Psychology: Learning, Consciousness, and Psychopharmacology

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering classical and operant conditioning, sleep architecture, dreaming theories, altered states of consciousness, and psychopharmacology principles.

Learning

A relatively permanent change in behaviour or thought resulting from experience.

Classical Conditioning

A type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli, causing an involuntary or automatic response to be elicited by a preceding stimulus.

Operant Conditioning

A type of learning in which voluntary behaviour is manipulated by consequences, being strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

An unlearned stimulus that automatically and naturally triggers an unconditioned response.

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

The unlearned, naturally occurring response triggered automatically by an unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

An originally irrelevant or neutral stimulus that, after repeated association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response.

Conditioned Response (CR)

The learned response elicited by an originally neutral conditioned stimulus after conditioning has taken place.

Extinction (Classical Conditioning)

The lessening and eventual disappearance of a conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus no longer follows the conditioned stimulus.

Spontaneous Recovery

The reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a rest pause without any further conditioning trials.

Generalization

The tendency for stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar conditioned responses.

Discrimination

The learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Taste Aversion

The rapid development of an avoidance reaction to the taste of a particular food or prey item after becoming ill, used practically by ranchers with mild poisons to deter coyotes from livestock.

Conditioned Tolerance

An enhanced drug tolerance demonstrated by Shepard Siegel at McMaster University, where environmental cues repeatedly paired with drug administration elicit a conditioned compensatory response opposite to the drug effects.

John B. Watson

The psychologist recognized as the father of behaviourism who claimed in his 1924 book that rearing entirely determines individual variations, asserting he could train any healthy infant into any specialist.

Little Albert Experiment

A study conducted by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner demonstrating conditioned fear in a 9-month-old infant by pairing a white rat (CS) with the striking of a steel rod behind his head (US).

Systematic Desensitization (Mary Cover Jones)

A therapeutic technique developed by Mary Cover Jones that replaced fear with reward in young Peter by feeding him appealing food while gradually decreasing the distance to a feared rabbit.

Shaping

An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcement is progressively delivered for behaviours that come increasingly closer to the desired target response.

Positive Reinforcement

The addition or delivery of a pleasant or desirable consequence following a response, which increases the probability that the response will recur.

Negative Reinforcement

The removal, termination, or avoidance of an unpleasant or aversive stimulus following a response, which strengthens the likelihood of the behaviour occurring again.

Positive Punishment

The application or administration of an unpleasant or aversive stimulus following a response in order to suppress or decrease that behaviour.

Negative Punishment

The removal or withdrawal of a pleasant or desirable stimulus following an undesirable behaviour in order to decrease the frequency of that response.

Continuous Reinforcement

A reinforcement schedule in which every single correct response is reinforced.

Partial Reinforcement

A reinforcement schedule in which correct responses are reinforced intermittently or randomly rather than after every occurrence.

Fixed Ratio (FR) Schedule

A partial reinforcement schedule where a reinforcer is delivered only after a set, predictable number of correct responses, such as Subway's Sub Club requiring $8$ stamps for a free sub.

Variable Ratio (VR) Schedule

A partial reinforcement schedule where a reinforcer is provided after an unpredictable, varying number of correct responses, exemplified by slot machines.

Fixed Interval (FI) Schedule

A partial reinforcement schedule where a response is rewarded only after a specific, predetermined amount of time has elapsed, producing a pattern like cramming right before a midterm.

Variable Interval (VI) Schedule

A partial reinforcement schedule where a response is rewarded after varying, unpredictable lengths of time, such as checking for unpredictable email or studying for pop quizzes.

Instinctive Drift

The biological predisposition of an animal whereby learned, unnatural operant behaviours gradually regress back toward species-typical natural behaviours.

Learning Styles

The popular concept that individuals acquire information best via preferred modalities (e.g., verbal vs. spatial); research demonstrates that tailoring teaching to them does not enhance learning and the concept is more fiction than fact.

Consciousness

Our personal awareness of ourselves and our environment, encompassing all thoughts, feelings, internal mental processes, and external events noticed at any given time.

Readiness Potential

A jump in brain wave activity observed by Benjamin Libet occurring roughly $\frac{1}{3}\,\text{second}$ before a person consciously decides to make a movement.

