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tabula rasa The notion that each person is born as a "blank slate," that is, without innate knowledge, so that all knowledge must be gained from experience.
tacit knowledge Practical "how to" knowledge that is unwittingly accumulated from everyday experience.
tape-recorder theory of memory The erroneous view that the brain contains an indelible record of everything one experiences.
TAT See Thematic Apperception Test.
tau protein A protein that normally helps sustain the internal structure of the brain's axons. Its metabolism somehow goes awry, however, in the development of Alzheimer's disease.
temperament In modern usage, a characteristic level of reactivity and energy, often thought to be constitutional.
temporal contiguity Co-occurrence of stimuli. A condition Pavlov thought would be favorable for forming associations; actually forward pairing is most favorable.
temporal lobe The lobe of the cortex lying below the temples in each cerebral hemisphere, which includes the primary auditory projection area, Wernicke's area, and subcortically, the amygdala and hippocampus.
temporal summation The process whereby a stimulus that is below threshold will elicit a reflex if the stimulus occurs repeatedly.
territory A term used by ethologists to describe a region a particular animal stakes out as its own. The territory holder is usually a male, but in some species the territory is held by a mating pair or by a group.
testable hypothesis A hypothesis that has been formulated specifically enough so that it is clear what observations would confirm the hypothesis and what observations would challenge it.
testosterone The principal male sex hormone in mammals. See also androgen.
test profile A graphical indication of an individual's performance on several components of a test. This is often useful for guidance or clinical evaluation because it indicates that person's pattern of abilities or traits.
test-retest method A way of ascertaining the reliability of a test. It involves administering the same test to the same group of subjects after a certain time lag and assessing the correlation of scores. See also reliability coefficient.
texture gradient A distance cue based on changes in surface texture that depend on how far away the observer is.
thalamus A part of the lower portion of the forebrain that serves as a major relay and integration center for sensory information.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) A projective technique in which persons are shown a set of pictures and asked to make up a story about each one.
theory of mind A set of interrelated concepts used to try to make sense of our own mental processes and those of others, including the variation in beliefs and desires from one person to another.
thermoregulation The process by which organisms maintain a constant body temperature. For ectotherms, it is matter of external behavior such as seeking sun or shade, while for endotherms it also involves numerous internal adjustments such as sweating.
third-variable problem The major obstacle to discerning causation from correlation, because two variables may be correlated only because of the operation of a third variable. For example, sales of ice cream are correlated with rates of violent crime, but only because both increase during hot weather and decrease during cold weather.
tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon The condition in which one remains on the verge of retrieving a word or name but continues to be unsuccessful.
TMS See transcranial magnetic stimulation.
tolerance See opponent-process theory of motivation.
tone A difference in pitch used in some languages (such as Mandarin Chinese) to signal differences in meaning.
top-down processes Processes in form recognition that begin with larger units and then proceed to smaller units (e.g., from phrases to words to letters). This contrasts with bottom-up processes, which start with smaller component parts and gradually build up to the larger units (e.g., from letters to words to phrases). One demonstration of top-down processing is provided by context effects in which knowledge or expectations affect what one sees.
trace consolidation A hypothesis that newly acquired memory traces undergo a gradual change that makes them more and more resistant to any disturbance.
trait See trait approach.
trait approach The view that differences in personality are best characterized in terms of underlying, possibly innate, attributes (traits) that predispose one toward patterns of thinking and behavior that are essentially consistent over time and across situations. See also humanistic approach, psychodynamic approach, situationism, sociocultural perspective.
transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) A technique through which repeated magnetic stimulation at the surface of the skull is used (at some strengths) to stimulate a region of the brain or (at other strengths) to cause a temporary lesion of a region of the brain.
transduction The process by which a receptor reacts to some physical stimulus (e.g., light or pressure) and creates action potentials in another neuron.
transection Surgical cutting of a nerve tract or brain region, performed to isolate functionally the regions on either side.
transference In therapy, a patient's tendency to respond to the analyst in ways that re-create her responses to the major figures in her own life.
transfer of training tests Procedures used to ascertain whether skills learned in one setting generalize to other settings.
transposition The phenomenon whereby visual and auditory patterns (i.e., figures and melodies) remain essentially the same even though the parts of which they are composed change.
trichromatic color vision The principle underlying human color vision. Color vision occurs through the operation of three sets of cones, each maximally sensitive to a different wavelength of light.
true hermaphroditism Rare type of intersexuality in which an individual possesses reproductive tissue of both sexes (e.g., testes and ovaries).
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