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SL Psychology/Genetic interplay

Introduction
This content should include the following items:
 * 1) Brain development through the lifespan
 * 2) Drugs and the brain
 * 3) Stress and the brain

The human brain develops and changes in response to a variety of factors. 1. Genetic predispositions, for such diseases as alcoholism, make some brains more vulnerable to environmental factors. 2. In the grand scheme of brain development, the brain mostly develops due to environmental factors. 3. Within the fetus, genes and hormones control the formation of neural networks. Once exposed to the outside world, baby's brains are extremely sensitive to stimuli. What these humans learn throughout their development affects what gets pruned during apoptosis, which occurs in early childhood as well as in adolescence. 4. Cultural factors also have implications for development. 5. Exposure to drugs and stress physically changes neural structures, mostly in a negative way. Ultimately, physical changes in the brain and how the brain functions determine one's behavior.

The Developing Brain
From conception the premature baby brain relies on cell migration. The trillions of brain cells line up in the brain based on how the other neurons around it are moving.

No two brains are alike. Even identical twins have differently structured brains by the time they are born (Patrick, 1997). While in the womb, exposure to sex hormones, such as androgens, shape the brain’s development and future sex behavior. Robert W. Goy of the University of Wisconsin studies the differences in male and female brain structure. Description of Theory an Hypothesis According to him, androgens help to create male brains and female brains develop in a lack of androgens. This exposure to sex hormones during early life produces lifelong changes between the sexes. The hypothalamus, which controls male and female reproductive behavior, is larger in males and smaller in females. In addition, '''men tend to be better at spatial tasks, mathematical reasoning, and target-directed motor skills. Women have better verbal abilities, word recall, and precision manual skills.''' Women have larger corpus callosums, aiding in communication between right and left hemispheres for better speech abilities whereas men rely on the posterior portion of their left hemispheres for speech. For this reason, men are more likely to incur aphasia after a stroke, because it damages this region of the left hemisphere (Kimura, 1999).

Future Research on Womb Exposure Girls exposed to large quantities of adrenal androgens before birth develop the genetic defect called congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). Sheri A. Berenbaum, who has studied CAH girls, notices more aggressive, male-like behavior in play- they prefer masculine toys and game over typical female ones (Kimura). Some researchers suggest that tastes can be primed by exposure to the residue of food in their mother’s blood. Babies born to drug addicts are addicted to drugs at birth and babies born to mothers eating curries and spicy foods have tastes for spicy foods themselves (Carter, 1998).

The fetal brain is sparse, with many non-myelinated neurons, and missing connections between the auditory and visual cortices, and between the retina and thalamus (Carter, 1998). The baby’s brains must finish developing in the external environment. Since the hippocampus is not fully developed until the age of three, a baby toddler cannot store long-term memories, only emotional memories in the amygdala. Heidelise Als, of Harvard Medical School, researches premature babies’ vulnerability to overstimulation. Bright lights and loud sounds, common in the ICU, impede the premies’ brain development. Als claims that for this reason, premies often have difficulty in later life with learning, paying attention, and prioritizing. When premies were placed in an environment that imitated the womb- dark, quiet, with physical contact, the premies’ brains developed normally. When children lack physical contact or nurturing, psycho-social dwarfism may impede their growth. The hypothalamus does not stimulate the thyroid to produce enough growth hormone. In studies on Romanian orphanage children, the orphans had stunted growth, lower IQs, and more learning disabilities than average children (Groza et al., 1998). A few years after the orphans were adopted, they caught up in height and improved their learning abilities. Early Childhood Brain Development Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to create new neural pathways based on new experiences. It takes place over a lifetime, sometimes over genetically-determined critical periods. At birth, there are approximately 2,500 synapses in the cerebral cortex of a human baby.By three years old, the cerebral cortex has about 15,000 synapses (Gopnick et al., 1999). Because the infant brain has such a huge capacity for growth, it must eventually be pruned down. Synaptic pruning, or apoptosis, is the programmed neuron cell death that takes place during early childhood and adolescence. Pruning actually strengthens important connections and eliminates weaker ones, creating more effective neural communication (Brain Plasticity,2006). Many times children lose their eidetic or photographic memory during apaptosis. An incomplete pruning results in so-called idiot savantes while overkill apoptosis my strip too many connections and lead to Down’s syndrome (Carter, 1998).

Plasticity can also be demonstrated in any learning. For one to remember an experience, the circuitry of the brain must change. According the Durbach (2000) learning takes place when there is either a “change in the internal structure of neurons” or an “increase in the number of synapses between neurons.” Another name for this is Hebbian learning, where “the cells that fire together, wire together.”  With repeated exposure, certain pathways in the brain permanent (Hebb, 1949).

Rosenweig's study More Experience = Bigger Brains, illustrates in rats how the brain changes in response to experience. Rats who lived in more enriched environments had larger neurons, more DNA and RNA, a heavier cerebral cortex, and larger synapses than rats who lived in sparse environments (Rosenweig et al., 1972).

Drugs and the Brain
''Drugs directly affect the physiology of the brain’s composition and functioning and therefore human behavior. ''

Types of Drugs and Effects on the Brain and Behavior The chemical THC in marijuana stimulates cannabinoid receptors in the brain, which affects the release of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and dopamine. The effects of these two hormones eases pain and creates a euphoric-like sensation. However, marijuana impairs memory in the hippocampus. It lowers the functioning of the cerebral cortex, lowering concentration and judgement. The THC slows down the cerebellum, impairing movement and affects perception in the sensory cortex, enhancing sensations and creating hallucinations.

The depressant, alcohol, in low doses, relaxes people, lowers inhibitions, and slows down reflexes. In medium doses, alcohol also stimulates the release of norepinephrine and dopamine and causes a quick reuptake of acetylcholine and GABA. The effect is relaxation, but loss of coordination, impaired memory, and impaired reason. Even in moderate consumption, alchohol may cause brain shrinkage, according to a study on rats. When chronically abused, alcohol damages the frontal lobes, decreases brain mass, decreases the size of ventricles which pump blood to the brain. This may lead to permanent impairment of memory and speech, causing such disorders as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsikoff’s Syndrom.

Drinking during pregnancy can alter the genes of the fetus. Babies with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome have smaller brains, lower IQs, and mental retardation. The neurogenesis of the hippocampus is affected, and there are less overall neurons, leading to impaired learning and memory, as well as depression. Also, the development of the corpus callosum is disrupted.

Stimulants such as cocaine and crack prevent the reuptake of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, creating a euphoric rush. But after a while this depletes the brain’s supply of these neurotransmitters, creating a “crash” effect.

Dr. Hans Brider took FMRI scans of cocaine users, revealing changes in the amygdala, nucleus accumbens, hippocampus, and anterior singulate. These parts of the brain create the deep desire to do cocaine- especially the amygdala, which creates deep emotional memories concerning drug use. Dr. Anna Rose Childress of the University of Pennsylvania also studied cocaine users, trying to trigger memories of drug use to see what parts of the brain it affected. When participant were shown pictures of drug use or drug dealers, PET scan images also showed activity in the amygdala and nucleaus accumbens, which reveals where relapse cravings originate.

Nicotine, another excitatory drug, is a competitive inhibitor for acetylcholine receptors in the brain. Therefore, nicotine acts like acetylcholine and affect many functions, such as muscle movement, breathing, heart rate, learning, and memory. Continually, acetylcholine stimulates the release of other neurotransmitters and hormones that play a role in mood, appetite, and memory. Nicotine also raises levels of dopamine in the brain, which creates a feeling of euphoria. Dopamine is present in cocaine and heroin and scientists suggest that the changes in dopamine play a role in why addiction occurs.

Amphetamines like ecstasy (MDMA) increase neurotransmitter activity in the brain. Ecstasy stimulates the release of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. Serotonin, the neurotransmitter greatly impacted by ecstasy, "plays an important role in the regulation of mood, sleep, pain, appetite, and other behaviors" (NIDA). Repeated use of ecstasy or abuse of the drug can lead to a depletion of serotonin, an important neurotransmitter, and brain imaging of heavy users show that there are changes in regions involved in cognition, emotion, and motor function (McCann 2000, and Morgan 1999, 2000).

Research on Addiction

Steven Hyman of the National Institute of Health proposes that some people may have higher endogenous stress levels or may lack dopamine receptors, making drug addiction and abuse more likely. Genetics and family environments can also increase vulnerability to addiction. According to Dr. Mark Shuckett, those people with an alcoholic parent are 60% more likely to become alcoholics themselves.

Certain cultural norms and environments foster alcohol and drug use. Around 50% of college students consider themselves binge drinkers, with even higher percentages for those in fraternities, sororities, or military academies. While binge drinking is more prevalent in the United States, cigarettes and other drugs are more common. An estimated 20% of Europeans use marijuana. Stress and traumatic events make drug and alcohol use more likely. For example, there were widespread reports of increased alcoholism after Hurricane Katrina and 9/11.

