Perception, Sensation, and Psychoactive Drugs: Key Concepts and Principles

Sensation

taking external stimuli and converting to a neural message (what your 5 senses do)

Perception

interpretation of those messages from your 5 senses

What are the factors that influence perception

Mood and Physiology

Veridical Perception

your perception is the true objective properties

Non-Veridical Perception

your perception is NOT the true objective properties

Phenomenal Absolutism

One's belief that their perception is the correct perception, often in the face of evidence to the contrary

Describe the three steps in the perception process.

Hypothesis, Data Collection, Confirm/Disconfirm

the Gestalt Principles of perception

Figure ground, Principle of Nearness, Principle of Similarity, Principle Continuity, Principle of Closure

Figure ground

our mind tries to simplify visual information into a figure and a background, figure has shape and seems nearer, ground is formless and seems further back

Principle of Nearness

Clusters of objects will each be perceived as a distinct group

Principle of Similarity

Objects with a shared feature (shape) will likewise be perceived as a single group

Principle of Continuity

The brain will perceive an ambitious stimulus according to the simplest possible continuous forms

Principle of Closure

We perceive whole shapes even when they are not actually present in the stimulus

Pictorial Cues (Stimulus Cues)

Interposition/Overlap, Clarity/Detail, Texture Gradient, Light and Shadow, Relative Motion/Motion Parallax

Organismic Cues (Muscular Cues)

Accommodation (monocular)- lens becomes thicker or thinner to focus

Convergence (Binocular)- eyes coming together

Disparity (Binocular)- (the basic source for 3d depth perception) difference in the images falling on each eye

All Pictorial/Stimulus Cues are…

monocular

What is considered the basic source of 3D depth perception?

Disparity

What are psychoactive drugs?

Stimulants, Depressants and Hallucinogens

Examples of Stimulants

Caffeine, Nicotine, Amphetamines, Cocaine

Examples of Depressants

Alcohol, Barbiturates, Opiates, Marijuana

Examples of Hallucinogens (in between stimulants and depressants)

LSD

What are the three "unknowns" listed that make recreational drug use potentially dangerous?

Unknown purity, unknown strength/potency, and unknown contents

How do stimulants differ from depressants?

Stimulants increase central nervous system activity and Depressants decrease central nervous system activity

Caffeine

works by inhibiting an enzyme inside neurons so they stay stimulated longer, the neurons fire longer, very addictive

Nicotine

works by mimicking ACh (we have neural machinery that collects nicotine), decreases blood flow, anaphrodisiac (decreases performance), very potent and addictive

Amphetamines

(adderall, crystal meth, ecstasy, ice, molly) used to treat ADD/ADHD, diet aid, and treatment of narcolepsy

Are there medical uses for stimulants? Explain.

Amphetamines is used to treat ADD/ADHD, diet aid, and treatment of narcolepsy

What does "Schedule 1 Drug" mean for the potential user and even the researcher?

a substance with a high potential for abuse (heroin, LSD, MDMA), a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision

If tolerance increases rapidly, what does this mean in terms of dosage and potential for addiction?

Dosage and potential for addiction increases

What is oxytocin? What drug releases this neurohormone?

Released during birth. MDMA

Alcohol

anaphrodisiac (decreases performance), impulsive behavior, more accident prone

Barbiturates

prescribed pill, experience is similar to being drunk, ex: xanax/valium (benzos)

Opiates

heroin, fentanyl, cough medicine, robitussin

Alcohol myopia

a theory that describes how alcohol consumption impairs cognitive functioning and alters decision-making

Synergy/synergistic effect

occurs when two or more things work together to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their individual effects

Which hallucinogen is associated with Timothy Leary & Albert Hoffman, extremely small threshold doses, and flashbacks?

LSD- Acid Lysergic Diethylamide

Name some hallucinogens.

