Psychology Exam Review: Sleep & Dreaming, Learning, and Development

Comprehensive practice flashcards covering sleep physiology, sleep disorders, dreaming theories, non-associative and associative learning paradigms, conditioning principles, cognitive development (Piaget & Vygotsky), moral reasoning (Kohlberg & Gilligan), and social attachment.

What biological pathway regulates the human circadian sleep-wake cycle in response to light?

Light stimulates intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells ($\text{ipRGCs}$) in the retina, which send signals to the suprachiasmatic nuclei ($\text{SCN}$) of the hypothalamus, prompting the pineal gland to reduce melatonin production and increase arousal.

How do core body temperature, cortisol, and melatonin levels vary across daytime activity and the nocturnal sleep period?

Melatonin rises before sleep and peaks during the night while core body temperature drops to its lowest levels; cortisol declines in the evening, reaches a low point during early sleep, and surges sharply near the morning awakening.

Why is Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep referred to as "paradoxical sleep"?

Because electroencephalogram ($\text{EEG}$) recordings show heightened motor cortex and brain activity resembling wakefulness, yet the muscles of the body are completely relaxed and paralyzed.

How do sleep stages shift across the typical sleep cycles of an entire night?

Sleep cycles last approximately $90\,\text{minutes}$ and repeat $4\text{ to }6\,\text{times}$; as the night progresses, periods of REM sleep become more frequent and last longer, while stage 3 slow-wave sleep ($\text{SWS}$) progressively decreases and disappears halfway through the night.

According to the neurological model of sleep mechanisms, what are the primary roles of the basal forebrain and the reticular formation?

The basal forebrain acts as the slow-wave sleep ($\text{SWS}$) center promoting sleepiness (lesions induce insomnia), whereas the reticular formation serves as the arousal center promoting wakefulness (lesions produce constant sleep).

What role do hypocretin-producing neurons in the hypothalamus play in sleep-state control?

They send axons to the basal forebrain, reticular formation, and the REM sleep center in the pons/subcoeruleus to coordinate sleep centers and regulate transitions between sleep patterns.

What specific physical symptoms result from selective deprivation of slow-wave sleep (stage 3)?

Individuals experience chronic daytime tiredness and fatigue, become hypersensitive to muscle and bone pain, and suffer from a weakened immune system.

According to the Repair and Restoration Theory, how does the brain clear metabolic waste during sleep?

The brain's glymphatic system increases fluid flow during sleep to flush out metabolic waste and toxins that accumulate during waking hours.

In Sigmund Freud's theory of dreaming, what is the difference between manifest content and latent content?

Manifest content is the apparent storyline and imagery remembered upon waking, whereas latent content is the underlying, hidden psychological meaning and unconscious wish fulfillment.

What does the Activation-Synthesis Model propose about the origin and nature of dreams?

Dreams are the brain's attempt to synthesize and organize random, chaotic neural signals generated by the brainstem during sleep into a semi-coherent narrative.

What are the clinical diagnostic criteria for insomnia?

Sleep difficulty (initiating, maintaining, or early waking) that occurs at least $3\,\text{nights per week}$ for at least $3\,\text{months}$, causing clinically significant distress or functional impairment despite adequate opportunity to sleep.

What underlying pathology causes narcolepsy, and how does sleep onset present?

It is caused by a deficiency or lack of hypocretin ($\text{Hcrt}$) neurons, causing affected individuals to enter REM sleep immediately rather than gradually, frequently experiencing sudden loss of muscle tone (cataplexy).

What neuroanatomical characteristic has brain imaging identified in individuals who experience lucid dreaming?

A larger anterior prefrontal cortex, which is linked to a more pronounced awareness of one's own thought processes (metacognition).

How does short-term cannabis (THC) use alter sleep architecture compared to long-term use?

Short-term use increases time spent in deep slow-wave sleep but suppresses REM sleep; long-term use leads to less overall sleep, less time in deep sleep, longer sleep latency, and frequent awakenings.

