from Psychology's "Top 100" Terms/Concepts (July 1990 American Psychologist) as well as other terms.
Terms : Hide Images
| 6967378 | absolute threshold | minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time. (p.195) | |
| 6967379 | accomodation | adapting one's current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information. (p.143) | |
| 6967380 | acetycholine | (ACh); neurotransmitter that triggers muscle contraction. (p.62) | |
| 6967381 | achievement test | test designed to assess what a person has learned. (p.432) | |
| 6967382 | acoustic encoding | encoding of sound, especially the sound of words. (p.350) | |
| 6967383 | acquisition | initial stage in classical conditioning; phase associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response. (p.314) | |
| 6967384 | action potential | a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon. The action potential is generated by teh movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axon's membrane. (p.159) | |
| 6967535 | adrenal glands | a pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys. The adrenals secrete the hormones epinephrine (adrenaline), and nonepinephrine (nonadrenaline), which help to arouse the body in times of stress. (p.95) | |
| 6967536 | aggression | any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy. (p.719) | |
| 6967537 | algorithm | a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier (but more error-prone) use of heuristics. (p.387) | |
| 6967538 | alpha waves | the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state. (p.272) | |
| 6967539 | altruism | unselfish regard for the welfare of others. (p.735) | |
| 7009240 | amnesia | loss of memory (p.358) | |
| 7009296 | amygdala | two almond-shaped neural clusters that are components of the limbic system and are linked to emotion (p.74) | |
| 7009327 | aphasia | impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding). (p.82) | |
| 7009440 | applied research | scientific study that aims to solve practical problems. (p.13) | |
| 7009441 | aptitude test | a test designed to predict a person's future performance. (p.432) | |
| 7009442 | aptitude | capacity to learn. | |
| 7009443 | assimilation | interpreting one's new experience in terms of one's existing schemas. (p.143) | |
| 7009444 | associative learning | learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (operant conditioning.) (p.309) | |
| 7207716 | motivation | the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal | |
| 7207717 | instinct | inborn pattern of behavior often responsive to specific stimuli | |
| 7207718 | hierarchy of needs | Maslow's pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active | |
| 7207719 | neuron | a cell that is specialized to conduct nerve impulses |