Stage 1 Sleep

A light sleep stage lasting about $10\,\text{minutes}$ marked by theta waves, where an individual may experience hypnagogic imagery, hypnic myoclonia, or sudden myoclonic jerks.

Hypnic Myoclonia

A sudden sensation of falling or abrupt jerking of the limbs occurring during the transition into Stage 1 sleep.

Stage 2 Sleep

A sleep stage lasting about $30\,\text{minutes}$ accounting for up to $65\%$ of overall sleep time, characterized by lower heart rate, lowered body temperature, sleep spindles, and K-complexes.

Sleep Spindles and K-Complexes

Distinct bursts of electrical activity detected on an EEG that specifically emerge during Stage 2 sleep.

Stages 3 and 4 Sleep

Deep, slow-wave sleep stages lasting roughly $30\,\text{minutes}$ characterized by slow delta waves from which sleepers are difficult to awaken; $43\%$ of dream reports originate here.

REM Sleep (Stage 5)

A recurring sleep stage characterized by rapid eye movements, brain waves resembling alert wakefulness, complete muscle paralysis, and vivid dreaming in $80\text{--}90\%$ of awakenings.

REM Behaviour Disorder

A condition in which brainstem structures responsible for motor paralysis during REM sleep (such as the locus coeruleus) fail to function properly, causing patients to physically act out their dreams.

Lucid Dreaming

The conscious realization that one is dreaming while remaining asleep, experienced at least once per month by about $20\%$ of people.

Somnambulism

Sleepwalking, a non-REM parasomnia that takes place specifically during deep Stage 3 and Stage 4 sleep.

Somniloquy

Sleeptalking, a sleep phenomenon that can occur across any stage of sleep and is observed most frequently among children.

Narcolepsy

A sleep disorder characterized by sudden attacks of uncontrollable daytime sleepiness and rapid, direct transitions into REM sleep.

Sleep Apnea

A sleep disorder affecting $2\text{--}20\%$ of the population characterized by temporary cessations of breathing caused by airway blockage, forcing brief awakenings to breathe.

Insomnia

A common sleep problem characterized by difficulty falling asleep, waking frequently or too early, or experiencing non-restorative sleep, severely afflicting $9\text{--}15\%$ of individuals.

Night Terrors

Episodes of intense physiological panic and screaming occurring within $2\text{--}3\,\text{hours}$ of falling asleep during deep Stage 3 and 4 sleep.

Nightmares

Frightening, vivid dreams occurring predominantly toward the morning hours during REM sleep.

Wish Fulfillment Theory

Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic hypothesis that dreams express repressed unconscious sexual and aggressive desires; contradicted by findings showing that regular daily tasks make up $90\%$ of dream reports and sexual themes make up only $10\%$.

Activation-Synthesis Theory

The biological theory of dreaming proposing that the pons transmits random neural signals to the thalamus, which the cerebral cortex/forebrain synthesizes into a narrative story.

Out-of-Body Experience (OBE)

A subjective psychological state involving an apparent sensation of consciousness floating outside one's physical body, reported by $25\%$ of post-secondary students and $10\%$ of the general population.

Near-Death Experience (NDE)

Out-of-body and spiritual experiences reported by $12\text{--}33\%$ of people who have been close to death, with $15\%$ being described as hellish experiences.

Déjà Vu

A persistent feeling of having previously lived through a novel situation, reported by over two-thirds of people and hypothesized to result from temporal seizures, uncoordinated neural sensory pathways, or implicit memories.

Hypnosis

A procedure involving focused attention in which a practitioner delivers suggestions for alterations in a subject's perceptions, sensations, thoughts, and motor actions.

Pharmacokinetics

The branch of pharmacology addressing the movement and handling of a drug within the body, comprising absorption, distribution, metabolization, and excretion.

Pharmacodynamics

The study of the biochemical and physiological mechanism of action through which drugs produce their specific effects within the body.

Psychoactive Drugs

Chemical substances that act primarily upon the central nervous system to alter mood, cognition, perception, and behaviour by modifying ongoing biochemical activity.

Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB)

A physiological barrier formed by tightly packed brain capillary endothelial walls and astrocyte foot processes covering roughly $85\%$ of brain capillaries, absent in the pituitary and hypothalamus.

Astrocytes

Glial cells that send out foot-like processes tightly surrounding brain capillaries to form supporting tissue and maintain the blood-brain barrier.

Lipid Solubility

The capability of a chemical compound to dissolve in lipids, which is the vital characteristic allowing psychoactive drug molecules to diffuse across cellular and brain capillary membranes.

Drug Ionization

The dissociation of drug molecules into electrically charged ions upon dissolving in bodily fluids, severely hindering their capacity to cross lipid membranes.

pH Effect on Absorption

The principle that acidic drugs tend to ionize in alkaline environments and basic drugs ionize in acidic media; greater pH differences increase ionization and hinder membrane permeability.

Oral Administration (P.O.)

The delivery of drugs through the mouth into the gastrointestinal tract, providing safety and convenience but leaving absorption vulnerable to gastric acid, food delays, and first-pass hepatic metabolism.

First-Pass Metabolism

The pre-systemic hepatic and gastrointestinal enzymatic breakdown of orally ingested drugs, significantly reducing the amount of active compound entering systemic blood circulation.

Intravenous (I.V.) Administration

The injection of a drug directly into a vein, enabling precise dosage control and an onset speed under $15\,\text{seconds}$ to reach the brain, but presenting acute toxicity risks.

Inhalation Administration

The delivery of drugs in vaporous or gaseous form across lung alveoli into the blood, reaching the brain within $5\text{--}8\,\text{seconds}$.

Effective Dosage ($\text{ED}_{50}$)

The specific drug dosage that elicits a defined therapeutic or intended effect in $50\%$ of a tested population.

Lethal Dosage ($\text{LD}_{50}$)

The specific drug dose required to cause death in $50\%$ of an experimental group of test subjects.

Therapeutic Index (TI)

A mathematical ratio indicating the relative safety of a drug, calculated as $\text{LD}_{50} \div \text{ED}_{50}$; alcohol exhibits a TI of $6$.

Drug Potency

A comparative measure of drug activity referring to the dose required to produce an effect; a drug producing the effect at a lower concentration is considered more potent.

Maximum Efficacy

The limit of a drug's therapeutic capability represented by the dosage necessary to produce the maximum possible physiological response.

Drug Half-Life

The time required for the blood plasma concentration of a drug to fall by half, whose value multiplied by $6$ approximates the overall duration of drug action.

Biotransformation

The process by which specialized liver enzymes alter the chemical structure of drug molecules, often ionizing them so they cannot be reabsorbed across nephron membranes.

Cytochrome P-450

A nonspecific microsomal enzyme family in the liver responsible for breaking down clinical medications, toxins, lead, and alcohol.

Enzyme Inducibility

The biological proliferation of hepatic metabolizing enzymes (such as Cytochrome P-450) prompted by repeated drug exposure, contributing to metabolic tolerance.

Metabolic Tolerance

A type of drug tolerance stemming from liver enzyme induction that speeds the rate of drug clearance, demanding larger subsequent doses to achieve the initial effect.

Cellular Tolerance

A form of drug tolerance occurring when target neurons adapt their receptors and neurochemistry to sustained drug exposure, frequently causing rebound withdrawal effects.

Cross-Tolerance

The development of tolerance to an unadministered drug as a direct consequence of prior, repeated use of a pharmacologically similar drug.

Physical Dependence

A physiological state in which an organism requires the constant presence of a drug to function normally, manifesting in physiological withdrawal symptoms if discontinued.

Psychological Dependence

The compulsive drive to repeatedly administer a substance or engage in an activity motivated primarily by intense cravings and emotional needs rather than physiological withdrawal.

Withdrawal

A cluster of distressing physical and psychological symptoms that emerge when an individual stops taking a drug upon which their body has become dependent.

Tachyphylaxis

The very rapid, acute decrease in response to a drug developing within minutes or hours, often occurring between the first two doses.

Ion Trapping (Renal Excretion)

The renal elimination mechanism where kidneys prevent lipid-soluble drug reabsorption by maintaining the drug in an ionized state inside the nephron tubule, trapping it for excretion.