Stress and the Brain
Stress has many definitions, but according to Richard Lazarus, stress is a state of anxiety produced when events and responsibilities exceed one’s coping abilities. In this way, stress relies not only on environmental factors, but on cognitive appraisals of these factors (Myers, 2004). The cerebral cortex perceives the stressor, the hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland to release epinephrine and norepinephrine. This in turn stimulates the adrenal glands to release the hormone cortisol (Myers, 2004). Stress effects many other areas of the body, such as the amygdala, which produces a fear response. It seems to hardwire the brain differently. Middle-aged rats that had undergone early life stress had abnormal brain-cell activity and memory loss (Brunson et. al., 2005).

The sources of stress are numerous: from catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina, significant life changes, poverty and inequality, to daily hassles like traffic tie-ups and demanding jobs (Myer, 2004). Especially in urban and overcrowded environments, psychologists see links between everyday stressors and hypertension, and unhealthy behaviors such as lack of sleep and alcoholism (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). In fact, the leading causes of death today in America are linked to lifestyle and stress. According UNSEC, about half of the world’s children grow up in extremely stressful environments (poverty, violence, war, abuse), which means that these children may have impaired cognitive abilities later on in life.

Certain personalities are more susceptible to stress. Friedman and Rosenman found that Type A people, who are characterized as competitive, impatient, and aggressive, are more physically reactive to stress- they produce more hormones and have a higher blood pressure. Type B people, who are more relaxed and easygoing, are less prone to stress. Most significantly, Type A's were 69% more likely to suffer from a heart attack (Myers, 2004). Type A's typically feel like they are less in control of situations.

According to research by Janet Rodin, the less perceived control of a situation, the greater the stress. The elderly that lived in nursing homes, were lonely, and had to be fed, dressed, and changed, felt significantly more stress and had shorter lifespans than their independent, active counterparts.

The Canadian scientist Hans Seyle was among the first to discover the link between stress and physical effects. In studying stressed rats, Seyle observed the same reaction: shrinkage of the thymus gland, bleeding ulcers, and an enlargement of the adrenal glands. His continued research led him to naming the body’s response to stress General Adaptation Syndrome. During phase one, one experiences an alarm reaction, the initial activation of the sympathetic nervous system. In phase two, resistance, the body tries to cope with stress and there is an outpouring of stress hormones. In the third and final stage, exhaustion, stress depletes the body’s reserves and wears down the immune system. Additional research has shown that prolonged stress shrinks the hippocampus, which helps make memories explicit. Females seem to be more susceptible to stress and depression. After experiencing traumatic events, females are twice as likely as men to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, where humans develop maladaptive behaviors such as avoidance, reduced responsiveness and guilt (Myers, 2004). Researcher Tracey Shors concluded that in response to stress, females memory formation is more inhibited than that of male rats because of the fluctuation of estrogen during and following the traumatic event. In typical experiments, the rats were exposed to inescapable stressors such as tailshocks or swimming. Later on, Shors would try to condition eyeblinks. The stressors, in contrast to the females, actually improved the male rat’s learning and eyeblink responses. Glucocorticoids, stress neurotransmitters in the brain, seemed to increase dendritic spine density in the hippocampus of male rats, but decreased the dendritic spine density in female rats (Shors, 2001). However, mindful exercise, such as Tai Chi, meditation, and aerobic exercise decrease stress response and promote overall well-being (Sandlund and Norlander, 2000). In a University of Wisconsin study, participants who did meditative exercises showed more electrical activity in the left side of the frontal lobe, indicating that they had a lower anxiety and a more positive emotional state (Davidson, 2003). Meditation, yoga, and other relaxation exercises also assist in autonomic reflexes. This is called conscious control. Through these practices, it is possible to gain control over the sphincter muscles in the anus and bladder. Yoga has been shown to help control heart rate, blood pressure, and other autonomic functions. These are learned behaviors - they involve the formation of new pathways in the brain.

Researchers have also found the correlation between a social support network of close friends and family and less physiological stress effects (Brown and Harris, 1978). Stress Inoculation Training and Hardiness Training are cognitive behavioral techniques that work to improve stress resistance through analysing stressors, teaching coping techniques, and changing behavior so that the patient feels more assertive and in control (Meichenbaum, 1977) (Kobasa, 1986). Drugs, such as beta-blockers, which reduce stress arousal, anxiolytic drugs, such as minor tranquilisors, and anti-depressant drugs, which treat severe anxiety, can also be used to combat stress.

Essay Questions
How do drugs effect behavior? What physical effects and changes on the brain can be observed?

Looking through the lens of the biological perspective, explain how genetics influences brain development.

What are the implications of Rosenweig's study More Experience = Bigger Brains study? Triungalate other research that goes in accordance to this theory.

title: SL Psychology/Genetic interplay


text:
SL Psychology/How the brain works

Overview
One of the most complex systems known to us today, the brain is made of systems and parts that all work together to keep the human body functioning. The nervous system, the core of all processes, has two main parts: the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The CNS is made of the brain and the spinal cord. The PNS is the brain's connection to nerves. It links the CNS to sense receptors, muscles, and glands. Without the CNS and the PNS, we would not be able to function. So, when explaining how the brain works physically, it is essential that we understand the core of all function.

Peripheral Nervous System
The PNS is the link from the brain to the rest of the body. Because the PNS is so extensive, it is necessary that it be made of other systems that all work together to maintain the PNS. The somatic nervous system, to start with, controls the movement of skeletal muscles. The autonomic nervous system controls the glands and the muscles of internal organs. This system controls basically all movement that we don't actually think about, such as a heartbeat, digestion, and glandular activity. This system is also made of two parts: the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system arouses our bodies for defensive action. It does this by accelerating your heartbeat, slowing your digestion, raising your blood sugar, dilating your arteries, and cooling you with perspiration. As soon as your body realizes that it no longer needs to be ready for defensive action, your parasympathetic nervous system takes over. This system calms your body by undoing everything that the sympathetic nervous system just did, such as decreasing your heartbeat.

Central Nervous System
The CNS is made of the spinal cord and brain. It links the PNS to the brain, thereby allowing the brain to be aware of the physical actions taking place. The spinal cord itself controls muscular reflexes. When you touch something hot, for example, you pull your hand away and then feel pain. Your spinal cord sends out a message to your muscles to pull your hand away, long before the pain sensation has reached your brain. The CNS also is made of the neural networks in the brain which interpret information, allowing the brain to take the necessary actions. These neural networks are cluster of neurons, which can communicate with each other through chemical changes in the brain.

Neurons
Neurons are nerve cells. Although there are many different types of neurons, they all have the same essential parts. All neurons have dendrites that receive information, an axon that passes the message from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands. The myelin sheath insulates the axon and helps to speed impulses. A neural impulse is an electrical signal that travels down the axon. Impulses are made from an exchange of ions between neurons. At the resting potential, the neuron has a negative charge in its axon and is surrounded by a positive charge. When the action potential is reached, the axon is depolarized, positive charges travel down the axon, and then trigger the release of neurotransmitters. After the impulse is sent, the neuron goes through a refractory period where the positive charges are pushed back outside the axon. The neurotransmitters that are sent are received on the dendrites of the receiving neuron. These neurotransmitters can either be excitatory or inhibitory. When there are more excitatory neurotransmitters and too few inhibitory neurotransmitters, the neuron's threshold is reached and the action potential is triggered. Neurons have an all-or-none response. The strength of the stimulus does not affect the action potential’s speed. In other words, it doesn't matter by how much the excitatory neurotransmitters outnumber the inhibitory neurotransmitters. As long as the number reaches the neuron's threshold, the action potential is triggered.

Synaptic Gaps and Neurotransmitters
In between neurons is the synaptic gap. This gap separates the axon terminal from the receiving neuron. It is across this gap that neurotransmitters must be sent. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that are sent by neurons. They cross the synaptic gap to bind to receptor sites. Once they are bound to the receptor sites, neurotransmitters unlock channels in the receptor neuron. This allows ions to flood the axon of the neuron and the process is repeated. When a neuron releases too many neurons, it re-absorbs the excess neurotransmitters. This process is known as reuptake. Neurotransmitters can produce many different reactions in the brain and throughout the body. Acetylcholine, for example, enables muscle function, learning, and memory. Another neurotransmitter, dopamine, allows for movement, learning, attention, and emotion. Serotonin helps control mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal. Norepinephrine controls alertness and arousal. These neurotransmitters can be mimicked by certain drugs and chemicals. When the drugs are used for a long time, however, the brain becomes dependent on them and stops producing certain neurotransmitters naturally.

