psych final

Consciousness

Being awake and aware of what is happening around you and inside your own mind.

Cognition ladder

A step-by-step process where your brain moves from feeling something to fully understanding it.

Cognitive system old theories

Earlier ideas about how our brains think and process information.

Cognitive system new theories

Modern ideas about how our brains work that have updated the older versions.

Theories of attention and consciousness

Ideas that explain how focusing on something helps us become aware of it.

Attention causes consciousness

The idea that you only become truly aware of things when you pay close focus to them.

Saliency maps

A quick mental shortcut your brain uses to find the most important or bright things in a room before you even think about it.

Attention

The simplest way our brain works to pick out one thing to focus on.

Blindsight

A condition where someone can't see but their brain still knows where objects are because of damage to the part that creates pictures.

Isolation aphasia

A brain problem where someone can repeat words but doesn't understand what they mean because the talking parts are disconnected.

Automatic behaviours

Things you do without thinking, like walking or riding a bike, because you have practiced them so much.

Action slips

Making a small mistake while doing something on autopilot, like putting the cereal box in the fridge.

Blackout

Forgetting what happened because a person used too much of a strong drug or alcohol.

Sleepwalking

Moving around and doing normal daily activities while you are still fast asleep.

Sleep

A natural state of rest where your body stays still and you are less aware of the world.

EEG waves

Squiggly lines on a screen that show the electrical patterns and energy of your brain.

Alpha

Brain signals that happen when you are feeling relaxed and calm.

Beta

Brain signals that happen when you are wide awake and thinking hard.

Theta

Brain signals that show up when you are very drowsy or in a light rest.

Delta

Brain signals that happen when you are in your heaviest, deepest rest.

Five stages of sleep

The different levels of rest your brain goes through several times every night.

Stage 1

The very beginning of rest where you are just drifting off for a few minutes.

Hypnagogic imagery

Seeing strange pictures or feeling like you are falling just as you are about to drop off.

Stage 2

A level of light rest that takes up more than half of your time spent in bed.

Stage 3 & 4

The most peaceful parts of the night where your body does its deepest resting.

REM sleep

A time when your eyes wiggle and your brain is very active, which is when you usually dream.

REM rebound

When your body spends extra time in the dreaming stage because you didn't get enough rest the night before.

Dreams

Stories and pictures your brain creates while you are resting.

Psychoanalytical/Psychodynamic

An idea that night-time stories are full of secret meanings and hidden feelings from our minds.

Scientific theories

Ideas based on research and data to explain why we rest or have night-time stories.

Activation

synthesis theory - The idea that dreams are just the brain's way of making sense of random signals it gets during rest.

Neurocognitive theory

The idea that dreaming is just a complex way our brain thinks while we rest.

Dream continuity hypothesis

The belief that what we see while resting is usually just a reflection of what we do in real life.

Sleep hygiene

Good habits, like having a bedtime, that help you get a great night's rest.

Sleep disorders

Problems that make it hard to fall off or stay resting properly.

Insomnia

Having a really hard time falling off or staying resting at night.

Night terrors

Sudden feelings of intense fear that happen during deep rest, causing someone to scream or look scared.

Sleepwalking

Getting out of bed and moving around while you are still totally resting.

REM sleep behaviour disorder

A problem where people physically act out their night-time stories instead of staying still.

Sleep inertia

That groggy, confused feeling you have right after you wake up from a deep rest.

Sleep paralysis

A scary feeling where you wake up but find you cannot move your body for a short time.

Alternating Consciousness

Changes in how we feel and think, like being in a trance or using medicine.

Hypnosis

A state where you are very relaxed and more likely to follow suggestions from someone else.

Induction

The process of helping someone enter a state where they are very relaxed and suggestible.

Drugs

Substances that change how your body and mind work when they are taken.

Stimulants

Chemicals that speed up your body and make you feel more energetic.

Depressants

Chemicals that slow down your body and make you feel drowsy or relaxed.

Hypnotics

A type of medicine specifically used to help people fall off to rest.

Psychoactive drugs

Any substance that changes your mood, thoughts, or the way you see the world.

