AthenaSummary

University of Amsterdam
Faculty Psychology – Bachelor Year 1

Introductory Psychology and Brain Cognition

UvA-PSY-0001

Literature Summary
- Gray, P. O., & Bjorklund, D. F. (2018). Psychology (8th ed.).

Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................................... 4
Background to the Study of Psychology .......................................................................................... 4
Three Fundamental Ideas for Psychology........................................................................................ 4
The scope of psychology .................................................................................................................. 5
CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................... 7
METHODS OF PSYCHOLOGY........................................................................................................................ 7
Lessons from clever Hans ................................................................................................................ 7
Types of research strategies ............................................................................................................ 7
Research settings: ............................................................................................................................ 8
Data-collection methods ................................................................................................................. 8
Statistical methods in psychology ................................................................................................... 9
Minimizing bias in psychological research ...................................................................................... 9
Ethical issues in psychological research ........................................................................................ 10
CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................................. 12
GENETICS AND EVOLUTIONARY FOUNDATIONS OF BEHAVIOR.......................................................................... 12
Review of basic genetic mechanics ............................................................................................... 12
Inheritance of behavioral traits ..................................................................................................... 13
Evolution by natural selection ....................................................................................................... 13
Natural selection as foundation for understanding species-typical behaviors ............................. 15
Evolutionary analyses of mating, aggression and helping ............................................................ 15
CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................................................. 18
THE NEURAL CONTROL OF BEHAVIOR.......................................................................................................... 18
Neurons.......................................................................................................................................... 18
Methods of mapping brain’s behavioral functions ....................................................................... 20
Functional organization of the nervous system ............................................................................ 21
How hormones interact with the nervous system ......................................................................... 22
Hemispheric differences in the cerebral cortex ............................................................................. 23
Changes in the brain over time...................................................................................................... 23
Strengthening of synapses as a foundation for learning .............................................................. 23
CHAPTER 5 ................................................................................................................................. 24
MECHANISMS OF MOTIVATION AND EMOTION ............................................................................................ 24
Varieties of drives .......................................................................................................................... 24
Reward mechanisms of the brain .................................................................................................. 24
Hunger ........................................................................................................................................... 24
Sleep .............................................................................................................................................. 25
Emotions ........................................................................................................................................ 25
CHAPTER 7 ................................................................................................................................. 26
 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF VISION ..................................................................................................................... 26
Development of the visual system ................................................................................................. 26
Seeing forms, patterns, objects and faces ..................................................................................... 26
Recognizing objects ....................................................................................................................... 27
Seeing in 3D ................................................................................................................................... 27
Multisensory perception ................................................................................................................ 28
CHAPTER 8 ................................................................................................................................. 29
BASIC PROCESSES OF LEARNING................................................................................................................. 29
Classical conditioning: ................................................................................................................... 29
Operant conditioning:.................................................................................................................... 30
Principles of reinforcement............................................................................................................ 30
Beyond classical and operant theories of learning........................................................................ 31
Specialized learning abilities.......................................................................................................... 31

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Chapter 1

Background to the Study of Psychology

Psychology: Science of behavior and its underlying mental processes.
Behaviour: Observable actions of a person or an animal.
Mind: An individual’s subjective experiences and all unconscious knowledge stored in the brain.
Science: All attempts to answer questions through the systematic collection and logical analysis of
objectively observable data.

Three Fundamental Ideas for Psychology

Behaviour and mental experiences have physical causes that can be studied scientifically.
(Dualism vs. materialism): Until the 18th century philosophy was bound by religion → we would
consist of a material body and an immaterial soul (= these two distinct systems were involved in the
control of behavior.) → dualism (contrast to materialism)
● Descartes was one of the first to see the body as a complex machine. He contended that
animals do not have souls → he also contended that animals behave the same as humans →
so de activity would occur without the soul.
○ But humans do have thoughts and animals don’t → the function of the souls was
thought → which, not physical, acts on the body at a particular physical location →
now known as the pineal body.
● Hobbes argued that the soul is meaningless → nothing exists but matter and energy →
materialism (contrast to dualism). He said that conscious thought is a product of the brain and
therefore subject to natural law.
○ The idea that the body, including the brain, is a machine helped to promote the science
of physiology → discoveries about the nervous system → contributing to the origin of
psychology.
○ Also, the understanding of reflexes was very important. There is one for carrying
messages from the skin’s sensory receptor to the central nervous system and one for
carrying out to operate the muscles. People also began to suggest that all human
behaviour occurs through reflexes.
○ The idea that specific parts of the brain serve specific functions of mental experiences
and behavior is also very important: The Concept of Localization of Function in the
Brain. Nerves of different sense organs excite to different parts of the brain.

The way people behave, is modified over time by their experiences in their environment. (Nature
vs. nurture):
Nurture: Empiricism= Idea that all human knowledge and thought come from sensory experience
(contrast to nativism) → If we are machines, we learn.
● Locke viewed a child’s mind as a tabula rasa, or blank slate → experience would fill the slate.
From this perspective there is no ‘human nature’ other than to adapt to the environment by
what they experience. Thought are not products of free will but reflections of a person’s
experience.
○ Association by contiguity= A person experiences two environmental events at the
same time or one after the other → the two events become associated in the person’s
mind. Thoughts are formed from combinations of simple ideas → like chemical
compounds are formed from combinations of chemical elements → John Stuart Mill.
Nature: Nativism= Idea that certain elementary ideas (priori knowledge) are innate to the human
mind and do not need to be gained by human experience (posteriori knowledge) (contrast to
empiricism). →Without priori knowledge a person could not acquire posteriori knowledge.

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The body’s machinery, which produces behavior and mental experiences, is a product of evolution
by natural selection, (Evolution vs. creationism):
● Darwin’s fundamental idea was that living things evolve gradually, over generations, by a
process of natural selection → species change gradually in ways that allow them to meet the
demands of their environment. He studied the functions of behavior, the ways in which an
organism’s behaviour helps it to survive and reproduce.
○ Darwin illustrated how evolutionary thinking contributes to a scientific understanding
of human behaviour. The inherited mechanisms underlying human emotions came out
gradually because they promoted the survival and reproduction of our ancestors.
Kant would have said that the inherent furnishings of the mind came about through
the process of natural selection, which gradually build all these capacities into the
human brain.

The scope of psychology

Psychologists strive to explain mental experiences and behaviour → to identify causes. This can be
done on different levels → Levels of analysis.
Explanations that focus on biological processes:
● Neural explanations:
All behaviours and mental experiences are products of the nervous system. Behavioural
neuroscience → exploring how the nervous system produces a particular behaviour or
experience. Some study individual neurons or small groups, some study larger brain regions of
neurons.
● Physiological explanations:
This is closely related to behavioural neuroscience. Physiologists study the way hormones and
drugs act on the brain to alter behaviour and experience.
● Genetic explanations:
Genes are units of heredity that provide codes for building your entire body, including the
brain. Difference in genes → differences in the in the brain → differences in mental
experiences and behaviour → behavioral genetics.
● Evolutionary explanations:
This is a way to explain how and why universal human characteristics came about in the course
of evolution → evolutionary psychology → scientists are interested in how behaviour evolved
and identifying evolutionary functions.

Explanations that focus on environmental experiences, knowledge, and development:

● Learning explanations:
All forms of human behavior and mental experience are modifiable by learning. Psychologist
are interested in the ways that learning can influence the types of behavior they study →
learning psychology.
● Cognitive explanations:
Cognition refers to information in the mind that is somehow stored and activated by the
workings of the brain. Conscious information → when a person is aware of it and can describe
it. Unconscious information → it can influence one’s conscious experiences and behaviour.
Cognitive psychology → specifying the types of mental information that underlie and make
behaviour possible. They are also interested in how learned info is stored and organized in the
mind.

