PSYA01 (Midterm-Final)

Acetylcholine

a neuro transmitter that often creates an excitatory effect in the brain

Activation-synthesis hypothesis

a hypothesis about dreaming that suggest that dream do not serve a purpose but a consequence of other process that occurs during sleep

Active attention

occurs when the attentional properties are set by top down goals of individual

adenosine

a neuro transmitter often creates a inhibitory effect in the brain

Alpha waves

brain waves that appear on an eeg when a person is relaxed

attention

the process of selecting information from the internal and external environments to prioritise for processing

attentional captures

occurs when attention is diverted because of the salience of a stimulus a

automaticity

fast, effortless processing of information without conscious thought

barbiturates

a group of drug that cause sedation and induce sleep historically prescribed for anxiety

benzodiazepine

group of drugs primarily used for treating anxiety, known for being fast acting and highly addictive

beta waves

brain waves that appear in an EEG when a person is alert and actively processing information (also in REM sleep)

biological clocks

internal clocks that prepare the body for daily, seasonal, annual rhythms

cataplexy

most commonly associated with narcolepsy, it is the experience of muscle weakness or muscular paralysis during the waking hours

circadian rhythms

daily body clocks that tell the body when to sleep and when to wake

cocktail party effect

describes a situations associated with selective attention, at a party, one can be engaged in a conversation and ignore all other conversation they are not engaged in

conditioned insomnia

form of insomnia that occurs when cues that are usually associated with falling sleep cause feelings of anxiety instead

conscious content

the subjective experiences of your internal and external world

corpus callosum

band of axons that connects the 2 hemispheres of the brain

delta waves

brain wages that appear on the EEG when a person is deeply asleep , in stage 3-4 of sleep

dependence

occurs when an individual requires a drug to maintain normal functioning, should the individual refrain from taking the drug they will experience withdrawal

dichotic listening

a listening task where one stream of information is in one ear and another in the other, participant is then asked to attend to only one message but is later asked about the unattended message

divided attention

occurs when a person engages in two or more task at once

dopamine

a neurotransmitter that has been implicated in the rewarding effects of some drugs

drug tolerance

the increased ability to tolerate a specific drug, this occurs after repeated ingestion of the substance, when this happens, a larger dose it needed for the same effect

electroencephalogram (EEG)

a device that measures the sum of electrical activation across the surface of the cortex

electromyogram

a device used to measure muscle tension around the jaw

electrooculogram

device used to measure eye movement

evolutionary hypothesis of dreams

a hypothesis about dreaming that suggests that dreams have biological influences

fatal familial insomnia

a rare, genetic disorder affecting the thalamus, that causes individuals to die from lack of sleep

flicker task

a change attention task used to study intentional change detection and inattentional blindness

GABA

a neurotransmitter that often creates inhibitory effects in the nervous system

glutamate

a neurotransmitter that often creates excitatory effects in the nervous system

hemispheric specialisation

refers to the idea that the 2 hemispheres in your brain (left and right) having different functions

hypersomnia

an inability to stay awake

hypnagogic hallucination

vivid sensory hallucinations that occur right before the onset of sleep

hypnogram

a graphic depiction of a person's progress through the stages of sleep over the course of the night

hypnopompic hallucinations

vivid sensory hallucinations that occur right before waking

idiopathic insomnia

child onset insomnia, neurological condition resulting in the inability to sleep

inattentional blindness

refers to the tendency to miss changes to some kinds of information when your attention is engaged elsewhere

inhibition

the process of actively reducing processing of some information while the brain attends to a specific task

insomnia

the inability to fall /stay asleep

intentional change detection

an attention task that requires the participant to actively search for a change made to the stimulus

jet lag

a phenomenon that occurs when you travel to different time zones and the body is out of synch with the external world

k-complexes

a pattern of neural excitation followed by neural inhibition occurring during sleep stage 2

narcolepsy

a rare genetic neurodegenerative disorder with the sudden/ extreme need to sleep

night terrors

generally considered a disorder of slow wave sleep, experiences consist of frantic and panicked screaming and open have little to no memory about why it happened

passive attention

occurs when attentional priorities are set by bottom up information from the environment

psychedelic drugs

psychedelic drugs directly influence the sensory system and our interpretation of reality

psychoactive drugs

psychoactive substances from the environment other than food that influence mood, thoughts or behaviour

REM (rapid eye movement)

a stage of sleep where narrative based dreaming occurs, EEG recordings become highly irregular and sleeping person's eye will move from side to side rapidly

