AP PSYCH biologocial bases of behavior

conciousness

our awareness of ourselves and our environment

iceberg theory

different levels of information processing

EX: remembering a phone password

subconcious

storing memories, habits, and feelings

unconcious

holding repressed thoughts

circadian rhythm

biological day clock

suprachiasmatic nucleus

triggered by light to slow production of melatonin

EX: when light enters your room, you awake

melatonin

make you sleepy (hormone)

sleep cycle

pattern of stages your brain goes through while you sleep

awake/dozing off

small, quick waves when your’e awake but relaxed

nrem-1

2-5 minutes of light sleep, brain waves/breathing, hallucinations may occur, hypnic jerk often occurs

hallucinations

dreamlike sensations

hypnic jerk

sleep quake

nrem-2

20 minutes long, sleep spindles occur, happens on the way down to deep sleep

sleep spindles

bursts of brain activity

nrem-3

about 30 minutes long, short transition period, may sleep walk

delta waves

large, slow wave, body is most restful

rem sleep

5-20 minutes, rapid brain waves, internal body activity increases

paradoxical sleep

motor cortex is active, hard to awaken despite light stage of sleep

rem rebound

lacking proper amount of rem sleep. we will fall into it quickly

sleep deprivation

not getting enough sleep

sleep debt

built up lack of sleep

insomnia

trouble falling or staying asleep

narcolepsy

overwhelming sleepiness that can’t be stopped

sleep apnea

stop breathing during sleep

night terrors

high levels of movement and noise that may impact sleep

rem sleep behavior disorder

physically and vocally acting out dreams

somnabulism

chronic sleepwalking

manifest content

what actually occurs in a dream

latent content

what dreams actually mean

freud’s wish fufillment theory

dreams are a safety value for the unconcious

EX: dream is being chased but freud’s meaning is guilt or fea

consolidation theory

dreams are a way for your brain to work through memories/information from your waking life

EX: studying for a test, then getting a full night of sleep

activation synthesis theory

random neural activity from the brainstem

EX: having a dream about running but not being able to move, so your brain activates body that controls movement 

fantasy prone personalities

fanstasize often and vividly, often have trouble between fantasy and reality

EX: feeling sad about imaginary scenarios

hypnosis 

heightened level of suggestibility induced by a relaxed state of mind

post hypnotic amnesia

“forgetting” things after being hypnotized

sensation

detecting stimuli and encoding neural signals

transduction

stimuli/energy must be converted into neural messages so the brain can understand it

EX: smelling fresh cookies or feeling phone vibrate 

perception 

organzing and processing sensations 

EX: feeling something brush your arm

bottom-up processing

forming perceptions by relying on sensory input from external stimuli without using prior knowledge

EX: reading a wood letter by letter or feeling something warm

top-down processing

preconcieved notions in the brain begin processing

EX: reading messy handwriting or interpreting something as rude

selective attention (cocktail party effect/ inattentional blindness

at any one time, we focus concious awareness on select stimuli, generally at the expense of other stimuli

EX: hearing your name in a noisy room or searching for a friend in a crowd

threshold

the points where we notice a stimulus

EX: smelling perfume

absolute threshold

minimum stimulation needed for detection about 50% of the time

EX: tasting a small amount of sugar

signal detection theory

detection depends on the individual as well as the stimulus

EX: hearing your phone buzz in class

subliminal

below the threshold

EX: very light touch

difference threshold/just noticeable difference (JND)

mininum difference needed to detect the difference between 2 stimuli about 50% of the time

EX: which light is brighter?

weber’s law

the more you have to change if for you to notice a difference

EX: phone brightness

sensory adaptation

decreasing sensitivity to a constant stimulus

EX: sitting on a chair

wavelength of light/hue color

what color of the light we see and the color we perceive

EX: wavelength is 700mm and the hue is red

amplitude of light wave/brightness

physical property of light and what the brain experiences because of it

EX: flashlight on high

cornea

outer covering, protection of the eyeball

pupil

opening of the eyeball (the black part)

iris

controls the pupil (how much light enters the eye)

lens

focuses light rays onto the retina

accommodation 

changing curvature to focus

EX: note taking assistance

visual acuity

sharpness of vision

EX: reading road signs 

nearsightedness

light from far away objects hits the front of the retina

EX: squinting 

farsightedness 

light glands behind retina 

EX: the words are blurry in the book

rods

enabling vision in the dark

EX: spotting a faint star

cones

color, detail

EX: recognizing someone’s face

bipolar and ganglion cells

transmitting signals to ganglion cells

EX: processing light and dark

fovea

area of central focus on the retina

EX: reading

blindspot

where the optic nerve leaves the eye

EX: driving a car and checking the side mirror

feature detection

some cells in the visual cortex of the brain respond to specific visual features

EX: letter recognition

young-helmholtz trichromatic theory

the human eye has 3 types of color receptors that are different

EX: seeing the color yellow

opponent process theory

thalamus cells are responsible for seeing one of the two colors

EX: blue-yellow opponency

sound waves

vibrations that travel through a medium

EX: a car hor

decibels

measure of sound energy

outer ear

what you can see

eardrum

membrane that vibrates

middle ear

transmits sound from eardrum to inner ear

piston

hammer, anial, and stirrup

cochlea

snail shaped tube with fluid that vibrates

oval window

cochlea’s membrane

basilar membrane

runs through the middle of the cochlea

auditory nerve

carries information from cochlea into the brain

place theory

different pitch= activity at different places along basilar membrane

EX: a bird chirping

frequency theory

basilar membrane vibrating with the same speed as a sound wave

EX: hearing a new word

volley principle

neural cells may alternate place and speed of firing to hear both high/low pitches

EX: musical instruments 

conduction deafness

mechanical problems

EX: a child having an ear infection

sensorinueral/nerve deafness

damage to cochlea/hair cells, caused by age and prolonged exposure to loud sounds

EX: social isolation