general psychology exam 2

brain waves

rhythm of cortical activity in the brain in terms of line tracings

beta brain waves

awake and alert

alpha brain waves

physically and mentally relaxed

theta brain waves

dreams, reduced consciousness

delta brain waves

deep sleep

circadian rhythm

24 hour biological cycle found in most living things

EEG

records brain activity

EMG

records muscular activity

EOG

records eye movement

EKG

records heart contractions

stages of sleep

1. brief and transitional

2. light sleep, brain waves are higher in amp and slower in frew

3. slow waves

4. REM: deep

partial sleep deprivation

substantially less sleep, impaired attention, negative effect on immune system

deprivation of REM

decreased memory consolidation and performance

insomnia

difficulty in falling and remaining asleep

narcolepsy

sudden and irresistible onsets of sleep during normal waking periods

sleep apnea

frequent reflexive gasping for air that awakens a person and disrupts sleep

somnambulism

sleep walking

REM sleep behavior disorder

troublesome dream enactments during REM

activation synthesis model

dreams are side effects of the neural activation that produces the beta brain waves during REM sleep

freud’s dream theory

wish fulfillment

cartwright’s dream theory

dreams are an opportunity to work through everyday problems and emotional issues

focused attention meditation

attention is concentrated on a specific object

open monitoring

becoming a detached observer

opiates

drugs derived from opium

sedatives

sleep inducing drugs

stimulants

increase CNS activation and activity

hallucinogens

distorts sensation and perception

cannabis

the hemp plant where marijuana, hashish, and THC are derived

alcohol

beverages with ethyl alc

tolerance

progressive decrease in a person’s responsiveness to a drug as a result of continued use

ampthetamines

increase the release of dopamine and norepinephrine and inhibit the reuptake of the transmitters

cocaine

slows the reuptake process at the serotonin synapse

physical drug dependency

when a person must continue to take a drug to avoid withdrawal

psychological drug dependence

when taking a drug to satisfy intense mental and emotional craving

overdose on depressants

respiratory systems halt, producing brain damage and death

direct impact of drugs

tissue damage

indirect impact of drugs

impairs motor skills

classical conditioning

learning association between two stimuli

unconditioned stimulus

object naturally triggers a response

unconditioned response

natural response to unconditioned stimulus

conditioned stimulus

previously neutral stimulus that becomes associated with US

conditioned response

learned response to the conditioned stimulus

acquisition

the association is learned

extinction

learned response weakens when reinforcement of US is decreased

spontaneous recovery

forgotten response reappears after a rest period

renewal effect

forgotten response returns in a different context

stimulus generalization

organism learns to respond differently to distinct stimuli

higher order conditioning

established conditioned stimulus helps another neutral stimulus become conditioned

operant conditioning

learning where behavior is influenced by consequences

shaping

reinforcing closer and closer approximations of a desired behavior

extinction in operant

a response decreases when reinforcement stops

resistance to extinction

behavior continues even after reinforcement has stopped

stimulus generalization

responding similar to similar cues

stimulus discrimination

learning which cues signal different consequences

discriminative stimulus

due indicating that a particular response is likely to have a particular consequence

continuous schedule

every response is reinforced

fixed ratio

reinforcement after a set number of responses

variable response

reinforcement after a changing number of responses

fixed interval

first response after a set amount of time is reinforced

variable interval

first response after changing time intervals is reinforced

behavior modification

systematically changing behavior using conditioning principles

the 3 memory processes

encoding, storage, retrieval

encoding

turning information into a memory code

storage

maintaining information over time

retrieval

accessing information from memory

attention

focusing awareness on a limited range of stimuli or events

structural encoding

shallow, what a word looks like

phonemic

intermediate, what a word sounds like

semantic

deep, what a word means

elaboration

connect new information to existing knowledge

dual coding theory

memory improves when information is encoded both semantically and visually

motivation to remember

strong motivation during encoding can improve later recall

sensory memory

briefly maintains raw sensory info

short term memory

limited capacity 20 seconds without rehearsal

long term memory

very large capacity, info might last forever

rehearsal

repeating or mentally reviewing info to maintain it in stm

chunking

grouping info into units

flashbulb memories

vivid memories of events that can still become inaccurate over time

conceptual hierarchy

multilevel classification based on shared properties

clustering

remembering similar items together

schema

organized knowledge based on prior experience

semantic network

related concepts connected by pathways

spreading activation

activation spreads from one concept to related concepts

retrieval cues

hints or stimuli that help access memories

reconstructive memory

memories are reconstructed rather than replayed perfectly they can include distortions or details that never occured

misinformation effect

misleading info introduced after an event changes a person’s recollection of it

source monitoring

determining where a memory came from

source monitoring error

connecting memory to a wrong source

why is “i goed” important

children actively generate language using internal rules rather than copying adults

bilingualism

acquiring two distinct languages

linguistic relativity

hypothesis that language influences or determines how people perceive the world

irrelevant info

getting distracted by info that does not help

functional fixedness

seeing an object only in its usual role

mental set

reusing a previously successful strategy

rigid thinking

a mental set interferes with solving a problrem

unnecessary constaints

assuming restrictions exist when they do not

insight

suddenly discovering a solution after unsuccessful events

trial and error

trying different solutions until one works

heuristic

a practical rule of thumb

forming subgoals

breaking a large problem into intermediate steps