AP Psych Unit 1B Vocab

Circadian Rhythm

The body’s 24-hour clock that regulates sleep, wakefulness, and other bodily functions

REM

Paradoxical sleep = The brain is active but the body is paralyzed

• Vivid dreams

• Eye movement

• Key role in memory consolidation, especially for skills and knowledge learned during the day

Gets longer and longer throughout the night

REM rebound

When deprived of REM sleep, the body will catch up by increasing the amount of REM sleep in subsequent nights

Activation-synthesis theory

Dreams are the brain’s way of making sense of random neural activity

Consolidation theory

Dreams help process and solidify memories and experiences from the day

Insomnia

A sleep disorder in which:

• The body has trouble staying asleep

• The body has trouble falling asleep

• Or both!

Narcolepsy

A sleep disorder in which:

• Sudden, uncontrollable sleep attacks occur during the day

  • The body randomly falls asleep for various amounts of time

• Daytime sleepiness

• Muscles are paralyzed - REM sleep

REM sleep behavior disorder

A sleep disorder in which:

• People act out their dreams

• Lack of muscle paralysis during REM

• Common in older men

Sleep apnea

A sleep disorder in which:

• Breathing repeatedly stops during the night

• Daytime sleepiness

• Snoring

• Gasping

Three types: 

1. Obstructive - most common, throat presses down on airpipe

2. Central (CNS) - brain does not send messages to muscles that help us breathe

3. Complex - when someone has an obstruction (throat presses on airpipe) and miscommunication between the brain & spinal cord

Somnambulism

A sleep disorder in which:

• Sleepwalking occurs

  • During REM 3 & 4 (deepest stage)

• Individuals perform tasks while asleep

Sensation

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimuli from our environment

Transduction

The process by which one form of energy is converted into another

Absolute threshold

The minimum intensity of a stimulus that can be detected 50% of the time

Just-noticeable difference (JND)

The smallest detectable change in a stimulus

Weber’s Law

The principle that the size of the JND is proportional to the intensity of the stimulus

Sensory adaptation

When constant exposure to a stimulus leads to decreased sensitivity over time

Sensory interaction

The idea that one sense may influence another, like how smell can affect taste

Synesthesia

A rare condition where stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory pathway

Retina

The back of the eye where light is turned into signals

It contains special cells (rods & cones) that help us see

Blind spot

The area where the optic nerve hits the eye

Not noticeable because we do not see it

Lens

A clear, flexible structure behind the pupil that bends/accommodates to focus light onto the retina

Accommodation

The process by which the focus of the eye is changed to allow near or distant objects to form sharp images on the retina

Nearsightedness

You can see things near you, but things far from you are blurry

Farsightedness

You can see things far from you, but things near you are blurry

Rods

Detect tones such as black, white, & gray

Detect light and are used in low-light conditions

Part of the retina

Cones

Detect color and are concentrated in the fovea (the center of the retina)

Cones see color

Blue cone

Short wavelengths of light

Green cone

Medium wavelengths of light

Red cone

Long wavelengths of light

Trichromatic theory

A sensation based theory - objectively observed & measured

Eye-based

The retina contains three types of color receptors - red, green, & blue - and their combination allows us to perceive the full color spectrum

Opponent-process theory

Perception based theory - no one can independently measure what another person perceives

Brain-based

Certain cells in the brain are stimulated by some colors and inhibited by others (ex. red-green or blue-yellow)

Fovea

A small area in the center of the retina where vision is the sharpest

Used for detailed tasks such as reading

Afterimage

The image that remains after a stimulus ends or is removed

Ganglion cells

The neuron in the retina that sends signals to the brain

Dichromatism

Only two types of cones

Colorblindness

Monochromatism

Only one type of cone or no cone

Colorblindness

Occipital lobe

Visual lobe of the brain

Prosopagnosia

A form of visual agnosia where the ability to perceive or remember faces is impaired

Blindsight

A condition in which individuals with damage to the striate cortex detect or react to stimuli even though they can’t see it

Amplitude

Loudness

Place theory

An auditory theory

Different frequencies of sound waves stimulate different places or locations along the basilar membrane in the cochlea.

• The cochlea acts like a piano, where each location along the membrane corresponds to a particular pitch

Frequency theory

An auditory theory

The rate (frequency) at which the auditory nerve sends electrical signals to the brain matches the frequency of the sound wave, helping us detect lower-pitched sounds.

• The entire basilar membrane vibrates at the same frequency as the sound wave.

