AP Psychology - Sleep and Consciousness

Consciousness

Being awake and aware, understanding your surroundings.

Theory of Mind

The belief that you and others have a mind

Egocentrism

The inability to see a situation from another person’s perspective

Attention

What the mind focuses on

Has limited control, is hard to define.

Task Switching

Going back and forth between two tasks and doing neither one well. Multitasking does not exist!

Cocktail party phenomenon

The ability to focus on one voice among many in a crowded environment.

Stroop Task

Different levels of attention conflict with each other. Occurs when naming the color of a word that's incongruent with the word itself, highlighting the limits of selective attention.

Inattentional blindness

Not noticing something even if staring at it because attention is elsewhere.

Selective Attention

The ability to focus on one thing and ignore the others.

Change blindness

You don’t percieve changes even though you sense them

Circadian rhythm

A roughly 24 hour cycle in the physiological processes of living beings. This cycle influences sleep-wake patterns, hormone release, and other bodily functions.

Beta Waves

Awake/falling asleep

Alpha waves

REM sleep/dreaming

Theta waves

Light sleep

Delta waves

Deep sleep

EEG Patterns

Brain wave patterns from the cerebral cortex

NREM Stage 1

The first stage, contains non-rapid eye movement, where you drift between wakefulness and sleep. It is characterized by theta or beta waves and typically lasts several minutes.

Hypnogogic jerk

An involuntary muscle spasm that occurs during the transition from wakefulness to sleep, often causing the person to feel a sudden jolt.

NREM 2

Light sleep, lasts about 20 minutes, theta waves.

NREM 3

Deep sleep, delta waves, drooling. No eye movements at all, and lasts around 30 minutes before transitioning to lighter sleep.

REM

A stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movement, increased brain activity, and vivid dreams, typically occurring about 90 minutes after falling asleep, and containing Alpha waves.

Paradoxical sleep

Another term for REM sleep, the body is immobile but the brain is active. Your brain is really active, but you’re hard to wake up.

Parasomnia

A word used for the category of sleep disorders

REM Rebound

When you miss sleep, you can catch up/make it up.

Activation Synthesis

A theory that dreams are the mind’s way of making sense of random neural activity during REM sleep

Consolidation theory

The theory that sleep is crucial for memory consolidation

Restoration of resources

The theory that sleep restores your memory and health

Jet Lag

A temporary sleep disorder that occurs when traveling through time zones. Traveling from west to east is worse for the body.

Insomnia

Constant difficulty sleeping or staying asleep, leading to daytime fatigue and difficulty functioning.

Narcolepsy

A sleep disorder that can make you fall asleep anytime, anywhere, without control. May be triggered by strong feelings of happiness/dopamine.

Reuptake inhibitors

Drugs that block the reabsorption of neurotransmitters, increasing their availability in the synapse.

Psychoactive drugs

A category for any drugs that affect the brain

Depressants

Drugs that slow down the nervous system.

Stimulants

Drugs that increase nervous system activity

Narcotics

Drugs that relieve pain and induce sleep. These are bassed on the neurotransmitter endorphin.

Opioids

A class of drugs that relieve pain by agonists for endorphins. These can slow down breathing, and narcan is an antagonist for them.

Heroin

A type of opioid that mimics endorphins in the brain.