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 ● Social explanations:
Humans are by nature social animals → we need to get along with others to survive and
reproduce. By identifying how people are influenced by other people or other people’s
believes we can explain mental experiences and behaviour → Social psychology.
● Cultural explanations:
Striving to characterize entire cultures in terms of the typical ways people within them feel,
think, act → cultural psychology. Psychologists often refer to the unique history, economy and
religious or philosophical traditions of a culture to explain the values, norms and habits of
people.
● Developmental explanations:
The specialty that documents and describes the typical age differences → developmental
psychology. Psychologists are interested in the processes that produce the age-related
changes. Developmental psychology brings all the other explanations in psychology together
in order to explain developmental psychology together.

Psychological specialties: Different psychological research specialties correspond to different levels of

analysis → other specialties are defined in terms of topics studied.
● Sensory psychology: Study of basic abilities to see, hear, touch, taste and smell the
environment.
● Perceptual psychology: Study of how people and animals interpret the input they receive
through their senses.

Also, many psychologists combine specialties → cognitive cultural psychologists. Research specialties
in psychology are not rigidly defined.
Psychology as a profession: The main settings in which psychologists work are:
● Academic departments in universities and colleges: they are employed to conduct basic
research.
● Clinical settings: they work with clients who have psychological problems or disorders.
● Elementary and secondary schools: they administer psychological tests, supervise programs
for children who have special needs.
● Business and government: they are hired for conducting research, screening job candidates,
helping to design more pleasant and efficient work environments and counseling employees
with work-related problems.

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Chapter 2

Methods of Psychology
The science of psychology attempts not only to describe behavior but also to explain it.

Lessons from clever Hans

The mystery: Von Osten spent 4 years tutoring Hans. After 4 years of this training Hans was able to
answer practically any question that was put to him in spoken or written German, geography, history,
science, literature, math or current events. He would answer by either hoof-tapping or yes-no head
shaking (up-and-down for yes; back-and-forth for no).
The solution: Oskar Pfungst theorized that Hans answered questions not through understanding them
but by responding to visual signals produced by the questioner.
● Hoof-tap answer: After asking the question the questioner would look at his hoofs → signal
for him to tap his hoofs → questioner would count the times he tapped to see if he got the
right answer → when he reached the right number the questioner would unconsciously make
a response → Hans would stop tapping.
● Yes-no answer: Questioners would unconsciously move their head up and down if the answer
was yes and back and forth if the answer was no → Hans only had to copy these movements.

Observations, theories and hypothesis:

Observations → objective statement → theory → an idea that is designed to explain the observations
→ hypothesis → prediction about new observations that is made from a theory → tested by
experiments or research studies → new observations → new theories → etc…..

The lessons:
1. The value of skepticism: People are fascinated by extraordinary claims and often act as though
they want to believe them → skepticism should be applied not only to extraordinary theories
that come from outside science but also theories produced by scientists → the theories that
scientist accept as correct are those that could potentially be disproved but have survived all
attempts so far to disprove them.
2. The value of careful observations under controlled conditions: Careful observation under
controlled conditions is a hallmark of the scientific method.
3. The problem-expectancy effects: In studies of humans or non-human animals, the observers
may unintentionally communicate their expectations to the subjects about how they should
behave → the subjects, intentionally or not, may respond.

Types of research strategies

Research designs: Researchers design a study to test a hypothesis.
Experiments: A procedure in which we systematically
manipulate independent variables and look for
changes in the dependent variables → you change only
one variable and keep the others constant.

● Independent variable: The variable that is

hypothesized to cause some effect on another
variable. (y-as)
● Dependent variable: The variable that is
hypothesized to be affected. (x-as)

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 ● Within-subject experiment: each subject is tested in all the different conditions of the
independent variable → the subject is repeatedly tested.
● Between-groups experiment: here there is a separate group of subjects for each different
condition of the independent variable.
○ Random assignment: subjects are assigned random → the subjects will not be
assigned in a way that could bias the results.
Bias: Effects on research results (nonrandom), caused by some factor(s) extraneous to the research
hypothesis.

Correlation studies: It’s not always possible to conduct experiments for ethical or practical reasons →
conduct a correlation study → a study in which the researcher does not manipulate any variable →
only observe and measure two or more existing dependent variables to find relationships between
them.
● Because it is not an experiment, we cannot make causal conclusions (!)→ the researcher did
not control any variable → we can’t be sure what is the cause and what is the effect → there
may be more plausible causal explanations.
○ Correlation does not imply causality!

Descriptive studies: Sometimes we just want to describe the behavior of an individual without
assessing relationships between different variables → descriptive study → Aims to describe a
population, situation or phenomenon accurately and systematically.

Research settings:
Laboratory study: A study in which the subjects are brought to a specially designated area that has
been set up to facilitate the researcher’s collection of data or control over environmental conditions.
(experiments)
Field study: A study in which the research is conducted in a setting where the researcher does not
have control over the subjects’ experiences. These studies may be conducted in any place that is part
of the subjects’ natural environment. (correlation & descriptive)

Data-collection methods
Self-report methods: These are procedures in which people are asked to rate or describe their own or
others behavior or mental state in some way → through questionnaires or interviews.
● Introspection: the personal observations of one’s thoughts, perceptions and feelings (self-
reflection).
○ There was a lot of criticism → very subjective → but useful for measuring neural
activity.

Observational methods: These are procedures in which researchers observe and record the behavior
of interest.
● Tests: the researcher deliberately presents problems or tasks to which the subject responds.
● Naturalistic observation: the researcher avoids interfering with the subject's behavior.
○ Subjects might know they are being watched → this can affect the way the subject
behave → Hawthorne effect.
■ Solution: Habituation → when a stimulus (researcher) is repeatedly or
continuously presented → subjects get used to it and will behave more
natural.

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Statistical methods in psychology
Descriptive statistics: All numerical methods for summarizing a set of data.
● Describing a set of scores: If we have a set of numerical measurements we might summarize
these by calculating either the mean (=the average) or the median (=the centre score). For
certain kinds of comparisons researchers need to describe the variability of a set of numbers
(= the degree to which the numbers in a set differ from one another and their mean. The
measure of variability → standard deviation.)
● Describing a correlation: When the variables in correlation studies are measured the strength
and direction of the relationship can be accessed → correlation coefficient. When a variable
increases and as a result the other one does the same → positive correlation. When a variable
increases and as a result the other one decreases → negative correlation. When the
correlation is strong the correlation coefficient will be close to -1 or +1 → when the coefficient
is close to 0 the variables are unrelated.

Inferential statistics: These are

ways to know how confident you
can be in inferring a general
conclusion from the study’s data.
These are procedures for
calculating the probability that the
observed results could derive from
chance alone.

● Statistical significance: Researchers calculate a statistic referred to as p → probability or level

of significance. When two means are being compared, the p value is the probability that a
difference as great or greater than that observed would occur by chance if there were no
difference between the two means → statistically significant.
● The components of a test of statistical significance:
1. The size of the observed effect: Other things being equal, a large effect is more likely
to be significant than a small one.
2. The number of individual subjects or observations in the study: Other things being
equal, results are more likely to be significant the more subjects or observations
included in a research study → Large samples of data are less distorted by chance than
small samples.
3. The variability of the data within each group: Other things being equal, the less the
variability is within each group, the more likely the results are to be significant.

Minimizing bias in psychological research

(Bias refers to nonrandom effects caused by some factor or factors not related to the research
hypothesis) → bias can lead researchers to the false conclusion that their hypothesis has been
supported.

Biased sample: When the members of a particular group are initially different from those of another
group in some systematic way → → a sample is biased when it’s not representative of the larger
population that the researchers are trying to describe.
Avoiding biased samples: When subjects are assigned randomly to groups, their individual differences
are merely a source of error → when subjects are not assigned randomly, their differences can be a
source of bias as well of error.

