit and diarrhea, disease would spread more easily. But is this instinct biological or do we learn it? Does our culture shape what we find disgusting? This is a complex and nuanced question. Significant work is needed to answer it definitively. But the present studies suggest that, when it comes to the disgust that is elicited by words like “moist,” there is an important cultural component—the symbols we use to communicate with one another can become contaminated and elicit disgust by virtue of their association with bodily functions.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Putting It Together: Psychological Foundations. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• The Moist Conundrum. Authored byAuthored by: Paul Thibodeau. Located atLocated at: http://thepsychreport.com/science/moist-conundrum/. ProjectProject: The Psych Report. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Intro to Psychology – Crash Course Psychology #1. Authored byAuthored by: CrashCourse. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo4pMVb0R6M. LicenseLicense: All Rights Reserved. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

DISCUSSION: FOUNDATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY

Perspectives in Psychology

In this discussion, you will post a minimum THREE times. First, in a primary post of between 200 and 300 words, then at least twice on other posts in the class (of at least 75 words each).

Step 1Step 1: In this module, you learned about the five main psychological domains and also covered some of the main perspectives in psychology. Think about some of the various perspectives you learned about (including psychoanalysis, behaviorism, cognitive psychology, humanism, and the biological approach), and explain how an alien psychologist from another planet might explain the following human behaviors:

1. Why do people cut or shave hair from their bodies (and why does it vary by sex, age, groups, etc.)? 2. Why do children in an elementary school walk in a line when going to class? 3. Why are people physically aggressive towards each other (and why might males might be observed

doing so more than females)?

Explain each of the three behaviors with a DIFFERENT perspective. Give a well-founded explanation of how a psychologist would explain that behavior from that particular perspective.

Next, write a summary paragraph about which psychological perspective most resonates with you, and why. If you were to practice psychology someday, either as a therapist, counselor, teacher, researcher, or in some other capacity, which perspective do you think you might emphasize?

Step 2Step 2: Comment, in posts of at least 75-100 words, on TWO other posts in the discussion. These responses should add to the conversation and contribute to a deeper understanding of the psychological perspective.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Discussion questions. Provided byProvided by: OpenPsyc. Located atLocated at: http://openpsyc.blogspot.com/p/success-is-psyc-100.html. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

MODULE 2: PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

WHY IT MATTERS: PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

How does television content impact children’s behavior? (credit: modification of work by “antisocialtory”/Flickr)

Have you ever wondered whether the violence you see on television affects your behavior? Are you more likely to behave aggressively in real life after watching people behave violently in dramatic situations on the screen? Or, could seeing fictional violence actually get aggression out of your system, causing you to be more peaceful? How are children influenced by the media they are exposed to? A psychologist interested in the relationship between behavior and exposure to violent images might ask these very questions.

The topic of violence in the media today is contentious. Since ancient times, humans have been concerned about the effects of new technologies on our behaviors and thinking processes. The Greek philosopher Socrates, for example, worried that writing—a new technology at that time—would diminish people’s ability to remember because they could rely on written records rather than committing information to memory. In our world of quickly changing technologies, questions about the effects of media continue to emerge. Is it okay to talk on a cell phone while driving? Are headphones good to use in a car? What impact does text messaging have on reaction time while driving? These are types of questions that psychologist David Strayer asks in his lab. Watch this short video to see how he utilizes the scientific method to reach important conclusions regarding technology and driving safety.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=45

How can we go about finding answers that are supported not by mere opinion, but by evidence that we can all agree on? The findings of psychological research can help us navigate issues like this. AnswerAnswer

American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, American Psychological Association, American Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Joint statement on the impact of entertainment violence on children. Retrieved from http://www2.aap.org/advocacy/releases/jstmtevc.htm.

American Cancer Society. (n.d.). History of the cancer prevention studies. Retrieved from http://www.cancer.org/ research/researchtopreventcancer/history-cancer-prevention-study

American Psychological Association. (2009). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Research with animals in psychology. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/research/responsible/research-animals.pdf

Arnett, J. (2008). The neglected 95%: Why American psychology needs to become less American. American Psychologist, 63(7), 602–614.

Barton, B. A., Eldridge, A. L., Thompson, D., Affenito, S. G., Striegel-Moore, R. H., Franko, D. L., . . . Crockett, S. J. (2005). The relationship of breakfast and cereal consumption to nutrient intake and body mass index: The national heart, lung, and blood institute growth and health study. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 105(9), 1383–1389. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2005.06.003

Chwalisz, K., Diener, E., & Gallagher, D. (1988). Autonomic arousal feedback and emotional experience: Evidence from the spinal cord injured. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 820–828.

Clayton, R. R., Cattarello, A. M., & Johnstone, B. M. (1996). The effectiveness of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (Project DARE): 5-year follow-up results. Preventive Medicine: An International Journal Devoted to Practice and Theory, 25(3), 307–318. doi:10.1006/pmed.1996.0061

D.A.R.E. (n.d.). D.A.R.E. is substance abuse prevention education and much more! [About page] Retrieved from http://www.dare.org/about-d-a-r-e/

Dominus, S. (2011, May 25). Could conjoined twins share a mind? New York Times Sunday Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/magazine/could-conjoined-twins-share-a-mind.html?_r=5&hp&

Ennett, S. T., Tobler, N. S., Ringwalt, C. L., & Flewelling, R. L. (1994). How effective is drug abuse resistance education? A meta-analysis of Project DARE outcome evaluations. American Journal of Public Health, 84(9), 1394–1401. doi:10.2105/AJPH.84.9.1394

Fanger, S. M., Frankel, L. A., & Hazen, N. (2012). Peer exclusion in preschool children’s play: Naturalistic observations in a playground setting. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 58, 224–254.

Fiedler, K. (2004). Illusory correlation. In R. F. Pohl (Ed.), Cognitive illusions: A handbook on fallacies and biases in thinking, judgment and memory (pp. 97–114). New York, NY: Psychology Press.

Frantzen, L. B., Treviño, R. P., Echon, R. M., Garcia-Dominic, O., & DiMarco, N. (2013). Association between frequency of ready-to-eat cereal consumption, nutrient intakes, and body mass index in fourth- to sixth-grade low- income minority children. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 113(4), 511–519.

Harper, J. (2013, July 5). Ice cream and crime: Where cold cuisine and hot disputes intersect. The Times- Picaune. Retrieved from http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/07/ice_cream_and_crime_where_hot.html

Jenkins, W. J., Ruppel, S. E., Kizer, J. B., Yehl, J. L., & Griffin, J. L. (2012). An examination of post 9-11 attitudes towards Arab Americans. North American Journal of Psychology, 14, 77–84.

Jones, J. M. (2013, May 13). Same-sex marriage support solidifies above 50% in U.S. Gallup Politics. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/162398/sex-marriage-support-solidifies-above.aspx

Kobrin, J. L., Patterson, B. F., Shaw, E. J., Mattern, K. D., & Barbuti, S. M. (2008). Validity of the SAT for predicting first-year college grade point average (Research Report No. 2008-5). Retrieved from https://research.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/publications/2012/7/researchreport-2008-5-validity-sat- predicting-first-year-college-grade-point-average.pdf

Lewin, T. (2014, March 5). A new SAT aims to realign with schoolwork. New York Times. Retreived from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/06/education/major-changes-in-sat-announced-by-college-board.html.

Lowcock, E. C., Cotterchio, M., Anderson, L. N., Boucher, B. A., & El-Sohemy, A. (2013). High coffee intake, but not caffeine, is associated with reduced estrogen receptor negative and postmenopausal breast cancer risk with no effect modification by CYP1A2 genotype. Nutrition and Cancer, 65(3), 398–409. doi:10.1080/ 01635581.2013.768348

Lowry, M., Dean, K., & Manders, K. (2010). The link between sleep quantity and academic performance for the college student. Sentience: The University of Minnesota Undergraduate Journal of Psychology, 3(Spring), 16–19. Retrieved from http://www.psych.umn.edu/sentience/files/SENTIENCE_Vol3.pdf

Lynam, D. R., Milich, R., Zimmerman, R., Novak, S. P., Logan, T. K., Martin, C., . . . Clayton, R. (1999). Project DARE: No effects at 10-year follow-up. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67(4), 590–593. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.67.4.590

McKie, R. (2010, June 26). Chimps with everything: Jane Goodall’s 50 years in the jungle. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/jun/27/jane-goodall-chimps-africa-interview

Offit, P. (2008). Autism’s false prophets: Bad science, risky medicine, and the search for a cure. New York: Columbia University Press.

Perkins, H. W., Haines, M. P., & Rice, R. (2005). Misperceiving the college drinking norm and related problems: A nationwide study of exposure to prevention information, perceived norms and student alcohol misuse. J. Stud. Alcohol, 66(4), 470–478.

Rimer, S. (2008, September 21). College panel calls for less focus on SATs. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/education/22admissions.html?_r=0

Ringwalt, C., Ennett, S. T., & Holt, K. D. (1991). An outcome evaluation of Project DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). Health Education Research, 6(3), 327–337. doi:10.1093/her/6.3.327

Rothstein, J. M. (2004). College performance predictions and the SAT. Journal of Econometrics, 121, 297–317.

Rotton, J., & Kelly, I. W. (1985). Much ado about the full moon: A meta-analysis of lunar-lunacy research. Psychological Bulletin, 97(2), 286–306. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.97.2.286

Santelices, M. V., & Wilson, M. (2010). Unfair treatment? The case of Freedle, the SAT, and the standardization approach to differential item functioning. Harvard Education Review, 80, 106–134.

Sears, D. O. (1986). College sophomores in the laboratory: Influences of a narrow data base on social psychology’s view of human nature. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 515–530.

Tuskegee University. (n.d.). About the USPHS Syphilis Study. Retrieved from http://www.tuskegee.edu/about_us/ centers_of_excellence/bioethics_center/about_the_usphs_syphilis_study.aspx.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Introduction to Psychological Research. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:QKvTPo6D@4/Introduction. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/.

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Understanding Driver Distration. Provided byProvided by: American Psychological Association. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XToWVxS_9lA&list=PLxf85IzktYWJ9MrXwt5GGX3W-16XgrwPW&index=9. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

What you’ll learn to do: define and apply the scientific method to psychology

Scientists are engaged in explaining and understanding how the world around them works, and they are able to do so by coming up with theories that generate hypotheses that are testable and falsifiable. Theories that stand up to their tests are retained and refined, while those that do not are discarded or modified. In this way, research enables scientists to separate fact from simple opinion. Having good information generated from research aids in making wise decisions both in public policy and in our personal lives. In this section, you’ll see how psychologists use the scientific method to study and understand behavior.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain the steps of the scientific method • Describe why the scientific method is important to psychology • Summarize the processes of informed consent and debriefing

Figure 1. Some of our ancestors, across the world and

over the centuries, believed that trephination—the

practice of making a hole in the skull, as shown

here—allowed evil spirits to leave the body, thus curing

mental illness and other disorders. (credit:

“taiproject”/Flickr)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1890

TRY ITTRY IT

• Explain how research involving humans or animals is regulated

Scientific research is a critical tool for successfully navigating our complex world. Without it, we would be forced to rely solely on intuition, other people’s authority, and blind luck. While many of us feel confident in our abilities to decipher and interact with the world around us, history is filled with examples of how very wrong we can be when we fail to recognize the need for evidence in supporting claims. At various times in history, we would have been certain that the sun revolved around a flat earth, that the earth’s continents did not move, and that mental illness was caused by possession (Figure 1). It is through systematic scientific research that we divest ourselves of our preconceived notions and superstitions and gain an objective understanding of ourselves and our world.

The goal of all scientists is to better understand the world around them. Psychologists focus their attention on understanding behavior, as well as the cognitive (mental) and physiological (body) processes that underlie behavior. In contrast to other methods that people use to understand the behavior of others, such as intuition and personal experience, the hallmark of scientific research is that there is evidence to support a claim. Scientific knowledge is empirical: It is grounded in objective, tangible evidence that can be observed time and time again, regardless of who is observing.

While behavior is observable, the mind is not. If someone is crying, we can see behavior. However, the reason for the behavior is more difficult to determine. Is the person crying due to being sad, in pain, or happy? Sometimes we can learn the reason for someone’s behavior by simply asking a question, like “Why are you crying?” However, there are situations in which an individual is either uncomfortable or unwilling to answer the question honestly, or is incapable of answering. For example, infants would not be able to explain why they are crying. In such circumstances, the psychologist must be creative in finding ways to better understand behavior. This module explores how scientific knowledge is generated, and how important that knowledge is in forming decisions in our personal lives and in the public domain.

Figure 2. The scientific method is a process for gathering

data and processing information. It provides well-defined

steps to standardize how scientific knowledge is gathered

through a logical, rational problem-solving method.

TRY ITTRY IT

The Process of Scientific Research

Scientific knowledge is advanced through a process known as the scientific method. Basically, ideas (in the form of theories and hypotheses) are tested against the real world (in the form of empiricalempirical observations), and those empirical observations lead to more ideas that are tested against the real world, and so on.

The basic steps in the scientific method are:

• Observe a natural phenomenon and define a question about it

• Make a hypothesis, or potential solution to the question

• Test the hypothesis • If the hypothesis is true, find more evidence or find

counter-evidence • If the hypothesis is false, create a new hypothesis

or try again • Draw conclusions and repeat–the scientific

method is never-ending, and no result is ever considered perfect

In order to ask an important question that may improve our understanding of the world, a researcher must first observe natural phenomena. By making observations, a researcher can define a useful question. After finding a question to answer, the researcher can then make a prediction (a hypothesis) about what he or she thinks the answer will be. This prediction is usually a statement about the relationship between two or more variables. After making a hypothesis, the researcher will then design an experiment to test his or her hypothesis and evaluate the data gathered. These data will either support or refute the hypothesis. Based on the conclusions drawn from the data, the researcher will then find more evidence to support the hypothesis, look for counter-evidence to further strengthen the hypothesis, revise the hypothesis and create a new experiment, or continue to incorporate the information gathered to answer the research question.

The Basic Principles of the Scientific Method

Two key concepts in the scientific approach are theory and hypothesis. A theorytheory is a well-developed set of ideas that propose an explanation for observed phenomena that can be used to make predictions about future observations. A hypothesishypothesis is a testable prediction that is arrived at logically from a theory. It is often worded as an if-then statement (e.g., if I study all night, I will get a passing grade on the test). The hypothesis is extremely important because it bridges the gap between the realm of ideas and the real world. As specific hypotheses are tested, theories are modified and refined to reflect and incorporate the result of these tests (Figure 2).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1890

Figure 3. The scientific method of research includes

proposing hypotheses, conducting research, and creating

or modifying theories based on results.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1890

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1890

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1890

TRY ITTRY IT

Other key components in following the scientific method include verifiability, predictability, falsifiability, and fairness. VerifiabilityVerifiability means that an experiment must be replicable by another researcher. To achieve verifiability, researchers must make sure to document their methods and clearly explain how their experiment is structured and why it produces certain results.

PredictabilityPredictability in a scientific theory implies that the theory should enable us to make predictions about future events. The precision of these predictions is a measure of the strength of the theory.

FalsifiabilityFalsifiability refers to whether a hypothesis can disproved. For a hypothesis to be falsifiable, it must be logically possible to make an observation or do a physical experiment that would show that there is no support for the hypothesis. Even when a hypothesis cannot be shown to be false, that does not necessarily mean it is not valid. Future testing may disprove the hypothesis. This does not mean that a hypothesis has to be shown to be false, just that it can be tested.

To determine whether a hypothesis is supported or not supported, psychological researchers must conduct hypothesis testing using statistics. Hypothesis testing is a type of statistics that determines the probability of a hypothesis being true or false. If hypothesis testing reveals that results were “statistically significant,” this means that there was support for the hypothesis and that the researchers can be reasonably confident that their result was not due to random chance. If the results are not statistically significant, this means that the researchers’ hypothesis was not supported.

FairnessFairness implies that all data must be considered when evaluating a hypothesis. A researcher cannot pick and choose what data to keep and what to discard or focus specifically on data that support or do not support a particular hypothesis. All data must be accounted for, even if they invalidate the hypothesis.

Applying the Scientific Method

To see how this process works, let’s consider a specific theory and a hypothesis that might be generated from that theory. As you’ll learn in a later module, the James-Lange theory of emotion asserts that emotional experience relies on the physiological arousal associated with the emotional state. If you walked out of your home and discovered a very aggressive snake waiting on your doorstep, your heart would begin to race and your stomach churn. According to the James-Lange theory, these physiological changes would result in your feeling of fear. A hypothesis that could be derived from this theory might be that a person who is unaware of the physiological arousal that the sight of the snake elicits will not feel fear.

Remember that a good scientific hypothesis is falsifiable, or capable of being shown to be incorrect. Recall from the introductory module that Sigmund Freud had lots of interesting ideas to explain various human behaviors (Figure 3). However, a major criticism of Freud’s theories is that many of his ideas are not falsifiable; for example, it is impossible to imagine empirical observations that would disprove the existence of the id, the ego, and the superego—the three elements of personality described in Freud’s theories. Despite this, Freud’s theories are widely taught in introductory psychology texts because of their historical significance for personality psychology and psychotherapy, and these remain the root of all modern forms of therapy.

Figure 4. Many of the specifics of (a) Freud’s theories, such as (b) his division of the mind into id, ego, and superego, have fallen

out of favor in recent decades because they are not falsifiable. In broader strokes, his views set the stage for much of

psychological thinking today, such as the unconscious nature of the majority of psychological processes.

In contrast, the James-Lange theory does generate falsifiable hypotheses, such as the one described above. Some individuals who suffer significant injuries to their spinal columns are unable to feel the bodily changes that often accompany emotional experiences. Therefore, we could test the hypothesis by determining how emotional experiences differ between individuals who have the ability to detect these changes in their physiological arousal and those who do not. In fact, this research has been conducted and while the emotional experiences of people deprived of an awareness of their physiological arousal may be less intense, they still experience emotion (Chwalisz, Diener, & Gallagher, 1988).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1890

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1890

TRY ITTRY IT

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Want to participate in a study? Visit this website and click on a link that sounds interesting to you in order to participate in online research.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Visit this website to apply the scientific method and practice its steps by using them to solve a murder mystery, determine why a student is in trouble, and design an experiment to test house paint.

Why the Scientific Method Is Important for Psychology The use of the scientific method is one of the main features that separates modern psychology from earlier philosophical inquiries about the mind. Compared to chemistry, physics, and other “natural sciences,” psychology has long been considered one of the “social sciences” because of the subjective nature of the things it seeks to study. Many of the concepts that psychologists are interested in—such as aspects of the human mind, behavior, and emotions—are subjective and cannot be directly measured. Psychologists often rely instead on behavioral observations and self-reported data, which are considered by some to be illegitimate or lacking in methodological rigor. Applying the scientific method to psychology, therefore, helps to standardize the approach to understanding its very different types of information.

The scientific method allows psychological data to be replicated and confirmed in many instances, under different circumstances, and by a variety of researchers. Through replication of experiments, new generations of psychologists can reduce errors and broaden the applicability of theories. It also allows theories to be tested and validated instead of simply being conjectures that could never be verified or falsified. All of this allows psychologists to gain a stronger understanding of how the human mind works.

Scientific articles published in journals and psychology papers written in the style of the American Psychological Association (i.e., in “APA style”) are structured around the scientific method. These papers include an Introduction, which introduces the background information and outlines the hypotheses; a Methods section, which outlines the specifics of how the experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis; a Results section, which includes the statistics that tested the hypothesis and state whether it was supported or not supported, and a Discussion and Conclusion, which state the implications of finding support for, or no support for, the hypothesis. Writing articles and papers that adhere to the scientific method makes it easy for future researchers to repeat the study and attempt to replicate the results.

Today, scientists agree that good research is ethical in nature and is guided by a basic respect for human dignity and safety. However, as you will read in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, this has not always been the case. Modern

Figure 1. An institution’s IRB meets regularly to review

experimental proposals that involve human participants.

(credit: modification of work by Lowndes Area Knowledge

Exchange (LAKE)/Flickr)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1890

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1890

TRY ITTRY IT

researchers must demonstrate that the research they perform is ethically sound. This section presents how ethical considerations affect the design and implementation of research conducted today.

Research Involving Human Participants

Any experiment involving the participation of human subjects is governed by extensive, strict guidelines designed to ensure that the experiment does not result in harm. Any research institution that receives federal support for research involving human participants must have access to an institutional review board (IRB)institutional review board (IRB). The IRB is a committee of individuals often made up of members of the institution’s administration, scientists, and community members (Figure 1). The purpose of the IRB is to review proposals for research that involves human participants. The IRB reviews these proposals with the principles mentioned above in mind, and generally, approval from the IRB is required in order for the experiment to proceed.

An institution’s IRB requires several components in any experiment it approves. For one, each participant must sign an informed consent form before they can participate in the experiment. An informed consentinformed consent form provides a written description of what participants can expect during the experiment, including potential risks and implications of the research. It also lets participants know that their involvement is completely voluntary and can be discontinued without penalty at any time. Furthermore, the informed consent guarantees that any data collected in the experiment will remain completely confidential. In cases where research participants are under the age of 18, the parents or legal guardians are required to sign the informed consent form.

While the informed consent form should be as honest as possible in describing exactly what participants will be doing, sometimes deception is necessary to prevent participants’ knowledge of the exact research question from affecting the results of the study. DeceptionDeception involves purposely misleading experiment participants in order to maintain the integrity of the experiment, but not to the point where the deception could be considered harmful. For example, if we are interested in how our opinion of someone is affected by their attire, we might use deception in describing the experiment to prevent that knowledge from affecting participants’ responses. In cases where deception is involved, participants must receive a full debriefingdebriefing upon conclusion of the study—complete, honest information about the purpose of the experiment, how the data collected will be used, the reasons why deception was necessary, and information about how to obtain additional information about the study.

Figure 2. A participant in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study receives an injection.

DIG DEEPER: ETHICS AND THE TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS STUDYDIG DEEPER: ETHICS AND THE TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS STUDY

Unfortunately, the ethical guidelines that exist for research today were not always applied in the past. In 1932, poor, rural, black, male sharecroppers from Tuskegee, Alabama, were recruited to participate in an experiment conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service, with the aim of studying syphilis in black men (Figure 2). In exchange for free medical care, meals, and burial insurance, 600 men agreed to participate in the study. A little more than half of the men tested positive for syphilis, and they served as the experimental group (given that the researchers could not randomly assign participants to groups, this represents a quasi-experiment). The remaining syphilis-free individuals served as the control group. However, those individuals that tested positive for syphilis were never informed that they had the disease.

While there was no treatment for syphilis when the study began, by 1947 penicillin was recognized as an effective treatment for the disease. Despite this, no penicillin was administered to the participants in this study, and the participants were not allowed to seek treatment at any other facilities if they continued in the study. Over the course of 40 years, many of the participants unknowingly spread syphilis to their wives (and subsequently their children born from their wives) and eventually died because they never received treatment for the disease. This study was discontinued in 1972 when the experiment was discovered by the national press (Tuskegee University, n.d.). The resulting outrage over the experiment led directly to the National Research Act of 1974 and the strict ethical guidelines for research on humans described in this chapter. Why is this study unethical? How were the men who participated and their families harmed as a function of this research?

Visit this website to learn more about the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

Figure 3. Rats, like the one shown here, often serve as

the subjects of animal research.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1890

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1890

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1890

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1890

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

debriefing:debriefing: when an experiment involved deception, participants are told complete and truthful information about the experiment at its conclusion

Research Involving Animal Subjects

Many psychologists conduct research involving animal subjects. Often, these researchers use rodents (Figure 3) or birds as the subjects of their experiments—the APA estimates that 90% of all animal research in psychology uses these species (American Psychological Association, n.d.). Because many basic processes in animals are sufficiently similar to those in humans, these animals are acceptable substitutes for research that would be considered unethical in human participants.

This does not mean that animal researchers are immune to ethical concerns. Indeed, the humane and ethical treatment of animal research subjects is a critical aspect of this type of research. Researchers must design their experiments to minimize any pain or distress experienced by animals serving as research subjects.

Whereas IRBs review research proposals that involve human participants, animal experimental proposals are reviewed by an Institutional Animal Care and UseInstitutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)Committee (IACUC). An IACUC consists of institutional administrators, scientists, veterinarians, and community members. This committee is charged with ensuring that all experimental proposals require the humane treatment of animal research subjects. It also conducts semi-annual inspections of all animal facilities to ensure that the research protocols are being followed. No animal research project can proceed without the committee’s approval.

deception:deception: purposely misleading experiment participants in order to maintain the integrity of the experiment

empirical:empirical: grounded in objective, tangible evidence that can be observed time and time again, regardless of who is observing

fairness:fairness: implies that all data must be considered when evaluating a hypothesis

falsifiable:falsifiable: able to be disproven by experimental results

hypothesis:hypothesis: (plural: hypotheses) tentative and testable statement about the relationship between two or more variables

informed consent:informed consent: process of informing a research participant about what to expect during an experiment, any risks involved, and the implications of the research, and then obtaining the person’s consent to participate

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC):Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC): committee of administrators, scientists, and community members that reviews proposals for research involving animal participants

Institutional Review Board (IRB):Institutional Review Board (IRB): committee of administrators, scientists, veterinarians, and community members that reviews proposals for research involving human participants

predictability:predictability: implies that a theory should enable us to make predictions about future events

theory:theory: well-developed set of ideas that propose an explanation for observed phenomena

verifiability:verifiability: an experiment must be replicable by another researcher

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1890

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification and adaptation. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike • Psychology and the Scientific Method: From Theory to Conclusion, content on the scientific method principles. Provided byProvided by: Boundless. Located atLocated at: https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-

psychology-textbook/researching-psychology-2/the-scientific-method-26/psychology-and-the-scientific-method-from-theory-to-conclusion-123-12658/images/the-scientific-method/. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution- ShareAlike

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Introduction to Psychological Research, Why is Research Important?, Ethics. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:Hp5zMFYB@9/Why-Is-Research-Important. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

• Research picture. Authored byAuthored by: Mediterranean Center of Medical Sciences. Provided byProvided by: Flickr. Located atLocated at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mcmscience/17664002728. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH

What you’ll learn to do: describe the strengths and weaknesses of descriptive, experimental, and correlational research

If you think about the vast array of fields and topics covered in psychology, you understand that in order to do psychological research, there must be a diverse set of ways to gather data and perform experiments. For example, a biological psychologist might work predominately in a lab setting or alongside a neurologist. A social scientist may set up situational experiments, a health psychologist may administer surveys, and a developmental psychologist may make observations in a classroom. In this section, you’ll learn about the various types of research methods that psychologists employ to learn about human behavior.

Psychologists use descriptive, experimental, and correlational methods to conduct research. Descriptive, or qualitative, methods include the case study, naturalistic observation, surveys, archival research, longitudinal research, and cross-sectional research.

Experiments are conducted in order to determine cause-and-effect relationships. In ideal experimental design, the only difference between the experimental and control groups is whether participants are exposed to the experimental manipulation. Each group goes through all phases of the experiment, but each group will experience a different level of the independent variable: the experimental group is exposed to the experimental manipulation, and the control group is not exposed to the experimental manipulation. The researcher then measures the changes that are produced in the dependent variable in each group. Once data is collected from both groups, it is analyzed statistically to determine if there are meaningful differences between the groups.

When scientists passively observe and measure phenomena it is called correlational research. Here, psychologists do not intervene and change behavior, as they do in experiments. In correlational research, they identify patterns of relationships, but usually cannot infer what causes what. Importantly, with correlational research, you can examine only two variables at a time, no more and no less.

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

MORE ON RESEARCHMORE ON RESEARCH

If you enjoy learning through lectures and want an interesting and comprehensive summary of this section, then click on the link HERE (or on the link below) to watch a lecture given by MIT Professor John Gabrieli. StartStart at the 30:45 minute markat the 30:45 minute mark and watch through the end to hear examples of actual psychological studies and how they were analyzed. Listen for references to independent and dependent variables, experimenter bias, and double-blind studies. In the lecture, you’ll learn about breaking social norms, “WEIRD” research, why expectations matter, how a warm cup of coffee might make you nicer, why you should change your answer on a multiple choice test, and why praise for intelligence won’t make you any smarter.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Differentiate between descriptive, experimental, and correlational research • Explain the strengths and weaknesses of case studies, naturalistic observation, and surveys • Describe the strength and weaknesses of archival research • Compare longitudinal and cross-sectional approaches to research

Descriptive Research There are many research methods available to psychologists in their efforts to understand, describe, and explain behavior and the cognitive and biological processes that underlie it. Some methods rely on observational techniques. Other approaches involve interactions between the researcher and the individuals who are being

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

TRY ITTRY IT

studied—ranging from a series of simple questions to extensive, in-depth interviews—to well-controlled experiments.

The three main categories of psychological research are descriptive, correlational, and experimental research. Research studies that do not test specific relationships between variables are called descriptive, ordescriptive, or qualitative, studiesqualitative, studies. These studies are used to describe general or specific behaviors and attributes that are observed and measured. In the early stages of research it might be difficult to form a hypothesis, especially when there is not any existing literature in the area. In these situations designing an experiment would be premature, as the question of interest is not yet clearly defined as a hypothesis. Often a researcher will begin with a non- experimental approach, such as a descriptive study, to gather more information about the topic before designing an experiment or correlational study to address a specific hypothesis. Descriptive research is distinct from correlational researchcorrelational research, in which psychologists formally test whether a relationship exists between two or more variables. Experimental researchExperimental research goes a step further beyond descriptive and correlational research and randomly assigns people to different conditions, using hypothesis testing to make inferences about how these conditions affect behavior. It aims to determine if one variable directly impacts and causes another. Correlational and experimental research both typically use hypothesis testing, whereas descriptive research does not.

Each of these research methods has unique strengths and weaknesses, and each method may only be appropriate for certain types of research questions. For example, studies that rely primarily on observation produce incredible amounts of information, but the ability to apply this information to the larger population is somewhat limited because of small sample sizes. Survey research, on the other hand, allows researchers to easily collect data from relatively large samples. While this allows for results to be generalized to the larger population more easily, the information that can be collected on any given survey is somewhat limited and subject to problems associated with any type of self-reported data. Some researchers conduct archival research by using existing records. While this can be a fairly inexpensive way to collect data that can provide insight into a number of research questions, researchers using this approach have no control on how or what kind of data was collected.

Correlational research can find a relationship between two variables, but the only way a researcher can claim that the relationship between the variables is cause and effect is to perform an experiment. In experimental research, which will be discussed later in the text, there is a tremendous amount of control over variables of interest. While this is a powerful approach, experiments are often conducted in very artificial settings. This calls into question the validity of experimental findings with regard to how they would apply in real-world settings. In addition, many of the questions that psychologists would like to answer cannot be pursued through experimental research because of ethical concerns.

The three main types of descriptive studies are case studies, naturalistic observation, and surveys.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

To learn more about Krista and Tatiana, watch this New York Times video about their lives.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

TRY ITTRY IT

Case Studies

In 2011, the New York Times published a feature story on Krista and Tatiana Hogan, Canadian twin girls. These particular twins are unique because Krista and Tatiana are conjoined twins, connected at the head. There is evidence that the two girls are connected in a part of the brain called the thalamus, which is a major sensory relay center. Most incoming sensory information is sent through the thalamus before reaching higher regions of the cerebral cortex for processing.

The implications of this potential connection mean that it might be possible for one twin to experience the sensations of the other twin. For instance, if Krista is watching a particularly funny television program, Tatiana might smile or laugh even if she is not watching the program. This particular possibility has piqued the interest of many neuroscientists who seek to understand how the brain uses sensory information.

These twins represent an enormous resource in the study of the brain, and since their condition is very rare, it is likely that as long as their family agrees, scientists will follow these girls very closely throughout their lives to gain as much information as possible (Dominus, 2011).

In observational research, scientists are conducting a clinical or case studycase study when they focus on one person or just a few individuals. Indeed, some scientists spend their entire careers studying just 10–20 individuals. Why would they do this? Obviously, when they focus their attention on a very small number of people, they can gain a tremendous amount of insight into those cases. The richness of information that is collected in clinical or case studies is unmatched by any other single research method. This allows the researcher to have a very deep understanding of the individuals and the particular phenomenon being studied.

If clinical or case studies provide so much information, why are they not more frequent among researchers? As it turns out, the major benefit of this particular approach is also a weakness. As mentioned earlier, this approach is often used when studying individuals who are interesting to researchers because they have a rare characteristic. Therefore, the individuals who serve as the focus of case studies are not like most other people. If scientists ultimately want to explain all behavior, focusing attention on such a special group of people can make it difficult to generalize any observations to the larger population as a whole. Generalizing refers to the ability to apply the findings of a particular research project to larger segments of society. Again, case studies provide enormous amounts of information, but since the cases are so specific, the potential to apply what’s learned to the average person may be very limited.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

Figure 1. Seeing a police car behind you would probably

affect your driving behavior. (credit: Michael Gil)

Naturalistic Observation

If you want to understand how behavior occurs, one of the best ways to gain information is to simply observe the behavior in its natural context. However, people might change their behavior in unexpected ways if they know they are being observed. How do researchers obtain accurate information when people tend to hide their natural behavior? As an example, imagine that your professor asks everyone in your class to raise their hand if they always wash their hands after using the restroom. Chances are that almost everyone in the classroom will raise their hand, but do you think hand washing after every trip to the restroom is really that universal?

This is very similar to the phenomenon mentioned earlier in this chapter: many individuals do not feel comfortable answering a question honestly. But if we are committed to finding out the facts about hand washing, we have other options available to us.

Suppose we send a classmate into the restroom to actually watch whether everyone washes their hands after using the restroom. Will our observer blend into the restroom environment by wearing a white lab coat, sitting with a clipboard, and staring at the sinks? We want our researcher to be inconspicuous—perhaps standing at one of the sinks pretending to put in contact lenses while secretly recording the relevant information. This type of observational study is called naturalistic observationnaturalistic observation: observing behavior in its natural setting. To better understand peer exclusion, Suzanne Fanger collaborated with colleagues at the University of Texas to observe the behavior of preschool children on a playground. How did the observers remain inconspicuous over the duration of the study? They equipped a few of the children with wireless microphones (which the children quickly forgot about) and observed while taking notes from a distance. Also, the children in that particular preschool (a “laboratory preschool”) were accustomed to having observers on the playground (Fanger, Frankel, & Hazen, 2012).

It is critical that the observer be as unobtrusive and as inconspicuous as possible: when people know they are being watched, they are less likely to behave naturally. If you have any doubt about this, ask yourself how your driving behavior might differ in two situations: In the first situation, you are driving down a deserted highway during the middle of the day; in the second situation, you are being followed by a police car down the same deserted highway (Figure 1).

It should be pointed out that naturalistic observation is not limited to research involving humans. Indeed, some of the best-known examples of naturalistic observation involve researchers going into the field to observe various kinds of animals in their own environments. As with human studies, the researchers maintain their distance and avoid interfering with the animal subjects so as not to influence their natural behaviors. Scientists have used this technique to study social hierarchies and interactions among animals ranging from ground squirrels to gorillas. The information provided by these studies is invaluable in understanding how those animals organize socially and communicate with one another. The anthropologist Jane Goodall, for example, spent nearly five decades observing the behavior of chimpanzees in Africa (Figure 2). As an illustration of the types of concerns that a researcher might encounter in naturalistic observation, some scientists criticized Goodall for giving the chimps names instead of referring to them by numbers—using names was thought to undermine the emotional detachment required for the objectivity of the study (McKie, 2010).

TRY ITTRY IT

Figure 2. (a) Jane Goodall made a career of conducting naturalistic observations of (b) chimpanzee behavior. (credit “Jane

Goodall”: modification of work by Erik Hersman; “chimpanzee”: modification of work by “Afrika Force”/Flickr.com)

The greatest benefit of naturalistic observation is the validity, or accuracy, of information collected unobtrusively in a natural setting. Having individuals behave as they normally would in a given situation means that we have a higher degree of ecological validity, or realism, than we might achieve with other research approaches. Therefore, our ability to generalizegeneralize the findings of the research to real-world situations is enhanced. If done correctly, we need not worry about people or animals modifying their behavior simply because they are being observed. Sometimes, people may assume that reality programs give us a glimpse into authentic human behavior. However, the principle of inconspicuous observation is violated as reality stars are followed by camera crews and are interviewed on camera for personal confessionals. Given that environment, we must doubt how natural and realistic their behaviors are.

The major downside of naturalistic observation is that they are often difficult to set up and control. In our restroom study, what if you stood in the restroom all day prepared to record people’s hand washing behavior and no one came in? Or, what if you have been closely observing a troop of gorillas for weeks only to find that they migrated to a new place while you were sleeping in your tent? The benefit of realistic data comes at a cost. As a researcher you have no control of when (or if) you have behavior to observe. In addition, this type of observational research often requires significant investments of time, money, and a good dose of luck.

Sometimes studies involve structured observation. In these cases, people are observed while engaging in set, specific tasks. An excellent example of structured observation comes from Strange Situation by Mary Ainsworth (you will read more about this in the chapter on lifespan development). The Strange Situation is a procedure used to evaluate attachment styles that exist between an infant and caregiver. In this scenario, caregivers bring their infants into a room filled with toys. The Strange Situation involves a number of phases, including a stranger coming into the room, the caregiver leaving the room, and the caregiver’s return to the room. The infant’s behavior is closely monitored at each phase, but it is the behavior of the infant upon being reunited with the caregiver that is most telling in terms of characterizing the infant’s attachment style with the caregiver.

Another potential problem in observational research is observer biasobserver bias. Generally, people who act as observers are closely involved in the research project and may unconsciously skew their observations to fit their research goals or expectations. To protect against this type of bias, researchers should have clear criteria established for the types of behaviors recorded and how those behaviors should be classified. In addition, researchers often compare observations of the same event by multiple observers, in order to test inter-rater reliabilityinter-rater reliability: a measure of reliability that assesses the consistency of observations by different observers.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

Figure 3. Surveys can be administered in a number of

ways, including electronically administered research, like

the survey shown here. (credit: Robert Nyman)

Surveys

Often, psychologists develop surveys as a means of gathering data. SurveysSurveys are lists of questions to be answered by research participants, and can be delivered as paper-and-pencil questionnaires, administered electronically, or conducted verbally (Figure 3). Generally, the survey itself can be completed in a short time, and the ease of administering a survey makes it easy to collect data from a large number of people.

Surveys allow researchers to gather data from larger samples than may be afforded by other research methods.. A samplesample is a subset of individuals selected from a populationpopulation, which is the overall group of individuals that the researchers are interested in. Researchers study the sample and seek to generalize their findings to the population.

There is both strength and weakness of the survey in comparison to case studies. By using surveys, we can collect information from a larger sample of people. A larger sample is better able to reflect the actual diversity of the population, thus allowing better generalizability. Therefore, if our sample is sufficiently large and diverse, we can assume that the data we collect from the survey can be generalized to the larger population with more certainty than the information collected through a case study. However, given the greater number of people involved, we are not able to collect the same depth of information on each person that would be collected in a case study.

Another potential weakness of surveys is something we touched on earlier in this chapter: People don’t always give accurate responses. They may lie, misremember, or answer questions in a way that they think makes them look good. For example, people may report drinking less alcohol than is actually the case.

Any number of research questions can be answered through the use of surveys. One real-world example is the research conducted by Jenkins, Ruppel, Kizer, Yehl, and Griffin (2012) about the backlash against the US Arab- American community following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Jenkins and colleagues wanted to determine to what extent these negative attitudes toward Arab-Americans still existed nearly a decade after the attacks occurred. In one study, 140 research participants filled out a survey with 10 questions, including questions asking directly about the participant’s overt prejudicial attitudes toward people of various ethnicities. The survey also asked indirect questions about how likely the participant would be to interact with a person of a given ethnicity in a variety of settings (such as, “How likely do you think it is that you would introduce yourself to a person of Arab-American descent?”). The results of the research suggested that participants were unwilling to report prejudicial attitudes toward any ethnic group. However, there were significant differences between their pattern of responses to questions about social interaction with Arab-Americans compared to other ethnic groups: they indicated less willingness for social interaction with Arab-Americans compared to the other ethnic groups. This suggested that the participants harbored subtle forms of prejudice against Arab-Americans, despite their assertions that this was not the case (Jenkins et al., 2012).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

TRY ITTRY IT

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

A friend of yours is working part-time in a local pet store. Your friend has become increasingly interested in how dogs normally communicate and interact with each other, and is thinking of visiting a local veterinary clinic to see how dogs interact in the waiting room. After reading this section, do you think this is the best way to better understand such interactions? Do you have any suggestions that might result in more valid data?

Archival Research

Some researchers gain access to large amounts of data without interacting with a single research participant. Instead, they use existing records to answer various research questions. This type of research approach is known as archival research. Archival researchArchival research relies on looking at past records or data sets to look for interesting patterns or relationships.

For example, a researcher might access the academic records of all individuals who enrolled in college within the past ten years and calculate how long it took them to complete their degrees, as well as course loads, grades, and extracurricular involvement. Archival research could provide important information about who is most likely to complete their education, and it could help identify important risk factors for struggling students (Figure 1).

Figure 1. A researcher doing archival research examines records, whether archived as a (a) hardcopy or (b) electronically. (credit

“paper files”: modification of work by “Newtown graffiti”/Flickr; “computer”: modification of work by INPIVIC Family/Flickr)

In comparing archival research to other research methods, there are several important distinctions. For one, the researcher employing archival research never directly interacts with research participants. Therefore, the investment of time and money to collect data is considerably less with archival research. Additionally, researchers have no control over what information was originally collected. Therefore, research questions have to be tailored so they can be answered within the structure of the existing data sets. There is also no guarantee of consistency between the records from one source to another, which might make comparing and contrasting different data sets problematic.

Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Research

Sometimes we want to see how people change over time, as in studies of human development and lifespan. When we test the same group of individuals repeatedly over an extended period of time, we are conducting longitudinal research. LongitudinalLongitudinal research is a research design in which data-gathering is administered repeatedly over an extended period of time. For example, we may survey a group of individuals about their dietary habits at age 20, retest them a decade later at age 30, and then again at age 40.

Another approach is cross-sectionalcross-sectional research. In cross-sectional research, a researcher compares multiple segments of the population at the same time. Using the dietary habits example above, the researcher might directly compare different groups of people by age. Instead a group of people for 20 years to see how their dietary habits changed from decade to decade, the researcher would study a group of 20-year-old individuals and compare them to a group of 30-year-old individuals and a group of 40-year-old individuals. While cross-sectional research requires a shorter-term investment, it is also limited by differences that exist between the different generations (or cohorts) that have nothing to do with age per se, but rather reflect the social and cultural experiences of different generations of individuals make them different from one another.

To illustrate this concept, consider the following survey findings. In recent years there has been significant growth in the popular support of same-sex marriage. Many studies on this topic break down survey participants into different age groups. In general, younger people are more supportive of same-sex marriage than are those who are older (Jones, 2013). Does this mean that as we age we become less open to the idea of same-sex marriage, or does this mean that older individuals have different perspectives because of the social climates in which they grew up? Longitudinal research is a powerful approach because the same individuals are involved in the research project over time, which means that the researchers need to be less concerned with differences among cohorts affecting the results of their study.

Often longitudinal studies are employed when researching various diseases in an effort to understand particular risk factors. Such studies often involve tens of thousands of individuals who are followed for several decades. Given the enormous number of people involved in these studies, researchers can feel confident that their findings can be generalized to the larger population. The Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3) is one of a series of

Figure 2. Longitudinal research like the CPS-3 help us to

better understand how smoking is associated with cancer

and other diseases. (credit: CDC/Debora Cartagena)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1852

TRY ITTRY IT

longitudinal studies sponsored by the American Cancer Society aimed at determining predictive risk factors associated with cancer. When participants enter the study, they complete a survey about their lives and family histories, providing information on factors that might cause or prevent the development of cancer. Then every few years the participants receive additional surveys to complete. In the end, hundreds of thousands of participants will be tracked over 20 years to determine which of them develop cancer and which do not.

Clearly, this type of research is important and potentially very informative. For instance, earlier longitudinal studies sponsored by the American Cancer Society provided some of the first scientific demonstrations of the now well- established links between increased rates of cancer and smoking (American Cancer Society, n.d.) (Figure 2).

As with any research strategy, longitudinal research is not without limitations. For one, these studies require an incredible time investment by the researcher and research participants. Given that some longitudinal studies take years, if not decades, to complete, the results will not be known for a considerable period of time. In addition to the time demands, these studies also require a substantial financial investment. Many researchers are unable to commit the resources necessary to see a longitudinal project through to the end.

Research participants must also be willing to continue their participation for an extended period of time, and this can be problematic. People move, get married and take new names, get ill, and eventually die. Even without significant life changes, some people may simply choose to discontinue their participation in the project. As a result, the attritionattrition rates, or reduction in the number of research participants due to dropouts, in longitudinal studies are quite high and increases over the course of a project. For this reason, researchers using this approach typically recruit many participants fully expecting that a substantial number will drop out before the end. As the study progresses, they continually check whether the sample still represents the larger population, and make adjustments as necessary.

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

archival research:archival research: method of research using past records or data sets to answer various research questions, or to search for interesting patterns or relationships

attrition:attrition: reduction in number of research participants as some drop out of the study over time

clinical or case study:clinical or case study: observational research study focusing on one or a few people

correlational research:correlational research: tests whether a relationship exists between two or more variables

cross-sectional research:cross-sectional research: compares multiple segments of a population at a single time

descriptive research:descriptive research: research studies that do not test specific relationships between variables; they are used to describe general or specific behaviors and attributes that are observed and measured

experimental research:experimental research: tests a hypothesis to determine cause and effect relationships

generalizegeneralize inferring that the results for a sample apply to the larger population

inter-rater reliability:inter-rater reliability: measure of agreement among observers on how they record and classify a particular event

longitudinal research:longitudinal research: studies in which the same group of individuals is surveyed or measured repeatedly over an extended period of time

naturalistic observation:naturalistic observation: observation of behavior in its natural setting

observer bias:observer bias: when observations may be skewed to align with observer expectations

population:population: overall group of individuals that the researchers are interested in

sample:sample: subset of individuals selected from the larger population

survey:survey: list of questions to be answered by research participants—given as paper-and-pencil questionnaires, administered electronically, or conducted verbally—allowing researchers to collect data from a large number of people

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Introductory content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike • Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Paragraph on correlation. Authored byAuthored by: Christie Napa Scollon. Provided byProvided by: Singapore Management University. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/modules/research-designs?r=MTc0ODYsMjMzNjQ%3D. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

• Psychology, Approaches to Research. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:mfArybye@7/Analyzing-Findings. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

• Lec 2 | MIT 9.00SC Introduction to Psychology, Spring 2011. Authored byAuthored by: John Gabrieli. Provided byProvided by: MIT OpenCourseWare. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syXplPKQb_o. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

• Descriptive Research. Provided byProvided by: Boundless. Located atLocated at: https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/researching-psychology-2/types-of-research-studies-27/descriptive- research-124-12659/. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

Public domain contentPublic domain content

• Researchers review documents. Authored byAuthored by: National Cancer Institute. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Researchers_review_documents.jpg. LicenseLicense: Public Domain: No Known Copyright

CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain what a correlation coefficient tells us about the relationship between variables • Describe why correlation does not mean causation

Did you know that as sales in ice cream increase, so does the overall rate of crime? Is it possible that indulging in your favorite flavor of ice cream could send you on a crime spree? Or, after committing crime do you think you might decide to treat yourself to a cone? There is no question that a relationship exists between ice cream and

crime (e.g., Harper, 2013), but it would be pretty foolish to decide that one thing actually caused the other to occur.

It is much more likely that both ice cream sales and crime rates are related to the temperature outside. When the temperature is warm, there are lots of people out of their houses, interacting with each other, getting annoyed with one another, and sometimes committing crimes. Also, when it is warm outside, we are more likely to seek a cool treat like ice cream. How do we determine if there is indeed a relationship between two things? And when there is a relationship, how can we discern whether it is attributable to coincidence or causation?

Correlational Research

CorrelationCorrelation means that there is a relationship between two or more variables (such as ice cream consumption and crime), but this relationship does not necessarily imply cause and effect. When two variables are correlated, it simply means that as one variable changes, so does the other. We can measure correlation by calculating a statistic known as a correlation coefficient. A correlation coefficientcorrelation coefficient is a number from -1 to +1 that indicates the strength and direction of the relationship between variables. The correlation coefficient is usually represented by the letter r.

The number portion of the correlation coefficient indicates the strength of the relationship. The closer the number is to 1 (be it negative or positive), the more strongly related the variables are, and the more predictable changes in one variable will be as the other variable changes. The closer the number is to zero, the weaker the relationship, and the less predictable the relationships between the variables becomes. For instance, a correlation coefficient of 0.9 indicates a far stronger relationship than a correlation coefficient of 0.3. If the variables are not related to one another at all, the correlation coefficient is 0. The example above about ice cream and crime is an example of two variables that we might expect to have no relationship to each other.

The sign—positive or negative—of the correlation coefficient indicates the direction of the relationship (Figure 1). A positive correlationpositive correlation means that the variables move in the same direction. Put another way, it means that as one variable increases so does the other, and conversely, when one variable decreases so does the other. A negativenegative correlationcorrelation means that the variables move in opposite directions. If two variables are negatively correlated, a decrease in one variable is associated with an increase in the other and vice versa.

The example of ice cream and crime rates is a positive correlation because both variables increase when temperatures are warmer. Other examples of positive correlations are the relationship between an individual’s height and weight or the relationship between a person’s age and number of wrinkles. One might expect a negative correlation to exist between someone’s tiredness during the day and the number of hours they slept the previous night: the amount of sleep decreases as the feelings of tiredness increase. In a real-world example of negative correlation, student researchers at the University of Minnesota found a weak negative correlation (r = -0.29) between the average number of days per week that students got fewer than 5 hours of sleep and their GPA (Lowry, Dean, & Manders, 2010). Keep in mind that a negative correlation is not the same as no correlation. For example, we would probably find no correlation between hours of sleep and shoe size.

As mentioned earlier, correlations have predictive value. Imagine that you are on the admissions committee of a major university. You are faced with a huge number of applications, but you are able to accommodate only a small percentage of the applicant pool. How might you decide who should be admitted? You might try to correlate your current students’ college GPA with their scores on standardized tests like the SAT or ACT. By observing which correlations were strongest for your current students, you could use this information to predict relative success of those students who have applied for admission into the university.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Manipulate this interactive scatterplot to practice your understanding of positive and negative correlation.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1848

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1848

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1848

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1848

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1848

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1848

TRY ITTRY IT

Figure 1. Scatterplots are a graphical view of the strength and direction of correlations. The stronger the correlation, the closer the

data points are to a straight line. In these examples, we see that there is (a) a positive correlation between weight and height, (b) a

negative correlation between tiredness and hours of sleep, and (c) no correlation between shoe size and hours of sleep.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1848

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1848

TRY ITTRY IT

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this clip from Freakonomics for an example of how correlation does not indicate causation.

Correlation Does Not Indicate Causation

Correlational research is useful because it allows us to discover the strength and direction of relationships that exist between two variables. However, correlation is limited because establishing the existence of a relationship tells us little about cause and effectcause and effect. While variables are sometimes correlated because one does cause the other, it could also be that some other factor, a confounding variableconfounding variable, is actually causing the systematic movement in our variables of interest. In the ice cream/crime rate example mentioned earlier, temperature is a confounding variable that could account for the relationship between the two variables.

Even when we cannot point to clear confounding variables, we should not assume that a correlation between two variables implies that one variable causes changes in another. This can be frustrating when a cause-and-effect relationship seems clear and intuitive. Think back to our discussion of the research done by the American Cancer Society and how their research projects were some of the first demonstrations of the link between smoking and cancer. It seems reasonable to assume that smoking causes cancer, but if we were limited to correlationalcorrelational researchresearch, we would be overstepping our bounds by making this assumption.

Unfortunately, people mistakenly make claims of causation as a function of correlations all the time. Such claims are especially common in advertisements and news stories. For example, recent research found that people who eat cereal on a regular basis achieve healthier weights than those who rarely eat cereal (Frantzen, Treviño, Echon, Garcia-Dominic, & DiMarco, 2013; Barton et al., 2005). Guess how the cereal companies report this finding. Does eating cereal really cause an individual to maintain a healthy weight, or are there other possible explanations, such as, someone at a healthy weight is more likely to regularly eat a healthy breakfast than someone who is obese or someone who avoids meals in an attempt to diet (Figure 2)? While correlational research is invaluable in identifying relationships among variables, a major limitation is the inability to establish causality. Psychologists want to make statements about cause and effect, but the only way to do that is to conduct an experiment to answer a research question. The next section describes how scientific experiments incorporate methods that eliminate, or control for, alternative explanations, which allow researchers to explore how changes in one variable cause changes in another variable.

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1848

Figure 2. Does eating cereal really cause someone to be

a healthy weight? (credit: Tim Skillern)

Illusory Correlations

The temptation to make erroneous cause-and-effect statements based on correlational research is not the only way we tend to misinterpret data. We also tend to make the mistake of illusory correlations, especially with unsystematic observations. Illusory correlationsIllusory correlations, or false correlations, occur when people believe that relationships exist between two things when no such relationship exists. One well- known illusory correlation is the supposed effect that the moon’s phases have on human behavior. Many people passionately assert that human behavior is affected by the phase of the moon, and specifically, that people act strangely when the moon is full (Figure 3).

Many people believe that a full moon makes people

behave oddly. (credit: Cory Zanker)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1848

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1848

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1848

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1848

TRY ITTRY IT

There is no denying that the moon exerts a powerful influence on our planet. The ebb and flow of the ocean’s tides are tightly tied to the gravitational forces of the moon. Many people believe, therefore, that it is logical that we are affected by the moon as well. After all, our bodies are largely made up of water. A meta-analysis of nearly 40 studies consistently demonstrated, however, that the relationship between the moon and our behavior does not exist (Rotton & Kelly, 1985). While we may pay more attention to odd behavior during the full phase of the moon, the rates of odd behavior remain constant throughout the lunar cycle.

Why are we so apt to believe in illusory correlations like this? Often we read or hear about them and simply accept the information as valid. Or, we have a hunch about how something works and then look for evidence to support that hunch, ignoring evidence that would tell us our hunch is false; this is known as confirmation biasconfirmation bias. Other times, we find illusory correlations based on the information that comes most easily to mind, even if that information is severely limited. And while we may feel confident that we can use these relationships to better understand and predict the world around us, illusory correlations can have significant drawbacks. For example, research suggests that illusory correlations—in which certain behaviors are inaccurately attributed to certain groups—are involved in the formation of prejudicial attitudes that can ultimately lead to discriminatory behavior (Fiedler, 2004).

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

We all have a tendency to make illusory correlations from time to time. Try to think of an illusory correlation that is held by you, a family member, or a close friend. How do you think this illusory correlation came about and what can be done in the future to combat them?

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

cause-and-effect relationship:cause-and-effect relationship: changes in one variable cause the changes in the other variable; can be determined only through an experimental research design

confirmation bias:confirmation bias: tendency to ignore evidence that disproves ideas or beliefs

confounding variable:confounding variable: unanticipated outside factor that affects both variables of interest, often giving the false impression that changes in one variable causes changes in the other variable, when, in actuality, the outside factor causes changes in both variables

correlation:correlation: relationship between two or more variables; when two variables are correlated, one variable changes as the other does

correlation coefficient:correlation coefficient: number from -1 to +1, indicating the strength and direction of the relationship between variables, and usually represented by r

illusory correlation:illusory correlation: seeing relationships between two things when in reality no such relationship exists

negative correlation:negative correlation: two variables change in different directions, with one becoming larger as the other becomes smaller; a negative correlation is not the same thing as no correlation

positive correlationpositive correlation two variables change in the same direction, both becoming either larger or smaller

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Analyzing Findings. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:mfArybye@7/Analyzing-Findings. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/ contents/[email protected]

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Correlation vs. Causality: Freakonomics Movie. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbODqslc4Tg. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

EXPERIMENTS

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe the experimental process, including ways to control for bias • Identify and differentiate between independent and dependent variables

Causality: Conducting Experiments and Using the Data

As you’ve learned, the only way to establish that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between two variables is to conduct a scientific experiment. ExperimentExperiment has a different meaning in the scientific context than in everyday life. In everyday conversation, we often use it to describe trying something for the first time, such as experimenting with a new hair style or a new food. However, in the scientific context, an experiment has precise requirements for design and implementation.

The Experimental Hypothesis

In order to conduct an experiment, a researcher must have a specific hypothesishypothesis to be tested. As you’ve learned, hypotheses can be formulated either through direct observation of the real world or after careful review of previous research. For example, if you think that children should not be allowed to watch violent programming on television because doing so would cause them to behave more violently, then you have basically formulated a

Figure 1. Seeing behavior like this right after a child

watches violent television programming might lead you to

hypothesize that viewing violent television programming

leads to an increase in the display of violent behaviors.

(credit: Emran Kassim)

hypothesis—namely, that watching violent television programs causes children to behave more violently. How might you have arrived at this particular hypothesis? You may have younger relatives who watch cartoons featuring characters using martial arts to save the world from evildoers, with an impressive array of punching, kicking, and defensive postures. You notice that after watching these programs for a while, your young relatives mimic the fighting behavior of the characters portrayed in the cartoon (Figure 1).

These sorts of personal observations are what often lead us to formulate a specific hypothesis, but we cannot use limited personal observations and anecdotal evidence to rigorously test our hypothesis. Instead, to find out if real- world data supports our hypothesis, we have to conduct an experiment.

Designing an Experiment

The most basic experimental design involves two groups: the experimental group and the control group. The two groups are designed to be the same except for one difference— experimental manipulation. The experimentalexperimental groupgroup gets the experimental manipulation—that is, the treatment or variable being tested (in this case, violent TV images)—and the control groupcontrol group does not. Since experimental manipulation is the only difference between the experimental and control groups, we can be sure that any differences between the two are due to experimental manipulation rather than chance.

In our example of how violent television programming might affect violent behavior in children, we have the experimental group view violent television programming for a specified time and then measure their violent behavior. We measure the violent behavior in our control group after they watch nonviolent television programming for the same amount of time. It is important for the control group to be treated similarly to the experimental group, with the exception that the control group does not receive the experimental manipulation. Therefore, we have the control group watch non-violent television programming for the same amount of time as the experimental group.

We also need to precisely define, or operationalize, what is considered violent and nonviolent. An operationaloperational definitiondefinition is a description of how we will measure our variables, and it is important in allowing others understand exactly how and what a researcher measures in a particular experiment. In operationalizing violent behavior, we might choose to count only physical acts like kicking or punching as instances of this behavior, or we also may choose to include angry verbal exchanges. Whatever we determine, it is important that we operationalize violent behavior in such a way that anyone who hears about our study for the first time knows exactly what we mean by violence. This aids peoples’ ability to interpret our data as well as their capacity to repeat our experiment should they choose to do so.

Once we have operationalized what is considered violent television programming and what is considered violent behavior from our experiment participants, we need to establish how we will run our experiment. In this case, we might have participants watch a 30-minute television program (either violent or nonviolent, depending on their group membership) before sending them out to a playground for an hour where their behavior is observed and the number and type of violent acts is recorded.

Ideally, the people who observe and record the children’s behavior are unaware of who was assigned to the experimental or control group, in order to control for experimenter bias. Experimenter biasExperimenter bias refers to the possibility that a researcher’s expectations might skew the results of the study. Remember, conducting an experiment requires a lot of planning, and the people involved in the research project have a vested interest in supporting their hypotheses. If the observers knew which child was in which group, it might influence how much attention

Figure 2. Providing the control group with a placebo

treatment protects against bias caused by expectancy.

(credit: Elaine and Arthur Shapiro)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1850

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1850

TRY ITTRY IT

they paid to each child’s behavior as well as how they interpreted that behavior. By being blind to which child is in which group, we protect against those biases. This situation is a single-blind studysingle-blind study, meaning that one of the groups (participants) are unaware as to which group they are in (experiment or control group) while the researcher who developed the experiment knows which participants are in each group.

In a double-blind studydouble-blind study, both the researchers and the participants are blind to group assignments. Why would a researcher want to run a study where no one knows who is in which group? Because by doing so, we can control for both experimenter and participant expectations. If you are familiar with the phrase placebo effect, you already have some idea as to why this is an important consideration. The placebo effectplacebo effect occurs when people’s expectations or beliefs influence or determine their experience in a given situation. In other words, simply expecting something to happen can actually make it happen.

The placebo effect is commonly described in terms of testing the effectiveness of a new medication. Imagine that you work in a pharmaceutical company, and you think you have a new drug that is effective in treating depression. To demonstrate that your medication is effective, you run an experiment with two groups: The experimental group receives the medication, and the control group does not. But you don’t want participants to know whether they received the drug or not.

Why is that? Imagine that you are a participant in this study, and you have just taken a pill that you think will improve your mood. Because you expect the pill to have an effect, you might feel better simply because you took the pill and not because of any drug actually contained in the pill—this is the placebo effect.

To make sure that any effects on mood are due to the drug and not due to expectations, the control group receives a placebo (in this case a sugar pill). Now everyone gets a pill, and once again neither the researcher nor the experimental participants know who got the drug and who got the sugar pill. Any differences in mood between the experimental and control groups can now be attributed to the drug itself rather than to experimenter bias or participant expectations (Figure 2).

Independent and Dependent Variables

In a research experiment, we strive to study whether changes in one thing cause changes in another. To achieve this, we must pay attention to two important variables, or things that can be changed, in any experimental study: the independent variable and the dependent variable. An independent variableindependent variable is manipulated or controlled by the experimenter. In a well-designed experimental study, the independent variable is the only important difference between the experimental and control groups. In our example of how violent television programs affect children’s display of violent behavior, the independent variable is the type of program—violent or nonviolent—viewed by

Figure 3. In an experiment, manipulations of the independent variable are expected to result in changes in the dependent variable.

(credit “automatic weapon”: modification of work by Daniel Oines; credit “toy gun”: modification of work by Emran Kassim)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1850

TRY ITTRY IT

participants in the study (Figure 3). A dependent variabledependent variable is what the researcher measures to see how much effect the independent variable had. In our example, the dependent variable is the number of violent acts displayed by the experimental participants.

We expect that the dependent variable will change as a function of the independent variable. In other words, the dependent variable depends on the independent variable. A good way to think about the relationship between the independent and dependent variables is with this question: What effect does the independent variable have on the dependent variable? Returning to our example, what effect does watching a half hour of violent television programming or nonviolent television programming have on the number of incidents of physical aggression displayed on the playground?

Selecting and Assigning Experimental Participants

Now that our study is designed, we need to obtain a sample of individuals to include in our experiment. Our study involves human participants so we need to determine who to include. ParticipantsParticipants are the subjects of psychological research, and as the name implies, individuals who are involved in psychological research actively participate in the process. Often, psychological research projects rely on college students to serve as participants. In fact, the vast majority of research in psychology subfields has historically involved students as research participants (Sears, 1986; Arnett, 2008). But are college students truly representative of the general population? College students tend to be younger, more educated, more liberal, and less diverse than the general population.

Figure 4. Researchers may work with (a) a large population or (b) a sample group that is a subset of the larger population. (credit

“crowd”: modification of work by James Cridland; credit “students”: modification of work by Laurie Sullivan)

Although using students as test subjects is an accepted practice, relying on such a limited pool of research participants can be problematic because it is difficult to generalize findings to the larger population.

Our hypothetical experiment involves children, and we must first generate a sample of child participants. Samples are used because populations are usually too large to reasonably involve every member in our particular experiment (Figure 4). If possible, we should use a random samplerandom sample (there are other types of samples, but for the purposes of this section, we will focus on random samples). A random sample is a subset of a larger population in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected. Random samples are preferred because if the sample is large enough we can be reasonably sure that the participating individuals are representative of the larger population. This means that the percentages of characteristics in the sample—sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic level, and any other characteristics that might affect the results—are close to those percentages in the larger population.

In our example, let’s say we decide our population of interest is fourth graders. But all fourth graders is a very large population, so we need to be more specific; instead we might say our population of interest is all fourth graders in a particular city. We should include students from various income brackets, family situations, races, ethnicities, religions, and geographic areas of town. With this more manageable population, we can work with the local schools in selecting a random sample of around 200 fourth graders who we want to participate in our experiment.

In summary, because we cannot test all of the fourth graders in a city, we want to find a group of about 200 that reflects the composition of that city. With a representative group, we can generalize our findings to the larger population without fear of our sample being biased in some way.

Now that we have a sample, the next step of the experimental process is to split the participants into experimental and control groups through random assignment. With random assignmentrandom assignment, all participants have an equal chance of being assigned to either group. There is statistical software that will randomly assign each of the fourth graders in the sample to either the experimental or the control group.

Random assignment is critical for sound experimental designexperimental design. With sufficiently large samples, random assignment makes it unlikely that there are systematic differences between the groups. So, for instance, it would be very unlikely that we would get one group composed entirely of males, a given ethnic identity, or a given religious ideology. This is important because if the groups were systematically different before the experiment began, we would not know the origin of any differences we find between the groups: Were the differences preexisting, or were they caused by manipulation of the independent variable? Random assignment allows us to assume that any differences observed between experimental and control groups result from the manipulation of the independent variable.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1850

TRY ITTRY IT

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1850

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1850

TRY ITTRY IT

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Learn more about descriptive, correlational, and experimental approaches to psychological research through the following PsychSim Tutorial. The tutorial is only intended for practice. Please disregard the final screen that requests you submit answers to your instructor.

◦ What’s Wrong With This Study

Issues to Consider

While experiments allow scientists to make cause-and-effect claims, they are not without problems. True experiments require the experimenter to manipulate an independent variable, and that can complicate many questions that psychologists might want to address. For instance, imagine that you want to know what effect sex (the independent variable) has on spatial memory (the dependent variable). Although you can certainly look for differences between males and females on a task that taps into spatial memory, you cannot directly control a person’s sex. We categorize this type of research approach as quasi-experimental and recognize that we cannot make cause-and-effect claims in these circumstances.

Experimenters are also limited by ethical constraints. For instance, you would not be able to conduct an experiment designed to determine if experiencing abuse as a child leads to lower levels of self-esteem among adults. To conduct such an experiment, you would need to randomly assign some experimental participants to a group that receives abuse, and that experiment would be unethical.

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

cause-and-effect relationship:cause-and-effect relationship: changes in one variable cause the changes in the other variable; can be determined only through an experimental research design

confirmation bias:confirmation bias: tendency to ignore evidence that disproves ideas or beliefs

control group:control group: serves as a basis for comparison and controls for chance factors that might influence the results of the study—by holding such factors constant across groups so that the experimental manipulation is the only difference between groups

correlation:correlation: relationship between two or more variables; when two variables are correlated, one variable changes as the other does

dependent variable:dependent variable: variable that the researcher measures to see how much effect the independent variable had

double-blind study:double-blind study: experiment in which both the researchers and the participants are blind to group assignments

experimental group:experimental group: group designed to answer the research question; experimental manipulation is the only difference between the experimental and control groups, so any differences between the two are due to experimental manipulation rather than chance

experimenter bias:experimenter bias: researcher expectations skew the results of the study

independent variable:independent variable: variable that is influenced or controlled by the experimenter; in a sound experimental study, the independent variable is the only important difference between the experimental and control group

operational definition:operational definition: description of what actions and operations will be used to measure the dependent variables and manipulate the independent variables

participants:participants: subjects of psychological research

placebo effect:placebo effect: people’s expectations or beliefs influencing or determining their experience in a given situation

random assignment:random assignment: method of experimental group assignment in which all participants have an equal chance of being assigned to either group

random sample:random sample: subset of a larger population in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected

replicate:replicate: repeating an experiment using different samples to determine the research’s reliability

single-blind study:single-blind study: experiment in which the researcher knows which participants are in the experimental group and which are in the control group

statistical analysis:statistical analysis: determines how likely any difference between experimental groups is due to chance

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1850

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, addition of link to learning. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Analyzing Findings. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:mfArybye@7/Analyzing-Findings. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/ contents/[email protected]

STATISTICAL THINKING

What you’ll learn to do: define basic elements of a statistical investigation

Once a psychologist has performed an experiment or study and gathered her results, she needs to organize the information in a way so that she can draw conclusions from the results. What does the information mean? Does it support or reject the hypothesis? Is the data valid and reliable, and is the study replicable?

Psychologists use statistics to assist them in analyzing data, and also to give more precise measurements to describe whether something is statistically significant. Analyzing data using statistics enables researchers to find patterns, make claims, and share their results with others. In this section, you’ll learn about some of the tools that psychologists use in statistical analysis.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Define reliability and validity • Describe the importance of distributional thinking and the role of p-values in statistical inference • Describe the role of random sampling and random assignment in drawing cause-and-effect

conclusions

Interpreting Experimental Findings

Once data is collected from both the experimental and the control groups, a statistical analysis is conducted to find out if there are meaningful differences between the two groups. A statistical analysis determines how likely

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University can walk you through the APA writing guidelines.

DIG DEEPER: THE VACCINE-AUTISM MYTH AND THE RETRACTION OFDIG DEEPER: THE VACCINE-AUTISM MYTH AND THE RETRACTION OF PUBLISHED STUDIESPUBLISHED STUDIES

Some scientists have claimed that routine childhood vaccines cause some children to develop autism, and, in fact, several peer-reviewed publications published research making these claims. Since the initial reports, large-scale epidemiological research has suggested that vaccinations are not responsible for causing autism

any difference found is due to chance (and thus not meaningful). In psychology, group differences are considered meaningful, or significant, if the odds that these differences occurred by chance alone are 5 percent or less. Stated another way, if we repeated this experiment 100 times, we would expect to find the same results at least 95 times out of 100.

The greatest strength of experiments is the ability to assert that any significant differences in the findings are caused by the independent variable. This occurs because random selection, random assignment, and a design that limits the effects of both experimenter bias and participant expectancy should create groups that are similar in composition and treatment. Therefore, any difference between the groups is attributable to the independent variable, and now we can finally make a causal statement. If we find that watching a violent television program results in more violent behavior than watching a nonviolent program, we can safely say that watching violent television programs causes an increase in the display of violent behavior.

Reporting Research

When psychologists complete a research project, they generally want to share their findings with other scientists. The American Psychological Association (APA) publishes a manual detailing how to write a paper for submission to scientific journals. Unlike an article that might be published in a magazine like Psychology Today, which targets a general audience with an interest in psychology, scientific journals generally publish peer-reviewed journal articles aimed at an audience of professionals and scholars who are actively involved in research themselves.

A peer-reviewed journal article is read by several other scientists (generally anonymously) with expertise in the subject matter. These peer reviewers provide feedback—to both the author and the journal editor—regarding the quality of the draft. Peer reviewers look for a strong rationale for the research being described, a clear description of how the research was conducted, and evidence that the research was conducted in an ethical manner. They also look for flaws in the study’s design, methods, and statistical analyses. They check that the conclusions drawn by the authors seem reasonable given the observations made during the research. Peer reviewers also comment on how valuable the research is in advancing the discipline’s knowledge. This helps prevent unnecessary duplication of research findings in the scientific literature and, to some extent, ensures that each research article provides new information. Ultimately, the journal editor will compile all of the peer reviewer feedback and determine whether the article will be published in its current state (a rare occurrence), published with revisions, or not accepted for publication.

Peer review provides some degree of quality control for psychological research. Poorly conceived or executed studies can be weeded out, and even well-designed research can be improved by the revisions suggested. Peer review also ensures that the research is described clearly enough to allow other scientists to replicate it, meaning they can repeat the experiment using different samples to determine reliability. Sometimes replications involve additional measures that expand on the original finding. In any case, each replication serves to provide more evidence to support the original research findings. Successful replications of published research make scientists more apt to adopt those findings, while repeated failures tend to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the original article and lead scientists to look elsewhere. For example, it would be a major advancement in the medical field if a published study indicated that taking a new drug helped individuals achieve a healthy weight without changing their diet. But if other scientists could not replicate the results, the original study’s claims would be questioned.

and that it is much safer to have your child vaccinated than not. Furthermore, several of the original studies making this claim have since been retracted.

A published piece of work can be rescinded when data is called into question because of falsification, fabrication, or serious research design problems. Once rescinded, the scientific community is informed that there are serious problems with the original publication. Retractions can be initiated by the researcher who led the study, by research collaborators, by the institution that employed the researcher, or by the editorial board of the journal in which the article was originally published. In the vaccine-autism case, the retraction was made because of a significant conflict of interest in which the leading researcher had a financial interest in establishing a link between childhood vaccines and autism (Offit, 2008). Unfortunately, the initial studies received so much media attention that many parents around the world became hesitant to have their children vaccinated (Figure 1). For more information about how the vaccine/autism story unfolded, as well as the repercussions of this story, take a look at Paul Offit’s book, Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure.

Figure 1. Some people still think vaccinations cause autism. (credit: modification of work by UNICEF Sverige)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1892

EVERYDAY CONNECTION: HOW VALID IS THE SAT?EVERYDAY CONNECTION: HOW VALID IS THE SAT?

Standardized tests like the SAT are supposed to measure an individual’s aptitude for a college education, but how reliable and valid are such tests? Research conducted by the College Board suggests that scores on the SAT have high predictive validity for first-year college students’ GPA (Kobrin, Patterson, Shaw, Mattern, & Barbuti, 2008). In this context, predictive validity refers to the test’s ability to effectively predict the GPA of college freshmen. Given that many institutions of higher education require the SAT for admission, this high degree of predictive validity might be comforting.

However, the emphasis placed on SAT scores in college admissions has generated some controversy on a number of fronts. For one, some researchers assert that the SAT is a biased test that places minority students at a disadvantage and unfairly reduces the likelihood of being admitted into a college (Santelices & Wilson, 2010). Additionally, some research has suggested that the predictive validity of the SAT is grossly exaggerated in how well it is able to predict the GPA of first-year college students. In fact, it has been suggested that the SAT’s predictive validity may be overestimated by as much as 150% (Rothstein, 2004). Many institutions of higher education are beginning to consider de-emphasizing the significance of SAT scores in making admission decisions (Rimer, 2008).

In 2014, College Board president David Coleman expressed his awareness of these problems, recognizing that college success is more accurately predicted by high school grades than by SAT scores. To address these concerns, he has called for significant changes to the SAT exam (Lewin, 2014).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1892

TRY ITTRY IT

Reliability and Validity

ReliabilityReliability and validityvalidity are two important considerations that must be made with any type of data collection. Reliability refers to the ability to consistently produce a given result. In the context of psychological research, this would mean that any instruments or tools used to collect data do so in consistent, reproducible ways. Unfortunately, being consistent in measurement does not necessarily mean that you have measured something correctly. To illustrate this concept, consider a kitchen scale that would be used to measure the weight of cereal that you eat in the morning. If the scale is not properly calibrated, it may consistently under- or overestimate the amount of cereal that’s being measured. While the scale is highly reliable in producing consistent results (e.g., the same amount of cereal poured onto the scale produces the same reading each time), those results are incorrect. This is where validity comes into play. Validity refers to the extent to which a given instrument or tool accurately measures what it’s supposed to measure. While any valid measure is by necessity reliable, the reverse is not necessarily true. Researchers strive to use instruments that are both highly reliable and valid.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1892

Figure 1. People around the world differ in their

preferences for drinking coffee versus drinking tea. Would

the results of the coffee study be the same in Canada as

in China? [Image: Duncan, https://goo.gl/vbMyTm, CC

BY-NC 2.0, https://goo.gl/l8UUGY]

Introduction to Statistical Thinking

Does drinking coffee actually increase your life expectancy? A recent study (Freedman, Park, Abnet, Hollenbeck, & Sinha, 2012) found that men who drank at least six cups of coffee a day had a 10% lower chance of dying (women 15% lower) than those who drank none. Does this mean you should pick up or increase your own coffee habit? Modern society has become awash in studies such as this; you can read about several such studies in the news every day.Conducting such a study well, and interpreting the results of such studies requires understanding basic ideas of statisticsstatistics, the science of gaining insight from data. Key components to a statistical investigation are:

• Planning the study: Start by asking a testable research question and deciding how to collect data. For example, how long was the study period of the coffee study? How many people were recruited for the study, how were they recruited, and from where? How old were they? What other variables were recorded about the individuals? Were changes made to the participants’ coffee habits during the course of the study?

• Examining the data: What are appropriate ways to examine the data? What graphs are relevant, and what do they reveal? What descriptive statistics can be calculated to summarize relevant aspects of the data, and what do they reveal? What patterns do you see in the data? Are there any individual observations that deviate from the overall pattern, and what do they reveal? For example, in the coffee study, did the proportions differ when we compared the smokers to the non-smokers?

• Inferring from the data: What are valid statistical methods for drawing inferences “beyond” the data you collected? In the coffee study, is the 10%–15% reduction in risk of death something that could have happened just by chance?

• Drawing conclusions: Based on what you learned from your data, what conclusions can you draw? Who do you think these conclusions apply to? (Were the people in the coffee study older? Healthy? Living in cities?) Can you draw a cause-and-effectcause-and-effect conclusion about your treatments? (Are scientists now saying that the coffee drinking is the cause of the decreased risk of death?)

Notice that the numerical analysis (“crunching numbers” on the computer) comprises only a small part of overall statistical investigation. In this section, you will see how we can answer some of these questions and what questions you should be asking about any statistical investigation you read about.

Distributional Thinking

When data are collected to address a particular question, an important first step is to think of meaningful ways to organize and examine the data. Let’s take a look at an example.

Example 1Example 1: Researchers investigated whether cancer pamphlets are written at an appropriate level to be read and understood by cancer patients (Short, Moriarty, & Cooley, 1995). Tests of reading ability were given to 63 patients. In addition, readability level was determined for a samplesample of 30 pamphlets, based on characteristics such

Testing these two variables reveal two fundamental aspects of statistical thinking:

Figure 2: Comparison of patient reading levels and pamphlet readability levels.

as the lengths of words and sentences in the pamphlet. The results, reported in terms of grade levels, are displayed in Table 1.

Table 1. Frequency tables of patient reading levels and pamphlet readability levels.

• Data vary. More specifically, values of a variable (such as reading level of a cancer patient or readability level of a cancer pamphlet) vary.

• Analyzing the pattern of variation, called the distributiondistribution of the variable, often reveals insights.

Addressing the research question of whether the cancer pamphlets are written at appropriate levels for the cancer patients requires comparing the two distributions. A naïve comparison might focus only on the centers of the distributions. Both medians turn out to be ninth grade, but considering only medians ignores the variability and the overall distributions of these data. A more illuminating approach is to compare the entire distributions, for example with a graph, as in Figure 2.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1892

TRY ITTRY IT

Figure 2 makes clear that the two distributions are not well aligned at all. The most glaring discrepancy is that many patients (17/63, or 27%, to be precise) have a reading level below that of the most readable pamphlet. These patients will need help to understand the information provided in the cancer pamphlets. Notice that this conclusion follows from considering the distributions as a whole, not simply measures of center or variability, and that the graph contrasts those distributions more immediately than the frequency tables.

Statistical Significance

Even when we find patterns in data, often there is still uncertainty in various aspects of the data. For example, there may be potential for measurement errors (even your own body temperature can fluctuate by almost 1°F over the course of the day). Or we may only have a “snapshot” of observations from a more long-term process or only a small subset of individuals from the populationpopulation of interest. In such cases, how can we determine whether patterns we see in our small set of data is convincing evidence of a systematic phenomenon in the larger process or population? Let’s take a look at another example.

Example 2Example 2: In a study reported in the November 2007 issue of Nature, researchers investigated whether pre- verbal infants take into account an individual’s actions toward others in evaluating that individual as appealing or aversive (Hamlin, Wynn, & Bloom, 2007). In one component of the study, 10-month-old infants were shown a “climber” character (a piece of wood with “googly” eyes glued onto it) that could not make it up a hill in two tries. Then the infants were shown two scenarios for the climber’s next try, one where the climber was pushed to the top of the hill by another character (“helper”), and one where the climber was pushed back down the hill by another character (“hinderer”). The infant was alternately shown these two scenarios several times. Then the infant was presented with two pieces of wood (representing the helper and the hinderer characters) and asked to pick one to play with.

The researchers found that of the 16 infants who made a clear choice, 14 chose to play with the helper toy. One possible explanation for this clear majority result is that the helping behavior of the one toy increases the infants’ likelihood of choosing that toy. But are there other possible explanations? What about the color of the toy? Well, prior to collecting the data, the researchers arranged so that each color and shape (red square and blue circle) would be seen by the same number of infants. Or maybe the infants had right-handed tendencies and so picked whichever toy was closer to their right hand?

Well, prior to collecting the data, the researchers arranged it so half the infants saw the helper toy on the right and half on the left. Or, maybe the shapes of these wooden characters (square, triangle, circle) had an effect? Perhaps, but again, the researchers controlled for this by rotating which shape was the helper toy, the hinderer toy, and the climber. When designing experiments, it is important to control for as many variables as might affect the responses as possible. It is beginning to appear that the researchers accounted for all the other plausible explanations. But there is one more important consideration that cannot be controlled—if we did the study again with these 16 infants, they might not make the same choices. In other words, there is some randomness inherent in their selection process.

P-value

Maybe each infant had no genuine preference at all, and it was simply “random luck” that led to 14 infants picking the helper toy. Although this random component cannot be controlled, we can apply a probability model to investigate the pattern of results that would occur in the long run if random chance were the only factor.

If the infants were equally likely to pick between the two toys, then each infant had a 50% chance of picking the helper toy. It’s like each infant tossed a coin, and if it landed heads, the infant picked the helper toy. So if we

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1892

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1892

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1892

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1892

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1892

TRY ITTRY IT

tossed a coin 16 times, could it land heads 14 times? Sure, it’s possible, but it turns out to be very unlikely. Getting 14 (or more) heads in 16 tosses is about as likely as tossing a coin and getting 9 heads in a row. This probability is referred to as a p-valuep-value. The p-value represents the likelihood that experimental results happened by chance. Within psychology, the most common standard for p-values is “p < .05”. What this means is that there is less than a 5% probability that the results happened just by random chance, and therefore a 95% probability that the results reflect a meaningful pattern in human psychology. We call this statistical significancestatistical significance.

So, in the study above, if we assume that each infant was choosing equally, then the probability that 14 or more out of 16 infants would choose the helper toy is found to be 0.0021. We have only two logical possibilities: either the infants have a genuine preference for the helper toy, or the infants have no preference (50/50) and an outcome that would occur only 2 times in 1,000 iterations happened in this study. Because this p-value of 0.0021 is quite small, we conclude that the study provides very strong evidence that these infants have a genuine preference for the helper toy.

If we compare the p-value to some cut-off value, like 0.05, we see that the p=value is smaller. Because the p- value is smaller than that cut-off value, then we reject the hypothesis that only random chance was at play here. In this case, these researchers would conclude that significantly more than half of the infants in the study chose the helper toy, giving strong evidence of a genuine preference for the toy with the helping behavior.

Figure 3. Generalizability is an important research

consideration: The results of studies with widely

representative samples are more likely to generalize to

the population. [Image: Barnacles Budget

Accommodation]

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1892

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1892

TRY ITTRY IT

Generalizability

One limitation to the study mentioned previously about the babies choosing the “helper” toy is that the conclusion only applies to the 16 infants in the study. We don’t know much about how those 16 infants were selected. Suppose we want to select a subset of individuals (a samplesample) from a much larger group of individuals (the populationpopulation) in such a way that conclusions from the sample can be generalizedgeneralized to the larger population. This is the question faced by pollsters every day.

Example 3Example 3: The General Social Survey (GSS) is a survey on societal trends conducted every other year in the United States. Based on a sample of about 2,000 adult Americans, researchers make claims about what percentage of the U.S. population consider themselves to be “liberal,” what percentage consider themselves “happy,” what percentage feel “rushed” in their daily lives, and many other issues. The key to making these claims about the larger population of all American adults lies in how the sample is selected. The goal is to select a sample that is representative of the population, and a common way to achieve this goal is to select a random samplerandom sample that gives every member of the population an equal chance of being selected for the sample. In its simplest form, random sampling involves numbering every member of the population and then using a computer to randomly select the subset to be surveyed. Most polls don’t operate exactly like this, but they do use probability-based sampling methods to select individuals from nationally representative panels.

In 2004, the GSS reported that 817 of 977 respondents (or 83.6%) indicated that they always or sometimes feel rushed. This is a clear majority, but we again need to consider variation due to random sampling. Fortunately, we can use the same probability model we did in the previous example to investigate the probable size of this error. (Note, we can use the coin-tossing model when the actual population size is much, much larger than the sample size, as then we can still consider the probability to be the same for every individual in the sample.) This probability model predicts that the sample result will be within 3 percentage points of the population value (roughly 1 over the square root of the sample size, the margin of errormargin of error). A statistician would conclude, with 95% confidence, that between 80.6% and 86.6% of all adult Americans in 2004 would have responded that they sometimes or always feel rushed.

The key to the margin of error is that when we use a probability sampling method, we can make claims about how often (in the long run, with repeated random sampling) the sample result would fall within a certain distance from the unknown population value by chance (meaning by random sampling variation) alone. Conversely, non- random samples are often suspect to bias, meaning the sampling method systematically over-represents some segments of the population and under-represents others. We also still need to consider other sources of bias, such as individuals not responding honestly. These sources of error are not measured by the margin of error.

Figure 4. Creativity scores separated by type of motivation.

Cause and Effect Conclusions

In many research studies, the primary question of interest concerns differences between groups. Then the question becomes how were the groups formed (e.g., selecting people who already drink coffee vs. those who don’t). In some studies, the researchers actively form the groups themselves. But then we have a similar question—could any differences we observe in the groups be an artifact of that group-formation process? Or maybe the difference we observe in the groups is so large that we can discount a “fluke” in the group-formation process as a reasonable explanation for what we find?

Example 4Example 4: A psychology study investigated whether people tend to display more creativity when they are thinking about intrinsic (internal) or extrinsic (external) motivations (Ramsey & Schafer, 2002, based on a study by Amabile, 1985). The subjects were 47 people with extensive experience with creative writing. Subjects began by answering survey questions about either intrinsic motivations for writing (such as the pleasure of self-expression) or extrinsic motivations (such as public recognition). Then all subjects were instructed to write a haiku, and those poems were evaluated for creativity by a panel of judges. The researchers conjectured beforehand that subjects who were thinking about intrinsic motivations would display more creativity than subjects who were thinking about extrinsic motivations. The creativity scores from the 47 subjects in this study are displayed in Figure 4, where higher scores indicate more creativity.

In this example, the key question is whether the type of

motivation affects creativity scores. In particular, do subjects who were asked about intrinsic motivations tend to have higher creativity scores than subjects who were asked about extrinsic motivations?

Figure 4 reveals that both motivation groups saw considerable variability in creativity scores, and these scores have considerable overlap between the groups. In other words, it’s certainly not always the case that those with extrinsic motivations have higher creativity than those with intrinsic motivations, but there may still be a statistical tendency in this direction. (Psychologist Keith Stanovich (2013) refers to people’s difficulties with thinking about such probabilistic tendencies as “the Achilles heel of human cognition.”)

The mean creativity score is 19.88 for the intrinsic group, compared to 15.74 for the extrinsic group, which supports the researchers’ conjecture. Yet comparing only the means of the two groups fails to consider the variability of creativity scores in the groups. We can measure variability with statistics using, for instance, the standard deviation: 5.25 for the extrinsic group and 4.40 for the intrinsic group. The standard deviations tell us that most of the creativity scores are within about 5 points of the mean score in each group. We see that the mean score for the intrinsic group lies within one standard deviation of the mean score for extrinsic group. So, although there is a tendency for the creativity scores to be higher in the intrinsic group, on average, the difference is not extremely large.

We again want to consider possible explanations for this difference. The study only involved individuals with extensive creative writing experience. Although this limits the population to which we can generalize, it does not explain why the mean creativity score was a bit larger for the intrinsic group than for the extrinsic group. Maybe women tend to receive higher creativity scores? Here is where we need to focus on how the individuals were assigned to the motivation groups. If only women were in the intrinsic motivation group and only men in the extrinsic group, then this would present a problem because we wouldn’t know if the intrinsic group did better because of the different type of motivation or because they were women. However, the researchers guarded against such a problem by randomly assigning the individuals to the motivation groups. Like flipping a coin, each individual was just as likely to be assigned to either type of motivation. Why is this helpful? Because this randomrandom

Figure 5. Differences in group means under random

assignment alone.

THE REPLICATION CRISISTHE REPLICATION CRISIS

In recent years, there has been increased effort in the sciences (psychology, medicine, economics, etc.) to redo previous experiments to test their reliability. The findings have been disappointing at times.

The Reproducibility Project has attempted to replicate 100 studies within the field of psychology that were published with statistically significant results; they found that many of these results did not replicate well (only 39% produced the same results as the original study). Some did not reach statistical significance when replicated. Others reached statistical significance, but with much weaker effects than in the original study.

How could this happen?

assignmentassignment tends to balance out all the variables related to creativity we can think of, and even those we don’t think of in advance, between the two groups. So we should have a similar male/female split between the two groups; we should have a similar age distribution between the two groups; we should have a similar distribution of educational background between the two groups; and so on. Random assignment should produce groups that are as similar as possible except for the type of motivation, which presumably eliminates all those other variables as possible explanations for the observed tendency for higher scores in the intrinsic group.

But does this always work? No, so by “luck of the draw” the groups may be a little different prior to answering the motivation survey. So then the question is, is it possible that an unlucky random assignment is responsible for the observed difference in creativity scores between the groups? In other words, suppose each individual’s poem was going to get the same creativity score no matter which group they were assigned to, that the type of motivation in no way impacted their score. Then how often would the random-assignment process alone lead to a difference in mean creativity scores as large (or larger) than 19.88 – 15.74 = 4.14 points?