Out of body experiences

The strange feeling of being outside your own physical frame and looking at yourself.

Learning

Changing how you act or what you know because of things you have gone through.

Habituation

Tendency to discontinue responding to repeatedly occurring uninformative events.

Biological basis

The idea that gaining knowledge happens because our brain can physically change and grow.

Classical conditioning

Linking two things together, like a bell ringing and getting food.

Psychic reflexes

An old term for when your body reacts automatically to a sign that something is coming.

Generalization

Reacting to things that are similar to what you first knew, like being afraid of all dogs after being bitten by one.

Generalization gradient

A rule that says the more similar a new thing is to the original, the more you will react to it.

Discrimination

Figuring out the difference between two similar things so you only react to one of them.

Higher order conditioning

Using something you already knew to teach yourself a new link.

Conditioned emotional responses

Gaining a certain feeling, like happiness or fear, when you see a specific trigger.

Fetishes

Having an unusually strong interest in a specific object.

Conditioned disgust responses

Feeling "grossed out" by something because it was once linked to a bad experience.

Conditioned fear responses

Feeling afraid of something that wasn't scary before because something bad happened.

Phobias

Having a very strong and extreme dread of something specific.

PTSD

A condition where someone stays very upset and scared long after a scary event is over.

Operant Conditioning

Figuring out that your actions have consequences, like getting a reward for doing chores.

Thorndike's cats

Famous experiments that showed animals solve puzzles faster when they get a reward.

Skinner and Watson

Famous scientists who studied how people and animals gain knowledge from their environment.

Stimulus

Response learning - The idea that we act in a specific way whenever a certain thing happens.

Reinforcement

Giving a reward or taking away something bad to make sure a behavior happens again.

Punishment

Using something unpleasant to make sure an action stops happening.

Positive reinforcement

Giving a treat or a "good job" to encourage someone to keep doing something well.

Negative reinforcement

Taking away something annoying, like a loud noise, to reward a good behavior.

Positive punishment

Giving someone extra chores or a scolding to stop them from doing something bad.

Negative punishment

Taking away something fun, like a toy, to stop a bad behavior.

Primary reinforcers and punishers

Things we naturally like or dislike, like food, water, or pain.

Conditioned reinforcers and punishers

Things we gain a value for, like money or grades, because they help us get what we want.

Reinforcement schedules

The different rules for how often and when a reward is given.

Continuous Reinforcement

Giving a reward every single time a good behavior happens.

Intermittent Reinforcement

Giving rewards only some of the time, which makes a habit harder to break.

Interval Reinforcement

Giving a reward based on how much time has passed.

Variable

When the time or number of times needed for a reward keeps changing.

Fixed

When the reward always happens after the exact same amount of time or actions.

Ratio

Giving a reward based on how many times you do a specific action.

Thinking and Reasoning

The way our brain uses information to solve problems and make decisions.

Cognitive economy

The brain's way of saving energy by using shortcuts and simple categories.

Dual process theory

The idea that we have two ways of using our brain: one that is fast and automatic, and one that is slow and careful.

System 1/inductive reasoning

Fast, "gut-feeling" ways of deciding that use patterns to make quick guesses.

System 2/deductive reasoning

Slow, logical ways of deciding that carefully follow rules to find the right answer.

Cognitive Reflection Test

A short quiz that checks if you can stop and consider instead of just going with your first fast guess.

Monty hall problem

A famous brain teaser about a game show that shows how our logic can sometimes be wrong.

Mental paralysis

Being unable to make a decision because you are over-pondering or have too many choices.

Nudging

Making small changes to how things are presented to help people make better choices without forcing them.

Schema

A mental map or "file folder" in your brain that helps you organize information about the world.

Violated schema

When something happens that doesn't fit into your mental map, causing surprise or confusion.

Mental sets

The habit of trying to solve a new problem the same way you solved a different one before.

Functional fixedness

Being unable to see that an object can be used in a new way, like using a shoe as a hammer.

Linguistic determinism

The idea that the words you speak completely control how you are able to think.

Linguistic relativity

The idea that the words you speak influence and shape the way you see the world.

Language

A system of sounds, signs, or symbols that people use to share ideas and feelings.