9
Reliability and validity of measurements:
● Reliability: Degree to which a measurement system produces similar results each time it used
with a particular subject(s) under a particular set of conditions (consistency!).
→ Low reliability decreases the chance of finding statistical significance in a research study.
○ Test-retest reliability: A measure is reliable to the degree that it yields similar results
each time it is used with a particular subject under a particular set of conditions.
○ Interobserver reliability: The same behavior seen by one observer is also seen by a
second observer.
○ Operational definition: Behavior in question should be carefully defined → specifying
exactly what constitutes an example of your dependent measure → at least two
observers should record the behavior of the target to ensure interobserver reliability.
● Validity: Degree to which a measurement system measures what it is supposed to measure.
○ Face validity: When the measure is plausible for the construct → subjective.
○ Criterion validity: When a measurement procedure is to correlate with another
related characteristic we wish to measure or predict → the more difference, the more
correlation.

Avoiding observer-expectancy and subject-expectancy effects:

● Observer-expectancy effects: When researchers have wishes or expectations that can affect
how they behave and what they observe when recording data → they unintendedly affect the
way the subjects behave and how they interpret the data.
○ The best solution is to keep the observer blind about the aspects of the study’s design
that could lead him or her to form potentially biasing expectations → blind observer.
● Subject-expectancy effects: Subjects also have expectations → when a subject has
expectations about what observers want to know or what the effect of a drug will be they will
behave that way → placebo effects.
○ The best solution is to do a double-blind experiment → the observers and the subjects
are kept blind about the research and the hypothesis → not always possible

Replicating earlier studies:

Researchers have replicated a lot of studies but most of them resulted not statistically similar to the
original studies → but a lot did produce, maybe not statistically, but similar results as those from the
original studies. When the data of the original and replication studies were combined 68% yielded
significant findings → why not 100%?
1. In psychology we consider an effect significant when the probability is 95% → some studies
might have found significant effects by chance.
2. Minor differences in the context or subjects could be responsible for the different outcomes.
3. Science in general is a conservative institution, being cautious to accept theories and findings
that depart too far from what we already know.

Ethical issues in psychological research

In designing psychological studies, we must consider ethical issues.
Research with humans: The person’s right to privacy: informing subjects that they do not have to share
private information.
1. The possibility of discomfort or harm: a lot of psychological research doesn’t involve harmful
procedures → if a planned study involves some risk researchers are obligated to determine
whether the same research question can be answered through a design that involves less risk
→ otherwise subjects have to be informed about the risks.
2. The use of deception:
a. Disagree: it’s intrinsically unethical and undermines the possibility of obtaining truly
informed consent.

10
 b. Agree: some processes cannot be studied without it, the lies are cleared up and the
subjects are informed, and informed consent can still be obtained.

Research with nonhuman animals: Scientists agree that some procedures that would be unethical to
use with humans can be used ethically with other animal species. However, researchers are obligated
to balance the animals’ suffering against the potential benefits of the research. Because of testing on
nonhuman animals human suffering is reduced.

Formal principles and safeguards for ethical research: The American Psychological Association has
established a set of ethical principles for psychological research. The Institutional Review Boards have
the task to evaluate all proposed research studies that have any potential for ethical controversy.

11
Chapter 3

Genetics and evolutionary foundations of behavior

Evolution: the long-term adaptive process, spanning generations, that equips each species for life in
its ever-changing natural habitat.

Review of basic genetic mechanics

How genes affect behavior: Genes never produce or control behavior directly → genes are associated
with behavior. Genes build and modify the physical structures of the body → those structures interact
with the environment → behavior is produced.
● Genes provide the codes for proteins:
○ Structural proteins: form structure of every cell.
○ Enzymes: controls rate of chemical reaction in every cell.
○ Genes: components of long molecules of dna that codes for a particular protein; the
basic unit of hereditary.
○ Proteins: consist of amino acids → different sequences form different proteins.
○ DNA: A long self-replicating molecule that constitutes a gene.
○ →not just for coding of proteins → junk DNA, scientists believed it had no other
functions.
○ Coding genes: code for unique proteins.
○ Regulatory genes: work through various biological means to help to activate or
suppress coding genes → influence body’s development.

● Genes work only through interaction with the environment: Effects of genes and
environment (everything except genes) are entwined → environment helps to turn genes on
and off
● Distinction between geno- and phenotype:
○ Genotype: set of genes the individual inherits.
○ Phenotype: observable properties of the body and behavioral traits.

How genes are passed along in sexual reproduction: DNA

exists in each cell in structures → chromosomes → 23 pairs
→ 1 made of 2 sex chromosomes → XX (female) or XY (male).
● The production of genetically diverse egg and
sperm cells:
○ Mitosis: when cells divide to produce new
cells other than egg or sperm cells → The
form of cell division involved in normal body
growth, which produces cells that are
genetically identical to each other.

○ Meiosis: when cells divide to produce egg or sperm cells →

results in cells that are not genetically alike → after
chromosomes replicated and divided → exchange genetic
material in a random manner → all egg and sperm cells are
genetically different and have only one member of each of
the 23 pairs of chromosomes.
• Zygote: Single cell that is formed when an egg and sperm cell unite;
the first, single cell → mitosis → form a newly developing individual.

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 o Identical twins (=monozygotic twins): Two individuals who are genetically identical to
another because they originated from one single zygote (fertilized egg). (Contrast
fraternal twins)
o Fraternal twins (=dizygotic twins): Two individuals who developed simultaneously in
the same womb, but who originated from separate zygotes (fertilized eggs), and
therefore are no more genetically similar than are non-twin siblings.

● Consequences of the fact that genes come in pairs:

When two genes that occupy the same locus are identical → homozygous.
When two genes that occupy the same locus are not identical → heterozygous.
Different genes that can occupy the same locus are called alleles.
Whether an allele is homozygous or heterozygous → if the gene is
dominant, it will produce observable effects. A recessive gene will
produce its effects only in the homozygous condition.
● Mendelian pattern of heredity: Mendel had the idea of dominant
and recessive genes. Whenever a trait is inherited like observed by
Mendel, we can assume that the trait results from variation in
alleles at a single gene locus that interact in a dominant-recessive
manner.

Inheritance of behavioral traits

Polygenic characteristics and selective breeding:
A polygenic trait is a characteristic, such as height or skin color, that is influenced by two or more
genes. Because multiple genes are involved, polygenic traits do not follow the patterns of Mendelian
inheritance.
● Selective breeding for behavioral characteristics in animals: Characteristics of individuals can
be modified over successive generations through selective breeding. For single-gene
characteristics the effects will be immediate → for polygenic characteristics the effects are
gradual and cumulative over generations.
● Polygenic behavioral characteristics in humans: Of course, psychologists can’t perform
selective breeding studies with humans → comparisons of identical twins have proven to be
very useful → also comparisons of identical- and fraternal twins are very useful.
Epigenetics: how genes really get turned on and off: Biologists have realized that not all differences,
like in identical twins, can be contributed to genes → epigenetics: → the study of how your behavior
and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work. The changes in gene function
do not alter its underlying structure of DNA but result in genes being switched on or off in reversible
way. Epigenetic mechanisms are responsible for activating some of your DNA at a place at one time →
this way not all the genes in all your cells get activated → also possible due to the process of
methylation.

Evolution by natural selection

Darwin’s insight: selective breeding occurs in nature:
Artificial selection: Human-controlled selective breeding.
Natural selection: Selective breeding in nature → dictated by the obstacles to survival and
reproduction that are imposed by the natural environment.
His theory has 4 core concepts:
1. More individuals are born in a generation than will survive.
2. Not all members of a generation are the same → there is variation in features of traits →
otherwise there would be nothing to select.