We again want to apply to a probability model to approximate a p-valuep-value, but this time the model will be a bit different. Think of writing everyone’s creativity scores on an index card, shuffling up the index cards, and then dealing out 23 to the extrinsic motivation group and 24 to the intrinsic motivation group, and finding the difference in the group means. We (better yet, the computer) can repeat this process over and over to see how often, when the scores don’t change, random assignment leads to a difference in means at least as large as 4.41. Figure 5 shows the results from 1,000 such hypothetical random assignments for these scores.

Only 2 of the 1,000 simulated random assignments produced a difference in group means of 4.41 or larger. In other words, the approximate p-value is 2/1000 = 0.002. This small p-value indicates that it would be very surprising for the random assignment process alone to produce such a large difference in group means. Therefore, as with Example 4, we have strong evidence that focusing on intrinsic motivations tends to increase creativity scores, as compared to thinking about extrinsic motivations.

Notice that the previous statement implies a cause- and-effect relationship between motivation and creativity score; is such a strong conclusion justified? Yes, because of the random assignment used in the study. That should have balanced out any other variables between the two groups, so now that the small p-value convinces us that the higher mean in the intrinsic group wasn’t just a coincidence, the only reasonable explanation left is the difference in the type of motivation. Can we generalize this conclusion to everyone? Not necessarily—we could cautiously generalize this conclusion to individuals with extensive experience in creative writing similar the individuals in this study, but we would still want to know more about how these individuals were selected to participate.

• ChanceChance. Psychologist use statistics to confirm that their results did not occur simply because of chance (Within psychology, the most common standard for p-values is “p < .05”. What this means is that there is less than a 5% probability that the results happened just by random chance, and therefore a 95% probability that a results reflects a meaningful pattern in human psychology. We call this statistical significance.) Even though a published study may reveal statistically significant results, there is still a possibility that those results were random.

• Publication bias.Publication bias. Psychology research journals are far more likely to publish studies that find statistically significant results than they are studies that fail to find statistically significant results. What this means is that studies that yield results that are not statistically significant are very unlikely to get published. Let’s say that twenty researchers are all studying the same phenomenon. Out of the twenty, one gets statistically significant results, while the other nineteen all get non-significant results. The statistically significant result was likely just a result of randomness, but because of publication bias, that one study’s results are far more likely to be published than are the results of the other nineteen.

Note that this “replication crisis” itself does not mean that the original studies were bad, fraudulent, or even wrong. What it means, at its core, is that replication found results that were different from the results of the original studies. These results were sufficiently different that we might no longer be secure in our knowledge of what those results mean. Further replication and testing in other directions might give us a better understanding of why the results were different, but that too will require time and resources.

Figure 6. Researchers employ the scientific method that

involves a great deal of statistical thinking: generate a

hypothesis –> design a study to test that hypothesis –>

conduct the study –> analyze the data –> report the

results. [Image: widdowquinn]

Conclusion

Statistical thinking involves the careful design of a study to collect meaningful data to answer a focused research question, detailed analysis of patterns in the data, and drawing conclusions that go beyond the observed data. Random sampling is paramount to generalizing results from our sample to a larger population, and random assignment is key to drawing cause-and-effect conclusions. With both kinds of randomness, probability models help us assess how much random variation we can expect in our results, in order to determine whether our results could happen by chance alone and to estimate a margin of error.

So where does this leave us with regard to the coffee study mentioned previously (the Freedman, Park, Abnet, Hollenbeck, & Sinha, 2012 found that men who drank at least six cups of coffee a day had a 10% lower chance of dying (women 15% lower) than those who drank none)? We can answer many of the questions:

• This was a 14-year study conducted by researchers at the National Cancer Institute.

• The results were published in the June issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, a respected, peer- reviewed journal.

• The study reviewed coffee habits of more than 402,000 people ages 50 to 71 from six states and two metropolitan areas. Those with cancer, heart disease, and stroke were excluded at the start of the study. Coffee consumption was assessed once at the start of the study.

• About 52,000 people died during the course of the study. • People who drank between two and five cups of coffee daily showed a lower risk as well, but the amount

of reduction increased for those drinking six or more cups. • The sample sizes were fairly large and so the p-values are quite small, even though percent reduction in

risk was not extremely large (dropping from a 12% chance to about 10%–11%). • Whether coffee was caffeinated or decaffeinated did not appear to affect the results. • This was an observational study, so no cause-and-effect conclusions can be drawn between coffee

drinking and increased longevity, contrary to the impression conveyed by many news headlines about this study. In particular, it’s possible that those with chronic diseases don’t tend to drink coffee.

LEARN MORELEARN MORE

Explore these outside resources to learn more about applied statistics:

• Video about p-values: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVMVGHkt2cg • Interactive web applets for teaching and learning statistics include the collection

at http://www.rossmanchance.com/applets/ • Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/index.html • The Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics https://www.causeweb.org/

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

cause-and-effect:cause-and-effect: related to whether we say one variable is causing changes in the other variable, versus other variables that may be related to these two variables. distributiondistribution: the pattern of variation in data generalizabilitygeneralizability: related to whether the results from the sample can be generalized to a larger population. populationpopulation: a larger collection of individuals that we would like to generalize our results to p-valuep-value: the probability of observing a particular outcome in a sample, or more extreme, under a conjecture about the larger population or process random assignmentrandom assignment: using a probability-based method to divide a sample into treatment groups. random samplingrandom sampling: using a probability-based method to select a subset of individuals for the sample from the population. reliability:reliability: consistency and reproducibility of a given result samplesample: the collection of individuals on which we collect data statisticstatistic: a numerical result computed from a sample (e.g., mean, proportion) statistical significancestatistical significance: a result is statistically significant if it is unlikely to arise by chance alone validity:validity: accuracy of a given result in measuring what it is designed to measure margin of errormargin of error: the expected amount of random variation in a statistic; often defined for 95% confidence level.

This study needs to be reviewed in the larger context of similar studies and consistency of results across studies, with the constant caution that this was not a randomized experiment. Whereas a statistical analysis can still “adjust” for other potential confounding variables, we are not yet convinced that researchers have identified them all or completely isolated why this decrease in death risk is evident. Researchers can now take the findings of this study and develop more focused studies that address new questions.

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

• Find a recent research article in your field and answer the following: What was the primary research question? How were individuals selected to participate in the study? Were summary results provided? How strong is the evidence presented in favor or against the research question? Was random assignment used? Summarize the main conclusions from the study, addressing the issues of statistical significance, statistical confidence, generalizability, and cause and effect. Do you agree with the conclusions drawn from this study, based on the study design and the results presented?

• Is it reasonable to use a random sample of 1,000 individuals to draw conclusions about all U.S. adults? Explain why or why not.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3436

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this video for an explanation on how to read scholarly articles. Look closely at the example article shared just before the two minute mark.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Outcome introduction. Authored byAuthored by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike • Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • The Replication Crisis in Psychology. Authored byAuthored by: Colin Thomas William. Provided byProvided by: Ivy Tech Community College. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • Modification to The Replication Crisis. Authored byAuthored by: Pat Carroll and Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• histogram. Authored byAuthored by: Fisher's Iris flower data set. Provided byProvided by: Wikipedia. Located atLocated at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/DC/Statistics_Edit-a-thon#/media/File:Fisher_iris_versicolor_sepalwidth.svg. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

• Analyzing Findings. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:mfArybye@7/Analyzing-Findings. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • Statistical Thinking. Authored byAuthored by: Beth Chance and Allan Rossman . Provided byProvided by: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/modules/statistical-thinking. ProjectProject: The

Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. License TermsLicense Terms: http://nobaproject.com/license-agreement

HOW TO READ RESEARCH

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe the basic structure of a psychological research article

In this course and throughout your academic career, you’ll be reading journal articles (meaning they were published by experts in a peer-reviewed journal) and reports that explain psychological research. It’s important to understand the format of these articles so that you can read them strategically and understand the information presented. Scientific articles vary in content or structure, depending on the type of journal to which they will be submitted. Psychological articles and many papers in the social sciences follow the writing guidelines and format dictated by the American Psychological Association (APA). In general, the structure follows: abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and references.

• AbstractAbstract: the abstract is the concise summary of the article. It summarizes the most important features of the manuscript, providing the reader with a global first impression on the article. It is generally just one paragraph that explains the experiment as well as a short synopsis of the results.

• IntroductionIntroduction: this section provides background information about the origin and purpose of performing the experiment or study. It reviews previous research and presents existing theories on the topic.

• MethodMethod: this section covers the methodologies used to investigate the research question, including the identification of participants, procedures, and materials as well as a description of the actual procedure. It should be sufficiently detailed to allow for replication.

• ResultsResults: the results section presents key findings of the research, including reference to indicators of statistical significance.

• DiscussionDiscussion: this section provides an interpretation of the findings, states their significance for current research, and derives implications for theory and practice. Alternative interpretations for findings are also provided, particularly when it is not possible to conclude for the directionality of the effects. In the discussion, authors also acknowledge the strengths and limitations/weaknesses of the study and offer concrete directions about for future research.

Practice identifying these key components in the following experiment: Food-Induced Emotional Resonance Improves Emotion Recognition.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3436

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3436

WATCHING TV IS RELATED TO MATH ABILITYWATCHING TV IS RELATED TO MATH ABILITY

Television is often criticized for having a negative impact on our youth. Everything from aggressive behavior to obesity in children seems to be blamed on their television viewing habits. On the other hand, TV also provides us with much of our news and entertainment, and has become a major source of education for children, with shows like Sesame Street teaching children to count and say the alphabet.

Recently, researchers Ian McAtee and Leo Geraci at Harvard University did some research to examine if TV watching might have beneficial effects on cognition. The approach was fairly simple. Children between the ages of 12-14 were either asked to watch a television sitcom or do arithmetic problems, and while they were doing these activities, images of their brains were recorded using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging). This technique measures the flow of blood to specific parts of the brain during performance, allowing scientists to create images of the areas that are activated during cognition.

TRY ITTRY IT

Please rate whether you agree or disagree with the following statements about the article. There are no correct answers.

TRY ITTRY IT

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe replication and its importance to psychology

This is a little difficult for a psychologist to ask, but here goes: when you think of a “science” which one of these is more likely to come to mind: physics or psychology?

We suspect you chose “physics” (though we don’t have the data, so maybe not!).

Despite the higher “status” of physics and chemistry in the world of science over psychology, good scientific reasoning is just as important in psychology. Valid logic, careful methodology, strong results, and empirically supported conclusions should be sought after regardless of the topic area.

We would like to you to exercise your scientific reasoning using the example below. Read the passage “Watching TV is Related to Math Ability” and answer a few questions afterwards.

Results revealed that similar areas of the parietal lobes were active during TV watching (the red area of the brain image on the top) and during arithmetic solving (the red area of the brain image on the bottom). This area of the brain has been implicated in other research as being important for abstract thought, suggesting that both TV watching and arithmetic processing may have beneficial effects on cognition. “We were somewhat surprised that TV watching would activate brain areas involved in higher-order thought processes because TV watching is typically considered a passive activity,” said McAtee. Added Geraci, “The next step is to see what specific content on the TV show led to the pattern of activation that mimicked math performance, so we need to better understand that aspect of the data. We also need to compare TV watching to other types of cognitive skills, like reading comprehension and writing.” Although this is only the beginning to this type of research, these findings certainly question the accepted wisdom that the “idiot box” is harmful to children’s cognitive functioning.

The article was well written.

strongly agree

disagree

agree

strongly agree

The title, “Watching TV is Related to Math Ability” was a good description of the results.

strongly agree

disagree

agree

strongly agree

The scientific argument in the article made sense.

strongly agree

disagree

agree

strongly agree

It is pretty surprising to learn that watching television can improve your math ability, and the fact that we can identify the area in the brain that produces this relationship shows how far psychology has progressed as a science.

Or maybe not.

The article you just read and rated was not an account of real research. Ian McAtee and Leo Geraci are not real people and the study discussed was never conducted (as far as we know). The article was written by psychologists David McCabe and Alan Castel for a study they published in 2008. (Note: David P. McCabe & Alan D. Castel (2008). Seeing is believing: The effect of brain images on judgments of scientific reasoning.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3436

TRY ITTRY IT

Cognition, 107, 343-352.) They asked people to do exactly what you just did: read this article and two others and rate them.

McCabe and Castel wondered if people’s biases about science influence the way they judge the information they read. In other words, if what you are reading looks more scientific, do you assume it is better science?

In recent years, neuroscience has impressed a lot of people as “real science,” when compared to the “soft science” of psychology. Did you notice the pictures of the brain next to the article that you just read? Do you think that picture had any influence on your evaluation of the scientific quality of the article? The brain pictures actually added no new information that was not already in the article itself other than showing you exactly where in the brain the relevant part of the parietal lobe is located. The red marks are in the same locations in both brain pictures, but we already knew that “Results revealed that similar areas in the parietal lobes were active during TV watching…and during arithmetic solving.”

The McCabe & Castel Experiment

McCabe and Castel wrote three brief (fake) scientific articles that appeared to be typical reports like those you might find in a textbook or news source, all with brain activity as part of the story. In addition to the one you read (“Watching TV is related to math ability “) others had these titles: “Meditation enhances creative thought” and “Playing video games benefits attention.”

All of the articles had flawed scientific reasoning. In the “Watching TV is Related to Math Ability” article that you read, the only “result” that is reported is that a particular brain area (a part of the parietal lobe) is active when a person is watching TV and when he or she is working on math. The highlighted part of the next sentence is where the article goes too far: “This area of the brain has been implicated in other research as being important for abstract thought, suggesting that both tv watching and arithmetic processing may have beneficial effects onsuggesting that both tv watching and arithmetic processing may have beneficial effects on cognitioncognition.”

The fact that the same area of the brain is active for two different activities does not “suggest” that either one is beneficial or that there is any interesting similarity in mental or brain activity between the processes. The final part of the article goes on and on about how this supposedly surprising finding is intriguing and deserves extensive exploration.

The researchers asked 156 college students to read the three articles and rate them for how much they made sense scientifically, as well as rating the quality of the writing and the accuracy of the title.

Everybody read exactly the same articles, but the picture that accompanied the article differed according to create three experimental conditions. For the article in the brain image condition, subjects saw one of the following brain images to the side of the article:

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3436

Figure 1. Subjects in the experimental condition were shown ONE of the applicable brain images with each article they read.

Graphs are a common and effective way to display results in science and other areas, but most people are so used to seeing graphs that (according to McCabe and Castel) people should be less impressed by them than by brain images. The figures below show the graphs that accompanied the three articles for the bar graph condition. The results shown in the graphs were made up by the experimenters, but what they show is consistent with the information in the article.

Figure 2. Participants in the bar graph condition were shown ONE of the bar graphs with each article they read.

Finally, in the control condition, the article was presented without any accompanying figure or picture. The control condition tells us how the subjects rate the articles without any extraneous, but potentially biasing, illustrations.

The Procedure

Each participant read all three articles: one with a brain image, one with a bar graph, and one without any illustration (the control condition). Across all the participants, each article was presented approximately the same number of times in each condition, and the order in which the articles were presented was randomized.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3436

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3436

TRY ITTRY IT

The Ratings

Immediately after reading each article, the participants rated their agreement with three statements: (a) The article was well written, (b) The title was a good description of the results, and (c) The scientific reasoning in the article made sense. Each rating was on a 4-point scale: (score=1) strongly disagree, (score=2) disagree, (score=3) agree, and (score=4) strongly agree. Remember that the written part of the articles was exactly the same in all three conditions, so the ratings should have been the same if people were not using the illustrations to influence their conclusions.

Before going on, let’s make sure you know the basic design of this experiment. In other words, can you identify the critical variables used in the study according to their function?

Results

RESULTS FOR (A) ACCURACY OF THE TITLE AND (B) QUALITY OF THERESULTS FOR (A) ACCURACY OF THE TITLE AND (B) QUALITY OF THE WRITINGWRITING

The first two questions for the participants were about (a) the accuracy of the title and (b) the quality of the writing. These questions were included to assure that the participants had read the articles closely. The experimenters expected that there would be no differences in the ratings for the three conditions for these questions. For the question about the title, their prediction was correct. Subjects gave about the same rating to the titles in all three conditions, agreeing that it was accurate.

For question (b) about the quality of the writing, the experimenters found that the two conditions with illustrations (the brain images and the bar graphs) were rated higher than the control condition. Apparently just the presence of an illustration made the writing seem better. This result was not predicted.

RESULTS FOR (C) SCIENTIFIC REASONING ASSESSMENTRESULTS FOR (C) SCIENTIFIC REASONING ASSESSMENT

The main hypothesis behind this study was that subjects would rate the quality of the scientific reasoning in the article higher when it was accompanied by a brain image than when there was a bar graph or there was no illustration at all. If the ratings differed among conditions, then the illustrations—which added nothing substantial that was not in the writing—had to be the cause.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3436

TRY ITTRY IT

Use the graph below to show your predicted results of the experiment. Move the bars to the point where you think people generally agreed or disagreed with the statement that “the scientific reasoning in the article made sense.” Higher bars mean that the person believes the reasoning in the article is better, and a lower bar means that they judge the reasoning as worse. Click on “Show Results” when you are done to compare your prediction with the actual results.

AnswerAnswer

RESULTS: The results supported the experimenters’ prediction. The scientific reasoning for the Brain Image condition was rated as significantly higher than for either other condition. There was no significant difference between the Bar Graph condition and the Control condition. Here is a graph of the results:

Conclusions

McCabe and Castel conducted two more experiments, changing the stories, the images, and the wording of the questions in each. Across the three experiments, they tested almost 400 college students and their results were consistent: participants rated the quality of scientific reasoning higher when the writing was accompanied by a brain image than in other conditions.

The implications of this study go beyond brain images. The deeper idea is that any information that symbolizes something we believe is important can influence our thinking, sometimes making us less thoughtful than we might otherwise be. This other information could be a brain image or some statistical jargon that sounds impressive or a mathematical formula that we don’t understand or a statement that the author teaches at Harvard University rather than Littletown State College.

In a study also published in 2008, Deena Weisberg and her colleagues at Yale University conducted a study similar to the one you just read. (Note: Deena Skolnick Weisberg, Frank C. Keil, Joshua Goodstein, Elizabeth Rawson, & Jeremy R. Gray (2008). The seductive allure of neuroscience explanations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20(3), 470-477) Weisberg had people read brief descriptions of psychological phenomena (involving memory, attention, reasoning, emotion, and other similar topics). They rated the scientific quality of the explanations. Instead of images, Weisberg had some explanations that included entirely superfluous and useless brain information (e.g., “people feel strong emotion because the amygdala processes emotion”) or no such brain information. Weisberg found that a good explanation was rated as even better when it included a brain reference (which was completely irrelevant). When the explanation was flawed, students were fairly good

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3436

TRY ITTRY IT

at catching the reasoning problems UNLESS the explanation contained the irrelevant brain reference. In that case, the students rated the flawed explanations as being good. Weinstein and her colleague call the problem “the seductive allure of neuroscience explanations.”

Does it Replicate? The Messy World of Real ScienceDoes it Replicate? The Messy World of Real Science

A few years after the McCabe and Castel study was published, some psychologists (Note: Robert B. Michael, Eryn J. Newman, Matti Vuorre, Geoff Cumming, and Maryanne Garry (2013). On the (non)persuasive power of a brain image. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 20(4), 720-725.) at the University of Victoria in New Zealand, led by Robert Michael, were intrigued by the results and they were impressed by how frequently the paper had been cited by other researchers (about 40 citations per year between 2008 and 2012—a reasonably strong citation record). They wanted to explore the brain image effect, so they started by simply replicating the original study. (Note: They actually tried to replicate Experiment 3 in the McCabe and Castel study. You read Experiment 1. These two experiments were similar and supported the same conclusions, but Dr. Michael and his colleagues preferred Experiment 3 for some technical reasons.)

In their first attempt at replication, the researchers recruited and tested people using an online site called Mechanical Turk. With 197 participants, they found no hint of an effect of the brain image on people’s judgments about the validity of the conclusions of the article they read. In a second replication study, they tested students from their university and again found no statistically significant effect. In this second attempt, the results were in the predicted direction (the presence of a brain image was associated with higher ratings), but the differences were not strong enough to be persuasive. They tried slight variations on instructions and people recruited, but across 10 different replication studies, only one produced a statistically significant effect.

So, did Dr. Michael and his colleagues accuse McCabe and Castel of doing something wrong? Did they tear apart the experiments we described earlier and show that they were poorly planned, incorrectly analyzed, or interpreted in a deceptive way?

Not at all.

It is instructive to see how professional scientists approached the problem of failing to replicate a study. Here is a quick review of the approach taken by the researchers who did not replicate the McCabe and Castel study:

• First, they did not question the integrity of the original research. David McCabe (Note: David McCabe, the first author of the original paper, tragically passed away in 2011 at the age of 41. At the time of his death, he was an assistant professor of Psychology at Colorado State University and he had started to build a solid body of published research, and he was also married with two young children. The problems with replicating his experiments were only published after his death, so it is impossible to know what his thoughts might have been about the issues these challenges raised.) and Alan Castel are respected researchers who carefully reported on a series of well-conducted experiments. They even noted that the original paper was carefully reported, even if journalists and other psychologists had occasionally exaggerated the findings: “Although McCabe and Castel (2008) did not overstate their findings, many others have. Sometimes these overstatements were linguistic exaggerations…Other overstatements made claims beyond what McCabe and Castel themselves reported.” [p. 720]

• Replication is an essential part of the scientific process. Michael and his colleagues did not back off of the importance of their difficulty reproducing the McCabe and Castel results. Clearly, McCabe and Castel’s conclusions—that “there is something special about the brain images with respect to influencing judgments of scientific credibility”—need to taken as possibly incorrect.

• Michael and his colleagues looked closely at the McCabe and Castel results and their own, and they looked for interesting reasons that the results of the two sets of studies might be different.

THE “REPLICATION CRISIS”THE “REPLICATION CRISIS”

In recent years, there has been increased effort in the sciences (psychology, medicine, economics, etc.) to redo previous experiments to test their reliability. The findings have been disappointing at times.

The Reproducibility Project has attempted to replicate 100 studies within the field of psychology that were published with statistically significant results; they found that many of these results did not replicate well. Some did not reach statistical significance when replicated. Others reached statistical significance, but with much weaker effects than in the original study.

How could this happen?

• ChanceChance. Psychologist use statistics to confirm that their results did not occur simply because of chance (Within psychology, the most common standard for p-values is “p < .05”. What this means is that there is less than a 5% probability that the results happened just by random chance, and therefore a 95% probability that a results reflects a meaningful pattern in human psychology. We call this statistical significance.) Even though a published study may reveal statistically significant results, there is still a possibility that those results were random.

• Publication bias.Publication bias. Psychology research journals are far more likely to publish studies that find statistically significant results than they are studies that fail to find statistically significant results. What this means is that studies that yield results that are not statistically significant are very unlikely to get published. Let’s say that twenty researchers are all studying the same phenomenon. Out of the twenty, one gets statistically significant results, while the other nineteen all get non-significant results. The statistically significant result was likely just a result of randomness, but because of publication bias, that one study’s results are far more likely to be published than are the results of the other nineteen.

Note that this “replication crisis” itself does not mean that the original studies were bad, fraudulent, or even wrong. What it means, at its core, is that replication found results that were different from the results of the original studies. These results were sufficiently different that we might no longer be secure in our knowledge of what those results mean. Further replication and testing in other directions might give us a better understanding of why the results were different, but that too will require time and resources.

▪ Subtle effectsSubtle effects: Perhaps the brain pictures really do influence their judgments, but only for some people or under very specific circumstances.

▪ Alternative explanationsAlternative explanations: Perhaps people assume that irrelevant information is not typically presented in scientific reports. People may have believed that the brain images provided additional evidence for the claims.

▪ Things have changedThings have changed: The McCabe and Castel study was conducted in 2008 and the failed replication was in 2013. Neuroscience as very new to the general public in 2008, but a mere 5 years later, in 2013, it may have seemed less impressive.

Do images really directly affect people’s judgments of the quality of scientific thinking? Maybe yes. Maybe no. That’s still an open question.

One Final Note

When we wrote to Dr. Alan Castel for permission to use his stimuli in this article, he not only consented, but he also sent us his data and copies of all of his stimuli. He sent copies of research by a variety of people, some research that has supported his work with David McCabe and some that has not. He even included a copy of the 10-experiment paper that you just read about, the one that failed to replicate the McCabe and Castel study.

The goal is to find the truth, not to insist that everything you publish is the last word on the topic. In fact, if it is the last word, then you are probably studying something so boring that no one else really cares.

Scientists disagree with one another all the time. But the disagreements are (usually) not personal. The evidence is not always neat and tidy, and the best interpretation of complex results is seldom obvious. At its

best, it is possible for scientists to disagree passionately about theory and evidence, and later to relax over a cool drink, laugh and talk about friends or sports or life and love.

WATCHING TV IS RELATED TO MATH ABILITYWATCHING TV IS RELATED TO MATH ABILITY

Television is often criticized for having a negative impact on our youth. Everything from aggressive behavior to obesity in children seems to be blamed on their television viewing habits. On the other hand, TV also provides us with much of our news and entertainment, and has become a major source of education for children, with shows like Sesame Street teaching children to count and say the alphabet.

Recently, researchers Ian McAtee and Leo Geraci at Harvard University did some research to examine if TV watching might have beneficial effects on cognition. The approach was fairly simple. Children between the ages of 12-14 were either asked to watch a television sitcom or do arithmetic problems, and while they were doing these activities, images of their brains were recorded using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging). This technique measures the flow of blood to specific parts of the brain during performance, allowing scientists to create images of the areas that are activated during cognition.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • Brain Imaging and Messy Science. Authored byAuthored by: Patrick Carroll for Lumen Learning. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Reading a Scientific Paper for Psychology and the Social Sciences: A Critical Guide. Authored byAuthored by: Pedro Cordeiro, Victor E. C. Ortuu00f1o, Maria Paula Paixu00e3o, Jou00e3o Maru00f4co. Provided byProvided by: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra. Located atLocated at: http://pch.psychopen.eu/article/view/136/html. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

• What is a Scholarly Article? video. Provided byProvided by: Coastal Carolina University. Located atLocated at: http://www.coastal.edu/intranet/library/videos/browse.html. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike • The Replication Crisis. Authored byAuthored by: Colin Thomas William. Provided byProvided by: Ivy Tech Community College. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Seeing is believing: The effect of brain images on judgments of scientific reasoning. Authored byAuthored by: David P. McCabe & Alan D. Castel (2008). Provided byProvided by: Cognition. LicenseLicense: All Rights Reserved. License TermsLicense Terms: Used with permission from Alan Castel

PSYCH IN REAL LIFE: BRAIN IMAGING AND MESSY SCIENCE

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe replication and its importance to psychology

This is a little difficult for a psychologist to ask, but here goes: when you think of a “science” which one of these is more likely to come to mind: physics or psychology?

We suspect you chose “physics” (though we don’t have the data, so maybe not!).

Despite the higher “status” of physics and chemistry in the world of science over psychology, good scientific reasoning is just as important in psychology. Valid logic, careful methodology, strong results, and empirically supported conclusions should be sought after regardless of the topic area.

We would like to you to exercise your scientific reasoning using the example below. Read the passage “Watching TV is Related to Math Ability” and answer a few questions afterwards.

Results revealed that similar areas of the parietal lobes were active during TV watching (the red area of the brain image on the top) and during arithmetic solving (the red area of the brain image on the bottom). This area of the brain has been implicated in other research as being important for abstract thought, suggesting that both TV watching and arithmetic processing may have beneficial effects on cognition. “We were somewhat surprised that TV watching would activate brain areas involved in higher-order thought processes because TV watching is typically considered a passive activity,” said McAtee. Added Geraci, “The next step is to see what specific content on the TV show led to the pattern of activation that mimicked math performance, so we need to better understand that aspect of the data. We also need to compare TV watching to other types of cognitive skills, like reading comprehension and writing.” Although this is only the beginning to this type of research, these findings certainly question the accepted wisdom that the “idiot box” is harmful to children’s cognitive functioning.

TRY ITTRY IT

Please rate whether you agree or disagree with the following statements about the article. There are no correct answers.

The article was well written.

strongly agree disagree agree strongly agree

The title, “Watching TV is Related to Math Ability” was a good description of the results.

strongly agree disagree agree strongly agree

The scientific argument in the article made sense.

strongly agree disagree agree strongly agree

It is pretty surprising to learn that watching television can improve your math ability, and the fact that we can identify the area in the brain that produces this relationship shows how far psychology has progressed as a science.

Or maybe not.

The article you just read and rated was not an account of real research. Ian McAtee and Leo Geraci are not real people and the study discussed was never conducted (as far as we know). The article was written by psychologists David McCabe and Alan Castel for a study they published in 2008. (Note: David P. McCabe & Alan

TRY ITTRY IT

https://assessments.lumenlearning.com/assessments/11316

D. Castel (2008). Seeing is believing: The effect of brain images on judgments of scientific reasoning. Cognition, 107, 343-352.) They asked people to do exactly what you just did: read this article and two others and rate them.

McCabe and Castel wondered if people’s biases about science influence the way they judge the information they read. In other words, if what you are reading looks more scientific, do you assume it is better science?

In recent years, neuroscience has impressed a lot of people as “real science,” when compared to the “soft science” of psychology. Did you notice the pictures of the brain next to the article that you just read? Do you think that picture had any influence on your evaluation of the scientific quality of the article? The brain pictures actually added no new information that was not already in the article itself other than showing you exactly where in the brain the relevant part of the parietal lobe is located. The red marks are in the same locations in both brain pictures, but we already knew that “Results revealed that similar areas in the parietal lobes were active during TV watching…and during arithmetic solving.”

The McCabe & Castel Experiment

McCabe and Castel wrote three brief (fake) scientific articles that appeared to be typical reports like those you might find in a textbook or news source, all with brain activity as part of the story. In addition to the one you read (“Watching TV is related to math ability “) others had these titles: “Meditation enhances creative thought” and “Playing video games benefits attention.”

All of the articles had flawed scientific reasoning. In the “Watching TV is Related to Math Ability” article that you read, the only “result” that is reported is that a particular brain area (a part of the parietal lobe) is active when a person is watching TV and when he or she is working on math. The highlighted part of the next sentence is where the article goes too far: “This area of the brain has been implicated in other research as being important for abstract thought, suggesting that both tv watching and arithmetic processing may have beneficial effects onsuggesting that both tv watching and arithmetic processing may have beneficial effects on cognitioncognition.”

The fact that the same area of the brain is active for two different activities does not “suggest” that either one is beneficial or that there is any interesting similarity in mental or brain activity between the processes. The final part of the article goes on and on about how this supposedly surprising finding is intriguing and deserves extensive exploration.

The researchers asked 156 college students to read the three articles and rate them for how much they made sense scientifically, as well as rating the quality of the writing and the accuracy of the title.

Everybody read exactly the same articles, but the picture that accompanied the article differed according to create three experimental conditions. For the article in the brain image condition, subjects saw one of the following brain images to the side of the article:

Figure 1. Subjects in the experimental condition were shown ONE of the applicable brain images with each article they read.

Graphs are a common and effective way to display results in science and other areas, but most people are so used to seeing graphs that (according to McCabe and Castel) people should be less impressed by them than by brain images. The figures below show the graphs that accompanied the three articles for the bar graph condition. The results shown in the graphs were made up by the experimenters, but what they show is consistent with the information in the article.

Figure 2. Participants in the bar graph condition were shown ONE of the bar graphs with each article they read.

Finally, in the control condition, the article was presented without any accompanying figure or picture. The control condition tells us how the subjects rate the articles without any extraneous, but potentially biasing, illustrations.

The Procedure

Each participant read all three articles: one with a brain image, one with a bar graph, and one without any illustration (the control condition). Across all the participants, each article was presented approximately the same number of times in each condition, and the order in which the articles were presented was randomized.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=5104

TRY ITTRY IT

https://assessments.lumenlearning.com/assessments/11317

TRY ITTRY IT

Use the graph below to show your predicted results of the experiment. Move the bars to the point where you think people generally agreed or disagreed with the statement that “the scientific reasoning in the article made sense.” Higher bars mean that the person believes the reasoning in the article is better, and a lower bar means that they judge the reasoning as worse. Click on “Show Results” when you are done to compare your prediction with the actual results.

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/oerfiles/Psychology/interactives/brain_imaging.html

AnswerAnswer

The Ratings

Immediately after reading each article, the participants rated their agreement with three statements: (a) The article was well written, (b) The title was a good description of the results, and (c) The scientific reasoning in the article made sense. Each rating was on a 4-point scale: (score=1) strongly disagree, (score=2) disagree, (score=3) agree, and (score=4) strongly agree. Remember that the written part of the articles was exactly the same in all three conditions, so the ratings should have been the same if people were not using the illustrations to influence their conclusions.

Before going on, let’s make sure you know the basic design of this experiment. In other words, can you identify the critical variables used in the study according to their function?

Results

RESULTS FOR (a) ACCURACY OF THE TITLE AND (b) QUALITY OF THE WRITING

The first two questions for the participants were about (a) the accuracy of the title and (b) the quality of the writing. These questions were included to assure that the participants had read the articles closely. The experimenters expected that there would be no differences in the ratings for the three conditions for these questions. For the question about the title, their prediction was correct. Subjects gave about the same rating to the titles in all three conditions, agreeing that it was accurate.

For question (b) about the quality of the writing, the experimenters found that the two conditions with illustrations (the brain images and the bar graphs) were rated higher than the control condition. Apparently just the presence of an illustration made the writing seem better. This result was not predicted.

RESULTS FOR (c) SCIENTIFIC REASONING ASSESSMENT

The main hypothesis behind this study was that subjects would rate the quality of the scientific reasoning in the article higher when it was accompanied by a brain image than when there was a bar graph or there was no illustration at all. If the ratings differed among conditions, then the illustrations—which added nothing substantial that was not in the writing—had to be the cause.

RESULTS: The results supported the experimenters’ prediction. The scientific reasoning for the Brain Image condition was rated as significantly higher than for either other condition. There was no significant difference between the Bar Graph condition and the Control condition. Here is a graph of the results:

Conclusions

McCabe and Castel conducted two more experiments, changing the stories, the images, and the wording of the questions in each. Across the three experiments, they tested almost 400 college students and their results were consistent: participants rated the quality of scientific reasoning higher when the writing was accompanied by a brain image than in other conditions.

The implications of this study go beyond brain images. The deeper idea is that any information that symbolizes something we believe is important can influence our thinking, sometimes making us less thoughtful than we might otherwise be. This other information could be a brain image or some statistical jargon that sounds impressive or a mathematical formula that we don’t understand or a statement that the author teaches at Harvard University rather than Littletown State College.

In a study also published in 2008, Deena Weisberg and her colleagues at Yale University conducted a study similar to the one you just read. (Note: Deena Skolnick Weisberg, Frank C. Keil, Joshua Goodstein, Elizabeth Rawson, & Jeremy R. Gray (2008). The seductive allure of neuroscience explanations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20(3), 470-477) Weisberg had people read brief descriptions of psychological phenomena (involving memory, attention, reasoning, emotion, and other similar topics). They rated the scientific quality of the explanations. Instead of images, Weisberg had some explanations that included entirely superfluous and useless brain information (e.g., “people feel strong emotion because the amygdala processes emotion”) or no such brain information. Weisberg found that a good explanation was rated as even better when it included a brain reference (which was completely irrelevant). When the explanation was flawed, students were fairly good at catching the reasoning problems UNLESS the explanation contained the irrelevant brain reference. In that case, the students rated the flawed explanations as being good. Weinstein and her colleague call the problem “the seductive allure of neuroscience explanations.”

Does it Replicate? The Messy World of Real Science A few years after the McCabe and Castel study was published, some psychologists (Note: Robert B. Michael, Eryn J. Newman, Matti Vuorre, Geoff Cumming, and Maryanne Garry (2013). On the (non)persuasive power of a brain image. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 20(4), 720-725.) at the University of Victoria in New Zealand, led by Robert Michael, were intrigued by the results and they were impressed by how frequently the paper had been cited by other researchers (about 40 citations per year between 2008 and 2012—a reasonably strong citation record). They wanted to explore the brain image effect, so they started by simply replicating the original study. (Note: They actually tried to replicate Experiment 3 in the McCabe and Castel study. You read Experiment 1.

TRY ITTRY IT

https://assessments.lumenlearning.com/assessments/11320

These two experiments were similar and supported the same conclusions, but Dr. Michael and his colleagues preferred Experiment 3 for some technical reasons.)

In their first attempt at replication, the researchers recruited and tested people using an online site called Mechanical Turk. With 197 participants, they found no hint of an effect of the brain image on people’s judgments about the validity of the conclusions of the article they read. In a second replication study, they tested students from their university and again found no statistically significant effect. In this second attempt, the results were in the predicted direction (the presence of a brain image was associated with higher ratings), but the differences were not strong enough to be persuasive. They tried slight variations on instructions and people recruited, but across 10 different replication studies, only one produced a statistically significant effect.

So, did Dr. Michael and his colleagues accuse McCabe and Castel of doing something wrong? Did they tear apart the experiments we described earlier and show that they were poorly planned, incorrectly analyzed, or interpreted in a deceptive way?

Not at all.

It is instructive to see how professional scientists approached the problem of failing to replicate a study. Here is a quick review of the approach taken by the researchers who did not replicate the McCabe and Castel study:

• First, they did not question the integrity of the original research. David McCabe (Note: David McCabe, the first author of the original paper, tragically passed away in 2011 at the age of 41. At the time of his death, he was an assistant professor of Psychology at Colorado State University and he had started to build a solid body of published research, and he was also married with two young children. The problems with replicating his experiments were only published after his death, so it is impossible to know what his thoughts might have been about the issues these challenges raised.) and Alan Castel are respected researchers who carefully reported on a series of well-conducted experiments. They even noted that the original paper was carefully reported, even if journalists and other psychologists had occasionally exaggerated the findings: “Although McCabe and Castel (2008) did not overstate their findings, many others have. Sometimes these overstatements were linguistic exaggerations…Other overstatements made claims beyond what McCabe and Castel themselves reported.” [p. 720]

• Replication is an essential part of the scientific process. Michael and his colleagues did not back off of the importance of their difficulty reproducing the McCabe and Castel results. Clearly, McCabe and Castel’s conclusions—that “there is something special about the brain images with respect to influencing judgments of scientific credibility”—need to taken as possibly incorrect.

• Michael and his colleagues looked closely at the McCabe and Castel results and their own, and they looked for interesting reasons that the results of the two sets of studies might be different.

▪ Subtle effectsSubtle effects: Perhaps the brain pictures really do influence their judgments, but only for some people or under very specific circumstances.

▪ Alternative explanationsAlternative explanations: Perhaps people assume that irrelevant information is not typically presented in scientific reports. People may have believed that the brain images provided additional evidence for the claims.

▪ Things have changedThings have changed: The McCabe and Castel study was conducted in 2008 and the failed replication was in 2013. Neuroscience as very new to the general public in 2008, but a mere 5 years later, in 2013, it may have seemed less impressive.

Do images really directly affect people’s judgments of the quality of scientific thinking? Maybe yes. Maybe no. That’s still an open question.

THE “REPLICATION CRISIS”THE “REPLICATION CRISIS”

In recent years, there has been increased effort in the sciences (psychology, medicine, economics, etc.) to redo previous experiments to test their reliability. The findings have been disappointing at times.

The Reproducibility Project has attempted to replicate 100 studies within the field of psychology that were published with statistically significant results; they found that many of these results did not replicate well. Some did not reach statistical significance when replicated. Others reached statistical significance, but with much weaker effects than in the original study.

How could this happen?

• ChanceChance. Psychologist use statistics to confirm that their results did not occur simply because of chance. Within psychology, the most common standard for p-values is “p < .05”. This p-value means that there is less than a 5% probability that the results of an experiment happened just by random chance, and a 95% probability that the results were statistically significant. Even though a published study may reveal statistically significant results, there is still a possibility that those results were random.

• Publication bias.Publication bias. Psychology research journals are far more likely to publish studies that find statistically significant results than they are studies that fail to find statistically significant results. What this means is that studies that yield results that are not statistically significant are very unlikely to get published. Let’s say that twenty researchers are all studying the same phenomenon. Out of the twenty, one gets statistically significant results, while the other nineteen all get non-significant results. The statistically significant result was likely just a result of randomness, but because of publication bias, that one study’s results are far more likely to be published than are the results of the other nineteen.

Note that this “replication crisis” itself does not mean that the original studies were bad, fraudulent, or even wrong. What it means, at its core, is that replication found results that were different from the results of the original studies. These results were sufficiently different that we might no longer be secure in our knowledge of what those results mean. Further replication and testing in other directions might give us a better understanding of why the results were different, but that too will require time and resources.

One Final Note

When we wrote to Dr. Alan Castel for permission to use his stimuli in this article, he not only consented, but he also sent us his data and copies of all of his stimuli. He sent copies of research by a variety of people, some research that has supported his work with David McCabe and some that has not. He even included a copy of the 10-experiment paper that you just read about, the one that failed to replicate the McCabe and Castel study.

The goal is to find the truth, not to insist that everything you publish is the last word on the topic. In fact, if it is the last word, then you are probably studying something so boring that no one else really cares.

Scientists disagree with one another all the time. But the disagreements are (usually) not personal. The evidence is not always neat and tidy, and the best interpretation of complex results is seldom obvious. At its best, it is possible for scientists to disagree passionately about theory and evidence, and later to relax over a cool drink, laugh and talk about friends or sports or life and love.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Brain Imaging and Messy Science. Authored byAuthored by: Patrick Carroll for Lumen Learning. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• The Replication Crisis. Authored byAuthored by: Colin Thomas William. Provided byProvided by: Ivy Tech Community College. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Seeing is believing: The effect of brain images on judgments of scientific reasoning. Authored byAuthored by: David P. McCabe & Alan D. Castel (2008). Provided byProvided by: Cognition. LicenseLicense: All Rights Reserved. License TermsLicense Terms: Used with permission from Alan Castel

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1894

PUTTING IT TOGETHER: PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

In this module, you learned to

• define and apply the scientific method to psychology • describe the strengths and weaknesses of descriptive, experimental, and correlational research • define the basic elements of a statistical investigation

Psychologists use the scientific method to examine human behavior and mental processes. Some of the methods you learned about include descriptive, experimental, and correlational research designs. Watch the CrashCourse video to review the material you learned, then read through the following examples and see if you can come up with your own design for each type of study.

Case Study:Case Study: a detailed analysis of a particular person, group, business, event, etc. This approach is commonly used to to learn more about rare examples with the goal of describing that particular thing.

• Ted Bundy was one of America’s most notorious serial killers who murdered at least 30 women and was executed in 1989. Dr. Al Carlisle evaluated Bundy when he was first arrested and conducted a psychological analysis of Bundy’s development of his sexual fantasies merging into reality (Ramsland, 2012). Carlisle believes that there was a gradual evolution of three processes that guided his actions: fantasy, dissociation, and compartmentalization (Ramsland, 2012). Read Imagining Ted Bundy (http://goo.gl/rGqcUv) for more information on this case study.

Naturalistic ObservationNaturalistic Observation: a researcher unobtrusively collects information without the participant’s awareness.

• Drain and Engelhardt (2013) observed six nonverbal children with autism’s evoked and spontaneous communicative acts. Each of the children attended a school for children with autism and were in different classes. They were observed for 30 minutes of each school day. By observing these children without them knowing, they were able to see true communicative acts without any external influences.

SurveySurvey: participants are asked to provide information or responses to questions on a survey or structure assessment.

• Educational psychologists can ask students to report their grade point average and what, if anything, they eat for breakfast on an average day. A healthy breakfast has been associated with better academic performance (Digangi’s 1999).

Archival research:Archival research: researchers examine data that has already been collected for other purposes.

• Anderson (1987) tried to find the relationship between uncomfortably hot temperatures and aggressive behavior, which was then looked at with two studies done on violent and nonviolent crime. Based on previous research that had been done by Anderson and Anderson (1984), it was predicted that violent crimes would be more prevalent during the hotter time of year and the years in which it was hotter weather in general. The study confirmed this prediction.

Longitudinal Study:Longitudinal Study: researchers recruit a sample of participants and track them for an extended period of time.

• In a study of a representative sample of 856 children Eron and his colleagues (1972) found that a boy’s exposure to media violence at age eight was significantly related to his aggressive behavior ten years later, after he graduated from high school.

Cross-Sectional Study:Cross-Sectional Study: researchers gather participants from different groups (commonly different ages) and look for differences between the groups.

• In 1996, Russell surveyed people of varying age groups and found that people in their 20s tend to report being more lonely than people in their 70s.

Correlational Design:Correlational Design: two different variables are measured to determine whether there is a relationship between them.

• Thornhill et al. (2003) had people rate how physically attractive they found other people to be. They then had them separately smell t-shirts those people had worn (without knowing which clothes belonged to whom) and rate how good or bad their body oder was. They found that the more attractive someone was the more pleasant their body order was rated to be.

Experiment:Experiment: researchers create a controlled environment in which they can carefully manipulate at least one variable to test its effect on another. The key here is that the researchers can cause a change in one variable.

• Clinical psychologists can test a new pharmaceutical treatment for depression by giving some patients the new pill and others an already-tested one to see which is the more effective treatment.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Methods for Collecting Research Data. Authored byAuthored by: Dr. Scott Roberts, Dr. Ryan Curtis, Samantha Levy, and Dr. Dylan Selterman. Provided byProvided by: University of Maryland. Located atLocated at: http://openpsyc.blogspot.com/2014/06/ methods-for-collecting-research-data.html. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Psychological Research – Crash Course Psychology #2. Authored byAuthored by: Hank Green. Provided byProvided by: Crash Course. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFV71QPvX2I. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

DISCUSSION: RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY

Analyzing Research

Step 1Step 1: Visit the Public Library of Science (PLOS One) website: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/browse/ psychology (a peer-reviewed journal that freely publishes research articles with open licenses). Do a search for an article that interests you, then answer the following:

1. What is the hyperlink to the study you chose? 2. What is the title of the study, and who conducted the research? 3. Describe the study in a few sentences in your own words. 4. Identify and describe either the basic assumption of the researchers, or if it was an experiment,

the hypothesis. Why were they conducting this research? 5. How was the study performed? What methods were used? 6. What were the results and conclusions of this study? 7. What questions do you still have after reading about this study? For example, if you were to conduct

another study based off of this study, what questions would you ask and what would you still want to find out?

Step 2Step 2: Respond to at least TWO other posts in responses in a paragraph with at least 75 words. Your comments should facilitate a discussion and can highlight your own thoughts about the study.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Discussion: Research in Psychology. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

MODULE 3: BIOPSYCHOLOGY

WHY IT MATTERS: BIOPSYCHOLOGY

Different brain imaging techniques provide scientists with insight into different aspects of how the human brain functions. Left to

right, PET scan (positron emission tomography), CT scan (computed tomography), and fMRI (functional magnetic resonance

imaging) are three types of scans. (credit “left”: modification of work by Health and Human Services Department, National

Institutes of Health; credit “center”: modification of work by “Aceofhearts1968″/Wikimedia Commons; credit “right”: modification of

work by Kim J, Matthews NL, Park S.)

Have you ever taken a device apart to find out how it works? Many of us have done so, whether to attempt a repair or simply to satisfy our curiosity. A device’s internal workings are often distinct from its user interface on the outside. For example, we don’t think about microchips and circuits when we turn up the volume on a mobile phone; instead, we think about getting the volume just right. Similarly, the inner workings of the human body are often distinct from the external expression of those workings. It is the job of psychologists to find the connection between these—for example, to figure out how the firings of millions of neurons become a thought.

This module strives to explain the biological mechanisms that underlie behavior. These physiological and anatomical foundations are the basis for many areas of psychology. In this module, you will learn how genetics influence both physiological and psychological traits. You will become familiar with the structure and function of the nervous system, learn how the nervous system interacts with the endocrine system, and understand the nature vs. nurture debate. AnswerAnswer

Arnst, C. (2003, November). Commentary: Getting rational about health-care rationing. Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2003-11-16/commentary-getting-rational-about- health-care-rationing

Berridge, K. C., & Robinson, T. E. (1998). What is the role of dopamine in reward: Hedonic impact, reward learning, or incentive salience? Brain Research Reviews, 28, 309–369.

Chandola, T., Brunner, E., & Marmot, M. (2006). Chronic stress at work and the metabolic syndrome: A prospective study. BMJ, 332, 521–524.

Comings, D. E., Gonzales, N., Saucier, G., Johnson, J. P., & MacMurray, J. P. (2000). The DRD4 gene and the spiritual transcendence scale of the character temperament index. Psychiatric Genetics, 10, 185–189.

Confer, J. C., Easton, J. A., Fleischman, D. S., Goetz, C. D., Lewis, D. M. G, Perilloux, C., & Buss, D. M. (2010). Evolutionary psychology: Controversies, questions, prospects, and limitations. American Psychologist, 65, 110–126.

Gaines, C. (2013, August). An A-Rod suspension would save the Yankees as much as $37.5 million in 2014 alone. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/an-a-rod-suspension-would-save-the- yankees-as-much-as-375-million-in-2014-2013-8

Gardner, E. L. (2011). Addiction and brain reward and antireward pathways. Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine, 30, 22–60.

George, O., Le Moal, M., & Koob, G. F. (2012). Allostasis and addiction: Role of the dopamine and corticotropin- releasing factor systems. Physiology & Behavior, 106, 58–64.

Glaser, R., & Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K. (2005). Stress-induced immune dysfunction: Implications for health. Nature Reviews Immunology, 5, 243–251.

Gong, L., Parikh, S., Rosenthal, P. J., & Greenhouse, B. (2013). Biochemical and immunological mechanisms by which sickle cell trait protects against malaria. Malaria Journal. Advance online publication. doi:10.1186/ 1475-2875-12-317

Hardt, O., Einarsson, E. Ö., & Nader, K. (2010). A bridge over troubled water: Reconsolidation as a link between cognitive and neuroscientific memory research traditions. Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 141–167.

Macmillan, M. (1999). The Phineas Gage Information Page. Retrieved from http://www.uakron.edu/gage

March, J. S., Silva, S., Petrycki, S., Curry, J., Wells, K., Fairbank, J., … Severe, J. (2007). The treatment for adolescents with depression study (TADS): Long-term effectiveness and safety outcomes. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 64, 1132–1143.

Mustanski, B. S., DuPree, M. G., Nievergelt, C. M., Bocklandt, S., Schork, N. J., & Hamer, D. H. (2005). A genome wide scan of male sexual orientation. Human Genetics, 116, 272–278.

National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2001, July). Anabolic steroid abuse: What are the health consequences of steroid abuse? National Institutes of Health. Retrieved from http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research- reports/anabolic-steroid-abuse/what-are-health-consequences-steroid-abuse

Squire, L. R. (2009). The legacy of patient H. M. for neuroscience. Neuron, 61, 6–9.

Tienari, P., Wynne, L. C., Sorri, A., et al. (2004). Genotype–environment interaction in schizophrenia spectrum disorder: long-term follow-up study of Finnish adoptees. British Journal of Psychiatry, 184, 216–222.

University of Utah Genetic Science Learning Center. (n.d.). What are genetic disorders? Retrieved from http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/disorders/whataregd/

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Psychology. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:1/Psychology. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/.

NEURAL COMMUNICATION

What you’ll learn to do: identify the basic structures of a neuron, the function of each structure, and how messages travel through the neuron

Neuron in tissue culture.

Ever wonder how your brain actually works? What exactly is going on inside of your small, wrinkly mass while you read this text? In this section, you’ll learn about the basics of neural communication in the brain, which is the brain’s way of sending messages to and from different regions in order to relay critical information about your body and its surroundings.

Glia and neurons are the two cell types that make up the nervous system. While glia generally play supporting roles, the communication between neurons is fundamental to all of the functions associated with the nervous system. Neuronal communication is made possible by the neuron’s specialized structures, like the soma, dendrites, axons, terminal buttons, and synaptic vesicles.

Neuronal communication is an electrochemical event. The dendrites contain receptors for neurotransmitters released by nearby neurons. If the signals received from other neurons are sufficiently strong, an action potential will travel down the length of the axon to the terminal buttons, resulting in the release of neurotransmitters into the synapse.

Different neurotransmitters are associated with different functions. Often, psychological disorders involve imbalances in a given neurotransmitter system. Therefore, psychotropic drugs are prescribed in an attempt to bring the neurotransmitters back into balance. Drugs can act either as agonists or as antagonists for a given neurotransmitter system.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain the role and function of the basic structures of a neuron • Describe how neurons communicate with each other • Explain how drugs act as agonists or antagonists for a given neurotransmitter system

Neurons

Psychologists striving to understand the human mind may study the nervous systemnervous system. Learning how the cells and organs (like the brain) function, help us understand the biological basis behind human psychology. The nervous system is composed of two basic cell types: glial cells (also known as glia) and neurons. Glial cellsGlial cells, which outnumber neurons ten to one, are traditionally thought to play a supportive role to neurons, both physically and metabolically. Glial cells provide scaffolding on which the nervous system is built, help neurons line up closely with each other to allow neuronal communication, provide insulation to neurons, transport nutrients and waste products, and mediate immune responses. NeuronsNeurons, on the other hand, serve as interconnected information processors that are essential for all of the tasks of the nervous system. This section briefly describes the structure and function of neurons.

Neuron Structure

Neurons are the central building blocks of the nervous system, 100 billion strong at birth. Like all cells, neurons consist of several different parts, each serving a specialized function (Figure 1). A neuron’s outer surface is made up of a semipermeable membranesemipermeable membrane. This membrane allows smaller molecules and molecules without an electrical charge to pass through it, while stopping larger or highly charged molecules.

Figure 1. This illustration shows a prototypical neuron, which is being myelinated.

The nucleus of the neuron is located in the soma, or cell body. The somasoma has branching extensions known as dendritesdendrites. The neuron is a small information processor, and dendrites serve as input sites where signals are received from other neurons. These signals are transmitted electrically across the soma and down a major extension from the soma known as the axonaxon, which ends at multiple terminal buttonsterminal buttons. The terminal buttons contain synaptic vesiclessynaptic vesicles that house neurotransmittersneurotransmitters, the chemical messengers of the nervous system.

Axons range in length from a fraction of an inch to several feet. In some axons, glial cells form a fatty substance known as the myelin sheathmyelin sheath, which coats the axon and acts as an insulator, increasing the speed at which the signal travels. The myelin sheath is crucial for the normal operation of the neurons within the nervous system: the loss of the insulation it provides can be detrimental to normal function. To understand how this works, let’s consider an example. Multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disorder, involves a large-scale loss of the myelin sheath on axons throughout the nervous system. The resulting interference in the electrical signal prevents the quick transmittal of information by neurons and can lead to a number of symptoms, such as dizziness, fatigue, loss of motor control, and sexual dysfunction. While some treatments may help to modify the course of the disease and manage certain symptoms, there is currently no known cure for multiple sclerosis.

In healthy individuals, the neuronal signal moves rapidly down the axon to the terminal buttons, where synaptic vesicles release neurotransmitters into the synapse (Figure 2). The synapsesynapse is a very small space between two neurons and is an important site where communication between neurons occurs. Once neurotransmitters are released into the synapse, they travel across the small space and bind with corresponding receptors on the dendrite of an adjacent neuron. ReceptorsReceptors, proteins on the cell surface where neurotransmitters attach, vary in shape, with different shapes “matching” different neurotransmitters.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2031

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Click through the links at the top of this interactive simulation to review the parts of a nerve cell and to take a closer look at how neurons communicate.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2031

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2031

TRY ITTRY IT

How does a neurotransmitter “know” which receptor to bind to? The neurotransmitter and the receptor have what is referred to as a lock-and-key relationship—specific neurotransmitters fit specific receptors similar to how a key fits a lock. The neurotransmitter binds to any receptor that it fits.

Figure 2. (a) The synapse is the space between the terminal button of one neuron and the dendrite of another neuron. (b) In this

pseudo-colored image from a scanning electron microscope, a terminal button (green) has been opened to reveal the synaptic

vesicles (orange and blue) inside. Each vesicle contains about 10,000 neurotransmitter molecules. (credit b: modification of work

by Tina Carvalho, NIH-NIGMS; scale-bar data from Matt Russell)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2031

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2031

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2031

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2031

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2031

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

axon:axon: major extension of the soma

dendrite:dendrite: branch-like extension of the soma that receives incoming signals from other neurons

glial cell:glial cell: nervous system cell that provides physical and metabolic support to neurons, including neuronal insulation and communication, and nutrient and waste transport

myelin sheath:myelin sheath: fatty substance that insulates axons

neuron:neuron: cells in the nervous system that act as interconnected information processors, which are essential for all of the tasks of the nervous system

neurotransmitter:neurotransmitter: chemical messenger of the nervous system

receptor:receptor: protein on the cell surface where neurotransmitters attach

semipermeable membrane:semipermeable membrane: cell membrane that allows smaller molecules or molecules without an electrical charge to pass through it, while stopping larger or highly charged molecules

soma:soma: cell body

synapse:synapse: small gap between two neurons where communication occurs

synaptic vesicle:synaptic vesicle: storage site for neurotransmitters

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • Addition of link to learning. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Neuron in tissue culture. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neuron_in_tissue_culture.jpg. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike • Cells of the Nervous System. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:SO2ufnKm@7/Cells-of-the-Nervous-System. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for

free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• 2-Minute Neuroscience: The Neuron. Authored byAuthored by: Neuroscientifically Challenged. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qS83wD29PY. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

THE NERVOUS SYSTEM AND ENDOCRINE SYSTEM

What you’ll learn to do: describe the role of the nervous system and endocrine systems

In this section, you’ll learn about the basics of the central nervous system, which consists of the brain and spinal cord, as well as the peripheral nervous system. The peripheral nervous systemperipheral nervous system is comprised of the somatic and autonomic nervous systems. The somaticsomatic nervous systemnervous system transmits sensory and motor signals to and from the central nervous system. The autonomicautonomic nervous systemnervous system controls the function of our organs and glands, and can be divided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions. SympatheticSympathetic activation prepares us for fight or flight, while parasympatheticparasympathetic activation is associated with normal functioning under relaxed conditions. The endocrineendocrine systemsystem consists of a series of glands that produce chemical substances known as hormones, which produce widespread effects on the body. Got all that? We’ll review each of these systems in the coming pages.

Visit this course online to take this short practice quiz:

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe the difference between the central and peripheral nervous systems and the somatic and autonomic nervous systems

• Differentiate between the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system • Describe the endocrine system and explain its primary responsibilities within the body

The Central Nervous System and the Peripheral Nervous System

The nervous systemnervous system can be divided into two major subdivisions: the central nervous system (CNS)central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS)peripheral nervous system (PNS), shown in Figure 1. The CNS is comprised of the brain and spinal cord; the PNS connects the CNS to the rest of the body. In this section, we focus on the peripheral nervous system; later, we look at the brain and spinal cord.

Figure 1. The nervous system is divided into two major parts: (a) the Central Nervous System and (b) the Peripheral Nervous

System.

Peripheral Nervous System

The peripheral nervous system is made up of thick bundles of axons, called nerves, carrying messages back and forth between the CNS and the muscles, organs, and senses in the periphery of the body (i.e., everything outside the CNS). The PNS has two major subdivisions: the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system.

The somatic nervous systemsomatic nervous system is associated with activities traditionally thought of as conscious or voluntary. It is involved in the relay of sensory and motor information to and from the CNS; therefore, it consists of motor neurons and sensory neurons. Motor neurons, carrying instructions from the CNS to the muscles, are efferent fibers (efferent means “moving away from”). Sensory neurons, carrying sensory information to the CNS, are afferent fibers (afferent means “moving toward”). Each nerve is basically a two-way superhighway, containing thousands of axons, both efferent and afferent.

The autonomic nervous systemautonomic nervous system controls our internal organs and glands and is generally considered to be outside the realm of voluntary control. It can be further subdivided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions (Figure 2). The sympathetic nervous systemsympathetic nervous system is involved in preparing the body for stress-related activities; the parasympathetic nervous systemparasympathetic nervous system is associated with returning the body to routine, day-to-day operations. The two systems have complementary functions, operating in tandem to maintain the body’s homeostasis. HomeostasisHomeostasis is a state of equilibrium, in which biological conditions (such as body temperature) are maintained at optimal levels.

Figure 2. The sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system have the opposite effects on various

systems.

The sympathetic nervous system is activated when we are faced with stressful or high-arousal situations. The activity of this system was adaptive for our ancestors, increasing their chances of survival. Imagine, for example, that one of our early ancestors, out hunting small game, suddenly disturbs a large bear with her cubs. At that moment, his body undergoes a series of changes—a direct function of sympathetic activation—preparing him to face the threat. His pupils dilate, his heart rate and blood pressure increase, his bladder relaxes, his liver releases glucose, and adrenaline surges into his bloodstream. This constellation of physiological changes, known as the fight or flight responsefight or flight response, allows the body access to energy reserves and heightened sensory capacity so that it might fight off a threat or run away to safety.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Reinforce what you’ve learned about the nervous system by playing this BBC-produced interactive game about the nervous system.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

TRY ITTRY IT

While it is clear that such a response would be critical for survival for our ancestors, who lived in a world full of real physical threats, many of the high-arousal situations we face in the modern world are more psychological in nature. For example, think about how you feel when you have to stand up and give a presentation in front of a roomful of people, or right before taking a big test. You are in no real physical danger in those situations, and yet you have evolved to respond to any perceived threat with the fight or flight response. This kind of response is not nearly as adaptive in the modern world; in fact, we suffer negative health consequences when faced constantly with psychological threats that we can neither fight nor flee. Recent research suggests that an increase in susceptibility to heart disease (Chandola, Brunner, & Marmot, 2006) and impaired function of the immune system (Glaser & Kiecolt-Glaser, 2005) are among the many negative consequences of persistent and repeated exposure to stressful situations.

Once the threat has been resolved, the parasympathetic nervous system takes over and returns bodily functions to a relaxed state. Our hunter’s heart rate and blood pressure return to normal, his pupils constrict, he regains control of his bladder, and the liver begins to store glucose in the form of glycogen for future use. These processes are associated with activation of the parasympathetic nervous system.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Hopefully, you do not face real physical threats from potential predators on a daily basis. However, you probably have your fair share of stress. What situations are your most common sources of stress? What can you do to try to minimize the negative consequences of these particular stressors in your life?

The Endocrine System

The endocrine systemendocrine system consists of a series of glands that produce chemical substances known as hormoneshormones (Figure 1). Like neurotransmitters, hormones are chemical messengers that must bind to a receptor in order to send their signal. However, unlike neurotransmitters, which are released in close proximity to cells with their receptors, hormones are secreted into the bloodstream and travel throughout the body, affecting any cells that contain receptors for them. Thus, whereas neurotransmitters’ effects are localized, the effects of hormones are widespread. Also, hormones are slower to take effect, and tend to be longer lasting.

Figure 3. The major glands of the endocrine system are shown.

The study of psychology and the endocrine system is called behavioral endocrinology, which is the scientific study of the interaction between hormones and behavior. This interaction is bidirectional: hormones can influence behavior, and behavior can sometimes influence hormone concentrations. Hormones regulate behaviors such as aggression, mating, and parenting of individuals. Hormones are involved in regulating all sorts of bodily functions, and they are ultimately controlled through interactions between the hypothalamus (in the central nervous system) and the pituitary gland (in the endocrine system). Imbalances in hormones are related to a number of disorders. This section explores some of the major glands that make up the endocrine system and the hormones secreted by these glands.

Major Glands

The pituitary glandpituitary gland descends from the hypothalamus at the base of the brain, and acts in close association with it. The pituitary is often referred to as the “master gland” because its messenger hormones control all the other glands in the endocrine system, although it mostly carries out instructions from the hypothalamus. In addition to

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

TRY ITTRY IT

messenger hormones, the pituitary also secretes growth hormone, endorphins for pain relief, and a number of key hormones that regulate fluid levels in the body.

Located in the neck, the thyroid glandthyroid gland releases hormones that regulate growth, metabolism, and appetite. In hyperthyroidism, or Grave’s disease, the thyroid secretes too much of the hormone thyroxine, causing agitation, bulging eyes, and weight loss. In hypothyroidism, reduced hormone levels cause sufferers to experience tiredness, and they often complain of feeling cold. Fortunately, thyroid disorders are often treatable with medications that help reestablish a balance in the hormones secreted by the thyroid.

The adrenal glandsadrenal glands sit atop our kidneys and secrete hormones involved in the stress response, such as epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline). The pancreaspancreas is an internal organ that secretes hormones that regulate blood sugar levels: insulin and glucagon. These pancreatic hormones are essential for maintaining stable levels of blood sugar throughout the day by lowering blood glucose levels (insulin) or raising them (glucagon). People who suffer from diabetesdiabetes do not produce enough insulin; therefore, they must take medications that stimulate or replace insulin production, and they must closely control the amount of sugars and carbohydrates they consume.

The gonadsgonads secrete sexual hormones, which are important in reproduction, and mediate both sexual motivation and behavior. The female gonads are the ovaries; the male gonads are the testis. Ovaries secrete estrogens and progesterone, and the testes secrete androgens, such as testosterone.

DIG DEEPER: ATHLETES AND ANABOLIC STEROIDSDIG DEEPER: ATHLETES AND ANABOLIC STEROIDS

Although it is against most laws to do so, many professional athletes and body builders use anabolic steroid drugs to improve their athletic performance and physique. Anabolic steroid drugs mimic the effects of the body’s own steroid hormones, like testosterone and its derivatives. These drugs have the potential to provide a competitive edge by increasing muscle mass, strength, and endurance, although not all users may experience these results. Moreover, use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) does not come without risks. Anabolic steroid use has been linked with a wide variety of potentially negative outcomes, ranging in severity from largely cosmetic (acne) to life threatening (heart attack). Furthermore, use of these substances can result in profound changes in mood and can increase aggressive behavior (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2001).

Baseball player Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) has been at the center of a media storm regarding his use of illegal PEDs. Rodriguez’s performance on the field was unparalleled while using the drugs; his success played a large role in negotiating a contract that made him the highest paid player in professional baseball. Although Rodriguez maintains that he has not used PEDs for the several years, he received a substantial suspension in 2013 that, if upheld, will cost him more than 20 million dollars in earnings (Gaines, 2013). What are your thoughts on athletes and doping? Why or why not should the use of PEDs be banned? What advice would you give an athlete who was considering using PEDs?

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Learn more about endocrinology from The Noba Psychology article, “Hormones and Behavior.”

Hormones and Behavior

How might behaviors affect hormones? Extensive studies on male zebra finches and their singing (only males finches sing) demonstrate that the hormones testosterone and estradiol affect their singing, but the reciprocal relation also occurs; that is, behavior can affect hormone concentrations. For example, the sight of a territorial intruder may elevate blood testosterone concentrations in resident male birds and thereby stimulate singing or fighting behavior. Similarly, male mice or rhesus monkeys that lose a fight decrease circulating testosterone concentrations for several days or even weeks afterward. Comparable results have also been reported in humans. Testosterone concentrations are affected not only in humans involved in physical combat, but also in those involved in simulated battles. For example, testosterone concentrations were elevated in winners and reduced in losers of regional chess tournaments.

People do not have to be directly involved in a contest to have their hormones affected by the outcome of the contest. Male fans of both the Brazilian and Italian teams were recruited to provide saliva samples to be assayed for testosterone before and after the final game of the World Cup soccer match in 1994. Brazil and Italy were tied going into the final game, but Brazil won on a penalty kick at the last possible moment. The Brazilian fans were elated and the Italian fans were crestfallen. When the samples were assayed, 11 of 12 Brazilian fans who were sampled had increased testosterone concentrations, and 9 of 9 Italian fans had decreased testosterone concentrations, compared with pre-game baseline values (Dabbs, 2000).

In some cases, hormones can be affected by anticipation of behavior. For example, testosterone concentrations also influence sexual motivation and behavior in women. In one study, the interaction between sexual intercourse and testosterone was compared with other activities (cuddling or exercise) in women (van Anders, Hamilton, Schmidt, & Watson, 2007). On three separate occasions, women provided a pre-activity, post-activity, and next- morning saliva sample. After analysis, the women’s testosterone was determined to be elevated prior to intercourse as compared to other times. Thus, an anticipatory relationship exists between sexual behavior and testosterone. Testosterone values were higher post-intercourse compared to exercise, suggesting that engaging in sexual behavior may also influence hormone concentrations in women.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

adrenal gland:adrenal gland: sits atop our kidneys and secretes hormones involved in the stress response

autonomic nervous system:autonomic nervous system: controls our internal organs and glands

central nervous system (CNS):central nervous system (CNS): brain and spinal cord

diabetes:diabetes: disease related to insufficient insulin production

endocrine system:endocrine system: series of glands that produce chemical substances known as hormones

fight or flight response:fight or flight response: activation of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system, allowing access to energy reserves and heightened sensory capacity so that we might fight off a given threat or run away to safety

gonad:gonad: secretes sexual hormones, which are important for successful reproduction, and mediate both sexual motivation and behavior

homeostasis:homeostasis: state of equilibrium—biological conditions, such as body temperature, are maintained at optimal levels

hormone:hormone: chemical messenger released by endocrine glands

pancreas:pancreas: secretes hormones that regulate blood sugar

parasympathetic nervous system:parasympathetic nervous system: associated with routine, day-to-day operations of the body

peripheral nervous system (PNS):peripheral nervous system (PNS): connects the brain and spinal cord to the muscles, organs and senses in the periphery of the body

pituitary gland:pituitary gland: secretes a number of key hormones, which regulate fluid levels in the body, and a number of messenger hormones, which direct the activity of other glands in the endocrine system

thyroid:thyroid: secretes hormones that regulate growth, metabolism, and appetite

somatic nervous system:somatic nervous system: relays sensory and motor information to and from the CNS

sympathetic nervous system:sympathetic nervous system: involved in stress-related activities and functions

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Given the negative health consequences associated with the use of anabolic steroids, what kinds of considerations might be involved in a person’s decision to use them?

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=106

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• The Endocrine System. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:34oFmAxl@6/The-Endocrine-System. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/.

• Hormones and Behavior and introductory section and part on endocrinology. Authored byAuthored by: Randy J. Nelson. Provided byProvided by: The Ohio State University. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/textbooks/wendy-king- introduction-to-psychology-the-full-noba-collection/modules/hormones-behavior. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

• Parts of the Nervous System. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:-xs7Ve8V@6/Parts-of-the-Nervous-System. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

Public domain contentPublic domain content

• Spinal Cord. Authored byAuthored by: BruceBlaus. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfer%27s_myelopathy#/media/File:Blausen_0822_SpinalCord.png. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

PARTS OF THE BRAIN

What you’ll learn to do: identify and describe the parts of the brain

In this section, you’ll learn about the specific parts of the brain and their roles and functions. While this is not an anatomy class, you’ll see how important it is to understand the parts of the brain and what they do so that we can understand mental processes and behavior. Watch this CrashCourse Psychology video for an overview on the brain and the interesting topics we’ll cover:

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain the two hemispheres of the brain, lateralization and plasticity • Identify the location and function of the lobes of the brain

The Central Nervous System The central nervous system (CNS), consists of the brain and the spinal cord.

The Brain

The brain is a remarkably complex organ comprised of billions of interconnected neurons and glia. It is a bilateral, or two-sided, structure that can be separated into distinct lobes. Each lobe is associated with certain types of functions, but, ultimately, all of the areas of the brain interact with one another to provide the foundation for our thoughts and behaviors.

The Spinal Cord

It can be said that the spinal cord is what connects the brain to the outside world. Because of it, the brain can act. The spinal cord is like a relay station, but a very smart one. It not only routes messages to and from the brain, but it also has its own system of automatic processes, called reflexes.

Figure 1. The surface of the brain is covered with gyri and

sulci. A deep sulcus is called a fissure, such as the

longitudinal fissure that divides the brain into left and right

hemispheres. (credit: modification of work by Bruce

Blaus)

The top of the spinal cord merges with the brain stem, where the basic processes of life are controlled, such as breathing and digestion. In the opposite direction, the spinal cord ends just below the ribs—contrary to what we might expect, it does not extend all the way to the base of the spine.

The spinal cord is functionally organized in 30 segments, corresponding with the vertebrae. Each segment is connected to a specific part of the body through the peripheral nervous system. Nerves branch out from the spine at each vertebra. Sensory nerves bring messages in; motor nerves send messages out to the muscles and organs. Messages travel to and from the brain through every segment.

Some sensory messages are immediately acted on by the spinal cord, without any input from the brain. Withdrawal from heat and knee jerk are two examples. When a sensory message meets certain parameters, the spinal cord initiates an automatic reflex. The signal passes from the sensory nerve to a simple processing center, which initiates a motor command. Seconds are saved, because messages don’t have to go the brain, be processed, and get sent back. In matters of survival, the spinal reflexes allow the body to react extraordinarily fast.

The spinal cord is protected by bony vertebrae and cushioned in cerebrospinal fluid, but injuries still occur. When the spinal cord is damaged in a particular segment, all lower segments are cut off from the brain, causing paralysis. Therefore, the lower on the spine damage is, the fewer functions an injured individual loses.

The Two Hemispheres

The surface of the brain, known as the cerebral cortexcerebral cortex, is very uneven, characterized by a distinctive pattern of folds or bumps, known as gyrigyri (singular: gyrus), and grooves, known as sulcisulci (singular: sulcus), shown in Figure 1. These gyri and sulci form important landmarks that allow us to separate the brain into functional centers. The most prominent sulcus, known as the longitudinal fissure, is the deep groove that separates the brain into two halves or hemispheres: the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere.

There is evidence of some specialization of function—referred to as lateralizationlateralization—in each hemisphere, mainly regarding differences in language ability. Beyond that, however, the differences that have been found have been minor. What we do know is that the left hemisphere controls the right half of the body, and the right hemisphere controls the left half of the body.

The two hemispheres are connected by a thick band of neural fibers known as the corpus callosumcorpus callosum, consisting of about 200 million axons. The corpus callosum allows the two hemispheres to communicate with each other and allows for information being processed on one side of the brain to be shared with the other side.

Normally, we are not aware of the different roles that our two hemispheres play in day-to-day functions, but there are people who come to know the capabilities and functions of their two hemispheres quite well. In some cases of severe epilepsy, doctors elect to sever the corpus callosum as a means of controlling the spread of seizures (Figure 2). While this is an effective treatment option, it results in individuals who have split brains. After surgery, these split-brain patients show a variety of interesting behaviors. For instance, a split-brain patient is unable to name a picture that is shown in the patient’s left visual field because the information is only available in the largely nonverbal right hemisphere. However, they are able to recreate the picture with their left hand, which is also controlled by the right hemisphere. When the more verbal left hemisphere sees the picture that the hand drew, the patient is able to name it (assuming the left hemisphere can interpret what was drawn by the left hand).

Figure 2. (a, b) The corpus callosum connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain. (c) A scientist spreads this dissected

sheep brain apart to show the corpus callosum between the hemispheres. (credit c: modification of work by Aaron Bornstein)

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

This interactive animation from the Nobel Prize website walks users through the hemispheres of the brain.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this video to see an incredible example of the challenges facing a split-brain patient shortly following the surgery to sever her corpus callosum.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

TRY ITTRY IT

Much of what we know about the functions of different areas of the brain comes from studying changes in the behavior and ability of individuals who have suffered damage to the brain. For example, researchers study the behavioral changes caused by strokes to learn about the functions of specific brain areas. A stroke, caused by an interruption of blood flow to a region in the brain, causes a loss of brain function in the affected region. The damage can be in a small area, and, if it is, this gives researchers the opportunity to link any resulting behavioral changes to a specific area. The types of deficits displayed after a stroke will be largely dependent on where in the brain the damage occurred.

Consider Theona, an intelligent, self-sufficient woman, who is 62 years old. Recently, she suffered a stroke in the front portion of her right hemisphere. As a result, she has great difficulty moving her left leg. (As you learned earlier, the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body; also, the brain’s main motor centers are located at the front of the head, in the frontal lobe.) Theona has also experienced behavioral changes. For example, while in the produce section of the grocery store, she sometimes eats grapes, strawberries, and apples directly from their bins before paying for them. This behavior—which would have been very embarrassing to her before the stroke—is consistent with damage in another region in the frontal lobe—the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with judgment, reasoning, and impulse control.

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

Watch this second about another patient who underwent a dramatic surgery to prevent her seizures. You’ll learn more about the brain’s ability to change, adapt, and reorganize itself, also known as brain plasticityplasticity.

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

Forebrain Structures

The two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex are part of the forebrainforebrain (Figure 3), which is the largest part of the brain. The forebrain contains the cerebral cortex and a number of other structures that lie beneath the cortex (called subcortical structures): thalamus, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and the limbic system (collection of structures). The cerebral cortex, which is the outer surface of the brain, is associated with higher level processes such as consciousness, thought, emotion, reasoning, language, and memory. Each cerebral hemisphere can be subdivided into four lobes, each associated with different functions.

Figure 3. The brain and its parts can be divided into three main categories: the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain.

Lobes of the Brain

The four lobes of the brain are the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes (Figure 4). The frontal lobefrontal lobe is located in the forward part of the brain, extending back to a fissure known as the central sulcus. The frontal lobe is involved in reasoning, motor control, emotion, and language. It contains the motor cortexmotor cortex, which is involved in planning and coordinating movement; the prefrontal cortexprefrontal cortex, which is responsible for higher-level cognitive functioning; and Broca’s areaBroca’s area, which is essential for language production.

Figure 4. The lobes of the brain are shown.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

TRY ITTRY IT

People who suffer damage to Broca’s area have great difficulty producing language of any form. For example, Padma was an electrical engineer who was socially active and a caring, involved mother. About twenty years ago, she was in a car accident and suffered damage to her Broca’s area. She completely lost the ability to speak and form any kind of meaningful language. There is nothing wrong with her mouth or her vocal cords, but she is unable to produce words. She can follow directions but can’t respond verbally, and she can read but no longer write. She can do routine tasks like running to the market to buy milk, but she could not communicate verbally if a situation called for it.

Probably the most famous case of frontal lobe damage is that of a man by the name of Phineas Gage. On September 13, 1848, Gage (age 25) was working as a railroad foreman in Vermont. He and his crew were using

an iron rod to tamp explosives down into a blasting hole to remove rock along the railway’s path. Unfortunately, the iron rod created a spark and caused the rod to explode out of the blasting hole, into Gage’s face, and through his skull (Figure 5). Although lying in a pool of his own blood with brain matter emerging from his head, Gage was conscious and able to get up, walk, and speak. But in the months following his accident, people noticed that his personality had changed. Many of his friends described him as no longer being himself. Before the accident, it was said that Gage was a well-mannered, soft-spoken man, but he began to behave in odd and inappropriate ways after the accident. Such changes in personality would be consistent with loss of impulse control—a frontal lobe function.

Beyond the damage to the frontal lobe itself, subsequent investigations into the rod’s path also identified probable damage to pathways between the frontal lobe and other brain structures, including the limbic system. With connections between the planning functions of the frontal lobe and the emotional processes of the limbic system severed, Gage had difficulty controlling his emotional impulses.

However, there is some evidence suggesting that the dramatic changes in Gage’s personality were exaggerated

and embellished. Gage’s case occurred in the midst of a 19th century debate over localization—regarding whether certain areas of the brain are associated with particular functions. On the basis of extremely limited information about Gage, the extent of his injury, and his life before and after the accident, scientists tended to find support for their own views, on whichever side of the debate they fell (Macmillan, 1999).

Figure 5. (a) Phineas Gage holds the iron rod that penetrated his skull in an 1848 railroad construction accident. (b) Gage’s

prefrontal cortex was severely damaged in the left hemisphere. The rod entered Gage’s face on the left side, passed behind his

eye, and exited through the top of his skull, before landing about 80 feet away. (credit a: modification of work by Jack and Beverly

Wilgus)

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch either (or both) clip(s) about Phineas Gage to learn more about his accident and injury.

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

Figure 6: Specific body parts like the tongue or fingers are mapped onto certain areas of the brain including the primary motor

cortex.

Figure 7. Spatial relationships in the body are mirrored in

the organization of the somatosensory cortex.

Figure 8. Damage to either Broca’s area or Wernicke’s

area can result in language deficits. The types of deficits

are very different, however, depending on which area is

affected.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

TRY ITTRY IT

One particularly fascinating area in the frontal lobe is called the “primary motor cortex”. This strip running along the side of the brain is in charge of voluntary movements like waving goodbye, wiggling your eyebrows, and kissing. It is an excellent example of the way that the various regions of the brain are highly specialized. Interestingly, each of our various body parts has a unique portion of the primary motor cortex devoted to it (see Figure 6). Each individual finger has about as much dedicated brain space as your entire leg. Your lips, in turn, require about as much dedicated brain processing as all of your fingers and your hand combined!

Because the cerebral cortex in general, and the frontal lobe in particular, are associated with such sophisticated functions as planning and being self-aware they are often thought of as a higher, less primal portion of the brain. Indeed, other animals such as rats and kangaroos while they do have frontal regions of their brain do not have the same level of development in the cerebral cortices. The closer an animal is to humans on the evolutionary tree—think chimpanzees and gorillas, the more developed is this portion of their brain.

The brain’s parietal lobeparietal lobe is located immediately behind the frontal lobe, and is involved in processing information from the body’s senses. It contains the somatosensory cortexsomatosensory cortex, which is essential for processing sensory information from across the body, such as touch, temperature, and pain. The somatosensory cortex is organized topographically, which means that spatial relationships that exist in the body are maintained on the surface of the somatosensory cortex. For example, the portion of the cortex that processes sensory information from the hand is adjacent to the portion that processes information from the wrist.

The temporal lobetemporal lobe is located on the side of the head (temporal means “near the temples”), and is associated with hearing, memory, emotion, and some aspects of language. The auditory cortexauditory cortex, the main area responsible for processing auditory information, is located within the temporal lobe. Wernicke’s areaWernicke’s area, important for speech comprehension, is also located here. Whereas individuals with damage to Broca’s area have difficulty producing language, those with damage to Wernicke’s area can produce sensible language, but they are unable to understand it (Figure 8).

The occipital lobeoccipital lobe is located at the very back of the brain, and contains the primary visual cortex, which is responsible for interpreting incoming visual information. The occipital cortex is organized retinotopically, which means there is a close relationship between the position of an object in a person’s visual field and the position of that object’s representation on the cortex. You will learn much more about how visual information is processed in the occipital lobe when you study sensation and perception.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

FOOD FOR THOUGHTFOOD FOR THOUGHT

Consider the following advice from Joseph LeDoux, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at New York University, as you learn about the specific parts of the brain:

Be suspicious of any statement that says a brain area is a center responsible for some function. The notion of functions being products of brain areas or centers is left over from the days when most evidence about brain function was based on the effects of brain lesions localized to specific areas. Today, we think of functions as products of systems rather than of areas. Neurons in areas contribute because they are part of a system. The amygdala, for example, contributes to threat detection because it is part of a threat detection system. And just because the amygdala contributes to threat detection does not mean that threat detection is the only function to which it contributes. Amygdala neurons, for example, are also components of systems that process the significance of stimuli related to eating, drinking, sex, and addictive drugs.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

TRY ITTRY IT

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2036

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

auditory cortex:auditory cortex: strip of cortex in the temporal lobe that is responsible for processing auditory information Broca’s area:Broca’s area: region in the left hemisphere that is essential for language production cerebral cortex:cerebral cortex: surface of the brain that is associated with our highest mental capabilities corpus callosum:corpus callosum: thick band of neural fibers connecting the brain’s two hemispheres forebrain:forebrain: largest part of the brain, containing the cerebral cortex, the thalamus, and the limbic system, among other structures frontal lobe:frontal lobe: part of the cerebral cortex involved in reasoning, motor control, emotion, and language; contains motor cortex gyrusgyrus (plural: gyri): bump or ridge on the cerebral cortex hemisphere:hemisphere: left or right half of the brain lateralization:lateralization: concept that each hemisphere of the brain is associated with specialized functions longitudinal fissure:longitudinal fissure: deep groove in the brain’s cortex motor cortex:motor cortex: strip of cortex involved in planning and coordinating movement occipital lobe:occipital lobe: part of the cerebral cortex associated with visual processing; contains the primary visual cortex parietal lobe:parietal lobe: part of the cerebral cortex involved in processing various sensory and perceptual information; contains the primary somatosensory cortex prefrontal cortex:prefrontal cortex: area in the frontal lobe responsible for higher-level cognitive functioning somatosensory cortex:somatosensory cortex: essential for processing sensory information from across the body, such as touch, temperature, and pain sulcussulcus (plural: sulci): depressions or grooves in the cerebral cortex temporal lobe:temporal lobe: part of cerebral cortex associated with hearing, memory, emotion, and some aspects of language; contains primary auditory cortex Wernicke’s area:Wernicke’s area: important for speech comprehension

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Introduction. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• The Brain and Spinal Cord. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:_Io4zP0c@7/The-Brain-and-Spinal-Cord. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/.

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • The Amygdala Is Not The Brains Fear Center. Authored byAuthored by: Joseph LeDoux. Located atLocated at: http://thepsychreport.com/science/the-amygdala-is-not-the-brains-fear-center/. ProjectProject: The Psych Report. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA:

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike • Motor cortex paragraphs and image. Authored byAuthored by: Robert Biswas-Diener. Provided byProvided by: Portland State University. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/modules/the-brain-and-nervous-system. ProjectProject: The Noba Project.

LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Meet Your Master: Getting to Know Your Brain – Crash Course Psychology #4. Provided byProvided by: CrashCourse . Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHrmiy4W9C0. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

• Split Brain mpeg1video. Authored byAuthored by: mrsrooboy. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C8qu8FnuAo&feature=youtu.be. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License • Brain Plasticity – the story of Jody. Authored byAuthored by: Streetwisdom Billy. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaDlLD97CLM&feature=youtu.be. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License • Phineas Gage (LEGO Stop-Motion Music Video). Authored byAuthored by: Brad Wray. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nikOxNfjqs. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

Public domain contentPublic domain content

• brain image. Authored byAuthored by: Henry Gray. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lobes_of_the_brain_NL.svg. LicenseLicense: Public Domain: No Known Copyright

THE LIMBIC SYSTEM AND OTHER BRAIN AREAS

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Identify and describe the role of the parts of the limbic system, the midbrain, and hindbrain

Areas of the Forebrain

Other areas of the forebrainforebrain (which includes the lobes that you learned about previously), are the parts located beneath the cerebral cortex, including the thalamus and the limbic system. The thalamusthalamus is a sensory relay for the brain. All of our senses, with the exception of smell, are routed through the thalamus before being directed to other areas of the brain for processing (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The thalamus serves as the relay center of the brain where most senses are routed for processing.

The limbic systemlimbic system is involved in processing both emotion and memory. Interestingly, the sense of smell projects directly to the limbic system; therefore, not surprisingly, smell can evoke emotional responses in ways that other sensory modalities cannot. The limbic system is made up of a number of different structures, but three of the most important are the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the hypothalamus (Figure 2). The hippocampushippocampus is an essential structure for learning and memory. The amygdalaamygdala is involved in our experience of emotion and in tying emotional meaning to our memories. The hypothalamushypothalamus regulates a number of homeostatic processes, including the regulation of body temperature, appetite, and blood pressure. The hypothalamus also serves as an interface between the nervous system and the endocrine system and in the regulation of sexual motivation and behavior.

Figure 2. The limbic system is involved in mediating emotional response and memory.

THE CASE OF HENRY MOLAISON (H.M.)THE CASE OF HENRY MOLAISON (H.M.)

In 1953, Henry Gustav Molaison (H. M.) was a 27-year-old man who experienced severe seizures. In an attempt to control his seizures, H. M. underwent brain surgery to remove his hippocampus and amygdala. Following the surgery, H.M’s seizures became much less severe, but he also suffered some unexpected—and devastating—consequences of the surgery: he lost his ability to form many types of new memories. For example, he was unable to learn new facts, such as who was president of the United States. He was able to learn new skills, but afterward he had no recollection of learning them. For example, while he might learn to use a computer, he would have no conscious memory of ever having used one. He could not remember new faces, and he was unable to remember events, even immediately after they occurred. Researchers were fascinated by his experience, and he is considered one of the most studied cases in medical and psychological history (Hardt, Einarsson, & Nader, 2010; Squire, 2009). Indeed, his case has provided tremendous insight into the role that the hippocampus plays in the consolidation of new learning into explicit memory.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1999

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1999

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1999

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1999

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1999

TRY ITTRY IT

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Clive Wearing, an accomplished musician, lost the ability to form new memories when his hippocampus was damaged through illness. Check out the first few minutes of this documentary video for an introduction to this man and his condition.

Midbrain and Hindbrain Structures

The midbrainmidbrain is comprised of structures located deep within the brain, between the forebrain and the hindbrain. The reticular formationreticular formation is centered in the midbrain, but it actually extends up into the forebrain and down into the hindbrain. The reticular formation is important in regulating the sleep/wake cycle, arousal, alertness, and motor activity.

The substantia nigrasubstantia nigra (Latin for “black substance”) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA)ventral tegmental area (VTA) are also located in the midbrain (Figure 3). Both regions contain cell bodies that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine, and both are critical for movement. Degeneration of the substantia nigra and VTA is involved in Parkinson’s disease. In addition, these structures are involved in mood, reward, and addiction (Berridge & Robinson, 1998; Gardner, 2011; George, Le Moal, & Koob, 2012).

Figure 3. The substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area (VTA) are located in the midbrain.

The hindbrainhindbrain is located at the back of the head and looks like an extension of the spinal cord. It contains the medulla, pons, and cerebellum (Figure 4). The medullamedulla controls the automatic processes of the autonomic nervous system, such as breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate. The word ponspons literally means “bridge,” and as the name suggests, the pons serves to connect the brain and spinal cord. It also is involved in regulating brain activity during sleep. The medulla, pons, and midbrain together are known as the brainstem.

