Psych (Ch 5-9)

what is consciousness?

The state of being aware of oneself, one’s thoughts, and/or the environment (a spectrum)

Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener

founder psychology as a science based on exploring consciousness and it’s contents

• structuralism

William James

propose consciousness as a “stream” that provides a sense of day-to-day continuity

• Functionalism

John B Watson and BF Skinner

insisted that psychology should only study observable behavior

Cognitive Psychology

scientific study of conscious and unconscious mental processes such as thinking, problem-solving, and language

Optogenetics

technology used to search for neurons that may act as switches for different states of consciousness

Automatic Processing

some processing of sensory info occurs automatically without effort, awareness, or control

Selective Attention

the ability to focus awareness on a small segment of info that is available through our sensory systems

• influenced by emotion, age

Circadian Rhythm

a 24-hour cycle of physiological and behavioral functioning

Suprachiasmatic Nucleus

• located in the hypothalamus

• communicates with other areas of the hypothalamus and the reticular formation, which regulates alertness and sleepiness

Larks

early riser: energized and alert early in the morning

Owls

Late riser: energy level builds slowly throughout the day

Beta waves (stage w)

brain waves that indicate an alert, awake state

Alpha waves

brain waves that indicate a relaxed, drowsy state

Non-rapid eye movement (non-REM or NREM)

nondreaming sleep that occurs during 3 stages

Theta waves

brain waves that indicate the early stage of sleep

Delta waves

brain waves that occur in slow-wave sleep, characterized by tall, low-frequency waves

Four or five multistage sleep cycles each night, each lasting about 90 minutes

• Non-REM sleep: nondreaming sleep

• NREM 1: lightest stage of sleep (hypnagogic hallucinations)

• NREM 2: sleep spindles and k-complexes

• NREM 3: deep sleep (peak time secretion of growth hormone)

REM Sleep

dreaming sleep: stage R

• bursts of eye movements with brain activity similar to that of a walking state

• lack of muscle tone

• vivid, illogical dreams

Sleep Cycle

NREM 1 → NREM 2 → NREM 3 → NREM 2 → REM

Sleep architecture

the makeup of sleep cycles, changes throughout life

Hypnagogic Hallucinations

hallucinations that occur at the transition between sleeping and waking

Sleep Terrors

• non-REM sleep disturbances primarily affecting children

• crying hysterically, breathing rapidly, sweating

• child has no memory of episode the next day

• typically outgrown after

Nightmares

• frightening dreams that occur in REM sleep

• unlike sleep terrors, nightmares can often be recalled in vivid detail

• people who frequently experience nightmares may be “more susceptible to daily stressors”

Why sleep?

• restorative theory

• evolution theory

• consolidation of memories and learning

Psychoanalysis and Dreams (freud)

Freud proposed that dreams are a form of wish fulfillment, or a playing out of unconscious desires

Manifest (dream)

the remembered storyline of a dream

Latent (dream)

the hidden meaning of a dream

Activation-Synthesis Model

random neural activity in REM sleep is given meaning by our minds

Dream Content

• most feature ordinary, everyday scenarios

• more likely include sad events than happy ones

• relatively consistent across cultures

Dream Duration

• the average person starts dreaming about 90 min into sleep and then goes on to have about four-six dreams during the night

• dream seem to happen in real time

Psychoactive Drugs

• substances that cause changes in conscious experiences

• includes caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and prescription medication

• depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens

Depressants

class of psychoactive drugs that depress or slow down activity in the central nervous system (ex. alcohol and morphine)

Opioids (depressant)

minimize perceptions of pain, induces drowsiness and euphoria, and slows breathing (morphine)

Stimulants

increase neural activity in the sympathetic nervous system, producing heightened alertness, energy, elevated mood, and other effects

Cocaine (stimulant)

• produces a sense of energy and euphoria

• amplifies the effects of dopamine

Physiological Dependence

with constant use of some psychoactive drugs, the body no longer functions normally without the drug

• withdrawal

• tolerance

Psychological Dependence

with constant use of some psychoactive drugs, a strong desire to continue using the substance occurs without the evidence of tolerance or withdrawal symptoms

• urge of craving

Learning

a relatively enduring change in behavior or thinking that results from experiences

Habituation

basic form of learning evident when an organism does not respond as strongly or as often to an event following multiple exposures to it

Stimulus

event or occurrence that generally leads to a response

Classical Conditioning

2 different stimuli are associated

Operant Conditioning

connections between behaviors and consequences are made

Observational Learning

learning occurs by watching and imitating others

Pavlov’s dogs

the dogs had been conditioned to link certain sights and sounds with eating

Neutral Stimulus

stimulus that does not cause a relevant automatic or reflexive response

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

stimulus that automatically triggers an involuntary response without any learning needed

Unconditioned Response (UR)

reflexive, involuntary response to an unconditioned stimulus

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

previously neutral stimulus that an organism learns to associate with an unconditional stimulus

