Comprehensive Study Notes: Consciousness, Sleep, Psychoactive Drugs, Meditation & Hypnosis, Motivation, Sensation & Perception

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the lecture notes.

What is Consciousness?

Awareness of internal events and the external environment; includes selective attention and the ability to control focus.

What is an alternate state of consciousness?

Any mental state different from ordinary waking consciousness (e.g., sleep, dreaming, psychoactive drug use, hypnosis).

What is divided attention?

The act of paying attention to more than one task at a time, such as texting while driving.

What are Circadian rhythms?

24-hour cycles in alertness, body temperature, mood, blood pressure, and other functions.

What is the Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)?

Brain region that detects darkness and signals the pineal gland to release melatonin, regulating circadian rhythms.

What is REM sleep?

Stage 5 sleep characterized by rapid eye movements, increased brain activity, dreaming, and temporary muscle paralysis.

What characterizes Stage 1 sleep?

Lightest sleep; transition from wakefulness; brief period (about 5–10 minutes) before deeper sleep.

What characterizes Stage 2 sleep?

Light sleep with slowed brain activity, slower heart rate and breathing, and a slight drop in body temperature.

What characterizes Stage 3 sleep?

Start of deep sleep; slow delta waves with occasional beta bursts; waking leads to grogginess.

What characterizes Stage 4 sleep?

Deepest sleep with predominantly delta waves; hard to awaken; first deep sleep lasts about an hour.

What are Delta waves?

Slow brain waves characteristic of deep sleep (Stage 3/4).

What are dreams?

Vivid experiences most often occurring during REM sleep (Stage 5).

What is the Wish-fulfillment dream theory?

Dream theory proposing that dreams reveal unacceptable desires; manifest content is the dream’s storyline, latent content is hidden meaning.

What is manifest content in dreams?

The visible storyline of a dream.

What is latent content in dreams?

The hidden symbolic meaning of a dream.

What is the Activation-synthesis hypothesis of dreams?

Dreams result from the brain attempting to make sense of random REM brain activity.

What is the Cognitive view of dreams?

Dreams organize and interpret waking experiences into memories.

What are psychoactive drugs?

Substances that alter consciousness, mood, or perception.

What are Agonist drugs?

Drugs that increase or mimic the effects of a neurotransmitter.

What are Antagonist drugs?

Drugs that block or reduce the effects of a neurotransmitter.

What is addiction?

A condition where the body depends on a drug; associated with tolerance and dependence.

What is tolerance in the context of drug use?

Diminished response to a drug requiring larger doses for the same effect.

What is withdrawal?

Physical or psychological symptoms that occur when stopping a drug.

What is psychological dependence?

Craving or perceived need to use a drug despite lack of physical dependence.

What is physical dependence?

Body’s adaptation to a drug, leading to withdrawal symptoms on cessation.

What are Depressants?

Drugs that slow CNS activity (e.g., alcohol, barbiturates, benzodiazepines) and can produce relaxation and sleepiness.

What are Stimulants?

Drugs that increase CNS activity (e.g., cocaine, amphetamine, caffeine, nicotine) and produce heightened energy and alertness.

What are Opiates?

Narcotics such as morphine, heroin, and codeine; produce euphoria and pain relief but risk withdrawal and respiratory depression.

What are Hallucinogens?

Psychedelics like LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, and cannabis; distort perceptions and emotions.

What is Meditation?

A practice yielding relaxation and altered states of consciousness, often via focused attention; associated with changes in prefrontal cortex activity.

What is Hypnosis?

A trance-like state of heightened suggestibility and deep relaxation used to modulate pain and anxiety.

What is Motivation?

Set of factors that activate, direct, and maintain behavior toward a goal.

What is Emotion?

Subjective feeling including arousal, thoughts, and expressed behavior.

What is an Instinct?

Fixed, unlearned pattern of behavior common to a species; McDougall.

What is the Drive-reduction theory?

Motivation arises from physiological needs that create drives to restore homeostasis.

What is the Optimal arousal theory?

Motivation to achieve and maintain an optimal level of arousal.

What is Incentive theory?

Motivation driven by external stimuli that pull behavior toward goals.

What are Attributions?

How we explain our own and others’ actions, affecting motivation.

What are Expectancies?

Beliefs about likely outcomes that influence motivation.

Describe Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Pyramid of needs: from physiological and safety to belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.

What is Extrinsic motivation?

Motivation based on external rewards or punishments.

What is Intrinsic motivation?

Motivation driven by internal satisfaction from a task.

What is Sensation?

Process of detecting, converting, and transmitting raw sensory information to the brain.

What is Perception?

Process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensory information into meaningful patterns.

What is Selective attention?

Focusing on important information while filtering out the rest.

What is Prosopagnosia?

Inability to recognize people by their facial features.

What are Feature detectors?

Specialized neurons that respond to specific stimuli, such as faces.

What is Habituation?

Decreased responsiveness to repeated stimulation; sensitivity to change increases.

What are Gestalt principles?

Organization of perception: figure-ground, similarity, proximity, closure, continuity, common region.

What is figure-ground perception?

Perceiving objects as distinct from their background.

What is Depth perception?

Ability to perceive 3D space using binocular and monocular cues.

What are Perceptual constancies?

Perceiving objects as unchanging in size, shape, color, and brightness despite changes in sensory input.

What is a Perceptual set?

Tendency to perceive stimuli in a particular way based on expectations.

What is Bottom-up processing?

Processing that starts with raw sensory data and builds up to higher-level interpretation.

What is Top-down processing?

Perception guided by expectations and prior knowledge.

What is Transduction?

Process of converting sensory stimuli into neural impulses.

What are Receptors in sensory perception?

Sensory receptors in sense organs that detect stimuli.

What is Sensory adaptation?

Reduction in sensitivity to a constant stimulus over time.

What is an Illusion?

A false or misleading perception due to perceptual errors or environmental distortions.

Explain the difference between illusions, hallucinations, and delusions.

Illusions are misperceptions; hallucinations are false sensory experiences without stimuli; delusions are fixed false beliefs.