Figure 4. The pons, medulla, and cerebellum make up the hindbrain.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Click on the link below to review each part of the brain and its purpose through the PsychSim Tutorial. The tutorial is only intended for practice. Please disregard the final screen that requests you submit answers to your instructor.

• Brain and Behavior

For a fun recap of the parts of the brain, watch the following short clip from the old cartoon, Pinky and the Brain:

The cerebellumcerebellum (Latin for “little brain”) receives messages from muscles, tendons, joints, and structures in our ear to control balance, coordination, movement, and motor skills. The cerebellum is also thought to be an important area for processing some types of memories. In particular, procedural memory, or memory involved in learning and remembering how to perform tasks, is thought to be associated with the cerebellum. Recall that H. M. was unable to form new explicit memories, but he could learn new tasks. This is likely due to the fact that H. M.’s cerebellum remained intact.

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1999

WHAT DO YOU THINK?: BRAIN DEAD AND ON LIFE SUPPORTWHAT DO YOU THINK?: BRAIN DEAD AND ON LIFE SUPPORT

What would you do if your spouse or loved one was declared brain dead but his or her body was being kept alive by medical equipment? Whose decision should it be to remove a feeding tube? Should medical care costs be a factor?

On February 25, 1990, a Florida woman named Terri Schiavo went into cardiac arrest, apparently triggered by a bulimic episode. She was eventually revived, but her brain had been deprived of oxygen for a long time. Brain scans indicated that there was no activity in her cerebral cortex, and she suffered from severe and permanent cerebral atrophy. Basically, Schiavo was in a vegetative state. Medical professionals determined that she would never again be able to move, talk, or respond in any way. To remain alive, she required a feeding tube, and there was no chance that her situation would ever improve.

On occasion, Schiavo’s eyes would move, and sometimes she would groan. Despite the doctors’ insistence to the contrary, her parents believed that these were signs that she was trying to communicate with them.

After 12 years, Schiavo’s husband argued that his wife would not have wanted to be kept alive with no feelings, sensations, or brain activity. Her parents, however, were very much against removing her feeding tube. Eventually, the case made its way to the courts, both in the state of Florida and at the federal level. By 2005, the courts found in favor of Schiavo’s husband, and the feeding tube was removed on March 18, 2005. Schiavo died 13 days later.

Why did Schiavo’s eyes sometimes move, and why did she groan? Although the parts of her brain that control thought, voluntary movement, and feeling were completely damaged, her brainstem was still intact. Her medulla and pons maintained her breathing and caused involuntary movements of her eyes and the occasional groans. Over the 15-year period that she was on a feeding tube, Schiavo’s medical costs may have topped $7 million (Arnst, 2003).

These questions were brought to popular conscience 25 years ago in the case of Terri Schiavo, and they persist today. In 2013, a 13-year-old girl who suffered complications after tonsil surgery was declared brain dead. There was a battle between her family, who wanted her to remain on life support, and the hospital’s policies regarding persons declared brain dead. In another complicated 2013–14 case in Texas, a pregnant EMT professional declared brain dead was kept alive for weeks, despite her spouse’s directives, which were based on her wishes should this situation arise. In this case, state laws designed to protect an unborn fetus came into consideration until doctors determined the fetus unviable.

Decisions surrounding the medical response to patients declared brain dead are complex. What do you think about these issues?

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1999

TRY ITTRY IT

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

You read about H. M.’s memory deficits following the bilateral removal of his hippocampus and amygdala. Have you encountered a character in a book, television program, or movie that suffered memory deficits? How was that character similar to and different from H. M.?

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

amygdala:amygdala: structure in the limbic system involved in our experience of emotion and tying emotional meaning to our memories

cerebellum:cerebellum: hindbrain structure that controls our balance, coordination, movement, and motor skills, and it is thought to be important in processing some types of memory

cerebral cortex:cerebral cortex: surface of the brain that is associated with our highest mental capabilities

forebrain:forebrain: largest part of the brain, containing the cerebral cortex, the thalamus, and the limbic system, among other structures

hindbrain:hindbrain: division of the brain containing the medulla, pons, and cerebellum

hippocampus:hippocampus: structure in the temporal lobe associated with learning and memory

hypothalamus:hypothalamus: forebrain structure that regulates sexual motivation and behavior and a number of homeostatic processes; serves as an interface between the nervous system and the endocrine system

limbic system:limbic system: collection of structures involved in processing emotion and memory

medulla:medulla: hindbrain structure that controls automated processes like breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate

midbrain:midbrain: division of the brain located between the forebrain and the hindbrain; contains the reticular formation

pons:pons: hindbrain structure that connects the brain and spinal cord; involved in regulating brain activity during sleep

reticular formation:reticular formation: midbrain structure important in regulating the sleep/wake cycle, arousal, alertness, and motor activity

thalamus:thalamus: sensory relay for the brain

ventral tegmental area (VTA):ventral tegmental area (VTA): midbrain structure where dopamine is produced: associated with mood, reward, and addiction

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification and adaptation, addition of tutorial. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• The Brain and Spinal Cord. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:_Io4zP0c@7/The-Brain-and-Spinal-Cord#CNX_Psych_03_04_Lobes. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. LicenseLicense TermsTerms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• pinky and the brain-brainstem. Authored byAuthored by: ctdalilah. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snO68aJTOpM. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

BRAIN IMAGING

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe the types of techniques available to clinicians and researchers to image or scan the brain

You have learned how brain injury can provide information about the functions of different parts of the brain. Increasingly, however, we are able to obtain that information using brain imagingbrain imaging techniques on individuals who have not suffered brain injury. In this section, we take a more in-depth look at some of the techniques that are available for imaging the brain, including techniques that rely on radiation, magnetic fields, or electrical activity within the brain.

Figure 1. A CT scan can be used to show brain tumors.

(a) The image on the left shows a healthy brain, whereas

(b) the image on the right indicates a brain tumor in the

left frontal lobe. (credit a: modification of work by

“Aceofhearts1968″/Wikimedia Commons; credit b:

modification of work by Roland Schmitt et al)

Figure 2. A PET scan is helpful for showing activity in

different parts of the brain. (credit: Health and Human

Services Department, National Institutes of Health)

Techniques Involving Radiation

A computerized tomography (CT) scancomputerized tomography (CT) scan involves taking a number of x-rays of a particular section of a person’s body or brain (Figure 1). The x-rays pass through tissues of different densities at different rates, allowing a computer to construct an overall image of the area of the body being scanned. A CT scan is often used to determine whether someone has a tumor, or significant brain atrophy.

Positron emission tomography (PET)Positron emission tomography (PET) scans create pictures of the living, active brain (Figure 2). An individual receiving a PET scan drinks or is injected with a mildly radioactive substance, called a tracer. Once in the bloodstream, the amount of tracer in any given region of the brain can be monitored. As brain areas become more active, more blood flows to that area. A computer monitors the movement of the tracer and creates a rough map of active and inactive areas of the brain during a given behavior. PET scans show little detail, are unable to pinpoint events precisely in time, and require that the brain be exposed to radiation; therefore, this technique has been replaced by the fMRI as an alternative diagnostic tool. However, combined with CT, PET technology is still being used in certain contexts. For example, CT/PET scans allow better imaging of the activity of neurotransmitter receptors and open new avenues in schizophrenia research. In this hybrid CT/PET technology, CT contributes clear images of brain structures, while PET shows the brain’s activity.

Figure 3. An fMRI shows activity in the brain over time.

This image represents a single frame from an fMRI.

(credit: modification of work by Kim J, Matthews NL, Park

S.)

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Visit this virtual lab to learn more about MRI and fMRI.

Techniques Involving Magnetic Fields

In magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a person is placed inside a machine that generates a strong magnetic field. The magnetic field causes the hydrogen atoms in the body’s cells to move. When the magnetic field is turned off, the hydrogen atoms emit electromagnetic signals as they return to their original positions. Tissues of different densities give off different signals, which a computer interprets and displays on a monitor.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) operates on the same principles, but it shows changes in brain activity over time by tracking blood flow and oxygen levels. The fMRI provides more detailed images of the brain’s structure, as well as better accuracy in time, than is possible in PET scans (Figure 3). With their high level of detail, MRI and fMRI are often used to compare the brains of healthy individuals to the brains of individuals diagnosed with psychological disorders. This comparison helps determine what structural and functional differences exist between these populations.

Techniques Involving Electrical Activity

In some situations, it is helpful to gain an understanding of the overall activity of a person’s brain, without needing information on the actual location of the activity. Electroencephalography (EEG)Electroencephalography (EEG) serves this purpose by providing a measure of a brain’s electrical activity. An array of electrodes is placed around a person’s head (Figure 4). The signals received by the electrodes result in a printout of the electrical activity of his or her brain, or brainwaves, showing both the frequency (number of waves per second) and amplitude (height) of the recorded brainwaves, with an accuracy within milliseconds. Such information is especially helpful to researchers studying sleep patterns among individuals with sleep disorders.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1993

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1993

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1993

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1993

TRY ITTRY IT

Figure 4. Using caps with electrodes, modern EEG research can study the precise timing of overall brain activities. (credit: SMI

Eye Tracking)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1993

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1993

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

computerized tomography (CT) scan:computerized tomography (CT) scan: imaging technique in which a computer coordinates and integrates multiple x-rays of a given area

electroencephalography (EEG):electroencephalography (EEG): recording the electrical activity of the brain via electrodes on the scalp

functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI):functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): MRI that shows changes in metabolic activity over time

magnetic resonance imaging (MRI):magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): magnetic fields used to produce a picture of the tissue being imaged

positron emission tomography (PET) scan:positron emission tomography (PET) scan: involves injecting individuals with a mildly radioactive substance and monitoring changes in blood flow to different regions of the brain

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1993

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Parts of the Nervous System. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:-xs7Ve8V@6/Parts-of-the-Nervous-System#CNX_Psych_03_03_Autonomic. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

LATERALIZATION AND NEUROPLASTICITY

You may very well have heard that there are right-brained and left-brained people in the world. But, does this make sense to you? That you’re using only half of your brain? Better yet, does it make sense to you that we are using only 10% of our brain power, as is commonly purported?

The reality is that we use ALL portions of our brains, and that there is no such thing as right- nor left-brained, yet these myths persist.

Phineas Gage was the FIRST to really SHOW us not only about brain organization and lateralization, but also a little about brain plasticity. In OUR worlds, we can see this via the somewhat miraculous recovery of Gabby Giffords.

Be sure to read the following and consider how many places you’ve heard the myth about using 10% of our brains: Do People Only Use 10% of Their Brains?

NATURE AND NURTURE

What you’ll learn to do: explain how nature, nurture, and epigenetics influence personality and behavior

How do we become who we are? Traditionally, people’s answers have placed them in one of two camps: nature or nurture. The one says genes determine an individual while the other claims the environment is the linchpin for development. Since the 16th century, when the terms “nature” and “nurture” first came into use, many people have spent ample time debating which is more important, but these discussions have more often led to ideological cul-de-sacs rather than pinnacles of insight.

New research into epigenetics—the science of how the environment influences genetic expression—is changing the conversation. As psychologist David S. Moore explains in his newest book, The Developing Genome, this burgeoning field reveals that what counts is not what genes you have so much as what your genes are doing. And what your genes are doing is influenced by the ever-changing environment they’re in. Factors like stress, nutrition, and exposure to toxins all play a role in how genes are expressed—essentially which genes are turned on or off. Unlike the static conception of nature or nurture, epigenetic research demonstrates how genes and environments continuously interact to produce characteristics throughout a lifetime.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Investigate the historic nature vs. nurture debate and describe techniques psychologists use to learn about the origin of traits

Figure 1. Researchers have learned a great deal about

the nature-nurture dynamic by working with animals. But

of course many of the techniques used to study animals

cannot be applied to people. Separating these two

influences in human subjects is a greater research

challenge. [Photo: mharrsch]

• Explain the basic principles of the theory of evolution by natural selection, genetic variation, and mutation

The Nature vs. Nurture Debate

Are you the way you are because you were born that way, or because of the way you were raised? Do your genetics and biology dictate your personality and behavior, or is it your environment and how you were raised? These questions are central to the age-old nature-nurturenature-nurture debate. In the history of psychology, no other question has caused so much controversy and offense: We are so concerned with nature–nurture because our very sense of moral character seems to depend on it. While we may admire the athletic skills of a great basketball player, we think of his height as simply a gift, a payoff in the “genetic lottery.” For the same reason, no one blames a short person for his height or someone’s congenital disability on poor decisions: To state the obvious, it’s “not their fault.” But we do praise the concert violinist (and perhaps her parents and teachers as well) for her dedication, just as we condemn cheaters, slackers, and bullies for their bad behavior.The problem is, most human characteristics aren’t usually as clear-cut as height or instrument-mastery, affirming our nature–nurture expectations strongly one way or the other. In fact, even the great violinist might have some inborn qualities—perfect pitch, or long, nimble fingers—that support and reward her hard work. And the basketball player might have eaten a diet while growing up that promoted his genetic tendency for being tall. When we think about our own qualities, they seem under our control in some respects, yet beyond our control in others. And often the traits that don’t seem to have an obvious cause are the ones that concern us the most and are far more personally significant. What about how much we drink or worry? What about our honesty, or religiosity, or sexual orientation? They all come from that uncertain zone, neither fixed by nature nor totally under our own control.

One major problem with answering nature-nurture questions about people is, how do you set up an experiment? In nonhuman animals, there are relatively straightforward experiments for tackling nature–nurture questions. Say, for example, you are interested in aggressiveness in dogs. You want to test for the more important determinant of aggression: being born to aggressive dogs or being raised by them. You could mate two aggressive dogs—angry Chihuahuas—together, and mate two nonaggressive dogs—happy beagles—together, then switch half the puppies from each litter between the different sets of parents to raise. You would then have puppies born to aggressive parents (the Chihuahuas) but being raised by nonaggressive parents (the Beagles), and vice versa, in litters that mirror each other in puppy distribution. The big questions are: Would the Chihuahua parents raise aggressive beagle puppies? Would the beagle parents raise nonaggressive Chihuahua puppies? Would the puppies’ nature win out, regardless of who raised them? Or… would the result be a combination of nature and nurture? Much of the most significant nature–nurture research has been done in this way (Scott & Fuller, 1998), and animal breeders have been doing it successfully for thousands of years. In fact, it is fairly easy to breed animals for behavioral traits.

With people, however, we can’t assign babies to parents at random, or select parents with certain behavioral characteristics to mate, merely in the interest of science (though history does include horrific examples of such practices, in misguided attempts at “eugenics,” the shaping of human characteristics through intentional breeding). In typical human families, children’s biological parents raise them, so it is very difficult to know whether children act like their parents due to genetic (nature) or environmental (nurture) reasons. Nevertheless, despite our restrictions on setting up human-based experiments, we do see real-world examples of nature-nurture at work in the human sphere—though they only provide partial answers to our many questions. The science of how genes and environments work together to influence behavior is called behavioral geneticsbehavioral genetics. The easiest opportunity we

Figure 2. Studies focused on twins have lead to important

insights about the biological origins of many personality

characteristics. [Photo: ethermoon]

have to observe this is the adoption studyadoption study. When children are put up for adoption, the parents who give birth to them are no longer the parents who raise them. This setup isn’t quite the same as the experiments with dogs (children aren’t assigned to random adoptive parents in order to suit the particular interests of a scientist) but adoption still tells us some interesting things, or at least confirms some basic expectations. For instance, if the biological child of tall parents were adopted into a family of short people, do you suppose the child’s growth would be affected? What about the biological child of a Spanish-speaking family adopted at birth into an English- speaking family? What language would you expect the child to speak? And what might these outcomes tell you about the difference between height and language in terms of nature-nurture?

Another option for observing nature-nurture in humans involves twin studiestwin studies. There are two types of twins: monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ). Monozygotic twins, also called “identical” twins, result from a single zygote (fertilized egg) and have the same DNA. They are essentially clones. Dizygotic twins, also known as “fraternal” twins, develop from two zygotes and share 50% of their DNA. Fraternal twins are ordinary siblings who happen to have been born at the same time. To analyze nature–nurture using twins, we compare the similarity of MZ and DZ pairs. Sticking with the features of height and spoken language, let’s take a look at how nature and nurture apply: Identical twins, unsurprisingly, are almost perfectly similar for height. The heights of fraternal twins, however, are like any other sibling pairs: more similar to each other than to people from other families, but hardly identical. This contrast between twin types gives us a clue about the role genetics plays in determining height.

Now consider spoken language. If one identical twin speaks Spanish at home, the co-twin with whom she is raised almost certainly does too. But the same would be true for a pair of fraternal twins raised together. In terms of spoken language, fraternal twins are just as similar as identical twins, so it appears that the genetic match of identical twins doesn’t make much difference. Twin and adoption studies are two instances of a much broader class of methods for observing nature-nurture called quantitative geneticsquantitative genetics, the scientific discipline in which similarities among individuals are analyzed based on how biologically related they are. We can do these studies with siblings and half-siblings, cousins, twins who have been separated at birth and raised separately (Bouchard, Lykken, McGue, & Segal, 1990; such twins are very rare and play a smaller role than is commonly believed in the science of nature–nurture), or with entire extended families (see Plomin, DeFries, Knopik, & Neiderhiser, 2012, for a complete introduction to research methods relevant to nature–nurture).

For better or for worse, contentions about nature–nurture have intensified because quantitative genetics produces a number called a heritability coefficientheritability coefficient, varying from 0 to 1, that is meant to provide a single measure of genetics’ influence of a trait. In a general way, a heritability coefficient measures how strongly differences among individuals are related to differences among their genes. But beware: Heritability coefficients, although simple to compute, are deceptively difficult to interpret. Nevertheless, numbers that provide simple answers to complicated questions tend to have a strong influence on the human imagination, and a great deal of time has been spent discussing whether the heritability of intelligence or personality or depression is equal to one number or another.

Figure 3. Quantitative genetics uses statistical methods to

study the effects that both heredity and environment have

on test subjects. These methods have provided us with

the heritability coefficient which measures how strongly

differences among individuals for a trait are related to

differences among their genes. [Image: EMSL]

Figure 4. Research over the last half century has revealed

how central genetics are to behavior. The more

genetically related people are the more similar they are

not just physically but also in terms of personality and

behavior. [Photo: 藍川芥 aikawake]

One reason nature–nurture continues to fascinate us so much is that we live in an era of great scientific discovery in genetics, comparable to the times of Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, with regard to astronomy and physics. Every day, it seems, new discoveries are made, new possibilities proposed. When Francis Galton first started thinking about nature–nurture in the late-19th century he was very influenced by his cousin, Charles Darwin, but genetics per se was unknown. Mendel’s famous work with peas, conducted at about the same time, went undiscovered for 20 years; quantitative genetics was developed in the 1920s; DNA was discovered by Watson and Crick in the 1950s; the human genome was completely sequenced at the turn of the 21st century; and we are now on the verge of being able to obtain the specific DNA sequence of anyone at a relatively low cost. No one knows what this new genetic knowledge will mean for the study of nature–nurture, but as we will see in the next section, answers to nature–nurture questions have turned out to be far more difficult and mysterious than anyone imagined.

What Have We Learned About Nature–Nurture? It would be satisfying to be able to say that nature–nurture studies have given us conclusive and complete evidence about where traits come from, with some traits clearly resulting from genetics and others almost entirely from environmental factors, such as childrearing practices and personal will; but that is not the case. Instead, everything has turned out to have some footing in genetics. The more genetically-related people are, the more similar they are—for everything: height, weight, intelligence, personality, mental illness, etc. Sure, it seems like common sense that some traits have a genetic bias. For example, adopted children resemble their biological parents even if they have never met them, and identical twins are more similar to each other than are fraternal twins. And while certain psychological traits, such as personality or mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia), seem reasonably influenced by genetics, it turns out that the same is true for political attitudes, how much television people watch (Plomin, Corley, DeFries, & Fulker, 1990), and whether or not they get divorced (McGue & Lykken, 1992).

It may seem surprising, but genetic influence on behavior is a relatively recent discovery. In the middle of the 20th century, psychology was dominated by the doctrine of behaviorism, which held that behavior could only be explained in terms of environmental factors. Psychiatry concentrated on psychoanalysis, which probed for roots of behavior in individuals’ early life-histories. The truth is, neither behaviorism nor psychoanalysis is incompatible with genetic influences on behavior, and neither Freud nor Skinner was naive about the importance of organic processes in behavior. Nevertheless, in their day it was widely thought that children’s personalities were shaped entirely by imitating their parents’ behavior, and that schizophrenia was caused by certain kinds of “pathological mothering.”

Whatever the outcome of our broader discussion of nature–nurture, the basic fact that the best predictors of an adopted child’s personality or mental health are found in the biological parents he or she has never met, rather than in the adoptive parents who raised him or her, presents a significant challenge to purely environmental explanations of personality or psychopathology. The message is clear: You can’t leave genes out of the equation. But keep in

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2040

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2040

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2040

TRY ITTRY IT

mind, no behavioral traits are completely inherited, so you can’t leave the environment out altogether, either. Trying to untangle the various ways nature-nurture influences human behavior can be messy, and often common- sense notions can get in the way of good science. One very significant contribution of behavioral genetics that has changed psychology for good can be very helpful to keep in mind: When your subjects are biologically- related, no matter how clearly a situation may seem to point to environmental influence, it is never safe to interpret a behavior as wholly the result of nurture without further evidence. For example, when presented with data showing that children whose mothers read to them often are likely to have better reading scores in third grade, it is tempting to conclude that reading to your kids out loud is important to success in school; this may well be true, but the study as described is inconclusive, because there are genetic as well as environmental pathways between the parenting practices of mothers and the abilities of their children. This is a case where “correlation does not imply causation,” as they say. To establish that reading aloud causes success, a scientist can either study the problem in adoptive families (in which the genetic pathway is absent) or by finding a way to randomly assign children to oral reading conditions.

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

• Is your personality more like one of your parents than the other? If you have a sibling, is his or her personality like yours? In your family, how did these similarities and differences develop? What do you think caused them?

• Can you think of a human characteristic for which genetic differences would play almost no role? Defend your choice.

• Do you think the time will come when we will be able to predict almost everything about someone by examining their DNA on the day they are born?

• Identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins for the trait of aggressiveness, as well as for criminal behavior. Do these facts have implications for the courtroom? If it can be shown that a violent criminal had violent parents, should it make a difference in culpability or sentencing?

Psychological researchers study genetics in order to better understand the biological basis that contributes to certain behaviors. While all humans share certain biological mechanisms, we are each unique. And while our bodies have many of the same parts—brains and hormones and cells with genetic codes—these are expressed in a wide variety of behaviors, thoughts, and reactions.

Why do two people infected by the same disease have different outcomes: one surviving and one succumbing to the ailment? How are genetic diseases passed through family lines? Are there genetic components to psychological disorders, such as depression or schizophrenia? To what extent might there be a psychological basis to health conditions such as childhood obesity?

Figure 5. Normal blood cells travel freely through the

blood vessels, while sickle-shaped cells form blockages

preventing blood flow.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Visit this website to learn more about how a mutation in DNA leads to sickle-cell anemia.

To explore these questions, let’s start by focusing on a specific disease, sickle-cell anemia, and how it might affect two infected sisters. Sickle-cell anemiaSickle-cell anemia is a genetic condition in which red blood cells, which are normally round, take on a crescent-like shape (Figure 5). The changed shape of these cells affects how they function: sickle-shaped cells can clog blood vessels and block blood flow, leading to high fever, severe pain, swelling, and tissue damage.

Many people with sickle-cell anemia—and the particular genetic mutation that causes it—die at an early age. While the notion of “survival of the fittest” may suggest that people suffering from this disease have a low survival rate and therefore the disease will become less common, this is not the case. Despite the negative evolutionary effects associated with this genetic mutation, the sickle-cell gene remains relatively common among people of African descent. Why is this? The explanation is illustrated with the following scenario.

Imagine two young women—Luwi and Sena—sisters in rural Zambia, Africa. Luwi carries the gene for sickle-cell anemia; Sena does not carry the gene. Sickle-cell carriers have one copy of the sickle-cell gene but do not have full- blown sickle-cell anemia. They experience symptoms only if they are severely dehydrated or are deprived of oxygen (as in mountain climbing). Carriers are thought to be immune from malaria (an often deadly disease that is widespread in tropical climates) because changes in their blood chemistry and immune functioning prevent the malaria parasite from having its effects (Gong, Parikh, Rosenthal, & Greenhouse, 2013). However, full-blown sickle-cell anemia, with two copies of the sickle-cell gene, does not provide immunity to malaria.

While walking home from school, both sisters are bitten by mosquitos carrying the malaria parasite. Luwi does not get malaria because she carries the sickle-cell mutation. Sena, on the other hand, develops malaria and dies just two weeks later. Luwi survives and eventually has children, to whom she may pass on the sickle-cell mutation.

Malaria is rare in the United States, so the sickle-cell gene benefits nobody: the gene manifests primarily in health problems—minor in carriers, severe in the full-blown disease—with no health benefits for carriers. However, the situation is quite different in other parts of the world. In parts of Africa where malaria is prevalent, having the sickle-cell mutation does provide health benefits for carriers (protection from malaria).

This is precisely the situation that Charles Darwin describes in the theory of evolution by natural selectiontheory of evolution by natural selection (Figure 6). In simple terms, the theory states that organisms that are better suited for their environment will survive and reproduce, while those that are poorly suited for their environment will die off. In our example, we can see that as a carrier, Luwi’s mutation is highly adaptive in her African homeland; however, if she resided in the United States (where malaria is much less common), her mutation could prove costly—with a high probability of the disease in her descendants and minor health problems of her own.

Figure 6. (a) In 1859, Charles Darwin proposed his theory of evolution by natural selection in his book, On the Origin of Species.

(b) The book contains just one illustration: this diagram that shows how species evolve over time through natural selection.

DIG DEEPER: TWO PERSPECTIVES ON GENETICS AND BEHAVIORDIG DEEPER: TWO PERSPECTIVES ON GENETICS AND BEHAVIOR

It’s easy to get confused about two fields that study the interaction of genes and the environment, such as the fields of evolutionary psychologyevolutionary psychology and behavioral geneticsbehavioral genetics. How can we tell them apart?

In both fields, it is understood that genes not only code for particular traits, but also contribute to certain patterns of cognition and behavior. Evolutionary psychology focuses on how universal patterns of behavior and cognitive processes have evolved over time. Therefore, variations in cognition and behavior would make individuals more or less successful in reproducing and passing those genes to their offspring. Evolutionary psychologists study a variety of psychological phenomena that may have evolved as adaptations, including fear response, food preferences, mate selection, and cooperative behaviors (Confer et al., 2010).

Whereas evolutionary psychologists focus on universal patterns that evolved over millions of years, behavioral geneticists study how individual differences arise, in the present, through the interaction of genes and the environment. When studying human behavior, behavioral geneticists often employ twin and adoption studies to research questions of interest. Twin studies compare the rates that a given behavioral trait is shared among identical and fraternal twins; adoption studies compare those rates among biologically related relatives and adopted relatives. Both approaches provide some insight into the relative importance of genes and environment for the expression of a given trait.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this interview with renowned evolutionary psychologist Davis Buss for an explanation of how a psychologist approaches evolution and how this approach fits within the field of social science.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2040

TRY ITTRY IT

Genetic Variation

Genetic variation, the genetic difference between individuals, is what contributes to a species’ adaptation to its environment. In humans, genetic variation begins with an egg, about 100 million sperm, and fertilization. Fertile women ovulate roughly once per month, releasing an egg from follicles in the ovary. The egg travels, via the fallopian tube, from the ovary to the uterus, where it may be fertilized by a sperm.

The egg and the sperm each contain 23 chromosomes. ChromosomesChromosomes are long strings of genetic material known as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). DNA is a helix-shaped molecule made up of nucleotide base pairs. In each chromosome, sequences of DNA make up genesgenes that control or partially control a number of visible characteristics, known as traits, such as eye color, hair color, and so on. A single gene may have multiple possible variations, or alleles. An alleleallele is a specific version of a gene. So, a given gene may code for the trait of hair color, and the different alleles of that gene affect which hair color an individual has.

When a sperm and egg fuse, their 23 chromosomes pair up and create a zygote with 23 pairs of chromosomes. Therefore, each parent contributes half the genetic information carried by the offspring; the resulting physical characteristics of the offspring (called the phenotype) are determined by the interaction of genetic material supplied by the parents (called the genotype). A person’s genotypegenotype is the genetic makeup of that individual. Phenotype,Phenotype, on the other hand, refers to the individual’s inherited physical characteristics (Figure 7).

Figure 7. (a) Genotype refers to the genetic makeup of an individual based on the genetic material (DNA) inherited from one’s

parents. (b) Phenotype describes an individual’s observable characteristics, such as hair color, skin color, height, and build. (credit

a: modification of work by Caroline Davis; credit b: modification of work by Cory Zanker)

Most traits are controlled by multiple genes, but some traits are controlled by one gene. A characteristic like cleftcleft chinchin, for example, is influenced by a single gene from each parent. In this example, we will call the gene for cleft chin “B,” and the gene for smooth chin “b.” Cleft chin is a dominant trait, which means that having the dominantdominant alleleallele either from one parent (Bb) or both parents (BB) will always result in the phenotype associated with the dominant allele. When someone has two copies of the same allele, they are said to be homozygoushomozygous for that allele. When someone has a combination of alleles for a given gene, they are said to be heterozygousheterozygous. For example, smooth chin is a recessive trait, which means that an individual will only display the smooth chin phenotype if they are homozygous for that recessive allelerecessive allele (bb).

Imagine that a woman with a cleft chin has a child with a man with a smooth chin. What type of chin will their child have? The answer to that depends on which alleles each parent carries. If the woman is homozygous for cleft chin (BB), her offspring will always have cleft chin. It gets a little more complicated, however, if the mother is heterozygous for this gene (Bb). Since the father has a smooth chin—therefore homozygous for the recessive allele (bb)—we can expect the offspring to have a 50% chance of having a cleft chin and a 50% chance of having a smooth chin (Figure 8).

Figure 8. (a) A Punnett square is a tool used to predict how genes will interact in the production of offspring. The capital B

represents the dominant allele, and the lowercase b represents the recessive allele. In the example of the cleft chin, where B is

cleft chin (dominant allele), wherever a pair contains the dominant allele, B, you can expect a cleft chin phenotype. You can

expect a smooth chin phenotype only when there are two copies of the recessive allele, bb. (b) A cleft chin, shown here, is an

inherited trait.

Sickle-cell anemia is just one of many genetic disorders caused by the pairing of two recessive genes. For example, phenylketonuria (PKU)phenylketonuria (PKU) is a condition in which individuals lack an enzyme that normally converts harmful amino acids into harmless byproducts. If someone with this condition goes untreated, he or she will experience significant deficits in cognitive function, seizures, and increased risk of various psychiatric disorders. Because PKU is a recessive trait, each parent must have at least one copy of the recessive allele in order to produce a child with the condition (Figure 9).

Figure 9. In this Punnett square, N represents the normal

allele, and p represents the recessive allele that is

associated with PKU. If two individuals mate who are both

heterozygous for the allele associated with PKU, their

offspring have a 25% chance of expressing the PKU

phenotype.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2040

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2040

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2040

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

adoption studyadoption study: a behavior genetic research method that involves comparison of adopted children to their adoptive and biological parents

allele:allele: specific version of a gene

behavioral geneticsbehavioral genetics: the empirical science of how genes and environments combine to generate behavior

chromosome:chromosome: long strand of genetic information

So far, we have discussed traits that involve just one gene, but few human characteristics are controlled by a single gene. Most traits are polygenicpolygenic: controlled by more than one gene. Height is one example of a polygenic trait, as are skin color and weight.

Where do harmful genes that contribute to diseases like PKU come from? Gene mutations provide one source of harmful genes. A mutationmutation is a sudden, permanent change in a gene. While many mutations can be harmful or lethal, once in a while, a mutation benefits an individual by giving that person an advantage over those who do not have the mutation. Recall that the theory of evolution asserts that individuals best adapted to their particular environments are more likely to reproduce and pass on their genes to future generations. In order for this process to occur, there must be competition—more technically, there must be variability in genes (and resultant traits) that allow for variation in adaptability to the environment. If a population consisted of identical individuals, then any dramatic changes in the environment would affect everyone in the same way, and there would be no variation in selection. In contrast, diversity in genes and associated traits allows some individuals to perform slightly better than others when faced with environmental change. This creates a distinct advantage for individuals best suited for their environments in terms of successful reproduction and genetic transmission.

deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA):deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA): helix-shaped molecule made of nucleotide base pairs

dominant allele:dominant allele: allele whose phenotype will be expressed in an individual that possesses that allele

genetic environmental correlation:genetic environmental correlation: view of gene-environment interaction that asserts our genes affect our environment, and our environment influences the expression of our genes

genotype:genotype: genetic makeup of an individual

heterozygous:heterozygous: consisting of two different alleles

heritability coefficientheritability coefficient: an easily misinterpreted statistical construct that purports to measure the role of genetics in the explanation of differences among individuals

homozygous:homozygous: consisting of two identical alleles

mutation:mutation: sudden, permanent change in a gene

phenotype:phenotype: individual’s inheritable physical characteristics

polygenic:polygenic: multiple genes affecting a given trait

quantitative geneticsquantitative genetics: scientific and mathematical methods for inferring genetic and environmental processes based on the degree of genetic and environmental similarity among organisms

recessive allele:recessive allele: allele whose phenotype will be expressed only if an individual is homozygous for that allele

theory of evolution by natural selection:theory of evolution by natural selection: states that organisms that are better suited for their environments will survive and reproduce compared to those that are poorly suited for their environments

twin studiestwin studies: a behavior genetic research method that involves comparison of the similarity of identical (monozygotic; MZ) and fraternal (dizygotic; DZ) twins

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• DNA image. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_methylation#/media/File:DNA_methylation.jpg. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike • The End of Nature Versus Nurture. Authored byAuthored by: Evan Nesterak. Located atLocated at: http://thepsychreport.com/books/the-end-of-nature-versus-nurture/. ProjectProject: The Psych Report. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-

NonCommercial-ShareAlike • The Nature-Nurture Question. Authored byAuthored by: Eric Turkheimer. Provided byProvided by: University of Virginia. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/modules/the-nature-nurture-question. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-

SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike • Psychology. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:1/Psychology. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at

http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/.

GENE-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe epigenetics and examine how gene-environment interactions are critical for expression of physical and psychological characteristics

Genes do not exist in a vacuum. Although we are all biological organisms, we also exist in an environment that is incredibly important in determining not only when and how our genes express themselves, but also in what combination. Each of us represents a unique interaction between our genetic makeup and our environment; range of reaction is one way to describe this interaction. Range of reactionRange of reaction asserts that our genes set the boundaries within which we can operate, and our environment interacts with the genes to determine where in that range we will fall. For example, if an individual’s genetic makeup predisposes her to high levels of intellectual potential and she is reared in a rich, stimulating environment, then she will be more likely to achieve her full potential than if she were raised under conditions of significant deprivation. According to the concept of range of reaction, genes set definite limits on potential, and environment determines how much of that potential is achieved.

Figure 1. Nature and nurture work together like complex

pieces of a human puzzle. The interaction of our

environment and genes makes us the individuals we are.

(credit “puzzle”: modification of work by Cory Zanker;

credit “houses”: modification of work by Ben Salter; credit

“DNA”: modification of work by NHGRI)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1975

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Visit this site for an engaging video primer on the epigenetics of twin studies.

Another perspective on the interaction between genes and the environment is the concept of geneticgenetic environmental correlationenvironmental correlation. Stated simply, our genes influence our environment, and our environment influences the expression of our genes (Figure 1). Not only do our genes and environment interact, as in range of reaction, but they also influence one another bidirectionally. For example, the child of an NBA player would probably be exposed to basketball from an early age. Such exposure might allow the child to realize his or her full genetic, athletic potential. Thus, the parents’ genes, which the child shares, influence the child’s environment, and that environment, in turn, is well suited to support the child’s genetic potential.

In another approach to gene-environment interactions, the field of epigeneticsepigenetics looks beyond the genotype itself and studies how the same genotype can be expressed in different ways. In other words, researchers study how the same genotype can lead to very different phenotypes. As mentioned earlier, gene expression is often influenced by environmental context in ways that are not entirely obvious. For instance, identical twins share the same genetic information (identical twinsidentical twins develop from a single fertilized egg that split, so the genetic material is exactly the same in each; in contrast, fraternal twinsfraternal twins develop from two different eggs fertilized by different sperm, so the genetic material varies as with non-twin siblings). But even with identical genes, there remains an incredible amount of variability in how gene expression can unfold over the course of each twin’s life. Sometimes, one twin will develop a disease and the other will not. In one example, Tiffany, an identical twin, died from cancer at age 7, but her twin, now 19 years old, has never had cancer. Although these individuals share an identical genotype, their phenotypes differ as a result of how that genetic information is expressed over time. The epigenetic perspective is very different from range of reaction, because here the genotype is not fixed and limited.

Figure 2. Identical twins are the perfect example of

epigenetics. Although they share exactly the same DNA,

their unique experiences in life will cause some genes

(and not others) to express themselves. This is why, over

time, identical twins come to look and behave differently.

[Image: Inese Dunajeva]

GenesGenes affect more than our physical characteristics. Indeed, scientists have found genetic linkages to a number of behavioral characteristics, ranging from basic personality traits to sexual orientation to spirituality (for examples, see Mustanski et al., 2005; Comings, Gonzales, Saucier, Johnson, & MacMurray, 2000). Genes are also associated with temperament and a number of psychological disorders, such as depression and schizophrenia. So while it is true that genes provide the biological blueprints for our cells, tissues, organs, and body, they also have significant impact on our experiences and our behaviors.

Let’s look at the following findings regarding schizophrenia in light of our three views of gene-environment interactions. Which view do you think best explains this evidence?

In a study of people who were given up for adoption, adoptees whose biological mothers had schizophrenia and who had been raised in a disturbed family environment were much more likely to develop schizophrenia or another psychotic disorder than were any of the other groups in the study:

• Of adoptees whose biological mothers had schizophrenia (high genetic risk) and who were raised in disturbed family environments, 36.8% were likely to develop schizophrenia.

• Of adoptees whose biological mothers had schizophrenia (high genetic risk) and who were raised in healthy family environments, 5.8% were likely to develop schizophrenia.

• Of adoptees with a low genetic risk (whose mothers did not have schizophrenia) and who were raised in disturbed family environments, 5.3% were likely to develop schizophrenia.

• Of adoptees with a low genetic risk (whose mothers did not have schizophrenia) and who were raised in healthy family environments, 4.8% were likely to develop schizophrenia (Tienari et al., 2004).

The study shows that adoptees with high genetic risk were especially likely to develop schizophrenia only if they were raised in disturbed home environments. This research lends credibility to the notion that both genetic vulnerability and environmental stress are necessary for schizophrenia to develop, and that genes alone do not tell the full tale.

DIG DEEPER: PARENTAL INVESTMENT AND PROGRAMMING OF STRESSDIG DEEPER: PARENTAL INVESTMENT AND PROGRAMMING OF STRESS RESPONSES IN OFFSPRINGRESPONSES IN OFFSPRING

The most comprehensive study to date of variations in parental investment and epigenetic inheritance in mammals is that of the maternally transmitted responses to stress in rats. In rat pups, maternal nurturing (licking and grooming) during the first week of life is associated with long-term programming of individual differences in stress responsiveness, emotionality, cognitive performance, and reproductive behavior (Caldji et al., 1998; Francis, Diorio, Liu, & Meaney, 1999; Liu et al., 1997; Myers, Brunelli, Shair, Squire, & Hofer, 1989; Stern, 1997). In adulthood, the offspring of mothers that exhibit increased levels of pup licking and grooming over the first week of life show increased expression of the glucocorticoid receptor in the hippocampus (a brain structure associated with stress responsivity as well as learning and memory) and a lower hormonal response to stress compared with adult animals reared by low licking and grooming mothers (Francis et al., 1999; Liu et al., 1997). Moreover, rat pups that received low levels of maternal licking and grooming during the first week of life showed decreased histone acetylation and increased DNA methylation of a neuron-specific promoter of the glucocorticoid receptor gene (Weaver et al., 2004). The expression of this gene is then reduced, the number of glucocorticoid receptors in the brain is decreased, and the animals show a higher hormonal response to stress throughout their life.

The effects of maternal care on stress hormone responses and behavior in the offspring can be eliminated in adulthood by pharmacological treatment (HDAC inhibitor trichostatin A, TSA) or dietary amino acid supplementation (methyl donor L-methionine), treatments that influence histone acetylation, DNA methylation, and expression of the glucocorticoid receptor gene (Weaver et al., 2004;Weaver et al., 2005). This series of experiments shows that histone acetylation and DNA methylation of the glucocorticoid receptor gene promoter is a necessary link in the process leading to the long-term physiological and behavioral sequelae of poor maternal care. This points to a possible molecular target for treatments that may reverse or ameliorate the traces of childhood maltreatment.

Several studies have attempted to determine to what extent the findings from model animals are transferable to humans. Examination of post-mortem brain tissue from healthy human subjects found that the human equivalent of the glucocorticoid receptor gene promoter (NR3C1 exon 1F promoter) is also unique to the individual (Turner, Pelascini, Macedo, & Muller, 2008). A similar study examining newborns showed that methylation of the glucocorticoid receptor gene promoter maybe an early epigenetic marker of maternal mood and risk of increased hormonal responses to stress in infants 3 months of age (Oberlander et al., 2008).

Although further studies are required to examine the functional consequence of this DNA methylation, these findings are consistent with our studies in the neonate and adult offspring of low licking and grooming mothers that show increased DNA methylation of the promoter of the glucocorticoid receptor gene, decreased glucocorticoid receptor gene expression, and increased hormonal responses to stress (Weaver et al., 2004).

Examination of brain tissue from suicide victims found that the human glucocorticoid receptor gene promoter is also more methylated in the brains of individuals who had experienced maltreatment during childhood (McGowan et al., 2009). Examination of blood samples from adult patients with bipolar disorder, who also retrospectively reported on their experiences of childhood abuse and neglect, found that the degree of DNA methylation of the human glucocorticoid receptor gene promoter was strongly positively related to the reported experience of childhood maltreatment decades earlier.

Watch this video to see another example of how diet can alter the phenotype of genetically identical mice.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1975

TRY ITTRY IT

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1975

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1975

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

epigenome:epigenome: a dynamic layer of information associated with DNA that differs between individuals and can be altered through various experiences and environments

epigenetics:epigenetics: study of gene-environment interactions, such as how the same genotype leads to different phenotypes

fraternal twins:fraternal twins: twins who develop from two different eggs fertilized by different sperm, so their genetic material varies the same as in non-twin siblings

gene:gene: sequence of DNA that controls or partially controls physical characteristics

identical twins:identical twins: twins that develop from the same sperm and egg

range of reaction:range of reaction: asserts our genes set the boundaries within which we can operate, and our environment interacts with the genes to determine where in that range we will fall

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=1975

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Human Genetics. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:vQpw884b@8/Human-Genetics. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/ contents/[email protected]

• Epigenetics in Psychology (Dig Deeper activity and image of twins). Authored byAuthored by: Ian Weaver. Provided byProvided by: Dalhousie University. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/modules/epigenetics-in-psychology?r=LDExNDY3. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Introducing epigenetics – Intro to Psychology. Authored byAuthored by: Udacity. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCZ-flJ-QxA. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/ [email protected]

PUTTING IT TOGETHER: BIOPSYCHOLOGY

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

In this module, you learned to

• identify the basic structures of a neuron, the function of each structure, and how messages travel through the neuron

• describe the role of the nervous system and endocrine systems • identify and describe the parts of the brain

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2852

• explain how nature, nurture, and epigenetics influence personality and behavior

Read this abstract from Lane Beckes, James A. Coan, and Karen Hasselmo’s 2012 study, “Familiarity promotes the blurring of self and other in the neural representation of threat.”

Neurobiological investigations of empathy often support an embodied simulation account. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we monitored statistical associations between brain activations indicating self-focused threat to those indicating threats to a familiar friend or an unfamiliar stranger. Results in regions such as the anterior insula, putamen and supramarginal gyrus indicate that self-focused threat activations are robustly correlated with friend-focused threat activations but not stranger-focused threat activations. These results suggest that one of the defining features of human social bonding may be increasing levels of overlap between neural representations of self and other. This article presents a novel and important methodological approach to fMRI empathy studies, which informs how differences in brain activation can be detected in such studies and how covariate approaches can provide novel and important information regarding the brain and empathy.

Did you recognize any of the concepts discussed in this module? This study used fMRI to examine the brain activation of people as they looked at cues and received, or were threatened with receiving, mild electric shocks while holding hands with either a friend or a stranger. The results showed the expected response—brain activation in the anterior insula, putamen, and supramarginal gyrus when a person was threatened with a shock. What was remarkable, however, was that people showed nearly the same brain activation when a friend was threatened with the shock, but not a stranger. This provides insight into studies on empathy, and the idea that the concept of “self” can expand to include others as well.

As you can see, there is a limitless amount of information that could be studied on the brain. Neuroscience is a relatively new field, but the more research that is done, the more it appears that much of human behavior and mental processes—the key interests for psychological study—are intimately intertwined with activity in the brain. Understanding the brain is important no matter what type of psychology you will be involved with, because its effects permeate all human behavior.

The more we learn about the brain and its functioning, the better able we are to work towards repairing the brain or mimicking its capabilities. These advances in research lead to medical discoveries and breakthroughs, such as the one explained in the following video:

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Familiarity promotes the blurring of self and other in the neural representation of threat. Authored byAuthored by: Lane Beckes, James A. Coan, and Karen Hasselmo. Provided byProvided by: Oxford Academic. Located atLocated at: https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/8/6/670/1611749/Familiarity-promotes-the-blurring-of-self-and. ProjectProject: Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (2012) 8 (6): 670-677. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC: Attribution- NonCommercial

• Psychology and the Brain. Provided byProvided by: Boundless. Located atLocated at: https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/biological-foundations-of-psychology-3/psychology-and-the-brain-406/ studying-the-brain-149-12684/. ProjectProject: Boundless Psychology. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• The nerve bypass: how to move a paralysed hand. Provided byProvided by: Nature. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60fAjaRfwnU. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

DISCUSSION: BIOPSYCHOLOGY

Using Your Brain

Step 1Step 1: Write a discussion post of at least 150 words based on the following prompt (answer both questions):

• Think of an activity you did today. Using what you learned in this module, describe at least five different parts of your brain and how they were involved in that activity.

• If you were a psychologist or neuroscientist interested in learning more about one of those brain parts, what methods could you use to learn more about the brain? (Consider types of studies you could create, experiments you could design, brain-imaging techniques, and other methods described in your reading)

Step 2Step 2: In a productive post that facilitates discussion, comment on at least TWO other posts with at least 75 words each. Add your own thoughts about the parts of the brain and methods used to study it.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Using Your Brain Discussion: Biopsychology. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

MODULE 4: SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

WHY IT MATTERS: SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

If you were standing in the midst of this street scene, you would be absorbing and processing numerous pieces of sensory input.

(credit: modification of work by Cory Zanker)

Imagine standing on a city street corner. You might be struck by movement everywhere as cars and people go about their business, by the sound of a street musician’s melody or a horn honking in the distance, by the smell of exhaust fumes or of food being sold by a nearby vendor, and by the sensation of hard pavement under your feet.

We rely on our sensory systems to provide important information about our surroundings. We use this information to successfully navigate and interact with our environment so that we can find nourishment, seek shelter, maintain social relationships, and avoid potentially dangerous situations. But while sensory information is critical to our survival, there is so much information available at any given time that we would be overwhelmed if we were forced to attend to all of it. In fact, we are aware of only a fraction of the sensory information taken in by our sensory systems at any given time.

This module will provide an overview of how sensory information is received and processed by the nervous system and how that affects our conscious experience of the world. We begin by learning the distinction between sensation and perception. Then we consider the physical properties of light and sound stimuli, along with an overview of the basic structure and function of the major sensory systems. The module will close with a discussion of a historically important theory of perception called the Gestalt theory. This theory attempts to explain some underlying principles of perception. AnswerAnswer

Aaron, J. I., Mela, D. J., & Evans, R. E. (1994). The influences of attitudes, beliefs, and label information on perceptions of reduced-fat spread. Appetite, 22, 25–37.

Abraira, V. E., & Ginty, D. D. (2013). The sensory neurons of touch. Neuron, 79, 618–639.

Ayabe-Kanamura, S., Saito, S., Distel, H., Martínez-Gómez, M., & Hudson, R. (1998). Differences and similarities in the perception of everyday odors: A Japanese-German cross-cultural study. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 855, 694–700.

Chen, Q., Deng, H., Brauth, S. E., Ding, L., & Tang, Y. (2012). Reduced performance of prey targeting in pit vipers with contralaterally occluded infrared and visual senses. PloS ONE, 7(5), e34989. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0034989

Comfort, A. (1971). Likelihood of human pheromones. Nature, 230, 432–479.

Correll, J., Park, B., Judd, C. M., & Wittenbrink, B. (2002). The police officer’s dilemma: Using ethnicity to disambiguate potentially threatening individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1314–1329.

Correll, J., Urland, G. R., & Ito, T. A. (2006). Event-related potentials and the decision to shoot: The role of threat perception and cognitive control. The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 120–128.

Dunkle T. (1982). The sound of silence. Science, 82, 30–33.

Fawcett, S. L., Wang, Y., & Birch, E. E. (2005). The critical period for susceptibility of human stereopsis. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 46, 521–525.

Furlow, F. B. (1996, 2012). The smell of love. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200910/ the-smell-love

Galanter, E. (1962). Contemporary Psychophysics. In R. Brown, E.Galanter, E. H. Hess, & G. Mandler (Eds.), New directions in psychology. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Garland, E. L. (2012). Pain processing in the human nervous system: A selective review of nociceptive and biobehavioral pathways. Primary Care, 39, 561–571.

Goolkasian, P. & Woodbury, C. (2010). Priming effects with ambiguous figures. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 72, 168–178.

Grothe, B., Pecka, M., & McAlpine, D. (2010). Mechanisms of sound localization in mammals. Physiological Reviews, 90, 983–1012.

Hartline, P. H., Kass, L., & Loop, M. S. (1978). Merging of modalities in the optic tectum: Infrared and visual integration in rattlesnakes. Science, 199, 1225–1229.

Kaiser, P. K. (1997). The joy of visual perception: A web book. Retrieved from http://www.yorku.ca/eye/ noframes.htm

Khan, S., & Chang, R. (2013). Anatomy of the vestibular system: A review. NeuroRehabilitation, 32, 437–443.

Kinnamon, S. C., & Vandenbeuch, A. (2009). Receptors and transduction of umami taste stimuli. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1170, 55–59.

Kunst-Wilson, W. R., & Zajonc, R. B. (1980). Affective discrimination of stimuli that cannot be recognized. Science, 207, 557–558.

Lackner, J. R., & DiZio, P. (2005). Vestibular, proprioceptive, and haptic contributions to spatial orientation. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 115–147.

Land, E. H. (1959). Color vision and the natural image. Part 1. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 45(1), 115–129.

Liem, D. G., Westerbeek, A., Wolterink, S., Kok, F. J., & de Graaf, C. (2004). Sour taste preferences of children relate to preference for novel and intense stimuli. Chemical Senses, 29, 713–720.

Lodovichi, C., & Belluscio, L. (2012). Odorant receptors in the formation of olfactory bulb circuitry. Physiology, 27, 200–212.

Loersch, C., Durso, G. R. O., & Petty, R. E. (2013). Vicissitudes of desire: A matching mechanism for subliminal persuasion. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4(5), 624–631.

Maffei, A., Haley, M., & Fontanini, A. (2012). Neural processing of gustatory information in insular circuits. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 22, 709–716.

Milner, A. D., & Goodale, M. A. (2008). Two visual systems re-viewed. Neuropsychological, 46, 774–785.

Mizushige, T., Inoue, K., Fushiki, T. (2007). Why is fat so tasty? Chemical reception of fatty acid on the tongue. Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology, 53, 1–4.

Most, S. B., Simons, D. J., Scholl, B. J., & Chabris, C. F. (2000). Sustained inattentional blindness: The role of location in the detection of unexpected dynamic events. PSYCHE, 6(14).

Nelson, M. R. (2008). The hidden persuaders: Then and now. Journal of Advertising, 37(1), 113–126.

Niimura, Y., & Nei, M. (2007). Extensive gains and losses of olfactory receptor genes in mammalian evolution. PLoS ONE, 2, e708.

Okawa, H., & Sampath, A. P. (2007). Optimization of single-photon response transmission at the rod-to-rod bipolar synapse. Physiology, 22, 279–286.

Payne, B. K. (2001). Prejudice and perception: The role of automatic and controlled processes in misperceiving a weapon. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 181–192.

Payne, B. K., Shimizu, Y., & Jacoby, L. L. (2005). Mental control and visual illusions: Toward explaining race- biased weapon misidentifications. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 36–47.

Peck, M. (2012, July 19). How a movie changed one man’s vision forever. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/ future/story/20120719-awoken-from-a-2d-world

Peterson, M. A., & Gibson, B. S. (1994). Must figure-ground organization precede object recognition? An assumption in peril. Psychological Science, 5, 253–259.

Petho, G., & Reeh, P. W. (2012). Sensory and signaling mechanisms of bradykinin, eicosanoids, platelet- activating factor, and nitric oxide in peripheral nociceptors. Physiological Reviews, 92, 1699–1775.

Proske, U. (2006). Kinesthesia: The role of muscle receptors. Muscle & Nerve, 34, 545–558.

Proske, U., & Gandevia, S. C. (2012). The proprioceptive senses: Their roles in signaling body shape, body position and movement, and muscle force. Physiological Reviews, 92, 1651–1697.

Purvis, K., & Haynes, N. B. (1972). The effect of female rat proximity on the reproductive system of male rats. Physiology & Behavior, 9, 401–407.

Radel, R., Sarrazin, P., Legrain, P., & Gobancé, L. (2009). Subliminal priming of motivational orientation in educational settings: Effect on academic performance moderated by mindfulness. Journal of Research in Personality, 43(4), 1–18.

Rauschecker, J. P., & Tian, B. (2000). Mechanisms and streams for processing “what” and “where” in auditory cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 97, 11800–11806.

Renier, L. A., Anurova, I., De Volder, A. G., Carlson, S., VanMeter, J., & Rauschecker, J. P. (2009). Multisensory integration of sounds and vibrotactile stimuli in processing streams for “what” and “where.” Journal of Neuroscience, 29, 10950–10960.

Rensink, R. A. (2004). Visual sensing without seeing. Psychological Science, 15, 27–32.

Rock, I., & Palmer, S. (1990). The legacy of Gestalt psychology. Scientific American, 262, 84–90.

Roper, S. D. (2013). Taste buds as peripheral chemosensory receptors. Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology, 24, 71–79.

Russell, M. J. (1976). Human olfactory communication. Nature, 260, 520–522.

Sachs, B. D. (1997). Erection evoked in male rats by airborne scent from estrous females. Physiology & Behavior, 62, 921–924.

Segall, M. H., Campbell, D. T., & Herskovits, M. J. (1963). Cultural differences in the perception of geometric illusions. Science, 139, 769–771.

Segall, M. H., Campbell, D. T., & Herskovits, M. J. (1966). The influence of culture on visual perception. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.

Segall, M. H., Dasen, P. P., Berry, J. W., & Poortinga, Y. H. (1999). Human behavior in global perspective (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Semaan, M. T., & Megerian, C. A. (2010). Contemporary perspectives on the pathophysiology of Meniere’s disease: implications for treatment. Current opinion in Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery, 18(5), 392–398.

Shamma, S. (2001). On the role of space and time in auditory processing. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5, 340–348.

Simons, D. J., & Chabris, C. F. (1999). Gorillas in our midst: Sustained inattentional blindness for dynamic events. Perception, 28, 1059–1074.

Spors, H., Albeanu, D. F., Murthy, V. N., Rinberg, D., Uchida, N., Wachowiak, M., & Friedrich, R. W. (2013). Illuminating vertebrate olfactory processing. Journal of Neuroscience, 32, 14102–14108.

Spray, D. C. (1986). Cutaneous temperature receptors. Annual Review of Physiology, 48, 625–638.

Strain, G. M. (2003). How well do dogs and other animals hear? Retrieved from http://www.lsu.edu/deafness/ HearingRange.html

Swets, J. A. (1964). Signal detection and recognition by human observers. Psychological Bulletin, 60, 429–441.

Ungerleider, L. G., & Haxby, J. V. (1994). ‘What’ and ‘where’ in the human brain. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 4, 157–165.

U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2013). Genetics home reference: Congenital insensitivity to pain. Retrieved from http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/congenital-insensitivity-to-pain

Vecera, S. P., & O’Reilly, R. C. (1998). Figure-ground organization and object recognition processes: An interactive account. Journal of Experimental Psychology-Human Perception and Performance, 24, 441–462.

Wakakuwa, M., Stavenga, D. G., & Arikawa, K. (2007). Spectral organization of ommatidia in flower-visiting insects. Photochemistry and Photobiology, 83, 27–34.

Weller, A. (1998). Human pheromones: Communication through body odour. Nature, 392, 126–127.

Wells, D. L. (2010). Domestic dogs and human health: An overview. British Journal of Health Psychology, 12, 145–156.

Wolfgang-Kimball, D. (1992). Pheromones in humans: myth or reality?. Retrieved from http://www.anapsid.org/ pheromones.html

Wysocki, C. J., & Preti, G. (2004). Facts, fallacies, fears, and frustrations with human pheromones. The Anatomical Record Part A: Discoveries in Molecular, Cellular, and Evolutionary Biology, 281, 1201–1211.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Introduction to Sensation and Perception. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:SPm67RdT@6/Introduction. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/.

SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

What you’ll learn to do: differentiate between sensation and perception

Sensation and perception are two separate processes that are very closely related. Sensation is input about the physical world obtained by our sensory receptors, and perception is the process by which the brain selects, organizes, and interprets these sensations. In other words, senses are the physiological basis of perception. Perception of the same senses may vary from one person to another because each person’s brain interprets stimuli differently based on that individual’s learning, memory, emotions, and expectations.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Define sensation and explain its connection to the concepts of absolute threshold, difference threshold, and subliminal messages

• Discuss the roles attention, motivation, and sensory adaptation play in perception

Figure 1. The absolute threshold for detecting light is

greater than you probably imagined—the human eye can

see a candle on a clear night up to 30 miles away!

Sensation

What does it mean to sense something? Sensory receptors are specialized neurons that respond to specific types of stimuli. When sensory information is detected by a sensory receptor, sensationsensation has occurred. For example, light that enters the eye causes chemical changes in cells that line the back of the eye. These cells relay messages, in the form of action potentials (as you learned when studying biopsychology), to the central nervous system. The conversion from sensory stimulus energy to action potential is known as transductiontransduction.

You have probably known since elementary school that we have five senses: vision, hearing (audition), smell (olfaction), taste (gustation), and touch (somatosensation). It turns out that this notion of five senses is oversimplified. We also have sensory systems that provide information about balance (the vestibular sense), body position and movement (proprioception and kinesthesia), pain (nociception), and temperature (thermoception).

The sensitivity of a given sensory system to the relevant stimuli can be expressed as an absolute threshold. Absolute thresholdAbsolute threshold refers to the minimum amount of stimulus energy that must be present for the stimulus to be detected 50% of the time. Another way to think about this is by asking how dim can a light be or how soft can a sound be and still be detected half of the time. The sensitivity of our sensory receptors can be quite amazing. It has been estimated that on a clear night, the most sensitive sensory cells in the back of the eye can detect a candle flame 30 miles away (Okawa & Sampath, 2007). Under quiet conditions, the hair cells (the receptor cells of the inner ear) can detect the tick of a clock 20 feet away (Galanter, 1962).

It is also possible for us to get messages that are presented below the threshold for conscious awareness—these are called subliminal messagessubliminal messages. A stimulus reaches a physiological threshold when it is strong enough to excite sensory receptors and send nerve impulses to the brain: This is an absolute threshold. A message below that threshold is said to be subliminal: We receive it, but we are not consciously aware of it. Over the years there has been a great deal of speculation about the use of subliminal messages in advertising, rock music, and self-help audio programs. Research evidence shows that in laboratory settings, people can process and respond to information outside of awareness. But this does not mean that we obey these messages like zombies; in fact, hidden messages have little effect on behavior outside the laboratory (Kunst-Wilson & Zajonc, 1980; Rensink, 2004; Nelson, 2008; Radel, Sarrazin, Legrain, & Gobancé, 2009; Loersch, Durso, & Petty, 2013).

Figure 2. Priming can be used to improve intellectual test

performance. Research subjects primed with the

stereotype of a professor – a sort of intellectual role

model – outperformed those primed with an anti-

intellectual stereotype. [Photo: Jeremy Wilburn]

DIG DEEPER: UNCONSCIOUS PERCEPTIONDIG DEEPER: UNCONSCIOUS PERCEPTION

These days, most scientific research on unconscious processes is aimed at showing that people do not need consciousness for certain psychological processes or behaviors. One such example is attitude formation. The most basic process of attitude formation is through mere exposure (Zajonc, 1968). Merely perceiving a stimulus repeatedly, such as a brand on a billboard one passes every day or a song that is played on the radio frequently, renders it more positive. Interestingly, mere exposure does not require conscious awareness of the object of an attitude. In fact, mere-exposure effectsmere-exposure effects occur even when novel stimuli are presented subliminally for extremely brief durations (e.g., Kunst-Wilson & Zajonc, 1980). Intriguingly, in such subliminal mere-exposure experiments, participants indicate a preference for, or a positive attitude towards, stimuli they do not consciously remember being exposed to.

Another example of modern research on unconscious processes is research on primingpriming. In a well-known experiment by a research team led by the American psychologist John Bargh (Bargh, Chen, & Burrows, 1996), half the participants were primed with the stereotype of the elderly by doing a language task (they had to make sentences on the basis of lists of words). These lists contained words commonly associated with the elderly (e.g., “old,” “bingo,” “walking stick,” “Florida”). The remaining participants received a language task in which the critical words were replaced by words not related to the elderly. After participants had finished they were told the experiment was over, but they were secretly monitored to see how long they took to walk to the nearest elevator. The primed participants took significantly longer. That is, after being exposed to words typically associated with being old, they behaved in line with the stereotype of old people: being slow.Such priming effects have been shown in many different domains. For example, Dijksterhuis and van Knippenberg (1998) demonstrated that priming can improve intellectual performance. They asked their participants to answer 42 general knowledge questions taken from the game Trivial Pursuit. Under normal conditions, participants answered about 50% of the questions correctly. However, participants primed with the stereotype of professors—who are by most people seen as intelligent—managed to answer 60% of the questions correctly. Conversely, performance of participants primed with the “dumb” stereotype of hooligans dropped to 40%.

TRY ITTRY IT

Absolute thresholds are generally measured under incredibly controlled conditions in situations that are optimal for sensitivity. Sometimes, we are more interested in how much difference in stimuli is required to detect a difference between them. This is known as the just noticeable difference (jnd)just noticeable difference (jnd) or difference thresholddifference threshold. Unlike the absolute threshold, the difference threshold changes depending on the stimulus intensity. As an example, imagine yourself in a very dark movie theater. If an audience member were to receive a text message on her cell phone which caused her screen to light up, chances are that many people would notice the change in illumination in the theater. However, if the same thing happened in a brightly lit arena during a basketball game, very few people would notice. The cell phone brightness does not change, but its ability to be detected as a change in illumination varies dramatically between the two contexts. Ernst Weber proposed this theory of change in difference threshold in the 1830s, and it has become known as Weber’s lawWeber’s law: The difference threshold is a constant fraction of the original stimulus, as the example illustrates. It is the idea that bigger stimuli require larger differences to be noticed. For example, it will be much harder for your friend to reliably tell the difference between 10 and 11 lbs. (or 5 versus 5.5 kg) than it is for 1 and 2 lbs.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2109

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2109

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2109

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Think about a time when you failed to notice something around you because your attention was focused elsewhere. If someone pointed it out, were you surprised that you hadn’t noticed it right away?

Perception

While our sensory receptors are constantly collecting information from the environment, it is ultimately how we interpret that information that affects how we interact with the world. PerceptionPerception refers to the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced. Perception involves both bottom-up and top- down processing. Bottom-up processingBottom-up processing refers to the fact that perceptions are built from sensory input. On the other hand, how we interpret those sensations is influenced by our available knowledge, our experiences, and our thoughts. This is called top-down processingtop-down processing.

Look at the shape in Figure 1 below. Seen alone, your brain engages in bottom-up processing. There are two thick vertical lines and three thin horizontal lines. There is no context to give it a specific meaning, so there is no top-down processing involved.

Figure 3.

Now, look at the same shape in two different contexts. Surrounded by sequential letters, your brain expects the shape to be a letter and to complete the sequence. In that context, you perceive the lines to form the shape of the letter “B.”

Figure 4.

Surrounded by numbers, the same shape now looks like the number “13.”

Figure 5.

When given a context, your perception is driven by your cognitive expectations. Now you are processing the shape in a top-down fashion.

One way to think of this concept is that sensation is a physical process, whereas perception is psychological. For example, upon walking into a kitchen and smelling the scent of baking cinnamon rolls, the sensation is the scent receptors detecting the odor of cinnamon, but the perception may be “Mmm, this smells like the bread Grandma used to bake when the family gathered for holidays.”

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2109

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2109

TRY ITTRY IT

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

See for yourself how inattentional blindness works by watching this selective attention test from Simons and Chabris (1999):

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Read more on inattentional blindness though this link to the Noba Project website.

Although our perceptions are built from sensations, not all sensations result in perception. In fact, we often don’t perceive stimuli that remain relatively constant over prolonged periods of time. This is known as sensorysensory adaptationadaptation. Imagine entering a classroom with an old analog clock. Upon first entering the room, you can hear the ticking of the clock; as you begin to engage in conversation with classmates or listen to your professor greet the class, you are no longer aware of the ticking. The clock is still ticking, and that information is still affecting sensory receptors of the auditory system. The fact that you no longer perceive the sound demonstrates sensory adaptation and shows that while closely associated, sensation and perception are different.

Attention and Perception

There is another factor that affects sensation and perception: attention. Attention plays a significant role in determining what is sensed versus what is perceived. Imagine you are at a party full of music, chatter, and laughter. You get involved in an interesting conversation with a friend, and you tune out all the background noise. If someone interrupted you to ask what song had just finished playing, you would probably be unable to answer that question.

One of the most interesting demonstrations of how important attention is in determining our perception of the environment occurred in a famous study conducted by Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris (1999). In this study, participants watched a video of people dressed in black and white passing basketballs. Participants were asked to count the number of times the team in white passed the ball. During the video, a person dressed in a black gorilla costume walks among the two teams. You would think that someone would notice the gorilla, right? Nearly half of the people who watched the video didn’t notice the gorilla at all, despite the fact that he was clearly visible for nine seconds. Because participants were so focused on the number of times the white team was passing the ball, they completely tuned out other visual information. Failure to notice something that is completely visible because of a lack of attention is called inattentional blindnessinattentional blindness.

In a similar experiment, researchers tested inattentional blindness by asking participants to observe images moving across a computer screen. They were instructed to focus on either white or black objects, disregarding the other color. When a red cross passed across the screen, about one third of subjects did not notice it (Figure 4) (Most, Simons, Scholl, & Chabris, 2000).

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2109

Figure 6. Nearly one third of participants in a study did not notice that a red cross passed on the screen because their attention

was focused on the black or white figures. (credit: Cory Zanker)

Motivations, Expectations, and Perception

Motivation can also affect perception. Have you ever been expecting a really important phone call and, while taking a shower, you think you hear the phone ringing, only to discover that it is not? If so, then you have experienced how motivation to detect a meaningful stimulus can shift our ability to discriminate between a true sensory stimulus and background noise. The ability to identify a stimulus when it is embedded in a distracting background is called signal detection theorysignal detection theory. This might also explain why a mother is awakened by a quiet murmur from her baby but not by other sounds that occur while she is asleep. Signal detection theory has practical applications, such as increasing air traffic controller accuracy. Controllers need to be able to detect planes among many signals (blips) that appear on the radar screen and follow those planes as they move through the sky. In fact, the original work of the researcher who developed signal detection theory was focused on improving the sensitivity of air traffic controllers to plane blips (Swets, 1964).

Our perceptions can also be affected by our beliefs, values, prejudices, expectations, and life experiences. As you will see later in this module, individuals who are deprived of the experience of binocular vision during critical periods of development have trouble perceiving depth (Fawcett, Wang, & Birch, 2005). The shared experiences of people within a given cultural context can have pronounced effects on perception. For example, Marshall Segall, Donald Campbell, and Melville Herskovits (1963) published the results of a multinational study in which they demonstrated that individuals from Western cultures were more prone to experience certain types of visual illusions than individuals from non-Western cultures, and vice versa. One such illusion that Westerners were more likely to experience was the Müller-Lyer illusionMüller-Lyer illusion (Figure 5): The lines appear to be different lengths, but they are actually the same length.

Figure 7. In the Müller-Lyer illusion, lines appear to be different lengths although they are identical. (a) Arrows at the ends of lines

may make the line on the right appear longer, although the lines are the same length. (b) When applied to a three-dimensional

image, the line on the right again may appear longer although both black lines are the same length.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

If you want to learn more about the differences between sensation and perception, you can review in this CrashCourse Psychology video:

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2109

TRY ITTRY IT

These perceptual differences were consistent with differences in the types of environmental features experienced on a regular basis by people in a given cultural context. People in Western cultures, for example, have a perceptual context of buildings with straight lines, what Segall’s study called a carpentered world (Segall et al., 1966). In contrast, people from certain non-Western cultures with an uncarpentered view, such as the Zulu of South Africa, whose villages are made up of round huts arranged in circles, are less susceptible to this illusion (Segall et al., 1999). It is not just vision that is affected by cultural factors. Indeed, research has demonstrated that the ability to identify an odor, and rate its pleasantness and its intensity, varies cross-culturally (Ayabe-Kanamura, Saito, Distel, Martínez-Gómez, & Hudson, 1998).

Children described as thrill seekers are more likely to show taste preferences for intense sour flavors (Liem, Westerbeek, Wolterink, Kok, & de Graaf, 2004), which suggests that basic aspects of personality might affect perception. Furthermore, individuals who hold positive attitudes toward reduced-fat foods are more likely to rate foods labeled as reduced fat as tasting better than people who have less positive attitudes about these products (Aaron, Mela, & Evans, 1994).

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2109

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2109

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

absolute threshold:absolute threshold: minimum amount of stimulus energy that must be present for the stimulus to be detected 50% of the time

bottom-up processing:bottom-up processing: system in which perceptions are built from sensory input

inattentional blindness:inattentional blindness: failure to notice something that is completely visible because of a lack of attention

just noticeable difference:just noticeable difference: difference in stimuli required to detect a difference between the stimuli

mere-exposure effectsmere-exposure effects: the result of developing a more positive attitude towards a stimulus after repeated instances of mere exposure to it.

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Think about a time when you failed to notice something around you because your attention was focused elsewhere. If someone pointed it out, were you surprised that you hadn’t noticed it right away?

perception:perception: way that sensory information is interpreted and consciously experienced

primingpriming: the process by which recent experiences increase a trait’s accessibility.

sensation:sensation: what happens when sensory information is detected by a sensory receptor

signal detection theory:signal detection theory: change in stimulus detection as a function of current mental state

subliminal message:subliminal message: message presented below the threshold of conscious awareness

top-down processing:top-down processing: interpretation of sensations is influenced by available knowledge, experiences, and thoughts

transduction:transduction: conversion from sensory stimulus energy to action potential

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2109

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Sensation versus Perception. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:K-DZ-03P@5/Sensation-versus-Perception. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

• Introduction to Sensation. Provided byProvided by: Boundless. Located atLocated at: https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/sensation-and-perception-5/introduction-to-sensation-37/introduction- to-sensation-157-12692/. ProjectProject: Boundless Psychology. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

• Dig Deeper on the Unconscious and image. Authored byAuthored by: Ap Dijksterhuis Radboud. Provided byProvided by: University Nijmegen. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/modules/the-unconscious. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

• Sensation and Perception, last example on Weber's Law. Authored byAuthored by: Adam John Privitera. Provided byProvided by: Chemeketa Community College. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/modules/sensation-and-perception. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

• Candle in the dark. Authored byAuthored by: pratanti. Provided byProvided by: Flickr. Located atLocated at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pratanti/3631956828. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • Section on bottom-up versus top-down processing. Authored byAuthored by: Dr. Scott Roberts, Dr. Ryan Curtis, Samantha Levy, and Dr. Dylan Selterman. Provided byProvided by: OpenPsyc. Located atLocated at: http://openpsyc.blogspot.com/2014/06/

bottom-up-vs-top-down-processing.html. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Sensation & Perception – Crash Course Psychology #5. Provided byProvided by: CrashCourse. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unWnZvXJH2o. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

Public domain contentPublic domain content

• Painting. Authored byAuthored by: Paul Signac. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9_des_Artistes_Ind%C3%A9pendants#/media/File:Signac_- _Portrait_de_F%C3%A9lix_F%C3%A9n%C3%A9on.jpg. LicenseLicense: Public Domain: No Known Copyright

Our eyes take in sensory information that helps us understand the world around us. (credit “top left”: modification of work by

“rajkumar1220″/Flickr”; credit “top right”: modification of work by Thomas Leuthard; credit “middle left”: modification of work by

Demietrich Baker; credit “middle right”: modification of work by “kaybee07″/Flickr; credit “bottom left”: modification of work by

“Isengardt”/Flickr; credit “bottom right”: modification of work by Willem Heerbaart)

VISION

What you’ll learn to do: explain the process of vision and how people see color and depth

The visual system constructs a mental representation of the world around us. This contributes to our ability to successfully navigate through physical space and interact with important individuals and objects in our environments. This section will provide an overview of the basic anatomy and function of the visual system. In addition, you’ll explore our ability to perceive color and depth.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe the basic anatomy of the visual system • Describe how light waves enable vision • Describe the trichromatic theory of color vision and the opponent-process theory • Describe how monocular and binocular cues are used in the perception of depth

Figure 1. The anatomy of the eye is illustrated in this diagram.

Anatomy of the Visual System

The eye is the major sensory organ involved in visionvision (Figure 1). Light waves are transmitted across the cornea and enter the eye through the pupil. The corneacornea is the transparent covering over the eye. It serves as a barrier between the inner eye and the outside world, and it is involved in focusing light waves that enter the eye. The pupilpupil is the small opening in the eye through which light passes, and the size of the pupil can change as a function of light levels as well as emotional arousal. When light levels are low, the pupil will become dilated, or expanded, to allow more light to enter the eye. When light levels are high, the pupil will constrict, or become smaller, to reduce the amount of light that enters the eye. The pupil’s size is controlled by muscles that are connected to the irisiris, which is the colored portion of the eye.

After passing through the pupil, light crosses the lenslens, a curved, transparent structure that serves to provide additional focus. The lens is attached to muscles that can change its shape to aid in focusing light that is reflected from near or far objects. In a normal-sighted individual, the lens will focus images perfectly on a small indentation in the back of the eye known as the foveafovea, which is part of the retinaretina, the light-sensitive lining of the eye. The fovea contains densely packed specialized photoreceptor cells (Figure 2). These photoreceptorphotoreceptor cells, known as conescones, are light-detecting cells. The cones are specialized types of photoreceptors that work best in bright light conditions. Cones are very sensitive to acute detail and provide tremendous spatial resolution. They also are directly involved in our ability to perceive color.

While cones are concentrated in the fovea, where images tend to be focused, rods, another type of photoreceptor, are located throughout the remainder of the retina. RodsRods are specialized photoreceptors that work well in low light conditions, and while they lack the spatial resolution and color function of the cones, they are involved in our vision in dimly lit environments as well as in our perception of movement on the periphery of our visual field.

Figure 2. The two types of photoreceptors are shown in this image. Rods are colored green and cones are blue.

We have all experienced the different sensitivities of rods and cones when making the transition from a brightly lit environment to a dimly lit environment. Imagine going to see a blockbuster movie on a clear summer day. As you walk from the brightly lit lobby into the dark theater, you notice that you immediately have difficulty seeing much of anything. After a few minutes, you begin to adjust to the darkness and can see the interior of the theater. In the bright environment, your vision was dominated primarily by cone activity. As you move to the dark environment, rod activity dominates, but there is a delay in transitioning between the phases. If your rods do not transform light into nerve impulses as easily and efficiently as they should, you will have difficulty seeing in dim light, a condition known as night blindness.

Rods and cones are connected (via several interneurons) to retinal ganglion cells. Axons from the retinal ganglion cells converge and exit through the back of the eye to form the optic nerve. The optic nerveoptic nerve carries visual information from the retina to the brain. There is a point in the visual field called the blind spotblind spot: Even when light from a small object is focused on the blind spot, we do not see it. We are not consciously aware of our blind spots for two reasons: First, each eye gets a slightly different view of the visual field; therefore, the blind spots do not overlap. Second, our visual system fills in the blind spot so that although we cannot respond to visual information that occurs in that portion of the visual field, we are also not aware that information is missing.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

TRY ITTRY IT

Figure 3. This illustration shows the optic chiasm at the front of the brain and the pathways to the occipital lobe at the back of the

brain, where visual sensations are processed into meaningful perceptions.

The optic nerve from each eye merges just below the brain at a point called the optic chiasmoptic chiasm. As Figure 3 shows, the optic chiasm is an X-shaped structure that sits just below the cerebral cortex at the front of the brain. At the point of the optic chiasm, information from the right visual field (which comes from both eyes) is sent to the left side of the brain, and information from the left visual field is sent to the right side of the brain.

Once inside the brain, visual information is sent via a number of structures to the occipital lobe at the back of the brain for processing. Visual information might be processed in parallel pathways which can generally be described as the “what pathway” (the ventral pathway) and the “where/how” pathway (the dorsal pathway). The “what pathway” is involved in object recognition and identification, while the “where/how pathway” is involved with location in space and how one might interact with a particular visual stimulus (Milner & Goodale, 2008; Ungerleider & Haxby, 1994). For example, when you see a ball rolling down the street, the “what pathway” identifies what the object is, and the “where/how pathway” identifies its location or movement in space.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

TRY ITTRY IT

Figure 4. Visual areas in the brain.

Amplitude and Wavelength

As mentioned above, light enters your eyes as a wave. It is important to understand some basic properties of waves to see how they impact what we see. Two physical characteristics of a wave are amplitudeamplitude and wavelength (Figure 5). The amplitude of a wave is the height of a wave as measured from the highest point on the wavewave (peakpeak or crestcrest) to the lowest point on the wave (trough). WavelengthWavelength refers to the length of a wave from one peak to the next.

Figure 5. The amplitude or height of a wave is measured from the peak to the trough. The wavelength is measured from peak to

peak.

Figure 6. This figure illustrates waves of differing wavelengths/frequencies. At the top of the figure, the red wave has a long

wavelength/short frequency. Moving from top to bottom, the wavelengths decrease and frequencies increase.

Wavelength is directly related to the frequency of a given wave form. FrequencyFrequency refers to the number of waves that pass a given point in a given time period and is often expressed in terms of hertz (Hzhertz (Hz), or cycles per second. Longer wavelengths will have lower frequencies, and shorter wavelengths will have higher frequencies (Figure 6).

Light Waves

The visible spectrumvisible spectrum is the portion of the larger electromagnetic spectrum that we can see. As Figure 7 shows, the electromagnetic spectrumelectromagnetic spectrum encompasses all of the electromagnetic radiation that occurs in our environment and includes gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet light, visible light, infrared light, microwaves, and radio waves. The visible spectrum in humans is associated with wavelengths that range from 380 to 740 nm—a very small distance, since a nanometer (nm) is one billionth of a meter. Other species can detect other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. For instance, honeybees can see light in the ultraviolet range (Wakakuwa, Stavenga, & Arikawa, 2007), and some snakes can detect infrared radiation in addition to more traditional visual light cues (Chen, Deng, Brauth, Ding, & Tang, 2012; Hartline, Kass, & Loop, 1978).

Figure 7. Light that is visible to humans makes up only a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Figure 8. Different wavelengths of light are associated with our perception of different colors. (credit: modification of work by

Johannes Ahlmann)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

TRY ITTRY IT

In humans, light wavelength is associated with perception of color (Figure 8). Within the visible spectrum, our experience of red is associated with longer wavelengths, greens are intermediate, and blues and violets are shorter in wavelength. (An easy way to remember this is the mnemonic ROYGBIV: rred, oorange, yyellow, ggreen, bblue, iindigo, vviolet.) The amplitude of light waves is associated with our experience of brightness or intensity of color, with larger amplitudes appearing brighter.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

We do not see the world in black and white; neither do we see it as two-dimensional (2-D) or flat (just height and width, no depth). Let’s look at how color vision works and how we perceive three dimensions (height, width, and depth).

Color Vision

Normal-sighted individuals have three different types of cones that mediate color visioncolor vision. Each of these cone types is maximally sensitive to a slightly different wavelength of light. According to the Young-Helmholtz trichromatictrichromatic theory of color visiontheory of color vision, shown in Figure 9, all colors in the spectrum can be produced by combining red, green, and blue. The three types of cones are each receptive to one of the colors.

Figure 9. This figure illustrates the different sensitivities for the three cone types found in a normal-sighted individual. (credit:

modification of work by Vanessa Ezekowitz)

The trichromatic theory of color vision is not the only theory—another major theory of color vision is known as the opponent-process theoryopponent-process theory. According to this theory, color is coded in opponent pairs: black-white, yellow-blue, and green-red. The basic idea is that some cells of the visual system are excited by one of the opponent colors and inhibited by the other. So, a cell that was excited by wavelengths associated with green would be inhibited by wavelengths associated with red, and vice versa. One of the implications of opponent processing is that we do not experience greenish-reds or yellowish-blues as colors. Another implication is that this leads to the experience of negative afterimages. An afterimageafterimage describes the continuation of a visual sensation after removal of the stimulus. For example, when you stare briefly at the sun and then look away from it, you may still perceive a spot of light although the stimulus (the sun) has been removed. When color is involved in the stimulus, the color pairings identified in the opponent-process theory lead to a negative afterimage. You can test this concept using the flag in Figure 10.

Figure 10. Stare at the white dot for 30–60 seconds and then move your eyes to a blank piece of white paper. What do you see?

This is known as a negative afterimage, and it provides empirical support for the opponent-process theory of color vision.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

TRY ITTRY IT

But these two theories—the trichromatic theory of color vision and the opponent-process theory—are not mutually exclusive. Research has shown that they just apply to different levels of the nervous system. For visual processing on the retina, trichromatic theory applies: the cones are responsive to three different wavelengths that represent red, blue, and green. But once the signal moves past the retina on its way to the brain, the cells respond in a way consistent with opponent-process theory (Land, 1959; Kaiser, 1997).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

Depth Perception

Our ability to perceive spatial relationships in three-dimensional (3-D) space is known as depth perceptiondepth perception. With depth perception, we can describe things as being in front, behind, above, below, or to the side of other things.

Our world is three-dimensional, so it makes sense that our mental representation of the world has three- dimensional properties. We use a variety of cues in a visual scene to establish our sense of depth. Some of these are binocular cuesbinocular cues, which means that they rely on the use of both eyes. One example of a binocular depth cue is binocular disparitybinocular disparity, the slightly different view of the world that each of our eyes receives. To experience this slightly different view, do this simple exercise: extend your arm fully and extend one of your fingers and focus on that finger. Now, close your left eye without moving your head, then open your left eye and close your right eye without moving your head. You will notice that your finger seems to shift as you alternate between the two eyes because of the slightly different view each eye has of your finger.

A 3-D movie works on the same principle: the special glasses you wear allow the two slightly different images projected onto the screen to be seen separately by your left and your right eye. As your brain processes these images, you have the illusion that the leaping animal or running person is coming right toward you.

Although we rely on binocular cues to experience depth in our 3-D world, we can also perceive depth in 2-D arrays. Think about all the paintings and photographs you have seen. Generally, you pick up on depth in these images even though the visual stimulus is 2-D. When we do this, we are relying on a number of monocular cuesmonocular cues, or cues that require only one eye. If you think you can’t see depth with one eye, note that you don’t bump into things when using only one eye while walking—and, in fact, we have more monocular cues than binocular cues. The following video of anamorphic art demonstrates how we rely on these monocular cues to see depth, even when the depth is only imagined.

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

An example of a monocular cue would be what is known as linear perspectivelinear perspective. Linear perspective refers to the fact that we perceive depth when we see two parallel lines that seem to converge in an image (Figure 11). Some other monocular depth cues are interposition, the partial overlap of objects, the relative size and closeness of images to the horizon, relative size, and the variation between light and shadow.

Figure 11. We perceive depth in a two-dimensional figure like this one through the use of monocular cues like linear perspective,

like the parallel lines converging as the road narrows in the distance. (credit: Marc Dalmulder)

DIG DEEPER: STEREOBLINDNESSDIG DEEPER: STEREOBLINDNESS

Bruce Bridgeman was born with an extreme case of lazy eye that resulted in him being stereoblind, or unable to respond to binocular cues of depth. He relied heavily on monocular depth cues, but he never had a true appreciation of the 3-D nature of the world around him. This all changed one night in 2012 while Bruce was seeing a movie with his wife.

The movie the couple was going to see was shot in 3-D, and even though he thought it was a waste of money, Bruce paid for the 3-D glasses when he purchased his ticket. As soon as the film began, Bruce put on the glasses and experienced something completely new. For the first time in his life he appreciated the true depth of the world around him. Remarkably, his ability to perceive depth persisted outside of the movie theater.

There are cells in the nervous system that respond to binocular depth cues. Normally, these cells require activation during early development in order to persist, so experts familiar with Bruce’s case (and others like his) assume that at some point in his development, Bruce must have experienced at least a fleeting moment of binocular vision. It was enough to ensure the survival of the cells in the visual system tuned to binocular cues. The mystery now is why it took Bruce nearly 70 years to have these cells activated (Peck, 2012).

TRY ITTRY IT

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

Photos in this activity from of GlacierNPS, Alicia Nijdam, KlipschFan, scillystuff, rhondawebber (CC-BY-2.0)

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

All of this talk about vision may have you wondering what this has to do with psychology. Remember that sensation is input about the physical world obtained by our sensory receptors, and perception is the process by which the brain selects, organizes, and interprets these sensations. In other words, senses are the physiological basis of perception. Perception of the same senses may vary from one person to another because each person’s brain interprets stimuli differently based on that individual’s learning, memory, emotions, and expectations. It is for this reason that psychologists study sensation—in order to understand perception, which is clearly a component of behavior and mental processes (the definition of psychology).

To see this all in action, visit the BBC website HERE to participate in the sensation lab. Complete the twenty exercises and click on the “explanation” after each question to learn about how our senses are easily fooled.

Integration with Other Modalities

Vision is not an encapsulated system. It interacts with and depends on other sensory modalities. For example, when you move your head in one direction, your eyes reflexively move in the opposite direction to compensate, allowing you to maintain your gaze on the object that you are looking at. This reflex is called the vestibulo-ocularvestibulo-ocular reflexreflex. It is achieved by integrating information from both the visual and the vestibular system (which knows about body motion and position). You can experience this compensation quite simply. First, while you keep your head still and your gaze looking straight ahead, wave your finger in front of you from side to side. Notice how the image of the finger appears blurry. Now, keep your finger steady and look at it while you move your head from side to side. Notice how your eyes reflexively move to compensate the movement of your head and how the image of the finger stays sharp and stable. Vision also interacts with your proprioceptive system, to help you find where all your body parts are, and with your auditory system, to help you understand the sounds people make when they speak. You can learn more about this in the multimodal module.

Finally, vision is also often implicated in a blending-of-sensations phenomenon known as synesthesiasynesthesia. Synesthesia occurs when one sensory signal gives rise to two or more sensations. The most common type is grapheme-color synesthesia. About 1 in 200 individuals experience a sensation of color associated with specific letters, numbers, or words: the number 1 might always be seen as red, the number 2 as orange, etc. But the more fascinating forms of synesthesia blend sensations from entirely different sensory modalities, like taste and color or music and color: the taste of chicken might elicit a sensation of green, for example, and the timbre of violin a deep purple.

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Take a look at a few of your photos or personal works of art. Can you find examples of linear perspective as a potential depth cue?