Conditioned Response (CR)

learned response to a conditioned stimulus

Acquisition

the initial learning phase in both classical and operant conditioning

Stimulus Generalization

after an association is forged between the CS and the CR, the learner often responds to a similar stimuli as if they are the original CR

Stimulus Discrimination

the ability to differentiate between a particular CS and other significantly different stimuli

Extinction

The process by which the conditioned response decreases after the repeated exposure to the conditioned stimulus in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus

Spontaneous Recovery

the reappearance of a conditioned response following it’s extinction

Conditioned-Taste Aversion

A form of classical conditioning that occurs when an organism learns to associate the taste of a particular food or drink with illness

Reinforcers

events, stimuli, and other consequences that increase the likelihood of a behavior reoccurring

Reinforcement

process of increasing the frequency of behaviors with consequences

Positive Reinforcement

The process by which reinforcers are added or presented following a target behavior, increasing the likelihood of it occurring again

Negative Reinforcement

The removal of an unpleasant stimulus following a target behavior that increases the likelihood of it occurring again

Primary Reinforcers

satisfies a biological need (water, food, physical contact)

Secondary Reinforcers

does not satisfy an biological need but often gains power through its association with a primary reinforcer (money, good grades)

Successive Approximations

method that uses reinforcers to condition, a series of small steps that gradually approach the target behavior

Shaping

process by which a person observes the behaviors of another organism, providing reinforcers if the organism performs at a required level

Continuous Reinforcement

every target behavior is reinforced

• ideal for establishing new behaviors in acquisition phase

Partial Reinforcement

Target behaviors are reinforced intermittently, not continuously

• works better for maintaining behaviors

Partial Reinforcement Effect

The tendency for behaviors acquired through intermittent reinforcement to be more resistant to extinction, than those acquired through continuous reinforcement

Variable-Ratio Schedule

subject must exhibit a SPECIFIC number of desired responses or behaviors before a reinforcer is given, but the number changes across trials

Fixed-Interval Schedule

A reinforcer is given for the first target behavior occurring after a specific time interval, and the target behavior tends to increase as each time interval comes to an end

Variable-Interval Schedule

The reinforcer comes after an interval of time goes by, but the length of the interval changes from trial to trial (within a predetermined range based on an average interval length.)

Goal of Punishment

to decrease or stop a behavior

Positive Punishment

something aversive or disagreeable is applied following the target behavior

• ex. a fine for late library book return

Negative Punishment

taking away something valuable following a target behavior

ex. being grounded from driving after misbehaving

Prosocial Behavior

actions that are kind, generous, and beneficial to others

Latent Learning

type of learning that occurs without awareness and regardless of reinforcement

Cognitive Maps

a mental representation of physical space

Memory

The process involved in the encoding (collection), storage, and retrieval of information

Encoding

The process through which information enters our memory system

Storage

preserving information for possible recollection in the future

Retrieval

accessing information encoded and stored in memory

Levels of processing framework

• Shallow

• Intermediate

• Deep (helps create stronger memories)

Information-Processing Model

conceptualizes memory as a flaw of information through a series of stages: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory

Ionic Memory (sensory memory)

visual impressions that are photograph-like in their accuracy but dissolve in less than a second

Eidetic memory

ability to “see” an image or object sometimes long after it has been removed from sight with amazing specificity

Echoic memory

exact copies of the sounds we hear that usually lasts from about 1 to 10 seconds

Maintenance Rehearsal (short-term memory)

technique of repeating information to be remembered, increasing the length of time it can be held in short term memory

Chunking (short-term memory)

grouping numbers, letters, or other items into meaningful subsets as a strategy for increasing the quantity of information that can be maintained in short term memory

Working Memory

The active processing of information in short-term memory, which includes the maintenance and manipulation of information

Semantic Memory

the memory of information theoretically available to anyone, which pertains to general facts about the world

Episodic Memory

The record of memorable experiences or “episodes” including when and where an experience occurred

Flashbulb Memory (episodic)

detailed account of circumstances surrounding an emotionally significant or shocking, sometimes historic, event

• sometimes include inaccuracies or lack specific details

• Frequently recall the precise moment you learned of an event

Implicit Memory

A memory for something you know or know how to do, but which might be automatic or unconscious

• includes memories formed through classical conditioning

Procedural Memory

The unconscious memory of how to carry out a variety of skills and activities

• type of implicit memory

Mnemonics

techniques to improve memory

Recall

retrieving information held in long-term memory without explicit retrieval cues

• ex. short-answer test question

Recognition

matching incoming data to information stored in long-term memory

• having to identify information, rather than come up with information

• ex. multiple-choice test question

Serial Position Effect

the ability to recall items in a list depends on where they are in the series

Encoding Specificity Principal

memories are more easily recalled when the context and cues at the time of encoding are similar to those at the time of retrieval

State- Dependent Memory

remembering things is easier when physiological and psychological conditions, including moods and emotions, are similar at the time of encoding and retrieval

Mood Congruence

retrieval is easier when the content of a memory corresponds to our present emotional state