Parts of the Brain
Neurons send this information throughout the brain, including the brainstem, the thalamus, the cerebellum, the limbic system, and the cerebral cortex. The brainstem, the oldest and innermost region of the brain, contains the medulla and the reticular formation. The medulla controls heartbeat and breathing. The reticular formation helps control arousal and sends incoming information from the thalamus to specific parts of the brain. The thalamus is the “sensory switchboard.” It receives information from all of the senses except smell and routes the information to other areas of the brain. When it receives replies, the thalamus sends them to the cerebellum and the medulla. The cerebellum, which means little brain, coordinates voluntary movement of the body. The limbic system, near the cerebellum, influences emotions and motives, partly through hormones. The limbic system contains the amygdale which influences aggression and fear. It also includes the hypothalamus, which regulates thirst, hunger, and body temperature. The hypothalamus secretes hormones that affect both bodily functions and other hormonal glands. Lastly, the limbic system contains the hippocampus which lays down long-term memories. The cerebral cortex is the ultimate control and information-processing center in the brain. It contains the parietal lobes, the occipital lobes, the temporal lobes, and the frontal lobes. The cerebral cortex also contains glial cells, which guide neural connections, provide nutrients and myelin to neurons, and absorb extra ions and neurotransmitters. The frontal lobes in the cerebral cortex control speaking, muscle movements, and the ability to make plans and judgments. The parietal lobes include the sensory cortex which controls the information that the brain receives from our senses. The temporal lobes contain the auditory areas in the brain. The motor cortex, found in the frontal lobes, is in control of bodily movements.

Specialization and Integration
All of the parts of the brain have their own specialities but need to work as a complete system to make sure that the body functions correctly. This is known as specialization and integration. An example of specialization and integration would be how we read aloud. Our visual cortex receives written words as stimulation. The angular gyrus then transforms the visual representations to an auditory code. This code is then sent to Wernicke’s area, which interprets the code and sends it to Broca’s area, which controls speech muscles via the motor cortex. The motor cortex then controls the muscles in the mouth to pronounce the word. All of these systems work together to produce something as simple as reading aloud; there is no one system that can produce the same effect...

Endocrine System
The endocrine system controls the secretion of hormones throughout the body. These hormones influence our interest in sex, food, and aggression. The glands that secrete hormones are: the hypothalamus, which controls the pituitary gland; the pituitary gland secretes many different hormones, some of which are used to control other glands; the thyroid sends out hormones that are used to control metabolism; the hormones from the parathyroid control the amount of calcium found in the blood stream; the adrenal glands trigger the fight or flight response; and the pancreas controls the level of sugar in the blood.

Circadian Rhythms
The body is also on a schedule of bodily rhythms. There are annual cycles, that affect seasonal affective disorder. There are also 24-hour cycles, which control when we want to sleep. This cycle is known as a circadian rhythm. During a 24-hour period, our body temperature goes up in the morning, peaks during the day, and begins to fall in early afternoon when many people take siestas. When we sleep, our bodies also go through a certain rhythm. Sleep is separated into five stages. The first stage is when you have just fallen asleep. During this stage that lasts up to five minutes, breathing is slowed and there are irregular brain wave patterns. During stage 2, which lasts for about twenty minutes, there are periods of active brain activity. This is the stage when sleep talking would occur. During stages 3 to 4, the brain emits delta waves for about thirty minutes. After stage 4, we seem to begin to cycle out of sleep, but instead of reaching stage one again we go into REM sleep, or rapid eye movement. This is when your heart rate is increased, we have irregular breathing patterns, and eye movement can be seen.

All of the parts of the brains and different systems allow our bodies to work efficiently and correctly. Without even one of these systems, our bodies would not work the same. Although each part of the brain and each system has a special job, they all work together to maintain our bodily functions and higher thought.

Bibliography:

Myers, D. G. (2004). Psychology. Holland, MI: Worth Publishers.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: SL Psychology/How the brain works


text:
SL Psychology/Attention

Definitions of Attention

 * 1) Means by which we actively process a limited amount of information from the myriad of information available through our senses, stored memories, and other cognitive processes.
 * 2) Refers to the allocation of processing resources assuming limited resources
 * 3) The ability to focus on a given task->Focusing on certain features of the environment to the exclusion of other features
 * 4) The ability to concentrate->Allows either selective awareness or responsiveness

==Controlled vs. Automated Processes Controlled processes are those which a person actively partakes in, the processes that require a person to focus or concentrate are considered controlled processes. In terms of attention as the allocation of processing resources assuming limited resources, controlled processes consume a very large amount of resources. Automated processes are those which require very little focus, concentration, or attentional resources, depending on the definition used. These processes can interfere, support, or have no effect on one another. When learning a new process, an old automated process can prevent learning-learning to swing a tennis racket after learning to swing a baseball bat- advance learning- throwing almost any object- or do nothing- knowing proper running form will not affect the previous two tasks.

Controlled Processes
All processes begin as controlled processes. Most tasks that are performed are a series of mental processes. When a process is considered a controlled process, it is performed serially, every step of the process must be performed one at a time until the controlled process finally becomes an automated process through automatization. Controlled processes are basically newly learned processes.

Automatization
This is the name for the process through which a process changes from a controlled to an automated process. As a controlled process is repeated several times, the neurons which fire in the process eventually move into position so that the current that flows through them meets very little resistance, thus streamlining the process. As the neurons rearrange themselves, the process becomes automated.

Automated Processes
These are the processes which can be performed in parallel, multiple different processes at one time. These processes require very little attention and occur automatically, sometimes without the knowledge of the person performing the task.

Selective Attention
Selective attention is when a person attends to one task over others.

Divided Attention
Divided attention is when a person attends to multiple tasks simultaneously. This kind of attention has been shown to be affected by three factors: task difficulty (performance and task difficulty have an inverse relationship), task similarity (performance and task similarity also have an inverse relationship), and practice ( the more practice, the better the performance).

Dichotic Listening Task

 * Auditory Theory of Attention(Cherry 1953; Moray 1959)
 * Subjects were instructed to listen to 2 different conversations and 'shadow' one of them. This forced the subjects to focus on only one of the conversations.  In the end, the subjects were able to recall information about the conversation that was listened to with no out of the ordinary results, but the participants could only tell physical characteristics of the speaker of the unattended message.  The subjects could only state the gender, whether the sound was human or a noise, and the distance of the speaker.  Information about the actual message could not be recalled including the language spoken and the actual words spoken, even if the message was nothing more than the repition of one word.  The experiments did show that people will change the focus of their attention when a certain stimulus is used.  The effect has come to be called the cocktail party phenomenon because of how when in a conversation, with noise in the background, a person will respond to the call of their name that has was said in a tone that no one else heard.

Broadbent's Filter Theory
This filter theory is based on Cherry's studies and states that as information is processed, there is a filter which blocks the processing of most stimuli in an effort to keep the processing mechanism of the brain from overloading. According to Broadbent, this filter blocks all but the physical characteristics of a stimulus from being processed if another stimulus is being processed at that time. This theory, however, does not account for a person's ability to increase their ability to attend to multiple stimuli.

Evidence against Broadbent’s Filter Theory
Moray (1959) showed that about one third of the time a subject could detect their own name in the non-shadowed message. This anomaly shows that there is some semantic filter that Broadbent never accounted for.

Underwood (1974) showed that subjects who had previously participated in shadowing tasks could eventually be trained in dichotic listening tasks and recall about 67% of digits from the non-shadowed message, whereas non-experienced subjects could only recall about 8%.

Triesman's Attenuation Theory
Triesman basically revised Broadbent's theory. Triesman's attenuation theory states that people process stimuli in an hierarchy from attended to unattended stimuli and attentional resources are allocated according to this hierarchy. As the processing becomes deeper, the information processed bottlenecks.

Evidence for Treisman’s Attenuation Theory
Gray and Wedderburn (1960) played the messages “What 6 hell” and “2 the 9” and the subjects reported hearing “What the hell” and “2 6 9”. Their study shows that there is a semantic filter that Broadbent’s theory does not account for in his theory. Also, shows that it is easier for subjects to switch between messages than Broadbent concluded.

Visual Search
Visual Search is the finding of a target amidst the environment. Visual search is affected by the similarity of distracters and the target and the set size being searched.

Theories of Visual Search
Feature Detection

Ulric Neisser believed that subjects automatically process the basic features of a scene in parallel. He showed that subjects more easily located a target object when it was around dissimilar objects rather than similar. For example, it is easier to find the letter “X” when it is surrounded by the letter “O” than when it is surrounded by the letter “K”.

Feature Integration Theory
Triesman developed the theory of Feature Integration which states that all stimuli are first processed in parallel and then serially in a conjunction search in which certain features are looked for in combination. This theory has led to other theories such as guided search theory, but ignores the effects of the similarities between distracters and the target. The theory also incorrectly assumes that processing occurs in two phases: parallel, then serially.

Guided Search Theory
Developed by Wolfe in 1998, Guided Search theory is a revised version of Feature Integration theory. Guided Search theory states that serial and parallel processing occurs simultaneously in differing amounts. At first an 'activation map' is created and objects that are similar to the target are identified. Next, the similar objects are processed serially while all other objects are processed in parallel to identify the target.