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

amplitude:amplitude: height of a wave

afterimage:afterimage: continuation of a visual sensation after removal of the stimulus

binocular cue:binocular cue: cue that relies on the use of both eyes

binocular disparity:binocular disparity: slightly different view of the world that each eye receives

blind spot:blind spot: point where we cannot respond to visual information in that portion of the visual field

cone:cone: specialized photoreceptor that works best in bright light conditions and detects color

cornea:cornea: transparent covering over the eye

depth perception:depth perception: ability to perceive depth

electromagnetic spectrum:electromagnetic spectrum: all the electromagnetic radiation that occurs in our environment

fovea:fovea: small indentation in the retina that contains cones

frequency:frequency: number of waves that pass a given point in a given time period

hertz (Hz):hertz (Hz): cycles per second; measure of frequency

iris:iris: colored portion of the eye

lens:lens: curved, transparent structure that provides additional focus for light entering the eye

linear perspective:linear perspective: perceive depth in an image when two parallel lines seem to converge

monocular cue:monocular cue: cue that requires only one eye

opponent-process theory of color perception:opponent-process theory of color perception: color is coded in opponent pairs: black-white, yellow-blue, and red-green

optic chiasm:optic chiasm: X-shaped structure that sits just below the brain’s ventral surface; represents the merging of the optic nerves from the two eyes and the separation of information from the two sides of the visual field to the opposite side of the brain

optic nerve:optic nerve: carries visual information from the retina to the brain

peak:peak: (also, crest) highest point of a wave

photoreceptor:photoreceptor: light-detecting cell

pupil:pupil: small opening in the eye through which light passes

retina:retina: light-sensitive lining of the eye

rod:rod: specialized photoreceptor that works well in low light conditions

synesthesiasynesthesia: the blending of two or more sensory experiences, or the automatic activation of a secondary (indirect) sensory experience due to certain aspects of the primary (direct) sensory stimulation

trichromatic theory of color perception:trichromatic theory of color perception: color vision is mediated by the activity across the three groups of cones

trough:trough: lowest point of a wave

vestibulo-ocular reflex:vestibulo-ocular reflex: coordination of motion information with visual information that allows you to maintain your gaze on an object while you move

visible spectrum:visible spectrum: portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that we can see

wavelength:wavelength: length of a wave from one peak to the next peak

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2111

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Vision. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:E-7sLQFP@5/Vision. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/ [email protected]

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Waves and Wavelenghts. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:1Cicp6CO@8/Waves-and-Wavelengths. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

• Vision, information and visual and ventral and dorsal pathways, Integration with Other Modalities. Authored byAuthored by: Simona Buetti and Alejandro Lleras . Provided byProvided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/modules/vision. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

• Waves and Wavelengths. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:1Cicp6CO@8/Waves-and-Wavelengths. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Amazing Anamorphic Illusions. Authored byAuthored by: brusspup. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBNHPk-Lnkk. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

HEARING

What you’ll learn to do: explain the basics of hearing

Our auditory system converts pressure waves into meaningful sounds. This translates into our ability to hear the sounds of nature, to appreciate the beauty of music, and to communicate with one another through spoken language. This section will provide an overview of the basic anatomy and function of the auditory system. It will include a discussion of how the sensory stimulus is translated into neural impulses, where in the brain that information is processed, how we perceive pitch, and how we know where sound is coming from.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe the basic anatomy and function of the auditory system • Show how physical properties of sound waves are associated with perceptual experience • Explain how we encode and perceive pitch and localize sound • Describe types of hearing loss

Figure 1. The ear is divided into outer (pinna and tympanic membrane), middle (the three ossicles: malleus, incus, and stapes),

and inner (cochlea and basilar membrane) divisions.

How We Hear Our auditory system converts pressure waves into meaningful sounds. This translates into our ability to hear the sounds of nature, to appreciate the beauty of music, and to communicate with one another through spoken language. This section will provide an overview of the basic anatomy and function of the auditory system. It will include a discussion of how the sensory stimulus is translated into neural impulses, where in the brain that information is processed, how we perceive pitch, and how we know where sound is coming from.

Anatomy of the Auditory System

The ear can be separated into multiple sections. The outer ear includes the pinnapinna, which is the visible part of the ear that protrudes from our heads, the auditory canal, and the tympanic membranetympanic membrane, or eardrum. The middle ear contains three tiny bones known as the ossiclesossicles, which are named the malleusmalleus (or hammer), incusincus (or anvil), and the stapesstapes (or stirrup). The inner ear contains the semi-circular canals, which are involved in balance and movement (the vestibular sense), and the cochlea. The cochleacochlea is a fluid-filled, snail-shaped structure that contains the sensory receptor cells (hair cells) of the auditory system (Figure 1).

Sound waves travel along the auditory canal and strike the tympanic membrane, causing it to vibrate. This vibration results in movement of the three ossicles. As the ossicles move, the stapes presses into a thin membrane of the cochlea known as the oval window. As the stapes presses into the oval window, the fluid inside the cochlea begins to move, which in turn stimulates hair cellshair cells, which are auditory receptor cells of the inner ear embedded in the basilar membrane. The basilar membranebasilar membrane is a thin strip of tissue within the cochlea. Sitting on the basilar membrane is the organ of Corti, which runs the entire length of the basilar membrane from the base (by the oval window) to the apex (the “tip” of the spiral). The organ of Corti includes three rows of outer hair cells and one row of inner hair cells. The hair cells sense the vibrations by way of their tiny hairs, or stereocillia. The outer hair cells seem to function to mechanically amplify the sound-induced vibrations, whereas the inner hair cells form synapses with the auditory nerve and transduce those vibrations into action potentials, or neural spikes, which are transmitted along the auditory nerve to higher centers of the auditory pathways.

The activation of hair cells is a mechanical process: the stimulation of the hair cell ultimately leads to activation of the cell. As hair cells become activated, they generate neural impulses that travel along the auditory nerve to the brain. Auditory information is shuttled to the inferior colliculus, the medial geniculate nucleus of the thalamus, and finally to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe of the brain for processing. Like the visual system, there is also evidence suggesting that information about auditory recognition and localization is processed in parallel streams (Rauschecker & Tian, 2000; Renier et al., 2009).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

TRY ITTRY IT

Watch the process of audition in the following video:

Sound Waves

As mentioned above, the vibration of the tympanic membrane is what triggers the sequence of events that lead to our perception of sound. Sound waves travel into our ears at various speeds and amplitudes. Like light waves, the physical properties of sound waves are associated with various aspects of our perception of sound. The frequency of a sound wave is associated with our perception of that sound’s pitchpitch. High-frequency sound waves are perceived as high-pitched sounds, while low-frequency sound waves are perceived as low-pitched sounds. The audible range of sound frequencies is between 20 and 20000 Hz, with greatest sensitivity to those frequencies that fall in the middle of this range.

As was the case with the visible spectrum, other species show differences in their audible ranges. For instance, chickens have a very limited audible range, from 125 to 2000 Hz. Mice have an audible range from 1000 to 91000 Hz, and the beluga whale’s audible range is from 1000 to 123000 Hz. Our pet dogs and cats have audible ranges of about 70–45000 Hz and 45–64000 Hz, respectively (Strain, 2003).

The loudness of a given sound is closely associated with the amplitude of the sound wave. Higher amplitudes are associated with louder sounds. Loudness is measured in terms of decibels (dB)decibels (dB), a logarithmic unit of sound intensity. A typical conversation would correlate with 60 dB; a rock concert might check in at 120 dB (Figure 2). A whisper 5 feet away or rustling leaves are at the low end of our hearing range; sounds like a window air conditioner, a normal conversation, and even heavy traffic or a vacuum cleaner are within a tolerable range. However, there is the potential for hearing damage from about 80 dB to 130 dB: These are sounds of a food processor, power lawnmower, heavy truck (25 feet away), subway train (20 feet away), live rock music, and a jackhammer. The threshold for pain is about 130 dB, a jet plane taking off or a revolver firing at close range (Dunkle, 1982).

Figure 2. This figure illustrates the loudness of common sounds. (credit “planes”: modification of work by Max Pfandl; credit

“crowd”: modification of work by Christian Holmér; credit “blender”: modification of work by Jo Brodie; credit “car”: modification of

work by NRMA New Cars/Flickr; credit “talking”: modification of work by Joi Ito; credit “leaves”: modification of work by Aurelijus

Valeiša)

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this brief video demonstrating how frequency and amplitude interact in our perception of loudness.

TRY ITTRY IT

Although wave amplitude is generally associated with loudness, there is some interaction between frequency and amplitude in our perception of loudness within the audible range. For example, a 10 Hz sound wave is inaudible no matter the amplitude of the wave. A 1000 Hz sound wave, on the other hand, would vary dramatically in terms of perceived loudness as the amplitude of the wave increased.

Of course, different musical instruments can play the same musical note at the same level of loudness, yet they still sound quite different. This is known as the timbre of a sound. TimbreTimbre refers to a sound’s purity, and it is affected by the complex interplay of frequency, amplitude, and timing of sound waves.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

Pitch Perception

We know that different frequencies of sound waves are associated with differences in our perception of the pitch of those sounds. Low-frequency sounds are lower pitched, and high-frequency sounds are higher pitched. But how does the auditory system differentiate among various pitches? Several theories have been proposed to account for pitch perception. We’ll discuss two of them here: temporal theory and place theory.The temporaltemporal theorytheory of pitch perception asserts that frequency is coded by the activity level of a sensory neuron. This would mean that a given hair cell would fire action potentials related to the frequency of the sound wave. While this is a very intuitive explanation, we detect such a broad range of frequencies (20–20,000 Hz) that the frequency of action potentials fired by hair cells cannot account for the entire range. Because of properties related to sodium channels on the neuronal membrane that are involved in action potentials, there is a point at which a cell cannot fire any faster (Shamma, 2001).The place theoryplace theory of pitch perception suggests that different portions of the basilar membrane are sensitive to sounds of different frequencies. More specifically, the base of the basilar membrane responds best to high frequencies and the tip of the basilar membrane responds best to low frequencies. Therefore, hair cells that are in the base portion would be labeled as high-pitch receptors, while those in the tip of basilar membrane would be labeled as low-pitch receptors (Shamma, 2001).In reality, both theories explain different aspects of pitch perception. At frequencies up to about 4000 Hz, it is clear that both the rate of action potentials and place contribute to our perception of pitch. However, much higher frequency sounds can only be encoded using place cues (Shamma, 2001).

Sound Localization

The ability to locate sound in our environments is an important part of hearinghearing. Localizing sound could be considered similar to the way that we perceive depth in our visual fields. Like the monocular and binocular cues that provided information about depth, the auditory system uses both monauralmonaural (one-eared) and binauralbinaural (two- eared) cues to localize sound.

Each pinna interacts with incoming sound waves differently, depending on the sound’s source relative to our bodies. This interaction provides a monaural cue that is helpful in locating sounds that occur above or below and in front or behind us. The sound waves received by your two ears from sounds that come from directly above, below, in front, or behind you would be identical; therefore, monaural cues are essential (Grothe, Pecka, & McAlpine, 2010).

Figure 3. Localizing sound involves the use of both monaural and binaural cues. (credit “plane”: modification of work by Max

Pfandl)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

TRY ITTRY IT

Binaural cues, on the other hand, provide information on the location of a sound along a horizontal axis by relying on differences in patterns of vibration of the eardrum between our two ears. If a sound comes from an off-center location, it creates two types of binaural cues: interaural level differences and interaural timing differences. Interaural level differenceInteraural level difference refers to the fact that a sound coming from the right side of your body is more intense at your right ear than at your left ear because of the attenuation of the sound wave as it passes through your head. Interaural timing differenceInteraural timing difference refers to the small difference in the time at which a given sound wave arrives at each ear (Figure 3). Certain brain areas monitor these differences to construct where along a horizontal axis a sound originates (Grothe et al., 2010).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

Hearing Loss

DeafnessDeafness is the partial or complete inability to hear. Some people are born deaf, which is known as congenitalcongenital deafnessdeafness. Many others begin to suffer from conductive hearing lossconductive hearing loss because of age, genetic predisposition, or environmental effects, including exposure to extreme noise (noise-induced hearing loss, as shown in Figure 4, certain illnesses (such as measles or mumps), or damage due to toxins (such as those found in certain solvents and metals). Conductive hearing loss involves structural damage to the ear such as failure in the vibration of the eardrum and/or movement of the ossicles.

Figure 4. Environmental factors that can lead to conductive hearing loss include regular exposure to loud music or construction

equipment. (a) Rock musicians and (b) construction workers are at risk for this type of hearing loss. (credit a: modification of work

by Kenny Sun; credit b: modification of work by Nick Allen)

WHAT DO YOU THINK?: DEAF CULTUREWHAT DO YOU THINK?: DEAF CULTURE

In the United States and other places around the world, deaf people have their own language, schools, and customs. This is called deaf culture. In the United States, deaf individuals often communicate using American Sign Language (ASL); ASL has no verbal component and is based entirely on visual signs and gestures. The primary mode of communication is signing. One of the values of deaf culture is to continue traditions like using sign language rather than teaching deaf children to try to speak, read lips, or have cochlear implant surgery.

When a child is diagnosed as deaf, parents have difficult decisions to make. Should the child be enrolled in mainstream schools and taught to verbalize and read lips? Or should the child be sent to a school for deaf children to learn ASL and have significant exposure to deaf culture? Do you think there might be differences in the way that parents approach these decisions depending on whether or not they are also deaf?

Given the mechanical nature by which the sound wave stimulus is transmitted from the eardrum through the ossicles to the oval window of the cochlea, some degree of hearing loss is inevitable. With conductive hearing loss, hearing problems are associated with a failure in the vibration of the eardrum and/or movement of the ossicles. These problems are often dealt with through devices like hearing aids that amplify incoming sound waves to make vibration of the eardrum and movement of the ossicles more likely to occur.

When the hearing problem is associated with a failure to transmit neural signals from the cochlea to the brain, it is called sensorineural hearing losssensorineural hearing loss. This type of loss accelerates with age and can be caused by prolonged exposure to loud noises, which causes damage to the hair cells within the cochlea. One disease that results in sensorineural hearing loss is Ménière’s diseaseMénière’s disease. Although not well understood, Ménière’s disease results in a degeneration of inner ear structures that can lead to hearing loss, tinnitus (constant ringing or buzzing), vertigovertigo (a sense of spinning), and an increase in pressure within the inner ear (Semaan & Megerian, 2011). This kind of loss cannot be treated with hearing aids, but some individuals might be candidates for a cochlear implant as a treatment option. Cochlear implantsCochlear implants are electronic devices that consist of a microphone, a speech processor, and an electrode array. The device receives incoming sound information and directly stimulates the auditory nerve to transmit information to the brain.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

basilar membrane:basilar membrane: thin strip of tissue within the cochlea that contains the hair cells which serve as the sensory receptors for the auditory system

binaural cue:binaural cue: two-eared cue to localize sound

cochlear implant:cochlear implant: electronic device that consists of a microphone, a speech processor, and an electrode array to directly stimulate the auditory nerve to transmit information to the brain

conductive hearing loss:conductive hearing loss: failure in the vibration of the eardrum and/or movement of the ossicles

congenital deafness:congenital deafness: deafness from birth

deafness:deafness: partial or complete inability to hear

hair cell:hair cell: auditory receptor cell of the inner ear

incus:incus: middle ear ossicle; also known as the anvil

interaural: level differenceinteraural: level difference sound coming from one side of the body is more intense at the closest ear because of the attenuation of the sound wave as it passes through the head

interaural timing difference:interaural timing difference: small difference in the time at which a given sound wave arrives at each ear

malleus:malleus: middle ear ossicle; also known as the hammer

Ménière’s disease:Ménière’s disease: results in a degeneration of inner ear structures that can lead to hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo, and an increase in pressure within the inner ear

monaural cue:monaural cue: one-eared cue to localize sound

pinna:pinna: visible part of the ear that protrudes from the head

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

If you had to choose to lose either your vision or your hearing, which would you choose and why?

place theory of pitch perception:place theory of pitch perception: different portions of the basilar membrane are sensitive to sounds of different frequencies

sensorineural hearing loss:sensorineural hearing loss: failure to transmit neural signals from the cochlea to the brain

stapes:stapes: middle ear ossicle; also known as the stirrup

temporal theory of pitch perception:temporal theory of pitch perception: sound’s frequency is coded by the activity level of a sensory neuron

tympanic membrane:tympanic membrane: eardrum

vertigo:vertigo: spinning sensation

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2113

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Hearing. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:0nKfpXqb@6/Hearing. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • Information on corti. Authored byAuthored by: Andrew J. Oxenham . Provided byProvided by: University of Minnesota. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/modules/hearing. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-

NonCommercial-ShareAlike

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Process of Hearing. Authored byAuthored by: psy1113. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCCcFDoyBxM. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

Public domain contentPublic domain content

• Rock concert. Authored byAuthored by: 12matamoros. Provided byProvided by: Pixabay. Located atLocated at: https://pixabay.com/p-1157044/?no_redirect. LicenseLicense: Public Domain: No Known Copyright

TASTE AND SMELL

What you’ll learn to do: describe the basic anatomy and functions of taste, smell, touch, pain, and the vestibular sense

Vision and hearing have received an incredible amount of attention from researchers over the years. While there is still much to be learned about how these sensory systems work, we have a much better understanding of them than of our other sensory modalities. In this section, we will explore our chemical senses (taste and smell) and our body senses (touch, temperature, pain, balance, and body position).

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Summarize the chemical process of taste and smell • Explain the receptors that respond to touch

The Chemical Senses

Taste (gustation) and smell (olfaction) are called chemical senses because both have sensory receptors that respond to molecules in the food we eat or in the air we breathe. There is a pronounced interaction between our chemical senses. For example, when we describe the flavor of a given food, we are really referring to both gustatory and olfactory properties of the food working in combination.

Figure 1. (a) Taste buds are composed of a number of individual taste receptors cells that transmit information to nerves. (b) This

micrograph shows a close-up view of the tongue’s surface. (credit a: modification of work by Jonas Töle; credit b: scale-bar data

from Matt Russell)

Taste (Gustation)

You have learned since elementary school that there are four basic groupings of tastetaste: sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. Research demonstrates, however, that we have at least six taste groupings. UmamiUmami is our fifth taste. Umami is actually a Japanese word that roughly translates to yummy, and it is associated with a taste for monosodium glutamate (Kinnamon & Vandenbeuch, 2009). There is also a growing body of experimental evidence suggesting that we possess a taste for the fatty content of a given food (Mizushige, Inoue, & Fushiki, 2007).

Molecules from the food and beverages we consume dissolve in our saliva and interact with taste receptors on our tongue and in our mouth and throat. Taste budsTaste buds are formed by groupings of taste receptor cells with hair-like extensions that protrude into the central pore of the taste bud (Figure 1). Taste buds have a life cycle of ten days to two weeks, so even destroying some by burning your tongue won’t have any long-term effect; they just grow right back. Taste molecules bind to receptors on this extension and cause chemical changes within the sensory cell that result in neural impulses being transmitted to the brain via different nerves, depending on where the receptor is located. Taste information is transmitted to the medulla, thalamus, and limbic system, and to the gustatory cortex, which is tucked underneath the overlap between the frontal and temporal lobes (Maffei, Haley, & Fontanini, 2012; Roper, 2013).

Smell (Olfaction)

Olfactory receptorOlfactory receptor cells are located in a mucous membrane at the top of the nose. Small hair-like extensions from these receptors serve as the sites for odor molecules dissolved in the mucus to interact with chemical receptors located on these extensions (Figure 2). Once an odor molecule has bound a given receptor, chemical changes within the cell result in signals being sent to the olfactory bulbolfactory bulb: a bulb-like structure at the tip of the frontal lobe where the olfactory nerves begin. From the olfactory bulb, information is sent to regions of the limbic system and to the primary olfactory cortex, which is located very near the gustatory cortex (Lodovichi & Belluscio, 2012; Spors et al., 2013).

Figure 2. Olfactory receptors are the hair-like parts that extend from the olfactory bulb into the mucous membrane of the nasal

cavity.

Olfactory receptors are complex proteins called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). These structures are proteins that weave back and forth across the membranes of olfactory cells seven times, forming structures outside the cell that sense odorant molecules and structures inside the cell that activate the neural message ultimately conveyed to the brain by olfactory neurons. The structures that sense odorants can be thought of as tiny binding pockets with sites that respond to active parts of molecules (e.g., carbon chains). There are about 350 functional olfactory genes in humans; each gene expresses a particular kind of olfactory receptor. All olfactory receptors of a given kind project to structures called glomeruli (paired clusters of cells found on both sides of the brain). For a single molecule, the pattern of activation across the glomeruli paints a picture of the chemical structure of the molecule. Thus, the olfactory system can identify a vast array of chemicals present in the environment. Most of the odors we encounter are actually mixtures of chemicals (e.g., bacon odor). The olfactory system creates an image for the mixture and stores it in memory just as it does for the odor of a single molecule (Shepherd, 2005).

There is tremendous variation in the sensitivity of the olfactory systems of different species. We often think of dogs as having far superior olfactory systems than our own, and indeed, dogs can do some remarkable things with their noses. There is some evidence to suggest that dogs can “smell” dangerous drops in blood glucose levels as well as cancerous tumors (Wells, 2010). Dogs’ extraordinary olfactory abilities may be due to the increased number of functional genes for olfactory receptors (between 800 and 1200), compared to the fewer than 400 observed in humans and other primates (Niimura & Nei, 2007).

Many species respond to chemical messages, known as pheromonespheromones, sent by another individual (Wysocki & Preti, 2004). Pheromonal communication often involves providing information about the reproductive status of a potential mate. So, for example, when a female rat is ready to mate, she secretes pheromonal signals that draw attention from nearby male rats. Pheromonal activation is actually an important component in eliciting sexual behavior in the male rat (Furlow, 1996, 2012; Purvis & Haynes, 1972; Sachs, 1997). There has also been a good deal of research (and controversy) about pheromones in humans (Comfort, 1971; Russell, 1976; Wolfgang- Kimball, 1992; Weller, 1998).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2158

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2158

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2158

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

olfactory bulb:olfactory bulb: bulb-like structure at the tip of the frontal lobe, where the olfactory nerves begin

olfactory receptor:olfactory receptor: sensory cell for the olfactory system pheromone:pheromone: chemical message sent by another individual taste bud:taste bud: grouping of taste receptor cells with hair-like extensions that protrude into the central pore of the taste bud umami:umami: taste for monosodium glutamate

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

As mentioned earlier, a food’s flavor represents an interaction of both gustatory and olfactory information. Think about the last time you were seriously congested due to a cold or the flu. What changes did you notice in the flavors of the foods that you ate during this time?

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• The Other Senses. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:Nw9FOKLs@6/The-Other-Senses. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/ contents/[email protected]

• Paragraph on olfactory receptors. Authored byAuthored by: Linda Bartoshuk and Derek Snyder . Provided byProvided by: University of Florida. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/modules/taste-and-smell?r=LDIzOTky. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

• Touch photo. Authored byAuthored by: Wendy Longo. Located atLocated at: https://www.google.com/search?q=5+senses&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS727US727&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjCwNPv1-zRAhUJj1QKHdLfC- EQ_AUICCgB&biw=1255&bih=743#tbs=sur:fc&tbm=isch&q=touch&imgrc=D65TnqDgRi27_M%3A. LicenseLicense: CC BY-ND: Attribution-NoDerivatives

TOUCH AND PAIN

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain the receptors that respond to touch

Figure 1. There are many types of sensory receptors located in the skin, each attuned to specific touch-related stimuli.

• Explain the importance of pain and give examples of how expectations and context affect pain and touch experiences.

Touch, Thermoception, and Noiception

A number of receptors are distributed throughout the skin to respond to various touch-related stimuli (Figure 1). These receptors include Meissner’s corpuscles, Pacinian corpuscles, Merkel’s disks, and Ruffini corpuscles. Meissner’s corpusclesMeissner’s corpuscles respond to pressure and lower frequency vibrations, and Pacinian corpusclePacinian corpuscles detect transient pressure and higher frequency vibrations. Merkel’s disksMerkel’s disks respond to light pressure, while RuffiniRuffini corpusclescorpuscles detect stretch (Abraira & Ginty, 2013).

The skin can convey many sensations, such as the biting cold of a wind, the comfortable pressure of a hand holding yours, or the irritating itch from a woolen scarf. The different types of information activate specific receptors that convert the stimulation of the skin to electrical nerve impulses, a process called transduction. There are three main groups of receptors in our skin: mechanoreceptors, responding to mechanical stimuli, such as stroking, stretching, or vibration of the skin; thermoreceptors, responding to cold or hot temperatures; and chemoreceptors, responding to certain types of chemicals either applied externally or released within the skin (such as histamine from an inflammation). For an overview of the different receptor types and their properties, see Table 1. The experience of pain usually starts with activation of nociceptorsnociceptors—receptors that fire specifically to potentially tissue-damaging stimuli. Most of the nociceptors are subtypes of either chemoreceptors or mechanoreceptors. When tissue is damaged or inflamed, certain chemical substances are released from the cells, and these substances activate the chemosensitive nociceptors. Mechanoreceptive nociceptors have a high threshold for activation—they respond to mechanical stimulation that is so intense it might damage the tissue. Sensory information collected from the receptors and free nerve endings travels up the spinal cord and is transmitted to regions of the medulla, thalamus, and ultimately to somatosensory cortex, which is located in the postcentral gyrus of the parietal lobe.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2160

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2160

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2160

TRY ITTRY IT

Table 1. Categories of low-threshold mechanoreceptors*

Identity of receptorIdentity of receptor Size of receptor*Size of receptor* Type of skin whereType of skin where foundfound

Speed ofSpeed of adaptation*adaptation*

AdequateAdequate stimulus*stimulus*

Merkel’s disks small, sharp borders

glabrous* slow pressure

Meissner’s corpusles

small, sharp borders

glabrous rapid indentation

Ruffini corpuscles large, diffuse borders

hairy + glabrous slow stretching

Pacinian corpuscles

large, diffuse borders

hairy + glabrous rapid vibration

*Terms:

Adequate stimulusAdequate stimulus-the type of stimulus that the receptor is specialized to receive and respond to.

Glabrous skinGlabrous skin-the hairless skin found on our palms and the soles of our feet. This skin has a higher density of receptors of a more complex range, which reflects the fact that we use these areas of our body to actively explore our surroundings and to discriminate tactile properties of objects we’re interacting with.

Low-threshold mechanoreceptors-Low-threshold mechanoreceptors-mechanoreceptors that respond to stimulus that is so light it doesn’t threaten to damage the tissue around it. high-threshold mechanoreceptors respond to stimulation of higher intensity, and are a type of nociceptor.

Receptive fieldReceptive field-the space of skin or tissue in which stimulation will elicit a response in the receptor. Smaller receptive fields make the receptor more sensitive to details.

Speed adaptationSpeed adaptation-slowly adapting mechanoreceptors continue to fire action potentials during sustained stimulation. Rapidly adapting mechanoreceptors continue to fire action potentials in response to stimulus onset and offset (i.e. to stimuli changes), and help detect stimulus movement on the skin.

LIFE WITHOUT PAIN?LIFE WITHOUT PAIN?

Imagine a life free of pain. How would it be—calm, fearless, serene? Would you feel invulnerable, invincible? Getting rid of pain is a popular quest—a quick search for “pain-free life” on Google returns well over 4 million hits—including links to various bestselling self-help guides promising a pain-free life in only 7 steps, 6 weeks, or 3 minutes. Pain management is a billion-dollar market, and involves much more than just pharmaceuticals. Surely a life with no pain would be a better one?

Well, consider one of the “lucky few”: 12-year-old “Thomas” has never felt deep pain. Not even when a fracture made him walk around with one leg shorter than the other, so that the bones of his healthy leg were slowly crushed to destruction underneath the knee joint. For Thomas and other members of a large Swedish family, life without pain is a harsh reality because of a mutated gene that affects the growth of the nerves conducting deep pain. Most of those affected suffer from joint damage and frequent fractures to bones in their feet and hands; some end up in wheelchairs even before they reach puberty (Minde et al., 2004). It turns out pain—generally—serves us well.

Living without a sense of touch sounds less attractive than being free of pain—touch is a source of pleasure and essential to how we feel. Losing the sense of touch has severe implications—something patient G. L. experienced when an antibiotics treatment damaged the type of nerves that signal touch from her skin and the position of her joints and muscles. She reported feeling like she’d lost her physical self from her nose down, making her “disembodied”—like she no longer had any connection to the body attached to her head. If she didn’t look at her arms and legs they could just “wander off” without her knowing—initially she was unable to walk, and even after she relearned this skill she was so dependent on her visual attention that closing her eyes would cause her to land in a hopeless heap on the floor. Only light caresses like those from her children’s hands can make her feel she has a body, but even these sensations remain vague and elusive (Olausson et al., 2002; Sacks, 1985).

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this video to learn more about congenital insensitivity to pain.

Pain Perception

Pain is an unpleasant experience that involves both physical and psychological components. Feeling pain is quite adaptive because it makes us aware of an injury, and it motivates us to remove ourselves from the cause of that injury. In addition, pain also makes us less likely to suffer additional injury because we will be gentler with our injured body parts.

Generally speaking, pain can be considered to be neuropathic or inflammatory in nature. Pain that signals some type of tissue damage is known as inflammatory paininflammatory pain. In some situations, pain results from damage to neurons of either the peripheral or central nervous system. As a result, pain signals that are sent to the brain get exaggerated. This type of pain is known as neuropathic painneuropathic pain. Multiple treatment options for pain relief range from relaxation therapy to the use of analgesic medications to deep brain stimulation. The most effective treatment option for a given individual will depend on a number of considerations, including the severity and persistence of the pain and any medical/psychological conditions.

Some individuals are born without the ability to feel pain. This very rare genetic disorder is known as congenitalcongenital insensitivity to paininsensitivity to pain (or congenital analgesiacongenital analgesia). While those with congenital analgesia can detect differences in temperature and pressure, they cannot experience pain. As a result, they often suffer significant injuries. Young children have serious mouth and tongue injuries because they have bitten themselves repeatedly. Not surprisingly, individuals suffering from this disorder have much shorter life expectancies due to their injuries and secondary infections of injured sites (U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2013).

Action Potentials in the Receptor Cells Travel as Nerve Impulses with Different Speeds

When you step on a pin, this activates a host of mechanoreceptors, many of which are nociceptors. You may have noticed that the sensation changes over time. First you feel a sharp stab that propels you to remove your foot, and only then you feel a wave of more aching pain. The sharp stab is signaled via fast-conducting A-fibers, which project to the somatosensory cortex. This part of the cortex is somatotopically organized—that is, the sensory signals are represented according to where in the body they stem from (see homunculus illustration, Figure 2). The unpleasant ache you feel after the sharp pin stab is a separate, simultaneous signal sent from the nociceptors in your foot via thin C-pain or Aδ-fibers to the insular cortex and other brain regions involved in processing of emotion and interoception (see Figure 3a for a schematic representation of this pathway). The experience of stepping on a pin is, in other words, composed by two separate signals: one discriminatory signal allowing us to localize the touch stimulus and distinguish whether it’s a blunt or a sharp stab; and one affective signal that lets us know that stepping on the pin is bad. It is common to divide pain into sensory–discriminatory and affective–motivational aspects (Auvray, Myin, & Spence, 2010). This distinction corresponds, at least partly, to how this information travels from the peripheral to the central nervous system and how it is processed in the brain (Price, 2000).

Figure 2a. The Homunculus: Homunculus means “little man”, and here you see a scale model of the human body distorted to

reflect the relative space that body parts occupy in the somatosensory cortex. As you can see, the lips, hands, feet and genitals

send more somatosensory projections to the brain than do any other body parts. Figure 2b. Cortical mapping of the sensory

homunculus: The body parts are represented in specific locations on the somatosensory cortex. Representations map out

somatotopically, with the feet located medially and shoulders and arms laterally to the interhemispheric fissure. Facial structures

are represented in a different location to the scalp and head; the face oriented «upside down» with the forehead pointing towards

the shoulders.

Figure 3: Pain processing pathways. Left – Ascending pain pathways: An injury is signaled simultaneously via fast-conducting Aα

or Aβ-fibres and slow-conducting C-pain or Aδ-fibres. The fast A-fibres signal pressure, stretching and other tissue movements to

the somatosensory cortex via the dorsal column nuclei. The C-pain and Aδ-fibres sends pain information from nociceptors in the

tissue or skin, and transmits these signals to second order neurons in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. The second order

Pain Is Necessary for Survival, but Our Brain Can Stop It if It Needs To

In April 2003, the climber Aron Ralston found himself at the floor of Blue John Canyon in Utah, forced to make an appalling choice: face a slow but certain death—or amputate his right arm. Five days earlier he fell down the canyon—since then he had been stuck with his right arm trapped between an 800-lb boulder and the steep sandstone wall. Weak from lack of food and water and close to giving up, it occurred to him like an epiphany that if he broke the two bones in his forearm he could manage to cut off the rest with his pocket knife. The thought of freeing himself and surviving made him so exited he spent the next 40 minutes completely engrossed in the task: first snapping his bones using his body as a lever, then sticking his fingers into the arm, pinching bundles of muscle fibers and severing them one by one, before cutting the blue arteries and the pale “noodle-like” nerves. The pain was unimportant. Only cutting through the thick white main nerve made him stop for a minute—the flood of pain, he describes, was like thrusting his entire arm “into a cauldron of magma.” Finally free, he rappelled down a cliff and walked another 7 miles until he was rescued by some hikers (Ralston, 2010).

How is it possible to do something so excruciatingly painful to yourself, as Aron Ralston did, and still manage to walk, talk, and think rationally afterwards? The answer lies within the brain, where signals from the body are interpreted. When we perceive somatosensory and nociceptive signals from the body, the experience is highly subjective and malleable by motivation, attention, emotion, and context.

neurons then cross over to the opposite side, where they form the ascending spinothalamic tract. This tract projects signals to

nuclei in the medulla and midbrain on the way up to the thalamus (T). The thalamus relays the information to the somatosensory

and insular cortex, as well as cortical regions mediating different aspects of the pain experience such as affective responses in the

cingulate cortex. Right – Descending pain modulation pathways: Information from the environment and certain motivational states

can activate this top–down pathway. Several areas in the limbic forebrain including the anterior cingulate and insular cortex, nuclei

in the amygdala and the hypothalamus (H), project to the midbrain periaqueductal grey (PAG), which then modulates ascending

pain transmission from the afferent pain system indirectly through the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) in the brainstem. This

modulating system produces analgesia by the release of endogenous opioids, and uses ON- and OFF-cells to exert either

inhibitory (green) or facilitatory (red) control of nociceptive signals at the spinal dorsal horn.

The Motivation–Decision Model and Descending Modulation of Pain

According to the motivation–decision model, the brain automatically and continuously evaluates the pros and cons of any situation—weighing impending threats and available rewards (Fields, 2004, 2006). Anything more important for survival than avoiding the pain activates the brain’s descending pain modulatory system—a top- down system involving several parts of the brain and brainstem, which inhibits nociceptive signaling so that the more important actions can be attended to.

In Aron’s extreme case, his actions were likely based on such an unconscious decision process—taking into account his homeostatic state (his hunger, thirst, the inflammation and decay of his crushed hand slowly affecting the rest of his body), the sensory input available (the sweet smell of his dissolving skin, the silence around him indicating his solitude), and his knowledge about the threats facing him (death, or excruciating pain that won’t kill him) versus the potential rewards (survival, seeing his family again). Aron’s story illustrates the evolutionary advantage to being able to shut off pain: The descending pain modulatory system allows us to go through with potentially life-saving actions.

However, when one has reached safety or obtained the reward, healing is more important. The very same descending system can then “crank up” nociception from the body to promote healing and motivate us to avoid potentially painful actions. To facilitate or inhibit nociceptive signals from the body, the descending pain modulatory system uses a set of ON- or OFF-cells in the brainstem, which regulates how much of the nociceptive signal reaches the brain. The descending system is dependent on opioid signaling, and analgesics like morphine relieve pain via this circuit (Petrovic, Kalso, Petersson, & Ingvar, 2002).

The Analgesic Power of Reward

Thinking about the good things, like his loved ones and the life ahead of him, was probably pivotal to Aron’s survival. The promise of a reward can be enough to relieve pain. Expecting pain relief (getting less pain is often the best possible outcome if you’re in pain, i.e., it is a reward) from a medical treatment contributes to the placebo effect—where pain relief is due at least partly to your brain’s descending modulation circuit, and such relief depends on the brain’s own opioid system (Eippert et al., 2009; Eippert, Finsterbusch, Bingel, & Buchel, 2009; Levine, Gordon, & Fields, 1978). Eating tasty food, listening to good music, or feeling pleasant touch on your skin also decreases pain in both animals and humans, presumably through the same mechanism in the brain (Leknes & Tracey, 2008).

In a now classic experiment, Dum and Herz (1984) either fed rats normal rat food or let them feast on highly rewarding chocolate-covered candy (rats love sweets) while standing on a metal plate until they learned exactly what to expect when placed there. When the plate was heated up to a noxious/painful level, the rats that expected candy endured the temperature for twice as long as the rats expecting normal chow. Moreover, this effect was completely abolished when the rats’ opioid (endorphin) system was blocked with a drug, indicating that the analgesic effect of reward anticipation was caused by endorphin release.

For Aron the climber, both the stress from knowing that death was impending and the anticipation of the reward it would be to survive probably flooded his brain with endorphins, contributing to the wave of excitement and euphoria he experienced while he carried out the amputation “like a five-year-old unleashed on his Christmas presents” (Ralston, 2010). This altered his experience of the pain from the extreme tissue damage he was causing and enabled him to focus on freeing himself. Our brain, it turns out, can modulate the perception of how

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2160

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2160

TRY ITTRY IT

unpleasant pain is, while still retaining the ability to experience the intensity of the sensation (Rainville, Duncan, Price, Carrier, & Bushnell, 1997; Rainville, Feine, Bushnell, & Duncan, 1992). Social rewards, like holding the hand of your boyfriend or girlfriend, have pain-reducing effects. Even looking at a picture of him/her can have similar effects—in fact, seeing a picture of a person we feel close to not only reduces subjective pain ratings, but also the activity in pain-related brain areas (Eisenberger et al., 2011). The most common things to do when wanting to help someone through a painful experience—being present and holding the person’s hand—thus seems to have a measurably positive effect.

The Power of the Mind

The context of pain and touch has a great impact on how we interpret it. Just imagine how different it would feel to Aron if someone amputated his hand against his will and for no discernible reason. Prolonged pain from injuries can be easier to bear if the incident causing them provides a positive context—like a war wound that testifies to a soldier’s courage and commitment—or phantom pain from a hand that was cut off to enable life to carry on.

The relative meaning of pain is illustrated by a recent experiment, where the same moderately painful heat was administered to participants in two different contexts—one control context where the alternative was a non-painful heat; and another where the alternative was an intensely painful heat. In the control context, where the moderate heat was the least preferable outcome, it was (unsurprisingly) rated as painful. In the other context it was the best possible outcome, and here the exact same moderately painful heat was actually rated as pleasant—because it meant the intensely painful heat had been avoided. This somewhat surprising change in perception—where pain becomes pleasant because it represents relief from something worse—highlights the importance of the meaning individuals ascribe to their pain, which can have decisive effects in pain treatment (Leknes et al., 2013). In the case of touch, knowing who or what is stroking your skin can make all the difference—try thinking about slugs the next time someone strokes your skin if you want an illustration of this point.

Pain and pleasure not only share modulatory systems—another common attribute is that we don’t need to be on the receiving end of it ourselves in order to experience it. How did you feel when you read about Aron cutting through his own tissue, or “Thomas” destroying his own bones unknowingly? Did you cringe? It’s quite likely that some of your brain areas processing affective aspects of pain were active even though the nociceptors in your skin and deep tissue were not firing. Pain can be experienced vicariously, as can itch, pleasurable touch, and other sensations. Tania Singer and her colleagues found in an fMRI study that some of the same brain areas that were active when participants felt pain on their own skin (anterior cingulate and insula) were also active when they were given a signal that a loved one was feeling the pain. Those who were most “empathetic” also showed the largest brain responses (Singer et al., 2004). A similar effect has been found for pleasurable touch: The posterior insula of participants watching videos of someone else’s arm being gently stroked shows the same activation as if they were receiving the touch themselves (Morrison, Bjornsdotter, & Olausson, 2011).

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

congenital insensitivity to pain (congenital analgesia):congenital insensitivity to pain (congenital analgesia): genetic disorder that results in the inability to experience pain

inflammatory pain:inflammatory pain: signal that some type of tissue damage has occurred

Meissner’s corpuscle:Meissner’s corpuscle: touch receptor that responds to pressure and lower frequency vibrations

Merkel’s disk:Merkel’s disk: touch receptor that responds to light touch

neuropathic pain:neuropathic pain: pain from damage to neurons of either the peripheral or central nervous system

nociception:nociception: sensory signal indicating potential harm and maybe pain

Pacinian corpuscle:Pacinian corpuscle: touch receptor that detects transient pressure and higher frequency vibrations

Ruffini corpuscle:Ruffini corpuscle: touch receptor that detects stretch

vestibular sense:vestibular sense: contributes to our ability to maintain balance and body posture

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification and adaptation, addition of Noba Link to Learning and CrashCourse video. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• The Other Senses. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:Nw9FOKLs@6/The-Other-Senses. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/ contents/[email protected]

• Touch and Pain, information on mechanoreceptors through the power of the mind. Authored byAuthored by: Guro E. Loseth, Dan-Mikael Ellingson, and Siri Leknes . Provided byProvided by: University of Oslo, University of Gothenburg. LocatedLocated atat: http://nobaproject.com/modules/touch-and-pain. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

THE VESTIBULAR SENSE

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe the basic functions of the vestibular, proprioceptive, and kinesthetic sensory systems

The Vestibular Sense, Proprioception, and Kinesthesia

The vestibular sensevestibular sense contributes to our ability to maintain balance and body posture. As Figure 1 shows, the major sensory organs (utricle, saccule, and the three semicircular canals) of this system are located next to the cochlea in the inner ear. The vestibular organs are fluid-filled and have hair cells, similar to the ones found in the auditory system, which respond to movement of the head and gravitational forces. When these hair cells are stimulated, they send signals to the brain via the vestibular nerve. Although we may not be consciously aware of our vestibular system’s sensory information under normal circumstances, its importance is apparent when we experience motion sickness and/or dizziness related to infections of the inner ear (Khan & Chang, 2013).

Figure 1. The major sensory organs of the vestibular system are located next to the cochlea in the inner ear. These include the

utricle, saccule, and the three semicircular canals (posterior, superior, and horizontal).

In addition to maintaining balance, the vestibular system collects information critical for controlling movement and the reflexes that move various parts of our bodies to compensate for changes in body position. Therefore, both proprioceptionproprioception (perception of body position) and kinesthesiakinesthesia (perception of the body’s movement through space) interact with information provided by the vestibular system.

These sensory systems also gather information from receptors that respond to stretch and tension in muscles, joints, skin, and tendons (Lackner & DiZio, 2005; Proske, 2006; Proske & Gandevia, 2012). Proprioceptive and kinesthetic information travels to the brain via the spinal column. Several cortical regions in addition to the cerebellum receive information from and send information to the sensory organs of the proprioceptive and kinesthetic systems.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2170

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

You can review the things you learned about the senses in the following CrashCourse video:

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2170

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

kinesthesia:kinesthesia: perception of the body’s movement through space

proprioception:proprioception: perception of body position

vestibular sense:vestibular sense: contributes to our ability to maintain balance and body posture

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2170

DefinitionDefinition ApplicationApplication

Vestibular Sense

Sensory system that contributes to balance and the sense of spatial orientation.

You have an ear infection and frequently feel dizzy. Or if you were to experience vertigo, you might feel like your entire body was spinning in space and be unable to walk.

Propioception

The sense of the position of parts of the body, relative to other neighboring parts of the body. Focuses on the body’s cognitive awareness of movement.

You step off a curb and know where to put your foot. You push an elevator button and control how hard you have to press down with your fingers.

Kinesthesia

Awareness of the position and movement of the parts of the body using sensory organs in joints and muscles. Kinesthesia is a key component in muscle memory and hand-eye coordination. It is more behavioral than propioception.

You are aware of your arm movement while swinging a golf club. Focuses on the body’s movements and not on equilibrium or balance.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2117

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• The Other Senses. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:Nw9FOKLs@6/The-Other-Senses. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/ contents/[email protected]

• Homunculus – Crash Course Psychology #6. Provided byProvided by: CrashCourse. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxZWtc0mYpQ. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License • Additional Sensory Systems, information for chart. Provided byProvided by: Boundless. Located atLocated at: https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/sensation-and-perception-5/sensory-

processes-38/additional-sensory-systems-166-12701/. ProjectProject: Boundless Psychology. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

PERCEPTION

What you’ll learn to do: define perception and give examples of gestalt principles and multimodal perception

Seeing something is not the same thing as making sense of what you see. Why is it that our senses are so easily fooled? In this section, you will come to see how our perceptions are not infallible, and they can be influenced by bias, prejudice, and other factors. Psychologists are interested in how these false perceptions influence our thoughts and behavior.

Watch this CrashCourse video for a good overview of perception:

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Give examples of gestalt principles, including the figure-ground relationship, proximity, similarity, continuity, and closure

• Define the basic terminology and basic principles of multimodal perception • Give examples of multimodal and crossmodal behavioral effects

Gestalt Principles of Perception In the early part of the 20th century, Max Wertheimer published a paper demonstrating that individuals perceived motion in rapidly flickering static images—an insight that came to him as he used a child’s toy tachistoscope. Wertheimer, and his assistants Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka, who later became his partners, believed that perception involved more than simply combining sensory stimuli. This belief led to a new movement within the field of psychology known as Gestalt psychologyGestalt psychology. The word gestalt literally means form or pattern, but its use reflects the idea that the whole is different from the sum of its parts. In other words, the brain creates a perception that is more than simply the sum of available sensory inputs, and it does so in predictable ways. Gestalt psychologists translated these predictable ways into principles by which we organize sensory information. As a result, Gestalt psychology has been extremely influential in the area of sensation and perception (Rock & Palmer, 1990).

One Gestalt principle is the figure-ground relationshipfigure-ground relationship. According to this principle, we tend to segment our visual world into figure and ground. Figure is the object or person that is the focus of the visual field, while the ground is the background. As Figure 1 shows, our perception can vary tremendously, depending on what is perceived as figure and what is perceived as ground. Presumably, our ability to interpret sensory information depends on what we label as figure and what we label as ground in any particular case, although this assumption has been called into question (Peterson & Gibson, 1994; Vecera & O’Reilly, 1998).

Figure 1. The concept of figure-ground relationship explains why this image can be perceived either as a vase or as a pair of

faces.

Another Gestalt principle for organizing sensory stimuli into meaningful perception is proximityproximity. This principle asserts that things that are close to one another tend to be grouped together, as Figure 2 illustrates.

Figure 2. The Gestalt principle of proximity suggests that you see (a) one block of dots on the left side and (b) three columns on

the right side.

How we read something provides another illustration of the proximity concept. For example, we read this sentence like this, notl iket hiso rt hat. We group the letters of a given word together because there are no spaces between the letters, and we perceive words because there are spaces between each word. Here are some more examples: Cany oum akes enseo ft hiss entence? What doth es e wor dsmea n?

We might also use the principle of similaritysimilarity to group things in our visual fields. According to this principle, things that are alike tend to be grouped together (Figure 3). For example, when watching a football game, we tend to group individuals based on the colors of their uniforms. When watching an offensive drive, we can get a sense of the two teams simply by grouping along this dimension.

Figure 3. When looking at this array of dots, we likely perceive alternating rows of colors. We are grouping these dots according to

the principle of similarity.

Two additional Gestalt principles are the law oflaw of continuitycontinuity (or good continuation) and closureclosure. The law of continuity suggests that we are more likely to perceive continuous, smooth flowing lines rather than jagged, broken lines (Figure 4). The principle of closure states that we organize our perceptions into complete objects rather than as a series of parts (Figure 5).

Figure 4. Good continuation would suggest that we are more likely to perceive this as two overlapping lines, rather than four lines

meeting in the center.

Figure 5. Closure suggests that we will perceive a complete circle and rectangle rather than a series of segments.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this podcast showing real world illustrations of Gestalt principles.

DIG DEEPER: THE DEPTHS OF PERCEPTION: BIAS, PREJUDICE, ANDDIG DEEPER: THE DEPTHS OF PERCEPTION: BIAS, PREJUDICE, AND CULTURAL FACTORSCULTURAL FACTORS

In this module, you have learned that perception is a complex process. Built from sensations, but influenced by our own experiences, biases, prejudices, and cultures, perceptions can be very different from person to person. Research suggests that implicit racial prejudice and stereotypes affect perception. For instance, several studies have demonstrated that non-Black participants identify weapons faster and are more likely to identify non- weapons as weapons when the image of the weapon is paired with the image of a Black person (Payne, 2001; Payne, Shimizu, & Jacoby, 2005). Furthermore, White individuals’ decisions to shoot an armed target in a video game is made more quickly when the target is Black (Correll, Park, Judd, & Wittenbrink, 2002; Correll, Urland, & Ito, 2006). This research is important, considering the number of very high-profile cases in the last few decades in which young Blacks were killed by people who claimed to believe that the unarmed individuals were armed and/or represented some threat to their personal safety.

TRY ITTRY IT

According to Gestalt theorists, pattern perceptionpattern perception, or our ability to discriminate among different figures and shapes, occurs by following the principles described above. You probably feel fairly certain that your perception accurately matches the real world, but this is not always the case. Our perceptions are based on perceptualperceptual hypotheseshypotheses: educated guesses that we make while interpreting sensory information. These hypotheses are informed by a number of factors, including our personalities, experiences, and expectations. We use these hypotheses to generate our perceptual set. For instance, research has demonstrated that those who are given verbal priming produce a biased interpretation of complex ambiguous figures (Goolkasian & Woodbury, 2010).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2117

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2117

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2117

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2117

Figure 6. The way we receive the information from the

world is called sensation while our interpretation of that

information is called perception. [Image: Laurens van

Lieshou]

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Have you ever listened to a song on the radio and sung along only to find out later that you have been singing the wrong lyrics? Once you found the correct lyrics, did your perception of the song change?

Multi-Modal Perception Although it has been traditional to study the various senses independently, most of the time, perception operates in the context of information supplied by multiple sensorysensory modalitiesmodalities at the same time. For example, imagine if you witnessed a car collision. You could describe the stimulus generated by this event by considering each of the senses independently; that is, as a set of unimodalunimodal stimuli. Your eyes would be stimulated with patterns of light energy bouncing off the cars involved. Your ears would be stimulated with patterns of acoustic energy emanating from the collision. Your nose might even be stimulated by the smell of burning rubber or gasoline. However, all of this information would be relevant to the same thing: your perception of the car collision. Indeed, unless someone was to explicitly ask you to describe your perception in unimodal terms, you would most likely experience the event as a unified bundle of sensations from multiple senses. In other words, your perception would be multimodalmultimodal. The question is whether the various sources of information involved in this multimodal stimulus are processed separately by the perceptual system or not.

For the last few decades, perceptual research has pointed to the importance of multimodal perceptionmultimodal perception: the effects on the perception of events and objects in the world that are observed when there is information from more than one sensory modality. Most of this research indicates that, at some point in perceptual processing, information from the various sensory modalities is integratedintegrated. In other words, the information is combined and treated as a unitary representation of the world.

Behavioral Effects of Multimodal Perception

Although neuroscientists tend to study very simple interactions between neurons, the fact that they’ve found so many crossmodal areas of the cortex seems to hint that the way we experience the world is fundamentally multimodal. Our intuitions about perception are consistent with this; it does not seem as though our perception of events is constrained to the perception of each sensory modality independently. Rather, we perceive a unified world, regardless of the sensory modality through which we perceive it.

It will probably require many more years of research before neuroscientists uncover all the details of the neural machinery involved in this unified experience. In the meantime, experimental psychologists have contributed to our understanding of multimodal perception through investigations of the behavioral effects associated with it. These effects fall into two broad classes. The first class—multimodal phenomenamultimodal phenomena—concerns the binding of inputs from multiple sensory modalities and the effects of this binding on perception. The second class—crossmodalcrossmodal phenomenaphenomena—concerns the influence of one sensory modality on the perception of another (Spence, Senkowski, & Roder, 2009).

Multimodal Phenomena

Audiovisual Speech

Multimodal phenomena concern stimuli that generate simultaneous (or nearly simultaneous) information in more than one sensory modality. As discussed above, speech is a classic example of this kind of stimulus. When an individual speaks, she generates sound waves that carry meaningful information. If the perceiver is also looking at the speaker, then that perceiver also has access to visual patterns that carry meaningful information. Of course, as anyone who has ever tried to lipread knows, there are limits on how informative visual speech information is. Even so, the visual speech pattern alone is sufficient for very robust speech perception. Most people assume that deaf individuals are much better at lipreading than individuals with normal hearing. It may come as a surprise to learn, however, that some individuals with normal hearing are also remarkably good at lipreading (sometimes called “speechreading”). In fact, there is a wide range of speechreading ability in both normal hearing and deaf populations (Andersson, Lyxell, Rönnberg, & Spens, 2001). However, the reasons for this wide range of performance are not well understood (Auer & Bernstein, 2007; Bernstein, 2006; Bernstein, Auer, & Tucker, 2001; Mohammed et al., 2005).

How does visual information about speech interact with auditory information about speech? One of the earliest investigations of this question examined the accuracy of recognizing spoken words presented in a noisy context, much like in the example above about talking at a crowded party. To study this phenomenon experimentally, some irrelevant noise (“white noise”—which sounds like a radio tuned between stations) was presented to participants. Embedded in the white noise were spoken words, and the participants’ task was to identify the words. There were two conditions: one in which only the auditory component of the words was presented (the “auditory-alone” condition), and one in both the auditory and visual components were presented (the “audiovisual” condition). The noise levels were also varied, so that on some trials, the noise was very loud relative to the loudness of the words, and on other trials, the noise was very soft relative to the words. Sumby and Pollack (1954) found that the accuracy of identifying the spoken words was much higher for the audiovisual condition than it was in the auditory-alone condition. In addition, the pattern of results was consistent with the Principle of Inverse Effectiveness: The advantage gained by audiovisual presentation was highest when the auditory-alone condition performance was lowest (i.e., when the noise was loudest). At these noise levels, the audiovisual advantage was considerable: It was estimated that allowing the participant to see the speaker was equivalent to turning the volume of the noise down by over half. Clearly, the audiovisual advantage can have dramatic effects on behavior.

Another phenomenon using audiovisual speech is a very famous illusion called the “McGurk effect” (named after one of its discoverers). In the classic formulation of the illusion, a movie is recorded of a speaker saying the syllables “gaga.” Another movie is made of the same speaker saying the syllables “baba.” Then, the auditory portion of the “baba” movie is dubbed onto the visual portion of the “gaga” movie. This combined stimulus is presented to participants, who are asked to report what the speaker in the movie said. McGurk and MacDonald (1976) reported that 98 percent of their participants reported hearing the syllable “dada”—which was in neither the visual nor the auditory components of the stimulus. These results indicate that when visual and auditory information about speech is integrated, it can have profound effects on perception.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2117

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2117

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2117

TRY ITTRY IT

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2117

Tactile/Visual Interactions in Body Ownership

Not all multisensory integration phenomena concern speech, however. One particularly compelling multisensory illusion involves the integration of tactile and visual information in the perception of body ownership. In the “rubber hand illusion” (Botvinick & Cohen, 1998), an observer is situated so that one of his hands is not visible. A fake rubber hand is placed near the obscured hand, but in a visible location. The experimenter then uses a light paintbrush to simultaneously stroke the obscured hand and the rubber hand in the same locations. For example, if the middle finger of the obscured hand is being brushed, then the middle finger of the rubber hand will also be brushed. This sets up a correspondence between the tactile sensations (coming from the obscured hand) and the visual sensations (of the rubber hand). After a short time (around 10 minutes), participants report feeling as though the rubber hand “belongs” to them; that is, that the rubber hand is a part of their body. This feeling can be so strong that surprising the participant by hitting the rubber hand with a hammer often leads to a reflexive withdrawing of the obscured hand—even though it is in no danger at all. It appears, then, that our awareness of our own bodies may be the result of multisensory integration.

Crossmodal Phenomena

Crossmodal phenomena are distinguished from multimodal phenomena in that they concern the influence one sensory modality has on the perception of another.

Figure 7. Ventriloquists are able to trick us into believing

that what we see and what we hear are the same where,

in truth, they are not. [Image: Indiapuppet]

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Participate in the double-flash experiment here.

Take a look at the bouncing balls illusion here.

Visual Influence on Auditory Localization

A famous (and commonly experienced) crossmodal illusion is referred to as “the ventriloquism effect.” When a ventriloquist appears to make a puppet speak, she fools the listener into thinking that the location of the origin of the speech sounds is at the puppet’s mouth. In other words, instead of localizing the auditory signal (coming from the mouth of a ventriloquist) to the correct place, our perceptual system localizes it incorrectly (to the mouth of the puppet).

Why might this happen? Consider the information available to the observer about the location of the two components of the stimulus: the sounds from the ventriloquist’s mouth and the visual movement of the puppet’s mouth. Whereas it is very obvious where the visual stimulus is coming from (because you can see it), it is much more difficult to pinpoint the location of the sounds. In other words, the very precise visual location of mouth movement apparently overrides the less well-specified location of the auditory information. More generally, it has been found that the location of a wide variety of auditory stimuli can be affected by the simultaneous presentation of a visual stimulus (Vroomen & De Gelder, 2004). In addition, the ventriloquism effect has been demonstrated for objects in motion: The motion of a visual object can influence the perceived direction of motion of a moving sound source (Soto-Faraco, Kingstone, & Spence, 2003).

Auditory Influence on Visual Perception

A related illusion demonstrates the opposite effect: where sounds have an effect on visual perception. In the double-flash illusion, a participant is asked to stare at a central point on a computer monitor. On the extreme edge of the participant’s vision, a white circle is briefly flashed one time. There is also a simultaneous auditory event: either one beep or two beeps in rapid succession. Remarkably, participants report seeing two visual flashes when the flash is accompanied by two beeps; the same stimulus is seen as a single flash in the context of a single beep or no beep (Shams, Kamitani, & Shimojo, 2000). In other words, the number of heard beeps influences the number of seen flashes!

Another illusion involves the perception of collisions between two circles (called “balls”) moving toward each other and continuing through each other. Such stimuli can be perceived as either two balls moving through each other or as a collision between the two balls that then bounce off each other in opposite directions. Sekuler, Sekuler, and Lau (1997) showed that the presentation of an auditory stimulus at the time of contact between the two balls strongly influenced the perception of a collision event. In this case, the perceived sound influences the interpretation of the ambiguous visual stimulus.

Crossmodal Speech

Several crossmodal phenomena have also been discovered for speech stimuli. These crossmodal speech effects usually show altered perceptual processing of unimodal stimuli (e.g., acoustic patterns) by virtue of prior experience with the alternate unimodal stimulus (e.g., optical patterns). For example, Rosenblum, Miller, and Sanchez (2007) conducted an experiment examining the ability to become familiar with a person’s voice. Their first interesting finding was unimodal: Much like what happens when someone repeatedly hears a person speak, perceivers can become familiar with the “visual voice” of a speaker. That is, they can become familiar with the

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

closure:closure: organizing our perceptions into complete objects rather than as a series of parts crossmodal phenomenacrossmodal phenomena: effects that concern the influence of the perception of one sensory modality on the perception of another double flash illusiondouble flash illusion: the false perception of two visual flashes when a single flash is accompanied by two auditory beeps figure-ground relationship:figure-ground relationship: segmenting our visual world into figure and ground Gestalt psychology:Gestalt psychology: field of psychology based on the idea that the whole is different from the sum of its parts< good continuation:good continuation: (also, continuity) we are more likely to perceive continuous, smooth flowing lines rather than jagged, broken lines integratedintegrated: the process by which the perceptual system combines information arising from more than one modality McGurk effectMcGurk effect: an effect in which conflicting visual and auditory components of a speech stimulus result in an illusory percept multimodalmultimodal: of or pertaining to multiple sensory modalities multimodal perceptionmultimodal perception: the effects that concurrent stimulation in more than one sensory modality has on the perception of events and objects in the world multimodal phenomenamultimodal phenomena: effects that concern the binding of inputs from multiple sensory modalities pattern perception:pattern perception: ability to discriminate among different figures and shapes perceptual hypothesis:perceptual hypothesis: educated guess used to interpret sensory information principle of closure:principle of closure: organize perceptions into complete objects rather than as a series of parts proximity:proximity: things that are close to one another tend to be grouped together rubber hand illusionrubber hand illusion: the false perception of a fake hand as belonging to a perceiver, due to multimodal sensory information sensory modalitiessensory modalities: a type of sense; for example, vision or audition similarity:similarity: things that are alike tend to be grouped together unimodalunimodal: of or pertaining to a single sensory modality

person’s speaking style simply by seeing that person speak. Even more astounding was their crossmodal finding: Familiarity with this visual information also led to increased recognition of the speaker’s auditory speech, to which participants had never had exposure.

Similarly, it has been shown that when perceivers see a speaking face, they can identify the (auditory-alone) voice of that speaker, and vice versa (Kamachi, Hill, Lander, & Vatikiotis-Bateson, 2003; Lachs & Pisoni, 2004a, 2004b, 2004c; Rosenblum, Smith, Nichols, Lee, & Hale, 2006). In other words, the visual form of a speaker engaged in the act of speaking appears to contain information about what that speaker should sound like. Perhaps more surprisingly, the auditory form of speech seems to contain information about what the speaker should look like.

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

In the late 17th century, a scientist named William Molyneux asked the famous philosopher John Locke a question relevant to modern studies of multisensory processing. The question was this: Imagine a person who has been blind since birth, and who is able, by virtue of the sense of touch, to identify three dimensional shapes such as spheres or pyramids. Now imagine that this person suddenly receives the ability to see. Would the person, without using the sense of touch, be able to identify those same shapes visually? Can modern research in multimodal perception help answer this question? Why or why not? How do the studies about crossmodal phenomena inform us about the answer to this question?

Figure 1. This 3-D street art demonstrates how artists

utilize illusions to portray depth on a 2-D sidewalk.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • Modification of content on multi-modal perception. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Perception Poster Show Concept. Authored byAuthored by: Jon Ashcroft. Located atLocated at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/theilluminated/5704563713. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • Gestalt Principles of Psychology. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:cOcxAR_r@5/Gestalt-Principles-of-Percepti#Figure_05_06_Continuity. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution.

License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/. • Multi-Modal Perception. Authored byAuthored by: Lorin Lachs. Provided byProvided by: California State University, Fresno. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/modules/multi-modal-perception. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA:

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Perceiving is Believing – Crash Course Psychology #7. Provided byProvided by: CrashCourse. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n46umYA_4dM. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License • The McGurk Effect. Provided byProvided by: BBC. Located atLocated at: https://youtu.be/G-lN8vWm3m0?t=32s. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License • The Rubber Hand Illusion. Provided byProvided by: BBC. Located atLocated at: https://youtu.be/sxwn1w7MJvk. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

ILLUSIONS

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain how and why psychologists use illusions

Why Illusions?

Psychologists have analyzed perceptual systems for more than a century. Vision and hearing have received the most attention by far, but other perceptual systems, like those for smell taste movement, balance, touch, and pain, have also been studied extensively. Perception scientists use a variety of approaches to study these systems—they design experiments, study neurological patients with damaged brain regions, and create perceptual illusions that toy with the brain’s efforts to interpret the sensory world.

Creation and testing of perceptual illusions has been a fruitful approach to the study of perception—particularly visual perception—since the early days of psychology. People often think that visual illusions are simply amusing tricks that provide us with entertainment. Many illusions are fun to experience, but perception scientists create illusions based on their understanding of the perceptual system. Once they have created a successful illusion, the scientist can explore what people experience, what parts of the brain are involved in interpretation of the illusion, and what variables increase or diminish the strength of the illusion. Scientists are not alone in this interest. Visual artists have discovered and used many illusion-producing principles for centuries, allowing them to create the experience of depth, movement, light and shadow, and relative size on two- dimensional canvases.

Depth Illusions

When we look at the world, we are not very good at detecting the absolute qualities of things—their exact size or color or shape. What we are very good at is judging objects in the context of other objects and conditions. Let’s take a look at a few illusions to see how they are based on insights about our perception. Look at Figure 2 below. Which of the two horizontal yellow lines looks wider, the top one or the bottom one?

Figure 2. The Ponzo Illusion.

Most people experience the top line as wider. They are both exactly the same length. This experience is called the Ponzo illusion. Even though you know that the lines are the same length, it is difficult to see them as identical. Our perceptual system takes the context into account, here using the converging “railroad tracks” to produce an experience of depth. Then, using some impressive mental geometry, our brain adjusts the experienced length of the top line to be consistent with the size it would have if it were that far away: if two lines are the same length on my retina, but different distances from me, the more distant line must be in reality longer. You experience a world that “makes sense” rather than a world that reflects the actual objects in front of you.

There are many depth illusions. It is difficult to see the drawing on the left below as a two-dimensional figure. The converging lines and smaller square at the center seem to coax our perceptual systems into seeing depth, even though we know that the drawing is flat. This urge to see depth is probably so strong because our ability to use two-dimensional information to infer a three dimensional world is essential for allowing us to operate in the world. The picture on the right below is a driving tunnel, something you would need to process at high speed if you were in a car going through it. Your quick and detailed use of converging lines and other cues allows you to make sense of this 3-D world.

Figure 3. Understanding depth enables us to function in a 3-dimensional world.

Light and Size Illusions

Depth is not the only quality in the world that shows how we adjust what we experience to fit the surrounding world. Look at the two gray squares in the figure below. Which one looks darker?

Figure 4. Which gray square appears darker?

Most people experience the square on the right as the darker of the two gray squares. You’ve probably already guessed that the squares are actually identical in shade, but the surrounding area—black on the left and white on the right—influence how our perceptual systems interpret the gray area. In this case, the greater difference in shading between the white surrounding area and the gray square on the right results in the experience of a darker square.

Here is another example below. The two triangular figures are identical in shade, but the triangle on the left looks lighter against the dark background of the cross when compared to the triangle in the white area on the right.

Figure 5. Benary Cross

Our visual systems work with more than simple contrast. They also use our knowledge of how the world works to adjust our perceptual experience. Look at the checkerboard below. There are two squares with letters in them, one marked “A” and the other “B”. Which one of those two squares is darker?

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3576

Figure 6. Which looks darker, A or B?

This seems like an easy comparison, but the truth is that squares A and B are identical in shade. Our perceptual system adjusts our experience by taking some visual information into account. First, “A” is one of the “dark squares” and “B” is a “light square” if we take the checkerboard pattern into account. Perhaps even more impressive, our visual systems notice that “B” is in a shadow. Object in a shadow appear darker, so our experience is adjusted to take account of effect of the shadow, resulting in perceiving square B as being lighter than square A, which sits in the bright light. And if you really don’t believe your eyes, take a look at a video showing the same color tiles here.

One final illusion takes us back to adjustment for size. Look at the two sets of circles below. Your task is to adjust the center circle on the left so it is the same actual size as the center circle on the right. The surrounding circles will not change in size, though the right of circles will expand to accommodate the size of the center circle. Use the slide bar with the label “Size of left circle” to make your adjustments. When you are satisfied with your adjustment, check your accuracy by clicking on the “Verify Diameter” button. Click “Reset” to try again.

This illusion is called the Ebbinghaus illusion, created by Hermann Ebbinghaus, one of the early founders of experimental psychology. It is shown again below.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3576

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3576

TRY ITTRY IT

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

If you want to explore more visual illusions, here is a great site with dozens of interesting illusions created by Michael Bach.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3576

In this version of the illusion, most people see the circle on the right as larger than the one on the left. The two orange circles are exactly the same size. The Ebbinghaus illusion again illustrates the tendency of our perceptual systems to adjust our experience of the world to the surrounding context.

How do you think a psychologist might use the Ebbinghaus illusion to learn about mental processes or behavior (shown again below)? Read on to see an actual example from a psychologist at Colorado State University.

Figure 1. Do you suspect that the perceived size of a golf

hole will affect putting performance?

Ebbinghaus in the Real World

Imagine that you are in a golf competition in which you are putting against someone with the same experience and skill that you have. There is one problem: Your opponent gets to putt into a hole that is 10% larger than the hole you have to use. You’d probably think that the competition was unfairly biased against you.

Now imagine a somewhat different situation. You and your opponent are about equal in ability and the holes you are using are the same size, but the hole that your opponent is using looks 10% larger than the one you are using. Would your opponent have an unfair advantage now?

If you read the earlier section on the Ebbinghaus effect, you have an idea how psychologists could exploit your perceptual system (and your opponent’s) to test this very question. Psychologist Jessica Witt and her colleagues Sally Linkenauger and Dennis Proffitt recruited research participants with no unusual golf experience to participate in a putting task. They competed against themselves rather than against another person.

The experimenters made the task challenging by using a hole with a 2-inch diameter, which is about half the diameter of the hole you will find on a golf course. An overhead projector mounted on the ceiling of their lab allowed them to project Ebbinghaus’s circles around the putting hole. Some participants saw the putting hole surrounded by circles that were smaller than the hole in the center; the other half saw surrounding black circles that were larger.

Participants putted from about 11½ feet away. They took 10 putts in one condition, and then 10 in the other condition. Half of the participants putted with the large surrounding circles first and half saw the small surrounding circles first. This procedure is called counterbalancingcounterbalancing. If there is any advantage (e.g., getting better over time with practice) or disadvantage (e.g., getting tired of putting), counterbalancing assures that both conditions are equally exposed to the positive or negative effects of which task goes first or second. Failure to take account of this type of problem means that you may have a confounding variableconfounding variable—practice or fatigue—that influences performance. A confounding variable is something that could influence performance, but is not part of the study. We try to control (that is, neutralize) potentially confounding variables so they cannot be the cause of performance differences. So, for instance, if everyone did the large surrounding circles condition first and then the small surrounding circles, then differences in performance could be due to order of conditions (leading to practice or fatigue effects) rather than the size of the surrounding circles. By counterbalancing, we don’t get rid of the effects of practice or fatigue for any particular person, but—across all the participants—practice or fatigue should affect both conditions (both types of Ebbinghaus circles) equally.

The experimenters wanted to know two things. First, did they actually produce the Ebbinghaus illusion? Remember: there is no guarantee that people see or think the way your theory says they should. So just before the participant started putting in a particular condition, he or she drew a circle using a computerized drawing tool, attempting to match the exact size of the putting hole. This is better than simply asking, “do you see the illusion?” The drawing task attempts to directly measure what they perceive.

Second, the experimenters wanted to see if the perceived size of the hole influenced putting accuracy. They recorded the success or failure of each putt. Each participant could get a score of 0 to 10 successful putts in each condition.

Methods Summary

Recap the steps you’ve read about thus far:

1. The participant practices putting to get used to the task. 2. The participant completes the first condition (large surrounding circles for half of the participants and

small surrounding circles for the other half).

TRY ITTRY IT

Now that you know the details of Jessica Witt’s experiment, see if you can answer the following questions. ClickNow that you know the details of Jessica Witt’s experiment, see if you can answer the following questions. Click on the option you think is correct and then click the ‘Show Answer’ link to see if you’re right.on the option you think is correct and then click the ‘Show Answer’ link to see if you’re right.

Question 1: What is the independent variable as described in this study?Question 1: What is the independent variable as described in this study?

The size of the putting hole is the independent variable.

The size of the circles surrounding the putting hole is the independent variable.

The distance the person had to putt is the independent variable.

There are two independent variables: the size of the putting hole and the size of the surrounding circles.

AnswerAnswer

An INDEPENDENT VARIABLE is something intentionally manipulated (changed) by the experimenter. To test the effect of the Ebbinghaus illusion, the experimenters had participants putt into holes surrounded by larger circles and smaller circles. This “manipulation” of the size of the surrounding holes is the independent variable.

Question 2: What is the dependent variable in this study?Question 2: What is the dependent variable in this study?

The number of successful putts is the dependent variable.

The size of the circle drawn by the participant is the dependent variable.

The size of the putting hole is the dependent variable.

There are two dependent variables: the number of successful putts and the size of the circle drawn by the participants are both dependent variables.

AnswerAnswer

A DEPENDENT VARIABLE is some behavior or thought process measured by the experimenter. This study had two dependent variables:

• (a) the size of the circle drawn by the participant • (b) the number of successful putts

Both dependent variables were measured for each condition, so each participant drew 2 circles and had 0 to 10 successful putts in both the large surrounding circles condition and the small surrounding circles condition.

TRY ITTRY IT

Question 3: How did the participants perceive the holes?Question 3: How did the participants perceive the holes?

Resize the bars below by clicking and dragging them to show your predicted results when the subjects were asked to draw the circles. Make a general prediction based on your understanding of the experiment.

◦ The participant draws a circle corresponding to his or her estimation of the actual size of the putting hole. This allows the experimenters to determine if the Ebbinghaus effect actually occurred.

◦ The participant putts 10 times in this condition. 3. Participant completes the second condition (whichever condition they have not yet done).

◦ The participant draws a circle corresponding to his or her estimation of the actual size of the putting hole.

◦ The participant putts 10 times in this condition.

Now see if you can guess the results of this study.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3576

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3576

AnswerAnswer

This question tested whether or not the Ebbinghaus effect was produced in this experiment. If there is no difference between the bars, that would mean that participants didn’t experience the Ebbinghaus illusion. The exact height of the bars is not important here, but the relative heights should look something like this:

The taller bar on the right means that the center putting hole looks larger when it is surrounded by smaller circles than when the same hole is surrounded by large circles: The Ebbinghaus illusion.

This result was important because the reasoning behind the experiment was dependent on successfully producing the Ebbinghaus illusion. There is a technical term for a dependent variable that is used to determine if your independent variable is actually working: a manipulation checkmanipulation check. Good experimenters use manipulation checks to be sure they aren’t fooling themselves into believing that they have done something that really didn’t work.

Question 4: Can you guess how well the participants putted?Question 4: Can you guess how well the participants putted?

Resize the bars below by clicking and dragging them to show your predicted results when the subjects putted.

AnswerAnswer

This question lets you check out your skills as a psychologist. The description of the experiment did not include the researchers’ hypothesis, so you have to decide for yourself what you think is going to happen. The three possible patterns of results are shown below. The graph you drew fit one of these patterns.

TRY ITTRY IT

Before we show you the actual results of the study, write our your prediction. Do you think the illusion affected putting performance? Why or why not? Explain your answer in the text box below:

AnswerAnswer

Until now, we haven’t told you exactly how the Ebbinghaus illusion was predicted to influence putting—only that the experimenters thought it would have some sort of influence. So here is what they said.

The experimenters thought that the perceived size of the hole would affect the SELF-CONFIDENCE of the person as he or she putted. If you are putting into a larger hole (or what is PERCEIVED as a larger hole) you should be more confident that you will sink your putt. Remember, this is just a prediction based on the experimenters’ reasoning. Their ideas came from interviewing skilled athletes who claimed that objects seemed larger and time seemed to slow down as they gained skill. If the ball you have to catch is bigger or the person blocking you is slower, you can perform at a higher level.

The experimenters could be right or they could be wrong. Your own reasoning might be different than that of the experimenters. For instance, perhaps you thought that people would be MORE CAREFUL if they thought the hole was smaller. That would be a perfectly fine hypothesis. Interestingly, it makes the opposite prediction from the experimenters’ self-confidence hypothesis. This “careful putting with smaller holes” theory predicts that people should putt better when they perceive the hole as smaller (i.e., when the surrounding circles are large). The experimenters’ “more confidence with larger holes” hypothesis predicts that people should putt better when they perceive the hole as larger.

Here are the actual results. First, the hole was perceived as larger when it was surrounded by smaller holes, so there is evidence that they successfully produced the Ebbinghaus illusion. Second, the experimenters predicted that participants would be more successful when the hole seemed larger (i.e., surrounded by smaller circles). Consistent with these predictions, the results looked like this:

This is not the only experiment that has used a sports context to study the effects of illusions. Other experiments have shown that people hit softballs better when the balls are perceived as larger. People score higher in darts when the board appears larger. Athletes kick field goals and return tennis balls more successfully when the goal posts or tennis balls appear larger. In all of these studies, the balls or boards or goal posts were not actually larger, but they were perceived as larger because the experimenters created illusions. Skilled athletes often report

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3576

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this interview with Psychologist Jessica Witt to see her talk about how her research utilizing the Ebbinghaus illusion impacts a golfer’s perception and performance. You can also read about more about similar variations of her research here.

that targets appear larger or time slows down when they are “in the zone”, as if practice and skill create their own perceptual illusions that increase confidence and make difficult challenges feel easier.

A Final Note: Science Doesn’t Always Produce Simple Results

Professor Witt’s study had interesting results; however, they weren’t quite as simple as we have made them seem. The researchers actually had two different hole sizes: 2 inches and 4 inches. The Ebbinghaus circles were adjusted to be relatively larger or smaller than the putting hole.

The Ebbinghaus illusion worked for the smaller (2 inch) putting holes, but not for the larger (4 inch) putting holes. In other words, when people drew the circles as they perceived them (the “manipulation check” dependent variable), they drew different sized circles for the 2 inch holes (the Ebbinghaus illusion), but the same size circles for the 4 inch holes (no Ebbinghaus illusion).

For the larger (4 inch) putting holes, putting accuracy was the same for the two different conditions. This didn’t bother the experimenters, because—as we have already noted—the participants did not experience the Ebbinghaus illusion with the larger holes. If the holes were perceived as the same, then self-confidence should not have been affected and, in turn, putting should not have been better in one condition than the other.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3576

In the research paper, the experimenters suggest a few technical reasons that the larger hole might not have produced the Ebbinghaus illusion, but they admit that they have no definitive explanation. That’s okay. Science often yields messy results—and these can be the basis for new experiments and sometimes for really interesting discoveries. The world is not as simple as our theories try to make it seem. Happily, in science, as in many aspects of life, you learn more from your failures than your successes, so good scientists don’t try to hide from results they don’t expect.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Ebbinghaus Application and Text on Illusions. Authored byAuthored by: Patrick J Carroll. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Mond-Vergleich image. Authored byAuthored by: Fibonacci. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mond-vergleich.svg. ProjectProject: Wikimedia. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike • A hole in the head: Golf and Perception. Authored byAuthored by: sciencentral. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDNfTUOSjFw. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License • golf picture. Authored byAuthored by: coffee. Provided byProvided by: Pixabay. Located atLocated at: https://pixabay.com/en/ball-golf-golf-ball-golf-course-1842170/. LicenseLicense: CC0: No Rights Reserved • Ponzo Illusion. Authored byAuthored by: Wikipedia. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ponzo_illusion.gif. LicenseLicense: Public Domain: No Known Copyright • Contrast Illusion. Authored byAuthored by: Paaliaq. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Contrast_illusions#/media/File:Simultaneous_Contrast.jpg. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-

ShareAlike • Benary Cross Illusion. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Contrast_illusions#/media/File:Benary_Cross.svg. LicenseLicense: Public Domain: No Known Copyright • Checkerboard Illusion. Authored byAuthored by: Adrian Pingstone . Provided byProvided by: Wikipedia. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Optical.greysquares.arp.jpg. LicenseLicense: Public Domain: No Known Copyright • Horizontal 3D grafitti. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horizontal_3d_graffiti,_%C5%81%C3%B3d%C5%BA_Schillera_Passage.jpg. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

Public domain contentPublic domain content

• Baltimore Harbor Tunnel. Authored byAuthored by: ErgoSum88. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Centered_tunnel_perspective#/media/File:Baltimore_Harbor_Tunnel_I-895_02.JPG. LicenseLicense: Public Domain: No Known Copyright

• Simple shape square optical illusion. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Optical_illusions#/media/File:PSM_V54_D322_Simple_shape_creating_optical_illusion_2.png. LicenseLicense: Public Domain: No Known Copyright

• Ebbinghaus Illusion. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mond-vergleich.svg. LicenseLicense: Public Domain: No Known Copyright

PUTTING IT TOGETHER: SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

In this module, you learned to

• differentiate between sensation and perception • explain the process of vision and how people see color and depth • explain the basics of hearing • describe the basic anatomy and functions of taste, smell, touch, pain, and the vestibular sense • define perception and give examples of gestalt principles and multimodal perception

In this module, you learned about the way our senses work and the impact they have on our perception of the world. Our impressive sensory abilities allow us to experience the most enjoyable and most miserable experiences, as well as everything in between. Our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin provide an interface for the brain to interact with the world around us. While there is simplicity in covering each sensory modality independently, we are organisms that have evolved the ability to process multiple modalities as a unified experience.

While the information covered in this module may initially seem straightforward and stagnant, you saw in the example from Jessica Witt’s research on perception that a person’s perception of the size of a golf hole can impact their performance. The ways that perception can alter our behavior and the impact this has on mental processes is of particular interest to psychologists.

Figure 1. Google Cardboard.

A video element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can watch it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2947

Figure 2. Pincushion distortion.

Figure 3. Barrel distortion.

One current area of interest is the influence of psychological principles on virtual reality design. Think about it. How can designers create a 3-dimensional world on a 2-dimensional plane? They must first consider the way that we interpret visual cues and how we see depth. Consider Google Cardboard. In 2014, two Google engineers created a cardboard viewer lens that allows users to place their smartphones inside and view the world as if they entered a virtual reality. This was a huge leap forward in reducing the cost of and increasing access to virtual reality. But how did they do it? In order to feel like you are immersed in the gaming world, you need to remove the distractions that exist outside of the immediate visual field. Hence, the box around the phone. You also need to feel like you are inside of the world, so the box includes lenses that adjust your focal point and magnify the picture on the screen (Figure 1).

You also need the world to be 3-dimensional. As you learned, your eyes rely on several monocular and binocular cues in order to see depth. Binocular disparity describes the slightly unique view of the world we see from each of our two eyes (which explains why if you hold an object near your face and close one eye, then open it and close the other, that object appears to move). To create this effect, developers put a barrier between the left and right visual fields and split the screen in two, so that the image on the screen is slightly different. The picture on your phone shows up like this:

Because you are viewing the image through magnified lenses, there is a distortion called the pincushion distortion, which stretches the image in the corners of the view. To counteract that and make the work appear normal, developers apply a barrel distortion to the viewer, which explains why you see the image in the video with the pinched corners.

Advances in virtual reality are also important to psychology because virtual reality is a treatment method used to help those with psychological disorders. Consider PTSD or phobias, for example. In a virtual world, a counselor can create situations and experiences designed to recreate the triggers for specific behaviors and assist the client in using coping mechanisms to deal with threatening situations. Virtual reality therapy can be used in numerous ways as a type of exposure therapy, even assisting people with autism as they practice recognizing and interpreting social cues or helping those with depression to make choices to help them prevent negative thoughts.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Putting It Together: Sensation and Perception. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Google Cardboard VR with Camera Viewer. Authored byAuthored by: sndrv. Provided byProvided by: Flickr. Located atLocated at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sndrv/16905172090. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • Distortion images. Authored byAuthored by: WolfWings. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distortion_(optics). LicenseLicense: Public Domain: No Known Copyright • Google Cardboard. Provided byProvided by: Wikipedia. Located atLocated at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Cardboard. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike • Introductory Paragraph. Authored byAuthored by: Adam John Privitera . Provided byProvided by: Chemeketa Community College. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/modules/sensation-and-perception. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC

BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Public domain contentPublic domain content

• Google Cardboard image. Authored byAuthored by: Evan Amos. Located atLocated at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Cardboard#/media/File:Google-Cardboard.jpg. LicenseLicense: Public Domain: No Known Copyright

DISCUSSION: SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

Cultural Influences on Perception

STEP 1STEP 1: Respond to the following prompt in a primary post of at least 150-200 words:

Sensation refers to an actual event; perception refers to how we interpret the event. What are some cultural differences that might affect responses to particular stimuli? Create a post using examples from the text as well as your own experiences.

STEP 2STEP 2: Thoughtfully respond to a minimum of 2 classmates with posts of at least 100 words each.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Discussion: Sensation and Perception. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Discussion idea. Authored byAuthored by: Terry Davis . Provided byProvided by: Wiley College. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

MODULE 5: STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

WHY IT MATTERS: STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Sleep, which we all experience, is a quiet and mysterious pause in our daily lives. Two sleeping children are depicted in this 1895

oil painting titled Zwei schlafende Mädchen auf der Ofenbank, which translates as “two sleeping girls on the stove,” by Swiss

painter Albert Anker.

Our lives involve regular, dramatic changes in the degree to which we are aware of our surroundings and our internal states. While awake, we feel alert and aware of the many important things going on around us. Our experiences change dramatically while we are in deep sleep and once again when we are dreaming. Sometimes, we seek to alter our awareness and experience by using psychoactive drugs; that is, drugs that alter the central nervous system and produce a change of consciousness or a deep meditative state. Consciousness is an awareness of external and internal stimuli. As discussed in the module on the biology of psychology, the brain activity during different phases of consciousness produces characteristic brain waves, which can be observed by electroencephalography (EEG) and other types of analysis.

This module will discuss states of consciousness with a particular emphasis on sleep. You’ll learn about the different stages of sleep, sleep disorders as well as the altered states of consciousness produced by psychoactive drugs, hypnosis, and meditation. AnswerAnswer

Aggarwal, S. K., Carter, G. T., Sullivan, M. D., ZumBrunnen, C., Morrill, R., & Mayer, J. D. (2009). Medicinal use of cannabis in the United States: Historical perspectives, current trends, and future directions. Journal of Opioid Management, 5, 153–168.

Alhola, P. & Polo-Kantola, P. (2007). Sleep Deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 3, 553–557.

Alladin, A. (2012). Cognitive hypnotherapy for major depressive disorder. The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 54, 275–293.

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: Author.

Aquina, C. T., Marques-Baptista, A., Bridgeman, P., & Merlin, M. A. (2009). Oxycontin abuse and overdose. Postgraduate Medicine, 121, 163–167.

Arnulf, I. (2012). REM sleep behavior disorder: Motor manifestations and pathophysiology. Movement Disorders, 27, 677–689.

Augustinova, M., & Ferrand, L. (2012). Suggestion does not de-automatize word reading: Evidence from the semantically based Stroop task. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 19, 521–527.

Banks, S., & Dinges, D. F. (2007). Behavioral and physiological consequences of sleep restriction. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 3, 519–528.

Bartke, A., Sun, L. Y., & Longo, V. (2013). Somatotropic signaling: Trade-offs between growth, reproductive development, and longevity. Physiological Reviews, 93, 571–598.

Berkowitz, C. D. (2012). Sudden infant death syndrome, sudden unexpected infant death, and apparent life- threatening events. Advances in Pediatrics, 59, 183–208.

Berry, R. B., Kryger, M. H., & Massie, C. A. (2011). A novel nasal excitatory positive airway pressure (EPAP) device for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea: A randomized controlled trial. Sleep, 34, 479–485.

Bixler, E. O., Kales, A., Soldatos, C. R., Kales, J. D., & Healey, S. (1979). Prevalence of sleep disorders in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 1257–1262.

Bostwick, J. M. (2012). Blurred boundaries: The therapeutics and politics of medical marijuana. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 87, 172–186.

Brook, R. D., Appel, L. J., Rubenfire, M., Ogedegbe, G., Bisognano, J. D., Elliott, W. K., . . . Rajagopalan, S. (2013). Beyond medications and diet: Alternative approaches to lowering blood pressure: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Hypertension, 61, 1360–1383.

Broughton, R., Billings, R., Cartwright, R., Doucette, D., Edmeads, J., Edwardh, M., . . . Turrell, G. (1994). Homicidal somnambulism: A case report. Sleep, 17, 253–264.

Brown, L. K. (2012). Can sleep deprivation studies explain why human adults sleep? Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine, 18, 541–545.

Burgess, C. R., & Scammell, T. E. (2012). Narcolepsy: Neural mechanisms of sleepiness and cataplexy. Journal of Neuroscience, 32, 12305–12311.

Cai, D. J., Mednick, S. A., Harrison, E. M., Kanady, J. C., & Mednick, S. C. (2009). REM, not incubation, improves creativity by priming associative networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 106, 10130–10134.

Caldwell, K., Harrison, M., Adams, M., Quin, R. H., & Greeson, J. (2010). Developing mindfulness in college students through movement based courses: Effects on self-regulatory self-efficacy, mood, stress, and sleep quality. Journal of American College Health, 58, 433–442.

Capellini, I., Barton, R. A., McNamara, P., Preston, B. T., & Nunn, C. L. (2008). Phylogenetic analysis of the ecology and evolution of mammalian sleep. Evolution, 62, 1764–1776.

Cartwright, R. (2004). Sleepwalking violence: A sleep disorder, a legal dilemma, and a psychological challenge. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 1149–1158.

Cartwright, R., Agargun, M. Y., Kirkby, J., & Friedman, J. K. (2006). Relation of dreams to waking concerns. Psychiatry Research, 141, 261–270.

Casati, A., Sedefov, R., & Pfeiffer-Gerschel, T. (2012). Misuse of medications in the European Union: A systematic review of the literature. European Addiction Research, 18, 228–245.

Chen, K. W., Berger, C. C., Manheimer, E., Forde, D., Magidson, J., Dachman, L., & Lejuez, C. W. (2013). Meditative therapies for reducing anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Depression and Anxiety, 29, 545–562.

Chokroverty, S. (2010). Overview of sleep & sleep disorders. Indian Journal of Medical Research, 131, 126–140.

Christensen, A., Bentley, G. E., Cabrera, R., Ortega, H. H., Perfito, N., Wu, T. J., & Micevych, P. (2012). Hormonal regulation of female reproduction. Hormone and Metabolic Research, 44, 587–591.

CNN. (1999, June 25). ‘Sleepwalker’ convicted of murder. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/US/9906/25/ sleepwalker.01/

Cropley, M., Theadom, A., Pravettoni, G., & Webb, G. (2008). The effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions prior to surgery: A systematic review. Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 10, 407–412.

De la Herrán-Arita, A. K., & Drucker-Colín, R. (2012). Models for narcolepsy with cataplexy drug discovery. Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery, 7, 155–164.

Del Casale, A., Ferracuti, S., Rapinesi, C., Serata, D., Sani, G., Savoja, V., . . . Girardi, P. (2012). Neurocognition under hypnosis: Findings from recent functional neuroimaging studies. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 60, 286–317.

Elkins, G., Johnson, A., & Fisher, W. (2012). Cognitive hypnotherapy for pain management. The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 54, 294–310.

Ellenbogen, J. M., Hu, P. T., Payne, J. D., Titone, D., & Walker, M. P. (2007). Human relational memory requires time and sleep. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 104, 7723–7728.

Fell, J., Axmacher, N., & Haupt, S. (2010). From alpha to gamma: Electrophysiological correlates meditation- related states of consciousness. Medical Hypotheses, 75, 218–224.

Fenn, K. M., Nusbaum, H. C., & Margoliash, D. (2003). Consolidation during sleep of perceptual learning of spoken language. Nature, 425, 614–616.

