Learn: AP Psychology Unit 1 Part 2 Review

Consciousness

Our subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment.

Circadian rhythm

Our biological clock regulating bodily rhythms on a 24-hour cycle.

Cognitive neuroscience

The study of brain activity linked with cognition, thinking, and memory.

Insomnia

Recurring problems in falling or staying asleep.

Narcolepsy

A sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks and REM relapses.

Sleep apnea

Temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings.

REM sleep behavior disorder

Disorder where normal REM paralysis fails, leading to physical movement during dreams.

REM Sleep

Rapid eye movement sleep where vivid dreams occur; also called paradoxical sleep.

Non-REM sleep

Encompasses all sleep stages except for REM sleep.

Stage 1 Sleep

A brief sleep stage featuring hallucinations and hypnagogic sensations.

Stage 2 Sleep

A stage lasting about 20 minutes where sleep spindles appear on the EEG.

Stage 3 Sleep

Deep sleep stage characterized by delta waves and difficult awakening.

Dreaming stage

Dreams predominantly occur during REM sleep.

Slow-wave sleep

Third stage of non-REM sleep important for growth, memory, and immune function.

Why do we sleep?

Functions include energy conservation, growth, brain organization, and restoration.

REM rebound

The tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation.

Activation-synthesis theory

Theory that dreams are a byproduct of the brain synthesizing random neural firing.

Sensation

Process by which sensory receptors and nervous system receive environmental stimulus energies.

Perception

Process by which the brain organizes and interprets sensory information.

Rods

Retinal receptors detecting black, white, and gray; highly sensitive in dim light. 120 million, high sensitivity in dim light, low color sensitivity, low detail sensitivity

Cones

Retinal receptors concentrated near the center, detecting fine detail and color. 6 million, low sensitivity in dim light, high color and detail sensitivity

Cornea

The eye's clear, protective outer layer covering the pupil and iris.

Pupil

The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters.

Iris

Ring of muscle tissue forming the colored portion of the eye controlling pupil size.

Lens

Transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to focus images.

Retina

Light-sensitive inner surface containing rods, cones, and processing neurons.

Fovea

The central focal point in the retina around which cones cluster.

Transduction

Conversion of physical energy into neural impulses the brain can interpret.

Opponent-process theory

Theory that opposing retinal color processes (red-green, blue-yellow) enable color vision.

Place theory

Hearing theory linking pitch to the specific place on the cochlear membrane stimulated.

Dual processing

Principle that information is simultaneously processed on conscious and unconscious tracks.

Parallel processing

Simultaneous processing of multiple aspects of a stimulus or problem.

Hallucinations

False sensory experiences occurring without an external stimulus.

Cochlea

Coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear where sound triggers nerve impulses.

Sensorineural hearing loss

Hearing loss caused by damage to cochlear receptor cells or the auditory nerve.

Conduction hearing loss

Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system conducting sound waves.

Signal detection theory

Predicts how and when we detect faint stimuli amid background noise.

Priming

Unconscious activation of associations predisposing perception, memory, or response.

Taste categories

Sweet (energy), salty (sodium), sour (acid), bitter (poison), umami (protein).

Kinesthesis

Our movement sense for sensing position and movement of body parts.

Vestibular sense

Our balance sense controlled by body movement and position.

Gustation

Our sense of taste.

Olfaction

Our sense of smell.

Absolute threshold

Minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time.

Difference threshold

Minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time.

Weber's Law

Stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage to be perceived as different.

Hue

The dimension of color determined by the wavelength of light.

Brightness

Subjective psychological impression of how much light you see.

Sensory interaction

The principle that one sense can influence another, like smell affecting taste.

Bottom-up processing

Information processing beginning with sensory receptors and working up to brain integration.

Top-down processing

Information processing guided by high-level mental processes, experience, and expectations.

Feature detectors

Nerve cells in the visual cortex responding to specific stimulus features like shape or angle.

Accommodation

The process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus images.

EEG

Amplified recording of electrical activity sweeping across the brain's surface.

Pitch

A tone's experienced highness or lowness depending on frequency.

Gate-control theory

Theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological gate blocking or passing pain signals.

Blind spot

The point where the optic nerve leaves the eye, lacking receptor cells.

Nociceptors

Specialized sensory receptors detecting harmful temperatures, pressure, or chemicals.

Operational definition

The precise way something is measured and characterized in an experiment.

Hypothesis

A testable prediction often implied by a theory.

Generalization

in classical conditioning, the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses.

statistical significance

a statistical statement of how likely it is that a result (such as a difference between samples) occurred by chance, assuming there is no difference between the populations being studied.

Research methods: non experimental case studies, naturalistic observations, surveys

to observe and record behavior, do case studies, naturalistic observations or surveys, nothing is manipulated, weakness: no control of variables; single cases may be misleading 

research methods: non experimental correlation studies

to detect naturally occurring relationships; asses how well one variable predicts another, collect data on two or more variables; no manipulation, nothing is manipulated, weakness: cannot specify cause and effect 

research methods experimental

to explore cause and effect, manipulate one or more factors; use random assignment, independent variables are manipulated, weakness: sometimes not feasible; results may not generalize to other contexts; not ethical to manipulate certain variables.