| A | B |
|---|
| Magnetic Resonance Imaging | A technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images that distinguish among different types of soft tissue; allows us to see structures within the brain |
| Natural Selection | The principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those that lead to increased reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations |
| Foot-In-the-Door Phenomenon | The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request |
| Serial Position Effect | Our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list |
| Brainstem | The oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; the brainstem is responsible for automatic survival functions |
| Applied Research | Scientific study that aims to solve practical problems |
| Assimilation | Interpreting one's new experience in term of one's existing schemas |
| Sensory Cortex | The area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body sensations |
| Scapegoat Theory | The theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame |
| Automatic Processing | Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings |
| Limbic System | A doughnut-shaped system of neural structures at the border of the brainstem and cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions such as fear and aggression and drives such as those for food and sex |
| Accommodation | Adapting one's current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information |
| Random Sample | A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion |
| Medulla | The base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat and breathing |
| Critical Thinking | Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions |
| Critical Period | An optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development |
| Correlation Coefficient | A statistical measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other |
| Attitude | A belief and feeling that predisposes one to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events |
| Amnesia | The loss of memory |
| Cerebellum | The "little brain" attached to the rear of the brainstem; it helps coordinate voluntary movement and balance |