Central Capacity Theories
Central capacity theories state that the ability for someone to attend to a stimulus is based on the amount of attentional resources that the person has. Problems with this theory mainly involve how the resources are distributed: theoretically, if one pair of tasks is similar but different and another pair is completely different, performance should be the same for both sets of tasks which is not how the experiments turn out.

Filter Theory
Filter theories assume that attending to multiple tasks simultaneously results in only retaining information about certain characteristics in the varying tasks. Filter theorists believe that there is just a wall which blocks the further processing of information of all but one or two attended to tasks. This type of theory does not account for the ability of someone to improve their ability to attend to multiple tasks.

Bottleneck Theory
Bottleneck theories state that information is processed simultaneously but the processing of information decreases in performance as the number and difficulty of the tasks increases.

title: SL Psychology/Attention


text:
SL Psychology/Language

Directions
This content should include the following items:
 * 1) Definitions
 * 2) Biological Elements of language (Chomsky, the LAD and universal grammar)
 * 3) Language and animal communication (the talking chimps and how they illustrate elements of language)
 * 4) Piaget and Vygotsky (Cognitive development and the Zone of Proximal Development)
 * 5) Bruner cognitive development and language

Content
We live in a society that thrives on communication- books, newspapers, television, music, cell phones, and the internet are all mediums through which we use language to report information and express ideas. What is truly amazing is that each one of us begins life without knowing a single word, and yet within a lifetime learns approximately 80,000 words (Miller & Gildea, 1987) and the grammatical structure that allows these words to be put together in meaningful combinations. Furthermore, we are the only species in the animal kingdom that has demonstrated a sophisticated use of language, which consists of “our spoken, written, or signed words and the way we combine them to communicate meaning” (Myers, 2004)

Phonemes are the smallest sound units. Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning (usually words, but also prefixes).

Bat, Bait, Beat, Beet, Bet, Bit, Bite, Boat, Boot, Bought, Bout, But are all only one phoneme different, and thus are different morphemes. The word undescribable has four morphemes un, de, scrib, and able (Myers, 2004).

Biological Elements of Language
An early, prominent language development theory had been proposed by psychologist B. F. Skinner. A behavioralist, he felt that language is learned through association (“milk” with a bottle), imitation, and reinforcement (through praise offered by parents). Children with little language reinforcement, he argued, are less conditioned to speak, and therefore do it more slowly and less fluently.

Noam Chomsky, a linguist at MIT, proposed a different theory. He believed that children acquired language too rapidly to have been the result of conditioning, and that their ability to create novel sentences proved that they weren’t just imitating others. Chomsky decided that there must be an underlying biological component that facilitates in language development.

This theorized biological component was originally called the Language Acquisition Device (LAD), but is now more commonly referred to as universal grammar. We each learn the language most prevalent in our environment, but we have a natural ability to learn grammar. Our innate capability is illustrated by commonalities in languages worldwide: though ordering subject, verb, and object can create six distinct orders, 44% of languages have subject-object-verb order, and another 35% have subject-verb-object order (book handout). The fact that we often cannot explicitly state grammar rules that we use all the time further demonstrates this. For example, what order should these words be in: tin rusty can, or rusty tin can?

Brain damage provides psychologists with insights into how the brain processes language. Aphasia is the general term for language impairment, and usually comes in two forms: Broca’s aphasia and Wernicke’s aphasia.

They have found that injury to a part of the left frontal lobe causes suffers to struggle to form sentences, though they are still left the ability to comprehend speech and recite their favorite song lyrics. This region of the brain, known as Broca’s area, helps mold ideas into grammatically-structured sentences and facilitates the muscle movement required for speaking. Consequently, their speech generally consists of telegraphic phrases.

Injuries to the left temporal lobe, in a region of the brain known as Wernicke’s area, also cause language impairment. However, though a sufferer of Wernicke’s aphasia maintains grammatical structure in their sentences (without paying attention to the actual words, an observer might think a patient was a normal speaker), the thoughts they convey seem vague, confusing, and lack meaning. They may use words in the wrong context, or even use nonexistent words. Thus, a person with Wernicke’s aphasia has an impaired ability to comprehend spoken language. Words’ greater implications are lost to them.

A study of from-birth deaf children who learn sign language after age 9 found that these children are less fluent in ASL than deaf children who had previously learned spoken English before losing their hearing at age 9 or later (Mayberry & others, 2002). This finding demonstrates the benefits of early language learning. The from-birth deaf children had not had sufficient language exposure at a time when their brains could most easily respond to language stimulation. Without this stimulation, Wernicke's and Broca's areas did not completely form. The system of communication in our brain that we use to comprehend speech and to produce our own wasn't present in these children. This can be related to the idea that "neurons that fire together, wire together." The average human brain has a system that allows us to listen to speech, comprehend its meaning, and react to it. The brains of children who are deaf from birth are not allowed to make these connections and are therefore not able to learn speech in the same way that average children are. Other parts of their brains, however, allow them to comprehend and react to ASL, much as they would to regular language. This exemplifies the plasticity of a child's brain.

One way psychologists study language is through triangulation of results using primates. When looking at language in other animals, criteria must be developed. According to Hockett (1960), in order to be considered language, communication must possess semanticity (morphemes must contain meaning), arbitrariness (the letters ‘cat’ refer to a feline), displacement (in the absence of the object, ideas can still be expressed), prevarication (humor), and productivity (wide ranges of ideas can be expressed). Language also needs to be completely unique to every person; in order for any sort of communication to be considered as language, the animal speaking it has to be able to come up with unique word combinations on its own. Without the idea of unique language, some communication that is inherent in certain species could be called language. Admittedly, these criteria are possibly too stringent.

Important animal studies
Washoe, 1-year-old female common champanzee- in four years of training, learned 132 ASL signs, and was at the telegraphic speech stage (Gardner, 1969). Though her trainers believed she showed some comprehension of grammar, deaf signers noticed fewer signs (Pinker,1994) and other researchers doubt the grammatical conclusions of the Gardners.

Kanzi, male bonabo chimpanzee- learned to understand 60 lexigrams and use 50. By four years he had created 500 combinations of words. A study found that Kanzi was correct 82% of the time when told a command in the form “Go ___ to get ___” while a 2-year-old girl was only correct 45% of the time (Savage-Rumbaugh & others, 1993). Of course, he had been well-trained in retrieving objects.

Panbinisha, bonobo chimpanzee- raised emersed in language, learned 3000 words in 14 years. She also could form grammatically correct sentences and exhibited the criterion of prevarication. She understood that a person was looking for a sweet, and not the insect that it had been replaced with (Leake, 1999).

Important Theories and Theorists
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

Piaget hypothesized that humans desire a state of cognitive balance and in order to adapt an individual will use assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is the process of changing one's environment to place into the preexisting schema. Accommodation is the process of changing the cognitive structure to adapt to the new environment. Children have to develop first mentally in order to develop language. Piaget believed that children create their world through interactions that build the schemas, mental structures of the mind. This coincides with the constructivist view which is a "viewpoint in [the] learning theory which holds that individuals acquire knowledge by building it from innate capabilities interacting with the environment". Constructivist theory suggests that as students learn, they don’t memorize or take on others' conceptions of reality; instead, they create their own meaning and understanding of reality. He also held many other key ideas which helped shape his beliefs on how young children learn and develop language. For instance:

Classification- the ability to group objects together on the basis of common features. Class inclusion- understanding and more advanced than classification; also understanding that some classes or sets of objects are also sub-sets of a larger class. Conservation- The realization that objects or sets of objects stay the same even when they are changed or made to look different. Egocentrism- The belief that you are the center of the universe and everything revolves around you which disable you to see the world as someone else does and adapt to it. According to Piaget however, this is not mere moral "selfishness" it is rather an early stage of psychological development.

Operation- The process of working something out in your head; young children have to act things out instead of working problems out in their heads like older children and adults can often do. He also developed a four stage model of cognitive development.

1.	Sensorimotor stage (Infancy-0 to 2 years). Knowledge of the world is limited because it is only based on immediate physical interactions / experiences. During this time the infant experiences very. The infant also has a lack of object perception. General symbolic function allows language and object permanence to develop.

2.	Pre-operational stage (Toddler and Early Childhood-2 to 7 years) The child's knowledge is dominated by the external world and its appearances. A child will only focus on one aspect of something at a time. The ability to carry out logical operations of the world is limited and the child lacks the understanding of categories. Thought is still egocentric and the child has with conservation task, such as distinguishing the volume of water in different glasses.

3.	Concrete operational stage (Elementary and early adolescence-7 to 11 years). In this stage, intelligence is demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols related to concrete objects. Operational thinking develops and the child is able to do more activities at once. Egocentric thought diminishes.

4.	Formal operational stage (Adolescence and adulthood-11 to 15 years). In this stage, intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts. The ability to generate abstract propositions, multiple hypotheses and their possible outcomes is evident. Ideas can be thought about mentally without concrete examples. Problems are approached in a systematic way and formal logical systems can be acquired.

