AP PSYCHOLOGY UNITS 2 + 3 REVIEW

Sleep

Natural, period loss of consciousness

Circadian rhythm

Internal clock for waking and sleeping

Alpha waves

Waves showing a slow, awake but relaxed state

Delta waves

Waves showing large, slow waves associated with deep sleep

Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)

Pair of cell clusters in the hypothalamus that controls circadian rhythm

NREM-1

Stage where hallucinations and hypnagogic sensations can happen

Hallucinations

False sensory experiences

Hypnagogic sensations

Feelings of falling, twitching, jerks, etc.

NREM-2

Stage where the person is more relaxed; sleep spindles; can be awakened easily

NREM-3

Stage with delta waves; hard to awaken

Ghrelin

Hunger-arousing hormone

Leptin

Hunger-suppressing hormone

Insomnia

Recurring difficulty staying or falling asleep

Narcolepsy

Falling asleep out of nowhere for a brief moment

Sleep apnea

Not breathing during sleep; suddenly waking up to catch a breath

Night terrors

Person wakes up looking terrified; may walk around; mostly in children

Somnambulism (sleepwalking)

Walking while asleep

Dream

Sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts during sleep

Manifest content

Remembered storyline of a dream

Latent content

Unconscious drives and wishes during a dream

REM rebound

Tendency for REM sleep to be longer after REM sleep deprivation

Cornea

Clear, protective layer that covers the pupil + iris

Iris

Ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored part of the eye

Pupil

Small adjustable opening through which light passes through

Lens

Transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to focus images on the retina

Retina

Light-sensitive part that contains the cones + rods

Ganglion cells

Neurons that send info from the eye to the brain via the optic nerve

Bipolar cells

Combine impulses from the receptor cells of the retina and transfers these impulses to the ganglion cells

Rods

Retinal photoreceptors that detect black, white, and grey colors

Cones

Retinal photoreceptors that detect colors

Order of neural transfer

Light waves → neural impulses by rods + cones → passes through the bipolar + ganglion cells → occipital lobe/visual cortex

Fovea

Central focal point in the retina that helps with sharpness + focus

Optic nerve

Made up of axons of ganglion cells; carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

Blind spot

Optic disk at the back of the eye that doesn't have any receptor cells

Accommodation

Process by which the eye's lens changes shapes to focus on near or far objects

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory

Eyes have three types of cones and each one pairs up with a color

Color blindness

Inability to distinguish colors, or see any colors at all

Hering opponent-process theory

Cone photoreceptors are paired up; red-green, blue-yellow, white-black

Feature detectors

Nerve cells in the visual cortex of the occipital lobe that respond to a scene's angles and lines

Parallel processing

Thinking of many aspects simultaneously; combines colors, form, motion, and depth

Outer ear/pinna

Collects sound waves and channels them into the ear canal

Middle ear

Transmits sound waves from the external area to the inner ear

Inner ear

Innermost part of the ear; contains the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs

Eardrum

Protects the middle ear from dirt, bacteria, etc; vibrates in response to soundwaves

Ossicles

Located in the middle ear and contains the hammer, anvil, and stirrup

Oval window

One of the two openings into the cochlea from the middle ear

Cochlea

Fluid-filled, spiral-shaped part in the inner ear that converts sound waves to electrical signals to the brain

Basilar membrane

Supports hair cells; controls sound vibrations that allow the brain to interpret sound

Auditory nerve

Interprets electrical impulses and relays them to the brain

Semicircular canals

Regulates balance + sense head position

Place theory

Different frequencies excite different hair cells at different locations along the basilar membrane

Frequency theory

Basilar membrane vibrates at the same frequency as the sound wave

Sound localization

Organism's ability to determine the locations of a sound

Sensorineural hearing loss

Hearing loss due to damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or the auditory nerve

Conductive hearing loss

Hearing loss due to damage to the mechanical system that controls sound waves to the cochlea

Unami

Taste receptor that describes "savory" or "meaty" flavors

Gustation

Chemical senses for taste

Olfaction

Chemical senses for smell

Gate-control theory

In the spinal cord, there's a "gate" that can block or allow pain to go through and reach the brain

Endorphins

"Feel good" hormones that can decrease pain temporarily

Phantom limb sensations

When a limb is gone, but pain is still experienced in the area

Vestibular sense

Sense of movement and balance

Kinesthesis

System that allows us to sense our position and how and when our body parts move

Sensory interaction

One sense may influence another

Embodied cognition

Gestures and body sensations are connected with our brain circuit

Perception

Process of organizing and interpreting sensory info

Bottom-up processing

Sensory info is processed and then goes through higher levels of processing

Top-down processing

Having pre-existing knowledge to create perceptions

Selective attention

Consciously focusing on a particular stimulus

Cocktail party effect

Ability to focus on one voice among a sea of other voices

Inattentional blindness

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is on something else

Change blindness

Failing to notice changes in the environment

Transduction

Process of converting one form of energy to another form that our brain can use

Absolute threshold

Minimum amount of stimuli needed to detect a stimulus through our senses

Difference threshold

Minimum change in stimuli for us to detect a change

Signal detection theory

Measurement of the difference between two distinct patterns

Subliminal

Stimuli that we cannot detect because it's below the absolute threshold

Priming

Exposure to one stimulus may impact the individual's response to the current stimulus

Weber's law

To notice a difference, two stimuli must differ by different thresholds

Sensory adaptation/habituation

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Gestalt

Combining aspects to form a whole

Figure-ground

Seeing objects that stand out from their surroundings

Grouping

Perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into groups

Proximity

Grouping nearby figures

Continuity

Seeing lines and angles that form a whole

Closure

Filling in gaps to create whole figures

Depth perception

Judging distance and depth

Binocular cues

Help us perceive depth with the use of two eyes

Retinal disparity

Brain perceives depth between two near objects

Monocular cues

Help us perceive depth and linear perspective with the use of one eye

Perceptual constancy

Perceiving objects as unchanging despite illuminations and retinal image changes

Color constancy

Seeing objects have the same color throughout despite changes to it

Perceptual adaptation

Ability to adjust to a change in our visual field