PY-101 Test Unit 2

Consciousness

What’s going on in our own minds

Mirror/Mark test

Test used to prove consciousness

Self consciousness

The ability to look inward and see yourself as an object

Phenomenology

How you perceive things/how something seems to the conscious person

Sleep stage 1

Stage 1 = light sleep, theta waves

Sleep stage 2

Stage 2 = true sleep, theta waves. K complexes form (noise cancellers) and Sleep spindles (when brain transfers information from STM to LTM).

Sleep stage 3/4

Stage 3 / 4, deep slow, slow delta waves

REM sleep

Dreaming occurs here + Paradoxical sleep. Beta like waves called sawtooth waves

Activation synthesis model

Brain fires random neural activity during sleep and tries to make sense of it by unifying it into a dream

Stimulants

Substances that excite/increase activity in the central nervous system (dopamine + norepinephrine). Ex: caffeine, amphetamines, nicotine, cocaine, modafinil, and Ecstasy

Depressants

Drugs that slow down activity in the central nervous system. “calming” ex: alcohol, barbiturates,

Agonist

Molecule that mimics a neurotransmitter and binds to the receptor, activating the neuron which mimics/strengthens the natural effect Ex: Morphine pain killers

Antagonist

Molecule that binds to the receptor but blocks the neurotransmitter, stopping/lessening activity from happening

Unconsciousness

complete loss of conscious awareness. EX: passed out or in a coma

Minimal consciousness

low level kind of sensory awareness and responsiveness. Mind lacks deliberate self reflection/thought Ex: being poked in ur sleep then turning over (without likely even thinking about it)

Consciousness

Awareness of your surroundings and internal thoughts, but not really thinking. Brain is on “autopilot”

Full consciousness

Actively aware and thinking, ability to report ur mental state.

Self consciousness

Attention is drawn to your self as an object. Think: Mark/mirror test

Sleep apnea

difficulty breathing during sleep

Central sleep apnea

During sleep, when the brain fails to send signals to breathing muscles

Obstructive sleep apnea

during sleep, the brainstem is sending the correct signals, but the throat muscles relax too much causing them to fall back and collapse which blocks the airway

Mixed sleep apnea

A combination of both central and obstructive sleep apnea

Encoding

The transfer of raw environmental data out of temporary sensory buffers (iconic and echoic) to your STM

Encoding Specificity

A retrieval cue that will help you remember something “the way you encoded it”

Sensory memory

The immediate brief recording of raw sensory info from the environment

Echoic sensory memory

holds auditory memory for 3 to 4 seconds

Iconic memory

holds visual memory for less than 1 second

Short term memory

Temporary storage for the brain, the average person can hold up to 7 things

Long term memory

Brain’s permanent storage vault

Working memory

The active hands on workspace where you take information from your STM and manipulate it to solve a problem, make a decision etc

Organizational encoding

Type of encoding where you categorize information into relationships

Visual Imagery encoding

The process of storing new information by converting it into mental pictures

Semantic coding

Relating new information in a meaningful way to knowledge that is already stored in the memory

Storage

process of maintaining information in memory over time

Retrieval

bringing information to the mind that has been previously encoded and stored

Implicit procedural memory

A type of memory that happens automatically/unconsciously. Know as “muscle memory” EX: fine motor skills.

• Can’t necessarily be “described”

• Think: “Implied” by our actions

Explicit memory

• also known as “declarative memory”

• You can describe it/declare in words

• experiences/events

Visuospatial sketchpad

A type of storage buffer that handles visual information EX: Mental maps

Phonological loop

A type of storage buffer that handles auditory information

Episodic buffer

A type of storage buffer that glues both auditory and visual information to form a complete scene.

Stimulus generalization

When an organism demonstrates the conditioned stimulus response to a stimuli that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus

Stimulus discrimination

When an organism is able to tell the difference between the original stimulus and a similar one

Cognitive map

An internal/mental representation of the physical layout of an enviornment

Transcience

The fading/forgetting of a long term memory, If a memory is never rehearsed, the neural pathways decay.

Tolman experiments

Experiments that proved behaviorism wrong because learning involves internal thinking and cognitive maps

• Experiment 1 (3-Groups): Proved Latent Learning (hidden learning). Rats built a layout map without food rewards and used it the second food appeared.

• Experiment 2 (Sunburst Maze): Proved Cognitive Maps. When the trained path was deleted, rats used spatial cues to take a flexible shortcut straight toward the food's physical location.

Observational learning

learning occurs through observation and imitation of others, important because theres no direct reinforcement or punishment

mirror neurons and learning to predict future behavior

Neural cells that fire when you’re observing and action and preforming the said action.

• they look at the action already in progress and internally complete it in your mind

Shaping

Learning that results from reinforcement of successive steps to a final desired behavior. each behavior is a “successive approximation” to the final product (gets incrementally closer to the final behavior)

• everything cannot be rewarded

• first behavior that slightly looks like goal is rewarded but once its mastered, no reward, which pushes them to try harder and accidentally take a step closer to the desired behavior.