Ferini-Strambi, L. (2011). Does idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) really exist? What are the potential markers of neurodegeneration in iRBD [Supplemental material]? Sleep Medicine, 12(2 Suppl.), S43–S49.

Fiorentini, A., Volonteri, L.S., Dragogna, F., Rovera, C., Maffini, M., Mauri, M. C., & Altamura, C. A. (2011). Substance-induced psychoses: A critical review of the literature. Current Drug Abuse Reviews, 4, 228–240.

Fogel, S. M., & Smith, C. T. (2011). The function of the sleep spindle: A physiological index of intelligence and a mechanism for sleep-dependent memory consolidation. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35, 1154–1165.

Frank, M. G. (2006). The mystery of sleep function: Current perspectives and future directions. Reviews in the Neurosciences, 17, 375–392.

Freeman, M. P., Fava, M., Lake, J., Trivedi, M. H., Wisner, K. L., & Mischoulon, D. (2010). Complementary and alternative medicine in major depressive disorder: The American Psychiatric Association task force report. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 71, 669–681.

Giedke, H., & Schwärzler, F. (2002). Therapeutic use of sleep deprivation in depression. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 6, 361–377.

Gold, D. R., Rogacz, S. R., Bock, N., Tosteson, T. D., Baum, T. M., Speizer, F. M., & Czeisler, C. A. (1992). Rotating shift work, sleep, and accidents related to sleepiness in hospital nurses. American Journal of Public Health, 82, 1011–1014.

Golden, W. L. (2012). Cognitive hypnotherapy for anxiety disorders. The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 54, 263–274.

Gómez, R. L., Bootzin, R. R., & Nadel, L. (2006). Naps promote abstraction in language-learning infants. Psychological Science, 17, 670–674.

Guilleminault, C., Kirisoglu, C., Bao, G., Arias, V., Chan, A., & Li, K. K. (2005). Adult chronic sleepwalking and its treatment based on polysomnography. Brain, 128, 1062–1069.

Gujar, N., Yoo, S., Hu, P., & Walker, M. P. (2011). Sleep deprivation amplifies reactivity of brain reward networks, biasing the appraisal of positive emotional experiences. The Journal of Neuroscience, 31, 4466–4474.

Guldenmund, P., Vanhaudenhuyse, A., Boly, M., Laureys, S., & Soddu, A. (2012). A default mode of brain function in altered states of consciousness. Archives Italiennes de Biologie, 150, 107–121.

Halász, P. (1993). Arousals without awakening—Dynamic aspect of sleep. Physiology and Behavior, 54, 795–802.

Han, F. (2012). Sleepiness that cannot be overcome: Narcolepsy and cataplexy. Respirology, 17, 1157–1165.

Hardeland, R., Pandi-Perumal, S. R., & Cardinali, D. P. (2006). Melatonin. International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology, 38, 313–316.

Haasen, C., & Krausz, M. (2001). Myths versus experience with respect to cocaine and crack: Learning from the US experience. European Addiction Research, 7, 159–160.

Henry, D., & Rosenthal, L. (2013). “Listening for his breath:” The significance of gender and partner reporting on the diagnosis, management, and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. Social Science & Medicine, 79, 48–56.

Hicks, R. A., Fernandez, C., & Pelligrini, R. J. (2001). The changing sleep habits of university students: An update. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 93, 648.

Hicks, R. A., Johnson, C., & Pelligrini, R. J. (1992). Changes in the self-reported consistency of normal habitual sleep duration of college students (1978 and 1992). Perceptual and Motor Skills, 75, 1168–1170.

Hilgard, E. R., & Hilgard, J. R. (1994). Hypnosis in the Relief of Pain. New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Hishikawa, Y., & Shimizu, T. (1995). Physiology of REM sleep, cataplexy, and sleep paralysis. Advances in Neurology, 67, 245–271.

Herman, A., & Herman, A. P. (2013). Caffeine’s mechanism of action and its cosmetic use. Skin Pharmacology and Physiology, 26, 8–14.

Hobson, J. A. (2009). REM sleep and dreaming: Towards a theory of protoconsciousness. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10, 803–814.

Horikawa,T., Tamaki, M., Miyawaki, Y. & Kamitani, Y. (2013). Neural Decoding of Visual Imagery During Sleep. Science, 340(6132), 639–642. doi:10.1126/science.1234330

Hossain, J. L., & Shapiro, C. M. (2002). The prevalence, cost implications, and management of sleep disorders: An overview. Sleep and Breathing, 6, 85–102.

Huang, L. B., Tsai, M. C., Chen, C. Y., & Hsu, S. C. (2013). The effectiveness of light/dark exposure to treat insomnia in female nurses undertaking shift work during the evening/night shift. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 9, 641–646.

Huber, R., Ghilardi, M. F., Massimini, M., & Tononi, G. (2004). Local sleep and learning. Nature, 430, 78–81.

Jayanthi, L. D., & Ramamoorthy, S. (2005). Regulation of monoamine transporters: Influence of psychostimulants and therapeutic antidepressants. The AAPS Journal, 7, E728–738.

Julien, R. M. (2005). Opioid analgesics. In A primer of drug action: A comprehensive guide to the actions, uses, and side effects of psychoactive drugs (pp. 461–500). Portland, OR: Worth.

Kihlstrom, J. F. (2013). Neuro-hypnotism: Prospects for hypnosis and neuroscience. Cortex, 49, 365–374.

Klein, D. C., Moore, R. Y., & Reppert, S. M. (Eds.). (1991). Suprachiasmatic nucleus: The mind’s clock. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Kogan, N. M., & Mechoulam, R. (2007). Cannabinoids in health and disease. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 9, 413–430.

Kromann, C. B., & Nielson, C. T. (2012). A case of cola dependency in a woman with recurrent depression. BMC Research Notes, 5, 692.

Lang, A. J., Strauss, J. L., Bomeya, J., Bormann, J. E., Hickman, S. D., Good, R. C., & Essex, M. (2012). The theoretical and empirical basis for meditation as an intervention for PTSD. Behavior Modification, 36, 759–786.

LaBerge, S. (1990). Lucid dreaming: Psychophysiological studies of consciousness during REM sleep. In R. R. Bootzen, J. F. Kihlstrom, & D. L. Schacter (Eds.), Sleep and cognition (pp. 109–126). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Lesku, J. A., Roth, T. C., 2nd, Amlaner, C. J., & Lima, S. L. (2006). A phylogenetic analysis of sleep architecture in mammals: The integration of anatomy, physiology, and ecology. The American Naturalist, 168, 441–453.

Levitt, C., Shaw, E., Wong, S., & Kaczorowski, J. (2007). Systematic review of the literature on postpartum care: Effectiveness of interventions for smoking relapse prevention, cessation, and reduction in postpartum women. Birth, 34, 341–347.

Lifshitz, M., Aubert Bonn, N., Fischer, A., Kashem, I. F., & Raz, A. (2013). Using suggestion to modulate automatic processes: From Stroop to McGurk and beyond. Cortex, 49, 463–473.

Luppi, P. H., Clément, O., Sapin, E., Gervasoni, D., Peyron, C., Léger, L., . . . Fort, P. (2011). The neuronal network responsible for paradoxical sleep and its dysfunctions causing narcolepsy and rapid eye movement (REM) behavior disorder. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 15, 153–163.

Mage, D. T., & Donner, M. (2006). Female resistance to hypoxia: Does it explain the sex difference in mortality rates? Journal of Women’s Health, 15, 786–794.

Mahowald, M. W., & Schenck, C. H. (2000). Diagnosis and management of parasomnias. Clinical Cornerstone, 2, 48–54.

Mahowald, M. W., Schenck, C. H., & Cramer Bornemann, M. A. (2005). Sleep-related violence. Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, 5, 153–158.

Mayo Clinic. (n.d.). Sleep terrors (night terrors). Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ night-terrors/basics/treatment/con-20032552

Mather, L. E., Rauwendaal, E. R., Moxham-Hall, V. L., & Wodak, A. D. (2013). (Re)introducing medical cannabis. The Medical Journal of Australia, 199, 759–761.

Maxwell, J. C. (2006). Trends in the abuse of prescription drugs. Gulf Coast Addiction Technology Transfer Center. Retrieved from http://asi.nattc.org/userfiles/file/GulfCoast/PrescriptionTrends_Web.pdf

McCarty, D. E. (2010). A case of narcolepsy with strictly unilateral cataplexy. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 15, 75–76.

McDaid, C., Durée, K. H., Griffin, S. C., Weatherly, H. L., Stradling, J. R., Davies, R. J., . . . Westwood, M. E. (2009). A systematic review of continuous positive airway pressure for obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea syndrome. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 13, 427–436.

McKim, W. A., & Hancock, S. D. (2013). Drugs and behavior: An introduction to behavioral pharmacology, 7th edition. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Mignot, E. J. M. (2012). A practical guide to the therapy of narcolepsy and hypersomnia syndromes. Neurotherapeutics, 9, 739–752.

Miller, N. L., Shattuck, L. G., & Matsangas, P. (2010). Longitudinal study of sleep patterns of United States Military Academy cadets. Sleep, 33, 1623–1631.

Mitchell, E. A. (2009). SIDS: Past, present and future. Acta Paediatrica, 98, 1712–1719.

Montgomery, G. H., Schnur, J. B., & Kravits, K. (2012). Hypnosis for cancer care: Over 200 years young. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 63, 31–44.

National Institutes of Health. (n.d.). Information about sleep. Retrieved from http://science.education.nih.gov/ supplements/nih3/sleep/guide/info-sleep.htm

National Research Council. (1994). Learning, remembering, believing: Enhancing human performance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

National Sleep Foundation. (n.d.). How much sleep do we really need? Retrieved from http://sleepfoundation.org/ how-sleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need

Ohayon, M. M. (1997). Prevalence of DSM-IV diagnostic criteria of insomnia: Distinguishing insomnia related to mental disorders from sleep disorders. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 31, 333–346.

Ohayon, M. M. (2002). Epidemiology of insomnia: What we know and what we still need to learn. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 6, 97–111.

Ohayon, M. M., Carskadon, M. A., Guilleminault, C., & Vitiello, M. V. (2004). Meta-analysis of quantitative sleep parameters from childhood to old age in healthy individuals: Developing normative sleep values across the human lifespan. Sleep, 27, 1255–1273.

Ohayon, M. M., & Roth, T. (2002). Prevalence of restless legs syndrome and periodic limb movement disorder in the general population. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 53, 547–554.

Poe, G. R., Walsh, C. M., & Bjorness, T. E. (2010). Cognitive neuroscience of sleep. Progress in Brain Research, 185, 1–19.

Porkka-Heiskanen, T. (2011). Methylxanthines and sleep. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, 200, 331–348.

Presser, H. B. (1995). Job, family, and gender: Determinants of nonstandard work schedules among employed Americans in 1991. Demography, 32, 577–598.

Pressman, M. R. (2007). Disorders of arousal from sleep and violent behavior: The role of physical contact and proximity. Sleep, 30, 1039–1047.

Provini, F., Tinuper, P., Bisulli, F., & Lagaresi, E. (2011). Arousal disorders [Supplemental material]. Sleep Medicine, 12(2 Suppl.), S22–S26.

Rattenborg, N. C., Lesku, J. A., Martinez-Gonzalez, D., & Lima, S. L. (2007). The non-trivial functions of sleep. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 11, 405–409.

Raz, A. (2011). Hypnosis: A twilight zone of the top-down variety: Few have never heard of hypnosis but most know little about the potential of this mind-body regulation technique for advancing science. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15, 555–557.

Raz, A., Shapiro, T., Fan, J., & Posner, M. I. (2002). Hypnotic suggestion and the modulation of Stroop interference. Archives of General Psychiatry, 59, 1151–1161.

Reiner, K., Tibi, L., & Lipsitz, J. D. (2013). Do mindfulness-based interventions reduce pain intensity? A critical review of the literature. Pain Medicine, 14, 230–242.

Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation. (n.d.). Restless legs syndrome: Causes, diagnosis, and treatment for the patient living with Restless legs syndrome (RSL). Retrieved from www.rls.org

Rial, R. V., Nicolau, M. C., Gamundí, A., Akaârir, M., Aparicio, S., Garau, C., . . . Esteban, S. (2007). The trivial function of sleep. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 11, 311–325.

Riemann, D., Berger, M., & Volderholzer, U. (2001). Sleep and depression—Results from psychobiological studies: An overview. Biological Psychology, 57, 67–103.

Reinerman, C. (2007, October 14). 5 myths about that demon crack. Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/09/AR2007100900751.html

Reissig, C. J., Strain, E. C., & Griffiths, R. R. (2009). Caffeinated energy drinks—A growing problem. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 99, 1–10.

Robson, P. J. (2014). Therapeutic potential of cannabinoid medicines. Drug Testing and Analysis, 6, 24–30.

Roth, T. (2007). Insomnia: Definition, prevalence, etiology, and consequences [Supplemental material]. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 3(5 Suppl.), S7–S10.

Rothman, R. B., Blough, B. E., & Baumann, M. H. (2007). Dual dopamine/serotonin releasers as potential medications for stimulant and alcohol addictions. The AAPS Journal, 9, E1–10.

Sánchez-de-la-Torre, M., Campos-Rodriguez, F., & Barbé, F. (2012). Obstructive sleep apnoea and cardiovascular disease. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 1, 31–72.

Savard, J., Simard, S., Ivers, H., & Morin, C. M. (2005). Randomized study on the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia secondary to breast cancer, part I: Sleep and psychological effects. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 23, 6083–6096.

Schicho, R., & Storr, M. (2014). Cannabis finds its way into treatment of Crohn’s disease. Pharmacology, 93, 1–3.

Shukla, R. K, Crump, J. L., & Chrisco, E. S. (2012). An evolving problem: Methamphetamine production and trafficking in the United States. International Journal of Drug Policy, 23, 426–435.

Siegel, J. M. (2008). Do all animals sleep? Trends in Neuroscience, 31, 208–213.

Siegel, J. M. (2001). The REM sleep-memory consolidation hypothesis. Science, 294, 1058–1063.

Singh, G. K., & Siahpush, M. (2006). Widening socioeconomic inequalities in US life expectancy, 1980–2000. International Journal of Epidemiology, 35, 969–979.

Smedslund, G., Fisher, K. J., Boles, S. M., & Lichtenstein, E. (2004). The effectiveness of workplace smoking cessation programmes: A meta-analysis of recent studies. Tobacco Control, 13, 197–204.

Sofikitis, N., Giotitsas, N., Tsounapi, P., Baltogiannis, D., Giannakis, D., & Pardalidis, N. (2008). Hormonal regulation of spermatogenesis and spermiogenesis. Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 109, 323–330.

Steriade, M., & Amzica, F. (1998). Slow sleep oscillation, rhythmic K-complexes, and their paroxysmal developments [Supplemental material]. Journal of Sleep Research, 7(1 Suppl.), 30–35.

Stickgold, R. (2005). Sleep-dependent memory consolidation. Nature, 437, 1272–1278.

Stone, K. C., Taylor, D. J., McCrae, C. S., Kalsekar, A., & Lichstein, K. L. (2008). Nonrestorative sleep. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 12, 275–288.

Suchecki, D., Tiba, P. A., & Machado, R. B. (2012). REM sleep rebound as an adaptive response to stressful situations. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 3. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2012.00041

Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. (2011). SIDS and other sleep-related infant deaths: Expansion of recommendations for a safe infant sleeping environment. Pediatrics, 128, 1030–1039.

Taillard, J., Philip, P., Coste, O., Sagaspe, P., & Bioulac, B. (2003). The circadian and homeostatic modulation of sleep pressure during wakefulness differs between morning and evening chronotypes. Journal of Sleep Research, 12, 275–282.

Thach, B. T. (2005). The role of respiratory control disorders in SIDS. Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology, 149, 343–353.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2013, October 24). Statement on Proposed Hydrocodone Reclassification from Janet Woodcock, M.D., Director, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/drugs/drugsafety/ucm372089.htm

Vogel, G. W. (1975). A review of REM sleep deprivation. Archives of General Psychiatry, 32, 749–761.

Vøllestad, J., Nielsen, M. B., & Nielsen, G. H. (2012). Mindfulness- and acceptance-based interventions for anxiety disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. The British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 51, 239–260.

Wagner, U., Gais, S., & Born, J. (2001). Emotional memory formation is enhanced across sleep intervals with high amounts of rapid eye movement sleep. Learning & Memory, 8, 112–119.

Wagner, U., Gais, S., Haider, H., Verleger, R., & Born, J. (2004). Sleep improves insight. Nature, 427, 352–355.

Walker, M. P. (2009). The role of sleep in cognition and emotion. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1156, 168–197.

Wark, D. M. (2011). Traditional and alert hypnosis for education: A literature review. The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 54(2), 96–106.

Waterhouse. J., Fukuda, Y., & Morita, T. (2012). Daily rhythms of the sleep-wake cycle [Special issue]. Journal of Physiological Anthropology, 31(5). doi:10.1186/1880-6805-31-5

Welsh, D. K. Takahashi, J. S., & Kay, S. A. (2010). Suprachiasmatic nucleus: Cell autonomy and network properties. Annual Review of Physiology, 72, 551–577.

West, S., Boughton, M., & Byrnes, M. (2009). Juggling multiple temporalities: The shift work story of mid-life nurses. Journal of Nursing Management, 17, 110–119.

White, D. P. (2005). Pathogenesis of obstructive and central sleep apnea. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 172, 1363–1370.

Williams, J., Roth, A., Vatthauer, K., & McCrae, C. S. (2013). Cognitive behavioral treatment of insomnia. Chest, 143, 554–565.

Williamson, A. M., & Feyer, A. M. (2000). Moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 57, 649–655.

Wolt, B. J., Ganetsky, M., & Babu, K. M. (2012). Toxicity of energy drinks. Current Opinion in Pediatrics, 24, 243–251.

Zangini, S., Calandra-Buonaura, G., Grimaldi, D., & Cortelli, P. (2011). REM behaviour disorder and neurodegenerative diseases [Supplemental material]. Sleep Medicine, 12(2 Suppl.), S54–S58.

Zeidan, F., Grant, J. A., Brown, C. A., McHaffie, J. G., & Coghill, R. C. (2012). Mindfulness meditation-related pain relief: Evidence for unique brain mechanisms in the regulation of pain. Neuroscience Letters, 520, 165–173.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Introduction to States of Consciousness. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:zywvQOJS@5/Introduction. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/.

CONSCIOUSNESS AND BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS

What you’ll learn to do: describe consciousness and biological rhythms

Are you tired? Have you ever pulled an all-nighter? How did you feel the next day? Do you think your lack of sleep impacted your behavior? Chances are, you could answer that question with a resounding, “yes!”. Because psychologists are interested in mental processes and behavior, it’s essential to study consciousness, or our awareness, as humans. States of consciousness vary over the course of the day and throughout our lives, and sleep plays a major role in alertness levels. Important factors in daily changes in consciousness are biological rhythms, and, more specifically, the circadian rhythms generated by the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Typically, our biological clocks are aligned with our external environment, and light tends to be an important cue in setting this clock. When people travel across multiple time zones or work rotating shifts, they can experience disruptions of

their circadian cycles that can lead to insomnia, sleepiness, and decreased alertness. If people go extended periods of time without sleep, they will accrue a sleep debt and potentially experience a number of adverse psychological and physiological consequences.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe consciousness and circadian rhythms • Explain disruptions in biological rhythms, including sleep debt

Consciousness

ConsciousnessConsciousness describes our awareness of internal and external stimuli. Awareness of internal stimuli includes feeling pain, hunger, thirst, sleepiness, and being aware of our thoughts and emotions. Awareness of external stimuli includes seeing the light from the sun, feeling the warmth of a room, and hearing the voice of a friend.

We experience different states of consciousness and different levels of awareness on a regular basis. We might even describe consciousness as a continuum that ranges from full awareness to a deep sleep. SleepSleep is a state marked by relatively low levels of physical activity and reduced sensory awareness that is distinct from periods of rest that occur during wakefulness. WakefulnessWakefulness is characterized by high levels of sensory awareness, thought, and behavior. In between these extremes are states of consciousness related to daydreaming, intoxication as a result of alcohol or other drug use, meditative states, hypnotic states, and altered states of consciousness following sleep deprivation. We might also experience unconscious states of being via drug-induced anesthesia for medical purposes. Often, we are not completely aware of our surroundings, even when we are fully awake. For instance, have you ever daydreamed while driving home from work or school without really thinking about the drive itself? You were capable of engaging in the all of the complex tasks involved with operating a motor vehicle even though you were not aware of doing so. Many of these processes, like much of psychological behavior, are rooted in our biology.

Biological Rhythms

Biological rhythmsBiological rhythms are internal rhythms of biological activity. A woman’s menstrual cycle is an example of a biological rhythm—a recurring, cyclical pattern of bodily changes. One complete menstrual cycle takes about 28 days—a lunar month—but many biological cycles are much shorter. For example, body temperature fluctuates cyclically over a 24-hour period (Figure 1). Alertness is associated with higher body temperatures, and sleepiness with lower body temperatures.

Figure 1. This chart illustrates the circadian change in body temperature over 28 hours in a group of eight young men. Body

temperature rises throughout the waking day, peaking in the afternoon, and falls during sleep with the lowest point occurring

during the very early morning hours.

This pattern of temperature fluctuation, which repeats every day, is one example of a circadian rhythm. A circadian rhythmcircadian rhythm is a biological rhythm that takes place over a period of about 24 hours. Our sleep-wake cycle, which is linked to our environment’s natural light-dark cycle, is perhaps the most obvious example of a circadian rhythm, but we also have daily fluctuations in heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, and body temperature. Some circadian rhythms play a role in changes in our state of consciousness.

If we have biological rhythms, then is there some sort of biological clockbiological clock? In the brain, the hypothalamus, which lies above the pituitary gland, is a main center of homeostasis. HomeostasisHomeostasis is the tendency to maintain a balance, or optimal level, within a biological system.

The brain’s clock mechanism is located in an area of the hypothalamus known as the suprachiasmatic nucleussuprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)(SCN). The axons of light-sensitive neurons in the retina provide information to the SCN based on the amount of light present, allowing this internal clock to be synchronized with the outside world (Klein, Moore, & Reppert, 1991; Welsh, Takahashi, & Kay, 2010) (Figure 2).

Figure 2. The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) serves as

the brain’s clock mechanism. The clock sets itself with

light information received through projections from the

retina.

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2100

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this brief video describing circadian rhythms and how they affect sleep.

Problems with Circadian Rhythms

Generally, and for most people, our circadian cycles are aligned with the outside world. For example, most people sleep during the night and are awake during the day. One important regulator of sleep-wake cycles is the hormone melatoninmelatonin. The pineal glandpineal gland, an endocrine structure located inside the brain that releases melatonin, is thought to be involved in the regulation of various biological rhythms and of the immune system during sleep (Hardeland, Pandi- Perumal, & Cardinali, 2006). Melatonin release is stimulated by darkness and inhibited by light.

There are individual differences with regards to our sleep- wake cycle. For instance, some people would say they are morning people, while others would consider themselves to be night owls. These individual differences in circadian patterns of activity are known as a person’s chronotype, and research demonstrates that morning larks and night owls differ with regard to sleep regulation (Taillard, Philip, Coste, Sagaspe, & Bioulac, 2003). Sleep regulationSleep regulation refers to the brain’s control of switching between sleep and wakefulness as well as coordinating this cycle with the outside world.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2100

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2100

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2100

TRY ITTRY IT

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

We experience shifts in our circadian clocks in the fall and spring of each year with time changes associated with daylight saving time. Is springing ahead or falling back easier for you to adjust to, and why do you think that is?

Disruptions of Normal Sleep

Whether lark, owl, or somewhere in between, there are situations in which a person’s circadian clock gets out of synchrony with the external environment. One way that this happens involves traveling across multiple time zones. When we do this, we often experience jet lag. Jet lagJet lag is a collection of symptoms that results from the mismatch between our internal circadian cycles and our environment. These symptoms include fatigue, sluggishness, irritability, and insomniainsomnia (i.e., a consistent difficulty in falling or staying asleep for at least three nights a week over a month’s time) (Roth, 2007).

Individuals who do rotating shift work are also likely to experience disruptions in circadian cycles. Rotating shiftRotating shift workwork refers to a work schedule that changes from early to late on a daily or weekly basis. For example, a person may work from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Monday, 3:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, and 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. In such instances, the individual’s schedule changes so frequently that it becomes difficult for a normal circadian rhythm to be maintained. This often results in sleeping problems, and it can lead to signs of depression and anxiety. These kinds of schedules are common for individuals working in health care professions and service industries, and they are associated with persistent feelings of exhaustion and agitation that can make someone more prone to making mistakes on the job (Gold et al., 1992; Presser, 1995).

Rotating shift work has pervasive effects on the lives and experiences of individuals engaged in that kind of work, which is clearly illustrated in stories reported in a qualitative study that researched the experiences of middle-aged nurses who worked rotating shifts (West, Boughton & Byrnes, 2009). Several of the nurses interviewed commented that their work schedules affected their relationships with their family. One of the nurses said,

If you’ve had a partner who does work regular job 9 to 5 office hours . . . the ability to spend time, good time with them when you’re not feeling absolutely exhausted . . . that would be one of the problems that I’ve encountered. (West et al., 2009, p. 114)

While disruptions in circadian rhythms can have negative consequences, there are things we can do to help us realign our biological clocks with the external environment. Some of these approaches, such as using a bright light as shown in Figure 1, have been shown to alleviate some of the problems experienced by individuals

Figure 1. Devices like this are designed to provide

exposure to bright light to help people maintain a regular

circadian cycle. They can be helpful for people working

night shifts or for people affected by seasonal variations

in light.

suffering from jet lag or from the consequences of rotating shift work. Because the biological clock is driven by light, exposure to bright light during working shifts and dark exposure when not working can help combat insomnia and symptoms of anxiety and depression (Huang, Tsai, Chen, & Hsu, 2013).

Insufficient Sleep

We all NEEDNEED sleep, this we know. What we do not know, however, is WHY we need sleep. See the following for a discussion regarding this: https://youtu.be/EQvhzdVwNMA. When people have difficulty getting sleep due to their work or the demands of day-to-day life, they accumulate a sleep debt. A person with a sleep debtsleep debt does not get sufficient sleep on a chronic basis. The consequences of sleep debt include decreased levels of alertness and mental efficiency. Interestingly, since the advent of electric light, the amount of sleep that people get has declined. While we certainly welcome the convenience of having the darkness lit up, we also suffer the consequences of reduced amounts of sleep because we are more active during the nighttime hours than our ancestors were. As a result, many of us sleep less than 7–8 hours a night and accrue a sleep debt. While there is tremendous variation in any given individual’s sleep needs, the National Sleep Foundation (n.d.) cites research to estimate that newborns require the most sleep (between 12 and 18 hours a night) and that this amount declines to just 7–9 hours by the time we are adults.

If you lie down to take a nap and fall asleep very easily, chances are you may have sleep debt. Given that college students are notorious for suffering from significant sleep debt (Hicks, Fernandez, & Pelligrini, 2001; Hicks, Johnson, & Pelligrini, 1992; Miller, Shattuck, & Matsangas, 2010), chances are you and your classmates deal with sleep debt-related issues on a regular basis. The table below shows recommended amounts of sleep at different ages.

Sleep Needs at Different Ages

AgeAge Nightly Sleep NeedsNightly Sleep Needs

0–3 months 12–18 hours

3 months–1 year 14–15 hours

1–3 years 12–14 hours

3–5 years 11–13 hours

5–10 years 10–11 hours

10–18 years 8–10 hours

18 and older 7–9 hours

Sleep debt and sleep deprivation have significant negative psychological and physiological consequences. As mentioned earlier, lack of sleep can result in decreased mental alertness and cognitive function. In addition, sleep deprivation often results in depression-like symptoms. These effects can occur as a function of accumulated sleep debt or in response to more acute periods of sleep deprivation. It may surprise you to know that sleep deprivation is associated with obesity, increased blood pressure, increased levels of stress hormones, and reduced immune functioning (Banks & Dinges, 2007). Furthermore, individuals suffering from sleep deprivation can also put themselves and others at risk when they put themselves behind the wheel of a car or work with dangerous

Figure 2. This figure illustrates some of the negative consequences of sleep deprivation. While cognitive deficits may be the most

obvious, many body systems are negatively impacted by lack of sleep. (credit: modification of work by Mikael Häggström)

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

To assess your own sleeping habits, read this article about sleep needs.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2100

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2100

TRY ITTRY IT

machinery. Some research suggests that sleep deprivation affects cognitive and motor function as much as, if not more than, alcohol intoxication (Williamson & Feyer, 2000).

The amount of sleep we get varies across the lifespan. When we are very young, we spend up to 16 hours a day sleeping. As we grow older, we sleep less. In fact, a meta-analysismeta-analysis, which is a study that combines the results of many related studies, conducted within the last decade indicates that by the time we are 65 years old, we average fewer than 7 hours of sleep per day (Ohayon, Carskadon, Guilleminault, & Vitiello, 2004). As the amount of time we sleep varies over our lifespan, presumably the sleep debt would adjust accordingly.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2100

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2100

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

biological rhythm:biological rhythm: internal cycle of biological activity

circadian rhythm:circadian rhythm: biological rhythm that occurs over approximately 24 hours

consciousness:consciousness: awareness of internal and external stimuli

homeostasis:homeostasis: tendency to maintain a balance, or optimal level, within a biological system

insomnia:insomnia: consistent difficulty in falling or staying asleep for at least three nights a week over a month’s time

jet lag:jet lag: collection of symptoms brought on by travel from one time zone to another that results from the mismatch between our internal circadian cycles and our environment

melatonin:melatonin: hormone secreted by the endocrine gland that serves as an important regulator of the sleep-wake cycle

meta-analysis:meta-analysis: study that combines the results of several related studies

pineal gland:pineal gland: endocrine structure located inside the brain that releases melatonin

rotating shift work:rotating shift work: work schedule that changes from early to late on a daily or weekly basis

sleep:sleep: state marked by relatively low levels of physical activity and reduced sensory awareness that is distinct from periods of rest that occur during wakefulness

sleep debt:sleep debt: result of insufficient sleep on a chronic basis

sleep regulation:sleep regulation: brain’s control of switching between sleep and wakefulness as well as coordinating this cycle with the outside world suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN):suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN): area of the hypothalamus in which the body’s biological clock is located

wakefulness:wakefulness: characterized by high levels of sensory awareness, thought, and behavior

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

What do you do to adjust to the differences in your daily schedule throughout the week? Are you running a sleep debt when daylight saving time begins or ends?

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain blindsight and what it reveals about consciousness

If you have already studied about the brain (in the Biopsychology module) then the picture below of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex should look familiar. Click on the part of the brain that is most heavily involved in vision.

https://lumenlearning.h5p.com/content/1290512824128219968/embed

Blindsight

What do you think would happen if your occipital lobes were damaged? Back in the 1970s, most scientists and physicians would have said, “you would become blind.” It turns out that the answer is more complicated than that.

When he was 8-years old, Graham Young from Oxford, England, was injured in a bicycle accident. Afterwards, he reported that parts of his vision were gone. He told his doctors that he could no longer see anything to the right of his center of vision with either his left or right eye. The left side of his visual world in both eyes was normal. Although he says that he would sometimes walk into objects to his right because he couldn’t see them, when tested fifteen years later, an optician discovered that Mr. Young seemed to respond to visual movements in his “blind” area.

Figure 1. The illustration shows a top-down view of the neural pathway from the eyes (shown at the top) to the occipital lobes

(shown at the bottom). The blue and red lines show the main pathways of information that run from the eyes through the thalamus

to the occipital lobes. Because of Graham Young’s damage to his left visual cortex, he cannot see in his right visual field, which

affects both eyes.

Graham Young was put into contact with Psychologists Larry Weiskrantz and Elizabeth Warrington, who had worked previously with a person (known as DB) who seemed to have a similar ability to see despite blindness. DB could report shapes and colors, movement and the orientation of objects despite claiming that he could see nothing. He said that he was guessing, but he was usually right about colors and shapes and other characteristics of the objects.

Before we go on, please take a moment to theorize about what might be going on with Graham Young and DB.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2100

TRY ITTRY IT

BLINDSIGHT IN ACTIONBLINDSIGHT IN ACTION

Here is a brief video of the man who experiences complete blindness because his visual cortex in both hemispheres has been damaged. The researchers (including Dr. Weiskrantz, mentioned above) set up an obstacle course for the man (whose face is blurred to protect his privacy). Watch how well he moves through the objects without help. The man behind him is just there as a safety precaution.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ACkxe_5Ubq8%3Frel%3D0

Figure 2. The green and purple lines represent the

primary visual pathway that produces our conscious

experience of vision. The red lines roughly represent the

secondary pathways that produce visual information with

reduced conscious experience, or none at all. (These

secondary pathways are not shown precisely).

People with blindsight have been tested for their ability to detect color differences, brightness changes, the ability to discriminate between various shapes, as well as tracking movement. Critically, people with blindsight have the conscious experience of blindness, often feeling like they are guessing despite their high level of accuracy.

How can blindsight happen?

Your conscious experience of the world around you, of the choices and decisions you make, and of the emotions and attitudes that motivate you are not the totality of your mental activity or of your brain’s processing of information. Many, perhaps most, psychologists believe that consciousness is only a small part of your total cognitive activity. (Note: Source: http://marketingland.com/wp-content/ml-loads/2014/09/iceberg-ss-1920.jpg)

A person is considered to be blind if he or she has no conscious experience of the visual world. This conscious experience is based on the flow of information from the eyes through the thalamus in the middle of the brain to the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe at the back of the brain. If the primary visual cortex is damaged or fails to receive input due to disruption of visual pathway, then the person will not “see” the objects and events that we normally associate with vision.

Blindsight occurs because the visual system has a primary pathway (retina to thalamus to primary visual cortex), but it also has secondary pathways (retina to thalamus to other brain areas). These “other brain areas” include parts of the frontal lobe that guide eye movements, parts of the midbrain that help guide visual attention, and parts of the occipital lobe that process features of the visual perception, including shape, movement, and color. (Note: A recent literature review of evidence for the existence of the pathways to the cerebral cortex: Rabbo, F. A., Koch, G., Lefevre, C., & Seizeur, R. (2015). Direct geniculo- extrastriate pathways: A review of the literature. Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy, 37(8), 891-899.)

The existence of visual processing areas for isolated features of vision and the fact that these areas get some direct visual information (i.e, input that does not first go to the primary visual cortex) means that it is possible for a person to respond accurately to questions about color or motion or shape without consciously “seeing” the objects that have color or shape or are moving.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2100

TRY ITTRY IT

EXAMINING BLINDSIGHTEXAMINING BLINDSIGHT

You can see Graham Young as he is tested in the lab in this video that shows him along with psychologist Larry Weizkrantz. The video clip (watch just the first 3 minutes), from a program hosted by neurologist V. S. Ramachandran, goes on to explain a theory as to why blindsight occurs.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ny5qMKTcURE%3Fstart%3D01%26end%3D188

It is important to remember that YOU have these same “unconscious” pathways in your visual system. That means your conscious experience of the visual world may not include all of the visual information you are processing. In other words, you may “know” more than you “see”.

Blindsight is not the only condition that involves unconscious or low-consciousness processing. Other neurological syndromes that have an unconscious element include amnesia, hemispatial neglect, dyslexia, aphasia, and various agnosias. (Note: See Consciousness Lost and Found: A Neuropsychological Exploration by Larry Weiskrantz (1997, Oxford University Press). Dr. Weiskrantz is one of the scientists who first described blindsight and studied people with the condition.)

Creating Blindsight in the Laboratory

Wouldn’t it be great if we could produce blindsight in the laboratory, in order to better understand visual processing and conscious experience? Maybe with college student volunteers as our subjects? Crazy idea?

Figure 3. Perhaps an unsuspecting student volunteer for

transcranial magnetic stimulation.

It turns out, researchers have already done it. Using precisely aimed magnetic pulses, researchers can temporarily disrupt specific areas of the primary visual cortex—the area responsible for conscious vision—without injury. This “blindness” lasts only a fraction of a second, after which vision returns to normal. Would you volunteer to be a participant?

Let’s look at how this works.

TMS: Transcranial Magnetic StimulationTMS: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a procedure used to stimulate neurons in the brain. A device referred to as a “wand” contains an electric coil that generates a magnetic field that in turn creates a small electric current in the brain. (Note: The physics of electromagnetism is fascinating, but we will spare you the details here. You may have studied it in some other class, and there are many readable online sources (e.g., Wikipedia). TMS is a great example of the convergence of technology and psychology that is the basis of modern neuroscience.) The electric current induces neurons (brain cells) to produce neural signals called action potentials. When action potentials are produced in normal brain processes, they allow neurons to communicate with one another. However, when action potentials are induced by an outside force—here by the TMS wand—they are meaningless and temporarily interfere with communication between neurons. If only a single pulse of electromagnetic energy is produced, then the disruption of the neurons in the targeted region lasts only a fraction of a second. Multiple pulses, called repetitive TMS (rTMS), can produce longer lasting effects. In fact, rTMS is now used by therapists as a treatment for depression and neuropathic pain.

The TMS pulse can be aimed very precisely at a small area of the brain. When the target is the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe, the TMS pulse can be focused to interfere with neural communication in a tiny region of the of the visual field—so small and occurring for such a short time that you would not even notice. However brief the duration or tiny the affected area, the person receiving the TMS pulse is temporary blind in a small part of the visual field.

Laboratory Research on Unconscious Visual Processing

Dr. Tony Ro is a professor of psychology at the City University of New York. He started studying the connection between consciousness and brain processing more than 20 years ago, and he was one of the earliest researchers to apply TMS technology to the study of visual perception.

In one study, Dr. Ro and graduate students Jennifer Boyer and Stephenie Harrison used TMS technology to see if normal people could process features of visual stimuli without conscious awareness of those stimuli. In other words, they wanted to know if they could they create temporary blindsight in normal subjects in a laboratory.

Remember that blindsight involves unconscious awareness of “features” of objects and events, such as the shape of an object or the direction of its movement. This study focused on two visual features: orientation and color. You and I see orientation (horizontal or vertical) or color (red or green) as part of the experience of some object. A line is horizontal. A box is red. For a person with blindsight, “horizontal” is experienced without any shape associated with it. “Red” is experienced without awareness of the thing that is red. This is the blindsight condition that Dr. Ro and his colleagues wanted to reproduce in the laboratory with the help of volunteer subjects.

Let’s walk through the experiment to understand how it was designed and conducted.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2100

TRY ITTRY IT

Experiment 1: Unconscious Detection of Orientation

SETUPSETUP: The TMS wand was precisely adjusted so the TMS pulse was aimed at the back of the brain (primary visual cortex in the occipital lobes) affecting a very small area of the visual field. For example, imagine the gray box below as a computer screen. The plus sign in the middle is a fixation point. You (the participant in the study) fixate your eyes on this plus sign and hold them there during each trial. The TMS pulse is adjusted to your individual brain so that the area shown as a blue circle (used here only for explanation purposes) is momentarily “blind” when the pulse is active. This is a painstaking process that involves fine calibration of the wand based on feedback from the participant about what he or she can see when different targets are shown on the screen.

Figure 4. Researchers adjusted the TMS wand until the circle would temporarily disappear from a person’s visual field.

TESTINGTESTING: In one of Dr. Ro’s experiments, participants had to guess the orientation of a line, sometimes when they were temporarily blinded (in a tiny area of the visual cortex) by a TMS pulse. The study consisted of a series of trials. On each trial, either a horizontal or a vertical line was flashed for a fraction of a second on the computer screen in front of the participant. On some of these trials, a TMS pulse disrupted the neurons in the visual cortex. On other trials, there was no TMS pulse. The no-pulse trials served as a kind of control condition.

Click on the slideshow below to see the steps in the vertical line condition. You can use the arrows at the bottom to navigate through the slides.

https://lumenlearning.h5p.com/content/1290512849455705778/embed

RESULTSRESULTS: By chance, if you have to choose between two equally likely options (horizontal or vertical), you would be correct about 50% of the time. On the trials when the subjects reported that they did not “see” anything at all, they correctly guessed the orientation of the line 75% of the time, performance that is significantly better than chance. There was also a strong positive correlation (r = +0.93) between accuracy and confidence: the more confident the subject in his or her guess, the more likely it was that the guess was correct. Keep in mind that, in all of these cases, the subjects started by saying that they saw nothing. That was about 60% of the trials. On the other 40% of trials, the subjects reported seeing something, even if it was a slight blur, and these trials did not count. Not surprisingly, accuracy was near perfect when subjects were conscious of seeing the bar and its orientation.

TESTING BLINDSIGHT WITH TMSTESTING BLINDSIGHT WITH TMS

Here is a video about a similar experiment conducted by Dr. Ro and his colleagues. The experiment in the video involves detecting yet another feature of objects: their shape. The basic procedures and results are similar to the ones you have just read.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_Y4KsUqmuUw%3Frel%3D0

Variations of the Experiment

A second study using the color of a circle rather than the orientation of a bar was reported in the same paper. Otherwise, the procedures were the same as in the first experiment and the results consistent with the results for the bar orientation experiment.

Conclusions from the Research

The experimenters succeeded in producing the experience of blindness using the TMS apparatus, and they also succeeded in producing evidence for unconscious processing of features of the visual experience in normal (college student) volunteers. These results, when put together with the experiences of people with neurological damage, strengthen the case for the theory that some of our visual perception of the world takes place outside of our awareness. The college students have shown that this unconscious processing is not the result of brain damage, but rather is part of our normal perception of the world.

Some Final Words

This module has been about consciousness. It is common to assume that everything we know about the world around us and about our own thoughts and internal experiences must go through the doorway of our conscious mind. Evidence from blindsight is just one of several lines of research that shows that we process more information than we are aware of. Learning just how much this unconscious information can influence our thoughts and actions, our preferences and beliefs, is an important challenge for the rising generation of scientists.

https://assessments.lumenlearning.com/assessments/4818

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • Psychology in Real Life: Blindsight. Authored byAuthored by: Patrick Carroll for Lumen Learning. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• What is Consciousness?. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:tefy7E6c@6/What-Is-Consciousness. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

• Authored byAuthored by: Robert Fludd. Provided byProvided by: Wikipedia. Located atLocated at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness#/media/File:RobertFuddBewusstsein17Jh.png. LicenseLicense: Public Domain: No Known Copyright • Reprogramming Our Circadian Rhythms for the Modern World. Authored byAuthored by: Big Think. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtCQ9jzC-Ek. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License • Visual pathways image. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Human_visual_pathway.svg. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike • College student in the park. Authored byAuthored by: CollegeDegrees360. Located atLocated at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/83633410@N07/7658074952. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike • TN Blindsight. Authored byAuthored by: CANlabTilburg. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACkxe_5Ubq8. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License • TMS image. Authored byAuthored by: Losey DM, Stocco A, Abernethy JA and Rao RPN . Located atLocated at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2016.00072/full. ProjectProject: Navigating a 2D Virtual World Using Direct Brain

Stimulation.. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • Image, neuro-ms. Authored byAuthored by: Baburov. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neuro-ms.png. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Seeing Beyond the Visual Cortex – Science Nation. Authored byAuthored by: National Science Foundation. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y4KsUqmuUw. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License • Blindsight experiment – 1989. Authored byAuthored by: Conrad Weiskrantz. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=50&v=wDt_Txi7pC0. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

PSYCH IN REAL LIFE: CONSCIOUSNESS AND BLINDSIGHT

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain blindsight and what it reveals about consciousness

If you have already studied about the brain (in the Biopsychology module) then the picture below of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex should look familiar. Click on the part of the brain that is most heavily involved in vision.

https://lumenlearning.h5p.com/content/1290512824128219968/embed

Blindsight

What do you think would happen if your occipital lobes were damaged? Back in the 1970s, most scientists and physicians would have said, “you would become blind.” It turns out that the answer is more complicated than that.

When he was 8-years old, Graham Young from Oxford, England, was injured in a bicycle accident. Afterwards, he reported that parts of his vision were gone. He told his doctors that he could no longer see anything to the right of his center of vision with either his left or right eye. The left side of his visual world in both eyes was normal. Although he says that he would sometimes walk into objects to his right because he couldn’t see them, when tested fifteen years later, an optician discovered that Mr. Young seemed to respond to visual movements in his “blind” area.

TRY ITTRY IT

https://assessments.lumenlearning.com/assessments/11394

Figure 1. The illustration shows a top-down view of the neural pathway from the eyes (shown at the top) to the occipital lobes

(shown at the bottom). The blue and red lines show the main pathways of information that run from the eyes through the thalamus

to the occipital lobes. Because of Graham Young’s damage to his left visual cortex, he cannot see in his right visual field, which

affects both eyes.

Graham Young was put into contact with Psychologists Larry Weiskrantz and Elizabeth Warrington, who had worked previously with a person (known as DB) who seemed to have a similar ability to see despite blindness. DB could report shapes and colors, movement and the orientation of objects despite claiming that he could see nothing. He said that he was guessing, but he was usually right about colors and shapes and other characteristics of the objects.

Before we go on, please take a moment to theorize about what might be going on with Graham Young and DB.

People with blindsight have been tested for their ability to detect color differences, brightness changes, the ability to discriminate between various shapes, as well as tracking movement. Critically, people with blindsight have the conscious experience of blindness, often feeling like they are guessing despite their high level of accuracy.

BLINDSIGHT IN ACTIONBLINDSIGHT IN ACTION

Here is a brief video of the man who experiences complete blindness because his visual cortex in both hemispheres has been damaged. The researchers (including Dr. Weiskrantz, mentioned above) set up an obstacle course for the man (whose face is blurred to protect his privacy). Watch how well he moves through the objects without help. The man behind him is just there as a safety precaution.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ACkxe_5Ubq8%3Frel%3D0

Figure 2. The green and purple lines represent the

primary visual pathway that produces our conscious

experience of vision. The red lines roughly represent the

secondary pathways that produce visual information with

reduced conscious experience, or none at all. (These

secondary pathways are not shown precisely).

TRY ITTRY IT

https://assessments.lumenlearning.com/assessments/11395

How can blindsight happen?

Your conscious experience of the world around you, of the choices and decisions you make, and of the emotions and attitudes that motivate you are not the totality of your mental activity or of your brain’s processing of information. Many, perhaps most, psychologists believe that consciousness is only a small part of your total cognitive activity. (Note: Source: http://marketingland.com/wp-content/ml-loads/2014/09/iceberg-ss-1920.jpg)

A person is considered to be blind if he or she has no conscious experience of the visual world. This conscious experience is based on the flow of information from the eyes through the thalamus in the middle of the brain to the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe at the back of the brain. If the primary visual cortex is damaged or fails to receive input due to disruption of visual pathway, then the person will not “see” the objects and events that we normally associate with vision.

Blindsight occurs because the visual system has a primary pathway (retina to thalamus to primary visual cortex), but it also has secondary pathways (retina to thalamus to other brain areas). These “other brain areas” include parts of the frontal lobe that guide eye movements, parts of the midbrain that help guide visual attention, and parts of the occipital lobe that process features of the visual perception, including shape, movement, and color. (Note: A recent literature review of evidence for the existence of the pathways to the cerebral cortex: Rabbo, F. A., Koch, G., Lefevre, C., & Seizeur, R. (2015). Direct geniculo- extrastriate pathways: A review of the literature. Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy, 37(8), 891-899.)

The existence of visual processing areas for isolated features of vision and the fact that these areas get some direct visual information (i.e, input that does not first go to the primary visual cortex) means that it is possible for a person to respond accurately to questions about color or motion or shape without consciously “seeing” the objects that have color or shape or are moving.

EXAMINING BLINDSIGHTEXAMINING BLINDSIGHT

You can see Graham Young as he is tested in the lab in this video that shows him along with psychologist Larry Weizkrantz. The video clip (watch just the first 3 minutes), from a program hosted by neurologist V. S. Ramachandran, goes on to explain a theory as to why blindsight occurs.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ny5qMKTcURE%3Fstart%3D01%26end%3D188

Figure 3. Perhaps an unsuspecting student volunteer for

transcranial magnetic stimulation.

It is important to remember that YOU have these same “unconscious” pathways in your visual system. That means your conscious experience of the visual world may not include all of the visual information you are processing. In other words, you may “know” more than you “see”.

Blindsight is not the only condition that involves unconscious or low-consciousness processing. Other neurological syndromes that have an unconscious element include amnesia, hemispatial neglect, dyslexia, aphasia, and various agnosias. (Note: See Consciousness Lost and Found: A Neuropsychological Exploration by Larry Weiskrantz (1997, Oxford University Press). Dr. Weiskrantz is one of the scientists who first described blindsight and studied people with the condition.)

Creating Blindsight in the Laboratory

Wouldn’t it be great if we could produce blindsight in the laboratory, in order to better understand visual processing and conscious experience? Maybe with college student volunteers as our subjects? Crazy idea?

It turns out, researchers have already done it. Using precisely aimed magnetic pulses, researchers can temporarily disrupt specific areas of the primary visual cortex—the area responsible for conscious vision—without injury. This “blindness” lasts only a fraction of a second, after which vision returns to normal. Would you volunteer to be a participant?

Let’s look at how this works.

TMS: Transcranial Magnetic StimulationTMS: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a procedure used to stimulate neurons in the brain. A device referred to as a “wand” contains an electric coil that generates a magnetic field that in turn creates a small electric current in the brain. (Note: The physics of electromagnetism is fascinating, but we will spare you the details here. You may have studied it in some other class, and there are many readable online sources (e.g., Wikipedia). TMS is a great example of the convergence of technology and psychology that is the basis of modern neuroscience.) The electric current induces neurons (brain cells) to produce neural signals called action potentials. When action potentials are produced in normal brain processes, they allow neurons to communicate with one another. However, when action potentials are induced by an outside force—here by the TMS wand—they are meaningless and temporarily interfere with communication between neurons. If only a single pulse of electromagnetic energy is produced, then the disruption of the neurons in the targeted region lasts only a fraction of a second. Multiple pulses, called repetitive TMS (rTMS), can produce longer lasting effects. In fact, rTMS is now used by therapists as a treatment for depression and neuropathic pain.

The TMS pulse can be aimed very precisely at a small area of the brain. When the target is the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe, the TMS pulse can be focused to interfere with neural communication in a tiny region

of the of the visual field—so small and occurring for such a short time that you would not even notice. However brief the duration or tiny the affected area, the person receiving the TMS pulse is temporary blind in a small part of the visual field.

Laboratory Research on Unconscious Visual Processing

Dr. Tony Ro is a professor of psychology at the City University of New York. He started studying the connection between consciousness and brain processing more than 20 years ago, and he was one of the earliest researchers to apply TMS technology to the study of visual perception.

In one study, Dr. Ro and graduate students Jennifer Boyer and Stephenie Harrison used TMS technology to see if normal people could process features of visual stimuli without conscious awareness of those stimuli. In other words, they wanted to know if they could they create temporary blindsight in normal subjects in a laboratory.

Remember that blindsight involves unconscious awareness of “features” of objects and events, such as the shape of an object or the direction of its movement. This study focused on two visual features: orientation and color. You and I see orientation (horizontal or vertical) or color (red or green) as part of the experience of some object. A line is horizontal. A box is red. For a person with blindsight, “horizontal” is experienced without any shape associated with it. “Red” is experienced without awareness of the thing that is red. This is the blindsight condition that Dr. Ro and his colleagues wanted to reproduce in the laboratory with the help of volunteer subjects.

Let’s walk through the experiment to understand how it was designed and conducted.

Experiment 1: Unconscious Detection of Orientation

SETUPSETUP: The TMS wand was precisely adjusted so the TMS pulse was aimed at the back of the brain (primary visual cortex in the occipital lobes) affecting a very small area of the visual field. For example, imagine the gray box below as a computer screen. The plus sign in the middle is a fixation point. You (the participant in the study) fixate your eyes on this plus sign and hold them there during each trial. The TMS pulse is adjusted to your individual brain so that the area shown as a blue circle (used here only for explanation purposes) is momentarily “blind” when the pulse is active. This is a painstaking process that involves fine calibration of the wand based on feedback from the participant about what he or she can see when different targets are shown on the screen.

Figure 4. Researchers adjusted the TMS wand until the circle would temporarily disappear from a person’s visual field.

TESTINGTESTING: In one of Dr. Ro’s experiments, participants had to guess the orientation of a line, sometimes when they were temporarily blinded (in a tiny area of the visual cortex) by a TMS pulse. The study consisted of a series of trials. On each trial, either a horizontal or a vertical line was flashed for a fraction of a second on the computer screen in front of the participant. On some of these trials, a TMS pulse disrupted the neurons in the visual cortex. On other trials, there was no TMS pulse. The no-pulse trials served as a kind of control condition.

Click on the slideshow below to see the steps in the vertical line condition. You can use the arrows at the bottom to navigate through the slides.

TRY ITTRY IT

https://assessments.lumenlearning.com/assessments/11396

TESTING BLINDSIGHT WITH TMSTESTING BLINDSIGHT WITH TMS

Here is a video about a similar experiment conducted by Dr. Ro and his colleagues. The experiment in the video involves detecting yet another feature of objects: their shape. The basic procedures and results are similar to the ones you have just read.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_Y4KsUqmuUw%3Frel%3D0

https://lumenlearning.h5p.com/content/1290512849455705778/embed

RESULTSRESULTS: By chance, if you have to choose between two equally likely options (horizontal or vertical), you would be correct about 50% of the time. On the trials when the subjects reported that they did not “see” anything at all, they correctly guessed the orientation of the line 75% of the time, performance that is significantly better than chance. There was also a strong positive correlation (r = +0.93) between accuracy and confidence: the more confident the subject in his or her guess, the more likely it was that the guess was correct. Keep in mind that, in all of these cases, the subjects started by saying that they saw nothing. That was about 60% of the trials. On the other 40% of trials, the subjects reported seeing something, even if it was a slight blur, and these trials did not count. Not surprisingly, accuracy was near perfect when subjects were conscious of seeing the bar and its orientation.

Variations of the Experiment

A second study using the color of a circle rather than the orientation of a bar was reported in the same paper. Otherwise, the procedures were the same as in the first experiment and the results consistent with the results for the bar orientation experiment.

Conclusions from the Research

The experimenters succeeded in producing the experience of blindness using the TMS apparatus, and they also succeeded in producing evidence for unconscious processing of features of the visual experience in normal (college student) volunteers. These results, when put together with the experiences of people with neurological damage, strengthen the case for the theory that some of our visual perception of the world takes place outside of our awareness. The college students have shown that this unconscious processing is not the result of brain damage, but rather is part of our normal perception of the world.

Some Final Words

This module has been about consciousness. It is common to assume that everything we know about the world around us and about our own thoughts and internal experiences must go through the doorway of our conscious mind. Evidence from blindsight is just one of several lines of research that shows that we process more information than we are aware of. Learning just how much this unconscious information can influence our thoughts and actions, our preferences and beliefs, is an important challenge for the rising generation of scientists.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Psychology in Real Life: Blindsight. Authored byAuthored by: Patrick Carroll for Lumen Learning. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Visual pathways image. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Human_visual_pathway.svg. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike • College student in the park. Authored byAuthored by: CollegeDegrees360. Located atLocated at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/83633410@N07/7658074952. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike • TN Blindsight. Authored byAuthored by: CANlabTilburg. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACkxe_5Ubq8. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License • TMS image. Authored byAuthored by: Losey DM, Stocco A, Abernethy JA and Rao RPN . Located atLocated at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2016.00072/full. ProjectProject: Navigating a 2D Virtual World Using Direct Brain

Stimulation.. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • Image, neuro-ms. Authored byAuthored by: Baburov. Provided byProvided by: Wikimedia. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neuro-ms.png. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Seeing Beyond the Visual Cortex – Science Nation. Authored byAuthored by: National Science Foundation. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y4KsUqmuUw. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License • Blindsight experiment – 1989. Authored byAuthored by: Conrad Weiskrantz. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=50&v=wDt_Txi7pC0. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

SLEEP AND SLEEP STAGES

What you’ll learn to do: describe what happens to the brain and body during sleep

We devote a very large portion of time to sleep, and our brains have complex systems that control various aspects of sleep. Several hormones important for physical growth and maturation are secreted during sleep. While the reason we sleep remains something of a mystery, there is some evidence to suggest that sleep is very important to learning and memory.

You may not feel particularly busy while you sleep, but you’ll learn in this section that your brain and body are quite active. You pass through four different stages of sleep. In this section, you’ll learn more about these sleep stages, dreaming, and sleep disorders.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe areas of the brain and hormone secretions involved in sleep • Describe several theories (adaptive and cognitive) aimed at explaining the function of sleep

• Differentiate between REM and non-REM sleep • Describe the stages of sleep

We spend approximately one-third of our lives sleeping. Given the average life expectancy for U.S. citizens falls between 73 and 79 years old (Singh & Siahpush, 2006), we can expect to spend approximately 25 years of our lives sleeping. Some animals never sleep (e.g., several fish and amphibian species); other animals can go extended periods of time without sleep and without apparent negative consequences (e.g., dolphins); yet some animals (e.g., rats) die after two weeks of sleep deprivation (Siegel, 2008). Why do we devote so much time to sleeping? Is it absolutely essential that we sleep? This section will consider these questions and explore various explanations for why we sleep.

What is Sleep?

You have read that sleep is distinguished by low levels of physical activity and reduced sensory awareness. As discussed by Siegel (2008), a definition of sleep must also include mention of the interplay of the circadian and homeostatic mechanisms that regulate sleep. Homeostatic regulation of sleep is evidenced by sleep rebound following sleep deprivation. Sleep rebound refers to the fact that a sleep-deprived individual will tend to take longer falling asleep during subsequent opportunities for sleep. Sleep is characterized by certain patterns of activity of the brain that can be visualized using electroencephalography (EEG), and different phases of sleep can be differentiated using EEG as well (Figure 1).

Sleep-wake cycles seem to be controlled by multiple brain areas acting in conjunction with one another. Some of these areas include the thalamus, the hypothalamus, and the pons. As already mentioned, the hypothalamus contains the SCN—the biological clock of the body—in addition to other nuclei that, in conjunction with the thalamus, regulate slow-wave sleep. The pons is important for regulating rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (National Institutes of Health, n.d.).

Sleep is also associated with the secretion and regulation of a number of hormones from several endocrine glands including: melatonin, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and growth hormone (National Institutes of Health, n.d.). You have read that the pineal gland releases melatonin during sleep (Figure 2). Melatonin is thought to be involved in the regulation of various biological rhythms and the immune system (Hardeland et al., 2006). During sleep, the pituitary gland secretes both FSH and LH which are important in regulating the reproductive system (Christensen et al., 2012; Sofikitis et al., 2008). The pituitary gland also secretes growth hormone, during sleep, which plays a role in physical growth and maturation as well as other metabolic processes (Bartke, Sun, & Longo, 2013).

Figure 1. This is a segment of a polysonograph (PSG), a recording of several physical variables during sleep. The x-axis shows

passage of time in seconds; this record includes 30 seconds of data. The location of the sets of electrode that produced each

signal is labeled on the y-axis. The red box encompasses EEG output, and the waveforms are characteristic of a specific stage of

sleep. Other curves show other sleep-related data, such as body temperature, muscle activity, and heartbeat.

Figure 2. The pineal and pituitary glands secrete a number of hormones during sleep.

Why Do We Sleep?

Given the central role that sleep plays in our lives and the number of adverse consequences that have been associated with sleep deprivation, one would think that we would have a clear understanding of why it is that we sleep. Unfortunately, this is not the case; however, several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the function of sleep.

Adaptive Function of Sleep

One popular hypothesis of sleep incorporates the perspective of evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology is a discipline that studies how universal patterns of behavior and cognitive processes have evolved over time as a result of natural selection. Variations and adaptations in cognition and behavior make individuals more or less successful in reproducing and passing their genes to their offspring. One hypothesis from this perspective might argue that sleep is essential to restore resources that are expended during the day. Just as bears hibernate in the winter when resources are scarce, perhaps people sleep at night to reduce their energy expenditures. While this is an intuitive explanation of sleep, there is little research that supports this explanation. In fact, it has been suggested that there is no reason to think that energetic demands could not be addressed with periods of rest and inactivity (Frank, 2006; Rial et al., 2007), and some research has actually found a negative correlation between energetic demands and the amount of time spent sleeping (Capellini, Barton, McNamara, Preston, & Nunn, 2008).

Another evolutionary hypothesis of sleep holds that our sleep patterns evolved as an adaptive response to predatory risks, which increase in darkness. Thus we sleep in safe areas to reduce the chance of harm. Again, this is an intuitive and appealing explanation for why we sleep. Perhaps our ancestors spent extended periods of time asleep to reduce attention to themselves from potential predators. Comparative research indicates, however, that the relationship that exists between predatory risk and sleep is very complex and equivocal. Some research suggests that species that face higher predatory risks sleep fewer hours than other species (Capellini et al.,

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this video to learn more about the function of sleep and the harmful effects of sleep deprivation.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Learn about the connection between memory and sleep in the following clip:

TRY ITTRY IT

2008), while other researchers suggest there is no relationship between the amount of time a given species spends in deep sleep and its predation risk (Lesku, Roth, Amlaner, & Lima, 2006).

It is quite possible that sleep serves no single universally adaptive function, and different species have evolved different patterns of sleep in response to their unique evolutionary pressures. While we have discussed the negative outcomes associated with sleep deprivation, it should be pointed out that there are many benefits that are associated with adequate amounts of sleep. A few such benefits listed by the National Sleep Foundation (n.d.) include maintaining healthy weight, lowering stress levels, improving mood, and increasing motor coordination, as well as a number of benefits related to cognition and memory formation.

Cognitive Function of Sleep

Another theory regarding why we sleep involves sleep’s importance for cognitive function and memory formation (Rattenborg, Lesku, Martinez-Gonzalez, & Lima, 2007). Indeed, we know sleep deprivation results in disruptions in cognition and memory deficits (Brown, 2012), leading to impairments in our abilities to maintain attention, make decisions, and recall long-term memories. Moreover, these impairments become more severe as the amount of sleep deprivation increases (Alhola & Polo-Kantola, 2007). Furthermore, slow-wave sleep after learning a new task can improve resultant performance on that task (Huber, Ghilardi, Massimini, & Tononi, 2004) and seems essential for effective memory formation (Stickgold, 2005). Understanding the impact of sleep on cognitive function should help you understand that cramming all night for a test may be not effective and can even prove counterproductive.

Sleep has also been associated with other cognitive benefits. Research indicates that included among these possible benefits are increased capacities for creative thinking (Cai, Mednick, Harrison, Kanady, & Mednick, 2009; Wagner, Gais, Haider, Verleger, & Born, 2004), language learning (Fenn, Nusbaum, & Margoliash, 2003; Gómez, Bootzin, & Nadel, 2006), and inferential judgments (Ellenbogen, Hu, Payne, Titone, & Walker, 2007). It is possible that even the processing of emotional information is influenced by certain aspects of sleep (Walker, 2009).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

Visit this course online to take this short practice quiz:

Visit this course online to take this short practice quiz:

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Have you (or someone you know) ever experienced significant periods of sleep deprivation because of simple insomnia, high levels of stress, or as a side effect from a medication? What were the consequences of missing out on sleep?

Stages of Sleep Sleep is not a uniform state of being. Instead, sleep is composed of several different stages that can be differentiated from one another by the patterns of brain wave activity that occur during each stage. These changes in brain wave activity can be visualized using EEG and are distinguished from one another by both the frequency and amplitude of brain waves (Figure 3). Sleep can be divided into two different general phases: REM sleep and non-REM (NREM) sleep. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is characterized by darting movements of

the eyes under closed eyelids. Brain waves during REM sleep appear very similar to brain waves during wakefulness. In contrast, non-REM (NREM) sleep is subdivided into three stages distinguished from each other and from wakefulness by characteristic patterns of brain waves. The first three stages of sleep are NREM sleep, while the fourth and final stage of sleep is REM sleep. In this section, we will discuss each of these stages of sleep and their associated patterns of brain wave activity. [Note that psychologists originally identified four stages of non-REM sleep, but these were revised in 2008, resulting in just three distinct phases of NREM sleep. You will see that stage 3 of NREM sleep is sometimes presented as both stage 3 and stage 4 in various texts.]

NREM Stages of Sleep

The first stage of NREM sleep is known as stage 1 sleep. Stage 1 sleep is a transitional phase that occurs between wakefulness and sleep, the period during which we drift off to sleep. During this time, there is a slowdown in both the rates of respiration and heartbeat. In addition, stage 1 sleep involves a marked decrease in both overall muscle tension and core body temperature.

In terms of brain wave activity, stage 1 sleep is associated with both alpha and theta waves. The early portion of stage 1 sleep produces alpha waves, which are relatively low frequency (8–13Hz), high amplitude patterns of electrical activity (waves) that become synchronized (Figure 3). This pattern of brain wave activity resembles that of someone who is very relaxed, yet awake. As an individual continues through stage 1 sleep, there is an increase in theta wave activity. Theta waves are even lower frequency (4–7 Hz), higher amplitude brain waves than alpha waves. It is relatively easy to wake someone from stage 1 sleep; in fact, people often report that they have not been asleep if they are awoken during stage 1 sleep.

Figure 3. Brainwave activity changes dramatically across the different stages of sleep.

As we move into stage 2 sleep, the body goes into a state of deep relaxation. Theta waves still dominate the activity of the brain, but they are interrupted by brief bursts of activity known as sleep spindles (Figure 4). A sleep spindle is a rapid burst of higher frequency brain waves that may be important for learning and memory (Fogel & Smith, 2011; Poe, Walsh, & Bjorness, 2010). In addition, the appearance of K-complexes is often associated with stage 2 sleep. A K-complex is a very high amplitude pattern of brain activity that may in some cases occur in response to environmental stimuli. Thus, K-complexes might serve as a bridge to higher levels of arousal in response to what is going on in our environments (Halász, 1993; Steriade & Amzica, 1998).

Figure 4. Stage 2 sleep is characterized by the appearance of both sleep spindles and K-complexes.

Stage 3 of sleep is often referred to as deep sleep or slow-wave sleep because these stages are characterized by low frequency (up to 4 Hz), high amplitude delta waves (Figure 5). During this time, an individual’s heart rate and respiration slow dramatically. It is much more difficult to awaken someone from sleep during stage 3 than during earlier stages. Interestingly, individuals who have increased levels of alpha brain wave activity (more often associated with wakefulness and transition into stage 1 sleep) during stage 3 often report that they do not feel refreshed upon waking, regardless of how long they slept (Stone, Taylor, McCrae, Kalsekar, & Lichstein, 2008).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

TRY ITTRY IT

Figure 5. Delta waves, which are low frequency and high amplitude, characterize slow-wave stage 3 sleep.

Figure 6. (a) A period of rapid eye movement is marked

by the short red line segment. The brain waves

associated with REM sleep, outlined in the red box, look

very similar to those seen during wakefulness.

REM Sleep

As mentioned earlier, REM sleep is marked by rapid movements of the eyes. The brain waves associated with this stage of sleep are very similar to those observed when a person is awake, as shown in Figure 6, and this is the period of sleep in which dreaming occurs. It is also associated with paralysis of muscle systems in the body with the exception of those that make circulation and respiration possible. Therefore, no movement of voluntary muscles occurs during REM sleep in a normal individual; REM sleep is often referred to as paradoxical sleep because of this combination of high brain activity and lack of muscle tone. Like NREM sleep, REM has been implicated in various aspects of learning and memory (Wagner, Gais, & Born, 2001), although there is disagreement within the scientific community about how important both NREM and REM sleep are for normal learning and memory (Siegel, 2001).

If people are deprived of REM sleep and then allowed to sleep without disturbance, they will spend more time in REM sleep in what would appear to be an effort to recoup the lost time in REM. This is known as the REM rebound, and it suggests that REM sleep is also homeostatically regulated. Aside from the role that REM sleep may play in processes related to learning and memory, REM sleep may also be involved in emotional processing and regulation. In such instances, REM rebound may actually represent an adaptive response to stress in nondepressed individuals by suppressing the emotional salience of aversive events that occurred in wakefulness (Suchecki, Tiba, & Machado, 2012).

While sleep deprivation in general is associated with a number of negative consequences (Brown, 2012), the consequences of REM deprivation appear to be less profound (as discussed in Siegel, 2001). In fact, some have suggested that REM deprivation can actually be beneficial in some circumstances. For instance, REM sleep deprivation has been demonstrated to improve symptoms of people suffering from major depression, and many effective antidepressant medications suppress REM sleep (Riemann, Berger, & Volderholzer, 2001; Vogel, 1975).

It should be pointed out that some reviews of the literature challenge this finding, suggesting that sleep deprivation that is not limited to REM sleep is just as effective or more effective at alleviating depressive symptoms among some patients suffering from depression. In either case, why sleep deprivation improves the mood of some patients is not entirely understood (Giedke & Schwärzler, 2002). Recently, however, some have suggested that sleep deprivation might change emotional processing so that various stimuli are more likely to be perceived as positive in nature (Gujar, Yoo, Hu, & Walker, 2011). The hypnogram below (Figure 7) shows a person’s passage through the stages of sleep.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Read this article that describes the various stages of sleep.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

TRY ITTRY IT

Figure 7. This hypnogram illustrates how an individual moves through the various stages of sleep. Deeper NREM sleep occurs

early on in the night, while the duration of REM sleep increases as the night progresses.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2102

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

alpha wave:alpha wave: type of relatively low frequency, relatively high amplitude brain wave that becomes synchronized; characteristic of the beginning of stage 1 sleep

delta wave:delta wave: type of low frequency, high amplitude brain wave characteristic of stage 3 and stage 4 sleep

evolutionary psychology:evolutionary psychology: discipline that studies how universal patterns of behavior and cognitive processes have evolved over time as a result of natural selection

K-complex:K-complex: very high amplitude pattern of brain activity associated with stage 2 sleep that may occur in response to environmental stimuli

non-REM (NREM):non-REM (NREM): period of sleep outside periods of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep

rapid eye movement (REM) sleep:rapid eye movement (REM) sleep: period of sleep characterized by brain waves very similar to those during wakefulness and by darting movements of the eyes under closed eyelids

sleep rebound:sleep rebound: sleep-deprived individuals will experience longer sleep latencies during subsequent opportunities for sleep

sleep spindle:sleep spindle: rapid burst of high frequency brain waves during stage 2 sleep that may be important for learning and memory

stage 1 sleep:stage 1 sleep: first stage of sleep; transitional phase that occurs between wakefulness and sleep; the period during which a person drifts off to sleep

stage 2 sleep:stage 2 sleep: second stage of sleep; the body goes into deep relaxation; characterized by the appearance of sleep spindles

stage 3 sleep:stage 3 sleep: third stage of sleep; deep sleep characterized by low frequency, high amplitude delta waves

theta wave:theta wave: type of low frequency, low amplitude brain wave characteristic of the end of stage 1 sleep

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Researchers believe that one important function of sleep is to facilitate learning and memory. How does knowing this help you in your college studies? What changes could you make to your study and sleep habits to maximize your mastery of the material covered in class?

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Sleep and Why We Sleep. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:HBTk06bf@7/Sleep-and-Why-We-Sleep. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

• Image of sleeping girl. Authored byAuthored by: College Degrees 360. Provided byProvided by: Flickr. Located atLocated at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/83633410@N07/7658254172. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike • What would happen if you didnt sleep? – Claudia Aguirre. Authored byAuthored by: Ted-Ed. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqONk48l5vY. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• The Connection Between Sleep and Memory . Provided byProvided by: Science360 Video. Located atLocated at: https://science360.gov/obj/video/1bdb1ef6-8a9c-4c06-b8f3-5f6045daf859/connection-between-sleep-memory. LicenseLicense: All Rights Reserved

DREAMS AND DREAMING

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe and differentiate between theories on why we dream

Dreams

The meaning of dreams varies across different cultures and periods of time. By the late 19th century, German psychiatrist Sigmund Freud had become convinced that dreams represented an opportunity to gain access to the unconscious. By analyzing dreams, Freud thought people could increase self-awareness and gain valuable insight to help them deal with the problems they faced in their lives. Freud made distinctions between the manifest content and the latent content of dreams.

Manifest contentManifest content is the actual content, or storyline, of a dream. Latent contentLatent content, on the other hand, refers to the hidden meaning of a dream. For instance, if a woman dreams about being chased by a snake, Freud might have argued that this represents the woman’s fear of sexual intimacy, with the snake serving as a symbol of a man’s penis.

Freud was not the only theorist to focus on the content of dreams. The 20th century Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung believed that dreams allowed us to tap into the collective unconsciouscollective unconscious. The collective unconscious, as described by Jung, is a theoretical repository of information he believed to be shared by everyone. According to Jung, certain symbols in dreams reflected universal archetypes with meanings that are similar for all people regardless of culture or location.

The sleep and dreaming researcher Rosalind Cartwright, however, believes that dreams simply reflect life events that are important to the dreamer. Unlike Freud and Jung, Cartwright’s ideas about dreaming have found empirical support. For example, she and her colleagues published a study in which women going through divorce were asked several times over a five month period to report the degree to which their former spouses were on their minds. These same women were awakened during REM sleep in order to provide a detailed account of their dream content. There was a significant positive correlation between the degree to which women thought about their former spouses during waking hours and the number of times their former spouses appeared as characters in their dreams (Cartwright, Agargun, Kirkby, & Friedman, 2006). Recent research (Horikawa, Tamaki, Miyawaki, & Kamitani, 2013) has uncovered new techniques by which researchers may effectively detect and classify the visual images that occur during dreaming by using fMRI for neural measurement of brain activity patterns, opening the way for additional research in this area.

Recently, neuroscientists have also become interested in understanding why we dream. For example, Hobson (2009) suggests that dreaming may represent a state of protoconsciousness. In other words, dreaming involves constructing a virtual reality in our heads that we might use to help us during wakefulness. Among a variety of neurobiological evidence, John Hobson cites research on lucid dreams as an opportunity to better understand dreaming in general. Lucid dreamsLucid dreams are dreams in which certain aspects of wakefulness are maintained during a dream state. In a lucid dream, a person becomes aware of the fact that they are dreaming, and as such, they can control the dream’s content (LaBerge, 1990).

Theories on Dreaming

While the Freudian theory of dreaming may be the most well known, and Cartwright’s suggestions on dreaming the most plausible, there are several other theories about the purpose of dreaming. The threat-simulation theorythreat-simulation theory suggests that dreaming should be seen as an ancient biological defense mechanism. Dreams are thought to

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Review the purpose and stages of sleep as well as the reasons why we dream in the following CrashCourse video:

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2091

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2091

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2091

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2091

TRY ITTRY IT

provide an evolutionary advantage because of their capacity to repeatedly simulate potential threatening events. This process enhances the neurocognitive mechanisms required for efficient threat perception and avoidance.

The expectation-fulfillment theoryexpectation-fulfillment theory posits that dreaming serves to discharge emotional arousals (however minor) that haven’t been expressed during the day. This practice frees up space in the brain to deal with the emotional arousals of the next day and allows instinctive urges to stay intact. In effect, the expectation is fulfilled (the action is “completed”) in a metaphorical form so that a false memory is not created. This theory explains why dreams are usually forgotten immediately afterwards.

One prominent neurobiological theory of dreaming is the activation-synthesis theoryactivation-synthesis theory, which states that dreams don’t actually mean anything. They are merely electrical brain impulses that pull random thoughts and imagery from our memories. The theory posits that humans construct dream stories after they wake up, in a natural attempt to make sense of the nonsensical. However, given the vast documentation of the realistic aspects of human dreaming, as well as indirect experimental evidence that other mammals such as cats also dream, evolutionary psychologists have theorized that dreaming does indeed serve a purpose.

The continual-activation theorycontinual-activation theory proposes that dreaming is a result of brain activation and synthesis. Dreaming and REM sleep are simultaneously controlled by different brain mechanisms. The hypothesis states that the function of sleep is to process, encode, and transfer data from short-term memory to long-term memory through a process called consolidation. However, there is not much evidence to back this up. NREM sleep processes the conscious- related memory (declarative memory), and REM sleep processes the unconscious related memory (procedural memory).

The underlying assumption of continual-activation theory is that, during REM sleep, the unconscious part of the brain is busy processing procedural memory. Meanwhile, the level of activation in the conscious part of the brain descends to a very low level as the inputs from the senses are basically disconnected. This triggers the “continual-activation” mechanism to generate a data stream from the memory stores to flow through to the conscious part of the brain.

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2091

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2091

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

activation-synthesis theory:activation-synthesis theory: states that dreams don’t actually mean anything. Instead, dreams are merely electrical brain impulses that pull random thoughts and imagery from our memories.

collective unconscious:collective unconscious: theoretical repository of information shared by all people across cultures, as described by Carl Jung

continual-activation theory:continual-activation theory: proposes that dreaming is a result of brain activation and synthesis; its assumption is that, during REM sleep, the unconscious part of the brain is busy processing procedural memory

latent content:latent content: hidden meaning of a dream, per Sigmund Freud’s view of the function of dreams

lucid dream:lucid dream: people become aware that they are dreaming and can control the dream’s content

manifest content:manifest content: storyline of events that occur during a dream, per Sigmund Freud’s view of the function of dreams

threat-simulation theory:threat-simulation theory: suggests that dreaming should be seen as an ancient biological defense mechanism that provides an evolutionary advantage because of its capacity to repeatedly simulate potential threatening events, thus enhancing the mechanisms required for efficient threat avoidance.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Stages of Sleep. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:G4i0FY3z@5/Stages-of-Sleep. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/ [email protected]

• The Nature and Meaning of Dreams. Provided byProvided by: Boundless. Located atLocated at: https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/states-of-consciousness-6/sleep-and-dreaming-42/the- nature-and-meaning-of-dreams-184-12719/. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• To Sleep, Perchance to Dream – Crash Course Psychology #9. Provided byProvided by: CrashCourse. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMHus-0wFSo. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

SLEEP PROBLEMS AND DISORDERS

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe the symptoms and treatments for insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy

Many people experience disturbances in their sleep at some point in their lives. Depending on the population and sleep disorder being studied, between 30% and 50% of the population suffers from a sleep disorder at some point in their lives (Bixler, Kales, Soldatos, Kaels, & Healey, 1979; Hossain & Shapiro, 2002; Ohayon, 1997, 2002; Ohayon & Roth, 2002). This section will describe several sleep disorders as well as some of their treatment options.

Insomnia

Insomnia, a consistent difficulty in falling or staying asleep, is the most common of the sleep disorders. Individuals with insomnia often experience long delays between the times that they go to bed and actually fall asleep. In addition, these individuals may wake up several times during the night only to find that they have difficulty getting back to sleep. As mentioned earlier, one of the criteria for insomnia involves experiencing these symptoms for at least three nights a week for at least one month’s time (Roth, 2007).

It is not uncommon for people suffering from insomnia to experience increased levels of anxiety about their inability to fall asleep. This becomes a self-perpetuating cycle because increased anxiety leads to increased arousal, and higher levels of arousal make the prospect of falling asleep even more unlikely. Chronic insomnia is almost always associated with feeling overtired and may be associated with symptoms of depression.

There may be many factors that contribute to insomnia, including age, drug use, exercise, mental status, and bedtime routines. Not surprisingly, insomnia treatment may take one of several different approaches. People who suffer from insomnia might limit their use of stimulant drugs (such as caffeine) or increase their amount of physical exercise during the day. Some people might turn to over-the-counter (OTC) or prescribed sleep medications to help them sleep, but this should be done sparingly because many sleep medications result in dependence and alter the nature of the sleep cycle, and they can increase insomnia over time. Those who continue to have insomnia, particularly if it affects their quality of life, should seek professional treatment.

Some forms of psychotherapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapycognitive-behavioral therapy, can help sufferers of insomnia. Cognitive- behavioral therapy is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on cognitive processes and problem behaviors. The treatment of insomnia likely would include stress management techniques and changes in problematic behaviors that could contribute to insomnia (e.g., spending more waking time in bed). Cognitive-behavioral therapy has been demonstrated to be quite effective in treating insomnia (Savard, Simard, Ivers, & Morin, 2005; Williams, Roth, Vatthauer, & McCrae, 2013).

DIG DEEPER: A SLEEPWALKING DEFENSE?DIG DEEPER: A SLEEPWALKING DEFENSE?

On January 16, 1997, Scott Falater sat down to dinner with his wife and children and told them about difficulties he was experiencing on a project at work. After dinner, he prepared some materials to use in leading a church youth group the following morning, and then he attempted repair the family’s swimming pool pump before retiring to bed. The following morning, he awoke to barking dogs and unfamiliar voices from downstairs. As he went to investigate what was going on, he was met by a group of police officers who arrested him for the murder of his wife (Cartwright, 2004; CNN, 1999).

Yarmila Falater’s body was found in the family’s pool with 44 stab wounds. A neighbor called the police after witnessing Falater standing over his wife’s body before dragging her into the pool. Upon a search of the premises, police found blood-stained clothes and a bloody knife in the trunk of Falater’s car, and he had blood stains on his neck.

Remarkably, Falater insisted that he had no recollection of hurting his wife in any way. His children and his wife’s parents all agreed that Falater had an excellent relationship with his wife and they couldn’t think of a reason that would provide any sort of motive to murder her (Cartwright, 2004).

Scott Falater had a history of regular episodes of sleepwalking as a child, and he had even behaved violently toward his sister once when she tried to prevent him from leaving their home in his pajamas during a sleepwalking episode. He suffered from no apparent anatomical brain anomalies or psychological disorders. It appeared that Scott Falater had killed his wife in his sleep, or at least, that is the defense he used when he was tried for his wife’s murder (Cartwright, 2004; CNN, 1999). In Falater’s case, a jury found him guilty of first degree murder in June of 1999 (CNN, 1999); however, there are other murder cases where the sleepwalking defense has been used successfully. As scary as it sounds, many sleep researchers believe that homicidal sleepwalking is possible in individuals suffering from the types of sleep disorders described below (Broughton et al., 1994; Cartwright, 2004; Mahowald, Schenck, & Cramer Bornemann, 2005; Pressman, 2007).

Parasomnias

A parasomniaparasomnia is one of a group of sleep disorders in which unwanted, disruptive motor activity and/or experiences during sleep play a role. Parasomnias can occur in either REM or NREM phases of sleep. Sleepwalking, restless leg syndrome, and night terrors are all examples of parasomnias (Mahowald & Schenck, 2000).

Sleepwalking

In sleepwalkingsleepwalking, or somnambulism, the sleeper engages in relatively complex behaviors ranging from wandering about to driving an automobile. During periods of sleepwalking, sleepers often have their eyes open, but they are not responsive to attempts to communicate with them. Sleepwalking most often occurs during slow-wave sleep, but it can occur at any time during a sleep period in some affected individuals (Mahowald & Schenck, 2000).

Historically, somnambulism has been treated with a variety of pharmacotherapies ranging from benzodiazepines to antidepressants. However, the success rate of such treatments is questionable. Guilleminault et al. (2005) found that sleepwalking was not alleviated with the use of benzodiazepines. However, all of their somnambulistic patients who also suffered from sleep-related breathing problems showed a marked decrease in sleepwalking when their breathing problems were effectively treated.

REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD)

REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD)REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) occurs when the muscle paralysis associated with the REM sleep phase does not occur. Individuals who suffer from RBD have high levels of physical activity during REM sleep, especially during disturbing dreams. These behaviors vary widely, but they can include kicking, punching, scratching, yelling, and behaving like an animal that has been frightened or attacked. People who suffer from this disorder can injure themselves or their sleeping partners when engaging in these behaviors. Furthermore, these types of behaviors ultimately disrupt sleep, although affected individuals have no memories that these behaviors have occurred (Arnulf, 2012).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=126

TRY ITTRY IT

This disorder is associated with a number of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. In fact, this relationship is so robust that some view the presence of RBD as a potential aid in the diagnosis and treatment of a number of neurodegenerative diseases (Ferini-Strambi, 2011). Clonazepam, an anti-anxiety medication with sedative properties, is most often used to treat RBD. It is administered alone or in conjunction with doses of melatonin (the hormone secreted by the pineal gland). As part of treatment, the sleeping environment is often modified to make it a safer place for those suffering from RBD (Zangini, Calandra-Buonaura, Grimaldi, & Cortelli, 2011).

Other Parasomnias

A person with restless leg syndromerestless leg syndrome has uncomfortable sensations in the legs during periods of inactivity or when trying to fall asleep. This discomfort is relieved by deliberately moving the legs, which, not surprisingly, contributes to difficulty in falling or staying asleep. Restless leg syndrome is quite common and has been associated with a number of other medical diagnoses, such as chronic kidney disease and diabetes (Mahowald & Schenck, 2000). There are a variety of drugs that treat restless leg syndrome: benzodiazepines, opiates, and anticonvulsants (Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation, n.d.).

Night terrorsNight terrors result in a sense of panic in the sufferer and are often accompanied by screams and attempts to escape from the immediate environment (Mahowald & Schenck, 2000). Although individuals suffering from night terrors appear to be awake, they generally have no memories of the events that occurred, and attempts to console them are ineffective. Typically, individuals suffering from night terrors will fall back asleep again within a short time. Night terrors apparently occur during the NREM phase of sleep (Provini, Tinuper, Bisulli, & Lagaresi, 2011). Generally, treatment for night terrors is unnecessary unless there is some underlying medical or psychological condition that is contributing to the night terrors (Mayo Clinic, n.d.).

Sleep Apnea

Sleep apneaSleep apnea is defined by episodes during which a sleeper’s breathing stops. These episodes can last 10–20 seconds or longer and often are associated with brief periods of arousal. While individuals suffering from sleep apnea may not be aware of these repeated disruptions in sleep, they do experience increased levels of fatigue. Many individuals diagnosed with sleep apnea first seek treatment because their sleeping partners indicate that they snore loudly and/or stop breathing for extended periods of time while sleeping (Henry & Rosenthal, 2013). Sleep apnea is much more common in overweight people and is often associated with loud snoring. Surprisingly, sleep apnea may exacerbate cardiovascular disease (Sánchez-de-la-Torre, Campos-Rodriguez, & Barbé, 2012). While sleep apnea is less common in thin people, anyone, regardless of their weight, who snores loudly or gasps for air while sleeping, should be checked for sleep apnea.

While people are often unaware of their sleep apnea, they are keenly aware of some of the adverse consequences of insufficient sleep. Consider a patient who believed that as a result of his sleep apnea he “had three car accidents in six weeks. They were ALL my fault. Two of them I didn’t even know I was involved in until afterwards” (Henry & Rosenthal, 2013, p. 52). It is not uncommon for people suffering from undiagnosed or untreated sleep apnea to fear that their careers will be affected by the lack of sleep, illustrated by this statement from another patient, “I’m in a job where there’s a premium on being mentally alert. I was really sleepy… and having trouble concentrating…. It was getting to the point where it was kind of scary” (Henry & Rosenthal, 2013, p. 52).

There are two types of sleep apnea: obstructive sleep apneaobstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when an individual’s airway becomes blocked during sleep, and air is prevented from entering the lungs. In

Figure 1. (a) A typical CPAP device used in the treatment of sleep apnea is (b) affixed to the head with straps, and a mask that

covers the nose and mouth.

Figure 2. The Safe to Sleep campaign educates the

public about how to minimize risk factors associated with

SIDS. This campaign is sponsored in part by the National

Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

central sleep apneacentral sleep apnea, disruption in signals sent from the brain that regulate breathing cause periods of interrupted breathing (White, 2005).

One of the most common treatments for sleep apnea involves the use of a special device during sleep. A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device includes a mask that fits over the sleeper’s nose and mouth, which is connected to a pump that pumps air into the person’s airways, forcing them to remain open, as shown in Figure 1. Some newer CPAP masks are smaller and cover only the nose. This treatment option has proven to be effective for people suffering from mild to severe cases of sleep apnea (McDaid et al., 2009). However, alternative treatment options are being explored because consistent compliance by users of CPAP devices is a problem. Recently, a new EPAP (excitatory positive air pressure) device has shown promise in double-blind trials as one such alternative (Berry, Kryger, & Massie, 2011).

SIDS

In sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) an infant stops breathing during sleep and dies. Infants younger than 12 months appear to be at the highest risk for SIDS, and boys have a greater risk than girls. A number of risk factors have been associated with SIDS including premature birth, smoking within the home, and hyperthermia. There may also be differences in both brain structure and function in infants that die from SIDS (Berkowitz, 2012; Mage & Donner, 2006; Thach, 2005).

The substantial amount of research on SIDS has led to a number of recommendations to parents to protect their children (Figure 2). For one, research suggests that infants should be placed on their backs when put down to sleep, and their cribs should not contain any items which pose suffocation threats, such as blankets, pillows or padded crib bumpers (cushions that cover the bars of a crib). Infants should not have caps placed on their heads when put down to sleep in order to prevent overheating, and people in the child’s household should abstain from smoking in the home. Recommendations like these have helped to decrease the number of infant deaths from SIDS in recent years (Mitchell, 2009; Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, 2011).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=126

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=126

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=126

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=126

TRY ITTRY IT

Narcolepsy

Unlike the other sleep disorders described in this section, a person with narcolepsynarcolepsy cannot resist falling asleep at inopportune times. These sleep episodes are often associated with cataplexycataplexy, which is a lack of muscle tone or muscle weakness, and in some cases involves complete paralysis of the voluntary muscles. This is similar to the kind of paralysis experienced by healthy individuals during REM sleep (Burgess & Scammell, 2012; Hishikawa & Shimizu, 1995; Luppi et al., 2011). Narcoleptic episodes take on other features of REM sleep. For example, around one third of individuals diagnosed with narcolepsy experience vivid, dream-like hallucinations during narcoleptic attacks (Chokroverty, 2010).