Criticisms of Piaget
Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)

The major theme of Vygotsky's theory is that language and thought start off as separate processes but gradually unite to influence each other through social learning that actually leads to cognitive development. Vygotsky's theory was an attempt to explain consciousness as the end product of socialization

Vygotsky (1978) states: "Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals."

According to Vygotsky, humans use tools that develop from a culture, such as speech and writing, to mediate their social environments. Initially children develop these tools to serve solely as social functions, ways to communicate needs. Vygotsky believed that the internalization of these tools led to higher thinking skills. When Piaget observed young children participating in egocentric speech in their preoperational stage, he believed it was a phase that disappeared once the child reached the stage of concrete operations. In contrast, Vygotsky viewed this egocentric speech as a transition from social speech to internalized thoughts.

Vygotsky's theory is that the potential for cognitive development depends upon the "zone of proximal development" (ZPD): a level of development attained when children engage in social behavior. Vygotsky describes it as "the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978). Full development of the ZPD depends upon full social interaction. The range of skill that can be developed with adult guidance or peer collaboration exceeds what can be attained alone.

The importance of Vygotsky's theory is that it showed that Piaget had under emphasized the role of social factors in cognitive development. It also helped other psychologist, such as Bruner, to conduct more research to provide evidence for this theory. Overall, Vygotsky's theory has successfully been applied to education.

Jerome S. Bruner (1915- )

Bruner believed that learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge. The learner selects and transforms information, constructs hypotheses, and makes decisions, relying on a cognitive structure to do so. Cognitive structure (i.e., schema, mental models) provides meaning and organization to experiences and allows the individual to "go beyond the information given". Bruner was more concerned with how knowledge was represented and organized as the child developed, and therefore proposed that there are modes of representation. He believed there were three different modes that allow the child to develop its thought process:

1.	The Enactive Mode (0 to 1 years) Bruner believed that babies represent or interact with the world through their actions and therefore knowledge is stored in the babies muscle memory.

2.	The Iconic Mode (1 to 6 years) This mode demonstrates knowledge developing through visual or auditory likeness or images. Children in this mode have difficulty thinking beyond these images as in categorizing the knowledge or understanding the relationships between objects.

3.	The Symbolic Mode (7 to adult) Bruner believed that during this mode children were able to encode the world in terms of information storing symbols, like the words of our language or numbers in mathematics. Then the information can be categorized and summarized so that it can be more readily altered and considered. Therefore children can think beyond the physical images of the iconic mode.

Similar to Vygotsky, Bruner stressed the importance of education and social interaction as major influences upon cognitive development, and more specifically proposed that society provides language which gives us thought. Bruner believed that language is symbolic/logical/operational thought, and one can not occur without the other, which is opposite of Piaget's belief that language was simply a tool used to reflect and describe the underlying symbolic cognitive structures. Bruner rejected Piaget's theory that cognitive structures could only be developed through the child's individual maturation and interaction with the world, and proposed that language training can speed up cognitive development.

Essay Questions
1. Compare, using appropriate examples, the behaviorist and cognitive views on language development.

2. To what extent do you agree that animals are capable of language?

3. Assess one of the theories of the language development. Be sure to include references to the perspectives and use examples!

title: SL Psychology/Language


text:
SL Psychology/Memory

Directions
This content should include the following items:
 * 1) Types of memory(episodic, semantic, procedural)
 * 2) Processes (encoding, storage, recall)
 * 3) Early Research:  Theories:  Ebbinghaus and Bartlett
 * 4) Models of memory:  Dual Process, Levels of Processing, Working memory, Parallel Distributed Processing Model
 * 5) Ecological Approaches to memory research
 * 6) Theories of Forgetting:  Amnesia, repression, and context dependency
 * 7) Biological elements of memory (engrams)
 * 8) Memory aids

Dual Process Model of Memory
In the dual process of memory there are two stores of memory, which are long term and short-term memory. In 1968 Atkinson and Shriffin proposed this two-process model of memory and how information was able to flow through these two stores. -Within this duel-process model there is also sensory memory that precedes short-term memory. -Sensory memory in this model is represented as what is used for what all sensory stimuli must go through in order for it to become part of one's memory. - Moreover, this model puts emphasis on rehearsal and the ability of a person to attend to the information that is incoming. - Lastly, the dual process model of memory depicts how data is lost within sensory memory through information not being attended to, while data in STM can be lost via displacement and how in LTM data can be lost through interference.

In this model, sensory input is received by the brain. The brain then processes this information and "pays attention" to one type of information. The rest of the sensory input is forgotten. The input that is attended to is then sent to the short-term memory, where it is either remembered for up to 20 seconds and forgotten or it is sent to the long-term memory where it can stay for very long periods of time without ever having to refresh the memory of it. This model explains why a person can only pay attention to so much during a period of time and remember what was going on later.

Research that supports the existence of a dual process model of memory would be cases of anterograde amnesia that Clive Wearing studied in 1988. From his research with this form of amnesia Wearing was able to make a firm distinction between STM and LTM. With anterograde amnesia those suffering from this amnesia are unable to retain information but for a certain period. Therefore, these people are trapped in a world purely based on their STM and none of the data they have in their STM can be transferred to the LTM (due to damage to the hippocampus). In addition to this research, free recall experiments really convey the difference between LTM and STM. The results of most of these experiments fall into a pattern known as the serial position curve. Participants are presented with a list of words, the serial position curve is a plot of the percentage of participants remembering each word, versus the position of that word in the list. The curve consists of the primacy effect, an asymptote, and the recency effect. The primacy effect is a result of words from the beginning of the study to be recalled by the participant. Due to that it can be inferred that the participant was able to place that word into their STM and further rehearse those first words and in turn transfer that word into the LTM. The asymptote comes about when words from the middle of the free recall list are not able to be recalled. This is due primarily to the fact that there are too many words in the middle portion of this list, so the STM is able to hold that chunk of information long enough to rehearse and then transfer to the LTM. Lastly, the recency effect is based on the fact participants of these particular experiments are able to recall more words that are towards the end of the list. The pieces of information enter the STM and are not displaced for there is no new information to further displace this information. Thusly, participants are able to use this short-term-memory store to their advantage. (Murdock, 1962) Murray Glanzer and Anita Cunitz (1966) tested the idea that rehearsal of the early words might lead to better memory by presenting the list at a slower pace, so there was more time between each word and participants had more time to rehearse. Just as hypothesized, if the primacy effect is due to rehearsal, increasing the time between each word increased memory for the early words (Glanzer et al., 1966). Superior memory for stimuli rpesented at the end of a sequence is called the recency effect, as discussed above (Murdoch, 1962). One possible explanation for the better memory for words at the end of the list is that the most recently presented words are still in short-term memory. To test this idea, Glanzer and Cunitz had their participants count backwards for 30 seconds right after hearing the last word item on the list. This counting prevented rehearsal from occurring and allowed time for information to be lost from short-term memory. The result therefore was as hypothesized - the delay caused by the counting eliminated the effect. Glanzer and Cunitz therefore concluded that the recency effect is due to storage of recently presented items in short-term memory; thereby showing better memory for words at the end of the serial position curve. The idea behind Glanzer and Cunitz's conclusions is that words that are rehearsed during the presentation of the list get transferred into long-term memory. But what is the evidence that short-term memory (working memory) and long-term memory are separate processes? In fact, there has been neuropsychological evidence that has shown that short-term memory (working memory) and long-term memory are actually two separate processes, occurring in two separate processing mechanisms, independently of each other in the sense that they each have divided allocated resources and capacities (see Clive Wearing's case, H.M.'s case, and K.F.'s case).

Limitations
Some criticisms of this model are that it is too simplistic and under-emphasises interaction between the stores. Also, the STM and LTM are more complex and not as unitary as the dual-process model would lead some to believe. This criticism is supported by the Working memory model of STM by Baddeley and Hitch (1974) and by research into the semantic, episodic, imagery and procedural encoding of LTM. Lastly, some critics feel that rehearsal is too simple of a process to account for the transfer of information from the STM to the LTM. Levels of Processing (Craik and Lockhart, 1972) are the postulates that deal with how someone might go about retaining information.

Levels of Processing
When a person receives information what they do with it is as important as how the information is received. Craik and Lockhart argued against the predominant view of fixed memory stores and proposed that there were many different ways in which data can be retained. However both men came to a consensus on the fact that data is easier to transfer from STM to LTM when the data is understood and can be related to past memories. Craik and Lockhart felt that rehearsal was too simplistic and really did not allow for data to be stored into LTM. The longer data was processed and analyzed the longer the memory trace would last in the LTM. These psychologists were then able to establish three levels at which verbal data could be processed at. The three levels were structural, phonetic and semantic, and each had their own specific characteristic to aid in further memory retention. The structural processing level consisted of merely looking at how the words were structured or organized to gain some meaning. Analyzing a word through the phonetic level looked at how the word sound compared to another word in order to retain meaning. Semantic process looked at the meaning of the word, and this level of processing was the most effective compared to the other two.