5-HT 2A (LSD, Psilocyclin "shrooms", DMT/Ayahuasca, Mescaline/Peyote), 2C-B (2C compounds), Ketamine, PCP, Dextroamphetaine (DXM), Salvia Divinorum "diviner's sage"

3 S's to take LSD "responsibly"

(mind) set- if you are in a bad mental state it will make it worse

Setting- a place you feel safe in

Sitter- someone to make sure you don't make any bad decision

How long is a full sleep cycle?

90 minutes

What is REM sleep and how much of the night do we spend in REM sleep?

REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep- dreaming, we spend ⅓ night in REM sleep

What are some of the physiological things that happen while we are dreaming?

Increased metabolism (increased heart rate, breathing, sweat), erections, paralysis, very active brain

Insomnia

difficulty falling/staying asleep resulting in poor sleep quality and daytime fatigue

Hypersomnia

an irresistible urge to sleep even after getting adequate sleep at night

Sleep apnea

Your breathing stops and restarts many times while you sleep

REM behavior disorder

Paralysis not functioning (you act out your dreams)

Night terrors

intense fear and panic that occur during sleep normally in the first few hours of the night

Narcolepsy

excessive daytime sleepiness and sudden, uncontrollable sleep episode

What are the 4 main "sleep & dream theories" discussed in class?

Wish fulfillment (Freud), Problem solving/memory maintenance (dement), Restorative/Rest&Relaxation (Oswald), Activation Synthesis (Hobson)

Wish fulfillment (Freud)

belief he could cure mental illness by analyzing dreams, levels of consciousness and indirect ways to get to the unconsciousness

Problem solving/memory maintenance (Dement)

REM (long-term consolidation occurs and deprivation of REM sleep will cause LTM issues) and nREM (deprivation of this stage of sleep will affect short-term memory abilities)

Restorative/Rest&Relaxation (Oswald)

⅓ night relaxed body (paralyzed during REM, brain is active), ⅔ night relaxed brain (slower wave activity, uses about ⅔ the amount of energy compared to waking or REM)

Activation Synthesis (Hobson)

the brainstem begins randomly firing off neurons related to visual memories, smells, sounds, etc.

How does bi-phasic and poly-phasic sleep relate to how people used to sleep versus how we sleep now?

These patterns were more common before the Industrial Revolutioin and the invention of electrical light

Bi-phasic

a pattern of sleeping in two separate times a day

Polyphasic

a pattern of sleeping in three or more times a day

What are the 3 primary ways we begin to learn about sex and sexuality?

Parents/family, peers, media/internet

What is the "nature vs nurture" debate and how does this relate to sexual orientation?

is about whether human traits are determined by genetics (nature) or by environment and upbringing (nurture). For sexual orientation, the current scientific consensus is that is results from a combo of both biological (like genes and hormones) and environmental factors.

Oxytocin

a hormone produced in the brain that plays a significant role in both social bonding and sexual function. It promotes sexual arousal, enhances orgasm intensity, and increases feelings of bonding and contentment after sex

Intersexuality/hermaphroditism

people born with variations in sex characteristics (such as chromosomes, hormones, or anatomy) that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies.

Guevedoces

individuals born with a rare genetic condition called 5-alpha reductase deficiency, which results in children with XY chromosomes being born with ambiguous external genitila

monocular cues

uses one eye to measure the distance of an object in our environment

binocular cues

uses both eyes to measure the distance of an object in our environment

Mind-Body Problem

how do we get consciousness out of this flesh?

Descartes (1600’s)

“i think, therefore, i am” (Cogito ergo sum), believed the
point of connection between our mind and body was the PINEAL GLAND

levels of consciousness

1. conscious- contains thought you are full aware of

2. pre-conscious- contains thoughts and feelings you are not immediately aware of but could be with a little effort

3. unconscious- contains thoughts and feelings you are not aware of, BUT, most of your behavior is controlled and motivated by stuff happening in this area of your mind and there is no direct way to access this information

Indirect ways to tap into the unconscious

1. hypnosis

2. word association

3. dream analysis

manifest content

the specific and important details of the dream (without interpretation)

latent content

the meaning (symbolism) of the manifest content