Surprisingly, narcoleptic episodes are often triggered by states of heightened arousal or stress. The typical episode can last from a minute or two to half an hour. Once awakened from a narcoleptic attack, people report that they feel refreshed (Chokroverty, 2010). Obviously, regular narcoleptic episodes could interfere with the ability to perform one’s job or complete schoolwork, and in some situations, narcolepsy can result in significant harm and injury (e.g., driving a car or operating machinery or other potentially dangerous equipment).

Generally, narcolepsy is treated using psychomotor stimulant drugs, such as amphetamines (Mignot, 2012). These drugs promote increased levels of neural activity. Narcolepsy is associated with reduced levels of the signaling molecule hypocretin in some areas of the brain (De la Herrán-Arita & Drucker-Colín, 2012; Han, 2012), and the traditional stimulant drugs do not have direct effects on this system. Therefore, it is quite likely that new medications that are developed to treat narcolepsy will be designed to target the hypocretin system.

There is a tremendous amount of variability among sufferers, both in terms of how symptoms of narcolepsy manifest and the effectiveness of currently available treatment options. This is illustrated by McCarty’s (2010) case study of a 50-year-old woman who sought help for the excessive sleepiness during normal waking hours that she had experienced for several years. She indicated that she had fallen asleep at inappropriate or dangerous times, including while eating, while socializing with friends, and while driving her car. During periods of emotional arousal, the woman complained that she felt some weakness in the right side of her body. Although she did not experience any dream-like hallucinations, she was diagnosed with narcolepsy as a result of sleep testing. In her case, the fact that her cataplexy was confined to the right side of her body was quite unusual. Early attempts to treat her condition with a stimulant drug alone were unsuccessful. However, when a stimulant drug was used in conjunction with a popular antidepressant, her condition improved dramatically.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=126

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

cataplexy:cataplexy: lack of muscle tone or muscle weakness, and in some cases complete paralysis of the voluntary muscles

central sleep apnea:central sleep apnea: sleep disorder with periods of interrupted breathing due to a disruption in signals sent from the brain that regulate breathing

cognitive-behavioral therapy:cognitive-behavioral therapy: psychotherapy that focuses on cognitive processes and problem behaviors that is sometimes used to treat sleep disorders such as insomnia

continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP):continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP): device used to treat sleep apnea; includes a mask that fits over the sleeper’s nose and mouth, which is connected to a pump that pumps air into the person’s airways, forcing them to remain open

narcolepsy:narcolepsy: sleep disorder in which the sufferer cannot resist falling to sleep at inopportune times

night terror:night terror: sleep disorder in which the sleeper experiences a sense of panic and may scream or attempt to escape from the immediate environment

obstructive sleep apnea:obstructive sleep apnea: sleep disorder defined by episodes when breathing stops during sleep as a result of blockage of the airway

parinsomnia:parinsomnia: one of a group of sleep disorders characterized by unwanted, disruptive motor activity and/or experiences during sleep

REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD):REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD): sleep disorder in which the muscle paralysis associated with the REM sleep phase does not occur; sleepers have high levels of physical activity during REM sleep, especially during disturbing dreams

restless leg syndrome:restless leg syndrome: sleep disorder in which the sufferer has uncomfortable sensations in the legs when trying to fall asleep that are relieved by moving the legs

sleep apnea:sleep apnea: sleep disorder defined by episodes during which breathing stops during sleep

sleepwalking:sleepwalking: (also, somnambulism) sleep disorder in which the sleeper engages in relatively complex behaviors

sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS):sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS): infant (one year old or younger) with no apparent medical condition suddenly dies during sleep

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=126

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

What factors might contribute to your own experiences with insomnia?

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Sleep Problems and Disorders. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:Mq2OJ5oK@7/Sleep-Problems-and-Disorders. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2104

DRUGS AND CONSCIOUSNESS

What you’ll learn to do: explain how drugs affect consciousness

While we all experience altered states of consciousness in the form of sleep on a regular basis, some people use drugs and other substances that result in altered states of consciousness as well. This section will present information relating to the use of various psychoactive drugs and problems associated with such use. You’ll also learned about other altered states of consciousness like hypnosis and meditation. This CrashCourse video gives an excellent overview of these altered states:

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe how substance abuse disorders are diagnosed • Explain how depressants impact nervous system activity • Identify stimulants and describe how they affect the brain and body • Identify opioids and describe how they impact the brain and behavior • Describe hallucinogens and how they affect the brain and behavior • Compare and contrast between depressants, stimulants, opioids, and hallucinogens

Substance Abuse Disorders

The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,, Fifth Edition (DSM-5)(DSM-5) is used by clinicians to diagnose individuals suffering from various psychological disorders. Drug use disorders are addictive disorders, and the criteria for specific substance (drug) use disorders are described in DSM-5. A person

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Read through this fascinating comic created by Stuart McMillen about psychologist’s Bruce Alexander’s Rat Park study on addiction, found here.

For more information on Bruce Alexander’s study and a better understanding of addiction, listen to Johann Hari’s TED Talk, “Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong.”

who has a substance use disorder often uses more of the substance than they originally intended to and continues to use that substance despite experiencing significant adverse consequences. In individuals diagnosed with a substance use disorder, there is a compulsive pattern of drug use that is often associated with both physical and psychological dependence.

Physical dependencePhysical dependence involves changes in normal bodily functions—the user will experience withdrawal from the drug upon cessation of use. In contrast, a person who has psychological dependencepsychological dependence has an emotional, rather than physical, need for the drug and may use the drug to relieve psychological distress. ToleranceTolerance is linked to physiological dependence, and it occurs when a person requires more and more drug to achieve effects previously experienced at lower doses. Tolerance can cause the user to increase the amount of drug used to a dangerous level—even to the point of overdose and death.

Drug withdrawalwithdrawal includes a variety of negative symptoms experienced when drug use is discontinued. These symptoms usually are opposite of the effects of the drug. For example, withdrawal from sedative drugs often produces unpleasant arousal and agitation. In addition to withdrawal, many individuals who are diagnosed with substance use disorders will also develop tolerance to these substances. Psychological dependence, or drug craving, is a recent addition to the diagnostic criteria for substance use disorder in DSM-5. This is an important factor because we can develop tolerance and experience withdrawal from any number of drugs that we do not abuse. In other words, physical dependence in and of itself is of limited utility in determining whether or not someone has a substance use disorder.

Drug Categories

The effects of all psychoactive drugs occur through their interactions with our endogenous neurotransmitter systems. Many of these drugs, and their relationships, are shown in Figure 1. As you have learned, drugs can act as agonists or antagonists of a given neurotransmitter system. An agonist facilitates the activity of a neurotransmitter system, and antagonists impede neurotransmitter activity.

The main categories of drugs are depressantsdepressants, stimulantsstimulants, and hallucinogenshallucinogens. You’ll learn more about these types drugs in the coming pages.

Figure 1. This figure illustrates various drug categories and overlap among them. (credit: modification of work by Derrick Snider)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2104

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2104

TRY ITTRY IT

Depressants

Ethanol, which we commonly refer to as alcohol, is in a class of psychoactive drugs known as depressants (Figure 1). A depressantdepressant is a drug that tends to suppress central nervous system activity. Other depressants include barbiturates and benzodiazepines. These drugs share in common their ability to serve as agonists of the gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmitter system. Because GABA has a quieting effect on the brain, GABA agonists also have a quieting effect; these types of drugs are often prescribed to treat both anxiety and insomnia.

Figure 2. The GABA-gated chloride (Cl-) channel is embedded in the cell membrane of certain neurons. The channel has multiple

receptor sites where alcohol, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines bind to exert their effects. The binding of these molecules opens

the chloride channel, allowing negatively-charged chloride ions (Cl-) into the neuron’s cell body. Changing its charge in a negative

direction pushes the neuron away from firing; thus, activating a GABA neuron has a quieting effect on the brain.

Acute alcohol administration results in a variety of changes to consciousness. At rather low doses, alcohol use is associated with feelings of euphoria. As the dose increases, people report feeling sedated. Generally, alcohol is associated with decreases in reaction time and visual acuity, lowered levels of alertness, and reduction in behavioral control. With excessive alcohol use, a person might experience a complete loss of consciousness and/ or difficulty remembering events that occurred during a period of intoxication (McKim & Hancock, 2013). In addition, if a pregnant woman consumes alcohol, her infant may be born with a cluster of birth defects and symptoms collectively called fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) or fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

With repeated use of many central nervous system depressants, such as alcohol, a person becomes physically dependent upon the substance and will exhibit signs of both tolerance and withdrawal. Psychological dependence

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2104

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2104

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2104

TRY ITTRY IT

on these drugs is also possible. Therefore, the abuse potential of central nervous system depressants is relatively high.

Drug withdrawal is usually an aversive experience, and it can be a life-threatening process in individuals who have a long history of very high doses of alcohol and/or barbiturates. This is of such concern that people who are trying to overcome addiction to these substances should only do so under medical supervision.

Stimulants

StimulantsStimulants are drugs that tend to increase overall levels of neural activity. Many of these drugs act as agonists of the dopamine neurotransmitter system. Dopamine activity is often associated with reward and craving; therefore, drugs that affect dopamine neurotransmission often have abuse liability. Drugs in this category include cocaine, amphetamines (including methamphetamine), cathinones (i.e., bath salts), MDMA (ecstasy), nicotine, and caffeine. Cocaine can be taken in multiple ways. While many users snort cocaine, intravenous injection and ingestion are also common. The freebase version of cocaine, known as crack, is a potent, smokable version of the drug. Like many other stimulants, cocaine agonizes the dopamine neurotransmitter system by blocking the reuptake of dopamine in the neuronal synapse.

Figure 3. Crack rocks like these are smoked to achieve a high. Compared with other routes of administration, smoking a drug

allows it to enter the brain more rapidly, which can often enhance the user’s experience. (credit: modification of work by U.S.

Department of Justice)

DIG DEEPER: CRACK COCAINEDIG DEEPER: CRACK COCAINE

Crack (Figure 3) is often considered to be more addictive than cocaine itself because it is smokable and reaches the brain very quickly. Crack is often less expensive than other forms of cocaine; therefore, it tends to be a more accessible drug for individuals from impoverished segments of society. During the 1980s, many drug laws were rewritten to punish crack users more severely than cocaine users. This led to discriminatory sentencing with low-income, inner-city minority populations receiving the harshest punishments. The wisdom of these laws has recently been called into question, especially given research that suggests crack may not be more addictive than other forms of cocaine, as previously thought (Haasen & Krausz, 2001; Reinerman, 2007).

Figure 4. As one of their mechanisms of action, cocaine

and amphetamines block the reuptake of dopamine from

the synapse into the presynaptic cell.

Amphetamines have a mechanism of action quite similar to cocaine in that they block the reuptake of dopamine in addition to stimulating its release (Figure 4). While amphetamines are often abused, they are also commonly prescribed to children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It may seem counterintuitive that stimulant medications are prescribed to treat a disorder that involves hyperactivity, but the therapeutic effect comes from increases in neurotransmitter activity within certain areas of the brain associated with impulse control.

In recent years, methamphetamine (meth) use has become increasingly widespread. MethamphetamineMethamphetamine is a type of amphetamine that can be made from ingredients that are readily available (e.g., medications containing pseudoephedrine, a compound found in many over-the- counter cold and flu remedies). Despite recent changes in laws designed to make obtaining pseudoephedrine more difficult, methamphetamine continues to be an easily accessible and relatively inexpensive drug option (Shukla, Crump, & Chrisco, 2012).

The cocaine, amphetamine, cathinones, and MDMA users seek a euphoric higheuphoric high, feelings of intense elation and pleasure, especially in those users who take the drug via intravenous injection or smoking. Repeated use of these stimulants can have significant adverse consequences. Users can experience physical symptoms that include nausea, elevated blood pressure, and increased heart rate. In addition, these drugs can cause feelings of anxiety, hallucinations, and paranoia (Fiorentini et al., 2011). Normal brain functioning is altered after repeated use of these drugs. For example, repeated use can lead to overall depletion among the monoamine neurotransmitters (dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin). People may engage in compulsive use of these stimulant substances in part to try to reestablish normal levels of these neurotransmitters (Jayanthi & Ramamoorthy, 2005; Rothman, Blough, & Baumann, 2007).

CaffeineCaffeine is another stimulant drug. While it is probably the most commonly used drug in the world, the potency of this particular drug pales in comparison to the other stimulant drugs described in this section. Generally, people use caffeine to maintain increased levels of alertness and arousal. Caffeine is found in many common medicines (such as weight loss drugs), beverages, foods, and even cosmetics (Herman & Herman, 2013). While caffeine may have some indirect effects on dopamine neurotransmission, its primary mechanism of action involves antagonizing adenosine activity (Porkka-Heiskanen, 2011).

While caffeine is generally considered a relatively safe drug, high blood levels of caffeine can result in insomnia, agitation, muscle twitching, nausea, irregular heartbeat, and even death (Reissig, Strain, & Griffiths, 2009; Wolt, Ganetsky, & Babu, 2012). In 2012, Kromann and Nielson reported on a case study of a 40-year-old woman who suffered significant ill effects from her use of caffeine. The woman used caffeine in the past to boost her mood and to provide energy, but over the course of several years, she increased her caffeine consumption to the point that she was consuming three liters of soda each day. Although she had been taking a prescription antidepressant, her symptoms of depression continued to worsen and she began to suffer physically, displaying significant warning signs of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Upon admission to an outpatient clinic for treatment of mood disorders, she met all of the diagnostic criteria for substance dependence and was advised to dramatically limit her caffeine intake. Once she was able to limit her use to less than 12 ounces of soda a day, both her mental and physical health gradually improved. Despite the prevalence of caffeine use and the large number of people who confess to suffering from caffeine addiction, this was the first published description of soda dependence appearing in scientific literature.

Nicotine is highly addictive, and the use of tobacco products is associated with increased risks of heart disease, stroke, and a variety of cancers. Nicotine exerts its effects through its interaction with acetylcholine receptors. Acetylcholine functions as a neurotransmitter in motor neurons. In the central nervous system, it plays a role in arousal and reward mechanisms. Nicotine is most commonly used in the form of tobacco products like cigarettes or chewing tobacco; therefore, there is a tremendous interest in developing effective smoking cessation techniques. To date, people have used a variety of nicotine replacement therapies in addition to various psychotherapeutic options in an attempt to discontinue their use of tobacco products. In general, smoking cessation programs may be effective in the short term, but it is unclear whether these effects persist (Cropley,

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

To learn more about some of the most commonly abused prescription and street drugs, check out the Commonly Abused Drugs Chart and the Commonly Abused Prescription Drugs Chart from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2104

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2104

TRY ITTRY IT

Theadom, Pravettoni, & Webb, 2008; Levitt, Shaw, Wong, & Kaczorowski, 2007; Smedslund, Fisher, Boles, & Lichtenstein, 2004).

Opioids

An opioidopioid is one of a category of drugs that includes heroin, morphine, methadone, and codeine. Opioids have analgesic properties; that is, they decrease pain. Humans have an endogenous opioid neurotransmitter system—the body makes small quantities of opioid compounds that bind to opioid receptors reducing pain and producing euphoria. Thus, opioid drugs, which mimic this endogenous painkilling mechanism, have an extremely high potential for abuse. Natural opioids, called opiates, are derivatives of opium, which is a naturally occurring compound found in the poppy plant. There are now several synthetic versions of opiate drugs (correctly called opioids) that have very potent painkilling effects, and they are often abused. For example, the National Institutes of Drug Abuse has sponsored research that suggests the misuse and abuse of the prescription pain killers hydrocodone and oxycodone are significant public health concerns (Maxwell, 2006). In 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended tighter controls on their medical use. Historically, heroin has been a major opioid drug of abuse (Figure 5). Heroin can be snorted, smoked, or injected intravenously. Like the stimulants described earlier, the use of heroin is associated with an initial feeling of euphoria followed by periods of agitation. Because heroin is often administered via intravenous injection, users often bear needle track marks on their arms and, like all abusers of intravenous drugs, have an increased risk for contraction of both tuberculosis and HIV.

Figure 5. (a) Common paraphernalia for heroin preparation and use are shown here in a needle exchange kit. (b) Heroin is cooked

on a spoon over a candle. (credit a: modification of work by Todd Huffman)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2104

TRY ITTRY IT

Aside from their utility as analgesic drugs, opioid-like compounds are often found in cough suppressants, anti- nausea, and anti-diarrhea medications. Given that withdrawal from a drug often involves an experience opposite to the effect of the drug, it should be no surprise that opioid withdrawal resembles a severe case of the flu. While opioid withdrawal can be extremely unpleasant, it is not life-threatening (Julien, 2005). Still, people experiencing opioid withdrawal may be given methadonemethadone to make withdrawal from the drug less difficult. Methadone is a synthetic opioid that is less euphorigenic than heroin and similar drugs. Methadone clinicsMethadone clinics help people who previously struggled with opioid addiction manage withdrawal symptoms through the use of methadone. Other drugs, including the opioid buprenorphine, have also been used to alleviate symptoms of opiate withdrawal.

CodeineCodeine is an opioid with relatively low potency. It is often prescribed for minor pain, and it is available over-the- counter in some other countries. Like all opioids, codeine does have abuse potential. In fact, abuse of prescription opioid medications is becoming a major concern worldwide (Aquina, Marques-Baptista, Bridgeman, & Merlin, 2009; Casati, Sedefov, & Pfeiffer-Gerschel, 2012).

Figure 6. Psychedelic images like this are often

associated with hallucinogenic compounds. (credit:

modification of work by “new 1lluminati”/Flickr)

Figure 7. Medical marijuana shops are becoming more

and more common in the United States. (credit: Laurie

Avocado)

DIG DEEPER: MEDICAL MARIJUANADIG DEEPER: MEDICAL MARIJUANA

While the possession and use of marijuana is illegal in most states, it is now legal in Washington, Colorado, Oregon, and Alaska to possess limited quantities of marijuana for recreational use. In contrast, medical marijuana use is now legal in nearly half of the United States. Medical marijuana is marijuana that is prescribed by a doctor for the treatment of a health condition. For example, people who undergo chemotherapy will often be prescribed marijuana to stimulate their appetites and prevent excessive weight loss resulting from the side effects of chemotherapy treatment. Marijuana may also have some promise in the treatment of a variety of medical conditions (Mather, Rauwendaal, Moxham-Hall, & Wodak, 2013; Robson, 2014; Schicho & Storr, 2014).

While medical marijuana laws have been passed on a state-by-state basis, federal laws still classify this as an illicit substance, making conducting research on the potentially beneficial medicinal uses of marijuana problematic. There is quite a bit of controversy within the scientific community as to the extent to which marijuana might have medicinal benefits due to a lack of large- scale, controlled research (Bostwick, 2012). As a result, many scientists have urged the federal government to allow for relaxation of current marijuana laws and classifications in order to facilitate a more widespread study of the drug’s effects (Aggarwal et al., 2009; Bostwick, 2012; Kogan & Mechoulam, 2007).

Until recently, the United States Department of Justice routinely arrested people involved and seized marijuana used in medicinal settings. In the latter part of 2013, however, the United States Department of Justice issued statements indicating that they would not continue to challenge state medical marijuana laws. This shift in policy may be in response to the scientific community’s recommendations and/or reflect changing public opinion regarding marijuana.

TRY ITTRY IT

Hallucinogens

A hallucinogenhallucinogen is one of a class of drugs that results in profound alterations in sensory and perceptual experiences (Figure 6). In some cases, users experience vivid visual hallucinations. Common hallucinogens include marijuana, psilocybin (shrooms), mescaline (peyote), and LSD. It is also common for these types of drugs to cause hallucinations of body sensations (e.g., feeling as if you are a giant) and a skewed perception of the passage of time.

As a group, hallucinogens are incredibly varied in terms of the neurotransmitter systems they affect. Mescaline and LSD are serotonin agonists, and PCP (angel dust) and ketamine (an animal anesthetic) act as antagonists of the NMDA glutamate receptor. In general, these drugs are not thought to possess the same sort of abuse potential as other classes of drugs discussed in this section.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2104

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2104

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Practice your understanding of how drugs affect neurotransmitters in the brain in the the PsychSim Tutorial “Your Mind on Drugs.” The tutorial is only intended for practice. Please disregard the final screen that requests you submit answers to your instructor.

Then visit the Mouse Party website to see a visual example of how drugs alter the chemicals in the brain.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2104

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

codeine:codeine: opiate with relatively low potency often prescribed for minor pain

depressant:depressant: drug that tends to suppress central nervous system activity

euphoric high:euphoric high: feelings of intense elation and pleasure from drug use

hallucinogen:hallucinogen: one of a class of drugs that results in profound alterations in sensory and perceptual experiences, often with vivid hallucinations

methadone:methadone: synthetic opioid that is less euphorogenic than heroin and similar drugs; used to manage withdrawal symptoms in opiate users

methadone clinic:methadone clinic: uses methadone to treat withdrawal symptoms in opiate users

Summary of Psychoactive Drugs

Substance use disorder is defined in DSM-5 as a compulsive pattern of drug use despite negative consequences. Both physical and psychological dependence are important parts of this disorder. Alcohol, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines are central nervous system depressants that affect GABA neurotransmission. Cocaine, amphetamine, cathinones, and MDMA are all central nervous stimulants that agonize dopamine neurotransmission, while nicotine and caffeine affect acetylcholine and adenosine, respectively. Opiate drugs serve as powerful analgesics through their effects on the endogenous opioid neurotransmitter system, and hallucinogenic drugs cause pronounced changes in sensory and perceptual experiences. The hallucinogens are variable with regards to the specific neurotransmitter systems they affect.

methamphetamine:methamphetamine: type of amphetamine that can be made from pseudoephedrine, an over-the-counter drug; widely manufactured and abusedopiate/opioid:opiate/opioid: one of a category of drugs that has strong analgesic properties; opiates are produced from the resin of the opium poppy; includes heroin, morphine, methadone, and codeine

opiate/opioid:opiate/opioid: one of a category of drugs that has strong analgesic properties; opiates are produced from the resin of the opium poppy; includes heroin, morphine, methadone, and codeine

physical dependence:physical dependence: changes in normal bodily functions that cause a drug user to experience withdrawal symptoms upon cessation of use

psychological dependence:psychological dependence: emotional, rather than a physical, need for a drug which may be used to relieve psychological distress

stimulant:stimulant: drug that tends to increase overall levels of neural activity; includes caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, and cocaine

tolerance:tolerance: state of requiring increasing quantities of the drug to gain the desired effect

withdrawal:withdrawal: variety of negative symptoms experienced when drug use is discontinued

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Psychology. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:fOU1RGxh@6/Substance-Use-and-Abuse. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/ contents/[email protected]

• Mandelbrot Islands of Consciousness image. Authored byAuthored by: David R. Ingham. Provided byProvided by: Wikipedia. Located atLocated at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mandelbrot_Islands_of_Consciousness.jpg. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

• LicenseLicense: Public Domain: No Known Copyright

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Altered States – Crash Course Psychology #10. Provided byProvided by: CrashCourse. Located atLocated at: https://youtu.be/9PW1fwKjo-Y?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOPRKzVLY0jJY-uHOH9KVU6. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

HYPNOSIS AND MEDITATION

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe hypnosis and meditation

Our states of consciousness change as we move from wakefulness to sleep. We also alter our consciousness through the use of various psychoactive drugs. This final section will consider hypnotic and meditative states as additional examples of altered states of consciousness experienced by some individuals.

Hypnosis

HypnosisHypnosis is a state of extreme self-focus and attention in which minimal attention is given to external stimuli. In the therapeutic setting, a clinician often will use relaxation and suggestion in an attempt to alter the thoughts and perceptions of a patient. Hypnosis has also been used to draw out information believed to be buried deeply in someone’s memory. For individuals who are especially open to the power of suggestion, this can prove to be a very effective technique, and brain imaging studies have demonstrated that hypnotic states are associated with global changes in brain functioning (Del Casale et al., 2012; Guldenmund, Vanhaudenhuyse, Boly, Laureys, & Soddu, 2012).

Historically, hypnosis has been viewed with some suspicion because of its portrayal in popular media and entertainment (Figure 1). Therefore, it is important to make a distinction between hypnosis as an empirically based therapeutic approach versus as a form of entertainment. Contrary to popular belief, individuals undergoing

Figure 1. Popular portrayals of hypnosis have led to some

widely-held misconceptions.

TRY ITTRY IT

hypnosis usually have clear memories of the hypnotic experience and are in control of their own behaviors. While hypnosis may be useful in enhancing memory or a skill, such enhancements are very modest in nature (Raz, 2011).

How exactly does a hypnotist bring a participant to a state of hypnosis? While there are variations, there are four parts that appear consistent in bringing people into the state of suggestibility associated with hypnosis (National Research Council, 1994). These components include:

The participant is guided to focus on one thing, such as the hypnotist’s words or a ticking watch. The participant is made comfortable and is directed to be relaxed and sleepy. The participant is told to be open to the process of hypnosis, trust the hypnotist and let go. The participant is encouraged to use his or her imagination.

These steps are conducive to being open to the heightened suggestibility of hypnosis.

People vary in terms of their ability to be hypnotized, but a review of available research suggests that most people are at least moderately hypnotizable (Kihlstrom, 2013). Hypnosis in conjunction with other techniques is used for a variety of therapeutic purposes and has shown to be at least somewhat effective for pain management, treatment of depression and anxiety, smoking cessation, and weight loss (Alladin, 2012; Elkins, Johnson, & Fisher, 2012; Golden, 2012; Montgomery, Schnur, & Kravits, 2012).

Some scientists are working to determine whether the power of suggestion can affect cognitive processes such as learning, with a view to using hypnosis in educational settings (Wark, 2011). Furthermore, there is some evidence that hypnosis can alter processes that were once thought to be automatic and outside the purview of voluntary control, such as reading (Lifshitz, Aubert Bonn, Fischer, Kashem, & Raz, 2013; Raz, Shapiro, Fan, & Posner, 2002). However, it should be noted that others have suggested that the automaticity of these processes remains intact (Augustinova & Ferrand, 2012).

How does hypnosis work? Two theories attempt to answer this question: One theory views hypnosis as dissociation and the other theory views it as the performance of a social role. According to the dissociation view, hypnosis is effectively a dissociated state of consciousness, much like our earlier example where you may drive to work, but you are only minimally aware of the process of driving because your attention is focused elsewhere. This theory is supported by Ernest Hilgard’s research into hypnosis and pain. In Hilgard’s experiments, he induced participants into a state of hypnosis, and placed their arms into ice water. Participants were told they would not feel pain, but they could press a button if they did; while they reported not feeling pain, they did, in fact, press the button, suggesting a dissociation of consciousness while in the hypnotic state (Hilgard & Hilgard, 1994).

Taking a different approach to explain hypnosis, the social-cognitive theory of hypnosis sees people in hypnotic states as performing the social role of a hypnotized person. As you will learn when you study social roles, people’s behavior can be shaped by their expectations of how they should act in a given situation. Some view a hypnotized person’s behavior not as an altered or dissociated state of consciousness, but as their fulfillment of the social expectations for that role.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=137

Figure 2. (a) This is a statue of a meditating Buddha, representing one of the many religious traditions of which meditation plays a

part. (b) People practicing meditation may experience an alternate state of consciousness. (credit a: modification of work by Jim

Epler; credit b: modification of work by Caleb Roenigk)

Meditation

MeditationMeditation is the act of focusing on a single target (such as the breath or a repeated sound) to increase awareness of the moment. While hypnosis is generally achieved through the interaction of a therapist and the person being treated, an individual can perform meditation alone. Often, however, people wishing to learn to meditate receive some training in techniques to achieve a meditative state. A meditative state, as shown by EEG recordings of newly-practicing meditators, is not an altered state of consciousness per se; however, patterns of brain waves exhibited by expert meditators may represent a unique state of consciousness (Fell, Axmacher, & Haupt, 2010).

Although there are a number of different techniques in use, the central feature of all meditation is clearing the mind in order to achieve a state of relaxed awareness and focus (Chen et al., 2013; Lang et al., 2012). Mindfulness meditation has recently become popular. In the variation of meditation, the meditator’s attention is focused on some internal process or an external object (Zeidan, Grant, Brown, McHaffie, & Coghill, 2012).

Meditative techniques have their roots in religious practices (Figure 2), but their use has grown in popularity among practitioners of alternative medicine. Research indicates that meditation may help reduce blood pressure, and the American Heart Association suggests that meditation might be used in conjunction with more traditional treatments as a way to manage hypertension, although there is not sufficient data for a recommendation to be made (Brook et al., 2013). Like hypnosis, meditation also shows promise in stress management, sleep quality (Caldwell, Harrison, Adams, Quin, & Greeson, 2010), treatment of mood and anxiety disorders (Chen et al., 2013; Freeman et al., 2010; Vøllestad, Nielsen, & Nielsen, 2012), and pain management (Reiner, Tibi, & Lipsitz, 2013).

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this video describe the results of a brain imaging study in individuals who underwent specific mindfulness-meditative techniques.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=137

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

hypnosishypnosis: state of extreme self-focus and attention in which minimal attention is given to external stimuli meditationmeditation: clearing the mind in order to achieve a state of relaxed awareness and focus

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=137

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

• Under what circumstances would you be willing to consider hypnosis and/or meditation as a treatment option? What kind of information would you need before you made a decision to use these techniques?

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Other States of Consciousness. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:-J7Q2uv1@6/Other-States-of-Consciousness. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/.

PUTTING IT TOGETHER: STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

In this module, you learned to:

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Visit the NYTimes article, “You Draw It: Just How Bad Is the Drug Overdose Epidemic?” to take a look at current trends and the alarming amount of deaths caused by drug overdoses.

A 2017 survey in Utah found that about 80 percent of

heroin users started with prescription drugs.

• describe consciousness and biological rhythms • describe what happens to the brain and body during sleep • explain how drugs affect consciousness

Remember that psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Consider how your behavior is affected by varying states of consciousness—what happens if you don’t get enough sleep? How does your concentration and mood change? What happens to your conscious awareness when you take strong medications or drugs? In this module, you learned that varying states of consciousness, whether it be tiredness from jet lag, deep sleep, daydreaming, alcohol or drug use, hypnosis, or meditation, can all change physiological components in the mind as well as behavior. While we have control over some of these altered states, like meditation, there are sometimes variables outside of our control that lead to things like sleep disorders. Drug use often begins as a personal choice or something prescribed by a doctor, but many drugs have addictive qualities that make them hard to put down.

Substance abuse disorders can develop out of drug use, and those with drug addictions struggle with physical and psychological dependence on the drug. This is an especially important issue for us today because death by drug overdoses has been dramatically increasing over the past few years. Take a look at the interactive below to see the increasing prevalence of drug overdoses.

As you read in the article above, in 2015 there were 52,000 American deaths from all drug overdoses. Two thirds of them, 33,000, were from opioids, compared to 16,000 in 2010 and 4,000 in 1999. Death from opioid drug overdoses were nearly equal to the number of deaths from car crashes, with deaths from heroin alone accounting for more deaths than from gun violence. In 2016, deaths from overdoses increased over the previous year by 26% in Connecticut, 35% in Delaware, 39% in Maine, and 62% in Maryland. Nearly half of all opioid overdose deaths involve a prescription opioid.

The governor of Maryland declared a State of Emergency in March 2017 to combat the epidemic and CDC director Thomas Frieden has said that “America is awash in opioids; urgent action is critical.”

With this sudden, extreme increase in drug overdoses, psychologists and psychiatrists will continue to play an important role in researching, educating, and preventing substance abuse disorders. You can read more about what researchers are doing at the Addiction Connection or even find some practical tips on ways to prevent a drug overdose in this article from Psychology Today.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Opioid Epidemic. Provided byProvided by: Wikipedia. Located atLocated at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid_epidemic. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike • Generic temazepam 10 mg tablets. Provided byProvided by: Wikipedia. Located atLocated at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temazepam#/media/File:Temazepam_10mg_tablets-1.jpg. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

DISCUSSION: STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Sleep Stages

STEP 1STEP 1: Respond to the following in a primary post of at least 150-200 words:

• What are the stages of sleep and what is the importance of sleep? • Most of us feel like we never get enough sleep. What can you do to improve your sleep and improve

your consciousness during waking hours?

STEP 2STEP 2: Thoughtfully respond to a minimum of 2 classmates with secondary posts of at least 75-100 words.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Discussion: States of Consciousness. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Discussion ideas. Authored byAuthored by: Terry Davis . Provided byProvided by: Wiley College. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

MODULE 6: LEARNING

WHY IT MATTERS: LEARNING

Figure 1. Loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings are born knowing how to find the ocean and how to swim. Unlike the sea turtle,

humans must learn how to swim (and surf). (credit “turtle”: modification of work by Becky Skiba, USFWS; credit “surfer”:

modification of work by Mike Baird)

The summer sun shines brightly on a deserted stretch of beach. Suddenly, a tiny grey head emerges from the sand, then another and another. Soon the beach is teeming with loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings (Figure 1). Although only minutes old, the hatchlings know exactly what to do. Their flippers are not very efficient for moving across the hot sand, yet they continue onward, instinctively. Some are quickly snapped up by gulls circling overhead and others become lunch for hungry ghost crabs that dart out of their holes. Despite these dangers, the hatchlings are driven to leave the safety of their nest and find the ocean.

Not far down this same beach, Ben and his son, Julian, paddle out into the ocean on surfboards. A wave approaches. Julian crouches on his board, then jumps up and rides the wave for a few seconds before losing his balance. He emerges from the water in time to watch his father ride the face of the wave.

Unlike baby sea turtles, which know how to find the ocean and swim with no help from their parents, we are not born knowing how to swim (or surf). Yet we humans pride ourselves on our ability to learn. In fact, over thousands of years and across cultures, we have created institutions devoted entirely to learning. But have you ever asked yourself how exactly it is that we learn? What processes are at work as we come to know what we know? This module focuses on the primary ways in which learning occurs. AnswerAnswer

Anderson, C. A., & Gentile, D. A. (2008). Media violence, aggression, and public policy. In E. Borgida & S. Fiske (Eds.), Beyond common sense: Psychological science in the courtroom (p. 322). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. A. (1961). Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 575–582.

Cangi, K., & Daly, M. (2013). The effects of token economies on the occurrence of appropriate and inappropriate behaviors by children with autism in a social skills setting. West Chester University: Journal of Undergraduate Research. Retrieved from http://www.wcupa.edu/UndergraduateResearch/journal/documents/cangi_S2012.pdf

Carlson, L., Holscher, C., Shipley, T., & Conroy Dalton, R. (2010). Getting lost in buildings. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(5), 284–289.

Cialdini, R. B. (2008). Influence: Science and practice (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Chance, P. (2009). Learning and behavior (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

DeAngelis, T. (2010). ‘Little Albert’ regains his identity. Monitor on Psychology, 41(1), 10.

Franzen, H. (2001, May 24). Gambling, like food and drugs, produces feelings of reward in the brain. Scientific American [online]. Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=gamblinglike-food-and-dru

Fryer, R. G., Jr. (2010, April). Financial incentives and student achievement: Evidence from randomized trials. National Bureau of Economic Research [NBER] Working Paper, No. 15898. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/ papers/w15898

Garcia, J., & Koelling, R. A. (1966). Relation of cue to consequence in avoidance learning. Psychonomic Science, 4, 123–124.

Garcia, J., & Rusiniak, K. W. (1980). What the nose learns from the mouth. In D. Müller-Schwarze & R. M. Silverstein (Eds.), Chemical signals: Vertebrates and aquatic invertebrates (pp. 141–156). New York, NY: Plenum Press.

Gershoff, E. T. (2002). Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: A meta- analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 128(4), 539–579. doi:10.1037//0033-2909.128.4.539

Gershoff, E.T., Grogan-Kaylor, A., Lansford, J. E., Chang, L., Zelli, A., Deater-Deckard, K., & Dodge, K. A. (2010). Parent discipline practices in an international sample: Associations with child behaviors and moderation by perceived normativeness. Child Development, 81(2), 487–502.

Hickock, G. (2010). The role of mirror neurons in speech and language processing. Brain and Language, 112, 1–2.

Holmes, S. (1993). Food avoidance in patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy. Support Care Cancer, 1(6), 326–330.

Hunt, M. (2007). The story of psychology. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Huston, A. C., Donnerstein, E., Fairchild, H., Feshbach, N. D., Katz, P. A., Murray, J. P., . . . Zuckerman, D. (1992). Big world, small screen: The role of television in American society. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.

Hutton, J. L., Baracos, V. E., & Wismer, W. V. (2007). Chemosensory dysfunction is a primary factor in the evolution of declining nutritional status and quality of life with patients with advanced cancer. Journal of Pain Symptom Management, 33(2), 156–165.

Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery. (n.d.). WTVP on gambling. Retrieved from http://www.addictionrecov.org/ InTheNews/Gambling/

Jacobsen, P. B., Bovbjerg, D. H., Schwartz, M. D., Andrykowski, M. A., Futterman, A. D., Gilewski, T., . . . Redd, W. H. (1993). Formation of food aversions in cancer patients receiving repeated infusions of chemotherapy. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 31(8), 739–748.

Kirsch, SJ (2010). Media and youth: A developmental perspective. Malden MA: Wiley Blackwell.

Lefrançois, G. R. (2012). Theories of human learning: What the professors said (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Miller, L. E., Grabell, A., Thomas, A., Bermann, E., & Graham-Bermann, S. A. (2012). The associations between community violence, television violence, intimate partner violence, parent-child aggression, and aggression in sibling relationships of a sample of preschoolers. Psychology of Violence, 2(2), 165–78. doi:10.1037/a0027254

Murrell, A., Christoff, K. & Henning, K. (2007) Characteristics of domestic violence offenders: associations with childhood exposure to violence. Journal of Family Violence, 22(7), 523-532.

Pavlov, I. P. (1927). Conditioned reflexes: An investigation of the physiological activity of the cerebral cortex (G. V. Anrep, Ed. & Trans.). London, UK: Oxford University Press.

Rizzolatti, G., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2002). From mirror neurons to imitation: Facts and speculations. In A. N. Meltzoff & W. Prinz (Eds.), The imitative mind: Development, evolution, and brain bases (pp. 247–66). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2006, November). Mirrors in the mind. Scientific American [online], pp. 54–61.

Roy, A., Adinoff, B., Roehrich, L., Lamparski, D., Custer, R., Lorenz, V., . . . Linnoila, M. (1988). Pathological gambling: A psychobiological study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 45(4), 369–373. doi:10.1001/ archpsyc.1988.01800280085011

Skinner, B. F. (1938). The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis. New York, NY: Appleton-Century- Crofts.

Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York, NY: Macmillan.

Skinner, B. F. (1961). Cumulative record: A selection of papers. New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

Skinner’s utopia: Panacea, or path to hell? (1971, September 20). Time [online]. Retrieved from http://www.wou.edu/~girodm/611/Skinner%27s_utopia.pdf

Skolin, I., Wahlin, Y. B., Broman, D. A., Hursti, U-K. K., Larsson, M. V., & Hernell, O. (2006). Altered food intake and taste perception in children with cancer after start of chemotherapy: Perspectives of children, parents and nurses. Supportive Care in Cancer, 14, 369–78.

Thorndike, E. L. (1911). Animal intelligence: An experimental study of the associative processes in animals. Psychological Monographs, 8.

Tolman, E. C., & Honzik, C. H. (1930). Degrees of hunger, reward, and non-reward, and maze performance in rats. University of California Publications in Psychology, 4, 241–256.

Tolman, E. C., Ritchie, B. F., & Kalish, D. (1946). Studies in spatial learning: II. Place learning versus response learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 36, 221–229. doi:10.1037/h0060262

Watson, J. B. & Rayner, R. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3, 1–14.

Watson, J. B. (1919). Psychology from the standpoint of a behaviorist. Philadelphia, PA: J. B. Lippincott.

Yamamoto, S., Humle, T., & Tanaka, M. (2013). Basis for cumulative cultural evolution in chimpanzees: Social learning of a more efficient tool-use technique. PLoS ONE, 8(1): e55768. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055768

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Introduction to Learning. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:Nc0-RFXN@4/Introduction. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/ content/col11629/latest/.

WHAT IS LEARNING?

What you’ll learn to do: explain learning and the process of classical conditioning

In this section, you’ll learn about learning. It might not be “learning” as you typically think of the word, because we’re not talking about going to school, or studying, or even effortfully trying to remember something. Instead, you’ll see that one of the main types of behavioral learning that we do is simply through an automatic process of association, known as classical conditioning. In classical conditioning, organisms learn to associate events that repeatedly happen together, and researchers study how a reflexive response to a stimulus can be mapped to a different stimulus—by training an association between the two stimuli. Ivan Pavlov’s experiments show how stimulus-response bonds are formed. Watson, the founder of behaviorism, was greatly influenced by Pavlov’s work. He tested humans by conditioning fear in an infant known as Little Albert. His findings suggest that classical conditioning can explain how some fears develop.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Recognize and define three basic forms of learning—classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=176

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=176

TRY ITTRY IT

Learning

Birds build nests and migrate as winter approaches. Infants suckle at their mother’s breast. Dogs shake water off wet fur. Salmon swim upstream to spawn, and spiders spin intricate webs. What do these seemingly unrelated behaviors have in common? They all are unlearned behaviors. Both instincts and reflexes are innate behaviors that organisms are born with. ReflexesReflexes are a motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment. They tend to be simpler than instincts, involve the activity of specific body parts and systems (e.g., the knee-jerk reflex and the contraction of the pupil in bright light), and involve more primitive centers of the central nervous system (e.g., the spinal cord and the medulla). In contrast, instinctsinstincts are innate behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events, such as aging and the change of seasons. They are more complex patterns of behavior, involve movement of the organism as a whole (e.g., sexual activity and migration), and involve higher brain centers.

Both reflexes and instincts help an organism adapt to its environment and do not have to be learned. For example, every healthy human baby has a sucking reflex, present at birth. Babies are born knowing how to suck on a nipple, whether artificial (from a bottle) or human. Nobody teaches the baby to suck, just as no one teaches a sea turtle hatchling to move toward the ocean.

Learning, like reflexes and instincts, allows an organism to adapt to its environment. But unlike instincts and reflexes, learned behaviors involve change and experience: learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience. In contrast to the innate behaviors discussed above, learning involves acquiring knowledge and skills through experience. Looking back at our surfing scenario, Julian will have to spend much more time training with his surfboard before he learns how to ride the waves like his father.

Learning to surf, as well as any complex learning process (e.g., learning about the discipline of psychology), involves a complex interaction of conscious and unconscious processes. Learning has traditionally been studied in terms of its simplest components—the associations our minds automatically make between events. Our minds have a natural tendency to connect events that occur closely together or in sequence. Associative learningAssociative learning occurs when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment. You will see that associative learning is central to all three basic learning processes discussed in this module; classical conditioning tends to involve unconscious processes, operant conditioning tends to involve conscious processes, and observational learning adds social and cognitive layers to all the basic associative processes, both conscious and unconscious. These learning processes will be discussed in detail later, but it is helpful to have a brief overview of each as you begin to explore how learning is understood from a psychological perspective.

In classical conditioning, also known as Pavlovian conditioning, organisms learn to associate events—or stimuli—that repeatedly happen together. We experience this process throughout our daily lives. For example, you might see a flash of lightning in the sky during a storm and then hear a loud boom of thunder. The sound of the thunder naturally makes you jump (loud noises have that effect by reflex). Because lightning reliably predicts the impending boom of thunder, you may associate the two and jump when you see lightning. Psychological researchers study this associative process by focusing on what can be seen and measured—behaviors. Researchers ask if one stimulus triggers a reflex, can we train a different stimulus to trigger that same reflex? In operant conditioning, organisms learn, again, to associate events—a behavior and its consequence (reinforcement or punishment). A pleasant consequence encourages more of that behavior in the future, whereas a punishment deters the behavior. Imagine you are teaching your dog, Hodor, to sit. You tell Hodor to sit, and give

Figure 1. In operant conditioning, a response is

associated with a consequence. This dog has learned

that certain behaviors result in receiving a treat. (credit:

Crystal Rolfe)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=176

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

For a sneak peak and overview of the main different types of learning, watch the CrashCourse psychology below. We’ll learn about each of these topics in greater depth throughout this module.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=176

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=176

TRY ITTRY IT

him a treat when he does. After repeated experiences, Hodor begins to associate the act of sitting with receiving a treat. He learns that the consequence of sitting is that he gets a doggie biscuit (Figure 1). Conversely, if the dog is punished when exhibiting a behavior, it becomes conditioned to avoid that behavior (e.g., receiving a small shock when crossing the boundary of an invisible electric fence).

Observational learning extends the effective range of both classical and operant conditioning. In contrast to classical and operant conditioning, in which learning occurs only through direct experience, observational learning is the process of watching others and then imitating what they do. A lot of learning among humans and other animals comes from observational learning. To get an idea of the extra effective range that observational learning brings, consider Ben and his son Julian from the introduction. How might observation help Julian learn to surf, as opposed to learning by trial and error alone? By watching his father, he can imitate the moves that bring success and avoid the moves that lead to failure. Can you think of something you have learned how to do after watching someone else?

All of the approaches covered in this module are part of a particular tradition in psychology, called behaviorism. However, these approaches you’ll be introduced to do not represent the entire study of learning. Separate traditions of learning have taken shape within different fields of psychology, such as memory and cognition, so you will find that other sections of this book will round out your understanding of the topic. Over time these traditions tend to converge. For example, in this module you will see how cognition has come to play a larger role in behaviorism, whose more extreme adherents once insisted that behaviors are triggered by the environment with no intervening thought.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=176

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=176

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

associative learning:associative learning: form of learning that involves connecting certain stimuli or events that occur together in the environment (classical and operant conditioning)

instinct:instinct: unlearned knowledge, involving complex patterns of behavior; instincts are thought to be more prevalent in lower animals than in humans

learning:learning: change in behavior or knowledge that is the result of experience

reflex:reflex: unlearned, automatic response by an organism to a stimulus in the environment

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

• What is your personal definition of learning? How do your ideas about learning compare with the definition of learning presented in this text?

• What kinds of things have you learned through the process of classical conditioning? Operant conditioning? Observational learning? How did you learn them?

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• What is Learning?. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:QNyXkiP7@5/What-Is-Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/ content/col11629/latest/.

• dog picture. Authored byAuthored by: skeeze. Located atLocated at: https://pixabay.com/en/dog-canine-labrador-retriever-580466/. LicenseLicense: CC0: No Rights Reserved

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• How to Train a Brain – Crash Course Psychology #11. Provided byProvided by: CrashCourse. Located atLocated at: https://youtu.be/qG2SwE_6uVM?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOPRKzVLY0jJY-uHOH9KVU6. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain how classical conditioning occurs • Identify the NS, UCS, UCR, CS, and CR in classical conditioning situations • Describe the processes of acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and

discrimination

Figure 1. Ivan Pavlov’s research on the digestive system

of dogs unexpectedly led to his discovery of the learning

process now known as classical conditioning.

Does the name Ivan Pavlov ring a bell? Even if you are new to the study of psychology, chances are that you have heard of Pavlov and his famous dogs.

Pavlov (1849–1936), a Russian scientist, performed extensive research on dogs and is best known for his experiments in classical conditioning (Figure 1). As we discussed briefly in the previous section, classicalclassical conditioningconditioning is a process by which we learn to associate stimuli and, consequently, to anticipate events.

Pavlov came to his conclusions about how learning occurs completely by accident. Pavlov was a physiologist, not a psychologist. Physiologists study the life processes of organisms, from the molecular level to the level of cells, organ systems, and entire organisms. Pavlov’s area of interest was the digestive system (Hunt, 2007). In his studies with dogs, Pavlov surgically implanted tubes inside dogs’ cheeks to collect saliva. He then measured the amount of saliva produced in response to various foods. Over time, Pavlov (1927) observed that the dogs began to salivate not only at the taste of food, but also at the sight of food, at the sight of an empty food bowl, and even at the sound of the laboratory assistants’ footsteps. Salivating to food in the mouth is reflexive, so no learning is involved. However, dogs don’t naturally salivate at the sight of an empty bowl or the sound of footsteps.

These unusual responses intrigued Pavlov, and he wondered what accounted for what he called the dogs’ “psychic secretions” (Pavlov, 1927). To explore this phenomenon in an objective manner, Pavlov designed a series of carefully controlled experiments to see which stimuli would cause the dogs to salivate. He was able to train the dogs to salivate in response to stimuli that clearly had nothing to do with food, such as the sound of a bell, a light, and a touch on the leg. Through his experiments, Pavlov realized that an organism has two types of responses to its environment: (1) unconditioned (unlearned) responses, or reflexes, and (2) conditioned (learned) responses.

In Pavlov’s experiments, the dogs salivated each time meat powder was presented to them. The meat powder in this situation was an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)unconditioned stimulus (UCS): a stimulus that elicits a reflexive response in an organism. The dogs’ salivation was an unconditioned response (UCR)unconditioned response (UCR): a natural (unlearned) reaction to a given stimulus. Before conditioning, think of the dogs’ stimulus and response like this:

Meat powder (UCS) → Salivation (UCR)Meat powder (UCS) → Salivation (UCR)

In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulusneutral stimulus is presented immediately before an unconditioned stimulus. Pavlov would sound a tone (like ringing a bell) and then give the dogs the meat powder (Figure 2). The tone was the neutral stimulus (NS), which is a stimulus that does not naturally elicit a response. Prior to conditioning, the dogs did not salivate when they just heard the tone because the tone had no association for the dogs. Quite simply this pairing means:

Tone (NS) + Meat Powder (UCS) → Salivation (UCR)Tone (NS) + Meat Powder (UCS) → Salivation (UCR)

When Pavlov paired the tone with the meat powder over and over again, the previously neutral stimulus (the tone) also began to elicit salivation from the dogs. Thus, the neutral stimulus became the conditioned stimulus (CS)conditioned stimulus (CS), which is a stimulus that elicits a response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus. Eventually, the dogs began to salivate to the tone alone, just as they previously had salivated at the sound of the assistants’ footsteps. The behavior caused by the conditioned stimulus is called the conditioned response (CR)conditioned response (CR). In the case of Pavlov’s dogs, they had learned to associate the tone (CS) with being fed, and they began to salivate (CR) in anticipation of food.

Tone (CS) → Salivation (CR)Tone (CS) → Salivation (CR)

Figure 2. Before conditioning, an unconditioned stimulus (food) produces an unconditioned response (salivation), and a neutral

stimulus (bell) does not produce a response. During conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (food) is presented repeatedly just

after the presentation of the neutral stimulus (bell). After conditioning, the neutral stimulus alone produces a conditioned response

(salivation), thus becoming a conditioned stimulus.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Now that you have learned about the process of classical conditioning, do you think you can condition Pavlov’s dog? Visit this website to play the game.

Next, view the following video to learn more about Pavlov and his dogs:

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

TRY ITTRY IT

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

Real World Application of Classical Conditioning

How does classical conditioning work in the real world? Let’s say you have a cat named Tiger, who is quite spoiled. You keep her food in a separate cabinet, and you also have a special electric can opener that you use only to open cans of cat food. For every meal, Tiger hears the distinctive sound of the electric can opener (“zzhzhz”) and then gets her food. Tiger quickly learns that when she hears “zzhzhz” she is about to get fed. What do you think Tiger does when she hears the electric can opener? She will likely get excited and run to where you are preparing her food. This is an example of classical conditioning. In this case, what are the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR?What if the cabinet holding Tiger’s food becomes squeaky? In that case, Tiger hears “squeak” (the cabinet), “zzhzhz” (the electric can opener), and then she gets her food. Tiger will learn to get excited when she hears the “squeak” of the cabinet. Pairing a new neutral stimulus (“squeak”) with the conditioned stimulus (“zzhzhz”) is called higher-order conditioning, or second-order conditioning. This means you are using the conditioned stimulus of the can opener to condition another stimulus: the squeaky cabinet (Figure 3). It is hard to achieve anything above second-order conditioning. For example, if you ring a bell, open the cabinet (“squeak”), use the can opener (“zzhzhz”), and then feed Tiger, Tiger will likely never get excited when hearing the bell alone.

Figure 3. In higher-order conditioning, an established conditioned stimulus is paired with a new neutral stimulus (the second-order

stimulus), so that eventually the new stimulus also elicits the conditioned response, without the initial conditioned stimulus being

presented.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Get some more practice with classical conditioning through the following PsychSim Tutorial. The tutorial is only intended for practice. Please disregard the final screen that requests you submit answers to your instructor.

• Classical Conditioning

Figure 4. Kate holds a southern stingray at Stingray City

in the Cayman Islands. These stingrays have been

classically conditioned to associate the sound of a boat

motor with food provided by tourists. (credit: Kathryn

Dumper)

EVERYDAY CONNECTION: CLASSICAL CONDITIONING AT STINGRAY CITYEVERYDAY CONNECTION: CLASSICAL CONDITIONING AT STINGRAY CITY

Kate and her husband Scott recently vacationed in the Cayman Islands, and booked a boat tour to Stingray City, where they could feed and swim with the southern stingrays. The boat captain explained how the normally solitary stingrays have become accustomed to interacting with humans. About 40 years ago, fishermen began to clean fish and conch (unconditioned stimulus) at a particular sandbar near a barrier reef, and large numbers of stingrays would swim in to eat (unconditioned response) what the fishermen threw into the water; this continued for years. By the late 1980s, word of the large group of stingrays spread among scuba divers, who then started feeding them by hand. Over time, the southern stingrays in the area were classically conditioned much like Pavlov’s dogs. When they hear the sound of a boat engine (neutral stimulus that becomes a conditioned stimulus), they know that they will get to eat (conditioned response).

As soon as Kate and Scott reached Stingray City, over two dozen stingrays surrounded their tour boat. The couple slipped into the water with bags of squid, the stingrays’ favorite treat. The swarm of stingrays bumped and rubbed up against their legs like hungry cats (Figure 4). Kate and Scott were able to feed, pet, and even kiss (for luck) these amazing creatures. Then all the squid was gone, and so were the stingrays.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

For a humorous look at conditioning, watch the following from the television show The Office, where Jim conditions Dwight to expect a breath mint every time Jim’s computer makes a specific sound. See if you can identify the NS, UCS, UCR, CS, and CR.

Classical conditioning also applies to humans, even babies. For example, Sara buys formula in blue canisters for her six-month-old daughter, Angelina. Whenever Sara takes out a formula container, Angelina gets excited, tries to reach toward the food, and most likely salivates. Why does Angelina get excited when she sees the formula canister? What are the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR here?

So far, all of the examples have involved food, but classical conditioning extends beyond the basic need to be fed. Consider our earlier example of a dog whose owners install an invisible electric dog fence. A small electrical shock (unconditioned stimulus) elicits discomfort (unconditioned response). When the unconditioned stimulus (shock) is paired with a neutral stimulus (the edge of a yard), the dog associates the discomfort (unconditioned response) with the edge of the yard (conditioned stimulus) and stays within the set boundaries.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

The Office Classical Conditioning from Susann Stanley on Vimeo.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

TRY ITTRY IT

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Can you think of an example in your life of how classical conditioning has produced a positive emotional response, such as happiness or excitement? How about a negative emotional response, such as fear, anxiety, or anger?

Processes in Classical Conditioning Now that you know how classical conditioning works and have seen several examples, let’s take a look at some of the general processes involved. In classical conditioning, the initial period of learning is known as acquisition, when an organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus. During acquisitionacquisition, the neutral stimulus begins to elicit the conditioned response, and eventually the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus capable of eliciting the conditioned response by itself. Timing is important for conditioning to occur. Typically, there should only be a brief interval between presentation of the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. Depending on what is being conditioned, sometimes this interval is as little as five seconds (Chance, 2009). However, with other types of conditioning, the interval can be up to several hours.

Taste aversionTaste aversion is a type of conditioning in which an interval of several hours may pass between the conditioned stimulus (something ingested) and the unconditioned stimulus (nausea or illness). Here’s how it works. Between classes, you and a friend grab a quick lunch from a food cart on campus. You share a dish of chicken curry and head off to your next class. A few hours later, you feel nauseous and become ill. Although your friend is fine and you determine that you have intestinal flu (the food is not the culprit), you’ve developed a taste aversion; the next time you are at a restaurant and someone orders curry, you immediately feel ill. While the chicken dish is not what made you sick, you are experiencing taste aversion: you’ve been conditioned to be averse to a food after a single, unpleasant experience.

How does this occur—conditioning based on a single instance and involving an extended time lapse between the event and the unpleasant stimulus? Research into taste aversion suggests that this response may be an evolutionary adaptation designed to help organisms quickly learn to avoid harmful foods (Garcia & Rusiniak, 1980; Garcia & Koelling, 1966). Not only may this contribute to species survival via natural selection, but it may also help us develop strategies for challenges such as helping cancer patients through the nausea induced by certain treatments (Holmes, 1993; Jacobsen et al., 1993; Hutton, Baracos, & Wismer, 2007; Skolin et al., 2006).

Once we have established the connection between the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus, how do we break that connection and get the dog, cat, or child to stop responding? In Tiger’s case, imagine what would happen if you stopped using the electric can opener for her food and began to use it only for human food. Now, Tiger would hear the can opener, but she would not get food. In classical conditioning terms, you would be giving the conditioned stimulus, but not the unconditioned stimulus. Pavlov explored this scenario in his experiments with dogs: sounding the tone without giving the dogs the meat powder. Soon the dogs stopped responding to the tone. ExtinctionExtinction is the decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus. When presented with the conditioned stimulus alone, the dog, cat, or other organism would show a weaker and weaker response, and finally no response. In classical conditioning terms, there is a gradual weakening and disappearance of the conditioned response.

What happens when learning is not used for a while—when what was learned lies dormant? As we just discussed, Pavlov found that when he repeatedly presented the bell (conditioned stimulus) without the meat powder (unconditioned stimulus), extinction occurred; the dogs stopped salivating to the bell. However, after a couple of hours of resting from this extinction training, the dogs again began to salivate when Pavlov rang the bell. What do you think would happen with Tiger’s behavior if your electric can opener broke, and you did not use it for several months? When you finally got it fixed and started using it to open Tiger’s food again, Tiger would remember the association between the can opener and her food—she would get excited and run to the kitchen when she heard the sound. The behavior of Pavlov’s dogs and Tiger illustrates a concept Pavlov called spontaneous recovery: the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period (Figure 5).

Figure 5. This is the curve of acquisition, extinction, and spontaneous recovery. The rising curve shows the conditioned response

quickly getting stronger through the repeated pairing of the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus (acquisition).

Then the curve decreases, which shows how the conditioned response weakens when only the conditioned stimulus is presented

(extinction). After a break or pause from conditioning, the conditioned response reappears (spontaneous recovery).

Of course, these processes also apply in humans. For example, let’s say that every day when you walk to campus, an ice cream truck passes your route. Day after day, you hear the truck’s music (neutral stimulus), so you finally stop and purchase a chocolate ice cream bar. You take a bite (unconditioned stimulus) and then your mouth waters (unconditioned response). This initial period of learning is known as acquisition, when you begin to connect the neutral stimulus (the sound of the truck) and the unconditioned stimulus (the taste of the chocolate ice cream in your mouth). During acquisition, the conditioned response gets stronger and stronger through repeated pairings of the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus. Several days (and ice cream bars) later, you notice that your mouth begins to water (conditioned response) as soon as you hear the truck’s musical jingle—even before you bite into the ice cream bar. Then one day you head down the street. You hear the truck’s music (conditioned stimulus), and your mouth waters (conditioned response). However, when you get to the truck, you discover that they are all out of ice cream. You leave disappointed. The next few days you pass by the truck and hear the music, but don’t stop to get an ice cream bar because you’re running late for class. You begin to salivate less and less when you hear the music, until by the end of the week, your mouth no longer waters when you hear the tune. This illustrates extinction. The conditioned response weakens when only the conditioned stimulus (the sound of the truck) is presented, without being followed by the unconditioned stimulus (chocolate ice cream in the mouth). Then the weekend comes. You don’t have to go to class, so you don’t pass the truck. Monday morning arrives and you take your usual route to campus. You round the corner and hear the truck again. What do you think happens? Your mouth begins to water again. Why? After a break from conditioning, the conditioned response reappears, which indicates spontaneous recovery.

Acquisition and extinction involve the strengthening and weakening, respectively, of a learned association. Two other learning processes—stimulus discrimination and stimulus generalization—are involved in distinguishing which stimuli will trigger the learned association. Animals (including humans) need to distinguish between

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

TRY ITTRY IT

stimuli—for example, between sounds that predict a threatening event and sounds that do not—so that they can respond appropriately (such as running away if the sound is threatening). When an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar, it is called stimulus discriminationstimulus discrimination. In classical conditioning terms, the organism demonstrates the conditioned response only to the conditioned stimulus. Pavlov’s dogs discriminated between the basic tone that sounded before they were fed and other tones (e.g., the doorbell), because the other sounds did not predict the arrival of food. Similarly, Tiger, the cat, discriminated between the sound of the can opener and the sound of the electric mixer. When the electric mixer is going, Tiger is not about to be fed, so she does not come running to the kitchen looking for food.

On the other hand, when an organism demonstrates the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the condition stimulus, it is called stimulus generalizationstimulus generalization, the opposite of stimulus discrimination. The more similar a stimulus is to the condition stimulus, the more likely the organism is to give the conditioned response. For instance, if the electric mixer sounds very similar to the electric can opener, Tiger may come running after hearing its sound. But if you do not feed her following the electric mixer sound, and you continue to feed her consistently after the electric can opener sound, she will quickly learn to discriminate between the two sounds (provided they are sufficiently dissimilar that she can tell them apart).

Sometimes, classical conditioning can lead to habituation. HabituationHabituation occurs when we learn not to respond to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly without change. As the stimulus occurs over and over, we learn not to focus our attention on it. For example, imagine that your neighbor or roommate constantly has the television blaring. This background noise is distracting and makes it difficult for you to focus when you’re studying. However, over time, you become accustomed to the stimulus of the television noise, and eventually you hardly notice it any longer.

Classical Conditioning and Behaviorism

John B. Watson, shown in Figure 6, is considered the founder of behaviorism. Behaviorism is a school of thought that arose during the first part of the 20th century, which incorporates elements of Pavlov’s classical conditioning (Hunt, 2007). In stark contrast with Freud, who considered the reasons for behavior to be hidden in the unconscious, Watson championed the idea that all behavior can be studied as a simple stimulus-response reaction, without regard for internal processes. Watson argued that in order for psychology to become a legitimate science, it must shift its concern away from internal mental processes because mental processes cannot be seen or measured. Instead, he asserted that psychology must focus on outward observable behavior that can be measured.

Figure 6. John B. Watson used the principles of classical

conditioning in the study of human emotion.

Watson’s ideas were influenced by Pavlov’s work. According to Watson, human behavior, just like animal behavior, is primarily the result of conditioned responses. Whereas Pavlov’s work with dogs involved the conditioning of reflexes, Watson believed the same principles could be extended to the conditioning of human emotions (Watson, 1919). Thus began Watson’s work with his graduate student Rosalie Rayner and a baby called Little Albert. Through their experiments with Little Albert, Watson and Rayner (1920) demonstrated how fears can be conditioned.

In 1920, Watson was the chair of the psychology department at Johns Hopkins University. Through his position at the university he came to meet Little Albert’s mother, Arvilla Merritte, who worked at a campus hospital (DeAngelis, 2010). Watson offered her a dollar to allow her son to be the subject of his experiments in classical conditioning. Through these experiments, Little Albert was exposed to and conditioned to fear certain things. Initially he was presented with various neutral stimuli, including a rabbit, a dog, a monkey, masks, cotton wool, and a white rat. He was not afraid of any of these things. Then Watson, with the help of Rayner, conditioned Little Albert to associate these stimuli with an emotion—fear. For example, Watson handed Little Albert the white rat, and Little Albert enjoyed playing with it. Then Watson made a loud sound, by striking a hammer against a metal bar hanging behind Little Albert’s head, each time Little Albert touched the rat. Little Albert was frightened by the sound—demonstrating a reflexive fear of sudden loud noises—and began to cry. Watson repeatedly paired the loud sound with the white rat. Soon Little Albert became frightened by the white rat alone. In this case, what are the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR? Days later, Little Albert demonstrated stimulus generalization—he became afraid of other furry things: a rabbit, a furry coat, and even a Santa Claus mask (Figure 7). Watson had succeeded in conditioning a fear response in Little Albert, thus demonstrating that emotions could become conditioned responses. It had been Watson’s intention to produce a phobia—a persistent, excessive fear of a specific object or situation— through conditioning alone, thus countering Freud’s view that phobias are caused by deep, hidden conflicts in the mind. However, there is no evidence that Little Albert experienced phobias in later years. Little Albert’s mother moved away, ending the experiment, and Little Albert himself died a few years later of unrelated causes. While Watson’s research provided new insight into conditioning, it would be considered unethical by today’s standards.

Figure 7. Through stimulus generalization, Little Albert came to fear furry things, including Watson in a Santa Claus mask.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

View scenes from John Watson’s experiment in which Little Albert was conditioned to respond in fear to furry objects.

As you watch the video, look closely at Little Albert’s reactions and the manner in which Watson and Rayner present the stimuli before and after conditioning. Based on what you see, would you come to the same conclusions as the researchers?

EVERYDAY CONNECTION: ADVERTISING AND ASSOCIATIVE LEARNINGEVERYDAY CONNECTION: ADVERTISING AND ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING

Advertising executives are pros at applying the principles of associative learning. Think about the car commercials you have seen on television. Many of them feature an attractive model. By associating the model with the car being advertised, you come to see the car as being desirable (Cialdini, 2008). You may be asking yourself, does this advertising technique actually work? According to Cialdini (2008), men who viewed a car commercial that included an attractive model later rated the car as being faster, more appealing, and better designed than did men who viewed an advertisement for the same car minus the model.

Have you ever noticed how quickly advertisers cancel contracts with a famous athlete following a scandal? As far as the advertiser is concerned, that athlete is no longer associated with positive feelings; therefore, the athlete cannot be used as an unconditioned stimulus to condition the public to associate positive feelings (the unconditioned response) with their product (the conditioned stimulus).

Now that you are aware of how associative learning works, see if you can find examples of these types of advertisements on television, in magazines, or on the Internet.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

TRY ITTRY IT

KEY TAKEAWAYSKEY TAKEAWAYS

acquisition:acquisition: period of initial learning in classical conditioning in which a human or an animal begins to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus will begin to elicit the conditioned response

classical conditioning:classical conditioning: learning in which the stimulus or experience occurs before the behavior and then gets paired or associated with the behavior

conditioned response (CR):conditioned response (CR): response caused by the conditioned stimulus

conditioned stimulus (CS):conditioned stimulus (CS): stimulus that elicits a response due to its being paired with an unconditioned stimulus

extinction:extinction: decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the conditioned stimulus

habituation:habituation: when we learn not to respond to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly without change

higher-order conditioning:higher-order conditioning: (also, second-order conditioning) using a conditioned stimulus to condition a neutral stimulus

neutral stimulus (NS:)neutral stimulus (NS:) stimulus that does not initially elicit a response

spontaneous recovery:spontaneous recovery: return of a previously extinguished conditioned response

stimulus discrimination:stimulus discrimination: ability to respond differently to similar stimuli

stimulus generalization:stimulus generalization: demonstrating the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus

unconditioned response (UCR):unconditioned response (UCR): natural (unlearned) behavior to a given stimulus

unconditioned stimulus (UCS):unconditioned stimulus (UCS): stimulus that elicits a reflexive response

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2297

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification and adaptation. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Classical Conditioning. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:hSW_wIIP@6/Classical-Conditioning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Classical Conditioning – Ivan Pavlov. Authored byAuthored by: BullyingNewsVideos. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqumfpxuzI. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License • The Office Classical Conditioning. Authored byAuthored by: Susann Stanley. Provided byProvided by: Vimeo. Located atLocated at: https://vimeo.com/35754924. LicenseLicense: All Rights Reserved

OPERANT CONDITIONING

What you’ll learn to do: explain operant conditioning, reinforcement, and punishment

You’ve already learned about classical conditioning, or conditioning by association. This section will focus on operant conditioning, which emphasizes reinforcement for behaviors. In operant conditioning, the motivation for a behavior happens after the behavior is demonstrated. An animal or a human receives a consequence (reinforcer or punisher) after performing a specific behavior. You’ll learn that all types of reinforcement (positive or negative) increase the likelihood of a behavioral response, while all types of punishment decrease the likelihood of a behavioral response. Watch this video for a review of classical conditioning and an introduction of operant conditioning to help you differentiate between the two types of learning:

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Define and give examples of operant conditioning • Explain the difference between reinforcement and punishment (including positive and negative

reinforcement and positive and negative punishment) • Define shaping • Differentiate between primary and secondary reinforcers

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

TRY ITTRY IT

The previous section of this module focused on the type of associative learning known as classical conditioning. Remember that in classical conditioning, something in the environment triggers a reflex automatically, and researchers train the organism to react to a different stimulus. Now we turn to the second type of associative learning, operant conditioning. In operant conditioningoperant conditioning, organisms learn to associate a behavior and its consequence (Table 1). A pleasant consequence makes that behavior more likely to be repeated in the future. For example, Spirit, a dolphin at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, does a flip in the air when her trainer blows a whistle. The consequence is that she gets a fish.

Table 1. Classical and Operant Conditioning ComparedTable 1. Classical and Operant Conditioning Compared

Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning

Conditioning approach

An unconditioned stimulus (such as food) is paired with a neutral stimulus (such as a bell). The neutral stimulus eventually becomes the conditioned stimulus, which brings about the conditioned response (salivation).

The target behavior is followed by reinforcement or punishment to either strengthen or weaken it, so that the learner is more likely to exhibit the desired behavior in the future.

Stimulus timing

The stimulus occurs immediately before the response.

The stimulus (either reinforcement or punishment) occurs soon after the response.

Psychologist B. F. Skinner saw that classical conditioning is limited to existing behaviors that are reflexively elicited, and it doesn’t account for new behaviors such as riding a bike. He proposed a theory about how such behaviors come about. Skinner believed that behavior is motivated by the consequences we receive for the behavior: the reinforcements and punishments. His idea that learning is the result of consequences is based on the law of effectlaw of effect, which was first proposed by psychologist Edward Thorndike. According to the law of effect, behaviors that are followed by consequences that are satisfying to the organism are more likely to be repeated, and behaviors that are followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated (Thorndike, 1911). Essentially, if an organism does something that brings about a desired result, the organism is more likely to do it again. If an organism does something that does not bring about a desired result, the organism is less likely to do it again. An example of the law of effect is in employment. One of the reasons (and often the main reason) we show up for work is because we get paid to do so. If we stop getting paid, we will likely stop showing up—even if we love our job.

Working with Thorndike’s law of effect as his foundation, Skinner began conducting scientific experiments on animals (mainly rats and pigeons) to determine how organisms learn through operant conditioning (Skinner, 1938). He placed these animals inside an operant conditioning chamber, which has come to be known as a “Skinner box” (Figure 1). A Skinner box contains a lever (for rats) or disk (for pigeons) that the animal can press or peck for a food reward via the dispenser. Speakers and lights can be associated with certain behaviors. A recorder counts the number of responses made by the animal.

Figure 1. (a) B. F. Skinner developed operant conditioning for systematic study of how behaviors are strengthened or weakened

according to their consequences. (b) In a Skinner box, a rat presses a lever in an operant conditioning chamber to receive a food

reward. (credit a: modification of work by “Silly rabbit”/Wikimedia Commons)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch the following clip to learn more about operant conditioning and to watch an interview with Skinner as he talks about conditioning pigeons.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

TRY ITTRY IT

In discussing operant conditioning, we use several everyday words—positive, negative, reinforcement, and punishment—in a specialized manner. In operant conditioning, positive and negative do not mean good and bad. Instead, positive means you are adding something, and negative means you are taking something away. Reinforcement means you are increasing a behavior, and punishment means you are decreasing a behavior. Reinforcement can be positive or negative, and punishment can also be positive or negative. All reinforcers (positive or negative) increase the likelihood of a behavioral response. All punishers (positive or negative) decrease the likelihood of a behavioral response. Now let’s combine these four terms: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment (Table 1).

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this clip from The Big Bang Theory to see Sheldon Cooper explain the commonly confused terms of negative reinforcement and punishment.

Table 1. Positive and Negative Reinforcement and Punishment

ReinforcementReinforcement PunishmentPunishment

PositivePositive Something is added to increase the likelihood of a behavior.

Something is added to decrease the likelihood of a behavior.

NegativeNegative Something is removed to increase the likelihood of a behavior.

Something is removed to decrease the likelihood of a behavior.

Reinforcement

The most effective way to teach a person or animal a new behavior is with positive reinforcement. In positivepositive reinforcementreinforcement, a desirable stimulus is added to increase a behavior.

For example, you tell your five-year-old son, Jerome, that if he cleans his room, he will get a toy. Jerome quickly cleans his room because he wants a new art set. Let’s pause for a moment. Some people might say, “Why should I reward my child for doing what is expected?” But in fact we are constantly and consistently rewarded in our lives. Our paychecks are rewards, as are high grades and acceptance into our preferred school. Being praised for doing a good job and for passing a driver’s test is also a reward. Positive reinforcement as a learning tool is extremely effective. It has been found that one of the most effective ways to increase achievement in school districts with below-average reading scores was to pay the children to read. Specifically, second-grade students in Dallas were paid $2 each time they read a book and passed a short quiz about the book. The result was a significant increase in reading comprehension (Fryer, 2010). What do you think about this program? If Skinner were alive today, he would probably think this was a great idea. He was a strong proponent of using operant conditioning principles to influence students’ behavior at school. In fact, in addition to the Skinner box, he also invented what he called a teaching machine that was designed to reward small steps in learning (Skinner, 1961)—an early forerunner of computer-assisted learning. His teaching machine tested students’ knowledge as they worked through various school subjects. If students answered questions correctly, they received immediate positive reinforcement and could continue; if they answered incorrectly, they did not receive any reinforcement. The idea was that students would spend additional time studying the material to increase their chance of being reinforced the next time (Skinner, 1961).

In negative reinforcementnegative reinforcement, an undesirable stimulus is removed to increase a behavior. For example, car manufacturers use the principles of negative reinforcement in their seatbelt systems, which go “beep, beep, beep” until you fasten your seatbelt. The annoying sound stops when you exhibit the desired behavior, increasing the likelihood that you will buckle up in the future. Negative reinforcement is also used frequently in horse training. Riders apply pressure—by pulling the reins or squeezing their legs—and then remove the pressure when the horse performs the desired behavior, such as turning or speeding up. The pressure is the negative stimulus that the horse wants to remove.

Punishment

Many people confuse negative reinforcement with punishment in operant conditioning, but they are two very different mechanisms. Remember that reinforcement, even when it is negative, always increases a behavior. In contrast, punishmentpunishment always decreases a behavior. In positive punishment, you add an undesirable stimulus to decrease a behavior. An example of positive punishmentpositive punishment is scolding a student to get the student to stop texting in class. In this case, a stimulus (the reprimand) is added in order to decrease the behavior (texting in class). In negative punishmentnegative punishment, you remove a pleasant stimulus to decrease a behavior. For example, when a child misbehaves, a parent can take away a favorite toy. In this case, a stimulus (the toy) is removed in order to decrease the behavior.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

TRY ITTRY IT

Punishment, especially when it is immediate, is one way to decrease undesirable behavior. For example, imagine your four year-old son, Brandon, hit his younger brother. You have Brandon write 50 times “I will not hit my brother” (positive punishment). Chances are he won’t repeat this behavior. While strategies like this are common today, in the past children were often subject to physical punishment, such as spanking. It’s important to be aware of some of the drawbacks in using physical punishment on children. First, punishment may teach fear. Brandon may become fearful of the hitting, but he also may become fearful of the person who delivered the punishment—you, his parent. Similarly, children who are punished by teachers may come to fear the teacher and try to avoid school (Gershoff et al., 2010). Consequently, most schools in the United States have banned corporal punishment. Second, punishment may cause children to become more aggressive and prone to antisocial behavior and delinquency (Gershoff, 2002). They see their parents resort to spanking when they become angry and frustrated, so, in turn, they may act out this same behavior when they become angry and frustrated. For example, because you spank Margot when you are angry with her for her misbehavior, she might start hitting her friends when they won’t share their toys.

While positive punishment can be effective in some cases, Skinner suggested that the use of punishment should be weighed against the possible negative effects. Today’s psychologists and parenting experts favor reinforcement over punishment—they recommend that you catch your child doing something good and reward her for it.

Make sure you understand the distinction between negative reinforcement and punishment in the following video:

Still confused? Watch the following short clip for another example and explanation of positive and negative reinforcement as well as positive and negative punishment.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Here is a brief video of Skinner’s pigeons playing ping pong.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

TRY ITTRY IT

Shaping

In his operant conditioning experiments, Skinner often used an approach called shaping. Instead of rewarding only the target behavior, in shapingshaping, we reward successive approximations of a target behavior. Why is shaping needed? Remember that in order for reinforcement to work, the organism must first display the behavior. Shaping is needed because it is extremely unlikely that an organism will display anything but the simplest of behaviors spontaneously. In shaping, behaviors are broken down into many small, achievable steps. The specific steps used in the process are the following: Reinforce any response that resembles the desired behavior. Then reinforce the response that more closely resembles the desired behavior. You will no longer reinforce the previously reinforced response. Next, begin to reinforce the response that even more closely resembles the desired behavior. Continue to reinforce closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior. Finally, only reinforce the desired behavior.

Shaping is often used in teaching a complex behavior or chain of behaviors. Skinner used shaping to teach pigeons not only such relatively simple behaviors as pecking a disk in a Skinner box, but also many unusual and entertaining behaviors, such as turning in circles, walking in figure eights, and even playing ping pong; the technique is commonly used by animal trainers today. An important part of shaping is stimulus discrimination. Recall Pavlov’s dogs—he trained them to respond to the tone of a bell, and not to similar tones or sounds. This discrimination is also important in operant conditioning and in shaping behavior.

It’s easy to see how shaping is effective in teaching behaviors to animals, but how does shaping work with humans? Let’s consider parents whose goal is to have their child learn to clean his room. They use shaping to help him master steps toward the goal. Instead of performing the entire task, they set up these steps and reinforce each step. First, he cleans up one toy. Second, he cleans up five toys. Third, he chooses whether to pick up ten toys or put his books and clothes away. Fourth, he cleans up everything except two toys. Finally, he cleans his entire room.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

Primary and Secondary Reinforcers

Rewards such as stickers, praise, money, toys, and more can be used to reinforce learning. Let’s go back to Skinner’s rats again. How did the rats learn to press the lever in the Skinner box? They were rewarded with food each time they pressed the lever. For animals, food would be an obvious reinforcer.

What would be a good reinforce for humans? For your daughter Sydney, it was the promise of a toy if she cleaned her room. How about Joaquin, the soccer player? If you gave Joaquin a piece of candy every time he made a goal, you would be using a primary reinforcer. Primary reinforcers are reinforcers that have innate reinforcing qualities. These kinds of reinforcers are not learned. Water, food, sleep, shelter, sex, and touch, among others, are primary reinforcersprimary reinforcers. Pleasure is also a primary reinforcer. Organisms do not lose their drive for these things. For most people, jumping in a cool lake on a very hot day would be reinforcing and the cool lake would be innately reinforcing—the water would cool the person off (a physical need), as well as provide pleasure.

A secondary reinforcersecondary reinforcer has no inherent value and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer. Praise, linked to affection, is one example of a secondary reinforcer, as when you called out “Great shot!” every time Joaquin made a goal. Another example, money, is only worth something when you can use it to buy other things—either things that satisfy basic needs (food, water, shelter—all primary reinforcers) or other secondary reinforcers. If you were on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and you had stacks of money, the money would not be useful if you could not spend it. What about the stickers on the behavior chart? They also are secondary reinforcers.

Sometimes, instead of stickers on a sticker chart, a token is used. Tokens, which are also secondary reinforcers, can then be traded in for rewards and prizes. Entire behavior management systems, known as token economies, are built around the use of these kinds of token reinforcers. Token economies have been found to be very effective at modifying behavior in a variety of settings such as schools, prisons, and mental hospitals. For example, a study by Cangi and Daly (2013) found that use of a token economy increased appropriate social behaviors and reduced inappropriate behaviors in a group of autistic school children. Autistic children tend to exhibit disruptive behaviors such as pinching and hitting. When the children in the study exhibited appropriate behavior (not hitting or pinching), they received a “quiet hands” token. When they hit or pinched, they lost a token. The children could then exchange specified amounts of tokens for minutes of playtime.

Figure 2. Sticker charts are a form of positive reinforcement and a tool for behavior modification. Once this little girl earns a

certain number of stickers for demonstrating a desired behavior, she will be rewarded with a trip to the ice cream parlor. (credit:

Abigail Batchelder)

EVERYDAY CONNECTION: BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION IN CHILDRENEVERYDAY CONNECTION: BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION IN CHILDREN

Parents and teachers often use behavior modification to change a child’s behavior. Behavior modification uses the principles of operant conditioning to accomplish behavior change so that undesirable behaviors are switched for more socially acceptable ones. Some teachers and parents create a sticker chart, in which several behaviors are listed (Figure 2). Sticker charts are a form of token economies, as described in the text. Each time children perform the behavior, they get a sticker, and after a certain number of stickers, they get a prize, or reinforcer. The goal is to increase acceptable behaviors and decrease misbehavior. Remember, it is best to reinforce desired behaviors, rather than to use punishment. In the classroom, the teacher can reinforce a wide range of behaviors, from students raising their hands, to walking quietly in the hall, to turning in their homework. At home, parents might create a behavior chart that rewards children for things such as putting away toys, brushing their teeth, and helping with dinner. In order for behavior modification to be effective, the reinforcement needs to be connected with the behavior; the reinforcement must matter to the child and be done consistently.

Time-out is another popular technique used in behavior modification with children. It operates on the principle of negative punishment. When a child demonstrates an undesirable behavior, she is removed from the desirable activity at hand (Figure 3). For example, say that Sophia and her brother Mario are playing with building blocks. Sophia throws some blocks at her brother, so you give her a warning that she will go to time-out if she does it again. A few minutes later, she throws more blocks at Mario. You remove Sophia from the room for a few minutes. When she comes back, she doesn’t throw blocks.

There are several important points that you should know if you plan to implement time-out as a behavior modification technique. First, make sure the child is being removed from a desirable activity and placed in a

Figure 3. Time-out is a popular form of negative punishment used by caregivers. When a child misbehaves, he or she is

removed from a desirable activity in an effort to decrease the unwanted behavior. For example, (a) a child might be playing on

the playground with friends and push another child; (b) the child who misbehaved would then be removed from the activity for a

short period of time. (credit a: modification of work by Simone Ramella; credit b: modification of work by “JefferyTurner”/Flickr)

less desirable location. If the activity is something undesirable for the child, this technique will backfire because it is more enjoyable for the child to be removed from the activity. Second, the length of the time-out is important. The general rule of thumb is one minute for each year of the child’s age. Sophia is five; therefore, she sits in a time-out for five minutes. Setting a timer helps children know how long they have to sit in time-out. Finally, as a caregiver, keep several guidelines in mind over the course of a time-out: remain calm when directing your child to time-out; ignore your child during time-out (because caregiver attention may reinforce misbehavior); and give the child a hug or a kind word when time-out is over.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2313

TRY ITTRY IT

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

• Explain the difference between negative reinforcement and punishment, and provide several examples of each based on your own experiences.

• Think of a behavior that you have that you would like to change. How could you use behavior modification, specifically positive reinforcement, to change your behavior? What is your positive reinforcer?

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

law of effect:law of effect: behavior that is followed by consequences satisfying to the organism will be repeated and behaviors that are followed by unpleasant consequences will be discouraged

negative punishment:negative punishment: taking away a pleasant stimulus to decrease or stop a behavior

negative reinforcement:negative reinforcement: taking away an undesirable stimulus to increase a behavior

operant conditioning:operant conditioning: form of learning in which the stimulus/experience happens after the behavior is demonstrated

positive punishment:positive punishment: adding an undesirable stimulus to stop or decrease a behavior

positive reinforcement:positive reinforcement: adding a desirable stimulus to increase a behavior

primary reinforcer:primary reinforcer: has innate reinforcing qualities (e.g., food, water, shelter, sex)

punishment:punishment: implementation of a consequence in order to decrease a behavior

reinforcement:reinforcement: implementation of a consequence in order to increase a behavior

secondary reinforcer:secondary reinforcer: has no inherent value unto itself and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with something else (e.g., money, gold stars, poker chips)

shaping:shaping: rewarding successive approximations toward a target behavior

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification and adaptation, addition of Big Bang Learning example. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Operant Conditioning. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:r470BCFb@7/Operant-Conditioning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

• Learning: Negative Reinforcement vs. Punishment. Authored byAuthored by: ByPass Publishing. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imkbuKomPXI. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Operant Conditioning. Authored byAuthored by: jenningh. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_ctJqjlrHA. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License • The difference between classical and operant conditioning . Authored byAuthored by: Peggy Andover. Provided byProvided by: TedED. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6LEcM0E0io. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard

YouTube License • BF Skinner Foundation – Pigeon Ping Pong Clip. Provided byProvided by: bfskinnerfoundation. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGazyH6fQQ4. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License • Operant Conditioning. Authored byAuthored by: Dr. Mindy Rutherford. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSHJbIJK9TI. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Distinguish between reinforcement schedules

Remember, the best way to teach a person or animal a behavior is to use positive reinforcement. For example, Skinner used positive reinforcement to teach rats to press a lever in a Skinner box. At first, the rat might randomly hit the lever while exploring the box, and out would come a pellet of food. After eating the pellet, what do you think the hungry rat did next? It hit the lever again, and received another pellet of food. Each time the rat hit the lever, a pellet of food came out. When an organism receives a reinforcer each time it displays a behavior, it is called continuous reinforcementcontinuous reinforcement. This reinforcement schedule is the quickest way to teach someone a behavior, and it is especially effective in training a new behavior. Let’s look back at the dog that was learning to sit earlier in the module. Now, each time he sits, you give him a treat. Timing is important here: you will be most successful if you present the reinforcer immediately after he sits, so that he can make an association between the target behavior (sitting) and the consequence (getting a treat). Once a behavior is trained, researchers and trainers often turn to another type of reinforcement schedule—partial reinforcement. In partial reinforcementpartial reinforcement, also referred to as intermittent reinforcement, the person or animal does not get reinforced every time they perform the desired behavior. There are several different types of partial

reinforcement schedules (Table 1). These schedules are described as either fixed or variable, and as either interval or ratio. Fixed refers to the number of responses between reinforcements, or the amount of time between reinforcements, which is set and unchanging. Variable refers to the number of responses or amount of time between reinforcements, which varies or changes. Interval means the schedule is based on the time between reinforcements, and ratio means the schedule is based on the number of responses between reinforcements.

Table 1. Reinforcement Schedules

ReinforcementReinforcement ScheduleSchedule

DescriptionDescription ResultResult ExampleExample

Fixed interval Reinforcement is delivered at predictable time intervals (e.g., after 5, 10, 15, and 20 minutes).

Moderate response rate with significant pauses after reinforcement

Hospital patient uses patient-controlled, doctor- timed pain relief

Variable interval

Reinforcement is delivered at unpredictable time intervals (e.g., after 5, 7, 10, and 20 minutes).

Moderate yet steady response rate

Checking Facebook

Fixed ratio Reinforcement is delivered after a predictable number of responses (e.g., after 2, 4, 6, and 8 responses).

High response rate with pauses after reinforcement

Piecework—factory worker getting paid for every x number of items manufactured

Variable ratio Reinforcement is delivered after an unpredictable number of responses (e.g., after 1, 4, 5, and 9 responses).

High and steady response rate

Gambling

Now let’s combine these four terms. A fixed interval reinforcement schedulefixed interval reinforcement schedule is when behavior is rewarded after a set amount of time. For example, June undergoes major surgery in a hospital. During recovery, she is expected to experience pain and will require prescription medications for pain relief. June is given an IV drip with a patient- controlled painkiller. Her doctor sets a limit: one dose per hour. June pushes a button when pain becomes difficult, and she receives a dose of medication. Since the reward (pain relief) only occurs on a fixed interval, there is no point in exhibiting the behavior when it will not be rewarded.

With a variable interval reinforcement schedulevariable interval reinforcement schedule, the person or animal gets the reinforcement based on varying amounts of time, which are unpredictable. Say that Manuel is the manager at a fast-food restaurant. Every once in a while someone from the quality control division comes to Manuel’s restaurant. If the restaurant is clean and the service is fast, everyone on that shift earns a $20 bonus. Manuel never knows when the quality control person will show up, so he always tries to keep the restaurant clean and ensures that his employees provide prompt and courteous service. His productivity regarding prompt service and keeping a clean restaurant are steady because he wants his crew to earn the bonus.

With a fixed ratio reinforcement schedulefixed ratio reinforcement schedule, there are a set number of responses that must occur before the behavior is rewarded. Carla sells glasses at an eyeglass store, and she earns a commission every time she sells a pair of glasses. She always tries to sell people more pairs of glasses, including prescription sunglasses or a backup pair, so she can increase her commission. She does not care if the person really needs the prescription sunglasses, Carla just wants her bonus. The quality of what Carla sells does not matter because her commission is not based on quality; it’s only based on the number of pairs sold. This distinction in the quality of performance can help determine which reinforcement method is most appropriate for a particular situation. Fixed ratios are better suited to optimize the quantity of output, whereas a fixed interval, in which the reward is not quantity based, can lead to a higher quality of output.