13
 3. These individual differences are inherited, passed from one generation to the next →
otherwise every generation would start over.
4. Individuals with collections of other traits that fit well into the environment are more apt to
survive and have more offspring than individuals who don’t → otherwise all traits would
survive.

Genetic diversity provides the material for natural selection: The genetic variability on which natural
selection acts has two main sources:
1. The reshuffling of genes that occurs in sexual reproduction.
2. Mutations: errors that occasionally and unpredictably occur during DNA replication→
producing replica that is different from the original. → in the long run this is the ultimate
source of all genetic variation → when helpful → otherwise natural selection weeds them out.

Environmental change provides the force for natural selection: Environmental change spurs evolution
not by causing appropriate mutations to occur but by promoting natural selection → change of the
environment → some traits stop being favorable and some start to be favorable.

Evolution has no foresight:

● People sometimes mistakenly think that evolution produces changes for some future purpose
→ evolution has no foresight.
● Some may think that humans are the ‘most evolved’ creatures → but all species alive are
equally adapted to their own environment.
● Also, some people have the mistaken believe that whatever is natural is right, good or moral→
naturalistic fallacy → nature is neither good nor bad, moral nor immoral. E.g., caveman ate
meat so the vegetarians must be wrong.

Natural selection as a foundation for functionalism:

Functionalism: the attempt to explain behavior in terms of what it accomplishes for the behaving
individual.
Distal and proximate explanations of behavior:
• Distal explanations: At the evolutionary level → Functional explanations of behavior that
state the role that behavior plays or once played in survival and reproduction, that is,
explanations of why the potential for the behavior was favored by natural selection (contrast
proximate explanations).
• Proximate explanations: At mechanism level → Explanations of behavior that state the
immediate environmental conditions or the mechanisms within the individual that cause the
behavior to occur (contrast distal explanations).

Limitations on functionalist thinking:

Four reasons why a particular trait or behavior may not be functional:
1. Some traits that evolved because they served the needs of our ancestors are no longer
functional today, yet they remain → vestigial characteristics → e.g., grasp reflex.
2. Useless changes can come about in evolution as by-products of natural selection for other
useful changes → adaptation → e.g., belly button.
3. Some inheritable traits that result from just one or two mutations are inconsequential for
survival and reproduction → genetic drift → variation due to chance alone without selection
→ e.g., shape of ears or noses.
4. Our basic drives promoted survival and reproduction more often than they interfered with
survival and reproduction → doesn’t mean that every instance of activation of such a drive
serves the survival and reproduction ends → e.g., guilt.

14
Natural selection as foundation for understanding species-typical behaviors
Every species of animal has certain characteristic ways of behaving → instincts/species-typical
behaviors.

Many psychologists avoid using ‘instinct’ and ‘innate’

1. They imply ‘no experience necessary → genetic determinism → the belief that genes
determine behavior independent of experience.
2. They are at least nine scientific meanings → it’s not easily defined.

Species-typical behaviors in humans:

● Human emotional expressions as example for species-typical behaviors: Darwin argued that
specific facial expressions accompany specific emotional states in humans → these are
universal and even occur in people who were born blind → couldn’t have learned it through
observation. But we can control and modify our emotional expressions and learn new ones.
● The role of learning in the development of species-typical behaviors: To say that a behavior
is species-typical is not to say that it’s unaffected by learning → walking and our use of
language are our most characteristic species-typical behaviors → these clearly depend on
inherited predispositions but also on learning. The range of possible things we can do is limited
by our biology.
● Biological preparedness as the basis for species-typical behaviors: Natural selection has
equipped each species with anatomical structures, in the brain and else ensure that normal
individuals of the species, who grow up in a normal environment for that species, will be
motivated to learn what they must for adequate performance.
● Species-typical behavior is a relative concept: No behavior stems just from biological
preparedness; some experience with the environment is always involved.

The value of cross-species comparisons of species-typical behaviors:

● Homology: Any similarity that exists because of the different species’ common ancestry →
they have homologies in the basic structure of DNA molecules → we have this with bonobos
and chimpanzees.
● Analogy: Any similarity that stems not from common ancestry but from convergent evolution
→ when different species, because of some similarity in their habitats or lifestyles,
independently evolve a common characteristic.
● The value for psychology of studying homologies: Homologies are useful for research on the
physiological mechanisms of behavior → we can study other species in which the relevant
behavior is homologous to that in humans. Also, analogous can produce similar behavior that
operate through different mechanisms.
● Homologies as clues to the evolutionary origins of two human smiles: Darwin used
homologies to understand the origins of species-typical emotional expressions in humans →
his research found that people may produce two kinds of smiles, which may have separate
evolutionary origins → 1. When genuinely happy. 2.When wishing to show another person
that they are favorably disposed toward that person, like in tensed situations.
● The value for psychology of studying analogies: Analogies are useful for making inferences
about the distal functions of species-typical behaviors → if different species have
independently evolved a particular behavioral trait comparing may reveal commonalities of
habitat or lifestyle.

Evolutionary analyses of mating, aggression and helping

A theory relating mating patterns to parental investment:
○ Polygyny: one male mates with more than one female.

15
 ○ Polyandry: one female mates with more than one male.
○ Monogamy: one male mates with one female.
○ Promiscuity: members of a group consisting of more than one male and more than
one female mate with one another.
○ Parental investment: the time, energy and risk to survival that are involved in
producing, feeding, and caring for each offspring.
● Polygyny and parental investment: Most species of mammals are polygynous → the female
necessarily invests a great deal in the offspring → must develop in her body, obtains
nourishment like milk → because of the high investment the number of offspring is limited.
● This is different for the male → his max of offspring is limited by the number of fertile females
→ they must compete → larger/stronger usually wins → female very critic → she risks her life.
● Polyandry and parental investment: Most egg-laying species are polyandry → both parents
can care for the eggs → female usually mates with different males → father becomes the main
or sole caretaker. Females of polyandrous species are more active, aggressive and are larger
and stronger.
● Monogamy and parental investment: Monogamy will prevail when conditions make it
impossible for a single adult to raise the young but quite possible for two to raise them → if
either parent leaves the young fail to survive → one of the parents has to protect the young
and the other has to provide food → because neither sex is more likely than the other to fight
over mates, there is little or na natural selection for sex differences in size and strength.
● Promiscuity and investment in the group: When a female in a group is ovulating, she mates
with different males → she may actively choose to mate with some more often than with
others → leads the group to live in harmony.

What about human mating patterns:

● A largely monogamous, partly polygynous species: In every culture people form long-term,
monogamous mating bonds → in some non-western cultures, polygyny is still legal → a few
man who have sufficient wealth of status have two or more wives. Human children belong to
the 5% of mammals where the father provides support for their children → lot of parental
investment.
● Roles of emotions in human mating systems: People develop strong emotional ties to those
toward whom they’re sexually drawn → people also feel intensely jealous when their mates
appear to be sexually drawn to others → love tends to create mating bonds, jealousy tends to
preserve such bonds.

Sex differences in aggression: Aggression, here it’s defined as behavior intended to harm another
member of the same species → this mechanism has evolved → they help animals acquire and retain
resources needed to survive and reproduce.
● Why male primates are generally more violent than female primates: Aggression in females
is typically aimed toward obtaining resources and defending their young → when they
achieved their ends they stop fighting. Male primates pick fights and are more likely to kill their
opponents → most has to do with sex.