Sound localization

Helps us determine the direction that sound is coming from

Conduction deafness

Deafness: problems with conducting sound waves to the cochlea

Sensorineural deafness

Deafness: damage to the cochlea or auditory nerve

Olfaction

Chemical sense of smell

Oldest human sense

Gustation

Chemical sense of taste

Most personal & mysterious sens

Thalamus

Switchboard operator

Pheromones

A chemical signal that is released outside the body by members of a species and that influences the behavior of other members of the same species

Gustatory cells

Taste receptors

Little parts on taste buds, which are on papilla - papilla are tiny bumps on the tongue

These are teeny tiny parts of the tongue

Supertasters

People with uncommonly low gustatory thresholds and strong responses to moderate concentrations of taste stimuli

Nontasters

People who can not taste

“Taste blind”

Touch

The sensation produced by contact of an object with a surface of the skin

Pain (gate control theory)

There is a limit to how much pain can be felt

• Afferent signals from free nerve endings in the skin send information to the brain about possible damage to skin & tissue

• Sharp or burning pain is carried to myelinated fibers

  • Myelin = neural insulation

Phantom limb syndrome

The feeling that an amputated limb is still present

Vestibular sense

Located in muscles & joints

This sense allows the body to detect the movement of the head and helps to keep the body’s balance

Essential for everyday actions, such as walking, standing upright, and maintaining coordination

Kinesthesis

Located in the inner ear

The sense of movement and the position of our body parts relative to each other

This sense enables the body to move efficiently and accurately without constantly having to look at the limbs

NREM 1

Lightest stage of sleep

• Marked by alpha waves & hypnagogic sensations (falling sensations & hallucinations)

• About 5-10 mins long

NREM 2

In between deep and light sleep

• Characterized by sleep spindles & EEG patterns

  • Show more synchronized brain activity

• About 20 mins long

• Body temp drops, heart rate slows

NREM 3 & 4

The deepest stage of sleep

• Slow delta waves

• Hard to wake up

• Most important stage of sleep for the body’s healing

• Blood pressure & breathing rate drop

• Muscles relax

Photoreceptors

Cells inside of the retina that react to light - they change light energy into electrical signals and those electric signals go through the optic nerve and into the brain to paint a picture of what the eye is seeing

Cornea

The clear outermost layer of the eye that helps focus light coming into the eye

Pupil

The black circle in the middle of the eye that controls how much light enters the eye by getting bigger or smaller

Iris

The colored part of the eye that surrounds the pupil

It changes the size of the pupil to regulate light entry

Optic nerve

The nerve that sends visual information from the eye to the brain for processing

Lens accommodation

The lens changes shape to focus light on the retina for clear vision

Altered states of consciousness

Being under the influence of . . .

• Drugs

• Alcohol

Being in a state of . . .

• Meditation

• Daydreaming

• Sleep

• Hypnosis

Afferent

Conducting/conveyed from the periphery toward a central point

Efferent

Conducting/conveying away from a central point

Frequency

Pitch

Higher frequency = higher pitch

Lower frequency = lower pitch

Volley theory

An auditory theory

Individual neurons can’t fire fast enough on their own to keep up with high-frequency sound waves (ike a 2,000 Hz tone)

• Groups of neurons work together by taking turns firing in a rapid succession, a process known as “volleying”

  • These groups of neurons can handle higher frequencies

Cochlear implants

Devices that can help restore hearing by stimulating the auditory nerve

• Surgically implanted

Pinna

Outer ear:

Visible part of the ear that collects sound waves and funnels them into the ear canal

• Helps capture sound from the environment

Ear canal

Outer ear:

A tube that channels sound waves from the pinna to the eardrum

It amplifies the sound waves as they travel toward the middle ear

Eardrum (tympanic membrane)

Outer ear:

A thin, flexible membrane that vibrates when sound waves hit it

These vibrations mark the transition from the outer ear to the middle ear and start the process of turning sound waves into mechanical energy

Ossicles

Middle ear:

Three bones - malleus (hammer), incus (anvil), & stapes (stirrup)

Three tiny bones in the ear that amplify the vibrations from the eardrum and transfer them to the inner ear

Eustachian tube

Middle ear:

A canal that connects the middle ear to the throat

It helps to equalize air pressure on both sides of the eardrum

Cochlea

Inner ear:

A snail-shaped, fluid-filled structure that converts the mechanical vibrations from the ossicles into electrical signals

Inside is the basilar membrane, lined with hair cells

Auditory nerve (cochlear nerve)

Inner ear:

Carries the electrical signals generated by the hair cells in the cochlea to the brain, where they are interpreted as sound

Semicircular canals

Inner ear:

Three fluid-filled tubes

Each canal is oriented in a different plane (horizontal, vertical, diagonal) to detect different types of head movements

Helpful to the vestibular sense