In a variable ratio reinforcement schedulevariable ratio reinforcement schedule, the number of responses needed for a reward varies. This is the most powerful partial reinforcement schedule. An example of the variable ratio reinforcement schedule is gambling. Imagine that Sarah—generally a smart, thrifty woman—visits Las Vegas for the first time. She is not a gambler, but out of curiosity she puts a quarter into the slot machine, and then another, and another. Nothing happens. Two dollars in quarters later, her curiosity is fading, and she is just about to quit. But then, the machine lights up, bells go off, and Sarah gets 50 quarters back. That’s more like it! Sarah gets back to inserting quarters with renewed interest, and a few minutes later she has used up all her gains and is $10 in the hole. Now might be a

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2304

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2304

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2304

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2304

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2304

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2304

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2304

TRY ITTRY IT

sensible time to quit. And yet, she keeps putting money into the slot machine because she never knows when the next reinforcement is coming. She keeps thinking that with the next quarter she could win $50, or $100, or even more. Because the reinforcement schedule in most types of gambling has a variable ratio schedule, people keep trying and hoping that the next time they will win big. This is one of the reasons that gambling is so addictive—and so resistant to extinction.

In operant conditioning, extinction of a reinforced behavior occurs at some point after reinforcement stops, and the speed at which this happens depends on the reinforcement schedule. In a variable ratio schedule, the point of extinction comes very slowly, as described above. But in the other reinforcement schedules, extinction may come quickly. For example, if June presses the button for the pain relief medication before the allotted time her doctor has approved, no medication is administered. She is on a fixed interval reinforcement schedule (dosed hourly), so extinction occurs quickly when reinforcement doesn’t come at the expected time. Among the reinforcement schedules, variable ratio is the most productive and the most resistant to extinction. Fixed interval is the least productive and the easiest to extinguish (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The four reinforcement schedules yield different response patterns. The variable ratio schedule is unpredictable and

yields high and steady response rates, with little if any pause after reinforcement (e.g., gambler). A fixed ratio schedule is

predictable and produces a high response rate, with a short pause after reinforcement (e.g., eyeglass saleswoman). The variable

interval schedule is unpredictable and produces a moderate, steady response rate (e.g., restaurant manager). The fixed interval

schedule yields a scallop-shaped response pattern, reflecting a significant pause after reinforcement (e.g., surgery patient).

Figure 2. Some research suggests that pathological

gamblers use gambling to compensate for abnormally low

levels of the hormone norepinephrine, which is associated

with stress and is secreted in moments of arousal and

thrill. (credit: Ted Murphy)

CONNECT THE CONCEPTS: GAMBLING AND THE BRAINCONNECT THE CONCEPTS: GAMBLING AND THE BRAIN

Skinner (1953) stated, “If the gambling establishment cannot persuade a patron to turn over money with no return, it may achieve the same effect by returning part of the patron’s money on a variable-ratio schedule” (p. 397).

Skinner uses gambling as an example of the power and effectiveness of conditioning behavior based on a variable ratio reinforcement schedule. In fact, Skinner was so confident in his knowledge of gambling addiction that he even claimed he could turn a pigeon into a pathological gambler (“Skinner’s Utopia,” 1971). Beyond the power of variable ratio reinforcement, gambling seems to work on the brain in the same way as some addictive drugs. The Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery (n.d.) reports evidence suggesting that pathological gambling is an addiction similar to a chemical addiction (Figure 2). Specifically, gambling may activate the reward centers of the brain, much like cocaine does. Research has shown that some pathological gamblers have lower levels of the neurotransmitter (brain chemical) known as norepinephrine than do normal gamblers (Roy, et al., 1988). According to a study conducted by Alec Roy and colleagues, norepinephrine is secreted when a person feels stress, arousal, or thrill; pathological gamblers use gambling to increase their levels of this neurotransmitter. Another researcher, neuroscientist Hans Breiter, has done extensive research on gambling and its effects on the brain. Breiter (as cited in Franzen, 2001) reports that “Monetary reward in a gambling-like experiment produces brain activation very similar to that observed in a cocaine addict receiving an infusion of cocaine” (para. 1). Deficiencies in serotonin (another neurotransmitter) might also contribute to compulsive behavior, including a gambling addiction.

It may be that pathological gamblers’ brains are different than those of other people, and perhaps this difference may somehow have led to their gambling addiction, as these studies seem to suggest. However, it is very difficult to ascertain the cause because it is impossible to conduct a true experiment (it would be unethical to try to turn randomly assigned participants into problem gamblers). Therefore, it may be that causation actually moves in the opposite direction—perhaps the act of gambling somehow changes neurotransmitter levels in some gamblers’ brains. It also is possible that some overlooked factor, or confounding variable, played a role in both the gambling addiction and the differences in brain chemistry.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Review the principles and terminology connected to operant conditioning through the following PsychSim Tutorial. The tutorial is only intended for practice. Please disregard the final screen that requests you submit answers to your instructor.

• Operant Conditioning

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

continuous reinforcement:continuous reinforcement: rewarding a behavior every time it occurs

fixed interval reinforcement schedule:fixed interval reinforcement schedule: behavior is rewarded after a set amount of time

fixed ratio reinforcement schedule:fixed ratio reinforcement schedule: set number of responses must occur before a behavior is rewarded

operant conditioning:operant conditioning: form of learning in which the stimulus/experience happens after the behavior is demonstrated

variable interval reinforcement schedule:variable interval reinforcement schedule: behavior is rewarded after unpredictable amounts of time have passed

variable ratio reinforcement schedule:variable ratio reinforcement schedule: number of responses differ before a behavior is rewarded

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2304

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification and adaptation, addition of tutorial. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • LicenseLicense: Other

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Operant Conditioning. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:r470BCFb@7/Operant-Conditioning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Learning: Schedules of Reinforcement. Authored byAuthored by: ByPass Publishing. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLx5yl0sxeM. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

LATENT LEARNING

What you’ll learn to do: describe latent learning and observational learning

Classical and operant conditioning are responsible for a good bit of the behaviors we learn and develop, but certainly there are other things we learn simply through observation and thought. Latent learning is a form of learning that occurs without any obvious reinforcement of the behavior or associations that are learned.

According to Albert Bandura, learning can occur by watching others and then modeling what they do or say. This is known as observational learning. There are specific steps in the process of modeling that must be followed if learning is to be successful. These steps include attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. Through modeling, Bandura has shown that children learn many things both good and bad simply by watching their parents, siblings, and others. What have you learned by observation?

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain latent learning and cognitive maps • Describe Edward Tolman’s experiment on latent learning

Although strict behaviorists such as Skinner and Watson refused to believe that cognition (such as thoughts and expectations) plays a role in learning, another behaviorist, Edward C. Tolman, had a different opinion. Tolman’s experiments with rats demonstrated that organisms can learn even if they do not receive immediate reinforcement (Tolman & Honzik, 1930; Tolman, Ritchie, & Kalish, 1946).

Figure 1. Psychologist Edward Tolman found that rats use cognitive maps to navigate through a maze. Have you ever worked

your way through various levels on a video game? You learned when to turn left or right, move up or down. In that case you were

relying on a cognitive map, just like the rats in a maze. (credit: modification of work by “FutUndBeidl”/Flickr)

Latent learningLatent learning is a form of learning that is not immediately expressed in an overt response. It occurs without any obvious reinforcement of the behavior or associations that are learned. Latent learning is not readily apparent to the researcher because it is not shown behaviorally until there is sufficient motivation. This type of learning broke the constraints of behaviorism, which stated that processes must be directly observable and that learning was the direct consequence of conditioning to stimuli. In the experiments, Tolman placed hungry rats in a maze with no reward for finding their way through it. He also studied a comparison group that was rewarded with food at the end of the maze. As the unreinforced rats explored the maze, they developed a cognitive mapcognitive map: a mental picture of the layout of the maze (Figure 1). After 10 sessions in the maze without reinforcement, food was placed in a goal box at the end of the maze. As soon as the rats became aware of the food, they were able to find their way through the maze quickly, just as quickly as the comparison group, which had been rewarded with food all along. This is known as latent learning: learning that occurs but is not observable in behavior until there is a reason to demonstrate it.

Latent learning also occurs in humans. Children may learn by watching the actions of their parents but only demonstrate it at a later date, when the learned material is needed. For example, suppose that Ravi’s dad drives him to school every day. In this way, Ravi learns the route from his house to his school, but he’s never driven there himself, so he has not had a chance to demonstrate that he’s learned the way. One morning Ravi’s dad has to leave early for a meeting, so he can’t drive Ravi to school. Instead, Ravi follows the same route on his bike that his dad would have taken in the car. This demonstrates latent learning. Ravi had learned the route to school, but had no need to demonstrate this knowledge earlier.

EVERYDAY CONNECTION: THIS PLACE IS LIKE A MAZEEVERYDAY CONNECTION: THIS PLACE IS LIKE A MAZE

Have you ever gotten lost in a building and couldn’t find your way back out? While that can be frustrating, you’re not alone. At one time or another we’ve all gotten lost in places like a museum, hospital, or university library. Whenever we go someplace new, we build a mental representation—or cognitive map—of the location, as Tolman’s rats built a cognitive map of their maze. However, some buildings are confusing because they include many areas that look alike or have short lines of sight. Because of this, it’s often difficult to predict what’s around a corner or decide whether to turn left or right to get out of a building. Psychologist Laura Carlson (2010) suggests that what we place in our cognitive map can impact our success in navigating through the environment. She suggests that paying attention to specific features upon entering a building, such as a picture on the wall, a fountain, a statue, or an escalator, adds information to our cognitive map that can be used later to help find our way out of the building.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this video to learn more about Carlson’s studies on cognitive maps and navigation in buildings.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3883

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3883

TRY ITTRY IT

Tolman’s Experiment

Edward Tolman was studying traditional trial-and-error learning when he realized that some of his research subjects (rats) actually knew more than their behavior initially indicated. In one of Tolman’s classic experiments, he observed the behavior of three groups of hungry rats that were learning to navigate mazes.

The first groupfirst group always received a food reward at the end of the maze, so the payoff for learning the maze was real and immediate. The second groupsecond group never received any food reward, so there was no incentive to learn to navigate the maze effectively. The third groupthird group was like the second group for the first 10 days, but on the 11th day, food was now placed at the end of the maze.

As you might expect when considering the principles of conditioning, the rats in the first group quickly learned to negotiate the maze, while the rats of the second group seemed to wander aimlessly through it. The rats in the third group, however, although they wandered aimlessly for the first 10 days, quickly learned to navigate to the end of the maze as soon as they received food on day 11. By the next day, the rats in the third group had caught up in their learning to the rats that had been rewarded from the beginning. It was clear to Tolman that the rats that had been allowed to experience the maze, even without any reinforcement, had nevertheless learned something, and Tolman called this latent learning. Latent learningLatent learning is to learning that is not reinforced and not demonstrated until there is motivation to do so. Tolman argued that the rats had formed a “cognitive map” of the maze but did not demonstrate this knowledge until they received reinforcement.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3883

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3883

TRY ITTRY IT

Figure 1. The maze. As you can see from the map, the maze had lots of doors and curtains to make it difficult for the rats to

master. The blue marks represent doors that swung both directions, which prevented the rat from seeing most of the junctions as

it approached. This forced the rat to go through the door to discover what was on the other side. The green forms show curtains.

These hung down and prevented the rat from getting a long distance perspective and it also meant that they could not see a wall

at the end of a wrong turn until they had already made a choice and moved in that direction. The rat was always in a small area,

unable to see beyond the next door or curtain, so learning the maze was a formidable task.

Now that you’ve learned the design of the study, let’s take a closer look at what happened in the study. The results for the three groups will be shown in these graphs. The graph on the left is for the group that always received food. The middle graph is for the rats that did not received food for the first 10 trials and then, on Trial #11, started to receive food. The graph on the right is for rats that never received food. The red dots indicate how the rats did in each of the three conditions. The Y-axis (vertical axis) indicates how many wrong turns, or errors, the rats in each condition made on average. The X-axis (horizontal axis) shows the different trials. This is the first trial, so none of the rats knew there was food in the food box.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3883

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3883

TRY ITTRY IT

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3883

TRY ITTRY IT

Let’s see how the rats in each group did over the next four trials. Notice all the groups made fewer errors and continue to do so in Trial 4. Now look more closely at trials 4 and 5. Are you starting to see a difference between the groups? Use the dotted line in the middle of the graphs as a reference point for comparing the groups. Which group seems to be getting to the line faster?

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3883

Let’s pick up at Trial 7. Notice that the group on the left, which receives food on every trial, continues to improve at a faster rate than the other two groups. These two groups are both performing at the same level and are making about 20 wrong turns on each trial on average. At Trial 10, we are at a critical point in the experiment because things are about to change on the next trial for the rats shown in the middle graph. Something special will happen to this group. Food will now appear in the food box! Of course, they won’t know this until they get there, so the effects of the change should not appear on the next trial. As you can see from the graphs for Trial 11, the groups shown in the middle and right graphs still look the same. The rats in the left group are now making fewer wrong turns than either of the other two groups.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3883

WORK IT OUTWORK IT OUT

Your task here is to predict what is going to happen on Trial 12 for the “no food until Trial 11” group.

Option A: Notice that this result is the same as the “no food on any trial” group. So, if you choose option A, you think that they will not act differently now than they acted on the first 11 trials and they will continue to make a lot of wrong turns.

Option B: This option suggests that they are now motivated to learn the path to the food, but that they will do so in small steps, just as we have seen for all three groups up to this point. Option B says that they are moving in the direction of the “food on every trial” group, but that it will take some extra learning to get there.

Option C: This option says that they already know the path to the food and, now that they are motivated to get there, they will show that they already know just as much as the “food on every trial” group. Their performance on Trial 12 will be the same as the low-error performance of the “food on every trial” group.

So, what happened to the rats in the group that began to receive food at Trial 11? They were immediately able to make their way through the maze without making many wrong turns to get to the food. They made about the same number of errors as the “Food on Every Trial” group! Tolman interpreted this to mean that they had created a mental map of the maze during the first 11 trials…and when they needed to get food, they could find their way to the food box very efficiently!

As we look at trials 13, 14, and 15, notice how the graph for the group of rats on the left –- the ones that received food on every trial — and the graph for the group of rats in the middle — the ones that started receiving food at

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3883

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3883

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

cognitive map:cognitive map: mental picture of the layout of the environment

latent learning:latent learning: learning that occurs, but it may not be evident until there is a reason to demonstrate it

trial 11 — now look similar. And the rats that never received food continued to make more than 15 errors in each trial on average.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Authored byAuthored by: Patrick Carroll for Lumen Learning. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Latent Learning: Learning Before Doing. Provided byProvided by: Open Learning Initiative. Located atLocated at: https://oli.cmu.edu/jcourse/workbook/activity/page?context=df3e71c60a0001dc051db622d622b3f7. ProjectProject: Psychology. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

• Operant Conditioning and Observational Learning. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:r470BCFb@7/Operant-Conditioning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

• Latent Learning. Authored byAuthored by: Boundless. Located atLocated at: https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/learning-7/cognitive-approaches-to-learning-48/latent-learning-202-12737/. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

• Traquair House Maze. Authored byAuthored by: marsroverdriver. Located atLocated at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Traquair_House_Maze.jpg. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

Figure 1. This spider monkey learned to drink water from

a plastic bottle by seeing the behavior modeled by a

human. (credit: U.S. Air Force, Senior Airman Kasey

Close)

OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain observational learning and the steps in the modeling process

Previous sections of this module focused on classical and operant conditioning, which are forms of associative learning. In observational learningobservational learning, we learn by watching others and then imitating, or modeling, what they do or say. The individuals performing the imitated behavior are called models. Research suggests that this imitative learning involves a specific type of neuron, called a mirror neuron (Hickock, 2010; Rizzolatti, Fadiga, Fogassi, & Gallese, 2002; Rizzolatti, Fogassi, & Gallese, 2006).

Humans and other animals are capable of observational learning. As you will see, the phrase “monkey see, monkey do” really is accurate (Figure 1). The same could be said about other animals. For example, in a study of social learning in chimpanzees, researchers gave juice boxes with straws to two groups of captive chimpanzees. The first group dipped the straw into the juice box, and then sucked on the small amount of juice at the end of the straw. The second group sucked through the straw directly, getting much more juice. When the first group, the “dippers,” observed the second group, “the suckers,” what do you think happened? All of the “dippers” in the first group switched to sucking through the straws directly. By simply observing the other chimps and modeling their behavior, they learned that this was a more efficient method of getting juice (Yamamoto, Humle, and Tanaka, 2013).

Imitation is much more obvious in humans, but is imitation really the sincerest form of flattery? Consider Claire’s experience with observational learning. Claire’s nine-year- old son, Jay, was getting into trouble at school and was defiant at home. Claire feared that Jay would end up like her brothers, two of whom were in prison. One day, after yet another bad day at school and another negative note from the teacher, Claire, at her wit’s end, beat her son with a belt to get him to behave. Later that night, as she put her children to bed, Claire witnessed her four-year-old daughter, Anna, take a belt to her teddy bear and whip it. Claire was horrified, realizing that Anna was imitating her mother. It was then that Claire knew she wanted to discipline her children in a different manner.

Like Tolman, whose experiments with rats suggested a cognitive component to learning, psychologist Albert Bandura’s ideas about learning were different from those of strict behaviorists. Bandura and other researchers proposed a brand of behaviorism called social learning theorysocial learning theory, which took cognitive processes into account. According to Bandura, pure behaviorism could not explain why learning can take place in the absence of external reinforcement. He felt that internal mental states must also have a role in learning and that observational learning involves much more than imitation. In imitation, a person simply copies what the model does. Observational learning is much more complex. According to Lefrançois (2012) there are several ways that observational learning can occur: You learn a new response. After watching your coworker get chewed out by your boss for coming in late, you start leaving home 10 minutes earlier so that you won’t be late. You choose whether or not to imitate the model depending on what you saw happen to the model. Remember Julian and his father? When learning to surf, Julian might watch how his father pops up successfully on his surfboard and then attempt to do the same thing. On the other hand, Julian might learn not to touch a hot stove after watching his father get burned on a stove. You learn a general rule that you can apply to other situations.

Figure 2. (a) Yoga students learn by observation as their yoga instructor demonstrates the correct stance and movement for her

students (live model). (b) Models don’t have to be present for learning to occur: through symbolic modeling, this child can learn a

behavior by watching someone demonstrate it on television. (credit a: modification of work by Tony Cecala; credit b: modification

of work by Andrew Hyde)

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Latent learning and modeling are used all the time in the world of marketing and advertising. This commercial played for months across the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut areas, Derek Jeter, an award-winning baseball player for the New York Yankees, is advertising a Ford. The commercial aired in a part of the country where Jeter is an incredibly well-known athlete. He is wealthy, and considered very loyal and good looking. What message are the advertisers sending by having him featured in the ad? How effective do you think it is?

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

TRY ITTRY IT

Bandura identified three kinds of models: live, verbal, and symbolic. A live model demonstrates a behavior in person, as when Ben stood up on his surfboard so that Julian could see how he did it. A verbal instructional model does not perform the behavior, but instead explains or describes the behavior, as when a soccer coach tells his young players to kick the ball with the side of the foot, not with the toe. A symbolic model can be fictional characters or real people who demonstrate behaviors in books, movies, television shows, video games, or Internet sources (Figure 2).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch the following to see a portion of the famous Bobo doll experiment, including an interview with Albert Bandura.

Steps in the Modeling Process

Of course, we don’t learn a behavior simply by observing a model. Bandura described specific steps in the process of modeling that must be followed if learning is to be successful: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. First, you must be focused on what the model is doing—you have to pay attention. Next, you must be able to retain, or remember, what you observed; this is retention. Then, you must be able to perform the behavior that you observed and committed to memory; this is reproduction. Finally, you must have motivation. You need to want to copy the behavior, and whether or not you are motivated depends on what happened to the model. If you saw that the model was reinforced for her behavior, you will be more motivated to copy her. This is known as vicarious reinforcement. On the other hand, if you observed the model being punished, you would be less motivated to copy her. This is called vicarious punishment. For example, imagine that four-year-old Allison watched her older sister Kaitlyn playing in their mother’s makeup, and then saw Kaitlyn get a time out when their mother came in. After their mother left the room, Allison was tempted to play in the make-up, but she did not want to get a time-out from her mother. What do you think she did? Once you actually demonstrate the new behavior, the reinforcement you receive plays a part in whether or not you will repeat the behavior.Bandura researched modeling behavior, particularly children’s modeling of adults’ aggressive and violent behaviors (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1961). He conducted an experiment with a five-foot inflatable doll that he called a Bobo doll. In the experiment, children’s aggressive behavior was influenced by whether the teacher was punished for her behavior. In one scenario, a teacher acted aggressively with the doll, hitting, throwing, and even punching the doll, while a child watched. There were two types of responses by the children to the teacher’s behavior. When the teacher was punished for her bad behavior, the children decreased their tendency to act as she had. When the teacher was praised or ignored (and not punished for her behavior), the children imitated what she did, and even what she said. They punched, kicked, and yelled at the doll.

What are the implications of this study? Bandura concluded that we watch and learn, and that this learning can have both prosocial and antisocial effects. Prosocial (positive) models can be used to encourage socially acceptable behavior. Parents in particular should take note of this finding. If you want your children to read, then read to them. Let them see you reading. Keep books in your home. Talk about your favorite books. If you want your children to be healthy, then let them see you eat right and exercise, and spend time engaging in physical fitness activities together. The same holds true for qualities like kindness, courtesy, and honesty. The main idea is that children observe and learn from their parents, even their parents’ morals, so be consistent and toss out the old adage “Do as I say, not as I do,” because children tend to copy what you do instead of what you say. Besides parents, many public figures, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, are viewed as prosocial models who are able to inspire global social change. Can you think of someone who has been a prosocial model in your life?

The antisocial effects of observational learning are also worth mentioning. As you saw from the example of Claire at the beginning of this section, her daughter viewed Claire’s aggressive behavior and copied it. Research suggests that this may help to explain why abused children often grow up to be abusers themselves (Murrell, Christoff, & Henning, 2007). In fact, about 30% of abused children become abusive parents (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2013). We tend to do what we know. Abused children, who grow up witnessing their

Figure 3. Can video games make us violent? Psychological researchers study this topic. (credit: “woodleywonderworks”/Flickr)

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch the Crash Course video The Bobo Beatdown for further explanation on observational learning.

TRY ITTRY IT

parents deal with anger and frustration through violent and aggressive acts, often learn to behave in that manner themselves. Sadly, it’s a vicious cycle that’s difficult to break.

Some studies suggest that violent television shows, movies, and video games may also have antisocial effects (Figure 3) although further research needs to be done to understand the correlational and causational aspects of media violence and behavior. Some studies have found a link between viewing violence and aggression seen in children (Anderson & Gentile, 2008; Kirsch, 2010; Miller, Grabell, Thomas, Bermann, & Graham-Bermann, 2012). These findings may not be surprising, given that a child graduating from high school has been exposed to around 200,000 violent acts including murder, robbery, torture, bombings, beatings, and rape through various forms of media (Huston et al., 1992). Not only might viewing media violence affect aggressive behavior by teaching people to act that way in real life situations, but it has also been suggested that repeated exposure to violent acts also desensitizes people to it. Psychologists are working to understand this dynamic.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

What is something you have learned how to do after watching someone else?

The Bobo Doll Experiment Bandura studied the impact of an adult’s behavior on the behavior of children who saw them. One of his independent variables was whether or not the adult was hostile or aggressive toward the Bobo doll, so for some children the adults acted aggressively (treatment condition) and for others they did not (control condition 1) and for yet other children there were no adults at all (control condition 2). He was also interested to learn if the sex of the child and/or the sex of the adult model influenced what the child learned.

Phase 1 of the Experiment: The Observation Phase

The observation phase of the experiment is when the children see the behavior of the adults. Each child was shown into a room where an adult was already sitting near the Bobo doll. The child was positioned so he or she could easily see the adult.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

TRY ITTRY IT

Figure 4. Set-up of the Bobo Doll experiment.

Phase 2 of the Experiment: Frustration

Dr. Bandura thought that the children might be a bit more likely to show aggressive behavior if they were frustrated. The second phase of the experiment was designed to produce this frustration. After a child had watched the adult in phase 1, he or she was taken to another room, one that also contained a lot of attractive, fun toys and was told that is was fine to play with the toys. As soon as the child started to enjoy playing with the toys, the experimenter said something.

Phase 3 of the Experiment: The Testing Phase

After the child was told to stop playing with “the very best toys,” the experimenter said that he or she could play with any of the toys in the next room. Then the child was taken to a third room. This room contained a variety of toys. Many of the toys were engaging and interactive, but not the type that encouraged aggressive play. Critically,

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

TRY ITTRY IT

the Bobo doll and the hammer that the model had used in the first phase were now in this new play room. The goal of this phase in the experiment was to see how the child would react without a model around.

The child was allowed to play freely for 20 minutes. Note that an adult did stay in the room so the child would not feel abandoned or frightened. However, this adult worked inconspicuously in a corner and interacted with the child as little as possible.

During the 20 minutes that the child played alone in the third room, the experimenters observed his or her behavior from behind a see-through mirror. Using a complex system that we won’t go into here, the experimenters counted the number of various types of behaviors that the child showed during this period. These behaviors included ones directed at the Bobo doll, as well as those involving any of the other toys. They were particularly interested in the number of behaviors the child showed that clearly imitated the actions of the adults that the child had observed earlier, in phase 1.

Below are the results for the number of imitative physically aggressive acts the children showed on average toward the Bobo doll. These acts included hitting and punching the Bobo doll. On the left, you see the two modeling conditions: aggression by the model in phase 1 or no aggression by the model in phase 1. Note: Children in the no-model conditions showed very few physically aggressive acts and their results do not change the interpretation, so we will keep the results simple by leaving them out of the table.

Male ModelMale Model Female ModelFemale Model

BoysBoys GirlsGirls BoysBoys GirlsGirls

AggressionAggression 25.8 7.2 12.4 5.5

No AggressionNo Aggression 1.5 0.0 0.2 2.5

The story is a slightly, though not completely, different when we look at imitative verbal aggression, rather than physical aggression. The table below shows the number of verbally aggressive statements by the boys and girls under different conditions in the experiment. Verbally aggressive statements were ones like the models had made: for example, “Sock him” and “Kick him down!”

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

model:model: person who performs a behavior that serves as an example (in observational learning)

observational learning:observational learning: type of learning that occurs by watching others

vicarious punishment:vicarious punishment: process where the observer sees the model punished, making the observer less likely to imitate the model’s behavior

vicarious reinforcement:vicarious reinforcement: process where the observer sees the model rewarded, making the observer more likely to imitate the model’s behavior

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=3887

Note: Just as was true for the physically aggressive acts, children in the no model conditions showed very few verbally aggressive acts either and their results do not change the interpretation, so we will keep the results simple by leaving them out of the table.

Male ModelMale Model Female ModelFemale Model

BoysBoys GirlsGirls BoysBoys GirlsGirls

AggressionAggression 12.7 2.0 4.3 13.7

No AggressionNo Aggression 0.0 0.0 1.1 0.3

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Authored byAuthored by: Patrick Carroll for Lumen Learning. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution • Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Observational Learning. Provided byProvided by: Open Learning Initiative. Located atLocated at: https://oli.cmu.edu/jcourse/workbook/activity/page?context=df3e71c70a0001dc01587dcb723e2002. ProjectProject: Psychology. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

• Psychology. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:1/Psychology. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

• Albert Bandura Bobo Doll experiment. Authored byAuthored by: kpharden. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0iWpSNu3NU. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/ [email protected]

PUTTING IT TOGETHER: LEARNING

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

In this module, you learned to

• explain learning and the process of classical conditioning • explain operant conditioning, reinforcement, and punishment • describe latent learning and observational learning

Are you superstitious? If so, you are definitely not alone. There are quite a few famous athletes who have reported a long list of superstitious behaviors. Michael Jordan wore his University of North Carolina basketball shorts under his Chicago Bulls uniform, tennis superstar Serena Williams is known to bounce the ball five times before her first serve and two times before her second, basketballer Kevin Garnett (and many others since him) insist on eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before games. How might these behaviors be linked to the concepts you learned about conditioning in this module?

Curiously, even B.F. Skinner began to see signs of superstitious behavior in pigeons during his experiments. Pigeons, like humans, associate rewards with superstitious rituals when they see positive results. When pigeons looked over their left shoulder (operant conditioning), they were hopeful that a reward would come, just as an athlete who wears the same lucky socks comes to associate the special socks with superior performance. Research into superstition has shown that, even if the behaviors seem silly, they can be effective in improving performance, most likely due to the increased confidence and security people feel when they engage in these rituals. https://youtube.com/watch?v=7XbH78wscGw%3Frel%3D0

Hopefully, you can continue to see and find examples of all types of conditioning in your life. From classically conditioned food aversions, operantly conditioned rewards, or surprising latent learning, there are applications of learning all around you.

Have you heard that there are “Learning Styles?” This rather ubiquitous myth is persisting despite the fact that we have quite a bit of information indicating that there are NO SUCH THINGS! Yes, you read that right, learning styles are a myth and they are actually doing moremore harm than good. Check out this recent Press Release from the APA indicating that belief in learning styles myth may be detrimental!

(Note: DeLessio, Joe (2015, June 15). Why Superstitions Help Athletes Perform Better. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/06/why-superstitions-help-athletes-perform-better.html)

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Putting It Together: Learning. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Superstitious Behavior. Provided byProvided by: ThePantheion's Channel. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XbH78wscGw&feature=youtu.be. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

DISCUSSION: LEARNING

What I Learned

STEP 1STEP 1: Think of different, specific, examples of things you have learned through the types of conditioning discussed in this module. Write a discussion post explaining the behaviors you learned, and identify the key “components” and vocabulary of the learning, such as the UCS, UCR, CS, CR, positive or negative reinforcement, shaping, etc. The entire post should be at least 200 words and respond to the following prompt:

1. Describe one example of something learned through classical conditioning.classical conditioning. 2. Describe one example of something learned through operant conditioning.operant conditioning. 3. Describe one example of something learned through observational learning or latent learning.observational learning or latent learning.

STEP 2STEP 2: Comment on at least TWO other posts in at least 75 words per post.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Discussion: Learning. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

MODULE 7: MEMORY

WHY IT MATTERS: MEMORY

Figure 1. Photographs can trigger our memories and bring past experiences back to life. (credit: modification of work by Cory

Zanker)

We may be top-notch learners, but if we don’t have a way to store what we’ve learned, what good is the knowledge we’ve gained?

Take a few minutes to imagine what your day might be like if you could not remember anything you had learned. You would have to figure out how to get dressed. What clothing should you wear, and how do buttons and zippers work? You would need someone to teach you how to brush your teeth and tie your shoes. Who would you ask for help with these tasks, since you wouldn’t recognize the faces of these people in your house? Wait . . . is this even your house? Uh oh, your stomach begins to rumble and you feel hungry. You’d like something to eat, but you don’t know where the food is kept or even how to prepare it. Oh dear, this is getting confusing. Maybe it would be best just go back to bed. A bed . . . what is a bed?

We have an amazing capacity for memory, but how, exactly, do we process and store information? Are there different kinds of memory, and if so, what characterizes the different types? How, exactly, do we retrieve our memories? And why do we forget? This module will explore these questions as we learn about memory. AnswerAnswer

Abel, M., & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2013). Sleep can reduce proactive interference. Memory, 22(4), 332–339. doi:10.1080/09658211.2013.785570. Retrieved from http://www.psychologie.uni-regensburg.de/Baeuml/ papers_in_press/sleepPI.pdf

Anderson, N. S. (1969). The influence of acoustic similarity on serial recall of letter sequences. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 21(3), 248–255.

Anderson, R. C. (1984). Role of the reader’s schema in comprehension, learning, and memory. In R. C. Anderson, J. Osborn, & R. J. Tierney (Eds.), Learning to read in American schools: Basal Readers and Content Texts (pp. 243–257). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Atkinson, R. C., & Shiffrin, R. M. (1968). Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes. In K. W. Spence & J. T. Spence (Eds.), The psychology of learning and motivation: Volume 2 (pp. 89–195). New York, NY: Academic Press.

Baddeley, A. (2004). Your memory: A user’s guide. Richmond Hill, Canada: Firefly Books.

Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. (1974). Working memory. In G. H. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory (Vol. 8, pp. 47–89). New York, NY: Academic Press.

Bayley, P. J., & Squire, L. R. (2002). Medial temporal lobe amnesia: Gradual acquisition of factual information by nondeclarative memory. Journal of Neuroscience, 22, 5741–5748.

Bellezza, F. S. (1981). Mnemonic devices: Classification, characteristics and criteria. Review of Educational Research, 51, 247–275.

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University. (2009). Reevaluating lineups: Why witnesses make mistakes and how to reduce the chance of a misidentification. Retrieved from The Innocence Project website: http://www.innocenceproject.org/docs/Eyewitness_ID_Report.pdf

Blockland, A. (1996). Acetylcholine: A neurotransmitter for learning and memory? Brain Research Reviews, 21, 285–300.

Bodie, G. D., Powers, W. G., & Fitch-Hauser, M. (2006). Chunking, priming, and active learning: Toward an innovative approach to teaching communication-related skills. Interactive Learning Environment, 14(2), 119–135.

Bousfield, W. (1935). The occurrence of clustering in the recall of randomly arranged associates. Journal of General Psychology, 49, 229–240.

Bransford, J. D., & McCarrell, N. S. (1974). A sketch of a cognitive approach to comprehension. In W. B. Weimer & D. J. Palermo (Eds.), Cognition and the symbolic processes (pp. 189–229). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Briere, J., & Conte, J. (1993). Self-reported amnesia for abuse in adults molested as children. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 6, 21–31.

Carli, L. (1999). Cognitive reconstruction, hindsight, and reactions to victims and perpetrators. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25(8), 966–979. doi:10.1177/01461672992511005

Ceci, S. J., & Bruck, M. (1993). Child witness: Translating research into policy. Social Policy Report, 7(3), 1–30.

Ceci, S. J., & Bruck, M. (1995). Jeopardy in the courtroom: A scientific analysis of children’s testimony. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Cheit, R. E. (2007). The recovered memory project. Retrieved from http://blogs.brown.edu/recoveredmemory/.

Christianson, S. A. (1992). The handbook of emotion and memory: Research and theory. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Clark, R. E., Zola, S. M., & Squire, L. R. (2000). Impaired recognition memory in rats after damage to the hippocampus. The Journal of Neuroscience, 20(23), 8853–8860.

Corkin, S. (1965). Tactually-guided maze learning in man: Effects of unilateral cortical excisions and bilateral hippocampal lesions. Neuropsychologia, 3, 339–351.

Corkin, S. (1968). Acquisition of motor skill after bilateral medial temporal-lobe excision. Neuropsychologia, 6, 255–264.

Corkin, S., Amaral D. G., González, R. G., Johnson, K. A., & Hyman, B. T. (1997). H. M.’s medial temporal lobe lesion: Findings from magnetic resonance imaging. Journal of Neuroscience, 17(10), 3964–3979.

Craik, F. I. M., & Lockhart, R. S. (1972). Levels of processing: A framework for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11, 671–684.

Craik, F. I. M., Moroz, T. M., Moscovitch, M., Stuss, D. T., Winocur, G., Tulving, E., & Kapur, S. (1999). In search of the self: A positron emission tomography study. Psychological Science, 10(1), 26–34.

Craik, F. I. M., & Tulving, E. (1975). Depth of processing and the retention of words in episodic memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 104(3), 268–294.

Craik, F. I. M., & Watkins, M. J. (1973). The role of rehearsal in short-term memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 12, 599–607.

Green, J. T., & Woodruff-Pak, D. S. (2000). Eyeblink classical conditioning in aging animals. In D. S. Woodruff- Pak & J. E. Steinmetz (Eds.), Eyeblink classical conditioning: Animal models (Vol. 2, pp.155–178). Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic.

Greenberg, D. L. (2004). President Bush’s false [flashbulb] memory of 9/11/01. Applied. Cognitive Psychology, 18(3), 363–370. doi:10.1002/acp.1016

Devilly, G. J. (2007). If nothing happened why do I still hurt? An update on the memory wars. InPsych, 29(2), 16–18.

Ebbinghaus, H. (1964). Memory: A contribution to experimental psychology (H. A. Ruger & C. E. Bussenius, Trans.). New York, NY: Dover. (Original work published 1885)

Goodman, G. S. (2006). Children’s eyewitness memory: A modern history and contemporary commentary. Journal of Social Issues, 62, 811–832.

Hassabis D., & Maguire E. A. (2007). Deconstructing episodic memory with construction. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(7), 299–306.

Jacobs, J. (1887). Experiments on “prehension.” Mind, 12, 75–79.

Josselyn, J. A. (2010). Continuing the search for the engram: Examining the mechanism of fear memories. Journal of Psychiatry Neuroscience, 35(4), 221–228.

Kapur, S., Craik, F. I. M., Tulving, E., Wilson, A. A., Houle, S., & Brown, G. M. (1994). Neuroanatomical correlates of encoding in episodic memory: Levels of processing effect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 91(6), 208–2011.

Lashley K. S. (1950). In search of the engram. Society of Experimental Biology Symposium, 4: Psychological Mechanisms in Animal Behavior. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Loftus, E. F., & Palmer, J. C. (1974). Reconstruction of auto-mobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 13, 585–589.

MacLeod, C. M., Gopie, N., Hourihan, K. L., Neary, K. R., & Ozubko, J. D. (2010). The production effect: Delineation of a phenomenon. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36(3), 671–685.

Mayford, M., Siegelbaum, S. A., & Kandel, E. R. (2012). Synapses and memory storage. New York, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

McGaugh, J. L. (2003). Memory and emotion: The making of lasting memories. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

McLeod, S. A. (2011). Anterograde amnesia [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/ anterograde-amnesia.html

Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 68, 81–87.

Myhrer, T. (2003). Neurotransmitter systems involved in learning and memory in the rat: A meta-analysis based on studies of four behavioral tasks. Brain Research Reviews, 41(2–3), 268–287.

Newseum. (n.d.). G-men and journalists: D. C. sniper [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.newseum.org/ exhibits-and-theaters/temporary-exhibits/g-men-and-journalists/sniper/

Nickerson, R. S., & Adams, M. J. (1979). Long-term memory for a common object. Cognitive Psychology, 11(3), 287–307.

Paivio, A. (1986). Mental representations: A dual coding approach. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Parker, E. S., Cahill, L., & McGaugh, J. L. (2006). A case of unusual autobiographical remembering. Neurocase, 12, 35–49.

Payne, B. K., Jacoby, L. L., & Lambert, A. J. (2004). Memory monitoring and the control of stereotype distortion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 52–64.

Pew Research Center (2011, September 1). Ten years after 9/11: United in remembrance, divided over policies. Washington, DC: People Press.

Pipe, M.-E. (1996). Children’s eyewitness memory. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 25(2), 36–43.

Pipe, M.-E., Lamb, M., Orbach, Y., & Esplin, P. W. (2004). Recent research on children’s testimony about experienced and witnessed events. Developmental Review, 24, 440–468.

Roediger, H. L., & DeSoto, K. A. (in press). The psychology of reconstructive memory. In J. Wright (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral sciences, 2e. Oxford, UK: Elsevier.

Roediger, H. L., III, & McDermott, K. B. (2000). Tricks of memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9, 123–127.

Rogers, T. B., Kuiper, N. A., & Kirker, W. S. (1977). Self-reference and the encoding of personal information. Journal of Personal Social Psychology, 35(9), 677–688.

Schacter, D. (2001). The seven sins of memory: How the mind forgets and remembers. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin.

Steinmetz, J. E. (1999). A renewed interest in human classical eyeblink conditioning. Psychological Science, 10, 24–25.

Tigner, R. B. (1999). Putting memory research to good use. College Teaching, 47(4), 149–152.

Tulving, E. (1972). Episodic and semantic memory. In E. Tulving & W. Dolandson (Eds.), Organization of memory (pp. 381–403). New York, NY: Academic Press.

Tulving, E. (2002, February). Episodic memory: From mind to brain. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 1–25. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135114

van Praag, H. (2008). Neurogenesis and exercise: Past and future directions. NeuroMolecular Medicine, 10(2), 128–140.

Wells, G. L., & Quinlivan, D. S. (2009). Suggestive eyewitness identification procedures and the Supreme Court’s reliability test in light of eyewitness science: 30 years later. Law and Human Behavior, 33, 1–24. doi:10.1007/ s10979-008-9130-3

Wrubel, B. (Writer), & Spiller, M. (Director). (2010). The Old Wagon [Television series episode]. In S. Levitan & C. Lloyd (Executive producers), Modern Family. 20th Century Fox Television.

Yogo, M., & Fujihara, S. (2008). Working memory capacity can be improved by expressive writing: A randomized experiment in a Japanese sample. British Journal of Health Psychology, 13(1), 77–80. doi:10.1348/ 135910707X25244

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Introduction to Memory. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:m3fzcXQd@4/Introduction. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/ content/col11629/latest/.

MEMORY ENCODING

What you’ll learn to do: explain the process of memory

Our memory has three basic functions: encoding, storing, and retrieving information. Encoding is the act of getting information into our memory system through automatic or effortful processing. Storage is retention of the information, and retrieval is the act of getting information out of storage and into conscious awareness through recall, recognition, and relearning. There are various models that aim to explain how we utilize our memory. In this section, you’ll learn about some of these models as well as the importance of recall, recognition, and relearning.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=229

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

To get a good overview of all of these concepts and to pique your interest, you may choose to begin this module by watching John Gabrieli’s lecture on memory. Listen for some key vocabulary terms you’ll learn about soon, particularly:

• the three-stage model of memory • short-term memory • serial position effect • primacy • recency • Ebbinghaus forgetting curve • proactive interference • retroactive interference • flashbulb memories • false memories

Figure 1. Encoding involves the input of information into the memory system. Storage is the retention of the encoded information.

Retrieval, or getting the information out of memory and back into awareness, is the third function.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain the two major processes of encoding and the three different ways that we encode sensory information.

• Describe the three stages of memory storage

Memory is an information processing system; therefore, we often compare it to a computer. MemoryMemory is the set of processes used to encode, store, and retrieve information over different periods of time.

Encoding

We get information into our brains through a process called encodingencoding, which is the input of information into the memory system. Once we receive sensory information from the environment, our brains label or code it. We organize the information with other similar information and connect new concepts to existing concepts. Encoding information occurs through automatic processing and effortful processing. If someone asks you what you ate for lunch today, more than likely you could recall this information quite easily. This is known as automatic processingautomatic processing, or the encoding of details like time, space, frequency, and the meaning of words. Automatic processing is usually

Figure 2. When you first learn new skills such as driving a car, you have to put forth effort and attention to encode information

about how to start a car, how to brake, how to handle a turn, and so on. Once you know how to drive, you can encode additional

information about this skill automatically. (credit: Robert Couse-Baker)

TRY ITTRY IT

done without any conscious awareness. Recalling the last time you studied for a test is another example of automatic processing. But what about the actual test material you studied? It probably required a lot of work and attention on your part in order to encode that information. This is known as effortful processingeffortful processing (Figure 2).

What are the most effective ways to ensure that important memories are well encoded? Even a simple sentence is easier to recall when it is meaningful (Anderson, 1984). Read the following sentences (Bransford & McCarrell, 1974), then look away and count backwards from 30 by threes to zero, and then try to write down the sentences (no peeking back at this page!).

1. The notes were sour because the seams split. 2. The voyage wasn’t delayed because the bottle shattered. 3. The haystack was important because the cloth ripped.

How well did you do? By themselves, the statements that you wrote down were most likely confusing and difficult for you to recall. Now, try writing them again, using the following prompts: bagpipe, ship christening (shattering a bottle over the bow of the ship is a symbol of good luck), and parachutist. Next count backwards from 40 by fours, then check yourself to see how well you recalled the sentences this time. You can see that the sentences are now much more memorable because each of the sentences was placed in context. Material is far better encoded when you make it meaningful.

There are three types of encoding. The encoding of words and their meaning is known as semantic encodingsemantic encoding. It was first demonstrated by William Bousfield (1935) in an experiment in which he asked people to memorize words. The 60 words were actually divided into 4 categories of meaning, although the participants did not know

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=229

this because the words were randomly presented. When they were asked to remember the words, they tended to recall them in categories, showing that they paid attention to the meanings of the words as they learned them.

Visual encodingVisual encoding is the encoding of images, and acoustic encodingacoustic encoding is the encoding of sounds, words in particular. To see how visual encoding works, read over this list of words: car, level, dog, truth, book, value. If you were asked later to recall the words from this list, which ones do you think you’d most likely remember? You would probably have an easier time recalling the words car, dog, and book, and a more difficult time recalling the words level, truth, and value. Why is this? Because you can recall images (mental pictures) more easily than words alone. When you read the words car, dog, and book you created images of these things in your mind. These are concrete, high-imagery words. On the other hand, abstract words like level, truth, and value are low-imagery words. High-imagery words are encoded both visually and semantically (Paivio, 1986), thus building a stronger memory.

Now let’s turn our attention to acoustic encoding. You are driving in your car and a song comes on the radio that you haven’t heard in at least 10 years, but you sing along, recalling every word. In the United States, children often learn the alphabet through song, and they learn the number of days in each month through rhyme: “Thirty days hath September, / April, June, and November; / All the rest have thirty-one, / Save February, with twenty- eight days clear, / And twenty-nine each leap year.” These lessons are easy to remember because of acoustic encoding. We encode the sounds the words make. This is one of the reasons why much of what we teach young children is done through song, rhyme, and rhythm.

Which of the three types of encoding do you think would give you the best memory of verbal information? Some years ago, psychologists Fergus Craik and Endel Tulving (1975) conducted a series of experiments to find out. Participants were given words along with questions about them. The questions required the participants to process the words at one of the three levels. The visual processing questions included such things as asking the participants about the font of the letters. The acoustic processing questions asked the participants about the sound or rhyming of the words, and the semantic processing questions asked the participants about the meaning of the words. After participants were presented with the words and questions, they were given an unexpected recall or recognition task.

Words that had been encoded semantically were better remembered than those encoded visually or acoustically. Semantic encoding involves a deeper level of processing than the shallower visual or acoustic encoding. Craik and Tulving concluded that we process verbal information best through semantic encoding, especially if we apply what is called the self-reference effect. The self-reference effect is the tendency for an individual to have better memory for information that relates to oneself in comparison to material that has less personal relevance (Rogers, Kuiper & Kirker, 1977). Could semantic encoding be beneficial to you as you attempt to memorize the concepts in this module?

Recoding

The process of encoding is selective, and in complex situations, relatively few of many possible details are noticed and encoded. The process of encoding always involves recodingrecoding—that is, taking the information from the form it is delivered to us and then converting it in a way that we can make sense of it. For example, you might try to remember the colors of a rainbow by using the acronym ROY G BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). The process of recoding the colors into a name can help us to remember. However, recoding can also introduce errors—when we accidentally add information during encoding, then remember that new material as if it had been part of the actual experience (as discussed below).

Although it requires more effort, using images and

associations can improve the process of recoding.

[Image: Leo Reynolds]

Psychologists have studied many recoding strategies that can be used during study to improve retention. First, research advises that, as we study, we should think of the meaning of the events (Craik & Lockhart, 1972), and we should try to relate new events to information we already know. This helps us form associations that we can use to retrieve information later. Second, imagining events also makes them more memorable; creating vivid images out of information (even verbal information) can greatly improve later recall (Bower & Reitman, 1972). Creating imagery is part of the technique Simon Reinhard uses to remember huge numbers of digits, but we can all use images to encode information more effectively. The basic concept behind good encoding strategies is to form distinctive memories (ones that stand out), and to form links or associations among memories to help later retrieval (Hunt & McDaniel, 1993). Using study strategies such as the ones described here is challenging, but the effort is well worth the benefits of enhanced learning and retention.

We emphasized earlier that encoding is selective: people cannot encode all information they are exposed to. However, recoding can add information that was not even seen or heard during the initial encoding phase. Several of the recoding processes, like forming associations between memories, can happen without our awareness. This is one reason people can sometimes remember events that did not actually happen—because during the process of recoding, details got added. One common way of inducing false memories in the laboratory employs a word-list technique (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995). Participants hear lists of 15 words, like door, glass, pane, shade, ledge, sill, house, open, curtain, frame, view, breeze, sash, screen, and shutter. Later, participants are given a test in which they are shown a list of words and asked to pick out the ones they’d heard earlier. This second list contains some words from the first list (e.g., door, pane, frame) and some words not from the list (e.g., arm, phone, bottle). In this example, one of the words on the test is window, which—importantly—does not appear in the first list, but which is related to other words in that list. When subjects were tested, they were reasonably accurate with the studied words (door, etc.), recognizing them 72% of the time. However, when window was on the test, they falsely recognized it as having been on the list 84% of the time (Stadler, Roediger, & McDermott, 1999). The same thing happened with many other lists the authors used. This phenomenon is referred to as the DRM (for Deese-Roediger-McDermott) effect. One explanation for such results is that, while students listened to items in the list, the words triggered the students to think about window, even though window was never presented. In this way, people seem to encode events that are not actually part of their experience.

Because humans are creative, we are always going beyond the information we are given: we automatically make associations and infer from them what is happening. But, as with the word association mix-up above, sometimes we make false memories from our inferences—remembering the inferences themselves as if they were actual experiences. To illustrate this, Brewer (1977) gave people sentences to remember that were designed to elicit pragmatic inferences. Inferences, in general, refer to instances when something is not explicitly stated, but we are still able to guess the undisclosed intention. For example, if your friend told you that she didn’t want to go out to eat, you may infer that she doesn’t have the money to go out, or that she’s too tired. With pragmatic inferences, there is usually one particular inference you’re likely to make. Consider the statement Brewer (1977) gave her participants: “The karate champion hit the cinder block.” After hearing or seeing this sentence, participants who were given a memory test tended to remember the statement as having been, “The karate champion broke the cinder block.” This remembered statement is not necessarily a logical inference (i.e., it is perfectly reasonable that a karate champion could hit a cinder block without breaking it). Nevertheless, the pragmatic conclusion from hearing such a sentence is that the block was likely broken. The participants remembered this inference they made while hearing the sentence in place of the actual words that were in the sentence (see also McDermott & Chan, 2006).

Encoding—the initial registration of information—is essential in the learning and memory process. Unless an event is encoded in some fashion, it will not be successfully remembered later. However, just because an event is encoded (even if it is encoded well), there’s no guarantee that it will be remembered later.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=229

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

acoustic encoding:acoustic encoding: input of sounds, words, and music

automatic processing:automatic processing: encoding of informational details like time, space, frequency, and the meaning of words

effortful processing:effortful processing: encoding of information that takes effort and attention

encoding:encoding: input of information into the memory system

memory:memory: system or process that stores what we learn for future use

semantic encodingsemantic encoding: input of words and their meaning

visual encodingvisual encoding: input of images

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• How Memory Functions. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:I97J3Te3@7/Problems-with-Memory. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/.

• Memory (Encoding, Storage, Retrieval). Authored byAuthored by: Kathleen B. McDermott and Henry L. Roediger III . Provided byProvided by: Washington University in St. Louis. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/textbooks/wendy-king- introduction-to-psychology-the-full-noba-collection/modules/memory-encoding-storage-retrieval. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

• How Memory Functions. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:-RwqQWzt@6/How-Memory-Functions. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

• Brain picture. Authored byAuthored by: Johnhain. Provided byProvided by: Pixabay. Located atLocated at: https://pixabay.com/en/brain-mind-obsession-work-activity-954823/. LicenseLicense: CC0: No Rights Reserved

STORAGE

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe the three stages of memory storage • Describe and distinguish between implicit and explicit memory and semantic and episodic memory

Once the information has been encoded, we have to somehow have to retain it. Our brains take the encoded information and place it in storage. StorageStorage is the creation of a permanent record of information. In order for a memory to go into storage (i.e., long-term memory), it has to pass through three distinct stages: Sensory MemorySensory Memory, Short-Term MemoryShort-Term Memory, and finally Long-Term MemoryLong-Term Memory. These stages were first proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968). Their model of human memory (Figure 1), called Atkinson-Shiffrin (A-S), is based on the belief that we process memories in the same way that a computer processes information.

Figure 1. According to the Atkinson-Shiffrin model of memory, information passes through three distinct stages in order for it to be

stored in long-term memory.

But A-S is just one model of memory. Others, such as Baddeley and Hitch (1974), have proposed a model where short-term memory itself has different forms. In this model, storing memories in short-term memory is like opening different files on a computer and adding information. The type of short-term memory (or computer file) depends on the type of information received. There are memories in visual-spatial form, as well as memories of spoken or written material, and they are stored in three short-term systems: a visuospatial sketchpad, an episodic buffer, and a phonological loop. According to Baddeley and Hitch, a central executive part of memory supervises or controls the flow of information to and from the three short-term systems.

Sensory Memory

In the Atkinson-Shiffrin model, stimuli from the environment are processed first in sensory memorysensory memory: storage of brief sensory events, such as sights, sounds, and tastes. It is very brief storage—up to a couple of seconds. We are constantly bombarded with sensory information. We cannot absorb all of it, or even most of it. And most of it has no impact on our lives. For example, what was your professor wearing the last class period? As long as the professor was dressed appropriately, it does not really matter what she was wearing. Sensory information about sights, sounds, smells, and even textures, which we do not view as valuable information, we discard. If we view something as valuable, the information will move into our short-term memory system.

One study of sensory memory researched the significance of valuable information on short-term memory storage. J. R. Stroop discovered a memory phenomenon in the 1930s: you will name a color more easily if it appears printed in that color, which is called the Stroop effectStroop effect. In other words, the word “red” will be named more quickly, regardless of the color the word appears in, than any word that is colored red. Try an experiment: name the colors of the words you are given in Figure 2. Do not read the words, but say the color the word is printed in. For example, upon seeing the word “yellow” in green print, you should say “green,” not “yellow.” This experiment is fun, but it’s not as easy as it seems.

Figure 2. The Stroop effect describes why it is difficult for us to name a color when the word and the color of the word are different.

Figure 3. Work through this series of numbers using the recall exercise explained above to determine the longest string of digits

that you can store.

Short-Term Memory

Short-term memory (STM)Short-term memory (STM) is a temporary storage system that processes incoming sensory memory; sometimes it is called working memory. Short-term memory takes information from sensory memory and sometimes connects that memory to something already in long-term memory. Short-term memory storage lasts about 20 seconds. George Miller (1956), in his research on the capacity of memory, found that most people can retain about 7 items in STM. Some remember 5, some 9, so he called the capacity of STM 7 plus or minus 2.

Think of short-term memory as the information you have displayed on your computer screen—a document, a spreadsheet, or a web page. Then, information in short-term memory goes to long-term memory (you save it to your hard drive), or it is discarded (you delete a document or close a web browser). This step of rehearsalrehearsal, the conscious repetition of information to be remembered, to move STM into long-term memory is called memorymemory consolidationconsolidation.

You may find yourself asking, “How much information can our memory handle at once?” To explore the capacity and duration of your short-term memory, have a partner read the strings of random numbers (Figure 3) out loud to you, beginning each string by saying, “Ready?” and ending each by saying, “Recall,” at which point you should try to write down the string of numbers from memory.

Note the longest string at which you got the series correct. For most people, this will be close to 7, Miller’s famous 7 plus or minus 2. Recall is somewhat better for random numbers than for random letters (Jacobs, 1887), and also often slightly better for information we hear (acoustic encoding) rather than see (visual encoding) (Anderson, 1969).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2257

TRY ITTRY IT

Long-term Memory

Long-term memory (LTM)Long-term memory (LTM) is the continuous storage of information. Unlike short-term memory, the storage capacity of LTM has no limits. It encompasses all the things you can remember that happened more than just a few minutes ago to all of the things that you can remember that happened days, weeks, and years ago. In keeping with the computer analogy, the information in your LTM would be like the information you have saved on the hard drive. It isn’t there on your desktop (your short-term memory), but you can pull up this information when you want it, at least most of the time. Not all long-term memories are strong memories. Some memories can only be recalled through prompts. For example, you might easily recall a fact— “What is the capital of the United States?”—or a procedure—“How do you ride a bike?”—but you might struggle to recall the name of the restaurant you had dinner when you were on vacation in France last summer. A prompt, such as that the restaurant was named after its owner, who spoke to you about your shared interest in soccer, may help you recall the name of the restaurant.

Long-term memory is divided into two types: explicit and implicit (Figure 4). Understanding the different types is important because a person’s age or particular types of brain trauma or disorders can leave certain types of LTM intact while having disastrous consequences for other types. Explicit memoriesExplicit memories are those we consciously try to remember and recall. For example, if you are studying for your chemistry exam, the material you are learning will be part of your explicit memory. (Note: Sometimes, but not always, the terms explicit memory and declarative memory are used interchangeably.)

Implicit memoriesImplicit memories are memories that are not part of our consciousness. They are memories formed from behaviors. Implicit memory is also called non-declarative memory.

Figure 4. There are two components of long-term memory: explicit and implicit. Explicit memory includes episodic and semantic

memory. Implicit memory includes procedural memory and things learned through conditioning.

Procedural memoryProcedural memory is a type of implicit memory: it stores information about how to do things. It is the memory for skilled actions, such as how to brush your teeth, how to drive a car, how to swim the crawl (freestyle) stroke. If you are learning how to swim freestyle, you practice the stroke: how to move your arms, how to turn your head to alternate breathing from side to side, and how to kick your legs. You would practice this many times until you become good at it. Once you learn how to swim freestyle and your body knows how to move through the water, you will never forget how to swim freestyle, even if you do not swim for a couple of decades. Similarly, if you present an accomplished guitarist with a guitar, even if he has not played in a long time, he will still be able to play quite well.

Explicit memory has to do with the storage of facts and events we personally experienced. Explicit (declarative) memory has two parts: semantic memory and episodic memory. Semantic means having to do with language and knowledge about language. An example would be the question “what does argumentative mean?” Stored in our semantic memory is knowledge about words, concepts, and language-based knowledge and facts. For example, answers to the following questions are stored in your semantic memory:

• Who was the first President of the United States? • What is democracy? • What is the longest river in the world?

Episodic memoryEpisodic memory is information about events we have personally experienced. The concept of episodic memory was first proposed about 40 years ago (Tulving, 1972). Since then, Tulving and others have looked at scientific evidence and reformulated the theory. Currently, scientists believe that episodic memory is memory about

Figure 7. Marilu Henner’s super autobiographical memory is known as hyperthymesia. (credit: Mark Richardson)

EVERYDAY CONNECTION: CAN YOU REMEMBER EVERYTHING YOU EVER DIDEVERYDAY CONNECTION: CAN YOU REMEMBER EVERYTHING YOU EVER DID OR SAID?OR SAID?

Episodic memories are also called autobiographical memories. Let’s quickly test your autobiographical memory. What were you wearing exactly five years ago today? What did you eat for lunch on April 10, 2009? You probably find it difficult, if not impossible, to answer these questions. Can you remember every event you have experienced over the course of your life—meals, conversations, clothing choices, weather conditions, and so on? Most likely none of us could even come close to answering these questions; however, American actress Marilu Henner, best known for the television show Taxi, can remember. She has an amazing and highly superior autobiographical memory (Figure 7).

Very few people can recall events in this way; right now, only 12 known individuals have this ability, and only a few have been studied (Parker, Cahill & McGaugh 2006). And although hyperthymesia normally appears in adolescence, two children in the United States appear to have memories from well before their tenth birthdays.

happenings in particular places at particular times, the what, where, and when of an event (Tulving, 2002). It involves recollection of visual imagery as well as the feeling of familiarity (Hassabis & Maguire, 2007).

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch these Part 1 and Part 2 video clips on superior autobiographical memory from the television news show 60 Minutes.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2257

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2257

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2257

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2257

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

Atkinson-Shiffrin model (A-S):Atkinson-Shiffrin model (A-S): memory model that states we process information through three systems: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory

automatic processing:automatic processing: encoding of informational details like time, space, frequency, and the meaning of words

declarative memory:declarative memory: type of long-term memory of facts and events we personally experience

effortful processing:effortful processing: encoding of information that takes effort and attention

episodic memory:episodic memory: type of declarative memory that contains information about events we have personally experienced, also known as autobiographical memory

explicit memory:explicit memory: memories we consciously try to remember and recall

implicit memory:implicit memory: memories that are not part of our consciousness

memory:memory: system or process that stores what we learn for future use

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

• Describe something you have learned that is now in your procedural memory. Discuss how you learned this information.

• Describe something you learned in high school that is now in your semantic memory.

memory consolidation:memory consolidation: active rehearsal to move information from short-term memory into long-term memory

procedural memory:procedural memory: type of long-term memory for making skilled actions, such as how to brush your teeth, how to drive a car, and how to swim

retrieval:retrieval: act of getting information out of long-term memory storage and back into conscious awareness

self-reference effect:self-reference effect: tendency for an individual to have better memory for information that relates to oneself in comparison to material that has less personal relevance

semantic encoding:semantic encoding: input of words and their meaning

semantic memory:semantic memory: type of declarative memory about words, concepts, and language-based knowledge and facts

sensory memory:sensory memory: storage of brief sensory events, such as sights, sounds, and tastes

short-term memory (STM):short-term memory (STM): (also, working memory) holds about seven bits of information before it is forgotten or stored, as well as information that has been retrieved and is being used

storage:storage: creation of a permanent record of information

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• How Memory Functions. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:-RwqQWzt@6/How-Memory-Functions. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

RETRIEVAL

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain retrieval cues and define recall, recognition, and relearning

So you have worked hard to encode (via effortful processing) and store some important information for your upcoming final exam. How do you get that information back out of storage when you need it? The act of getting information out of memory storage and back into conscious awareness is known as retrievalretrieval. This would be similar to finding and opening a paper you had previously saved on your computer’s hard drive. Now it’s back on your desktop, and you can work with it again. Our ability to retrieve information from long-term memory is vital to our everyday functioning. You must be able to retrieve information from memory in order to do everything from knowing how to brush your hair and teeth, to driving to work, to knowing how to perform your job once you get there. Psychologists distinguish information that is available in memory from that which is accessible (Tulving & Pearlstone, 1966). Available information is the information that is stored in memory—but precisely how much and what types are stored cannot be known. That is, all we can know is what information we can retrieve—accessible information. The assumption is that accessible information represents only a tiny slice of the information available in our brains. Most of us have had the experience of trying to remember some fact or event, giving up, and then—all of a sudden!—it comes to us at a later time, even after we’ve stopped trying to remember it. Similarly, we all know the experience of failing to recall a fact, but then, if we are given several choices (as in a multiple-choice test), we are easily able to recognize it.

We can’t know the entirety of what is in our memory, but

only that portion we can actually retrieve. Something that

cannot be retrieved now and which is seemingly gone

from memory may, with different cues applied, reemerge.

[Photo: sean dreilinger]

Memory Cues

What factors determine what information can be retrieved from memory? One critical factor is the type of hints, or cues, in the environment. You may hear a song on the radio that suddenly evokes memories of an earlier time in your life, even if you were not trying to remember it when the song came on. Nevertheless, the song is closely associated with that time, so it brings the experience to mind.

The general principle that underlies the effectiveness of retrieval cues is the encoding specificity principleencoding specificity principle (Tulving & Thomson, 1973): when people encode information, they do so in specific ways. For example, take the song on the radio: perhaps you heard it while you were at a terrific party, having a great, philosophical conversation with a friend. Thus, the song became part of that whole complex experience. Years later, even though you haven’t thought about that party in ages, when you hear the song on the radio, the whole experience rushes back to you. In general, the encoding specificity principle states that, to the extent a retrieval cue (the song) matches or overlaps the memory trace of an experience (the party, the conversation), it will be effective in evoking the memory. A classic experiment on the encoding specificity principle had participants memorize a set of words in a unique setting. Later, the participants were tested on the word sets, either in the same location they learned the words or a different one. As a result of encoding specificity, the students who took the test in the same place they learned the words were actually able to recall more words (Godden & Baddeley, 1975) than the students who took the test in a new setting. In this instance, the physical context itself provided cues for retrieval. This is why it’s good to study for midterms and finals in the same room you’ll be taking them in.

One caution with this principle, though, is that, for the cue to work, it can’t match too many other experiences (Nairne, 2002; Watkins, 1975). Consider a lab experiment. Suppose you study 100 items; 99 are words, and one is a picture—of a penguin, item 50 in the list. Afterwards, the cue “recall the picture” would evoke “penguin” perfectly. No one would miss it. However, if the word “penguin” were placed in the same spot among the other 99 words, its memorability would be exceptionally worse. This outcome shows the power of distinctiveness: one picture is perfectly recalled from among 99 words because it stands out. Now consider what would happen if the experiment were repeated, but there were 25 pictures distributed within the 100-item list. Although the picture of the penguin would still be there, the probability that the cue “recall the picture” (at item 50) would be useful for the penguin would drop correspondingly. Watkins (1975) referred to this outcome as demonstrating the cue overloadcue overload principleprinciple. That is, to be effective, a retrieval cue cannot be overloaded with too many memories. For the cue “recall the picture” to be effective, it should only match one item in the target set (as in the one-picture, 99-word case).

To sum up how memory cues function: for a retrieval cue to be effective, a match must exist between the cue and the desired target memory; furthermore, to produce the best retrieval, the cue-target relationship should be distinctive.

Types of Retrieval

There are three ways you can retrieve information out of your long-term memory storage system: recall, recognition, and relearning. RecallRecall is what we most often think about when we talk about memory retrieval: it means you can access information without cues. For example, you would use recall for an essay test. RecognitionRecognition happens when you identify information that you have previously learned after encountering it again. It involves a process of comparison. When you take a multiple-choice test, you are relying on recognition to help you choose the correct answer. Here is another example. Let’s say you graduated from high school 10 years ago, and you have returned to your hometown for your 10-year reunion. You may not be able to recall all of your classmates, but you recognize many of them based on their yearbook photos.

The third form of retrieval is relearningrelearning, and it’s just what it sounds like. It involves learning information that you previously learned. Whitney took Spanish in high school, but after high school she did not have the opportunity to speak Spanish. Whitney is now 31, and her company has offered her an opportunity to work in their Mexico City office. In order to prepare herself, she enrolls in a Spanish course at the local community center. She’s surprised at how quickly she’s able to pick up the language after not speaking it for 13 years; this is an example of relearning.

Recall and Recognition

Psychologists measure memory performance by using production tests (involving recall) or recognition tests (involving the selection of correct from incorrect information, e.g., a multiple-choice test). For example, with our list of 100 words, one group of people might be asked to recall the list in any order (a free recall test), while a different group might be asked to circle the 100 studied words out of a mix with another 100, unstudied words (a recognition test). In this situation, the recognition test would likely produce better performance from participants than the recall test.

We usually think of recognition tests as being quite easy, because the cue for retrieval is a copy of the actual event that was presented for study. After all, what could be a better cue than the exact target (memory) the person is trying to access? In most cases, this line of reasoning is true; nevertheless, recognition tests do not provide perfect indexes of what is stored in memory. That is, you can fail to recognize a target staring you right in the face, yet be able to recall it later with a different set of cues (Watkins & Tulving, 1975). For example, suppose you had the task of recognizing the surnames of famous authors. At first, you might think that being given the actual last name would always be the best cue. However, research has shown this not necessarily to be true (Muter, 1984). When given names such as Tolstoy, Shaw, Shakespeare, and Lee, subjects might well say that Tolstoy and Shakespeare are famous authors, whereas Shaw and Lee are not. But, when given a cued recall test using first names, people often recall items (produce them) that they had failed to recognize before.

For example, in this instance, a cue like George Bernard ________ often leads to a recall of “Shaw,” even though people initially failed to recognize Shaw as a famous author’s name. Yet, when given the cue “William,” people may not come up with Shakespeare, because William is a common name that matches many people (the cue overload principle at work). This strange fact—that recall can sometimes lead to better performance than recognition—can be explained by the encoding specificity principle. As a cue, George Bernard _________ matches the way the famous writer is stored in memory better than does his surname, Shaw, does (even though it is the target). Further, the match is quite distinctive with George Bernard ___________, but the cue William _________________ is much more overloaded (Prince William, William Yeats, William Faulkner, will.i.am).

The phenomenon we have been describing is called the recognition failure of recallable words, which highlights the point that a cue will be most effective depending on how the information has been encoded (Tulving & Thomson, 1973). The point is, the cues that work best to evoke retrieval are those that recreate the event or name to be remembered, whereas sometimes even the target itself, such as Shaw in the above example, is not the best cue. Which cue will be most effective depends on how the information has been encoded.

Retrieval and Reconstruction

Whenever we think about our past, we engage in the act of retrieval. We usually think that retrieval is an objective act because we tend to imagine that retrieving a memory is like pulling a book from a shelf, and after we are done with it, we return the book to the shelf just as it was. However, research shows this assumption to be false; far from being a static repository of data, the memory is constantly changing. In fact, every time we retrieve a memory, it is altered. For example, the act of retrieval itself (of a fact, concept, or event) makes the retrieved memory much more likely to be retrieved again, a phenomenon called the testing effect or the retrieval practice effect (Pyc & Rawson, 2009; Roediger & Karpicke, 2006). However, retrieving some information can actually cause us to forget other information related to it, a phenomenon called retrieval-induced forgetting (Anderson, Bjork, & Bjork, 1994). Thus the act of retrieval can be a double-edged sword—strengthening the memory just retrieved (usually by a large amount) but harming related information (though this effect is often relatively small).

Retrieval of distant memories is reconstructive. We weave the concrete bits and pieces of events in with assumptions and preferences to form a coherent story (Bartlett, 1932). For example, if during your 10th birthday, your dog got to your cake before you did, you would likely tell that story for years afterward. Say, then, in later

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2261

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Review the concepts from this section on encoding, storage, and retrieval in the following CrashCourse video:

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2261

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2261

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

encoding specificity principleencoding specificity principle: the hypothesis that a retrieval cue will be effective to the extent that information encoded from the cue overlaps or matches information in the engram or memory trace.

long-term memory (LTM):long-term memory (LTM): continuous storage of information

years you misremember where the dog actually found the cake, but repeat that error over and over during subsequent retellings of the story. Over time, that inaccuracy would become a basic fact of the event in your mind. Just as retrieval practice (repetition) enhances accurate memories, so will it strengthen errors or false memories (McDermott, 2006). Sometimes memories can even be manufactured just from hearing a vivid story. Consider the following episode, recounted by Jean Piaget, the famous developmental psychologist, from his childhood:

One of my first memories would date, if it were true, from my second year. I can still see, most clearly, the following scene, in which I believed until I was about 15. I was sitting in my pram . . . when a man tried to kidnap me. I was held in by the strap fastened round me while my nurse bravely tried to stand between me and the thief. She received various scratches, and I can still vaguely see those on her face. . . . When I was about 15, my parents received a letter from my former nurse saying that she had been converted to the Salvation Army. She wanted to confess her past faults, and in particular to return the watch she had been given as a reward on this occasion. She had made up the whole story, faking the scratches. I therefore must have heard, as a child, this story, which my parents believed, and projected it into the past in the form of a visual memory. . . . Many real memories are doubtless of the same order. (Norman & Schacter, 1997, pp. 187–188)

Piaget’s vivid account represents a case of a pure reconstructive memory. He heard the tale told repeatedly, and doubtless told it (and thought about it) himself. The repeated telling cemented the events as though they had really happened, just as we are all open to the possibility of having “many real memories … of the same order.” The fact that one can remember precise details (the location, the scratches) does not necessarily indicate that the memory is true, a point that has been confirmed in laboratory studies, too (e.g., Norman & Schacter, 1997).

recall:recall: accessing information without cues

recognition:recognition: identifying previously learned information after encountering it again, usually in response to a cue

relearning:relearning: learning information that was previously learned

retrieval:retrieval: act of getting information out of long-term memory storage and back into conscious awareness

storage:storage: creation of a permanent record of information

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• How Memory Functions. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:-RwqQWzt@6/How-Memory-Functions. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Memory (Encoding, Storage, Retrieval). Authored byAuthored by: Kathleen B. McDermott and Henry L. Roediger III . Provided byProvided by: Washington University in St. Louis. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/textbooks/wendy-king- introduction-to-psychology-the-full-noba-collection/modules/memory-encoding-storage-retrieval. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• How We Make Memories – Crash Course Psychology #13. Provided byProvided by: CrashCourse. Located atLocated at: https://youtu.be/bSycdIx-C48?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOPRKzVLY0jJY-uHOH9KVU6. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

PARTS OF THE BRAIN INVOLVED WITH MEMORY

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain the brain functions involved in memory; recognize the roles of the hippocampus, amygdala, and cerebellum in memory

Are memories stored in just one part of the brain, or are they stored in many different parts of the brain? Karl Lashley began exploring this problem, about 100 years ago, by making lesions in the brains of animals such as rats and monkeys. He was searching for evidence of the engramengram: the group of neurons that serve as the “physical representation of memory” (Josselyn, 2010). First, Lashley (1950) trained rats to find their way through a maze. Then, he used the tools available at the time—in this case a soldering iron—to create lesions in the rats’ brains, specifically in the cerebral cortex. He did this because he was trying to erase the engram, or the original memory trace that the rats had of the maze.

Lashley did not find evidence of the engram, and the rats were still able to find their way through the maze, regardless of the size or location of the lesion. Based on his creation of lesions and the animals’ reaction, he formulated the equipotentiality hypothesisequipotentiality hypothesis: if part of one area of the brain involved in memory is damaged, another part of the same area can take over that memory function (Lashley, 1950). Although Lashley’s early work did not confirm the existence of the engram, modern psychologists are making progress locating it. Eric Kandel, for example, spent decades working on the synapse, the basic structure of the brain, and its role in controlling the flow of information through neural circuits needed to store memories (Mayford, Siegelbaum, & Kandel, 2012).

Many scientists believe that the entire brain is involved with memory. However, since Lashley’s research, other scientists have been able to look more closely at the brain and memory. They have argued that memory is located in specific parts of the brain, and specific neurons can be recognized for their involvement in forming memories. The main parts of the brain involved with memory are the amygdala, the hippocampus, the cerebellum, and the prefrontal cortex (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The amygdala is involved in fear and fear memories. The hippocampus is associated with declarative and episodic

memory as well as recognition memory. The cerebellum plays a role in processing procedural memories, such as how to play the

piano. The prefrontal cortex appears to be involved in remembering semantic tasks.

The Amygdala

First, let’s look at the role of the amygdala in memory formation. The main job of the amygdala is to regulate emotions, such as fear and aggression. The amygdala plays a part in how memories are stored because storage is influenced by stress hormones. For example, one researcher experimented with rats and the fear response (Josselyn, 2010). Using Pavlovian conditioning, a neutral tone was paired with a foot shock to the rats. This produced a fear memory in the rats. After being conditioned, each time they heard the tone, they would freeze (a defense response in rats), indicating a memory for the impending shock. Then the researchers induced cell death in neurons in the lateral amygdala, which is the specific area of the brain responsible for fear memories. They found the fear memory faded (became extinct). Because of its role in processing emotional information, the amygdala is also involved in memory consolidation: the process of transferring new learning into long-term memory. The amygdala seems to facilitate encoding memories at a deeper level when the event is emotionally arousing.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

In this TED Talk called “A Mouse. A Laser Beam. A Manipulated Memory,” Steve Ramirez and Xu Liu from MIT talk about using laser beams to manipulate fear memory in rats. Find out why their work caused a media frenzy once it was published in Science.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

For a closer look at how memory works, as well as how researchers are now studying H. M.’s brain, take a few minutes to view this video from Nova PBS.

The Hippocampus

Another group of researchers also experimented with rats to learn how the hippocampus functions in memory processing. They created lesions in the hippocampi of the rats, and found that the rats demonstrated memory impairment on various tasks, such as object recognition and maze running. They concluded that the hippocampus is involved in memory, specifically normal recognition memory as well as spatial memory (when the memory tasks are like recall tests) (Clark, Zola, & Squire, 2000). Another job of the hippocampus is to project information to cortical regions that give memories meaning and connect them with other connected memories. It also plays a part in memory consolidation: the process of transferring new learning into long-term memory.

Injury to this area leaves us unable to process new declarative memories. One famous patient, known for years only as H. M., had both his left and right temporal lobes (hippocampi) removed in an attempt to help control the seizures he had been suffering from for years (Corkin, Amaral, González, Johnson, & Hyman, 1997). As a result, his declarative memory was significantly affected, and he could not form new semantic knowledge. He lost the ability to form new memories, yet he could still remember information and events that had occurred prior to the surgery.

The Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex

Although the hippocampus seems to be more of a processing area for explicit memories, you could still lose it and be able to create implicit memories (procedural memory, motor learning, and classical conditioning), thanks to your cerebellum. For example, one classical conditioning experiment is to accustom subjects to blink when they are given a puff of air. When researchers damaged the cerebellums of rabbits, they discovered that the rabbits were not able to learn the conditioned eye-blink response (Steinmetz, 1999; Green & Woodruff-Pak, 2000).

Other researchers have used brain scans, including positron emission tomography (PET) scans, to learn how people process and retain information. From these studies, it seems the prefrontal cortex is involved. In one study, participants had to complete two different tasks: either looking for the letter a in words (considered a perceptual task) or categorizing a noun as either living or non-living (considered a semantic task) (Kapur et al., 1994). Participants were then asked which words they had previously seen. Recall was much better for the semantic task than for the perceptual task. According to PET scans, there was much more activation in the left inferior prefrontal cortex in the semantic task. In another study, encoding was associated with left frontal activity, while retrieval of information was associated with the right frontal region (Craik et al., 1999).

Neurotransmitters

There also appear to be specific neurotransmitters involved with the process of memory, such as epinephrine, dopamine, serotonin, glutamate, and acetylcholine (Myhrer, 2003). There continues to be discussion and debate among researchers as to which neurotransmitter plays which specific role (Blockland, 1996). Although we don’t yet know which role each neurotransmitter plays in memory, we do know that communication among neurons via neurotransmitters is critical for developing new memories. Repeated activity by neurons leads to increased

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=232

Figure 2. Most people can remember where they were when they first heard about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This is an example of

a flashbulb memory: a record of an atypical and unusual event that has very strong emotional associations. (credit: Michael Foran)

neurotransmitters in the synapses and more efficient and more synaptic connections. This is how memory consolidation occurs.

It is also believed that strong emotions trigger the formation of strong memories, and weaker emotional experiences form weaker memories; this is called arousal theoryarousal theory (Christianson, 1992). For example, strong emotional experiences can trigger the release of neurotransmitters, as well as hormones, which strengthen memory; therefore, our memory for an emotional event is usually better than our memory for a non-emotional event. When humans and animals are stressed, the brain secretes more of the neurotransmitter glutamate, which helps them remember the stressful event (McGaugh, 2003). This is clearly evidenced by what is known as the flashbulb memory phenomenon.

A flashbulb memoryflashbulb memory is an exceptionally clear recollection of an important event (Figure 2). Where were you when you first heard about the 9/11 terrorist attacks? Most likely you can remember where you were and what you were doing. In fact, a Pew Research Center (2011) survey found that for those Americans who were age 8 or older at the time of the event, 97% can recall the moment they learned of this event, even a decade after it happened.

DIG DEEPER: INACCURATE AND FALSE MEMORIESDIG DEEPER: INACCURATE AND FALSE MEMORIES

Even flashbulb memories can have decreased accuracy with the passage of time, even with very important events. For example, on at least three occasions, when asked how he heard about the terrorist attacks of 9/11, President George W. Bush responded inaccurately. In January 2002, less than 4 months after the attacks, the then sitting President Bush was asked how he heard about the attacks. He responded:

I was sitting there, and my Chief of Staff—well, first of all, when we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building. There was a TV set on. And you know, I thought it was pilot error and I was amazed that anybody could make such a terrible mistake. (Greenberg, 2004, p. 2)

Contrary to what President Bush recalled, no one saw the first plane hit, except people on the ground near the twin towers. The first plane was not videotaped because it was a normal Tuesday morning in New York City, until the first plane hit.

Some people attributed Bush’s wrong recall of the event to conspiracy theories. However, there is a much more benign explanation: human memory, even flashbulb memories, can be frail. In fact, memory can be so frail that we can convince a person an event happened to them, even when it did not. In studies, research participants will recall hearing a word, even though they never heard the word. For example, participants were given a list of 15 sleep-related words, but the word “sleep” was not on the list. Participants recalled hearing the word “sleep” even though they did not actually hear it (Roediger & McDermott, 2000). The researchers who discovered this named the theory after themselves and a fellow researcher, calling it the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=232

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=232

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=232

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

arousal theory:arousal theory: strong emotions trigger the formation of strong memories and weaker emotional experiences form weaker memories

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Describe a flashbulb memory of a significant event in your life.

engram:engram: physical trace of memory

equipotentiality hypothesis:equipotentiality hypothesis: some parts of the brain can take over for damaged parts in forming and storing memories

flashbulb memory:flashbulb memory: exceptionally clear recollection of an important event

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=232

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Flashbulb Memory. Authored byAuthored by: Kara McCord. Located atLocated at: https://youtu.be/mPhW9bUI4F0. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License • Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Parts of the Brain Involved with Memory. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:Lbm_tyot@7/Parts-of-the-Brain-Involved-wi. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/.

AMNESIA AND FORGETTING

What you’ll learn to do: explain and give examples of forgetting and memory failure

All of us at times have felt dismayed, frustrated, and even embarrassed when our memories have failed us. Our memory is flexible and prone to many errors, which is why eyewitness testimony has been found to be largely unreliable. There are several reasons why forgetting occurs. In cases of brain trauma or disease, forgetting may be due to amnesia. Another reason we forget is due to encoding failure. We can’t remember something if we never stored it in our memory in the first place. In this section, you’ll learn about seven memory errors that also contribute to forgetting.

Sometimes, information is actually stored in our memory, but we cannot access it due to interference. Proactive interference happens when old information hinders the recall of newly learned information. Retroactive interference happens when information learned more recently hinders the recall of older information. Let’s hope you don’t forget these new things you learn!

Figure 1. This diagram illustrates the timeline of retrograde and anterograde amnesia. Memory problems that extend back in time

before the injury and prevent retrieval of information previously stored in long-term memory are known as retrograde amnesia.

Conversely, memory problems that extend forward in time from the point of injury and prevent the formation of new memories are

called anterograde amnesia.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Compare and contrast the two anterograde and retrograde amnesia • Explain encoding failure and give examples of common memory errors

You may pride yourself on your amazing ability to remember the birthdates and ages of all of your friends and family members, or you may be able recall vivid details of your 5th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese’s. However, all of us have at times felt frustrated, and even embarrassed, when our memories have failed us. There are several reasons why this happens.

Amnesia

AmnesiaAmnesia is the loss of long-term memory that occurs as the result of disease, physical trauma, or psychological trauma. Psychologist Tulving (2002) and his colleagues at the University of Toronto studied K.C. for years. K.C. suffered a traumatic head injury in a motorcycle accident and then had severe amnesia. Tulving writes,

the outstanding fact about K.C.’s mental make-up is his utter inability to remember any events, circumstances, or situations from his own life. His episodic amnesia covers his whole life, from birth to the present. The only exception is the experiences that, at any time, he has had in the last minute or two. (Tulving, 2002, p. 14)

Anterograde Amnesia

There are two common types of amnesia: anterograde amnesia and retrograde amnesia (Figure 1). Anterograde amnesia is commonly caused by brain trauma, such as a blow to the head. With anterograde amnesiaanterograde amnesia, you cannot remember new information, although you can remember information and events that happened prior to your injury. The hippocampus is usually affected (McLeod, 2011). This suggests that damage to the brain has resulted in the inability to transfer information from short-term to long-term memory; that is, the inability to consolidate memories.

Many people with this form of amnesia are unable to form new episodic or semantic memories, but are still able to form new procedural memories (Bayley & Squire, 2002). This was true of H. M., which was discussed earlier. The brain damage caused by his surgery resulted in anterograde amnesia. H. M. would read the same magazine over and over, having no memory of ever reading it—it was always new to him. He also could not remember people he had met after his surgery. If you were introduced to H. M. and then you left the room for a few minutes, he would not know you upon your return and would introduce himself to you again. However, when presented the same puzzle several days in a row, although he did not remember having seen the puzzle before, his speed at solving it became faster each day (because of relearning) (Corkin, 1965, 1968).

Figure 2. To help remember which amnesia is which

(retrograde vs. anterograde), just think of the word “retro”

(e.g., that lamp from the 70’s is so retro) to help remind

you that this amnesia deals with forgetting old memories.

[Image: Richard Davis]

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

View the video story profiling Scott Bolzan’s amnesia and his attempts to get his life back.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2276

TRY ITTRY IT

Retrograde Amnesia

Retrograde amnesiaRetrograde amnesia is loss of memory for events that occurred prior to the trauma. People with retrograde amnesia cannot remember some or even all of their past. They have difficulty remembering episodic memories. What if you woke up in the hospital one day and there were people surrounding your bed claiming to be your spouse, your children, and your parents? The trouble is you don’t recognize any of them. You were in a car accident, suffered a head injury, and now have retrograde amnesia. You don’t remember anything about your life prior to waking up in the hospital. This may sound like the stuff of Hollywood movies, and Hollywood has been fascinated with the amnesia plot for nearly a century, going all the way back to the film Garden of Lies from 1915 to more recent movies such as the Jason Bourne trilogy starring Matt Damon. However, for real-life sufferers of retrograde amnesia, like former NFL football player Scott Bolzan, the story is not a Hollywood movie. Bolzan fell, hit his head, and deleted 46 years of his life in an instant. He is now living with one of the most extreme cases of retrograde amnesia on record.

Forgetting “I’ve a grand memory for forgetting,” quipped Robert Louis Stevenson. ForgettingForgetting refers to loss of information from long-term memory. We all forget things, like a loved one’s birthday, someone’s name, or where we put our car keys. As you’ve come to see, memory is fragile, and forgetting can be frustrating and even embarrassing. But why do we forget? To answer this question, we will look at several perspectives on forgetting.

Encoding Failure

Sometimes memory loss happens before the actual memory process begins, which is encoding failure. We can’t remember something if we never stored it in our memory in the first place. This would be like trying to find a book on your e-reader that you never actually purchased and downloaded. Often, in order to remember something, we must pay attention to the details and actively work to process the information (effortful encoding). Lots of times we don’t do this. For instance, think of how many times in your life you’ve seen a penny. Can you accurately recall what the front of a U.S. penny looks like? When researchers Raymond Nickerson and Marilyn Adams (1979)

Figure 3. Can you tell which coin, (a), (b), (c), or (d) is the accurate depiction of a US nickel? The correct answer is (c).

asked this question, they found that most Americans don’t know which one it is. The reason is most likely encoding failure. Most of us never encode the details of the penny. We only encode enough information to be able to distinguish it from other coins. If we don’t encode the information, then it’s not in our long-term memory, so we will not be able to remember it.

Memory Errors

Psychologist Daniel Schacter (2001), a well-known memory researcher, offers seven ways our memories fail us. He calls them the seven sins of memory and categorizes them into three groups: forgetting, distortion, and intrusion (Table 1).

Table 1. Schacter’s Seven Sins of Memory

SinSin TypeType DescriptionDescription ExampleExample

Transience Forgetting Accessibility of memory decreases over time

Forget events that occurred long ago

Absentmindedness Forgetting Forgetting caused by lapses in attention

Forget where your phone is

Blocking Forgetting Accessibility of information is temporarily blocked

Tip of the tongue

Misattribution Distortion Source of memory is confused Recalling a dream memory as a waking memory

Suggestibility Distortion False memories Result from leading questions

Bias Distortion Memories distorted by current belief system

Align memories to current beliefs

Persistence Intrusion Inability to forget undesirable memories

Traumatic events

Let’s look at the first sin of the forgetting errors: transiencetransience, which means that memories can fade over time. Here’s an example of how this happens. Nathan’s English teacher has assigned his students to read the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Nathan comes home from school and tells his mom he has to read this book for class. “Oh, I loved that book!” she says. Nathan asks her what the book is about, and after some hesitation she says, “Well . . . I know I read the book in high school, and I remember that one of the main characters is named Scout, and her father is an attorney, but I honestly don’t remember anything else.” Nathan wonders if his mother actually read the book, and his mother is surprised she can’t recall the plot. What is going on here is storage decay: unused information tends to fade with the passage of time.

Figure 4. The Ebbinghaus forgetting curve shows how quickly memory for new information decays.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2276

TRY ITTRY IT

In 1885, German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus analyzed the process of memorization. First, he memorized lists of nonsense syllables. Then he measured how much he learned (retained) when he attempted to relearn each list. He tested himself over different periods of time from 20 minutes later to 30 days later. The result is his famous forgetting curve (Figure 4). Due to storage decay, an average person will lose 50% of the memorized information after 20 minutes and 70% of the information after 24 hours (Ebbinghaus, 1885/1964). Your memory for new information decays quickly and then eventually levels out.

Are you constantly losing your cell phone? Have you ever driven back home to make sure you turned off the stove? Have you ever walked into a room for something, but forgotten what it was? You probably answered yes to at least one, if not all, of these examples—but don’t worry, you are not alone. We are all prone to committing the memory error known as absentmindedness. These lapses in memory are caused by breaks in attention or our focus being somewhere else.

Cynthia, a psychologist, recalls a time when she recently committed the memory error of absentmindednessabsentmindedness.

When I was completing court-ordered psychological evaluations, each time I went to the court, I was issued a temporary identification card with a magnetic strip which would open otherwise locked doors. As you can imagine, in a courtroom, this identification is valuable and important and no one wanted it to be lost or be picked up by a criminal. At the end of the day, I would hand in my temporary identification. One day, when I was almost done with an evaluation, my daughter’s day care called and said she was sick and needed to be picked up. It was flu season, I didn’t know how sick she was, and I was concerned. I finished up the evaluation in the next ten minutes, packed up my tools, and rushed to drive

Figure 5. Blocking is also known as tip-of-the-tongue

(TOT) phenomenon. The memory is right there, but you

can’t seem to recall it, just like not being able to

remember the name of that very famous actor, Morgan

Freeman. (credit: modification of work by D. Miller)

to my daughter’s day care. After I picked up my daughter, I could not remember if I had handed back my identification or if I had left it sitting out on a table. I immediately called the court to check. It turned out that I had handed back my identification. Why could I not remember that? (personal communication, September 5, 2013)

When have you experienced absentmindedness?