Patterns of helping: Many life-promoting tasks can be better accomplished by two or more together
than by struggling alone.
● Helping can be defined as any behavior that increases the survival chance or reproductive
capacity of another individual.
○ Cooperation: when an individual helps another while helping itself → this gives each
individual a better chance of survival.
○ Altruism: when an individual helps another while decreasing its own survival chance
or reproductive capacity

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• The kin selection theory of altruism: Theory proposing that apparent acts of altruism have
come about through natural selection because such actions are disproportionally directed
towards close genetic relatives and thus promote the survival of others who have the same
genes.
● The reciprocity theory of apparent altruism: This provides an account of how acts of apparent
altruism can arise even among nonkin → behaviors that seem to be altruistic are actually forms
of long-term cooperation. The genetical induced tendency to help nonkin can evolve if it is
tempered by an ability to remember which individuals have reciprocated such help in the past
→ or the tendency not to help those who failed to reciprocate previous help. Under these
circumstances helping is selfish → it increases the chance of receiving help from that other in
the future.

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Chapter 4
The neural control of behavior
Neurons
The human brain contains roughly 86 billion neurons → they are separated → they communicate
through synapses → 100 trillion. Neurons are constantly active.

Neuron (nerve cell): Single cells in the nervous system that are specialized for carrying information
rapidly from one place to another and/or integrating information from various sources
Nerve: A large bundle containing the axons of many neurons. Located in the peripheral nervous
system, nerves connect the central nervous system with muscles, glands and sensory organs.
Nucleus= A cluster of cell bodies of neurons within the central nervous system (not to be confused
with cell nucleus within each cell)

Three basic varieties of neurons and common structures:

● Central nervous system: Brain and spinal cord.
● Peripheral nervous system: The extensions from the central
nervous system.
1. Sensory neurons: Carry information from sensory organs
into the central nervous system.
2. Motor neurons: Carry messages out from the central
nervous system to operate muscles and glands.
3. Interneurons: Carry messages from one set of neurons to
another → they collect organize and integrate messages.
Pattern generators: Networks of neurons that stimulate one another in
cyclic manner (repeating rhythm). Help control rhythmic sequences of muscle movements such as
walking running.

The parts listed below are labeled for all three types of neurons:
● Cell body: It is the widest part of the neuron → it contains the cell nucleus and other basic
machinery common to all bodily cells.
● Dendrites: They receive input for the neuron.
○ Dendrites in motor neurons and
interneurons extend directly off
the cell body and branch
extensively near the cell body.
○ Dendrites in sensory neurons
extend from one end of the axon
into a sensory organ.
● Axon: They carry messages to other
neurons. Each axon ends with a small
swelling called an axon terminal →
designed to release neurotransmitters
onto another neurons. Some axons are
surrounded by a myelin sheath → a fatty
substance produced by glial cells →This
causes the signal to travel faster.

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How neurons send messages down their axons: Neurons exert their influence on other neurons and
muscle cells by firing off all-or-none impulses → action potentials → each is the same strength → they
can vary in degree of intensity in its message.
The resting neuron: The cell membrane is porous and permits certain chemicals to flow into and out
of the cell, while blocking others:
• Intracellular fluid: Fluid inside the membrane. More concentrated inside:
o Soluble protein molecules → A-
o Potassium ions → K+
• Extracellular fluid: Fluid outside the membrane. More concentrated outside
○ Sodium ions → Na+
○ Chloride ions → Cl-

● Resting potential: Constant electrical charge across the

membrane of inactive neuron (-70 mV).
● Elicitation of the action potential: The action potential
is initiated by a change in the structure of the cell
membrane at one end of the axon → Sodium moves
inward (sodium-potassium pump) → causes the
electrical charge across the membrane → negative inside
becomes positive for a moment → depolarization phase
→ potassium moves outward (sodium-potassium pump)
→ original resting potential is reestablished →
repolarization phase

● Regeneration of the action potential: Once an action

potential occurs at one location on the axon, it
depolarizes the area of the axon just ahead of where it is occurring → the action potential
keeps renewing itself and moves along the axon.

○ The speed at which an action potential moves down an axon is affected by the axon’s
diameter → larger is faster. The myelin sheath speeds the rate at which nervous
impulses can be sent and reduce the interference from other neurons → myelination.

Synaptic transmission: The gap between each axon

terminal and the dendrite → synapse. Action potential
reaches an axon terminal → terminal releases
neurotransmitters → they move across the synaptic
cleft from the presynaptic membrane to the
postsynaptic membrane.

Neurotransmitter: A chemical substance released from

an axon terminal of a neuron that influences the activity
of another neuron, muscle cell, or glandular cell.

The neurotransmitters are in vesicles → they spill the

neurotransmitters into the cleft → depends on sort of
cleft what ions will pass the postsynaptic membrane:
● Excitatory synapse: Here the transmitter opens sodium channels → sodium in postsynaptic
cell → positive sodium causes slight depolarization → next neuron.
● Inhibitory synapse: Here transmitter opens chloride or potassium channels → chloride or
potassium in postsynaptic cell → hyperpolarization → inside of the neuron becomes even

19
 more negative than it was before → decreases rate of action potentials triggered in the
neuron.

The development of neurons:

Neurogenesis: The process of creating new neurons→ starts 20 weeks after conception till adulthood.
Differentiation: → neurons grow in size and increase their numbers of dendrites, axons terminals and
synapses.
● Cell death and synaptic pruning: The number of synapses decreases → they will be lost or
pruned: undoing the connections made. The number of neurons also decreases → selective
cell death or apoptosis → this begins before birth and continues well into the teen years.

Mirror neurons: Neurons that help us behave in ways that mirror (mimic) what we observe or
experience → found in the cerebral cortex.

Methods of mapping brain’s behavioral functions

Methods used for studying the human brain:
● Observing effects of localized brain damage: By studying many people with damage in the
same general area of the brain, psychologists can draw conclusions about the behavioral and
mental functions of that area → if some abilities are missing and other abilities remain when
a part of the brain is missing → that brain part must contribute in some way to the missing
abilities but not to those that remain.
● Observing effects of magnetic interference with normal brain activity: Transcranial magnetic
stimulation (TMS) → a pulse is sent through a small copper coil creating a magnetic field
around the coil → coil held just above the scalp → induces electric current in the neurons
immediately below the coil → can cause temporary loss in those neurons’ abilities to fire
normal → can be used for mapping the functions only of the outermost yet largest part of the
brain → cerebral cortex.
● Recording brain activity electrically, through the scalp:
○ Electroencephalogram (EEG) → placing electrodes on a person’s scalp → amplify the
signals between neurons → recorded with computer technology.
○ Event related potential (ERP) → when a brief change in the EEG record, immediately
followed by the stimulus.
● Viewing brain activity with imaging methods sensitive to blood flow: Neuroimages → three-
dimensional pictures that depict the relative amount of blood flowing through each part of the
brain → increased blood flow reflects increased neural activity.
○ Positron emission tomography (PET): Inject radioactive substance into the blood →
measure radioactivity that is emitted from each portion of the brain.
○ Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): Create a magnetic field around a
person’s head → hemoglobin that carries oxygen in the blood give off radio waves →
they can be detected.

Methods used for studying the brains of nonhuman animals:

● Observing effects of deliberately placed brain lesions: People create areas of damage in
laboratory animals → varying the precise location of the damage → identify the areas crucial
for specific behavior.
● Stimulating specific areas of the brain: People stimulate neurons in an animal's brain →
stimulation of different neurons causes an animal to exhibit drive states or emotional states
→ they last only as long as the stimulations.

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 ● Electrical recording from single neurons: Neural activity can also be recorded when an animal
engages in some behavioral task → this reveals correlations between behavior and the rate of
action potentials.

Functional organization of the nervous system

Nervous system is hierarchically organized:
● Sensory-perceptual hierarchy: Receive sensory data → analyze
→ decisions.
● Motor-control hierarchy: Makes decisions → muscle
movement.

