MCAT Psychology Syllabus

Trace the path of light through the eye to phototransduction.

Light passes cornea → pupil → lens → vitreous humor → retina, where photoreceptors (rods and cones) transduce it. Signals travel via bipolar and ganglion cells, whose axons form the optic nerve.

Contrast rods and cones.

Rods: high sensitivity, function in dim light, no color, concentrated in periphery. Cones: lower sensitivity, function in bright light, mediate color and fine detail, concentrated in the fovea.

Order the auditory pathway from sound wave to neural signal.

Sound → pinna → auditory canal → tympanic membrane → ossicles (malleus, incus, stapes) → oval window → cochlea, where hair cells on the basilar membrane (organ of Corti) transduce vibration into signals via the auditory nerve.

Define perception and distinguish bottom-up from top-down processing.

Perception is the organization and interpretation of sensory information. Bottom-up processing builds perception from raw sensory data; top-down processing uses prior knowledge, expectations, and context to interpret input.

List several Gestalt principles of perceptual organization.

Proximity, similarity, continuity (good continuation), closure, figure-ground segregation, and common fate. The whole is perceived as more than the sum of its parts.

What is perceptual constancy? Give examples.

The tendency to perceive objects as unchanging despite changes in sensory input. Examples: size constancy, shape constancy, color constancy, and brightness constancy.

Compare signal detection theory's concepts of sensitivity and response bias.

Sensitivity ($d'$) reflects the ability to distinguish signal from noise. Response bias ($\beta$) is the tendency to say 'yes' or 'no,' influenced by expectations and payoffs. Outcomes: hit, miss, false alarm, correct rejection.

Name the stages of sleep and their characteristic EEG waves.

Awake/alert: beta; relaxed: alpha. NREM Stage 1: theta waves; Stage 2: sleep spindles and K-complexes; Stages 3/4 (slow-wave): delta waves. REM: beta-like sawtooth waves with paradoxical brain activity.

What distinguishes REM sleep, and why is it called paradoxical sleep?

REM features rapid eye movements, vivid dreaming, and near-total skeletal muscle atonia. It is 'paradoxical' because brain activity resembles wakefulness while the body is paralyzed.

Contrast the two main theories of why we dream: Freud versus activation-synthesis.

Freud's wish-fulfillment theory holds dreams express unconscious desires (manifest vs. latent content). The activation-synthesis hypothesis (Hobson & McCarley) holds dreams are the cortex's attempt to make sense of random neural activity during REM.

Distinguish dyssomnias from parasomnias, with examples.

Dyssomnias involve the amount, timing, or quality of sleep (insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea). Parasomnias are abnormal behaviors during sleep (night terrors, sleepwalking/somnambulism, REM sleep behavior disorder).

Compare depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens by their effect on the CNS.

Depressants (alcohol, barbiturates, benzodiazepines) reduce CNS activity, often via GABA. Stimulants (cocaine, amphetamines, caffeine) increase CNS activity and dopamine/norepinephrine. Hallucinogens (LSD, psilocybin) distort perception and cognition.

Distinguish drug tolerance, dependence, and withdrawal.

Tolerance: needing more of a drug for the same effect. Dependence: physical or psychological need for the drug. Withdrawal: adverse physical/psychological symptoms upon stopping a drug on which one is dependent.

Identify the three stages of memory processing.

Encoding (getting information in), storage (retaining it over time), and retrieval (accessing it). These map onto the flow from sensory to short-term/working to long-term memory.

Compare sensory, short-term, and long-term memory by capacity and duration.

Sensory memory: very large capacity, ~0.25–4 s. Short-term/working memory: about $7 \pm 2$ items, ~15–30 s without rehearsal. Long-term memory: essentially unlimited capacity and duration.

Differentiate the major types of long-term memory.

Explicit (declarative): conscious—episodic (events) and semantic (facts). Implicit (nondeclarative): unconscious—procedural (skills), priming, and conditioned responses.

Explain the serial position effect.

In free recall of a list, people best remember the first items (primacy effect, via long-term memory from rehearsal) and the last items (recency effect, via short-term memory), while middle items are recalled worst.

Compare proactive and retroactive interference.

Proactive interference: old information disrupts recall of newly learned material. Retroactive interference: newly learned information disrupts recall of previously learned material.

Contrast algorithms and heuristics in problem-solving.

An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure guaranteeing a correct solution but potentially slow. A heuristic is a mental shortcut (rule of thumb) that is faster but may produce errors.

Define the availability heuristic versus the representativeness heuristic.

Availability: judging likelihood by how easily examples come to mind. Representativeness: judging likelihood by how well something matches a prototype, often ignoring base rates.

What are confirmation bias and functional fixedness?

Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek and favor information confirming existing beliefs. Functional fixedness is the tendency to see objects only in their usual function, blocking novel solutions.

Name the components and hierarchy of language structure.

Phonemes (smallest sound units) → morphemes (smallest meaning units) → words → syntax/grammar → semantics (meaning) → pragmatics (social context of language use).

State the Whorfian (linguistic relativity) hypothesis.

The linguistic relativity hypothesis proposes that the structure and vocabulary of one's language shape or influence the way one thinks and perceives the world.

List Piaget's four stages of cognitive development.

Sensorimotor (0–2 yr; object permanence), preoperational (2–7 yr; egocentrism, symbolic thought), concrete operational (7–11 yr; conservation, logic on concrete objects), and formal operational (11+ yr; abstract reasoning).

Summarize Erikson's psychosocial stages and their central conflicts.

Eight stages: trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame/doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, integrity vs. despair.

Describe the three levels of Kohlberg's theory of moral development.

Preconventional (morality based on rewards/punishment), conventional (based on social approval and law/order), and postconventional (based on abstract principles and universal ethics).

Compare the attachment styles identified by Ainsworth's Strange Situation.

Secure (uses caregiver as base, comforted on reunion), anxious-ambivalent/resistant (clingy, hard to soothe), avoidant (indifferent to caregiver), and disorganized (contradictory, confused behavior).

Distinguish agents of socialization and the concept of social identity.

Agents of socialization (family, peers, school, media) transmit norms and values. Social identity is the part of self-concept derived from perceived membership in social groups, per social identity theory (Tajfel).

Differentiate conformity, compliance, and obedience.

Conformity: adjusting behavior to match group norms (Asch). Compliance: agreeing to a direct request (foot-in-the-door). Obedience: following direct orders from an authority figure (Milgram).

State the fundamental attribution error.

The tendency to overemphasize dispositional (personality/internal) explanations and underestimate situational (external) factors when explaining others' behavior.

Contrast the DSM classification of anxiety, mood, and psychotic disorders with an example each.

Anxiety disorders involve excessive fear/worry (generalized anxiety disorder). Mood disorders involve disturbances in emotion (major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder). Psychotic disorders involve loss of contact with reality (schizophrenia, with positive and negative symptoms).

Compare psychotherapy approaches: psychoanalysis, behavioral, cognitive, and biomedical.

Psychoanalysis uncovers unconscious conflicts (free association, dream analysis). Behavioral therapy modifies behavior via conditioning (systematic desensitization). Cognitive/CBT restructures maladaptive thoughts. Biomedical therapy uses drugs (SSRIs, antipsychotics) or procedures (ECT).