unit 1 - BARRONS - AP psych - 101-200

split-brain patients

patients whose corpus callosum has been cut

this operation was pioneered by Roger Sperry and Micheal Gazaniga

association area

Any area of the cerebral cortex that is not associated with receiving sensory information or controlling muscle movements

association areas are thought to be responsible for complex, sophisticated thoughts like judgment and humour

frontal lobe

large areas of the cerebral cortex located at the top

front part of the brain behind the eyes

the brain's central executive and is believed to be important in predicting consequences, pursuing goals, maintaining emotional control, and engaging in abstract thought

prefrontal cortex

the frontmost portion of the frontal lobes, especially prominent in humans; important for attention, working memory, decision making, appropriate social behavior, and personality

Broca's area

responsible for controlling the muscles involved in producing speech

motor cortex

thin vertical strip at the back of the frontal lobe

sends signals to our muscles, controlling our voluntary movements

The top of the body is controlled by the neurons at the bottom of this cortex (by the ears), progressing down the body as you go up the cortex

parietal lobes

located behind the frontal lobe but still on the top of

the brain

contain the somatosensory cortex

sensory cortex

part of the parietal lobe

located right behind the motor cortex in the frontal lobe

receives incoming touch sensations from the rest of our body

top of the sensory cortex receives sensations from the bottom of the body, progressing down the cortex to the bottom, which processes signals from our face and head

phantom limb syndrome

the person may still perceive sensations from a lost limb because part of their somatosensory cortex is still "mapped" to the missing body part.

occipital lobe

very back of our brain, farthest from our eyes

interprets messages from our eyes in our visual cortex

contains visual cortex

Impulses from the retinas in our eyes are sent to the visual cortex

Impulses from the left part of each retina are sent to the visual cortex in our left occipital lobe

temporal lobes

contains auditory cortices and wernicke’s area

Wernicke's area

involved with linguistic processing via both written and spoken speech.

Damage to this area would affect our ability to understand language.

Our speech might sound fluent but lack the proper syntax and grammatical structure needed for meaningful communication.

Brain plasticity

the ability of other parts of the brain to take over functions of damaged regions.

priming

Research participants respond more quickly and/or accurately to questions they have seen before, even if they do not remember seeing them

blind sight

a condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it

conscious level

The level at which mental activities that people are normally aware of occur

non conscious level

a level of mental activity that is inaccessible to conscious awareness

preconscious level

A level of mental activity that is not currently conscious but of which we can easily become conscious.

subconscious level

information that we are not consciously aware of but we know must exist due to behavior

unconscious level

Psychodynamic psychologists believe some events and feelings are unacceptable to our conscious mind and are repressed into the unconscious mind

psychoactive drugs

chemicals that change the chemistry of the brain and induce an altered state of consciousness

effects of psychoactive drugs

some resulting behavioural and cognitive changes caused by psychoactive drugs are due to physiological processes but some are due to expectations about the drug

Research shows that people will often exhibit some of the expected effects of the drug if they think they ingested it, even if they did not

These molecules either mimic or block naturally occurring neurotransmitters in the brain

blood-brain barrier

A mechanism that prevents certain molecule from entering the brain but allows others to cross

agonist

The drugs that mimic neurotransmitters.

These drugs fit in the receptor sites on a neuron that normally receive the neurotransmitter and function as that neurotransmitter normally would

antagonists

drugs that block neurotransmitters

These molecules don't fit the receptor sites well enough to substitute for them but do fit well enough to occupy the same space, thereby preventing neurotransmitters or agonists from causing a reaction

other psychoactive drugs

Other drugs prevent natural neurotransmitters from being reabsorbed back into a neuron, creating an abundance of that neurotransmitter in the synapse

eg. prozac

selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor

prevents serotonin from being reabsorbed back into the neuron

effect of psychoactive drug on brain

psychoactive drugs gradually alter the natural levels of neurotransmitters in the brain.

The brain will produce less of a specific neurotransmitter if the amount of that neurotransmitter is being influenced by a psychoactive drug.

tolerance

a physiological change that produces a need for more of the same drug in order to achieve the same effect.

withdrawal symptoms

symptoms that occur after chronic use of a drug is reduced or stopped

dependance

body develops a need for the drug

stimulants

Arouse the autonomic nervous system

This dramatic increase is accompanied by a sense of euphoria.

examples of stimulants

caffeine, cocaine, amphetamines and nicotine

effects of stimulants

tolerance

withdrawal effects

disturbed sleep

reduced appetite

increased anxiety

heart problems

depressants

drugs that reduce neural activity and slow down the autonomic nervous system

examples of depressants

Alcohol, barbiturates, and anxiolytics

effects of depressants

A euphoria can accompany the depressing effects of depressants, as do tolerance and withdrawal symptoms.

The inhibition of different brain regions causes behavioral changes

Hallucinogens (psychedelic drugs)

cause changes in perceptions of reality, including sensory hallucinations, loss of identity, and vivid fantasies

examples of hallucinogens

LSD, peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, and marijuana

opiates

act as agonists for endorphins

effects of opiates

powerful painkillers and mood elevators

cause drowsiness and euphoria associated with elevated endorphin levels

most physically addictive drugs because they rapidly change brain chemistry and create tolerance and withdrawal symptoms

examples of opiates

Codeine, morphine, heroin, methadone, fentanyl

circadian rhythm

the biological clock

regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24-hour cycle

During a 24-hour day, our metabolic and thought processes follow a certain pattern.