How does habituation fundamentally differ from sensory adaptation?

Habituation is a central nervous system learning process where an organism learns to ignore a familiar, repetitive stimulus while retaining the ability to re-attend to it; sensory adaptation is an involuntary reduction in responsiveness at the peripheral sense receptor level after constant exposure.

What phenomenon is illustrated by the sudden spike in sucking response at Time 5 when a new stimulus is introduced?

Dishabituation, which is the recovery of a habituated response following the presentation of a novel stimulus.

What did the 2014 study by Gagliano and colleagues demonstrate using the sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica)?

It suggested that plants may be capable of habituation, as the leaves stopped closing after repeated, harmless physical drops once the stimulus was recognized as non-threatening.

In Ivan Pavlov's classic conditioning model, what are the four primary components and how do they interact?

Food acts as the Unconditioned Stimulus ($\text{US}$) eliciting salivation as the Unconditioned Response ($\text{UR}$); pairing the bell as a Neutral Stimulus ($\text{NS}$) with the $\text{US}$ transforms it into a Conditioned Stimulus ($\text{CS}$) that independently produces salivation as a Conditioned Response ($\text{CR}$).

What happens during the extinction and spontaneous recovery phases of classical conditioning?

Extinction occurs when the $\text{CR}$ weakens and ceases because the $\text{CS}$ is presented repeatedly without the $\text{US}$; spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of the extinguished $\text{CR}$ after a rest period.

How did John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner (1920) induce a conditioned emotional response in "Little Albert"?

They paired a harmless white rat (neutral stimulus) with a sudden, loud clanging noise ($\text{US}$) that elicited crying ($\text{UR}$), conditioning Albert to cry and withdraw ($\text{CR}$) upon seeing the white rat ($\text{CS}$).

Why does conditioned taste aversion violate traditional principles of classical conditioning?

It can be established after a single trial, persists even when several hours pass between the conditioned stimulus (taste/smell) and illness, and demonstrates biological preparedness by selectively associating ingestive cues with nausea over auditory or visual cues.

How did Ader and Cohen (1975) demonstrate conditioned immunosuppression?

They repeatedly paired saccharin-flavored water (conditioned stimulus) with an immunosuppressive drug (unconditioned stimulus), demonstrating that saccharin water alone was later able to suppress immune function and decrease lupus-like inflammation.

What did Edward Thorndike's puzzle box experiments reveal, and what law did he formulate from the findings?

Thorndike formulated the Law of Effect, stating that behaviors followed by satisfying or positive consequences are strengthened and more likely to reoccur, while actions followed by unpleasant consequences are weakened.

What is the difference between negative reinforcement and positive punishment?

Negative reinforcement increases a behavior by removing an unpleasant or aversive stimulus (e.g., buckling a seatbelt to silence a chime), whereas positive punishment decreases a behavior by applying an unpleasant stimulus (e.g., getting a speeding ticket).

What is shaping by successive approximations in operant conditioning?

The systematic process of gradually guiding an animal or human toward a target behavior by reinforcing only actions that progressively resemble or approximate the desired behavior until only the target behavior is reinforced.

Which schedule of partial reinforcement produces high response rates that are most resistant to extinction?

The variable-ratio ($\text{VR}$) schedule, where reinforcement is provided after an unpredictable and varying number of correct responses (such as a slot machine).

What did Edward Tolman's maze experiment demonstrate regarding latent learning and cognitive maps?

Rats explored complex mazes without food reinforcement and formed internal cognitive maps; when food was introduced on day $11$, their error rates dropped dramatically, proving that learning had occurred earlier without reinforcement.

According to Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory, what four cognitive stages are required for observational learning to take place?

Attention (observing the model's behavior), Retention (encoding and storing the behavior in memory), Reproduction (having the physical and motor capability to perform it), and Motivation (the desire or expectation of reinforcement to perform the behavior).

In Jean Piaget's cognitive development theory, what is the functional difference between assimilation and accommodation?