Teaching a complex behavior by rewarding small baby steps that progress towards the desired behavior

intermittent reinforcement effect

The idea that there’s a resistance to extinction when there’s a partial schedule (unpredictable outcome)

Fixed interval

A type of partial reinforcement: Reinforcement is only given for the first behavior done only after a specific amount of time has passed

ex: checking the mail box at 2pm because you know thats when delivery comes in

Fixed ratio

A type of partial reinforcement: Reinforcement is given after a certain number of times

ex: buy 10 coffees, get the 11th one free

Variable interval

A type of partial reinforcement: Reinforcement is given after a random/unpredictable amount of time has passed

ex: checking every 5 mins to see if ur crush texted u back

Variable ratio

A type of partial reinforcement: Reinforcement is given after a random number of times ex: buying a lottery ticket

schedules of reinforcement interval and ratio)

Reinforcement that is time based, how much time

schedules of reinforcement ratio

Reinforcement that is number based, how many times

Primary reinforcer

An unlearned reward that naturally satisfies biological needs

ex: water, food, sleep

Secondary reinforcer

Important because its associated with the primary reinforcer

ex: money, money itself is not important but it buys things like food, which makes it valueable

Positive reinforcement

Adding stimulus increases likelihood of a behavior

ex: Giving a dog a treat for sitting. (Adds food to increase sitting).

Positive Punishment

Adding stimulus decreases likelihood of a behavior

ex: Getting a speeding ticket for driving too fast. (Adds a fine to decrease speeding).

Negative Reinforcement

Removing stimulus increases likelihood of a behavior

ex: Buckling your seatbelt to stop the annoying car beep. (Removes noise to increase buckling).

Negative Punishment

Removing stimulus decreases likelihood of a behavior

ex: Taking a teen's car keys away for breaking curfew. (Removes freedom to decrease sneaking out).

Reinforcement

always increasing the future probability of a behavior

Punishment

always decreasing the future probability of a behavior

Thorndike and the Law of Effect

• Behaviors followed by a “satisfying state of affairs” (a reward) are likely to reoccur

• Behaviors followed by a “unpleasant state of affairs” (a consequence) are unlikely to occur

Extinction

Gradual weakening and eventual disappearance of a conditioned response, when u keep doing the behavior but the environment stops producing a reward.

Little Albert

Proved that fears can be classically conditioned

Spontaneous recovery

the sudden return of an extinct conditioned response after a period of rest.

Second order conditioning

when a second neutral stimulus is added alongside the original stimulus and becomes associated with it causes the same conditioned response

Unconditioned Stimulus

A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a biological response without any prior learning or training

Unconditioned response

An unlearned, automatic, involuntary reflex that happens naturally in response to the unconditioned stimulus

Conditioned Stimulus

An initially neutral stimulus that, after being repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a learned response

Conditoned response

A learned reflex or response to a previously neutral stimulus that has now been trained

Learning

The acquisition of knowledgeable, skills, or attitudes that result in a a relatively permanent change in the state of the person

Flashbulb memory

Extremely vivid and emotional memories but tend to be inaccurate

Problems with eyewitness testimony

highly unreliable because memory is a constructive process and not a video recording, can be skewed by things such as the Misinformation Effect (suggestibility).

Memory blocking

a temporary retrieval failure where information is safely stored in your long-term memory vault, but you physically cannot pull it out into your conscious working memory right now.

Tip-of-the tongue phenomenon

Example of backing, failure to retrieve information that is available in ur memory even tho ur trying to produce it

Research of Ebbinghaus

• The Method: Memorized meaningless nonsense syllables (e.g., ZEK, XON) to track pure memory decay without bias.

• The Forgetting Curve: Forgetting is extremely rapid right after learning, but then plateaus and levels off over time.

• The Spacing Effect: Distributed study sessions over time work vastly better than a single cramming session.

State-dependent context retrieval

Retrieval that occurs when you are in the same internal state as you were when you learned it

Context-dependent retrieval

Retrieval that occurs when you are in the same environment that you learned it in

Memory misattributiom

Assigning a recollection or idea to the wrong source, you remember the facts but mix up where u learned it

Suggestibility

Tendency to incorporate misleading info from external outside sources (leading questions) into ur own memory of an event

Proactive interference

When an existing memory interferes with the formation of a new one

ex: its January 1st 2027 and u accidentally write 2026 as the date

Retroactive interference

brand new memories clash with your ability to retrieve old information

ex: forgetting ur old telephone number after getting a new one

anterograde amnesia

Inability to remember stuff after a major event

retrograde amnesia

Inability to remember stuff before a major event

Rehearsal

The conscious repetition of information to keep it active on your short-term memory

Chunking

Combining small, scattered bits of information into larger, meaningful groups or "chunks" to bypass the brain's storage limits

Insomnia

Difficulty getting enough sleep

Cataplexy

Random muscle paralysis like in REM but mind is awake, often triggered by strong emotion

Narcolepsy

Sudden sleep attacks (rem sleep out of nowhere)

circadian rhythm

body’s internal 24 hour biological clock

Consolidation

process that transfers info from STM to LTM