Terms & Concepts

Published

March 31, 2026

Modified

February 5, 2026

About

This document describes the terms that PSY 511 students suggested that they are interested in learning more about this semester.

Brain areas

Networks/Pathways

Physiological processes

  • Interoception
  • Allostasis/allostatic load
  • Heart rate variability (HRV)
  • Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)
  • Vagal (i.e, CN X Vagus nerve) tone

Measures & methods

Computational ideas

  • Reward prediction error
  • Predictive coding/active inference
  • Free energy
  • Neural sequence

Psychological processes

  • Repetitive negative thinking
    • Rumination
    • Worry
  • Internalizing psychopathology
  • Executive function
  • Reward processing
    • Reward prediction error
  • Predictive coding
  • Behavioral inhibition
  • Inhibitory control
  • Categorization (in emotion), c.f. Barrett (2017)
  • Borderline personality disorder (BPD)
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

References

Barrett, L. F. (2017). The theory of constructed emotion: An active inference account of interoception and categorization. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 12, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsw154
Donoghue, T., Dominguez, J., & Voytek, B. (2020). Electrophysiological frequency band ratio measures conflate periodic and aperiodic neural activity. eNeuro, 7, ENEURO.0192–20.2020. https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0192-20.2020
Harrewijn, A., Cardinale, E. M., Groenewold, N. A., Bas-Hoogendam, J. M., Aghajani, M., Hilbert, K., … Pine, D. S. (2021). Cortical and subcortical brain structure in generalized anxiety disorder: Findings from 28 research sites in the ENIGMA-anxiety working group. Translational Psychiatry, 11, 502. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-021-01622-1
He, L., Wang, X., Zhang, J., Xiao, Z., Hu, X., & Liu, Y. (2025). Human hippocampal ripples loosen medial prefrontal constraints to foster creative thinking. bioRxiv, 2025.07.22.666046. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.07.22.666046