Psychology test 2

Consciousness

Awareness of ourselves and our environment, including thoughts, sensations, feelings, memories, and perceptions.

Selective Attention

The processing where only some sensory information reaching the senses receives conscious processing at a given moment.

Circadian Rhythms

Biological cycles repeating about every 24 hours that help regulate sleep, alertness, body temperature, and hormones.

Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)

Brain structure in the hypothalamus acting as the primary biological clock regulating circadian timing.

Melatonin

Hormone secreted by the pineal gland in darkness that signals time to sleep and regulates circadian timing.

Sleep Debt

Accumulated amount of sleep lost when repeatedly getting less sleep than needed over multiple nights.

Restorative Theory of Sleep

Theory stating sleep allows the body and brain to recover from daily wear, repair tissues, and restore physiological resources.

Energy-Conservation Theory of Sleep

Theory proposing sleep conserves energy and reduces activity during periods when activity is inefficient or dangerous.

Learning and Memory Theory of Sleep

Theory suggesting sleep strengthens, consolidates, and reorganizes information acquired while awake.

Activation-Synthesis Theory

Dream theory stating spontaneous neural activity during REM sleep is interpreted by the brain as a meaningful dream narrative.

Freudian/Psychoanalytic Dream Theory

Theory proposing dreams express unconscious wishes, conflicts, or concerns containing manifest and latent elements.

Cognitive Approach to Dreaming

Theory suggesting dreaming reflects ongoing cognitive activity, emotional processing, and waking concerns.

REM Sleep

Sleep stage characterized by rapid eye movements, high brain activity, vivid dreaming, and temporary skeletal-muscle paralysis (atonia).

NREM Stage 1

Very light sleep transition from wakefulness characterized by theta activity and potential hypnic jerks.

NREM Stage 2

Deeper sleep stage featuring sleep spindles, K-complexes, decreased heart rate, and lower body temperature.

NREM Stage 3

Deepest NREM slow-wave sleep dominated by high-amplitude delta activity; essential for physical restoration.

Insomnia

Persistent difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or obtaining restorative sleep despite adequate opportunity.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)

Primary evidence-based behavioral treatment for long-term insomnia management.

Sleepwalking

NREM parasomnia involving walking or performing complex behaviors while asleep with limited recall.

Night Terrors

NREM deep-sleep parasomnia marked by sudden intense fear, screaming, or autonomic arousal with little memory of the event.

REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

Parasomnia characterized by the loss of normal REM muscle paralysis, leading individuals to physically act out dreams.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)

Sleep disorder involving repeated upper airway collapse resulting in breathing interruptions, loud snoring, and gasping.

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)

Common mechanical treatment providing constant air pressure to keep the upper airway open during sleep.

Narcolepsy

Neurological sleep disorder causing excessive daytime sleepiness and inappropriate, sudden sleep episodes.

Cataplexy

Sudden loss of muscle tone triggered by strong emotions, characteristic of narcolepsy type 1.

Substance Use Disorder

Problematic pattern of substance use causing clinically significant impairment or distress based on criteria like impaired control, social impairment, risky use, tolerance, and withdrawal.

Depressants

Drug category enhancing inhibitory GABA signaling to decrease central nervous system activity, producing relaxation and slowed reaction time.

Stimulants

Drug category increasing dopamine and monoamine activity to boost alertness, energy, arousal, and confidence.

Caffeine

Substance that blocks adenosine receptors in the brain, reducing feelings of sleepiness.

Hallucinogens

Drug category affecting serotonin (5-HT2A) receptors to substantially alter perception, mood, thought, and time sense.

Hypnosis

State of focused attention, reduced peripheral awareness, and increased responsiveness to suggestion.

Meditation

Practices designed to cultivate self-directed attention, present-moment awareness, and relaxation through deliberate attention to breathing or thoughts.

Sensation

Detection of physical energy from the environment by specialized sensory receptors.

Perception

Organization, interpretation, and conscious experience of sensory information by the brain.

Transduction

Process of converting physical stimulus energy into neural signals processed by the nervous system.

Absolute Threshold

Minimum intensity of a physical stimulus that can be detected about 50% of the time.

Difference Threshold (JND)

Smallest detectable difference between two physical stimuli.

Weber's Law

Principle stating that the just noticeable difference (JND) is a constant proportion of the original stimulus intensity.

Sensory Adaptation

Decreased neural sensitivity to a constant, unchanging stimulus over time.

Light Wavelength

Physical property of light waves associated with the perceptual experience of hue/color.

Light Amplitude

Physical property of light waves associated with perceived brightness and intensity.

Sound Frequency

Physical property of sound waves measured in Hertz (Hz) associated with perceived pitch.

Sound Amplitude

Physical property of sound waves associated with perceived loudness.

Timbre

Quality of a sound wave determined by complex frequency patterns that allows distinguishing sounds of similar pitch and loudness.

Rods

Photoreceptors highly sensitive to low light, crucial for night and peripheral vision but poor for detail and color.

