Chapter 2 Terms

Eugene Aserinsky

Discovered REM sleep when he hooked his son up to an EEG

Sigmund Freud

wrote The Interpretation of Dreams. Believed dreams are “the royal road to the unconscious".” Said there were two levels of dreams manifest and latent

Ernest Hilgard

Theorized that hypnosis induces a special state of dissociation, or divided consciousness

William James

OG of American psychology. Called his perspective on psych, FUNCTIONALISM. Believed consciousness was an ever-flowing “stream.”

Consciousness

Our awareness of ourselves and our enviornment

preconscious

something that is not in our conscious, but can be easily pulled into consciousness, such as memories

unconscious

According to Sigmund Freud, its a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, its information processing of which we are unaware. This is different than being knocked unconscious

Nonconscious

Things happening in your body of which you are not aware, such as hormone secretion

Hypnosis

A social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur

Posthypnotic suggestion

A suggestion, made during a hypnosis session, to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotized; used by some clinicians to help control undesired symptoms and behaviors

Posthypnotic Amnesia

A condition in which, in response to the hypnotist’s suggestion, the subject is unable to recall what happened while someone was under hypnosis

Dissociation

A split in consciousness, which allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others

Hidden Observer

A part of a hypnotized person’s consciousness that remains aware of happenings even under hypnosis, Hilgard believes this is an example of dissociation

Social Influence Theory of Hypnosis

Hypnotic subjects may simply be imaginative actors playing a social role

Hilgard’s Divided Consciousness Theory of Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a special state of dissociated (divided) consciousness

Biological Rhythms

The periodic physiological fluctuations our bodies go through

Annual Cycles

cycles that occur in our bodies on a yearly basis, such as SAD (seasonal Affective Disorder-becoming depressed during the winter), or birds flying south for the winter and bears hibernating

28-day cycles

cycles that occur every month (woman’s menstrual cycle)

Circadian Rhythm

The biological clock; regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24-hour cycle, such as body temperature or wakefulness

Melatonin

A sleep-inducing hormone. The SCN causes the brain’s pineal gland to decrease its production of melatonin in the morning or to increase it in the evening

Sleep

A periodic, natural loss of consciousness. Throughout the night, the body experiences many sleep cycles, each one lasting around 90 minutes. Each cycle has 4 stages 1, 2, 3, and REM

Beta waves

Waves of someone who is wide awake

Alpha waves

the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state

Stage one

The stage that lasts about 5 minutes, emit theta waves, may experience hallucinations and hypnagogic sensations (feelings of floating or falling)

Stage two

The stage that lasts about 20 minutes, clearly asleep and experience sleep spindles (random bursts of activity)

Stage three

The deepest stage of sleep in which it is hard to wake, lasts for about 30 minutes, emission of delta waves, sleep walking, bed wetting, etc. occur during this stage

Delta waves

the larder, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep

REM sleep

rapid eye movement sleep; a recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. Also known as paradoxical sleep because the muscles are relaxed (except for minor twitches) but other body systems are active

NREM sleep

non-rapid eye movement sleep; encompasses all sleep stages except for REM sleep

REM rebound

the tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation (created by repeated awakenings during REM sleep

insomnia

A sleep disorder in which a person has recurring problems in falling or staying asleep

Narcolepsy

A sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks. These attacks are usually caused by excitement. The sufferer may lapse directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times

Sleep apnea

A sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings. This is associated with obesity. It is suggested people lose weight to help curb the sleep apnea. Wearing an air pump while sleeping helps also

Night terrors

A sleep disorder characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified; unlike nightmares, these occur during Stage 4 sleep, within two or three hours of falling asleep, and are seldom remembered

Dreams

a sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind during REM sleep

Lucid dreams

a dream in which one is aware that one is dreaming

Manifest content

the remembered story line of a dream (according to Sigmund Freud)

Latent content

the underlying meaning of a dream (according to Sigmund Freud)

Freud’s wish-fulfillment theory

Dreams provide a “psychic safety valve”. Expressing otherwise unacceptable feeling; contain manifest (remembered) content and a deeper layer of latent content (hidden meaning)

Information-processing theory

dreams help us sort out the day’s events and consolidate our memories

Physiological theory

regular brain stimulation from REM sleep may help develop and preserve neural pathways

Activation-synthesis theory

REM sleep triggers impulses that evoke random visual memories, which our sleeping brain weaves into stories

Cognitive theory

dream content reflects dreamers’ cognitive development. Their knowledge and understanding

Nervous system

the body’s speedy electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous system

Biological psychology

a branch of psych concerned with the links between biology and behavior

Central nervous system

the brain and spinal cord

Peripheral nervous system

connects CNS to the limbs and organs, essentially serving as a communication relay going back and forth between the brain and the extremities

