Cognition, Consciousness, and Language

Awake stage

EEG waves: Beta and Alpha, features: able to perceive, process, access, and express information

1 stage

EEG waves: theta, features: light sleep

2 stage

EEG waves: theta, features: sleep spindles and K complexes

3/4 stage

EEG waves: Delta, features: slow-wave sleep, dreams, declarative memory consolidation, some sleep disorders

REM stage

EEG waves: mostly beta, features: appears awake physiologically, dreams, paralyzed, procedural memory consolidation, some sleep disorders

dyssomnias

sleep disorder that deals with amount or timing of sleep, such as insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, and sleep deprivation

parasomnias

sleep disorder that deals with odd behaviors during sleep, such as night terrors and sleepwalking (somnambulism)

consciousness-altering drugs

dopamine is the main neurotransmitter, drug addiction is mediated by the mesolimbic pathway, which includes the nucleus accumbens, medial forebrain bundle, and ventral tegmental area

depressants

sense of relaxation and reduced anxiety, ex. alcohol, barbiturates, benzodiazepines

stimulants

increased arousal, ex. amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy

opiates/opioids

decreased reaction to pain, euphoria, ex. heroin, morphine, opium, pain pills

hallucinogens

distortions of reality and fantasy, introspection, ex. LSD, peyote, mescaline, ketamine, psilocybin-containing mushrooms

marijuana

has some features of depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens (in very high doses)

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

sensorimotor stage (0-2), preoperational stage (2-7), concrete operational stage (7-11), formal operational stage (12 on)

sensorimotor stage

0-2yrs; focuses on manipulating the environment to meet physical needs through circular reactions; object permanence ends in this stage

preoperational stage

2-7 yrs; focuses on symbolic thinking, egocentrism (inability to imagine what another person thinks or feels), and centration (focusing on only one aspect of a phenomenon)

concrete operational stage

7-11 yrs; focuses on understanding the feelings of others and manipulating physical objects

formal operational stage

12yrs on; focuses on abstract thought and problem-solving

problem-solving techniques

trial-and-error, algorithms, deductive reasoing (deriving conclusions from general rules) and inductive reasoning (deriving generalizations from evidence)

decision-making

heuristics (simplified principles used to make decisions, “rules of thumb”), biases, intuition, and emotions may assist decision-making, but may also lead to erroneous or problematic decisions

selective attention

allows one to pay attention to a particular stimulus while determining if additional stimuli require attention in the background

divided attention

uses automatic processing to pay attention to multiple activities at one time

Wernicke’s area

language comprehension; damage results in Wernicke’s aphasia (fluent, nonsensical aphasia with lack of comprehension)

Broca’s Area

motor function of speech; damage results in Brocas aphasia (nonfluent aphasia in which generating each word requires great effort)

Arcuate fasciculus

connects Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas; damage results in conduction aphasia (the inability to repeat words despite intact speech generation and comprehension)