Peripheral nerves:
○ Cranial nerves: Project directly from the brain. (12)
○ Spinal nerves: Project from the spinal cord. (31)
● Sensory neurons provide data needed for governing behavior:
Sensory neurons activated → info dendrites → central nervous
system by axons.
○ Input from specialized sensory organs enters brain by cranial nerves.
○ Input from rest of the body enters brain by spinal nerves. → somatosensation.
○ Motor neurons the final common path of the nervous system.
● Motor system includes somatic and autonomic divisions:
○ Skeletal muscles → attached to bones and see movement → somatic proportion of
the system → initiate activity.
○ Visceral muscles and glands → walls of structures like heart → autonomic proportion
of the system → modify activity.
■ Sympathetic division: Responds to stressful situation.
■ Parasympathetic division: Serves regenerative
functions → relaxed.
The spinal cord: Ascending tracts, carry somatosensory info through the spinal
cord to the brain. Descending tracts, carry motor control commands from the
brain out by spinal nerves.

Subcortical structures of the brain:

● Brainstem (Hindbrain): Breathing, heartbeat, standing, walking.

● Medulla: Lowest portion of the brainstem which is responsible (with the
pons) for organizing reflexes more complex than spinal reflexes. Such as
breathing or rem sleep or facial expressions. It has a critical role
in transmitting signals between the spinal cord and the higher parts of
the brain and in controlling autonomic activities, such as heartbeat and
respiration.
■ Reticulate formation: Downward parts control the motor parts.
■ Raphe system: Sends axons to the front brain.
● Cerebellum & Basal ganglia: Use info from the senses to steer precise, previously learned
movements.
○ Cerebellum: Ability to move rapid and precise → laptop, piano.
○ Basal ganglia: Ability to coordinate slow → picking up an object.

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Thalamus: Transfer station of sensory info.

● Limbic system:
○ Amygdala: Particularly important for
evaluating the emotional and
motivational significance of stimuli and
generating emotional responses.
(flight/fight responses)
○ Hippocampus: Essential for storing new
memories (long term) and has an
important role in spatial processing and
navigation.
○ Hypothalamus: Especially important for
the regulation of motivation, emotion
and the internal physiological conditions of the body (homeostase).
● Pituary gland: An important pea-sized organ. If your pituitary gland doesn't function properly,
it affects vital parts like your brain, skin, energy, mood, reproductive organs, vision, growth
and more. It's the “master” gland because it tells other glands to release hormones.

● Pineal gland= Was described as the “Seat of the Soul” by Renee Descartes and it is located in
the center of the brain. The main function of the pineal gland is to receive information about
the state of the light-dark cycle from the environment and convey this information to produce
and secrete the hormone melatonin (sleep hormone)

Cerebral cortex: The outside layer of the brain.

○ Primary sensory area: receive signals from sensory
nerves → include visual area, auditory area and
somatosensory area.
○ Primary motor area: Sends axons to motor
neurons. Directly involved in the control of
movements especially finally coordinated
movements of small muscles, as the fingers and
vocal apparatus.
○ Association areas: Areas of the cerebral cortex that
receive input from the primary or secondary
sensory areas (such as vision and hearing) and are
involved in associating this input with stored
memories, in the processes of perception, thought
and decision making.
● Topographically organized: Neurons near the visual cortex receive signal from receptor cells
of the eye → same for somatosensory cortex.
● Premotor areas: Set up neural programs for producing movements or patterns.
● Prefrontal cortex: Making plans or intervening in an existing plan.

How hormones interact with the nervous system

● Hormones: Chemical messengers that are secreted into the blood → carried by blood to parts
of the body, act in the brain in ways that influence drives and moods.
● Hypothalamus: Releases releasing of inhibiting factors into blood.
● Pituitary: Releases hormones after receiving factors.

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Hormonal influences on sex drive:
● Male: Testosterone maintains male sex drive → confidence-boosting events cause increased
testosterone secretion in men
● Female: In nonhuman females ovarian hormones promote sexual drive → during time of
fertility. In women adrenal androgens promote sexual receptivity throughout the ovarian
cycle.

Hemispheric differences in the cerebral cortex

The two hemispheres are connected by the corpus callosum → info goes
through here from the left to the right hemisphere and vice versa.

Cerebral cortex= The outermost, evolutionary newest and (in humans)

by far the largest portion of the brain; it is divisible into two hemispheres
(right and left) and each hemisphere is divisible intro four lobes; the occipital, temporal, parietal and
frontal.

Frontal lobes: Contain the motor area and parts of the association
areas involved in planning and decision making.
Parietal lobes: Contain the somatosensory areas of the brain.
Temporal lobes: Contains auditory areas of the brain. The
temporal lobe is involved in processing sensory input into derived
meanings for the appropriate retention of visual
memory, language comprehension, and emotion association.
Occipital lobe: Contains the visual areas of the brain.

Differences left and right:

● Left: Language
○ Broca’s areas: grammar and producing words smoothly. When damaged → Broca’s
aphasia = Specific syndrome of loss in language that is characterized by telegraphic
speech in which the meaning is usually clear but the small words and word endings
that serve grammatical purposes are missing (=non-fluent aphasia).
○ Wernicke’s area: Understanding the meanings of sentences. When damaged →
Wernicke’s aphasia= Specific syndrome of language typically retains grammatical
structure but loses its meaning due to the speaker’s failure to provide meaningful
words (=fluent aphasia).
○ (Aphasia= Any loss in language ability due to brain damage.)

● Right: Visuospatial analysis of information → reading maps recognizing faces.

Changes in the brain over time

Neurons are soft and pliable living cells that can change their sizes, shapes, excitabilities, and patterns
of connections. The brain changes during the span of an individual’s life as well as over the course of
evolution.
If you use it, it will grow: Regions tend to grow when used and to atrophy when not used.

Strengthening of synapses as a foundation for learning

The Hebbian synapse: Neurons that fire together wire together
Long-term potential (LTP): A process by which repeated activation of synapses result in strengthening
of those synapses → is also a basis for learning.

23
Chapter 5

Mechanisms of motivation and emotion

Drive: An internal condition that orients an individual toward a specific category of goals and that it
changes over time in a reversible way.
● Leads to incentive → reinforcers / reward / goal.

Varieties of drives
Homeostasis: The constancy/balance of internal conditions that the body must actively maintain →
involves the outward behavior and internal processes.
Regulatory drive: Any motivational state that helps maintain homeostasis (necessary for survival.)
e.g., hunger and thirst.
Nonregulatory drive: Serves some other purpose → e.g., sex.

1. Regulatory drive: Promote survival by helping to maintain homeostasis.

2. Safety drive: Keeps animal safe → fear, anger, sleep.
3. Reproductive drive: Sexual drive and drive to care for your offspring.
4. Social drive: When animals need cooperation to survive.
5. Educative drive: Play and explore.

Central-state theory: Different drives correspond to neural activity in different sets of neurons in the
brain. → Central drive system: Set of neurons in the brain that, when active, most directly promotes
a specific motivational state, or drive.
● The hypothalamus is ideally located to be a hub of central drive systems → it has connections
with the brain and connections to nerves.

Reward mechanisms of the brain

Components of reward:
● Liking: Pleasure or satisfaction when receiving reward. Neurotransmitter → endorphin is
released by the nucleus accumbens → essential for “liking”.
● Wanting: Desire to obtain reward. Neurotransmitter → dopamine is released by the nucleus
accumbens → essential for “wanting”.
● Reinforcement: Effects that rewards have in promoting learning.
○ Neurotransmitter → dopamine is released by the nucleus accumbens → essential for
“reinforcement” → it helps to reinforce an association between the reward and any
stimulus or response.
○ Animals will work hardest to stimulate the medial forebrain → cell bodies in the
nucleus accumbens → center for the behavioral effects of rewards.
Drug addiction (!): Drugs imitate the effects of dopamine and endorphins in the nucleus accumbens.
Dose of drugs → mediation of endorphine → “liking” is lost → dopamine increases → “wanting”
increases. Same for gambling.