REM sleep antonia

experience of temporary paralysis that occurs during REM sleep

REM sleep behaviour disorder

a neurodegenerative disorder that results in the inability of the brain to effectively paralyse the body during sleep

selective attention

a form of attention that occurs when a person attends to some information while ignoring other information

serotonin

a neurotransmitter that is often implicated in mood but also organisation of sensory information

sleep apnea

medical condition where patients stop breathing at night, CO2 build up in the bloodstream and patient wake up , lead to poor sleep and long term health problem

sleep hygiene

a series of behavioural practices that promote the ability to fall and stay asleep

sleep spindles

brief burst of activity that occur 2-5 times / minute during non REM sleep

slow wave sleep (SWS)

a broader name for sleeping occurring in stage 3-4, during this recording on EEG show delta wave

somnambulism

also known as sleep walking, people are not acting out their dreams but execute complicated behaviours like walking, cooking, driving and more

split brain

a type of surgery that cuts the connection between the 2 hemispheres of the brain

state of consciousness

refer to different level of arousal and attention an individual can experience

stimulants

drugs that increase the activity of the nervous system

stimulus salience

idea that some stimuli in the environment capture attention by virtue of their physical properties

subaudible message

auditory message that are played too quietly or in such a way that the brain cannot be consciously aware of the content

subconscious processing

when we are aware of information form the environment but are not aware that it is influencing our behaviour

subliminal stimulus

sensory stimulus that is process but does not reach the threshold for conscious perception

subvisual messages

visual images that are presented too quickly for the brain to perceive in conscious awareness

suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)

the structure in the brain next to optic chiasm and sets the body's circadian clock

synesthesia

experience for sense merge

theta waves

brain waves on EEG when a person is deeply relaxed / falling asleep although they are present throughout the sleep cycle

withdrawal

symptoms of distress and irritability associated with reduction or discontinuation of an addictive substance or behaviour

zeitgebers

cues form environment that set the biological clock

antecedent

a situation that makes it possible for us to respond and tell us what we might get for that response

appetitive

a type of stimulus that is something you like and for which you will work

attentional phase

phase of social learning in which an observer watches a model doing something

aversive

type of stimulus that is something you do not like and for which you wont work

avoidance

operant conditioning procedure in which something you do not want to happen will happen if you don't respond, so you respond to prevent it, response is more likely under similar condition in the future

backward conditioning

pavlovian conditioning procedure in which an unconditional stimulus is presented before the conditional stimulus so conditioned stimulus signals that no unconditional stimulus will occur

behaviour

any observable action that can be repeated, measured and are affected by the situation to produce or remove some outcome, can refer to biological activity and actions on cellular level

biological preparedness

the result in which some events serve as better signals / conditional stimuli than other due to evolution

cognitive map

assumption that we recreate a mental image of areas in our physical surroundings

conditional response

a learned response that occurs to the conditional stimulus in preparation for the unconditional stimulus

conditional stimulus

an event in pavlovian conditioning that requires learning to be meaningful and is only meaningful because the event tells us something about the unconditioned stimulus

consequences

type of stimuli in which outcomes produced by behaviour affect future behaviour

contingencies

if you do this (behaviour), then that will happen (consequences)

discomfort (stamping out)

we do not associated our behaviour with situations that lead to something we don't like, we learn to not repeat those behaviours

elicits

descriptor for behaviour in pavlovian or classical conditioning which indicates the response to the stimulus is involuntary

escape

operant conditioning procedure in which something you want to stop is happening, your response make it stop and you are more likely to respond it to the same in the future

excitatory

a descriptor for a type of pavlovian conditioning in which the conditional stimulus indicates that an unconditional stimulus will occur, positive correlation between conditional and unconditional stimulus

extinction (classical)

in pavlovian conditioning, the signal occurs without what is signaled and the conditional response go away, the conditional stimulus is presented alone and the conditional response decrease

extinction (operant)

behaviour which was previously reinforced now produces no consequence and goes away, the response is not reinforced and decreases

extinction burst

effect where behaviour that was previously reinforced occurs at higher rate without consequences at beginning of extinction

fixed interval (FI)

schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcers are produced after a set amount of time and a few responses

fixed ratio (FR)

a schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcers are produced after a set number of responses

high-order conditioning

conditioning procedure in which an already conditioned signal is paired with a neutral stimulus / currently meaning less effect

imitation

a phase of social learning in which a model demonstrates behaviour and an observer copies it

inhibitory

descriptor for a type of pavlovian conditioning in which the conditional stimulus indicates that no unconditional stimulus will occur, negative correlation between conditional stimulus and unconditional stimulus

innate

something you are born knowing how to do

latent learning

a type of learning that has happened by has not had an opportunity to be demonstrated

law of effect

a description for the finding that we learn about situations and behaviour that lead to something we like and do not learn to associated situations and behaviour that lead to something we do not like