Somatic nervous system

the division of the PNS that controls the body’s skeletal muscles. Also known as the skeletal nervous system

Autonomic nervous system

the part of the PNS that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs. Controls the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems

Sympathetic nervous system

the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations. “Fight or Flight”

Parasympathetic nervous system

the division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy. “Rest and digest”

Reflex

a simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response

neuron

a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system

Sensory neurons

neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord

interneurons

neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs

motor neurons

neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands

soma (cell body)

the neuron’s life support center that also produces neurotransmitters

dendrite

The bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that recieve messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body

axon

the extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through with messages pass o other neurons, muscles, or glands

Myelin sheath

a layer of fatty tissue that covers the axon which aides in the speed of neural impulses; the thicker the myelin sheath, the faster the impulse. The myelin sheath degenerates, it could lead to multiple sclerosis (communication to muscles slows, with eventual loss of muscle control)

Nodes of Ranvier

spaces between the myelin

Schwann cell

produces myelin

action potential

a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon

ions

electrically charged atoms

Resting potential

the fluid interior of a resting axon has an excess of negatively charged ions, while the fluid outside the axon membrane has more positively charged ions. (positive-outside/negative-inside state)

Selectively permeable

the axon’s surface is very selective about what it allows in

Polarized

during the resting state of a neuron when the outside is positively charged and the inside is negatively charged

Depolarized

axon is no longer at resting potential; outside is now negatively charged and inside is now positively charged

Refractory period

resting state after firing in which the neuron goes back to its polarized resting state

Excitatory

accelerates neuron’s firing speed

Inhibitory

slows neuron’s firing speed

threshold

the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse

synapse

the junction between the terminal branch of the synaptic gap

Synaptic gap/synaptic cleft

the tiny gap at the synapse in which neurotransmitters cross

neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse

Acetylcholine

Enables muscle action, learning, and memory. (Alzheimer’s disease, ACh-producing neurons deteriorate)

Dopamine

Influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion (Excess dopamine receptor activity is linked to schizophrenia. Starved of dopamine, the brain produced the tremors and decreased mobility of Parkinson’s disease

Serotonin

Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal (under supply linked to depression. Prozac and some other antidepressant drugs raise serotonin levels)

Norepinephrine

Helps control alertness and arousal (undersupply can depress mood)

GABA (gammaaminobutyric acid)

A major inhibitory neurotransmitter (undersupply linked to seizures, tremors, and insomnia

Glutamate

A major excitatory neurotransmitter; involved in memory (Oversupply can overstimulate the brain, producing migraines or seizures (which is why some people avoid MSG, monosodium glutamate, in food)

Endorphins

natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure

agonist

a molecule that may be similar enough to a neurotransmitter to bind to its receptor and mimic its effects (blocks the original neurotransmitter). EXAMPLE the body thinks morphine is close enough to the naturally made endorphins so it binds to the endorphin receptors to block pain

Antagonist

A molecule that binds to receptors but blocks a neurotransmitter’s functioning. EXAMPLE Botulin, a poison that can form improperly canned food, causes paralysis by blocking Ach release for muscle movement

Endocrine system

the body’s “slow” chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream

Hormones

Chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream, and affect other tissues

Adrenal glands

A pair of endocrine glands that sit just above the kidneys and secrete hormones (epinephrine/adrenaline and norepinephrine/noradrenaline) that helps arouse the body in times of crisis (physical and psychological)

Pituitary gland

the endocrine system’s most influential gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the pituitary regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands. Regulates all other glands

Lesion

tissue destruction that is naturally or experimentally caused to help study regions and functions of the brain

Plasticity

The brain’s ability to modify itself after tissue damage. The brain changes and arranges itself on the cellular level in response to what is going on in the environment.

EEG (electroencephalogram)

An amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain’s surface

CT/CAT (computed tomography)

A series of X-ray photographs of the brain taken from different angles and combined by computer to create an image that represents a slice through the brain

PET (positron emission tomography)

measures the different levels of activity in the brain by detecting where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain is performing a given task

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)

uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images of different structures within the brain

fMRI (functional MRI)

A technique for revealing blood flow and, therefore, brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans. fMRI scans show brain function

Brainstem

the oldest and innermost region of the brain that is responsible for automatic survival functions. It begins where the spinal cord swells and enters the skull

Thalamus

The brain’s sensory switchboard located on the top of the brainstem. It directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex. It also transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla. The sense of smell (olfaction) does not go through the thalamus

Medulla

Part of the brainstem that controls heartbeat and breathing LIFE AND LOVE FOR HEARTBEAT AND BREATHING

Reticular Formation

A nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling arousal SAY THE NAME AND FUNCTION TOGETHER RETICULAROUSAL

cerebellum

the “little brain” attached to the rear of the brainstem that assists in balance and voluntary movements