PSY 111- Exam 2 FAQ

what is consciousness

the awareness of ourselves, our bodies, and our surroundings. it is not an all-or-none thing, it changes dramatically throughout the day.

what is the circadian rhythm

biological cycle that occurs on an approximately 24-hour schedule, it regulates many aspects of our daily functioning: sleep and wakefulness, alertness, body temp, hormone release, and metabolism

what is the biological clock

associated with the suprachiasmatic nucleus, a structure in the hypothalamus, helps coordinate the body’s circadian rhythms

why is light important

light entering the eyes provides information that helps the SCN synchronize the biological clock from the outside world

what happens during NREM sleep (non-rapid eye movement)

progressively deeper stages of sleep, as you move deeper into NREM: brain wave activity becomes slower, you become harder to wake, your body is relaxed, sometimes called slow-wave sleep because of characteristic slow brain waves

what happens during REM sleep

rapid eye movements, relatively high levels of brain activity, vivid dreaming, temporary muscle paralysis, described as a paradoxical state because the brain is highly active while the body is largely immobilized

why do we not act out our dreams normally

during REM the brain inhibits most skeletal- muscle activity, the paralysis helps us prevent physically acting out the things we are dreaming about

does the amount of REM sleep stay the same throughout the night

no. sleep cycles repeat throughout the night but the amount of time spent in different stages changes, as the night progresses periods of REM sleep generallly become longer

REM rebound

refers to an increase in the amount or intensity of REM sleep following a period in which REM sleep has been reduced or deprived

proves that REM sleep is not simply random downtime, the brain seems to regulate and compensate for changes in sleep patterns

lucid dreaming

occurs when a person becomes aware that they are dreaming while the dream is still occurring

insomnia

persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep

narcolepsy

sudden and uncontrollable episodes of sleep during waking hours

sleep apnea

repeated interruptions of breathing during sleeping

night terrors

episodes of intense fear and arousal during sleep. may seem physically active or wake, but have little memory of the episode after

sleep walking

walking or performing other behaviors while still asleep

Freuds dream protection theory

dreams protect sleep by allowing people to experience disguised versions of unacceptable wishes and impulses

manifest content and latent content

M: what the dream appears to be about

L: the supposedly hidden psychological meaning of the dream

should we accept freuds interpretation of dreams as established fact

no. freuds ideas were historically important but many of his specific claims about dreams have no received strong empirical support. this is a good example of an important scientific-thinking principle. an influential theory is not necessarily a well-supported theory

activation- synthesis theory

proposes that the dreams result partly from the brain’s attempt to make sense of the neural activity occurring during sleep.

brain activation > the brain attempts to organize it > dream experience

role of forebrain in dreaming

dreaming is not a matter of random activity coming from lower brain structures, plays an important role in generating and shaping dream experiences. this helps lead to more sophisticated theories of dreaming than a simple “random neural noise” explanation

neurocognitive perspectives on dreaming

emphasizes the relationship between dreaming and our normal cognitive abilities. the basic idea that dreams are influenced by the same kinds of cognitive processes that operate when we are awake

hallucination

perceptual experience that occurs in the absence of an appropriate external stimulus, a person may see, hear, smell, feel, or experience something that is not present in the environment.

what can cause a hallucination

sleep deprivation, certain medical conditions, drugs, sensory deprivation, transitions in and out of sleep

out of body experience

someone reports experiencing themselves as being located outside their physical body or viewing their body from another location

near death experiences

unusual experiences reported by some people during and following situations involving a perceived threat to life

mystical experience

altered state characterized by experiences such as : sense of unity, transcendence, a feeling of profound meaning, a sense that ordinary boundaries have disappeared

hypnosis

state of focused attention and increased responsiveness to suggestion

people retain substantial control over their behavior

tolerance vs physical dependence to drugs

T: occurs when repeated exposure to a substance results in a reduced response

PD: occurs when the body adapts to repeated substance use and withdrawal symptoms occur when use is reduced or stopped, not addiction

depressants

reduce activity in the CNS : relaxation, reduced anxiety, slowed reactions, impaired coordination, sedation

stimulants

increase activity in the CNS: increased alertness, increased energy, reduced fatigue, and increased physiological arousal

narcotics

primarily opioid drugs that produce pain relief and feelings of euphoria

psychedelics

produce substantial changes in perception, thought, mood, and consciousness

learning

relatively enduring change in behavior or thought that results from experience

habituation vs sensitization

H: responding less strongly to a repeated stimulus

S: responding more strongly to a repeated stimulus

classical conditioning

occurs when we learn to associate two stimuli so that a previously neutral stimulus eventually produces a response

unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response

US: naturally produces a response without prior learning

UR: automatic response to that stimulus

conditioned stimulus and conditioned response

CS: previously neutral stimulus that through learning comes to produce a response

CR: learned response to that stimulus

acquisition

initial stage of learning an association

extinction

when a conditioned response decreases or disappears because the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the US

response can come back though, not necessarily gone forever

spontaneous recovery

reappearance of previously extinguished conditioned response after a rest period.

generalization and discrimination

G: occurs when a stimuli similar to a conditioned stimulus also produce the conditioned response

D: occurs when an organism learns to respond differently to similar stimuli

higher-order conditioning

occurs when a new neutral stimulus becomes associated with an already conditioned stimulus

operant conditioning

learning an association between behavior and its consequences

law of effect

behaviors followed by satisfying consequences tend to become more likely whereas behaviors followed by unpleasant tend to become less likely

punishment

anything that decreases the likelihood of behavior occurring again

positive reinforcement

adding something desirable to increase a behvaior

negative reinforcement

removing something unpleasant to increase a behavior

positive punishment

adding something unpleasant to decrease a behavior

negative punsihment

removing something desirable to decrease a behavior

shaping

reinforcing successive approximations of a desired behavior

chaining

involves linking individual behaviors tg into a sequence

fixed ratio

occurs after a set number of responses

variable ratio

occurs after an unpredictable number of responses

fixed interval

available after a set amount of time

variable interval

becomes available after an unpredictable amount of time

SOR psych

what happens inside the learner can influence how they respond

latent learning

learning that occurs without obvious reinforcement and may not be demonstrated until there is a reason to use it

observational learning

occurs when we learn by watching other people

mirror neurons

respond when an individual performs an action

insight learning

suddenly recognizing a solution to a problem

conditioned taste aversion

occurs when an organism learns to avoid a food after becoming ill following consumption of that food

preparedness

refers to the idea that organisms are biologically predisposed to learn some associations more easily than others

instinctive drift

occurs when an animals innate behaviors interfere with a behavior that has been learned through conditioning