Assimilation occurs when a child interprets a new experience using existing mental schemas, whereas accommodation occurs when schemas fail and must be revised or newly created to fit reality.

What is the primary cognitive milestone of the sensorimotor stage ($0\text{--}2\,\text{years}$), and when does it emerge?

Object permanence—the realization that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched—which typically develops around $8\text{--}9\,\text{months}$.

What cognitive limitations characterize a child in Piaget's preoperational stage ($2\text{--}7\,\text{years}$)?

Inability to perform mental operations or reverse logical processes, lack of conservation, egocentrism (inability to view situations from perspectives other than their own), and an incomplete theory of mind.

What major cognitive milestone distinguishes the concrete operational stage ($7\text{--}12\,\text{years}$)?

Conservation—the understanding that quantitative properties of an object (such as mass, volume, number, and weight) remain the same despite alterations in appearance or container shape.

What is hypothetico-deductive reasoning, and in which of Piaget's stages does it develop?

The advanced cognitive capacity to generate systematic hypotheses, logically deduce outcomes, and evaluate abstract concepts; it emerges during the formal operational stage ($12+\,\text{years}$).

In Lev Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, what is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)?

The optimal learning zone representing the gap between what a child can accomplish independently and what they can achieve with guidance from a More Knowledgeable Other ($\text{MKO}$).

How does moral reasoning change between Piaget's heteronomous phase and autonomous phase?

The heteronomous phase ($5\text{--}9\,\text{years}$) is characterized by moral realism and judging badness by outcome size (breaking ten cups accidentally is worse than breaking one intentionally); the autonomous phase ($9\text{--}10\,\text{years}$) evaluates moral relativism, intentions, and mutual cooperation.

What are Lawrence Kohlberg's three broad levels of moral development, and what guides moral judgment in each?

Level 1 (Preconventional): Personal consequences and self-interest (avoiding punishment, seeking rewards); Level 2 (Conventional): Social roles and order (conformity, obeying laws); Level 3 (Postconventional): Ethical principles and social contracts.

What criticism did Carol Gilligan present regarding Lawrence Kohlberg's research on moral reasoning?

Gilligan noted that Kohlberg studied almost exclusively males and emphasized abstract rights and justice, overlooking female moral reasoning centered on interpersonal relationships, compassion, and care.

According to Joshua Greene's Dual Process Theory of moral development, what causes conflict in moral dilemmas like the trolley problem?

A neurological tug-of-war between fast, automatic emotional reactions driven by the limbic system and slow, deliberate utilitarian reasoning governed by the prefrontal cortex.

What critical conclusion did Harry Harlow draw from his attachment experiments with rhesus macaque infants?

Attachment is not driven purely by nourishment; contact comfort provided by a soft cloth surrogate is primary, and infant monkeys cling to the cloth mother even when a wire mother provides milk.

What biological mechanism of attachment did Konrad Lorenz identify in animal ethology?

Imprinting, which is an innate, rapid attachment process occurring during a critical period shortly after birth, where the newborn animal attaches to the first moving object it sees.

What infant behaviors define the three attachment classifications identified by Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation?

Secure ($65\%\text{--}75\%$): uses caregiver as a secure base, is soothed quickly upon reunion; Insecure-Avoidant ($10\%\text{--}15\%$): shows minimal distress upon departure and avoids or ignores the caregiver upon reunion; Insecure-Ambivalent ($15\%\text{--}20\%$): exhibits severe separation distress and displays mixed anger, clinginess, and resistance upon reunion.

How does Diana Baumrind classify parenting styles along the dimensions of demandingness and responsiveness?

Authoritative (high demandingness, high responsiveness), Authoritarian (high demandingness, low responsiveness), Permissive (low demandingness, high responsiveness), and Uninvolved/Neglectful (low demandingness, low responsiveness).

What three infant temperament categories were described by pediatricians Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess?

Easy (flexible), Slow-to-warm-up (fearful), and Difficult (feisty).