“I just went and saw this movie called Oblivion, and it had that famous actor in it. Oh, what’s his name? He’s been in all of those movies, like The Shawshank Redemption and The Dark Knight trilogy. I think he’s even won an Oscar. Oh gosh, I can picture his face in my mind, and hear his distinctive voice, but I just can’t think of his name! This is going to bug me until I can remember it!” This particular error can be so frustrating because you have the information right on the tip of your tongue. Have you ever experienced this? If so, you’ve committed the error known as blockingblocking: you can’t access stored information.

Now let’s take a look at the three errors of distortion: misattribution, suggestibility, and bias. Misattribution happens when you confuse the source of your information. Let’s say Alejandro was dating Lucia and they saw the first Hobbit movie together. Then they broke up and Alejandro saw the second Hobbit movie with someone else. Later that year, Alejandro and Lucia get back together. One day, they are discussing how the Hobbit books and movies are different and Alejandro says to Lucia, “I loved watching the second movie with you and seeing you jump out of your seat during that super scary part.” When Lucia responded with a puzzled and then angry look, Alejandro realized he’d committed the error of misattribution.

What if someone is a victim of rape shortly after watching a television program? Is it possible that the victim could actually blame the rape on the person she saw on television because of misattribution? This is exactly what happened to Donald Thomson.

Australian eyewitness expert Donald Thomson appeared on a live TV discussion about the unreliability of eyewitness memory. He was later arrested, placed in a lineup and identified by a victim as the man who had raped her. The police charged Thomson although the rape had occurred at the time he was on TV. They dismissed his alibi that he was in plain view of a TV audience and in the company of the other discussants, including an assistant commissioner of police. . . . Eventually, the investigators discovered that the rapist had attacked the woman as she was watching TV—the very program on which Thomson had appeared. Authorities eventually cleared Thomson. The woman had confused the rapist’s face with the face that she had seen on TV. (Baddeley, 2004, p. 133)

The second distortion error is suggestibility. Suggestibility is similar to misattributionmisattribution, since it also involves false memories, but it’s different. With misattribution you create the false memory entirely on your own, which is what the victim did in the Donald Thomson case above. With suggestibility, it comes from someone else, such as a therapist or police interviewer asking leading questions of a witness during an interview.

Figure 6. Many veterans of military conflicts involuntarily

recall unwanted, unpleasant memories. (credit:

Department of Defense photo by U.S. Air Force Tech.

Sgt. Michael R. Holzworth)

TRY ITTRY IT

Memories can also be affected by biasbias, which is the final distortion error. Schacter (2001) says that your feelings and view of the world can actually distort your memory of past events. There are several types of bias: Stereotypical bias involves racial and gender biases. For example, when Asian American and European American research participants were presented with a list of names, they more frequently incorrectly remembered typical African American names such as Jamal and Tyrone to be associated with the occupation basketball player, and they more frequently incorrectly remembered typical White names such as Greg and Howard to be associated with the occupation of politician (Payne, Jacoby, & Lambert, 2004). Egocentric bias involves enhancing our memories of the past (Payne et al., 2004). Did you really score the winning goal in that big soccer match, or did you just assist? Hindsight bias happens when we think an outcome was inevitable after the fact. This is the “I knew it all along” phenomenon. The reconstructive nature of memory contributes to hindsight bias (Carli, 1999). We remember untrue events that seem to confirm that we knew the outcome all along.

Have you ever had a song play over and over in your head? How about a memory of a traumatic event, something you really do not want to think about? When you keep remembering something, to the point where you can’t “get it out of your head” and it interferes with your ability to concentrate on other things, it is called persistencepersistence. It’s Schacter’s seventh and last memory error. It’s actually a failure of our memory system because we involuntarily recall unwanted memories, particularly unpleasant ones (Figure 6). For instance, you witness a horrific car accident on the way to work one morning, and you can’t concentrate on work because you keep remembering the scene.

Alternatively, some memories may be forgotten because we deliberately attempt to keep them out of mind. Over time, by actively trying not to remember an event, we can sometimes successfully keep the undesirable memory from being retrieved either by inhibiting the undesirable memory or generating diversionary thoughts (Anderson & Green, 2001). Imagine that you slipped and fell in your high school cafeteria during lunch time, and everyone at the surrounding tables laughed at you. You would likely wish to avoid thinking about that event and might try to prevent it from coming to mind. One way that you could accomplish this is by thinking of other, more positive, events that are associated with the cafeteria. Eventually, this memory may be suppressed to the point that it would only be retrieved with great difficulty (Hertel & Calcaterra, 2005).

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2276

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2276

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2276

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2276

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2276

Interference

Sometimes information is stored in our memory, but for some reason it is inaccessible. This is known as interference, and there are two types: proactive interference and retroactive interference (Figure 7). Have you ever gotten a new phone number or moved to a new address, but right after you tell people the old (and wrong) phone number or address? When the new year starts, do you find you accidentally write the previous year? These are examples of proactive interference: when old information hinders the recall of newly learned information. Retroactive interference happens when information learned more recently hinders the recall of older information. For example, this week you are studying about Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory. Next week you study the humanistic perspective of Maslow and Rogers. Thereafter, you have trouble remembering Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development because you can only remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Figure 7. Sometimes forgetting is caused by a failure to retrieve information. This can be due to interference, either retroactive or

proactive.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Review why we forget and types of interference through the following PsychSim Tutorial. The tutorial is only intended for practice. Please disregard the final screen that requests you submit answers to your instructor.

• Forgetting

For additional review, watch the CrashCourse psychology video on remembering and forgetting.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2276

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2276

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

absentmindedness:absentmindedness: lapses in memory that are caused by breaks in attention or our focus being somewhere else

amnesia:amnesia: loss of long-term memory that occurs as the result of disease, physical trauma, or psychological trauma

anterograde amnesia:anterograde amnesia: loss of memory for events that occur after the brain trauma

bias:bias: how feelings and view of the world distort memory of past events

forgetting:forgetting: loss of information from long-term memory

misattribution:misattribution: memory error in which you confuse the source of your information

persistence:persistence: failure of the memory system that involves the involuntary recall of unwanted memories, particularly unpleasant ones

proactive interference:proactive interference: old information hinders the recall of newly learned information

reconstruction:reconstruction: process of bringing up old memories that might be distorted by new information

retrograde amnesia:retrograde amnesia: loss of memory for events that occurred prior to brain trauma

retroactive interference:retroactive interference: information learned more recently hinders the recall of older information

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Which of the seven memory errors presented by Schacter have you committed? Provide an example of each one.

transience:transience: memory error in which unused memories fade with the passage of time

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification and adaptation, addition of tutorial. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Problems with Memory. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:I97J3Te3@7/Problems-with-Memory. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

• Section on deliberately forgetting memories and image, Figure 2. Authored byAuthored by: Nicole Dudukovic and Brice Kuhl . Provided byProvided by: New York University. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/textbooks/wendy-king- introduction-to-psychology-the-full-noba-collection/modules/forgetting-and-amnesia. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

• Don't forget picture. Authored byAuthored by: Rachel Demsick. Provided byProvided by: Flickr. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

FLASHBULB MEMORIES

Often considered to be so very detailed, vivid, and life-like, these memories are named beacuse of how much they seem to represent. Notice that I said, “seem?” Flashbulb memories are memories for rare, significant, emotional events. They may be very unique and personal to you (i.e. your first kiss, a personal best on a run, the birth of your child, etc.), but could also be rather global and something that most everyone experienced (i.e. Challenger explosion, 9/11 attacks, Hurricaine Katrina, Sandy Hook shooting, etc.). As you can imagine, for some of these flashbulb memories we want, almost need, for them to be wholly accurate, but as the linked Psychology Today article explains, these memories are just as fallible as any other memory. The difference seems to lie in our confidence in them. Yes, that is correct, we are significantly more confident that these flashbulb memories are infallible. Thanks to their emotional nature, the fact that they are vivid and detailed, and because of the personal connection to them, we simply struggle to believe that they are in any way different from the reality we experienced…but they are.

EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY AND MEMORY CONSTRUCTION

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe the unreliability of eyewitness testimony • Explain the misinformation effect

Memory Construction and Reconstruction

The formulation of new memories is sometimes called constructionconstruction, and the process of bringing up old memories is called reconstructionreconstruction. Yet as we retrieve our memories, we also tend to alter and modify them. A memory pulled from long-term storage into short-term memory is flexible. New events can be added and we can change what we think we remember about past events, resulting in inaccuracies and distortions. People may not intend to distort facts, but it can happen in the process of retrieving old memories and combining them with new memories (Roediger and DeSoto, in press).

Suggestibility

When someone witnesses a crime, that person’s memory of the details of the crime is very important in catching the suspect. Because memory is so fragile, witnesses can be easily (and often accidentally) misled due to the problem of suggestibility. SuggestibilitySuggestibility describes the effects of misinformation from external sources that leads to the creation of false memories. In the fall of 2002, a sniper in the DC area shot people at a gas station, leaving Home Depot, and walking down the street. These attacks went on in a variety of places for over three weeks and resulted in the deaths of ten people. During this time, as you can imagine, people were terrified to leave their homes, go shopping, or even walk through their neighborhoods. Police officers and the FBI worked frantically to solve the crimes, and a tip hotline was set up. Law enforcement received over 140,000 tips, which resulted in approximately 35,000 possible suspects (Newseum, n.d.).

Most of the tips were dead ends, until a white van was spotted at the site of one of the shootings. The police chief went on national television with a picture of the white van. After the news conference, several other eyewitnesses called to say that they too had seen a white van fleeing from the scene of the shooting. At the time, there were more than 70,000 white vans in the area. Police officers, as well as the general public, focused almost exclusively on white vans because they believed the eyewitnesses. Other tips were ignored. When the suspects were finally caught, they were driving a blue sedan.

As illustrated by this example, we are vulnerable to the power of suggestion, simply based on something we see on the news. Or we can claim to remember something that in fact is only a suggestion someone made. It is the suggestion that is the cause of the false memory.

Eyewitness Misidentification

Even though memory and the process of reconstruction can be fragile, police officers, prosecutors, and the courts often rely on eyewitness identification and testimony in the prosecution of criminals. However, faulty eyewitness identification and testimony can lead to wrongful convictions (Figure 1).

Figure 1. In studying cases where DNA evidence has exonerated people from crimes, the Innocence Project discovered that

eyewitness misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions (Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University,

2009).

How does this happen? In 1984, Jennifer Thompson, then a 22-year-old college student in North Carolina, was brutally raped at knifepoint. As she was being raped, she tried to memorize every detail of her rapist’s face and physical characteristics, vowing that if she survived, she would help get him convicted. After the police were contacted, a composite sketch was made of the suspect, and Jennifer was shown six photos. She chose two, one of which was of Ronald Cotton. After looking at the photos for 4–5 minutes, she said, “Yeah. This is the one,” and then she added, “I think this is the guy.” When questioned about this by the detective who asked, “You’re sure? Positive?” She said that it was him. Then she asked the detective if she did OK, and he reinforced her choice by telling her she did great. These kinds of unintended cues and suggestions by police officers can lead witnesses to identify the wrong suspect. The district attorney was concerned about her lack of certainty the first time, so she viewed a lineup of seven men. She said she was trying to decide between numbers 4 and 5, finally deciding that Cotton, number 5, “Looks most like him.” He was 22 years old.

By the time the trial began, Jennifer Thompson had absolutely no doubt that she was raped by Ronald Cotton. She testified at the court hearing, and her testimony was compelling enough that it helped convict him. How did she go from, “I think it’s the guy” and it “Looks most like him,” to such certainty? Gary Wells and Deah Quinlivan (2009) assert it’s suggestive police identification procedures, such as stacking lineups to make the defendant stand out, telling the witness which person to identify, and confirming witnesses choices by telling them “Good choice,” or “You picked the guy.”

After Cotton was convicted of the rape, he was sent to prison for life plus 50 years. After 4 years in prison, he was able to get a new trial. Jennifer Thompson once again testified against him. This time Ronald Cotton was given two life sentences. After serving 11 years in prison, DNA evidence finally demonstrated that Ronald Cotton did not commit the rape, was innocent, and had served over a decade in prison for a crime he did not commit.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

To learn more about Ronald Cotton and the fallibility of memory, watch these excellent Part 1 and Part 2 videos by 60 Minutes.

DIG DEEPER: PRESERVING EYEWITNESS MEMORY: THE ELIZABETH SMARTDIG DEEPER: PRESERVING EYEWITNESS MEMORY: THE ELIZABETH SMART CASECASE

Contrast the Cotton case with what happened in the Elizabeth Smart case. When Elizabeth was 14 years old and fast asleep in her bed at home, she was abducted at knifepoint. Her nine-year-old sister, Mary Katherine, was sleeping in the same bed and watched, terrified, as her beloved older sister was abducted. Mary Katherine was the sole eyewitness to this crime and was very fearful. In the coming weeks, the Salt Lake City police and the FBI proceeded with caution with Mary Katherine. They did not want to implant any false memories or mislead her in any way. They did not show her police line-ups or push her to do a composite sketch of the abductor. They knew if they corrupted her memory, Elizabeth might never be found. For several months, there was little or no progress on the case. Then, about 4 months after the kidnapping, Mary Katherine first recalled that she had heard the abductor’s voice prior to that night (he had worked one time as a handyman at the family’s home) and then she was able to name the person whose voice it was. The family contacted the press and others recognized him—after a total of nine months, the suspect was caught and Elizabeth Smart was returned to her family.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2273

TRY ITTRY IT

Ronald Cotton’s story, unfortunately, is not unique. There are also people who were convicted and placed on death row, who were later exonerated. The Innocence Project is a non-profit group that works to exonerate falsely convicted people, including those convicted by eyewitness testimony. To learn more, you can visit http://www.innocenceproject.org.

The Misinformation Effect

Cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Loftus has conducted extensive research on memory. She has studied false memories as well as recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. Loftus also developed the misinformationmisinformation effect paradigmeffect paradigm, which holds that after exposure to incorrect information, a person may misremember the original event.

According to Loftus, an eyewitness’s memory of an event is very flexible due to the misinformation effect. To test this theory, Loftus and John Palmer (1974) asked 45 U.S. college students to estimate the speed of cars using different forms of questions (Figure 2). The participants were shown films of car accidents and were asked to play the role of the eyewitness and describe what happened. They were asked, “About how fast were the cars going when they (smashed, collided, bumped, hit, contacted) each other?” The participants estimated the speed of the cars based on the verb used.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2273

Figure 2. When people are asked leading questions about an event, their memory of the event may be altered. (credit a:

modification of work by Rob Young)

Participants who heard the word “smashed” estimated that the cars were traveling at a much higher speed than participants who heard the word “contacted.” The implied information about speed, based on the verb they heard, had an effect on the participants’ memory of the accident. In a follow-up one week later, participants were asked if they saw any broken glass (none was shown in the accident pictures). Participants who had been in the “smashed” group were more than twice as likely to indicate that they did remember seeing glass. Loftus and Palmer demonstrated that a leading question encouraged them to not only remember the cars were going faster, but to also falsely remember that they saw broken glass.

Studies have demonstrated that young adults (the typical research subjects in psychology) are often susceptible to misinformation, but that children and older adults can be even more susceptible (Bartlett & Memon, 2007; Ceci & Bruck, 1995). In addition, misinformation effects can occur easily, and without any intention to deceive (Allan & Gabbert, 2008). Even slight differences in the wording of a question can lead to misinformation effects. Subjects in one study were more likely to say yes when asked “Did you see the broken headlight?” than when asked “Did you see a broken headlight?” (Loftus, 1975).

Other studies have shown that misinformation can corrupt memory even more easily when it is encountered in social situations (Gabbert, Memon, Allan, & Wright, 2004). This is a problem particularly in cases where more than one person witnesses a crime. In these cases, witnesses tend to talk to one another in the immediate aftermath of the crime, including as they wait for police to arrive. But because different witnesses are different people with different perspectives, they are likely to see or notice different things, and thus remember different things, even when they witness the same event. So when they communicate about the crime later, they not only reinforce common memories for the event, they also contaminate each other’s memories for the event (Gabbert, Memon, & Allan, 2003; Paterson & Kemp, 2006; Takarangi, Parker, & Garry, 2006).

The misinformation effect has been modeled in the laboratory. Researchers had subjects watch a video in pairs. Both subjects sat in front of the same screen, but because they wore differently polarized glasses, they saw two different versions of a video, projected onto a screen. So, although they were both watching the same screen, and believed (quite reasonably) that they were watching the same video, they were actually watching two different versions of the video (Garry, French, Kinzett, & Mori, 2008).

In the video, Eric the electrician is seen wandering through an unoccupied house and helping himself to the contents thereof. A total of eight details were different between the two videos. After watching the videos, the “co-

witnesses” worked together on 12 memory test questions. Four of these questions dealt with details that were different in the two versions of the video, so subjects had the chance to influence one another. Then subjects worked individually on 20 additional memory test questions. Eight of these were for details that were different in the two videos. Subjects’ accuracy was highly dependent on whether they had discussed the details previously. Their accuracy for items they had not previously discussed with their co-witness was 79%. But for items that they had discussed, their accuracy dropped markedly, to 34%. That is, subjects allowed their co-witnesses to corrupt their memories for what they had seen.

Controversies over Repressed and Recovered Memories

Other researchers have described how whole events, not just words, can be falsely recalled, even when they did not happen. The idea that memories of traumatic events could be repressed has been a theme in the field of psychology, beginning with Sigmund Freud, and the controversy surrounding the idea continues today.

Recall of false autobiographical memories is called false memory syndromefalse memory syndrome. This syndrome has received a lot of publicity, particularly as it relates to memories of events that do not have independent witnesses—often the only witnesses to the abuse are the perpetrator and the victim (e.g., sexual abuse).

On one side of the debate are those who have recovered memories of childhood abuse years after it occurred. These researchers argue that some children’s experiences have been so traumatizing and distressing that they must lock those memories away in order to lead some semblance of a normal life. They believe that repressed memories can be locked away for decades and later recalled intact through hypnosis and guided imagery techniques (Devilly, 2007).

Research suggests that having no memory of childhood sexual abuse is quite common in adults. For instance, one large-scale study conducted by John Briere and Jon Conte (1993) revealed that 59% of 450 men and women who were receiving treatment for sexual abuse that had occurred before age 18 had forgotten their experiences. Ross Cheit (2007) suggested that repressing these memories created psychological distress in adulthood. The Recovered Memory Project was created so that victims of childhood sexual abuse can recall these memories and allow the healing process to begin (Cheit, 2007; Devilly, 2007).

On the other side, Loftus has challenged the idea that individuals can repress memories of traumatic events from childhood, including sexual abuse, and then recover those memories years later through therapeutic techniques such as hypnosis, guided visualization, and age regression.

Loftus is not saying that childhood sexual abuse doesn’t happen, but she does question whether or not those memories are accurate, and she is skeptical of the questioning process used to access these memories, given that even the slightest suggestion from the therapist can lead to misinformation effects. For example, researchers Stephen Ceci and Maggie Brucks (1993, 1995) asked three-year-old children to use an anatomically correct doll to show where their pediatricians had touched them during an exam. Fifty-five percent of the children pointed to the genital/anal area on the dolls, even when they had not received any form of genital exam.

Ever since Loftus published her first studies on the suggestibility of eyewitness testimony in the 1970s, social scientists, police officers, therapists, and legal practitioners have been aware of the flaws in interview practices. Consequently, steps have been taken to decrease suggestibility of witnesses. One way is to modify how witnesses are questioned. When interviewers use neutral and less leading language, children more accurately recall what happened and who was involved (Goodman, 2006; Pipe, 1996; Pipe, Lamb, Orbach, & Esplin, 2004). Another change is in how police lineups are conducted. It’s recommended that a blind photo lineup be used. This way the person administering the lineup doesn’t know which photo belongs to the suspect, minimizing the possibility of giving leading cues. Additionally, judges in some states now inform jurors about the possibility of misidentification. Judges can also suppress eyewitness testimony if they deem it unreliable.

More on False Memories

In early false memory studies, undergraduate subjects’ family members were recruited to provide events from the students’ lives. The student subjects were told that the researchers had talked to their family members and learned about four different events from their childhoods. The researchers asked if the now undergraduate students remembered each of these four events—introduced via short hints. The subjects were asked to write

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

construction:construction: formulation of new memories

false memory syndrome:false memory syndrome: recall of false autobiographical memories

misattribution:misattribution: memory error in which you confuse the source of your information

misinformation effect paradigm:misinformation effect paradigm: after exposure to incorrect information, a person may misremember the original event

reconstruction:reconstruction: process of bringing up old memories that might be distorted by new information

suggestibility:suggestibility: effects of misinformation from external sources that leads to the creation of false memories

about each of the four events in a booklet and then were interviewed two separate times. The trick was that one of the events came from the researchers rather than the family (and the family had actually assured the researchers that this event had not happened to the subject). In the first such study, this researcher-introduced event was a story about being lost in a shopping mall and rescued by an older adult. In this study, after just being asked whether they remembered these events occurring on three separate occasions, a quarter of subjects came to believe that they had indeed been lost in the mall (Loftus & Pickrell, 1995). In subsequent studies, similar procedures were used to get subjects to believe that they nearly drowned and had been rescued by a lifeguard, or that they had spilled punch on the bride’s parents at a family wedding, or that they had been attacked by a vicious animal as a child, among other events (Heaps & Nash, 1999; Hyman, Husband, & Billings, 1995; Porter, Yuille, & Lehman, 1999).

More recent false memory studies have used a variety of different manipulations to produce false memories in substantial minorities and even occasional majorities of manipulated subjects (Braun, Ellis, & Loftus, 2002; Lindsay, Hagen, Read, Wade, & Garry, 2004; Mazzoni, Loftus, Seitz, & Lynn, 1999; Seamon, Philbin, & Harrison, 2006; Wade, Garry, Read, & Lindsay, 2002). For example, one group of researchers used a mock-advertising study, wherein subjects were asked to review (fake) advertisements for Disney vacations, to convince subjects that they had once met the character Bugs Bunny at Disneyland—an impossible false memory because Bugs is a Warner Brothers character (Braun et al., 2002). Another group of researchers photoshopped childhood photographs of their subjects into a hot air balloon picture and then asked the subjects to try to remember and describe their hot air balloon experience (Wade et al., 2002). Other researchers gave subjects unmanipulated class photographs from their childhoods along with a fake story about a class prank, and thus enhanced the likelihood that subjects would falsely remember the prank (Lindsay et al., 2004).

Using a false feedback manipulation, we have been able to persuade subjects to falsely remember having a variety of childhood experiences. In these studies, subjects are told (falsely) that a powerful computer system has analyzed questionnaires that they completed previously and has concluded that they had a particular experience years earlier. Subjects apparently believe what the computer says about them and adjust their memories to match this new information. A variety of different false memories have been implanted in this way. In some studies, subjects are told they once got sick on a particular food (Bernstein, Laney, Morris, & Loftus, 2005). These memories can then spill out into other aspects of subjects’ lives, such that they often become less interested in eating that food in the future (Bernstein & Loftus, 2009b). Other false memories implanted with this methodology include having an unpleasant experience with the character Pluto at Disneyland and witnessing physical violence between one’s parents (Berkowitz, Laney, Morris, Garry, & Loftus, 2008; Laney & Loftus, 2008).

Importantly, once these false memories are implanted—whether through complex methods or simple ones—it is extremely difficult to tell them apart from true memories (Bernstein & Loftus, 2009a; Laney & Loftus, 2008).

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Jurors place a lot of weight on eyewitness testimony. Imagine you are an attorney representing a defendant who is accused of robbing a convenience store. Several eyewitnesses have been called to testify against your client. What would you tell the jurors about the reliability of eyewitness testimony?

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=2273

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Problems with Memory. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:I97J3Te3@7/Problems-with-Memory. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

• False Memories and more on the Misinformation Effect. Authored byAuthored by: Cara Laney and Elizabeth F. Loftus . Provided byProvided by: Reed College, University of California, Irvine. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/textbooks/wendy- king-introduction-to-psychology-the-full-noba-collection/modules/eyewitness-testimony-and-memory-biases. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• The Misinformation Effect. Authored byAuthored by: Eureka Foong. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMPIWkFtd88. LicenseLicense: Other. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

WAYS TO ENHANCE MEMORY

What you’ll learn to do: recognize and apply memory-enhancing strategies

Figure 1. In some ways memory is like file drawers where you store mental information. Memory is also a series of processes:

how does that information get filed to begin with and how does it get retrieved when needed? [Photo: Jason Carpenter]

In 2013, Simon Reinhard sat in front of 60 people in a room at Washington University, where he memorized an increasingly long series of digits. On the first round, a computer generated 10 random digits—6 1 9 4 8 5 6 3 7 1—on a screen for 10 seconds. After the series disappeared, Simon typed them into his computer. His

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Try this fun activity that employs a memory-enhancing strategy.

recollection was perfect. In the next phase, 20 digits appeared on the screen for 20 seconds. Again, Simon got them all correct. No one in the audience (mostly professors, graduate students, and undergraduate students) could recall the 20 digits perfectly. Then came 30 digits, studied for 30 seconds; once again, Simon didn’t misplace even a single digit. For a final trial, 50 digits appeared on the screen for 50 seconds, and again, Simon got them all right. In fact, Simon would have been happy to keep going. His record in this task—called “forward digit span”—is 240 digits!

When most of us witness a performance like that of Simon Reinhard, we think one of two things: First, maybe he’s cheating somehow. (No, he is not.) Second, Simon must have abilities more advanced than the rest of humankind. After all, psychologists established many years ago that the normal memory span for adults is about 7 digits, with some of us able to recall a few more and others a few less (Miller, 1956). That is why the first phone numbers were limited to 7 digits—psychologists determined that many errors occurred (costing the phone company money) when the number was increased to even 8 digits. But in normal testing, no one gets 50 digits correct in a row, much less 240. So, does Simon Reinhard simply have a photographic memory? He does not. Instead, Simon has taught himself simple strategies for remembering that have greatly increased his capacity for remembering virtually any type of material—digits, words, faces and names, poetry, historical dates, and so on. Twelve years earlier, before he started training his memory abilities, he had a digit span of 7, just like most of us. Simon has been training his abilities for about 10 years as of this writing, and has risen to be in the top two of “memory athletes.” In 2012, he came in second place in the World Memory Championships (composed of 11 tasks), held in London. He currently ranks second in the world, behind another German competitor, Johannes Mallow. In this section, we will explain the general principles by which you can improve your own memory.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Recognize and apply memory-enhancing strategies, including mnemonics, rehearsal, chunking, and peg-words

Most of us suffer from memory failures of one kind or another, and most of us would like to improve our memories so that we don’t forget where we put the car keys or, more importantly, the material we need to know for an exam. In this section, we’ll look at some ways to help you remember better, and at some strategies for more effective studying.

Memory-Enhancing Strategies

What are some everyday ways we can improve our memory, including recall? To help make sure information goes from short-term memory to long-term memory, you can use memory-enhancing strategiesmemory-enhancing strategies. One strategy is rehearsalrehearsal, or the conscious repetition of information to be remembered (Craik & Watkins, 1973). Think about how you learned your multiplication tables as a child. You may recall that 6 x 6 = 36, 6 x 7 = 42, and 6 x 8 = 48. Memorizing these facts is rehearsal.

Another strategy is chunkingchunking: you organize information into manageable bits or chunks (Bodie, Powers, & Fitch- Hauser, 2006). Chunking is useful when trying to remember information like dates and phone numbers. Instead of trying to remember 5205550467, you remember the number as 520-555-0467. So, if you met an interesting person at a party and you wanted to remember his phone number, you would naturally chunk it, and you could repeat the number over and over, which is the rehearsal strategy.

You could also enhance memory by using elaborative rehearsalelaborative rehearsal: a technique in which you think about the meaning of the new information and its relation to knowledge already stored in your memory (Tigner, 1999). For example, in this case, you could remember that 520 is an area code for Arizona and the person you met is from

Figure 2. This is a knuckle mnemonic to help you remember the number of days in each month. Months with 31 days are

represented by the protruding knuckles and shorter months fall in the spots between knuckles. (credit: modification of work by

Cory Zanker)

Arizona. This would help you better remember the 520 prefix. If the information is retained, it goes into long-term memory.

Mnemonic devicesMnemonic devices are memory aids that help us organize information for encoding (Figure 2). They are especially useful when we want to recall larger bits of information such as steps, stages, phases, and parts of a system (Bellezza, 1981). Brian needs to learn the order of the planets in the solar system, but he’s having a hard time remembering the correct order. His friend Kelly suggests a mnemonic device that can help him remember. Kelly tells Brian to simply remember the name Mr. VEM J. SUN, and he can easily recall the correct order of the planets: MMercury, VVenus, EEarth, MMars, JJupiter, SSaturn, UUranus, and NNeptune. You might use a mnemonic device to help you remember someone’s name, a mathematical formula, or the seven levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.

If you have ever watched the television show Modern Family, you might have seen Phil Dunphy explain how he remembers names:

The other day I met this guy named Carl. Now, I might forget that name, but he was wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt. What’s a band like the Grateful Dead? Phish. Where do fish live? The ocean. What else lives in the ocean? Coral. Hello, Co-arl. (Wrubel & Spiller, 2010)

It seems the more vivid or unusual the mnemonic, the easier it is to remember. The key to using any mnemonic successfully is to find a strategy that works for you.

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this fascinating TED Talk titled “Feats of Memory Anyone Can Do.” The lecture is given by Joshua Foer, a science writer who “accidentally” won the U. S. Memory Championships. He explains a mnemonic device called the memory palace.

Some other strategies that are used to improve memory include expressive writing and saying words aloud. Expressive writing helps boost your short-term memory, particularly if you write about a traumatic experience in your life. Masao Yogo and Shuji Fujihara (2008) had participants write for 20-minute intervals several times per month. The participants were instructed to write about a traumatic experience, their best possible future selves, or a trivial topic. The researchers found that this simple writing task increased short-term memory capacity after five weeks, but only for the participants who wrote about traumatic experiences. Psychologists can’t explain why this writing task works, but it does.

What if you want to remember items you need to pick up at the store? Simply say them out loud to yourself. A series of studies (MacLeod, Gopie, Hourihan, Neary, & Ozubko, 2010) found that saying a word out loud improves your memory for the word because it increases the word’s distinctiveness. Feel silly, saying random grocery items aloud? This technique works equally well if you just mouth the words. Using these techniques increased participants’ memory for the words by more than 10%. These techniques can also be used to help you study.

Using Peg-Words

Consider the case of Simon Reinhard. In 2013, he sat in front of 60 people in a room at Washington University, where he memorized an increasingly long series of digits. On the first round, a computer generated 10 random digits—6 1 9 4 8 5 6 3 7 1—on a screen for 10 seconds. After the series disappeared, Simon typed them into his computer. His recollection was perfect. In the next phase, 20 digits appeared on the screen for 20 seconds. Again, Simon got them all correct. No one in the audience (mostly professors, graduate students, and undergraduate students) could recall the 20 digits perfectly. Then came 30 digits, studied for 30 seconds; once again, Simon didn’t misplace even a single digit. For a final trial, 50 digits appeared on the screen for 50 seconds, and again, Simon got them all right. In fact, Simon would have been happy to keep going. His record in this task—called “forward digit span”—is 240 digits!

Simon Reinhard’s ability to memorize huge numbers of digits. Although it was not obvious, Simon Reinhard used deliberate mnemonic devices to improve his memory. In a typical case, the person learns a set of cues and then applies these cues to learn and remember information. Consider the set of 20 items below that are easy to learn and remember (Bower & Reitman, 1972).

1. is a gun. 11 is penny-one, hot dog bun. 2. is a shoe. 12 is penny-two, airplane glue. 3. is a tree. 13 is penny-three, bumble bee. 4. is a door. 14 is penny-four, grocery store. 5. is knives. 15 is penny-five, big beehive. 6. is sticks. 16 is penny-six, magic tricks. 7. is oven. 17 is penny-seven, go to heaven. 8. is plate. 18 is penny-eight, golden gate. 9. is wine. 19 is penny-nine, ball of twine.

10. is hen. 20 is penny-ten, ballpoint pen.

It would probably take you less than 10 minutes to learn this list and practice recalling it several times (remember to use retrieval practice!). If you were to do so, you would have a set of peg words on which you could “hang” memories. In fact, this mnemonic device is called the peg word technique. If you then needed to remember some discrete items—say a grocery list, or points you wanted to make in a speech—this method would let you do so in a very precise yet flexible way. Suppose you had to remember bread, peanut butter, bananas, lettuce, and so on. The way to use the method is to form a vivid image of what you want to remember and imagine it interacting with your peg words (as many as you need). For example, for these items, you might imagine a large gun (the first peg word) shooting a loaf of bread, then a jar of peanut butter inside a shoe, then large bunches of bananas hanging

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=244

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=244

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=244

TRY ITTRY IT

from a tree, then a door slamming on a head of lettuce with leaves flying everywhere. The idea is to provide good, distinctive cues (the weirder the better!) for the information you need to remember while you are learning it. If you do this, then retrieving it later is relatively easy. You know your cues perfectly (one is gun, etc.), so you simply go through your cue word list and “look” in your mind’s eye at the image stored there (bread, in this case).

This peg word method may sound strange at first, but it works quite well, even with little training (Roediger, 1980). One word of warning, though, is that the items to be remembered need to be presented relatively slowly at first, until you have practice associating each with its cue word. People get faster with time. Another interesting aspect of this technique is that it’s just as easy to recall the items in backwards order as forwards. This is because the peg words provide direct access to the memorized items, regardless of order.

How did Simon Reinhard remember those digits? Essentially he has a much more complex system based on these same principles. In his case, he uses “memory palaces” (elaborate scenes with discrete places) combined with huge sets of images for digits. For example, imagine mentally walking through the home where you grew up and identifying as many distinct areas and objects as possible. Simon has hundreds of such memory palaces that he uses. Next, for remembering digits, he has memorized a set of 10,000 images. Every four-digit number for him immediately brings forth a mental image. So, for example, 6187 might recall Michael Jackson. When Simon hears all the numbers coming at him, he places an image for every four digits into locations in his memory palace. He can do this at an incredibly rapid rate, faster than 4 digits per 4 seconds when they are flashed visually, as in the demonstration at the beginning of the module. As noted, his record is 240 digits, recalled in exact order. Simon also holds the world record in an event called “speed cards,” which involves memorizing the precise order of a shuffled deck of cards. Simon was able to do this in 21.19 seconds! Again, he uses his memory palaces, and he encodes groups of cards as single images.

How to Study Effectively

Based on the information presented in this chapter, here are some strategies and suggestions to help you hone your study techniques (Figure 3). The key with any of these strategies is to figure out what works best for you.

Figure 3. Memory techniques can be useful when studying for class. (credit: Barry Pousman)

• Use elaborative rehearsalUse elaborative rehearsal: In a famous article, Craik and Lockhart (1972) discussed their belief that information we process more deeply goes into long-term memory. Their theory is called levels oflevels of processingprocessing. If we want to remember a piece of information, we should think about it more deeply and link it to other information and memories to make it more meaningful. For example, if we are trying to remember that the hippocampus is involved with memory processing, we might envision a hippopotamus with excellent memory and then we could better remember the hippocampus.

• Apply the self-reference effectApply the self-reference effect: As you go through the process of elaborative rehearsal, it would be even more beneficial to make the material you are trying to memorize personally meaningful to you. In other words, make use of the self-reference effect. Write notes in your own words. Write definitions from the text, and then rewrite them in your own words. Relate the material to something you have already learned for another class, or think how you can apply the concepts to your own life. When you do this, you are building a web of retrieval cues that will help you access the material when you want to remember it.

• Don’t forget the forgetting curveDon’t forget the forgetting curve: As you know, the information you learn drops off rapidly with time. Even if you think you know the material, study it again right before test time to increase the likelihood the information will remain in your memory. Overlearning can help prevent storage decay.

• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearseRehearse, rehearse, rehearse: Review the material over time, in spaced and organized study sessions. Organize and study your notes, and take practice quizzes/exams. Link the new information to other information you already know well.

• Be aware of interferenceBe aware of interference: To reduce the likelihood of interference, study during a quiet time without interruptions or distractions (like television or music).

• Keep movingKeep moving: Of course you already know that exercise is good for your body, but did you also know it’s also good for your mind? Research suggests that regular aerobic exercise (anything that gets your heart rate elevated) is beneficial for memory (van Praag, 2008). Aerobic exercise promotes neurogenesis: the

MEMORY TESTSMEMORY TESTS

Apply some of the memory techniques you learned about by completing the memory exercises below:

Go to http://garyfisk.com/anim/lecture_stm.swf. Do the demonstration.

• How many digits were you able to remember without messing up at all? • How many digits did you remember out of the last sequence?

Go to the Faces Memory Challenge found here: http://experiments.wustl.edu/

• How did you do? • Is it easier for you to remember faces or numbers? Why?

Go to https://www.exploratorium.edu/memory/dont_forget/index.html. Play the memory solitaire game. Then play game #2: Tell Yourself a Story.

• Did your memory improve the second time? Why or why not?

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=244

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=244

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=244

TRY ITTRY IT

growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus, an area of the brain known to play a role in memory and learning.

• Get enough sleepGet enough sleep: While you are sleeping, your brain is still at work. During sleep the brain organizes and consolidates information to be stored in long-term memory (Abel & Bäuml, 2013).

• Make use of mnemonic devicesMake use of mnemonic devices: As you learned earlier in this chapter, mnemonic devices often help us to remember and recall information. There are different types of mnemonic devices, such as the acronym. An acronym is a word formed by the first letter of each of the words you want to remember. For example, even if you live near one, you might have difficulty recalling the names of all five Great Lakes. What if I told you to think of the word Homes? HOMES is an acronym that represents Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior: the five Great Lakes. Another type of mnemonic device is an acrostic: you make a phrase of all the first letters of the words. For example, if you are taking a math test and you are having difficulty remembering the order of operations, recalling the following sentence will help you: “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally,” because the order of mathematical operations is Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction. There also are jingles, which are rhyming tunes that contain key words related to the concept, such as i before e, except after c.

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

chunking:chunking: organizing information into manageable bits or chunks elaborative rehearsal:elaborative rehearsal: thinking about the meaning of the new information and its relation to knowledge already stored in your memory levels of processing:levels of processing: information that is thought of more deeply becomes more meaningful and thus better committed to memory memory-enhancing strategy:memory-enhancing strategy: technique to help make sure information goes from short-term memory to long- term memory mnemonic device:mnemonic device: memory aids that help organize information for encoding

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=244

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

• Create a mnemonic device to help you remember a term or concept from this module. • What is an effective study technique that you have used? How is it similar to/different from the

strategies suggested in this module?

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and addition of memory tests. Located atLocated at: http://Lumen%20Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Ways to Enhance Memory. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:FI0Dk4wx@5/Ways-to-Enhance-Memory. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/.

• Memory (Encoding, Storage, Retrieval) and The Peg-Word System. Authored byAuthored by: Kathleen B. McDermott and Henry L. Roediger III . Provided byProvided by: Washington University in St. Louis. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/ textbooks/wendy-king-introduction-to-psychology-the-full-noba-collection/modules/memory-encoding-storage-retrieval. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

PUTTING IT TOGETHER: MEMORY

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

In this module, you learned to

• explain the process of memory • explain and give examples of forgetting and memory failure • recognize and apply memory-enhancing strategies

Memory is the set of processes used to encode, store, and retrieve information over different periods of time. Interestingly, our memory is prone to errors and we sometimes remember things that never happened, misconstrue things that did, and forget things we shouldn’t.

More and more memory researchers are digging deeper to better understand the place where memories are stored in the brain, also known as engrams. Fascinating new studies delve into memory reconsolidation, in which researchers more or less re-train a memory so that subjects no longer have the same memory trace. You can

Figure 1. Studies show that forced recall, or testing, has a

significant impact on remembering information a week

later.

imagine the applications of this in helping someone with a phobia or post-traumatic stress disorder, for example, in reducing the efficacy of their fear memory.

Memory is important to our daily functioning and well-being, and it is of particular interest for students (like yourself!) because there is a lot to be remembered and little time to learn it all. You read about Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve and memory decay and discovered some techniques to counteract forgetfulness, such as using mnemonics, chunking, the peg-word system, and elaborative rehearsal. A 2008 study sought to determine which type of studying is most effective in learning new words and concepts. The study, by Jeffrey D. Karpicke and Henry L. Roediger III, had students learn forty pairs of Swahili words and their meanings in English. After learning all forty words one time through, they were split into 4 groups for the rest of the learning phase:

1. A group that studied all 40 words and got tested on all 40 words

2. A group that studied only the words they didn’t know already, then were tested on all 40 words

3. A group that studied all 40 words, but were tested only on the words they didn’t know 4. A group that studied only the words they didn’t know already, then were tested on only the words they

didn’t know already

Which way would be your preferred method for learning the new words? Do you ever study this way? A common study technique is to practice with flashcards, then put away the words you already know (similar to groups 2 or 4). Which group do you think learned the words the best a week later? It turns out that when tested one week later, both the first and second groups remembered about 80% of the words, while the third and fourth groups (that were tested only on the words they didn’t already know) only remembered about 35% of the words. This is a significant difference! This study demonstrated the importance of testing and the importance of retrieval practice in learning. This is why you may not want to complain too much if your instructor gives you a pop quiz, and also why it’s a good idea to force yourself to recall information and quiz yourself on the things you learn. (Note: Karpicke, J. D., & Roedinger, H. L., III. (n.d.). The Critical Importance of Retrieval for Learning. Science, 319, 966-968. doi:10.1126/science.1152408)

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Putting It Together: Memory. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Flashcards. Authored byAuthored by: Jonathon Trumball. Provided byProvided by: Flicrk. Located atLocated at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathantrumbull/49841444. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

DISCUSSION: MEMORY

Explaining Memory

STEP 1STEP 1: In the discussion, write a post responding to bothboth of the following prompts:

1. Think of something you’ve learned so far in this course. Use one of the mnemonics or memory tricks you learned about in this module to help you remember a psychological concept. Explain your memory aid in a sentence or two.

2. In at least 100 words, describe one of your earliest childhood memories and explain it in the context of what you learned in this module. How was it encoded, stored, and retrieved, and has it fallen prey to any memory failure?

STEP 2STEP 2: Thoughtfully respond to a minimum of TWO other posts in at least 75 words.

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Discussion: Memory. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

MODULE 8: THINKING, LANGUAGE, AND INTELLIGENCE

WHY IT MATTERS: THINKING AND INTELLIGENCE

Thinking is an important part of our human experience, and one that has captivated people for centuries. Today, it is one area of

psychological study. The 19th-century Girl with a Book by José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior, the 20th-century sculpture The Thinker

by August Rodin, and Shi Ke’s 10th-century painting Huike Thinking all reflect the fascination with the process of human thought.

(credit “middle”: modification of work by Jason Rogers; credit “right”: modification of work by Tang Zu-Ming)

Why is it so difficult to break habits—like reaching for your ringing phone even when you shouldn’t, such as when you’re driving? How does a person who has never seen or touched snow in real life develop an understanding of the concept of snow? How do young children acquire the ability to learn language with no formal instruction? Psychologists who study thinking explore questions like these.

Cognitive psychologists also study intelligence. What is intelligence, and how does it vary from person to person? Are “street smarts” a kind of intelligence, and if so, how do they relate to other types of intelligence? What does an IQ test really measure? These questions and more will be explored in this module as you study thinking and intelligence.

As a part of this discussion, we will consider thinking and briefly explore the development and use of language. We will also discuss problem solving and creativity, intelligence testing, and how our biology and environments interact to affect intelligence. After finishing this module, you will have a greater appreciation of the higher-level cognitive processes that contribute to our distinctiveness as a species. AnswerAnswer

Abler, W. (2013). Sapir, Harris, and Chomsky in the twentieth century. Cognitive Critique, 7, 29–48.

American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. (2013). Definition of intellectual disability. Retrieved from http://aaidd.org/intellectual-disability/definition#.UmkR2xD2Bh4

American Psychological Association. (2013). In Diagnostic and statistical manual of psychological disorders (5th ed., pp. 34–36). Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association.

Aronson, E. (Ed.). (1995). Social cognition. In The social animal (p. 151). New York: W.H. Freeman and Company.

Atkins v. Virginia, 00-8452 (2002).

Bartels, M., Rietveld, M., Van Baal, G., & Boomsma, D. I. (2002). Genetic and environmental influences on the development of intelligence. Behavior Genetics, 32(4), 237–238.

Bartlett, F. C. (1932). Remembering: A study in experimental and social psychology. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Bayer, J. B., & Campbell, S. W. (2012). Texting while driving on automatic: Considering the frequency- independent side of habit. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 2083–2090.

Barton, S. M. (2003). Classroom accommodations for students with dyslexia. Learning Disabilities Journal, 13, 10–14.

Berlin, B., & Kay, P. (1969). Basic color terms: Their universality and evolution. Berkley: University of California Press.

Berninger, V. W. (2008). Defining and differentiating dysgraphia, dyslexia, and language learning disability within a working memory model. In M. Mody & E. R. Silliman (Eds.), Brain, behavior, and learning in language and reading disorders (pp. 103–134). New York: The Guilford Press.

Blossom, M., & Morgan, J. L. (2006). Does the face say what the mouth says? A study of infants’ sensitivity to visual prosody. In the 30th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, Somerville, MA.

Boake, C. (2002, May 24). From the Binet-Simon to the Wechsler-Bellevue: Tracing the history of intelligence testing. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 24(3), 383–405.

Boroditsky, L. (2001). Does language shape thought? Mandarin and English speakers’ conceptions of time. Cognitive Psychology, 43, 1–22.

Boroditsky, L. (2011, February). How language shapes thought. Scientific American, 63–65.Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

Bouchard, T. J., Lykken, D. T., McGue, M., Segal, N. L., & Tellegen, A. (1990). Sources of human psychological differences: The Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart. Science, 250, 223–228.

Cairns Regional Council. (n.d.). Cultural greetings. Retrieved from http://www.cairns.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/ pdf_file/0007/8953/CulturalGreetingExercise.pdf

Callero, P. L. (1994). From role-playing to role-using: Understanding role as resource. Social Psychology Quarterly, 57, 228–243.

Cattell, R. (1963). Theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence: A critical experiment. Journal of Educational Psychology, 54(1), 1–22.

Cianciolo, A. T., & Sternberg, R. J. (2004). Intelligence: A brief history. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Chomsky, N.(1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

Corballis, M. C., & Suddendorf, T. (2007). Memory, time, and language. In C. Pasternak (Ed.), What makes us human (pp. 17–36). Oxford, UK: Oneworld Publications.

Constitutional Rights Foundation. (2013). Gandhi and civil disobedience. Retrieved from http://www.crf-usa.org/ black-history-month/gandhi-and-civil-disobedience

Cropley, A. (2006). In praise of convergent thinking. Creativity Research Journal, 18(3), 391–404.

Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Csikszentmihalyi, I. (1993). Family influences on the development of giftedness. Ciba Foundation Symposium, 178, 187–206.

Curtiss, S. (1981). Dissociations between language and cognition: Cases and implications. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 11(1), 15–30.

Cyclopedia of Puzzles. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.mathpuzzle.com/loyd/

Dates and Events. (n.d.). Oprah Winfrey timeline. Retrieved from http://www.datesandevents.org/people- timelines/05-oprah-winfrey-timeline.htm

Fernández, E. M., & Cairns, H. S. (2011). Fundamentals of psycholinguistics. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Flanagan, D., & Kaufman, A. (2004). Essentials of WISC-IV assessment. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Flynn, J., Shaughnessy, M. F., & Fulgham, S. W. (2012) Interview with Jim Flynn about the Flynn effect. North American Journal of Psychology, 14(1), 25–38.

Fox, M. (2012, November 1). Arthur R. Jensen dies at 89; Set off debate about I.Q. New York Times, p. B15.

Fromkin, V., Krashen, S., Curtiss, S., Rigler, D., & Rigler, M. (1974). The development of language in Genie: A case of language acquisition beyond the critical period. Brain and Language, 1, 81–107.

Furnham, A. (2009). The validity of a new, self-report measure of multiple intelligence. Current Psychology: A Journal for Diverse Perspectives on Diverse Psychological Issues, 28, 225–239.

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

Gardner, H., & Moran, S. (2006). The science of multiple intelligences theory: A response to Lynn Waterhouse. Educational Psychologist, 41, 227–232.

German, T. P., & Barrett, H. C. (2005). Functional fixedness in a technologically sparse culture. Psychological Science, 16, 1–5.

Goad, B. (2013, January 25). SSA wants to stop calling people ‘mentally retarded.’ Retrieved from http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/pending-regs/279399-ssa-wants-to-stop-calling-people-mentally-retarded

Goldstone, R. L., & Kersten, A. (2003). Concepts and categorization. In A. F. Healy, R. W. Proctor, & I.B. Weiner (Eds.), Handbook of psychology (Volume IV, pp. 599–622). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence; Why it can matter more than IQ. New York: Bantam Books.

Gordon, O. E. (1995). Francis Galton (1822–1911). Retrieved from http://www.psych.utah.edu/gordon/Classes/ Psy4905Docs/PsychHistory/Cards/Galton.html

Gresham, F. M., & Witt, J. C. (1997). Utility of intelligence tests for treatment planning, classification, and placement decisions: Recent empirical findings and future directions. School Psychology Quarterly, 12(3), 249–267.

Guilford, J. P. (1967). The nature of human intelligence. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Heaton, S. (2004). Making the switch: Unlocking the mystery of the WISC-IV. Case Conference. University of Florida.

Jensen, J. (2011). Phoneme acquisition: Infants and second language learners. The Language Teacher, 35(6), 24–28.

Johnson, J. S., & Newport, E. L. (1989). Critical period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognitive Psychology, 21, 60–99.

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Kishyama, M. M., Boyce, W. T., Jimenez, A. M., Perry, L. M., & Knight, R. T. (2009). Socioeconomic disparities affect prefrontal function in children. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21(6), 1106–1115.

Klein, P. D. (1997). Multiplying the problems of intelligence by eight: A critique of Gardner’s theory. Canadian Journal of Education, 22, 377-94.

Larry P v. Riles, C-71-2270 RFP. (1979).

Lenneberg, E. (1967). Biological foundations of language. New York: Wiley.

Liptak, A. (2008, January 19). Lawyer reveals secret, toppling death sentence. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/19/us/19death.html?_r=0

Locke, E. A. (2005, April 14). Why emotional intelligence is an invalid concept. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26, 425–431.

Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. (2004). Emotional intelligence: Theory, findings, and implications, Psychological Inquiry, 15(3), 197–215.

Modgil, S., & Routledge, C. M. (Eds.). (1987). Arthur Jensen: Consensus and controversy. New York: Falmer Press.

Morgan, H. (1996). An analysis of Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence. Roeper Review: A Journal on Gifted Education, 18, 263–269.

Moskowitz, B. A. (1978). The acquisition of language. Scientific American, 239, 92–108. Petitto, L. A., Holowka, S., Sergio, L. E., Levy, B., & Ostry, D. J. (2004). Baby hands that move to the rhythm of language: Hearing babies acquiring sign languages babble silently on the hands. Cognition, 93, 43–73.

Neyfakh, L. (2013, October 7). “Why you can’t stop checking your phone.” Retrieved from http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2013/10/06/why-you-can-stop-checking-your-phone/ rrBJzyBGDAr1YlEH5JQDcM/story.html

Parker, J. D., Saklofske, D. H., & Stough, C. (Eds.). (2009). Assessing emotional intelligence: Theory, research, and applications. New York: Springer.

Petitto, L. A., Holowka, S., Sergio, L. E., Levy, B., & Ostry, D. J. (2004). Baby hands that move to the rhythm of language: Hearing babies acquiring sign languages babble silently on the hands. Cognition, 93, 43–73.

Pickens, J. (1994). Full-term and preterm infants’ perception of face-voice synchrony. Infant Behavior and Development, 17, 447–455.

Pratkanis, A. (1989). The cognitive representation of attitudes. In A. R. Pratkanis, S. J. Breckler, & A. G. Greenwald (Eds.), Attitude structure and function (pp. 71–98). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Regier, T., & Kay, P. (2009). Language, thought, and color: Whorf was half right. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(10), 439–446.

Riccio, C. A., Gonzales, J. J., & Hynd, G. W. (1994). Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and learning disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 17, 311–322.

Richardson, K. (2002). What IQ tests test. Theory & Psychology, 12(3), 283–314.

Roberts, D. (2014, May 27). U.S. Supreme Court bars Florida from using IQ score cutoff for executions. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/27/us-supreme-court-iq-score-cutoff- florida-execution

Rushton, J. P., & Jensen, A. R. (2005). Thirty years of research on race differences in cognitive ability. Psychology, public policy, and law, 11(2), 235–294.

Rymer, R. (1993). Genie: A Scientific Tragedy. New York: Harper Collins.

Sapir, E. (1964). Culture, language, and personality. Berkley: University of California Press. (Original work published 1941)

Schlinger, H. D. (2003). The myth of intelligence. The Psychological Record, 53(1), 15–32.

Severson, K. (2011, December 9). Thousands sterilized, a state weighs restitution. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/us/redress-weighed-for-forced-sterilizations-in-north- carolina.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Singleton, D. M. (1995). Introduction: A critical look at the critical period hypothesis in second language acquisition research. In D.M. Singleton & Z. Lengyel (Eds.), The age factor in second language acquisition: A critical look at the critical period hypothesis in second language acquisition research (pp. 1–29). Avon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. Acton, MA: Copley Publishing Group.

Smits-Engelsman, B. C. M., & Van Galen, G. P. (1997). Dysgraphia in children: Lasting psychomotor deficiency or transient developmental delay? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 67, 164–184.

Spelke, E. S., & Cortelyou, A. (1981). Perceptual aspects of social knowing: Looking and listening in infancy. In M.E. Lamb & L.R. Sherrod (Eds.), Infant social cognition: Empirical and theoretical considerations (pp. 61–83). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Steitz, T. (2010). Thomas A. Steitz – Biographical. (K. Grandin, Ed.) Retrieved from http://www.nobelprize.org/ nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2009/steitz-bio.html

Sternberg, R. J. (1988). The triarchic mind: A new theory of intelligence. New York: Viking-Penguin.

Terman, L. M. (1925). Mental and physical traits of a thousand gifted children (I). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Terman, L. M., & Oden, M. H. (1947). The gifted child grows up: 25 years’ follow-up of a superior group: Genetic studies of genius (Vol. 4). Standord, CA: Stanford University Press.

Terman, L. M. (1916). The measurement of intelligence. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.

Tomasello, M., & Rakoczy, H. (2003). What makes human cognition unique? From individual to shared to collective intentionality. Mind & Language, 18(2), 121–147.

Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185(4157), 1124–1131.

van Troyer, G. (1994). Linguistic determinism and mutability: The Sapir-Whorf “hypothesis” and intercultural communication. JALT Journal, 2, 163–178.

Wechsler, D. (1958). The measurement of adult intelligence. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.

Wechsler, D. (1981). Manual for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—revised. New York: Psychological Corporation.

Wechsler, D. (2002 ). WPPSI-R manual. New York: Psychological Corporation.

Werker, J. F., & Lalonde, C. E. (1988). Cross-language speech perception: Initial capabilities and developmental change. Developmental Psychology, 24, 672–683.

Werker, J. F., & Tees, R. C. (1984). Cross-language speech perception: Evidence for perceptual reorganization during the first year of life. Infant Behavior and Development, 7, 49–63.

Whorf, B. L. (1956). Language, thought and relativity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Williams, R. L., (1970). Danger: Testing and dehumanizing black children. Clinical Child Psychology Newsletter, 9(1), 5–6.

Zwicker, J. G. (2005). Effectiveness of occupational therapy in remediating handwriting difficulties in primary students: Cognitive versus multisensory interventions. Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada). Retrieved from http://dspace.library.uvic.ca:8080/bitstream/handle/1828/49/ Zwicker%20thesis.pdf?sequence=1

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• Introduction to Thinking and Intelligence. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:3DT0XBfK@4/Introduction. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11629/latest/.

WHAT IS COGNITION?

What you’ll learn to do: describe cognition and problem-solving strategies

Imagine all of your thoughts as if they were physical entities, swirling rapidly inside your mind. How is it possible that the brain is able to move from one thought to the next in an organized, orderly fashion? The brain is endlessly perceiving, processing, planning, organizing, and remembering—it is always active. Yet, you don’t notice most of your brain’s activity as you move throughout your daily routine. This is only one facet of the complex processes involved in cognition. Simply put, cognition is thinking, and it encompasses the processes associated with perception, knowledge, problem solving, judgment, language, and memory. Scientists who study cognition are searching for ways to understand how we integrate, organize, and utilize our conscious cognitive experiences without being aware of all of the unconscious work that our brains are doing (for example, Kahneman, 2011).

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Distinguish between concepts and prototypes • Explain the difference between natural and artificial concepts

Cognition

Upon waking each morning, you begin thinking—contemplating the tasks that you must complete that day. In what order should you run your errands? Should you go to the bank, the cleaners, or the grocery store first? Can you get these things done before you head to class or will they need to wait until school is done? These thoughts are one example of cognition at work. Exceptionally complex, cognition is an essential feature of human consciousness, yet not all aspects of cognition are consciously experienced. Cognitive psychologyCognitive psychology is the field of psychology dedicated to examining how people think. It attempts to explain how and why we think the way we do by studying the interactions among human thinking, emotion, creativity, language, and problem solving, in addition to other cognitive processes. Cognitive psychologists strive to determine and measure different types of intelligence, why some people are better at problem solving than others, and how emotional intelligence affects success in the workplace, among countless other topics. They also sometimes focus on how we organize thoughts and information gathered from our environments into meaningful categories of thought, which will be discussed later.

Categories and Concepts

A categorycategory a set of objects that can be treated as equivalent in some way. For example, consider the following categories: trucks, wireless devices, weddings, psychopaths, and trout. Although the objects in a given category are different from one another, they have many commonalities. When you know something is a truck, you know quite a bit about it. The psychology of categories concerns how people learn, remember, and use informative categories such as trucks or psychopaths.The mental representations we form of categories are called concepts. There is a category of trucks in the world, and you also have a concept of trucks in your head. We assume that people’s concepts correspond more or less closely to the actual category, but it can be useful to distinguish the two, as when someone’s concept is not really correct.

Concepts and Prototypes

The human nervous system is capable of handling endless streams of information. The senses serve as the interface between the mind and the external environment, receiving stimuli and translating it into nervous impulses that are transmitted to the brain. The brain then processes this information and uses the relevant pieces to create thoughts, which can then be expressed through language or stored in memory for future use. To make this process more complex, the brain does not gather information from external environments only. When thoughts are formed, the brain also pulls information from emotions and memories (Figure 1). Emotion and memory are powerful influences on both our thoughts and behaviors.

Figure 1. Sensations and information are received by our brains, filtered through emotions and memories, and processed to

become thoughts.

In order to organize this staggering amount of information, the brain has developed a file cabinet of sorts in the mind. The different files stored in the file cabinet are called concepts. ConceptsConcepts are categories or groupings of linguistic information, images, ideas, or memories, such as life experiences. Concepts are, in many ways, big ideas that are generated by observing details, and categorizing and combining these details into cognitive structures. You use concepts to see the relationships among the different elements of your experiences and to keep the information in your mind organized and accessible.

Concepts are informed by our semantic memory (you will learn more about this concept when you study memory) and are present in every aspect of our lives; however, one of the easiest places to notice concepts is inside a classroom, where they are discussed explicitly. When you study United States history, for example, you learn about more than just individual events that have happened in America’s past. You absorb a large quantity of information by listening to and participating in discussions, examining maps, and reading first-hand accounts of people’s lives. Your brain analyzes these details and develops an overall understanding of American history. In the process, your brain gathers details that inform and refine your understanding of related concepts like democracy, power, and freedom.

Concepts can be complex and abstract, like justice, or more concrete, like types of birds. In psychology, for example, Piaget’s stages of development are abstract concepts. Some concepts, like tolerance, are agreed upon by many people, because they have been used in various ways over many years. Other concepts, like the characteristics of your ideal friend or your family’s birthday traditions, are personal and individualized. In this way, concepts touch every aspect of our lives, from our many daily routines to the guiding principles behind the way governments function.

Concepts are at the core of intelligent behavior. We expect people to be able to know what to do in new situations and when confronting new objects. If you go into a new classroom and see chairs, a blackboard, a projector, and a screen, you know what these things are and how they will be used. You’ll sit on one of the chairs and expect the instructor to write on the blackboard or project something onto the screen. You do this even if you have never seen any of these particular objects before, because you have concepts of classrooms, chairs, projectors, and so forth, that tell you what they are and what you’re supposed to do with them. Furthermore, if someone tells you a new fact about the projector—for example, that it has a halogen bulb—you are likely to extend this fact to other projectors you encounter. In short, concepts allow you to extend what you have learned about a limited number of objects to a potentially infinite set of entities.

Figure 2. In 1930, Mohandas Gandhi led a group in

peaceful protest against a British tax on salt in India.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=203

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=203

TRY ITTRY IT

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Test how well you can match the computer’s prototype for certain objects by playing the game, “Quick Draw!”

Another technique used by your brain to organize information is the identification of prototypes for the concepts you have developed. A prototypeprototype is the best example or representation of a concept. For example, for the category of civil disobedience, your prototype could be Rosa Parks. Her peaceful resistance to segregation on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, is a recognizable example of civil disobedience. Or your prototype could be Mohandas Gandhi, sometimes called Mahatma Gandhi (“Mahatma” is an honorific title) (Figure 2).

Mohandas Gandhi served as a nonviolent force for independence for India while simultaneously demanding that Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and Christian leaders—both Indian and British—collaborate peacefully. Although he was not always successful in preventing violence around him, his life provides a steadfast example of the civil disobedience prototype (Constitutional Rights Foundation, 2013). Just as concepts can be abstract or concrete, we can make a distinction between concepts that are functions of our direct experience with the world and those that are more artificial in nature.

Natural and Artificial Concepts

In psychology, concepts can be divided into two categories, natural and artificial. Natural conceptsNatural concepts are created “naturally” through your experiences and can be developed from either direct or indirect experiences. For example, if you live in Essex Junction, Vermont, you have probably had a lot of direct experience with snow. You’ve watched it fall from the sky, you’ve seen lightly falling snow that barely covers the windshield of your car, and you’ve shoveled out 18 inches of fluffy white snow as you’ve thought, “This is perfect for skiing.” You’ve thrown snowballs at your best friend and gone sledding down the steepest hill in town. In short, you know snow. You know what it looks like, smells like, tastes like, and feels like. If, however, you’ve lived your whole life on the island of Saint Vincent in the Caribbean, you may never have actually seen snow, much less tasted, smelled, or touched it. You know snow from the indirect experience of seeing pictures of falling snow—or from watching films that feature snow as part of the setting. Either way, snow is a natural concept because you can construct an understanding of it through direct observations or experiences of snow (Figure 3).

Figure 3. (a) Our concept of snow is an example of a natural concept—one that we understand through direct observation and

experience. (b) In contrast, artificial concepts are ones that we know by a specific set of characteristics that they always exhibit,

such as what defines different basic shapes. (credit a: modification of work by Maarten Takens; credit b: modification of work by

“Shayan (USA)”/Flickr)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=203

TRY ITTRY IT

An artificial conceptartificial concept, on the other hand, is a concept that is defined by a specific set of characteristics. Various properties of geometric shapes, like squares and triangles, serve as useful examples of artificial concepts. A triangle always has three angles and three sides. A square always has four equal sides and four right angles. Mathematical formulas, like the equation for area (length × width) are artificial concepts defined by specific sets of characteristics that are always the same. Artificial concepts can enhance the understanding of a topic by building on one another. For example, before learning the concept of “area of a square” (and the formula to find it), you must understand what a square is. Once the concept of “area of a square” is understood, an understanding of area for other geometric shapes can be built upon the original understanding of area. The use of artificial concepts to define an idea is crucial to communicating with others and engaging in complex thought. According to Goldstone and Kersten (2003), concepts act as building blocks and can be connected in countless combinations to create complex thoughts.

Schemata

A schemaschema is a mental construct consisting of a cluster or collection of related concepts (Bartlett, 1932). There are many different types of schemata, and they all have one thing in common: schemata are a method of organizing information that allows the brain to work more efficiently. When a schema is activated, the brain makes immediate assumptions about the person or object being observed.

There are several types of schemata. A role schemarole schema makes assumptions about how individuals in certain roles will behave (Callero, 1994). For example, imagine you meet someone who introduces himself as a firefighter. When this happens, your brain automatically activates the “firefighter schema” and begins making assumptions that this person is brave, selfless, and community-oriented. Despite not knowing this person, already you have unknowingly made judgments about him. Schemata also help you fill in gaps in the information you receive from the world around you. While schemata allow for more efficient information processing, there can be problems with schemata, regardless of whether they are accurate: Perhaps this particular firefighter is not brave, he just works as a firefighter to pay the bills while studying to become a children’s librarian.

An event schemaevent schema, also known as a cognitive scriptcognitive script, is a set of behaviors that can feel like a routine. Think about what you do when you walk into an elevator (Figure 4). First, the doors open and you wait to let exiting

Figure 4. What event schema do you perform when riding

in an elevator? (credit: “Gideon”/Flickr)

Figure 5. Texting while driving is dangerous, but it is a

difficult event schema for some people to resist.

TRY ITTRY IT

passengers leave the elevator car. Then, you step into the elevator and turn around to face the doors, looking for the correct button to push. You never face the back of the elevator, do you? And when you’re riding in a crowded elevator and you can’t face the front, it feels uncomfortable, doesn’t it? Interestingly, event schemata can vary widely among different cultures and countries. For example, while it is quite common for people to greet one another with a handshake in the United States, in Tibet, you greet someone by sticking your tongue out at them, and in Belize, you bump fists (Cairns Regional Council, n.d.)

Because event schemata are automatic, they can be difficult to change. Imagine that you are driving home from work or school. This event schema involves getting in the car, shutting the door, and buckling your seatbelt before putting the key in the ignition. You might perform this script two or three times each day. As you drive home, you hear your phone’s ring tone. Typically, the event schema that occurs when you hear your phone ringing involves locating the phone and answering it or responding to your latest text message. So without thinking, you reach for your phone, which could be in your pocket, in your bag, or on the passenger seat of the car. This powerful event schema is informed by your pattern of behavior and the pleasurable stimulation that a phone call or text message gives your brain. Because it is a schema, it is extremely challenging for us to stop reaching for the phone, even though we know that we endanger our own lives and the lives of others while we do it (Neyfakh, 2013) (Figure 5).

Remember the elevator? It feels almost impossible to walk in and not face the door. Our powerful event schema dictates our behavior in the elevator, and it is no different with our phones. Current research suggests that it is the habit, or event schema, of checking our phones in many different situations that makes refraining from checking them while driving especially difficult (Bayer & Campbell, 2012). Because texting and driving has become a dangerous epidemic in recent years, psychologists are looking at ways to help people interrupt the “phone schema” while driving. Event schemata like these are the reason why many habits are difficult to break once they have been acquired. As we continue to examine thinking, keep in mind how powerful the forces of concepts and schemata are to our understanding of the world.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=203

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=203

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=203

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=203

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this CrashCourse video to see more examples of concepts and prototypes. You’ll also get a preview on other key topics in cognition, including problem-solving strategies like algorithms and heuristics.

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

artificial concept:artificial concept: concept that is defined by a very specific set of characteristics

cognition:cognition: thinking, including perception, learning, problem solving, judgment, and memory

cognitive psychology:cognitive psychology: field of psychology dedicated to studying every aspect of how people think

concept:concept: category or grouping of linguistic information, objects, ideas, or life experiences

cognitive script:cognitive script: set of behaviors that are performed the same way each time; also referred to as an event schema

event schema:event schema: set of behaviors that are performed the same way each time; also referred to as a cognitive script

natural concept:natural concept: mental groupings that are created “naturally” through your experiences

prototypeprototype best representation of a concept:best representation of a concept: role schema:role schema: set of expectations that define the behaviors of a person occupying a particular role

schema:schema: (plural = schemata) mental construct consisting of a cluster or collection of related concepts

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Think about a natural concept that you know fully but that would be difficult for someone else to understand. Why it would be difficult to explain?

Licensing & AttributionsLicensing & Attributions

CC licensed content, OriginalCC licensed content, Original

• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Provided byProvided by: Lumen Learning. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution

CC licensed content, Shared previouslyCC licensed content, Shared previously

• What is Cognition?. Authored byAuthored by: OpenStax College. Located atLocated at: http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:u8MlFxBQ@7/What-Is-Cognition. LicenseLicense: CC BY: Attribution. License TermsLicense Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/ content/col11629/latest/.

• Paragraphs on categories and concepts. Authored byAuthored by: Gregory Murphy. Provided byProvided by: New York University. Located atLocated at: http://nobaproject.com/textbooks/wendy-king-introduction-to-psychology-the-full-noba-collection/ modules/categories-and-concepts. ProjectProject: The Noba Project. LicenseLicense: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

• A Thinking Man Image. Authored byAuthored by: Wesley Nitsckie. Located atLocated at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nitsckie/5507777269. LicenseLicense: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

All rights reserved contentAll rights reserved content

• Cognition: How Your Mind Can Amaze and Betray You – Crash Course Psychology #15. Provided byProvided by: CrashCourse. Located atLocated at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R- sVnmmw6WY&feature=youtu.be&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOPRKzVLY0jJY-uHOH9KVU6. LicenseLicense: All Rights Reserved. License TermsLicense Terms: Standard YouTube License

SOLVING PROBLEMS

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe problem solving strategies, including algorithms and heuristics • Explain some common roadblocks to effective problem solving

People face problems every day—usually, multiple problems throughout the day. Sometimes these problems are straightforward: To double a recipe for pizza dough, for example, all that is required is that each ingredient in the recipe be doubled. Sometimes, however, the problems we encounter are more complex. For example, say you have a work deadline, and you must mail a printed copy of a report to your supervisor by the end of the business day. The report is time-sensitive and must be sent overnight. You finished the report last night, but your printer will not work today. What should you do? First, you need to identify the problem and then apply a strategy for solving the problem.

Problem-Solving Strategies

When you are presented with a problem—whether it is a complex mathematical problem or a broken printer, how do you solve it? Before finding a solution to the problem, the problem must first be clearly identified. After that, one of many problem solving strategies can be applied, hopefully resulting in a solution.

A problem-solving strategyproblem-solving strategy is a plan of action used to find a solution. Different strategies have different action plans associated with them. For example, a well-known strategy is trial and errortrial and error. The old adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” describes trial and error. In terms of your broken printer, you could try checking the ink levels, and if that doesn’t work, you could check to make sure the paper tray isn’t jammed. Or maybe the printer isn’t actually connected to your laptop. When using trial and error, you would continue to try different solutions until you solved your problem. Although trial and error is not typically one of the most time-efficient strategies, it is a commonly used one.

Table 1. Problem-Solving Strategies

MethodMethod DescriptionDescription ExampleExample

Trial and error

Continue trying different solutions until problem is solved

Restarting phone, turning off WiFi, turning off bluetooth in order to determine why your phone is malfunctioning

Algorithm Step-by-step problem-solving formula

Instruction manual for installing new software on your computer

Heuristic General problem-solving framework

Working backwards; breaking a task into steps

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

What problem-solving method could you use to solve Einstein’s famous riddle?

Another type of strategy is an algorithm. An algorithmalgorithm is a problem-solving formula that provides you with step-by- step instructions used to achieve a desired outcome (Kahneman, 2011). You can think of an algorithm as a recipe with highly detailed instructions that produce the same result every time they are performed. Algorithms are used frequently in our everyday lives, especially in computer science. When you run a search on the Internet, search engines like Google use algorithms to decide which entries will appear first in your list of results. Facebook also uses algorithms to decide which posts to display on your newsfeed. Can you identify other situations in which algorithms are used?

A heuristicheuristic is another type of problem solving strategy. While an algorithm must be followed exactly to produce a correct result, a heuristic is a general problem-solving framework (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974). You can think of these as mental shortcuts that are used to solve problems. A “rule of thumb” is an example of a heuristic. Such a rule saves the person time and energy when making a decision, but despite its time-saving characteristics, it is not always the best method for making a rational decision. Different types of heuristics are used in different types of situations, but the impulse to use a heuristic occurs when one of five conditions is met (Pratkanis, 1989):

• When one is faced with too much information • When the time to make a decision is limited • When the decision to be made is unimportant • When there is access to very little information to use in making the decision • When an appropriate heuristic happens to come to mind in the same moment

Working backwardsWorking backwards is a useful heuristic in which you begin solving the problem by focusing on the end result. Consider this example: You live in Washington, D.C. and have been invited to a wedding at 4 PM on Saturday in Philadelphia. Knowing that Interstate 95 tends to back up any day of the week, you need to plan your route and time your departure accordingly. If you want to be at the wedding service by 3:30 PM, and it takes 2.5 hours to get to Philadelphia without traffic, what time should you leave your house? You use the working backwards heuristic to plan the events of your day on a regular basis, probably without even thinking about it.

Another useful heuristic is the practice of accomplishing a large goal or task by breaking it into a series of smaller steps. Students often use this common method to complete a large research project or long essay for school. For example, students typically brainstorm, develop a thesis or main topic, research the chosen topic, organize their information into an outline, write a rough draft, revise and edit the rough draft, develop a final draft, organize the references list, and proofread their work before turning in the project. The large task becomes less overwhelming when it is broken down into a series of small steps.

Figure 1. How long did it take you to solve this sudoku puzzle? (You can see the answer at the end of this section.)

EVERYDAY CONNECTIONS: SOLVING PUZZLESEVERYDAY CONNECTIONS: SOLVING PUZZLES

Problem-solving abilities can improve with practice. Many people challenge themselves every day with puzzles and other mental exercises to sharpen their problem-solving skills. Sudoku puzzles appear daily in most newspapers. Typically, a sudoku puzzle is a 9×9 grid. The simple sudoku below (Figure 1) is a 4×4 grid. To solve the puzzle, fill in the empty boxes with a single digit: 1, 2, 3, or 4. Here are the rules: The numbers must total 10 in each bolded box, each row, and each column; however, each digit can only appear once in a bolded box, row, and column. Time yourself as you solve this puzzle and compare your time with a classmate.

Figure 2. Did you figure it out? (The answer is at the end of this section.) Once you understand how to crack this puzzle, you

won’t forget.

Here is another popular type of puzzle that challenges your spatial reasoning skills. Connect all nine dots with four connecting straight lines without lifting your pencil from the paper:

Take a look at the “Puzzling Scales” logic puzzle below (Figure 3). Sam Loyd, a well-known puzzle master, created and refined countless puzzles throughout his lifetime (Cyclopedia of Puzzles, n.d.).

Figure 3. The puzzle reads, “Since the scales now balance…and balance when arranged this way, then how many marbles will

it require to balance with that top?

AnswerAnswer

Were you able to determine how many marbles are needed to balance the scales in the Puzzling Scales? You need nine. Were you able to solve the other problems above? Here are the answers:

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

TRY ITTRY IT

Pitfalls to Problem-Solving Not all problems are successfully solved, however. What challenges stop us from successfully solving a problem? Albert Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” Imagine a person in a room that has four doorways. One doorway that has always been open in the past is now locked. The person, accustomed to exiting the room by that particular doorway, keeps trying to get out through the same doorway even though the other three doorways are open. The person is stuck—but she just needs to go to another doorway, instead of trying to get out through the locked doorway. A mental setmental set is where you persist in approaching a problem in a way that has worked in the past but is clearly not working now. Functional fixednessFunctional fixedness is a type of mental set where you cannot perceive an object being used for something other than what it was

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Check out this Apollo 13 scene where the group of NASA engineers are given the task of overcoming functional fixedness.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

TRY ITTRY IT

designed for. During the Apollo 13 mission to the moon, NASA engineers at Mission Control had to overcome functional fixedness to save the lives of the astronauts aboard the spacecraft. An explosion in a module of the spacecraft damaged multiple systems. The astronauts were in danger of being poisoned by rising levels of carbon dioxide because of problems with the carbon dioxide filters. The engineers found a way for the astronauts to use spare plastic bags, tape, and air hoses to create a makeshift air filter, which saved the lives of the astronauts.

Researchers have investigated whether functional fixedness is affected by culture. In one experiment, individuals from the Shuar group in Ecuador were asked to use an object for a purpose other than that for which the object was originally intended. For example, the participants were told a story about a bear and a rabbit that were separated by a river and asked to select among various objects, including a spoon, a cup, erasers, and so on, to help the animals. The spoon was the only object long enough to span the imaginary river, but if the spoon was presented in a way that reflected its normal usage, it took participants longer to choose the spoon to solve the problem. (German & Barrett, 2005). The researchers wanted to know if exposure to highly specialized tools, as occurs with individuals in industrialized nations, affects their ability to transcend functional fixedness. It was determined that functional fixedness is experienced in both industrialized and nonindustrialized cultures (German & Barrett, 2005).

In order to make good decisions, we use our knowledge and our reasoning. Often, this knowledge and reasoning is sound and solid. Sometimes, however, we are swayed by biases or by others manipulating a situation. For example, let’s say you and three friends wanted to rent a house and had a combined target budget of $1,600. The realtor shows you only very run-down houses for $1,600 and then shows you a very nice house for $2,000. Might you ask each person to pay more in rent to get the $2,000 home? Why would the realtor show you the run-down houses and the nice house? The realtor may be challenging your anchoring bias. An anchoring biasanchoring bias occurs when you focus on one piece of information when making a decision or solving a problem. In this case, you’re so focused on the amount of money you are willing to spend that you may not recognize what kinds of houses are available at that price point.

The confirmation biasconfirmation bias is the tendency to focus on information that confirms your existing beliefs. For example, if you think that your professor is not very nice, you notice all of the instances of rude behavior exhibited by the professor while ignoring the countless pleasant interactions he is involved in on a daily basis. This bias proves that first impressions do matter and that we tend to look for information to confirm our initial judgments of others.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Watch this video from the Big Think to learn more about the confirmation bias.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Test your understanding of heuristics and common biases through this interactive website.

You can also visit this site to see a clever music video explaining these and other cognitive biases.

Hindsight biasHindsight bias leads you to believe that the event you just experienced was predictable, even though it really wasn’t. In other words, you knew all along that things would turn out the way they did. Representative biasRepresentative bias describes a faulty way of thinking, in which you unintentionally stereotype someone or something; for example, you may assume that your professors spend their free time reading books and engaging in intellectual conversation, because the idea of them spending their time playing volleyball or visiting an amusement park does not fit in with your stereotypes of professors.

Finally, the availability heuristicavailability heuristic is a heuristic in which you make a decision based on an example, information, or recent experience that is that readily available to you, even though it may not be the best example to inform your decision.. To use a common example, would you guess there are more murders or more suicides in America each year? When asked, most people would guess there are more murders. In truth, there are twice as many suicides as there are murders each year. However, murders seem more common because we hear a lot more about murders on an average day. Unless someone we know or someone famous takes their own life, it does not make the news. Murders, on the other hand, we see in the news every day. This leads to the erroneous assumption that the easier it is to think of instances of something, the more often that thing occurs. Watch the following video for an example of the availability heuristic.

Biases tend to “preserve that which is already established—to maintain our preexisting knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and hypotheses” (Aronson, 1995; Kahneman, 2011). These biases are summarized in Table 2 below.

Table 2. Summary of Decision Biases

BiasBias DescriptionDescription

Anchoring Tendency to focus on one particular piece of information when making decisions or problem- solving

Confirmation Focuses on information that confirms existing beliefs

Hindsight Belief that the event just experienced was predictable

Representative Unintentional stereotyping of someone or something

Availability Decision is based upon either an available precedent or an example that may be faulty

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

TRY ITTRY IT

GLOSSARYGLOSSARY

algorithm:algorithm: problem-solving strategy characterized by a specific set of instructions

anchoring bias:anchoring bias: faulty heuristic in which you fixate on a single aspect of a problem to find a solution

availability heuristic:availability heuristic: faulty heuristic in which you make a decision based on information readily available to you

confirmation bias:confirmation bias: faulty heuristic in which you focus on information that confirms your beliefs

functional fixedness:functional fixedness: inability to see an object as useful for any other use other than the one for which it was intended

heuristic:heuristic: mental shortcut that saves time when solving a problem

hindsight bias:hindsight bias: belief that the event just experienced was predictable, even though it really wasn’t

mental set:mental set: continually using an old solution to a problem without results

problem-solving strategy:problem-solving strategy: method for solving problems

representative bias:representative bias: faulty heuristic in which you stereotype someone or something without a valid basis for your judgment

trial and error:trial and error: problem-solving strategy in which multiple solutions are attempted until the correct one is found

working backwards:working backwards: heuristic in which you begin to solve a problem by focusing on the end result

THINK IT OVERTHINK IT OVER

Which type of bias do you recognize in your own decision making processes? How has this bias affected how you’ve made decisions in the past and how can you use your awareness of it to improve your decisions making skills in the future?

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Explain some common roadblocks to effective problem solving, including choice blindness

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

THE ATTRACTION PREFERENCE EXPERIMENTTHE ATTRACTION PREFERENCE EXPERIMENT

You can learn the basics of the experiment conducted by Petter Johannson, Lars Hall and their colleagues by watching the following video (Note: The video is a segment from a BBC video from the science series called Horizons. This particular show was about decision making).

Johannson and Hall were curious to see how often people noticed that there was a mismatch between their choice and the picture they were told they had chosen. Here’s how the experiment worked. Imagine that you are sitting across a table from an experimenter, who is dressed in a long sleeved black shirt. He shows you a pair of pictures of head-and-shoulder shots of two males or two females. On each trial, you indicate which of the two people in the pictures you find more attractive. After you make your choice, the experimenter hands you the card you just pointed at and asks you to explain why you preferred this person.

Except that this didn’t always happen this way. Using a magician’s trick, on some trials, when the experimenter handed you the card, he actually handed you the card you did NOT choose.

Watch this video to see the experimenter’s explain it.

The researchers tested 120 college students (70 female, 50 male). The pictures were all of women. As the video showed, they made their choice and then immediately explained the reasons for their preference. Only 13% of the switches were detected immediately. Approximately 10% more switches were mentioned “retrospectively”, where a participant initially justified choosing the switched face, but later indicated some suspicion that the wrong picture had been presented. Most participants who detected a switch attributed it to a technical error rather than suspecting that it was part of the research procedure.

Choice Blindness

Some choices are easy (“Do you want pepperoni or anchovies on your pizza?”) and some choices are hard (“Are you going to get Amazon Echo or Google Home?”), but most of us like to think that we “know our own mind”—that is, when we finally make a choice, we are clear about our decision. Research by psychologists in Sweden shows that this confidence in our own self-knowledge may not always be justified.

Choice blindness is the failure to recall a choice immediately after we have made that choice. If you go to an ice cream store, order a chocolate cone, and then accept a strawberry cone without noticing, that is choice blindness. If you go to an electronics store, select the new 55-inch Vizio television, and then fail to notice when they bring out (and expect you to pay for) the far more expensive 55-inch Sony television, that is choice blindness. If you order a burger and fries, and then don’t notice when soup-and-salad is placed in front of you, that is choice blindness.

As you have seen, Johannson, Hall, and their colleagues (Note: Petter Johannson, Lars Hall, Sverker Sikström, & Andreas Olsson. (2005). Failure to detect mismatches between intention and outcome in a simple decision task. Science, 310 (7 October 2005), 116-119.) found a method for inducing choice blindness in a laboratory setting, but they wanted to do more than simply demonstrate that people sometimes forget their choices. As psychological scientists, their goal is to explore an interesting phenomenon (i.e., choice blindness) to understand why it happens and to see if it tells us anything new about the way our minds work.

But is it Real? The Value of Replication

The video you just watched described an experiment with a surprising result: more than 75% of the time, people make a choice and then, without indicating that anything is amiss, they proceed to justify a choice they did not make. But how solid is this study and how much can we believe these results? Maybe the choice blindness

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

TRY ITTRY IT

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

TRY ITTRY IT

experiment reported real results, but (even assuming that the experimenters were completely honest and careful) could this have just been a weird outcome that will never happen again? In other words, is this a reliable result or just a fluke?

There is only one way to determine if a phenomenon is reliable, and that is replicationreplication. If you can’t replicate an effect, then you shouldn’t waste people’s time reading about it in a scientific paper.

There are at least three different types of replication.

1. Direct ReplicationDirect Replication: Conduct exactly the same study again, usually with new participants from the same population as the original study. A successful replication would produce results similar to those in the original study.

2. Systematic ReplicationSystematic Replication: Conduct a study that is similar to the original one, but using slightly different methods or stimuli.

3. Conceptual ReplicationConceptual Replication: Conduct a very different study that still tests the original idea. In the current context, a conceptual replication would test the choice blindness idea using a method that did not involve choosing attractive people.

So, can you believe the choice blindness phenomenon?

Case #1

In the years just before they published their 2005 study, the experimenters conducted two similar studies. For these studies, the pictures were presented on a computer screen, and the computer switched the pictures on the critical trials, so no magic was necessary. The results were very similar to the results of the study reported in the video above.

Case #2

When the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) made the video, they reconstructed the experiment in a form very similar to the original. They reported that 80% of the participants did not notice any switching of pictures—a result very similar to the original. Unfortunately, without a published report of the study, it is impossible to know if the scientific standards of the original study had been maintained.

Case #3

In 2014, researchers at the National University of Singapore reported a study similar to the experiment shown in the video. The stimuli were presented using a computer rather than a live experimenter. In addition to choosing

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

TRY ITTRY IT

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

TRY ITTRY IT

LINK TO LEARNINGLINK TO LEARNING

Visit this link to watch another video related about conceptual replication, this time related to taste.

TRY ITTRY IT

one of the two faces, the participants rated their confidence in their choice and they typed their explanation of their preference. The faces were all of Caucasian women (as in the original study), but the participants were all of Asian descent (ethnic backgrounds: Chinese, Indian, and Vietnamese). Their results were similar to those of the original study.

Case #4

Here is video showing another study by Johannson and Hall. The video has no sound—only subtitles.

Before an election, researchers polled people about their political preferences, selecting either right-wing or left- wing policies. The researchers secretly copied down the opposite of their responses and had the participants explain their answers. Fascinatingly, many people defended the views they said to have disagreed with.

From Phenomenon to Scientific Exploration

What you saw in the video is what a scientist would call a phenomenon—that is, a behavior that happens under certain conditions. The video showed that, if an experimenter is tricky enough, he or she can get people to justify choices that they never made. If you find this phenomenon interesting, then it may be worth your time to try to find out why it happens. (If you didn’t think it was interesting, then you will probably move on to find something that inspires you.)

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

Any of the choices in the list above could explain—fully or in part—the choice blindness phenomenon, but each idea would need to be tested. That is where the science comes in. The starting point for science is something interesting (a surprising phenomenon). If we are motivated to ask why something happened, then we jump into the real work of science: exploring possible explanations.

The next scientific step systematically (i.e., carefully and with specific purposes) changes elements of the procedures or stimuli to see how these changes affect the results. Remember that our dependent variable is the probability that the change in faces will be detected. So now we try to learn more about change blindness by seeing how changing specific details (independent variables) either increase or decrease people’s likelihood of noticing the switch in faces.

Two Variables: Time and Similarity

In the 2005 study, Johansson and Hall looked at two interesting variables that might influence detection of the mismatch. First, how rushed were the participants to make their decision? They gave some people only 2 seconds to choose the more attractive person. Others were given 5 seconds, and another group was given as long as people wanted (free choice). Should more time make someone more likely or less likely to notice that they have been given the picture they did not choose?

The second variable was how similar the two faces were to one another. In some cases, the two faces were similar to each other in general features, while in other cases the two faces were more distinctly different. If the two faces are quite different, how should that affect your ability to notice?

The Results

If we put the two manipulated variables (time and similarity) together, that gives us six conditions:

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochise-psychology/?p=210

TRY ITTRY IT

In the figure below, adjust the bars to fit your predictions about how often people would notice the picture switch. Higher bars mean people more often noticed that the cards had been switched. Lower bars mean that people made one choice and didn’t notice when they were given the wrong picture. This isn’t easy because you need to take account of the two variables: (1) amount of time looking at the pictures before your choice and (2) similarity of the faces in the pictures.

Most people make predictions that put the red bars lowest, the purple bars in the middle, and the green bars highest. This supports the idea that the more time you have to look at the pictures, the more likely you are to notice that the picture you have chosen is not the one the experimenter gave you.

People also expect that the switch will be more noticeable if the faces are dissimilar. For example, if we look at the green bars with unlimited time, it makes sense that people will generally notice when the faces have been switched on them, and this is much greater when the two faces are very different (dissimilar condition) than when they are similar (similar condition).

Click here to see the what most people expect the results to be.

AnswerAnswer

What Do These Results Tell Us?

With just these results, we are still a long way from understanding choice blindness. The experiment you just read takes us a couple of steps in the right direction. First, the similarity of the faces is (surprisingly) not a particularly influential factor. This does not mean that the case is closed and similarity is unimportant, but it does suggest that confusion due to similarity may not be the whole story.

The amount of time participants had to choose did have a big influence on detection of a switch in faces. When the participants were rushed (2 second condition), the chance of detecting a change was very slight. Given 5 seconds, detection improved, but not by a great amount. Unlimited time to choose made a substantial difference, but detection was still only around 25%. These results suggest that time to choose may be an important factor, but it is not the whole story. Furthermore, we are still not sure what it was about the extra time that led to improved detection. Did more time allow the participants to remember the faces better? Or perhaps their memory for faces was not improved, but they had more time to think of reasons they preferred one person over the other (her earrings, the way her hair flowed, a look in her eyes). These preferred features could signal to them that something was missing when the wrong picture was presented.