Cones

Photoreceptors concentrated in the fovea that function best in bright light to provide detailed, color vision.

Retinal Disparity

Binocular depth cue comparing slightly different images received by the two eyes to estimate distance.

Place Theory

Auditory theory proposing pitch perception depends on the location of maximum activation along the basilar membrane.

Frequency Theory

Auditory theory proposing neuron firing rates correspond directly to lower sound frequencies.

Volley Principle

Mechanism where groups of auditory neurons alternate firing to encode intermediate sound frequencies.

Interaural Time Difference

Sound localization cue comparing the subtle arrival time difference of a sound between both ears.

Interaural Level Difference

Sound localization cue comparing sound intensity differences between the two ears, especially for higher frequencies.

Olfaction

Chemical sense detecting airborne molecules through nasal cavity receptors.

Gustation

Chemical sense detecting dissolved chemicals via taste receptors with five basic qualities: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.

Flavor

Multisensory experience combining taste, smell, texture, and temperature information.

Vestibular System

Sensory system in the inner ear (semicircular canals, utricle, saccule) contributing to balance and sensing head orientation relative to gravity.

Proprioception

Sensory feedback providing information about body-part positions through joint and muscle receptors.

Kinesthesia

Sensory perception tracking the movement of individual body parts.

Figure-Ground Organization

Perceptual tendency to separate visual scenes into a focal object (figure) and a surrounding background (ground).

Gestalt Principle of Proximity

Grouping rule stating that visual elements close together are perceived as belonging together.

Gestalt Principle of Similarity

Grouping rule stating that visually similar objects are naturally grouped together.

Gestalt Principle of Closure

Grouping rule stating that the mind mentally fills in missing gaps to perceive complete objects.

Perceptual Set

Readiness to perceive stimuli in a particular way based on prior expectations, context, emotions, and motivation.

Learning

Relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge resulting from experience.

Instincts

Innate, unlearned, species-typical complex behaviors occurring without prior experience.

Reflexes

Automatic, simple physical responses to specific environmental stimuli.

Classical Conditioning

Form of learning where a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus to elicit a conditioned response.

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

Stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers an unconditioned response without prior learning.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Previously neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response.

Acquisition

Initial stage in classical conditioning when a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus.

Extinction

Gradual decrease in a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus.

Spontaneous Recovery

Reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a rest period.

Stimulus Generalization

Demonstrating a conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the original conditioned stimulus.

Stimulus Discrimination

Learning to respond strictly to the specific conditioned stimulus while ignoring other similar stimuli.

Operant Conditioning

Form of learning in which behavior strength is modified by its consequences (reinforcements or punishments).

Positive Reinforcement

Increasing a behavior by adding a desirable stimulus following the response.

Negative Reinforcement

Increasing a behavior by removing an unpleasant or aversive stimulus following the response.

Positive Punishment

Decreasing a behavior by adding an unpleasant stimulus following the response.

Negative Punishment

Decreasing a behavior by removing a desirable stimulus following the response.

Fixed-Ratio Schedule

Reinforcement schedule delivering reinforcement after a predictable, set number of responses.

Variable-Ratio Schedule

Reinforcement schedule delivering reinforcement after an unpredictable number of responses, yielding high response rates.

Fixed-Interval Schedule

Reinforcement schedule making reinforcement available after a predictable, set amount of time.

Variable-Interval Schedule

Reinforcement schedule making reinforcement available after unpredictable time intervals, producing steady responding.

Observational Learning

Learning achieved by observing the behaviors and consequences of others (models).

Vicarious Reinforcement

Process where an observer increases a behavior after watching a model receive reinforcement for that behavior.

Modeling Steps

Four sequential processes required for observational learning: Attention, Retention, Reproduction, and Motivation.

Cognition

Mental activities involved in acquiring, processing, storing, retrieving, and using information.

Concept

Mental category used to group objects, events, ideas, or people sharing common features.

Prototype

Best or most typical representative example of a specific mental category.

Natural Concepts

Mental categories developed naturally through everyday life experiences with flexible boundaries.

Artificial Concepts

Mental categories defined rigidly by specific, formal rules or mathematical criteria.

Schema

Organized mental framework structuring knowledge, assumptions, and expectations about topics or situations.

Script (Event Schema)

Schema organizing expected sequences of events in familiar situations.

Phonemes

Smallest distinctive sound units in a spoken language.

Morphemes

Smallest units that carry meaning in a language, including words and prefixes/suffixes.

Syntax

Grammatical rules governing word order and structure in sentence formation.

Semantics

Set of rules used to derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences.

Linguistic Relativity

Hypothesis that language influences habitual thought, perception, and cognitive structures.

Algorithm

Step-by-step problem-solving procedure guaranteed to produce a correct solution if followed accurately.

Heuristic

Mental shortcut or rule of thumb used to make decisions efficiently, though susceptible to systematic errors.