The levels that these men came up with were tested and proven true in 1975 by Craik and Tulving. In their study they tested the effect of depth of processing on memory by giving subjects words with questions that required the use of the different levels of processing. From the results the researchers were able to see that words that were remembered on the semantic level were recognized more frequently then words processed on the two other levels. Due to testing such as this many researchers began to wonder why deep processing occurred at all. In turn, modifications to the levels of processing were made, and some ways made all three levels equal in the ability in which it allowed people to retain information. Elaboration (Craik and Tulving, 1975) was one modification made and this particular modification found that complex semantic processing produced much more recall of words than simple semantic processing. Distinctiveness (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1980) showed how when words were processed phonetically recall would be better if the words were distinctive or unusual. The last two modifications were Effort (Tyler, 1979) and Personal Relevance (Rogers, 1977). Effort conveyed the idea that words would have better recall if words were presented as difficult antagrams, and Personal Relevance show that words had better recall if the words had a associative question that related to that specific participant.

Strengths and Limitations
The Evaluation of the Levels of Processing approach to memory is that there are strengths and weaknesses. The strengths are that it really has implications on what actually occurs during the process of learning. However, the word deep is very ambiguous and defining what deep can at times be difficult. Moreover, why deep processing is so effective is another mystery to many psychologists. Later it was found that Semantic processing does not always lead to better retrieval (Morris, 1977), which refutes this approaches findings and beliefs. Lastly, this approach describes rather than explains causing for negative judgment on the validity of this approach.

Working Memory Model of Memory
As many people continued to argue against the dual process model of memory, only few psychologists took the initiative to introduce new models based on memory. However, Baddeley and Hitch (1974) were able to create the working model of memory to challenge the dual-processes model and its short-term memory store. Working memory is an active store that is conscious about its currents surroundings and separates into three specific components. Those three different components are the central executive, the phonological loop, and the visuospatial sketchpad. The central executive is the controlling mechanism, which must be very attentive due to its limited capacity, of the other two components and in essence is a modality free mechanism. The phonological loop consists of two subsystems, the articulatory control system and the phonological store. The articulatory control system is the ‘inner voice’ that uses verbal rehearsal in order to retain information. This system's capacity is based on time, and ultimately the information in this system is data that we are preparing to speak or maintain for later use. The second part of the phonological loop, the phonological store is considered the ‘inner ear’ and is able to hold information as a phonological memory trace. This normally lasts for 1.5 to 2 seconds if it is not able to refresh via the articualtory control system. Memory is also able to transfer from the sensory register of from the LTM into the phonological store. The visuospatial sketchpad is the ‘inner eye’ that holds visual and spatial information from either the sensory register or the LTM.

Evidence and Support
Evidence for this model of memory is shown in experiments that use concurrent tasks. In other words, two tasks are being performed at the same time. These tasks are able to show that the STM cannot be as simplistic as the dual-process makes it. With the use of concurrent tasks, different modalities must be used and thus the different components of the working memory model must be used separately. These type of experiments further show that if one type of modality or one specific component is being used then another component that is similar in nature will be interfered with and non-functional. (Baddeley and Hitch, 1974)

Strengths and Limitations of the Work Memory Model
Evaluation of this model provides a more complex and thorough explanation of the first stages of memory storage than the STM does. This model is more generalizable to reading, mental arithmetic, and verbal reasoning. Moreover, the working model of memory makes of for where the STM lacks at when it comes to explaining brain damage patients (and their ability to use STM). However, with the numerous positives about this model the central executive component of the working model of memory seems to be unclear in terms of what its true function is.

Parallel Distributed Processing Model
In the Parallel Distributed Processing Model the storage of memory is outlined a very different way. This model is the youngest out of all the previous models that have been discussed. It wasn't until the 1980s that this model truly came into favor. PDP is model that stresses the parallel nature of neural processing, and the distributed nature of neural representations. Moreover, this model uses basic principles of technology as well as mathematics to its advantage in order to convey how memories are stored. As mentioned above the Parallel Distributed Processing Model is primarily made up of neural networks that interact to store memory. The two basic principles that this model follows are:

 * 1.	Any given mental state can be described as a (N)-dimensional vector of numeric activation values over neural units in a network.
 * 2.	Memory is created by modifying the strength of the connections between neural units.

The connection strengths, or "weights", are generally represented as a (N×N)-dimensional matrix These principles are created based on the idea of connectionism, which the PDP model is a huge representation of. Connectionism is the approach in cognitive science, which aims to model mental or behavior phenomena as interconnected networks that consists of simple units. The framework in which the PDP model works in consists of:
 * •	A set of processing units, represented by a set of integers.
 * •	An activation for each unit, represented by a vector of time-dependent functions.
 * •	An output function for each unit, represented by a vector of functions on the activations.
 * •	A pattern of connectivity among units, represented by a matrix of real numbers indicating connection strength.
 * •	A propagation rule spreading the activations via the connections, represented by a function on the output of the units.
 * •	An activation rule for combining inputs to a unit to determine its new activation, represented by a function on the current activation and propagation.
 * •	A learning rule for modifying connections based on experience, represented by a change in the weights based on any number of variables.
 * •	An environment which provides the system with experience, represented by sets of activation vectors for some subset of the units.

This framework is purely mathematically based and allows all the researchers that work with this model to operate within the PDP model with ease.

Support
Evidence for this model has been generally accepted in psychology. Some studies that have been done sought to distinguish the priming effect and the PDP as a valid storage of memory. These types of studies were in laboratory settings and were based upon recalling information back that had already been given. More evidence that was gained from these tests were that the priming is due to spreading activation of information. ( Mcclelland and Rumelhart, 1985) Data for this model has also been collected through computer simulation. It is evidence of this kind that really meets the disapproval of other psychologists in the cognitive field. The major questions that these psychologists asked is how can this computer generated data truly relate to something in the human realm. In addition, some believe that human thought is more systemic than the PDP will allow. These psychologists further state that computers are not able to correctly display behavior that humans can.(Fodor and Pylyshyn, 1988)

Evaluations of this model for the most part are that it is very effective. This model puts an emphasis on learning and other phenomena of memory. Moreover, although there is testing on computers, another key part to the data collected is in laboratory settings. In turn Connectionist psychologists are able to validate their data to the real world. However, these men have been unable to provide clear predictions and explanations about recall and recognition memory and how the PDP model is able to account for this.

Possible Essay Question How will and has modern technology influenced memory research? Discuss triangulating methods, and strengths and limitations of some of the corresponding memory models.

How Has the advent of Parallel Distribution Model impacted the legitimacy of other memory models?

What are some of the strengths and limitations of lab prepared research?

Types of Memory

 * Procedural: This type of memory refers to our knowledge of how to do something rather than something that has happened.  Examples usually include skills, such as knowing how to walk, talk, write or ride a bike.  While we may have episodic memories of learning how to ride a bike, these memories need not be recalled every time we ride a bike.  Compared with the other types of memory, procedural memory is highly resistant to forgetting as well as to brain damage that can harm other types of memory.  Patients suffering from amnesia forget many of their past experiences but often do not forget how to speak or write.

 * Declarative Memory: This type of memory refers to knowledge of facts and concepts as well as specific events.  Declarative memory is divided into two categories; episodic and semantic.

 * Episodic: This category of memory refers to our recall of specific events which are connected to a place and time.  This type of memory is what is referred to when someone talks about remembering something with your “mind’s eye.”
 * An example of a type of episodic memory is a flashbulb memory of a dramatic or traumatic event, such as the World Trade Center falling or the death of Princess Diana. Researchers Brown and Kulik argued that a special neural mechanism is triggered by such an event, especially if the event is shocking and has emotional repercussions (1977).  These memories are generally permanent and many specific detail can be recalled from them, such as the place where the news was heard.

 * Semantic: This type of memory refers to abstract ideas and general knowledge, regardless of any context in relation to time or location of when the memory was stored.  Examples include: knowing the meaning of words, learning facts from a text book and placing objects into categories.

Some scientists believe that the different types of memory are stored in different parts of the brain. Wheeler et al. (1997) reported that out of 26 PET scan studies, 25 studies showed more brain activity in the right prefrontal cortex during episodic memory retrieval than during semantic memory retrieval.

Memory Processes

 * Encoding: This refers to the processing of information for storage in either the short term or long term memory. Information must be processed so that it can easily be retrieved later.

 * Storage: Not all of the sensory information that we perceive actually enters into our memory.  Only that sensory information that we attend to is sent to our sensory memory.  The more relevant information is encoded and stored in the short term memory while the rest is filtered out to simplify our memory processing.  Information that is repeated in the short term memory is more likely to then be encoded into the long tem memory along with information that is more personally relevant. Craig and Lockhart (1972) determined that: 1.the deeper the processing, the more memorable

2. deeper levels on analysis produce stronger and longer lasting memory traces than shallow levels of analysis.