Nucleus accumbens: Center of cell bodies in the basal ganglia that is crucial part of the brain’s rewards
system.

Hunger
Because of evolution hunger mechanism are built in because little food was available → now enough
is available but people still eat → obesity.

24
Neural and hormonal control of appetite:
● When body has not enough food materials → appetite-stimulating neurons → release
neuropeptide Y (NPY) → raise the drive to eat. When body has enough food materials →
appetite-suppressing neurons → release peptide YY (PYY) 15 minutes after eating → lower
the drive to eat. This is regulated in the hypothalamus → concentrated in the arcuate nucleus.
● Leptin: Hormone produced by fat cells that reduces appetite → when you lack these →
obesity. Sensory stimuli in the environment can also trigger appetite. When you have had
enough of one food → other type generates new appetite. Weight is also influenced by genes.
Arcuate nucleus: Cluster of neural cell bodies in the hypothalamus that plays an important role in the
control of appetite.

Sleep
Stage 1: transition from awake to falling asleep, stage 2 & 3 & 4: stages of true sleep.
REM sleep: Rapid Eye Movement → EEG measures the brain is like when a person is awake, but
muscles are less tensed than awake.
Theories about functions of sleep:
● Preservation and protection theory: Grazing animals sleep longer than meat-eaters → grazing
takes longer to fulfill hunger than when you eat meat.
○ Sleeping during the night protects us to the more dangerous time of the day.
● Body-restoration theory: The body needs sleep to refuel energy for the next day.
● Brain-maintenance theory of REM sleep: Memories are consolidated during REM sleep →
neurons are trained in the brain to prevent synapses from degenerating.

Emotions
Emotion: A subjective feeling that is mentally directed toward some object. The feeling has two
dimensions: Pleasure – displeasure, activation - deactivation
● Affect: Any feeling associated with emotion, independent of the object.
● Mood: If an affect last for a sufficiently long period. Not directed at a specific object.
Components of emotions: 1. A behavioral expression. 2. Expression of voice and language. 3. Emotions
are not independent of cognition.
Theories of emotion:
● Discrete emotion theory: Belief that emotions are innate and associated with distinctive
bodily and facial reactions. Each emotion has some adaptive benefit to the individual
expressing them.
● Common-sense theory: emotion → physical change.
● James’s theory: physical change → emotion.
● Schachter’s theory: Perception and thought about environment → type emotions. Feedback
degree of bodily arousal → intensity emotions.
● Paul Ekman: Feedback of facial expressions cause emotional feelings and physical reactions.
Facial expressions are produced rapidly and automatically.

Mechanisms of emotions:
● Amygdala: Amygdala receives sensory input by two routes: Amygdala is essential for
unconscious emotional reactions → cortical route.
1. Subcortical route: Eyes → thalamus → amygdala.
2. Cortical route: Eyes → thalamus → visual cortex → amygdala.
● Prefrontal cortex: The prefrontal cortex is essential for the conscious experience of emotions
and to act in planned ways on those feelings. Left prefrontal cortex: Involved in approach to
emotional stimulus → positive emotions. Right prefrontal cortex: involved in withdrawal of
emotional stimulus → negative emotions.

25
Chapter 7

The psychology of vision

Development of the visual system

Newborns are not good at:
● Controlling the lens → limited ability of accommodating lens.
● Convergence → both eyes looking at same object.
● Coordination → both eyes following a moving stimulus.
Then are able to see the difference between two sufficiently different stimuli.

Experience-expectant processes: The brain is prepared to

make sense of visual information → must receive the proper stimulation to get hooked up properly.

Seeing forms, patterns, objects and faces

Eyes → retina → optic nerve → thalamus → primary visual area → here sensory input is analyzed.
Feature detectors: Any neuron in the brain that responds to a specific property of a visual stimulus,
such as its color, orientation, movement, or shape of its contour. 1)
Feature-integration theory (Treisman): Theory that all complex stimuli can be broken
down into individual parts (features), each of which is analyzed by a specific feature
detector.
● Detection of features: Color and shape → red and circle.
● Integration of features: Red circle. 2)

Gestalt psychology: Emphasizes that the mind must be understood in terms of organized wholes,
not elementary parts.
Gestalt principles:
1. Proximity: We see elements near each other as parts of the same object 3)
→ organizes large sets of elements.
2. Similarity: We see elements that physically resemble each other as parts of the same
object.
3. Closure: We see forms as completely enclosed by a border and ignore the gaps in the
border.
4. Good continuation: When lines intersect, we tend to pick the line with minimal 4)
change of direction.
5. Common movement: When stimulus elements move in the same direction, we tend to
see them as part of an object.
6. Good form: We strive to see percepts that are elegant, 5)
simple, symmetrical, regular and predictable.

We tend to divide any visual scene into figure: object that attract attention → and
ground: the background.
● Circumscription: We see the circumscribing form as the ground and 6)
the circumscribed form as the figure.
● Reversible figure: when you can see the figure as the ground
and vice versa. →

26
Top-down control: Top-down processing is the interpretation of incoming information based on prior
knowledge, experiences, and expectations.
Bottom-up control: Bottom-up processing begins with the retrieval of sensory information from our
external environment to build perceptions based on the current input of sensory information.

Recognizing objects
“What” pathway: lower stream → used for identifying objects.
When damaged:
● Visual form agnosia: can identify elements → can’t perceive shapes.
● Visual object agnosia: can describe and draw objects → can’t identify
objects.
● Visual prosopagnosia: can identify separate parts of face → can’t
recognize faces.

“Where-and-how” pathway: upper steam → locates objects and how to pick it up.
● Patients with damage here have difficulty with using vision to guide their actions → they can’t
coordinate well.

Own-race bias: You tend to be better at remembering faces from your own race or ethnic
group.
Fusiform face area: Recognizing familiar faces. → (at bottom of temporal cortex) →
Occipital face area: Processing new faces.

Seeing in 3D
We see the world automatically in 3D → visual system makes images of what the two eyes see
separately → image on left retina is different from image on the right retina → binocular disparity →
this makes it possible to determine how far an object is.
● Images differ a lot → object is close
● Images differ little → object is far 1)

Motion parallax: Cue for depth that stems from changed view one has of a scene
when they move their head sideways to scene or object, the further away the
smaller the change is.
1. Occlusion: Something that hides a part of something else must stand in front of 3)
the other subject (so closer).
2. Relative image size for familiar objects: When seeing a human being we can see how
far away this person is, based on knowledge of how tall a person is.
3. Linear perspective: Parallel lines seem to be closer together when they are further
away.
4. Texture gradient: Decrease in size and spacing of texture elements indicates depth.
5. Position relative to horizon: Closer to the horizon → further away.
6. Differential lighting of surfaces: The 3D shape of an object can be seen on the 6)
basis of light on surfaces.

Size constancy: The perceptual ability to see an object

as the same size despite change in image size as it
moves further away or closer.

27
Moon illusion: The Moon illusion is an optical illusion which causes the Moon to
appear larger near the horizon than it does higher up in the sky (even though this
is not true).
Müller-Lyer-illusion: Our brains perceive one of the lines to be larger than the
other, when in fact they are of similar length.
Ponzo illusion: The converging parallel lines tricks the brain into thinking that
the image higher in the visual field is farther away, so the brain thinks the image
is larger, but the two images hitting the retina are same in size

Multisensory perception
Multisensory integration: The integration of information from different sense by
the nervous system.
Visual dominance effect: When sound and sight are put in conflict vision wins.
Multisensory neurons: They multisensory integration when the individual sensory stimuli...
1. ...come from the same location.
2. ...arise around the same time.
3. ...evoke relatively weak responses.
Synesthesia: Condition in which sensory stimulation in one modality induces a sensation in a different
modality.