sleep cycle

our typical pattern of sleep

sleep onset

the period when we are falling asleep

stage between wakefulness and sleep

the brain produces alpha waves

possibility of hallucinations

NREM stage 1

Brief duration

Easily awakened

Hypnagogic sensations

NREM stage 2

Sleep spindles appear

K-complexes present on EEG

Decreased body temperature

NREM stage 3

Slow-wave activity

Difficult to wake

Critical for physical restoration

delta waves

delta sleep

delta waves

very difficult to wake up

important in replenishing the body's chemical supplies, releasing growth hormones in children and fortifying our immune system

increasing excersise increases time spent in NREM stages 3 and 4

alpha waves

the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state

theta waves

delta waves

sleep cycle progress

NREM 1

NREM 2

NREM 3

NREM 4

NREM 3

NREM 2

REM

REM

Rapid eye movements (even though they are closed)

Muscle atonia (so you don't act out your dreams)

Vivid dreaming

Increased brain activity

timing of REM sleep

First REM period occurs about 90 minutes after falling asleep

Later REM periods become progressively longer, with longest happening in the morning

REM rebound occurs after REM deprivation

The more stress we experience during the day, the longer our periods of REM sleep will be

REM rebound

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

Insomnia

persistent problems getting to sleep or staying asleep at night

treatment of Insomnia

changes in behavior: reducing the intake of caffeine or other stimulants, exercising at appropriate times (not right before bedtime) during the day, and maintaining a consistent sleep pattern

sleeping pills are used only with caution because they disturb sleep patterns during the night and can prevent truly restful sleep

Narcolepsy

suffer from periods of intense sleepiness and may fall asleep (REM sleep) at unpredictable and inappropriate times

treatment of narcolepsy

with medication and by changing sleep patterns

sleep apnea

causes a person to stop breathing for short periods of time during the night

The body causes the person to wake up slightly and gasp for air, and then sleep continues

causes tiredness and possible interference with attention and memory

treatment of sleep apnea

with a respiration machine that provides air for the person as he or she sleeps

night terrors

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

most common in children

somnambulism

sleep walking

occurs when a person arises and wanders about while remaining asleep

most common in children

dreams

Dreams are the series of storylike images we experience as we sleep

lucid dream

in which we are aware that we are dreaming and can control the storyline of the dream

activation synthesis theory

Dreams result from the brain interpreting random neural firing

The brain creates narratives to make sense of this activity

Dream content reflects this synthesis process

information-processing theory

Dreams help process daily experiences

Emotional memories are integrated during dreaming

Dream content often incorporates recent events

proponents of information processing theory

stress during the day will increase the number and intensity of dreams during the night

most people report their dream content relates somehow to daily concerns

theorize that perhaps the brain is dealing with daily stress and information during REM dreams

consolidation theory of dreams

the functions of dreams might be to help us encode events and information in our short-term memory into our long-term memory

REM sleep behavior disorder

a neurological disorder in which the person does not become paralyzed during REM sleep and thus acts out dreams

transduction

the translation of incoming stimuli into neural signals

sensory adaptation

decreasing responsiveness to stimuli due to constant stimulation

sensory habituation

our perception of sensations is partially due to how focused we are on them

cocktail party effect

If you are talking with a friend and someone across the room says your name, your attention will probably involuntarily switch across the room

being able to only focus on one thing

synesthesia

a phenomenon some people experience in which the activation of one sense activates another sense

Prosopagnosia

involves the inability to recognize faces

sensation

activation of our senses

perception

the process of understanding sensations

vision steps

1. gathering light

2. within the eye

3. transduction

4. in the brain

gathering light

light is reflected off objects and gathered by the eye

only visible light is detected

what affects the colour that we see

Different wavelengths within the visible light spectrum appear as different hues

These hues, in order from longest to shortest wavelengths, are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet

the waves's amplitude (height), which dictates its intensity.

The higher a wave's amplitude, the more energy it contains and the brighter the color we perceive

waves reflected by an object of a particular colour

that object reflects light of that particular colour and absorbs all other colors

black objects

absorb all colors

white objects

reflect all wavelengths of light

cornea

provides some protection to the rest of the eye

focuses the light

pupil and iris

The muscles that control the pupil (called the iris) open it (dilate) to let more light in and also make it smaller (contract) to let less light in.

accommodation

the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

the lens is curved and flexible so it can change shape to focus the light on the retina

nearsightedness

a condition in which nearby objects are seen more clearly than distant objects because distant objects focus in front of the retina

When the lens cannot adapt enough to focus the light properly

longsightedness

When light coming into the eye from nearby focuses behind the retina.

When the lens cannot adapt enough to focus the light properly

photoreceptors

The first layer of cells in the retina

these cells are ones and rods

rods:cones is 20:1

cones

cells that are activated by color

concentrated toward the center of the retina

rods

cells that respond to black and white

distributed throughout the retina

fovea

an indentation at the centre of the retina

contains the highest concentration of cones

peripheral vision

relies on rods and is mostly in black and white

bipolar cells

second layer of neurone

eye neurons that receive information from the retinal cells and distribute information to the ganglion cells

If enough rods and cones fire in an area of the retina, they are activated

ganglion cells

In the retina, the specialized neurons that connect to the bipolar cells; the bundled axons of the ganglion cells form the optic nerve.

If enough bipolar cells fire, they are activated

optical nerves

made up by the axons of the ganglion cells

sends these impulses to a specific region in the thalamus called the lateral geniculate nucleus

lateral geniculate nucleus

a group of cell bodies within the lateral geniculate body of the thalamus that receives fibers from the retina and projects fibers to the primary visual cortex

process of vision

1. cornea

2. pupil

3. lenses

4. photoreceptor cells

5. bipolar cells

6. ganglion cells

7. lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus

8. visual cortices in the occipital lobes