 * Retrieval: This is what we do when we remember something from our long term memory.  Information is not retrieved from our short term memory because short term memory is only held there until it can be sent to the long term memory.  Short term memory is attended to until it is either forgotten or sent to the long term memory.  According to the primacy effect the first few items on a list are better recalled than the middle ones because people have more time to rehearse the first few items, therefore encoding it into the long-term store (Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968).

Early Memory Research

 * Herman Ebbinghaus was a German psychologist and one of the earliest researchers of memory. He tested the long term memory by memorizing nonsense syllables [consonant-vowel-consonant trigrams which do not spell any word in any language]. Ebbinghaus conducted this experiment by reading a list of about twenty nonsense syllables; reading each one first then saying it aloud to himself. He followed this procedure for each word and spent the same amount of time on each nonsense syllable as well. His results showed that the memory was forgotten at a higher rate after the first hour and the forgetting rate increased at a slower rate thereafter. This is referred to as the forgetting curve.
 * Ebbinghaus also came up with the learning curve where he tried to recall 20 sets of nonsense syllables on a list. The more he repeated the series, the more he could remember until finally he recalled the whole list.  However, his theory is somewhat negated by Craig and Lockhart (1972) who found that elaborative rehearsal (the depth of understanding and processing) better determined memorability than just maintenance rehearsal (simple repetition).
 * Ebbinghaus also determined what is coined as the overlearning effect. According to Ebbinghaus, being able to recall [in this case the twenty nonsense syllables] perfectly, two times in a row constitutes as mastering the subject. Therefore, Ebbinghouse concluded that when a person continues to memorize material, he or she is “overlearning” because she or he has already succeeded in mastering the material. When “overlearning” occurs, the forgetting curve becomes shallower and it takes more time for material to be forgotten.

Ebbinghaus invented several tests of retention such as:
 * RECALL -- simply try to remember each item. Ebbinghaus used two types of recall task:
 * -FREE RECALL -- attempt to recall the list items; order is not important.
 * -SERIAL RECALL -- attempt to recall the list items in the order studied.
 * RECOLLECTION – subjects are given a large list of nonsense syllables and try to recognize which of them had been on the list studied. This technique is usually a simpler test of memory than recall because a person may be able to recognize an item from the prompter [the list] that he or she could not recall from memory alone.
 * SAVINGS -- rememorize the list (usually used after a long retention interval, when neither recall nor recognition gives much evidence of prior learning). Compare the number of repetitions required to learn the list the first time to the number required the second time. Savings is the most helpful test of memory, as it will indicate some remaining effect of previous learning even when recall and recognition don’t.

 * Frederick Bartlett was a British psychologist and professor at University of Cambridge. His major contributions to the study of memory include research into reconstructive memory.  Bartlett theorized that we do not passively memorize information but rather we try to make sense of memories and store them in a way that makes sense based on what we already know.  In this sense, he presumed that we may often remember events or information incorrectly because we remember what we think should have happened or remember what we prefer to remember.  He referred to this as “effort after meaning.”  Bartlett’s research tested British subject’s recall of an unfamiliar North American Folk story titled “The War of the Ghosts.”  Due to many cultural differences, subjects tended to recall he story incorrectly because they tried to alter the story to make it more coherent and omitted the details that were unfamiliar.

Hill, Grahame (2001). A Level Psychology Through Diagrams. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

"Human Memory." Part II. Cognitive Psychology. p. 292-316

title: SL Psychology/Memory


text:
SL Psychology/Anxiety Disorders

Directions
This article will address the symptoms and theories about anxiety disorders

Contents
Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders have different causes which can be unique to the individual. The anxiety disorder may be present from childhood and worsen in times of high stress, or there may be a triggering event like a parent dying or a spouse leaving. Scientists have developed several theories as to why these anxiety disorders have appeared. Biologists believe that genetics and evolution play a part in the development. They believe that genetics predispose a person to having such a disorder. This belief is supported by studies with twins and other relatives. There is a high rate of monozygotic (identical) twins both having an anxiety disorder, dizygotic (fraternal) twins have a much lower rate of concordance. Also people’s whose mother, father, or sibling has had a panic attack are ten times more likely to experience a panic attack than those who do not have a relative with panic attacks. Phobias can be good for evolutionary reasons and can help survival. Snakes, heights and dark are dangerous and have been around for thousands of years. They are subjects of common phobias. However, guns and cars are also dangerous and detrimental to survival, but they are modern, and are not common human phobias. There are several types of anxiety disorders which include phobias, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Panic Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Affects women twice as much as men. The person affected by GAD experiences fear, anxiety, or worry over an unspecified event or object. They do not know what is causing the anxiety. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM IV) states that the diagnosis of GAD involves: Other symptoms may also be shown such as:
 * Excessive, and difficult to control, worry and anxiety.
 * Significant distress and distress.
 * Worry occurring more days than not for at least 6 months.
 * Worry not involving another disorder (e.g. depression).
 * restlessness and irritability,
 * muscle tension, rapid physical fatigue, and sleep disturbance,
 * concentration problems.

Phobias

The person suffering from a phobia has a strong and irrational fear of something or some event. Their reaction to the feared object/situation is disproportionate to the danger the object/situation poses. The fear they feel includes the expectation of impending harm, release of adrenaline and activation of the nervous system, feelings of dread, terror, and panic, and fleeing or freezing (fight or flight). The symptoms of a phobic disorder are sometimes obvious enough to make diagnosis easy. For example, a phobia of wasps is visible when someone is physically and mentally scared of wasps - yet social phobia is harder to diagnose as it often links with insecurity complexes, claustrophobia, agoraphobia and many other psychological problems. Phobics may also perceive their disorder to be beyond their control and wish to be rid of it; however, with one exception, the phobic’s everyday functioning is unimpaired. Although there are many types of phobias, e.g. heights, enclosed places, or strangers/foreigners, they fall into three categories: Agoraphobia – involves fear of places of assembly, crowds, and open spaces and is the most prevalent of all phobias and occurs most often in women in early adulthood. Social phobias – involve fear of being observed doing something humiliating, generally beginning in adolescence. Problems such as reluctancy to talk to people, fear of talking to people on the phone, being unable to cope in situations where you don't know people, can often be a sign of social anxiety or social phobia. Specific phobias – three subtypes: 1) fear of animals (e.g. spiders, rats, and snakes), 2) fear inanimate objects (darkness, heights, enclosed spaces), 3) fear of illness (injury, death, disease).
 * Persistent fear of a specific situation out of proportion to the reality of the danger.
 * Compelling desire to avoid and escape the situation.
 * Recognition that the fear is unreasonably excessive.
 * Symptoms not due to another disorder.

OCD

OCD is a debilitating disorder that does not seem to favor men or women. At least five of the nine criteria listed in the DSM IV must be met for OCD to be diagnosed. These criteria include:
 * Either obsession or compulsion must be experienced.
 * Obsessions are defined by the DSM IV as:
 * recurrent and persistent ideas, thoughts, impulses, or images that are experienced, at least initially, as intrusive and senseless, e.g., a parent's having repeated impulses to kill a loved child, a religious person's having recurrent blasphemous thoughts
 * the person attempts to ignore or suppress such thoughts or impulses or to neutralize them with some other thought or action
 * the person recognizes that the obsessions are the product of his or her own mind, not imposed from without (as in thought insertion)
 * Compulsions are defined in the DSM IV as:
 * repetitive, purposeful, and intentional behaviors that are performed in response to an obsession, or according to certain rules or in a stereotyped fashion
 * the behavior is designed to neutralize or to prevent discomfort or some dreaded event or situation; however, either the activity is not connected in a realistic way with what it is designed to neutralize or prevent, or it is clearly excessive
 * the person recognizes that his or her behavior is excessive or unreasonable (this may not be true for young children; it may no longer be true for people whose obsessions have evolved into overvalued ideas)
 * B. The obsessions or compulsions cause marked distress, are time-consuming (take more than an hour a day), or significantly interfere with the person's normal routine, occupational functioning, or usual social activities or relationships with others.

Jeffery Shwartz believes that the obsessions and compulsions are products of what he calls "brain lock." He describes this as the same neurons being fired over and over again in the same pattern, which causes the persistent thoughts and actions. He finds that the best treatment of OCD is what is known as Cognitive-behavioral therapy. In this therapy, the patient completes the Four Step Regimen of relabeling, reattributing, refocusing, and revaluing. By completing these four steps, the patient has trained him- or herself to overcome some of his or her obsessions and compulsions.

Panic Disorder

A panic attack is very disruptive to the sufferers life - and chronic suffering of panic attacks is known as Panic Disorder. It can be brought on by facing a phobia, high stress environments or a situation where the sufferer is unsure or nervous. The symptoms are cross-cultural, but the immediate causes are limited by the culture, such as driving a car - cars are not in every culture. The sufferer may experience:
 * restlessness and irritability
 * muscle tension, rapid physical fatigue and sleep disturbances
 * concentration problems
 * heart palpitations, cold sweats, nausea
 * irregular breathing, dizziness and in severe cases, Hypoxia.