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Chapter 8

Basic processes of learning

Classical conditioning:
= Form of learning in which organisms learn to predict events based on relationships between events
→ creates new reflexes → automatic stimulus-response by nervous system.
● Stimulus: Particular event in environment.
● Response: Particular behavior.
● Habituation: Repeated presentation of stimulus → lessened response.

Pavlov: He accidentally discovered classical conditioning → dog salivation research.

● Unconditioned stimulus (US): Food
● Unconditioned response (UCR): Saliva production
● Conditioned stimulus (CS): Bell
● Conditioned response (CR): Saliva production

Extinction: When the unconditioned stimulus doesn’t appear with the conditioned stimulus → food
not given when bell rings → after each trial less saliva → a decreasing and disappearing response.
Spontaneous recovery: Reflex isn’t forgotten → it’s inhibited → can be disinhibited. Extinguished
reflex can be re-learned fast.
Generalisation (Razran): When an individual reacts to a similar, but slightly different stimulus.
Discrimination training: You also can train individuals to learn not to generalize → they will notice the
difference.

Behaviorism: We can’t be certain about happens between a stimulus and a response → can’t be
observed → behaviorists believed we should focus on things we can observe.
Cognitive view: It’s about the interpretation of the stimuli by the organism → not only about stimuli
and responses.

Stimulus-response theory: When there is a direct bond between the conditioned stimulus and the
response.
Expectation theory: Conditioned stimulus triggers expectation from the unconditioned stimulus.

Criteria for conditioning:

1. The conditioned stimulus must be presented before the unconditioned stimulus.
2. The conditioned stimulus must signal a high probability of occurrence of the unconditioned
stimulus → has to be reliable.
3. Conditioning is ineffective when the animal already has a good predictor → no reason to look
for a new one.

Drugs have two effects:

1. Direct effect → euphoria, hallucinations.
2. Compensatory reaction of the body to reduce the effect → restoration normal bodily state.
a. This is conditioned → environment is conditioned stimulus → conditioned response is
compensatory reaction → less effect.
b. When drug used in unknown environment → late compensatory reaction → stronger
effect → overdose.
Drug tolerance: Phenomenon by which a drug produces successively smaller physiological and
behavioral effects at any given dose, if it’s taken repeatedly.

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Operant conditioning:
= Learning process in which the consequences of an operant response affect the probability that the
response will be repeated in the future.
● Operant responses: Operate on the world to reach a certain effect → tool to get something
done.

Thorndike: He put cats in boxes → they had a hard time → trial-and-error → the cats learned, with an
increasing probability, to display the responses that lead to favorable effects → they got out of the box
faster and faster.
● Law of effect: Responses that lead to a pleasant effect in a situation will be displayed more
often in that situation. Responses that lead to an unpleasant effect in a situation will be
displayed less often in that situation.

Skinner: He used the skinner box → he put rats in the box with a mechanism → rat can produce some
effect like delivery of water or food → he looked if the rat remembered how he got the food.
● Reinforcer: When it leads to an increase of the preceding response.
● Reinforcement learning: Same as operant conditioning → process that leads to an increase of
the response.

Principles of reinforcement
Shaping: Used when a desired response never occurs → it can never be reinforced. Close
approximations to the desired response are reinforced until the desired response finally occurs → can
be reinforced.
Discriminative stimulus: In operant conditioning, a stimulus that serves a signal that a particular
response will produce a particular reinforcement.
Discrimination training: For both classical and operant conditioning, by which generalization between
two stimuli is diminished by reinforcing the response to one stimulus and extincting the response to
the other.

Continuous reinforcement: A response is always followed by a reinforcer.

Partial reinforcement: A response is only sometimes followed by a reinforcer → has significant
consequences for behavior.

● Fixed ratio schedule: A reinforcer occurs after every nth response.

● Variable-ratio schedule: A reinforcer occurs after an unpredictable amount of responses.
● Fixed-interval schedule: A reinforcer occurs when a fixed time has elapsed.
● Variable-interval schedule: A reinforcer occurs after an unpredictable time has passed → does
have an average.

Reinforcement VS. Punishment:

● Positive reinforcement: Add something to increase behavior.
● Negative reinforcement: Remove something to increase behavior.
● Positive punishment: Add something to decrease behavior.
● Negative punishment: Remove something to decrease behavior.

Backfiring rewards → overjustification effect: The overall effect of offering a reward for a previously
unrewarded activity is a shift to extrinsic motivation and the undermining of pre-existing intrinsic
motivation. Once rewards are no longer offered, interest in the activity is lost; prior intrinsic motivation
does not return, and extrinsic rewards must be continuously offered as motivation to sustain the
activity

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Behavior analysis: Use of principles in operant conditioning to predict behavior.
1. Define the socially significant behaviors that are in need of changing.
2. Make a schedule of reinforcement to increase or decrease the targeted behavior.

Beyond classical and operant theories of learning

Play: Play is a species-typical → nobody has to teach them how to do it.
Karl Groos: Animals learn how to use their instincts → must be practiced and refined → play provides
this. The evidence:
1. Young play more than adults do of their species.
2. Species that have the most to learn play the most.
3. Young animals play most at those skills that they most need to learn.
4. Play involves much repetition.
5. Play is challenging.

Exploration: Exploration is more primitive and widespread → mammals of all species and age explore
→ often mixed with fear → gone when they fully explored.
● Patrolling: Touring arena to see if anything has changed.
Symbolic play: A type of play that includes an ‘as if’ orientation to objects actions and other people.

Tollman: Argued that rewards affect what animals do more often than what they learn. They learn
locations through exploration → when they found reward once → they go there faster.
● Latent learning: Latent learning is a type of learning which is not apparent in the learner's
behavior at the time of learning, but which manifests later when a suitable motivation and
circumstances appear. This shows that learning can occur without any reinforcement of a
behavior.

Social learning: This occurs when one individual comes to behave similarly to another → done by
watching others → observational learning.
● Albert Bandura: Children learn social behavior from observing others through vicarious
reinforcement → learning from the consequences of other’s actions.
○ Key cognitive capabilities:
1. Symbolization: Ability to think of social behavior, words and images.
2. Forethought: Ability to anticipate the consequences of our actions.
3. Self-regulation: Ability to adopt standards of acceptable behavior.
4. Self-selection: Ability to analyze our thoughts and actions.
● Stimulus-enhancement: Increase of attractiveness of the object that the observed individual
is acting upon.
● Goal-enhancement: Increased drive to obtain rewards similar to what the observed individual
is receiving.
● Emulation: Seeing someone else achieve a goal, then reaching that same goal by their own
means.

Specialized learning abilities

Prepared behaviors: Learned behavior that are vital to an organism. .
Unprepared behaviors: Behavior acquired through the processes of operant conditioning and takes
usually several trials to acquire.
Contra prepared behavior: Impossible or difficult behaviors to learn despite training.
Biological constraints on learning: By evolution some associations are more easily acquired than
others.

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Evaluative conditioning: The changing in the strength of liking or disliking of a stimulus as a result of
being paired with another positive or negative stimulus.

Food-preference learning: Associating a taste with improvement of health → prefer food.

● People learn to prefer a good that is high in calories, which was valuable to our ancestors, but
causes obesity today.
1. When possible, eat what your elders eat → they’re still alive.
2. When you eat new food, remember taste and smell → choose or avoid.
Imprinting: When there is very sudden and apparently irreversible nature of the learning process
involved → the learning is immediately stamped in. Occurs during a brief period in young animals—
e.g., ducks imprinting on their mother.
Critical period: The period in which imprinting can occur.

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