According to the DSM IV, diagnosis of a panic attack includes:
 * a discrete period of intense fear or discomfort, reaching a peak within 10 minutes
 * at least four of the thirteen symptoms listed in the DSM IV occur rapidly.

PTSD

PTSD is a very common disorder affecting veterans and victims of violent crime. The DSM IV states that diagnosis of PTSD involves:
 * exposure to a traumatic event that was responded to with fear, helplessness, or horror
 * and the prevalence of the following symptoms for at least one month:
 * the traumatic event is persistently re-lived through flashbacks, dreams, intrusive memories, etc.
 * persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma
 * numbing of general responsiveness
 * persistent symptoms of increased arousal, such as difficulty sleeping, anger outbursts, exaggerated startle response, difficulty concentrating.

title: SL Psychology/Anxiety Disorders


text:
SL Psychology/Mood Disorders

Directions
This article will focus on the symptoms and theories surrounding mood disorders

Content
9% of the population will experience a mood disorder at sometime in their lives. There are two categories of mood disorders: unipolar depression and bipolar depression. Major unipolar depression is much more likely to occur than bipolar depression (5x more likely), and is one of the most commonly diagnosed mental illnesses. Mania, the other "pole" of bipolar depression, can be experienced on by itself. The difference between people with mood disorders and "normal" people are the degree, severity, and duration of moods.

Unipolar Depression

There is a 5% lifetime risk of developing a form of unipolar depression. It is seen cross-culturally, but is diagnosed twice as often for women than as for men.

The DSM IV states that for diagnosis to be made the person must:
 * have a depressed mood
 * or have a loss of pleasure
 * and experience these four symptoms during the same two-week period
 * Emotional Symptoms
 * intense feelings of sadness or guilt
 * lack of enjoyment or pleasure in activities the individual once loved
 * Motivational Symptoms
 * Passivity
 * difficulty in initiating action and making a decision
 * Cognitive Symptoms
 * frequent negative thoughts
 * blaming oneself
 * low self-esteem
 * irrational hopelessness
 * Somatic Symptoms
 * loss of energy
 * restlessness
 * increased/decreased appetite
 * weight loss/gain
 * insomnia/hypersomnia

Some types of unipolar depression include:
 * Major Depressive Episodes
 * Dysthymia - chronic mild depression occurring over a period of at least two years, where a depressed mood and symptoms are experienced either most of the day, more days than not, or without a break of more than two months in the two year period.
 * Seasonal Affective Disorder - mood systematically varies with the seasonal changes of the year, often involving depression during the winter months. (if the sufferer also feels mania during the summer or other time during the year, then his or her form of SAD is classified as bipolar depression).
 * Mania - mood disorder of symptoms of full blown mania without periods of intense depression. The manic symptoms must last at least a week and must interfere with social and occupational functioning.

Bipolar Depression

There is a 1% chance of developing a form of bipolar depression. It is much more strongly linked to genetics than unipolar depression is.

Bipolar Depression includes the symptoms of unipolar depression followed by a period of mania, or hypomania (a shorter, less severe period of mania). The DSM IV states that a manic episode must involve
 * a "distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive or irritable mood lasting at least a week"
 * at least three of the following symptoms
 * Emotional Symptoms
 * abnormally euphoric, elevated, or irritable mood
 * increased pleasure in activities
 * Motivational Symptoms
 * Increase in goal-directed activity
 * increase in pleasurable activities that have a high risk of painful cpnsequences
 * Cognitive Symptoms
 * inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
 * racing ideas or thoughts
 * lack of attention (easily distracted)
 * Somatic Symptoms
 * decreased need for sleep
 * psychomotor agitation
 * more talkative
 * rapid and pressured speech

Types of Bipolar Depression include:
 * Bipolar Depression
 * Cyclothymia - bipolar equivalent of dysthmia. Mood disorder where the sufferer has periods of mild depression followed by hypomania for more than two years.
 * Seasonal Affective Disorder

Theories explaining mood disorders

Cognitive Theory

Seligman’s experiments with learned helplessness in dogs led him to believe people suffering from depression: 1. blame themselves instead of the situation, 2. situation as unchangeable, 3. failure inevitable.

Similar ideas have been expressed by Aaron Beck through his cognitive triad theory about self, situation, and future. Beck believed depression is caused by errors in logic including distortions in thought processes, overgeneralization, and personalization.

Neuro-chemical theory

Depression has been linked to disruptions in the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and serotonin. This research has been strengthened by the success of some drugs in treating depression, notably the use of SSRIs to block the reuptake of serotonin in the limbic system. Lithium carbonate has been successfully used in treating bipolar depression, creating strong links to biological causes for bipolar depression as well.

Genetics

Katz and McGuffin (1993) studies using monozygotic twins estimates that about 52% of unipolar depression variance is due to genetics, while the variance is about 80% in bipolar disorder. This study suggests a very strong correlation between bipolar depression and genetics.

Environment

Depression occurs most often in women who are “working class, house bound with three or more children.” Stress and little emotional support can increase the possibility of the onset of depression. Season change correlates with the onset of depression, with more cases being reported during the winter months.

Interaction theories

Weiss and Simson’s (1985) study showed that rats exhibiting learned helplessness behavior have significant decreases in the activity of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine.

title: SL Psychology/Mood Disorders


text:
SL Psychology/Personality Disorders

General Information and Causes
According to the DSM-IV-TR, a personality disorder is an “enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectation of the individual’s culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to distress or impairment.” The same definition can also apply to the schizophrenias. Personality disorders affect personality, namely relationships, social function, and mental abilities. The disorders are often on a spectrum, ranging from mild to severe cases. Those who suffer from very mild personality disorders lead normal lives. However, interference of the symptoms in livelihood normally arise after periods of high stress or external pressure and can lead to impairments in emotional, psychological, and social functioning.

The disorders are characterized by disturbances in:
 * Self-image
 * The ability to have successful personal relationships
 * Appropriateness of range of emotion
 * Self-perception, world-perception, and the perception of others, and
 * Impulse control

The combination of these creates the personality disorder, which leads to the exhibition of external behaviors that differ from societal norms. This is why people who suffer from personality disorders have bad relationships with other people in society.

Personality disorders can be caused by a variety of different factors, including – but not limited to – upbringing, personality and social development, and genetic and biological factors. However, because the symptoms arise during times of high stress, treatment centers on coping mechanisms.

Furthermore, Dr. Sam Vaknin has stated that there are commonalities between those who suffer from personality disorders. These are self-centeredness, the presence of a victim mentality, a lack of empathy, the presence of manipulative or exploitative behavior, depression, a vulnerability or susceptibility to other mental disorders, a distorted or superficial understanding of self and others’ perceptions, a need to force the world to conform to the needs of the sufferer, and no delusions/hallucinations or thought disorders (except for periods in Borderline Personality Disorder).

Examples
There are ten personality disorders listed in the DSM-IV:

 * Antisocial Personality Disorder
 * Called sociopaths or psychopaths, these people show a lack of regard for the standards of local culture and do not get along with other people or abide by commonly accepted societal rules and regulations.

 * Avoidant personality disorder
 * Socially inhibited with feelings of inadequacy and sensitivity to criticism.

 * Borderline Personality Disorder
 * Marked by rapid changes in mood and unstable relationships. Sufferers tend to lack in identity.

 * Dependent Personality Disorder
 * The sufferer is unable to act on his or her own, but has to rely upon other people. These people have little or no self-confidence and fear separation and are often submissive.

 * Histrionic Personality Disorder
 * The person is overtly emotional in inappropriate ways and circumstances and is almost theatrical in nature. The emotions exhibited shift rapidly and without warning.

 * Narcissistic Personality Disorder
 * Lacking empathy and having the need to be admired by others, these people often ignore other people and are hypersensitive to criticism.

 * Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
 * The perfectionists with an inability to change from habit, also having an uncontrollable pattern of thought or action.

 * Paranoid Personality Disorder
 * Having distrust of others with the feeling that others are plotting to or are in the process of causing harm to the sufferer. The patients have the inability to forgive, which undermines any personal relationships.

 * Schizoid Personality Disorder
 * Limited range of emotion and showing indifference toward other people.

 * Schizotypal Personality Disorder
 * Extreme non-conformity to the point where eccentricity is harmful to the sufferer or others (belief in having magic powers leading to physical harm, etc.) or eliminates personal relationships. Eccentricity can be exhibited through appearance, behavior, or relationship style.

Treatment
Treatment cannot deal with causes because the causes are not definite. Common treatments are therapy sessions in which the patient is taught to take control of his or her life to change or act in a different way toward a specific behavior. Therefore, it is said that the sufferer must want to make the change for themselves in order to be healed. In such therapy sessions, psychosocial or Freudian techniques are implemented in order to determine whether or not the disorder stems from childhood trauma; then, cognitive-behavioral therapy is used. Often, a support system of therapy, familial and friendly support, and medication is used to further assist in treating personality disorders.

title: SL Psychology/Personality Disorders