AP Psychology: Consciousness, Sleep, and Psychoactive Drugs

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the concepts of consciousness, sleep stages, sleep disorders, dream theories, and psychoactive drug classifications from AP Psychology Unit V.

Consciousness

An awareness of ourselves and our environment that varies depending on attention to the task at hand and is associated with brain activity.

Controlled Processing

A conscious mental process that requires focused attention on each specific component, typically used when learning novel or difficult tasks.

Automatic Processing

Mental processing that occurs without conscious effort or focused attention (similar to muscle memory), developed through experience with well-learned tasks.

Dual Processing

The principle that information is simultaneously processed on separate conscious (deliberate) and non-conscious (implicit/automatic) tracks.

Selective Attention

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus or group of stimuli among competing inputs.

Cocktail Effect

A phenomenon of selective attention where an individual can focus on a single voice among many, such as detecting their own name spoken in a crowded area.

Preconscious

A level of mental processing containing information not currently conscious (such as phone numbers or birthdays) that can be easily pulled into conscious awareness.

Subconscious

A level of mental processing containing thoughts and desires deemed socially unacceptable and repressed, serving as the primary focus of psychoanalytic theory.

Unconscious

A level of information processing that operates entirely without awareness, such as the processing of subliminal stimuli.

Nonconscious

Involuntary autonomic processing controlled by the brainstem that occurs without any conscious thought, such as heartbeat, digestion, and breathing.

Hypnosis

A state of consciousness characterized by hypersuggestibility (occurring in $10\text{--}15\%$ of individuals, with $20\%$ being less hypnotizable) originally studied by Franz Mesmer as animal magnetism.

Fantasy-Prone Personality

A personality type characterized by individuals who imagine and recall experiences with lifelike vividness and spend considerable time fantasizing.

Subliminal Perception

Perception without awareness that occurs when stimuli are processed by sensory systems but, due to subtle forms or short durations, do not reach conscious awareness.

Circadian Rhythm

A biological clock controlled by the hypothalamus that regulates physiological and behavioral bodily rhythms on a $24\text{-hour}$ cycle.

Sleep

The periodic, natural, and reversible loss of overt consciousness.

Alpha Waves

Relatively slow brain waves emitted by the brain during an awake but highly relaxed state with closed eyes.

Hypnagogic Sensations

False sensory experiences, such as feelings of falling, spinning, or floating, that often occur during NREM-1 sleep.

Sleep Spindles

Bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain-wave activity that characterize NREM-2 sleep.

Delta Waves

Large, slow brain waves associated with deep slow-wave sleep in NREM-3.

NREM-3 Sleep

Deep slow-wave sleep marked by delta waves, during which bed-wetting, sleepwalking, and night terrors can take place, and the pituitary gland releases growth hormone.

REM Sleep

Rapid Eye Movement sleep (paradoxical sleep) where vivid dreaming occurs, heart and breathing rates accelerate, genitals become aroused, and brain waves resemble wakefulness despite being asleep.

Sleep Debt

The cumulative deficit of lost sleep accumulated over time when an individual consistently gets less than their needed amount of rest.

Insomnia

A sleep disorder characterized by persistent difficulty falling and/or staying asleep, clinically considered chronic when experienced at least $3$ nights per week for $3$ or more months.

Narcolepsy

A sleep disorder marked by daily extreme drowsiness and sudden, uncontrollable sleep attacks (usually lasting $5\,\text{minutes}$ or less), linked to a deficiency in the neurotransmitter hypocretin.

Hypocretin

A neuropeptide hormone that plays a crucial role in regulating sleep, wakefulness, and appetite; its deficiency is associated with narcolepsy.

Sleep Apnea

A disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep, which lower blood oxygen and cause brief, unremembered arousals to snort in air.

Night Terrors

Episodes occurring during late NREM-3 sleep characterized by high physiological arousal and an appearance of terror, which are distinct from nightmares and seldom remembered.

Sleepwalking

A parasomnia occurring during late NREM-3 sleep in which an individual performs well-learned activities while asleep, influenced by genetic factors and not remembered upon waking.

Revenge Bedtime Procrastination

The decision to sacrifice sleep for leisure activities with immediate gratification (such as gaming or social media), driven by a daily schedule that lacks free daytime hours.

Oneirology

The scientific study of dreams.

Manifest Content

The remembered storyline and explicit events that occur within a dream, according to Sigmund Freud.

Latent Content

The hidden, unconscious meaning and repressed wishes disguised within a dream's storyline, according to Sigmund Freud.

Activation-Synthesis Rationale

The physiological theory proposing that dreams are the brain's attempt to synthesize and make sense of random electrical neural activity occurring during sleep.

REM Rebound

The tendency for REM sleep to increase—falling into it faster and staying in it longer—following a period of REM sleep deprivation.

Psychoactive Drugs

Chemical substances that alter perceptions and moods by acting at the neurological level and brain synapses.

Tolerance

The diminishing effect of a drug resulting from regular exposure, requiring progressively larger doses to experience the original effect.

Physical Dependence

A physiological adaptation to a drug where cessation leads to physical pain and intense cravings.

Psychological Dependence

An emotional or mental need to consume a drug to relieve negative feelings, stress, or to satisfy learned habit triggers.

Withdrawal

The uncomfortable physiological and psychological distress (such as shaking, sweating, fever, and vomiting) that follows discontinuation of an addictive substance.

Agonist

A chemical substance that mimics the activity of a neurotransmitter at receptor sites.

Antagonist

A chemical substance that inhibits the release or blocks the activity of a neurotransmitter at receptor sites.

Depressants

A class of psychoactive drugs (such as alcohol, barbiturates, and opiates) that calm central nervous system activity and slow down bodily functions.

Barbiturates

Sedative-hypnotic depressant drugs that reduce anxiety and depress central nervous system activity, but impair memory and judgment.

Opiates

Depressant drugs derived from opium or synthesized replicas (such as morphine, heroin, and Oxycontin) that lessen pain and anxiety by mimicking natural endorphins.

Methadone

A synthetic drug used in treatment programs to reduce intense cravings and withdrawal from heroin without producing a high at prescribed therapeutic doses.

Stimulants

A class of psychoactive drugs (including caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, and cocaine) that excite neural activity and speed up body functions such as heart rate and respiration.

Caffeine

The most widely used psychoactive stimulant, which enhances alertness and improves mood by mimicking the neurotransmitter adenosine.

Amphetamines

Stimulant drugs ('speed' or 'uppers') that reduce fatigue, suppress appetite, and increase energy and concentration while raising anxiety and irritability.

Methamphetamine

An illicit, highly addictive stimulant manufactured in street laboratories that triggers large increases in alertness and euphoria and permanently reduces baseline dopamine levels over time.

Cocaine

A powerful stimulant that induces an intense $15\text{--}30\,\text{minute}$ rush of euphoria and alertness by blocking the reuptake of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.

MDMA (Ecstasy/Molly)

A synthetic drug acting as both a stimulant and a mild hallucinogen that increases empathy and energy, risks severe dehydration and hyperthermia, and damages serotonin-producing neurons.

Hallucinogens

Psychedelic ('mind-manifesting') drugs that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of actual sensory stimulation.

LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide)

A powerful synthetic hallucinogen requiring as little as $0.00001\,\text{ounce}$ to trigger sensory distortions and altered emotional states lasting $6\text{--}14\,\text{hours}$.

Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD)

A condition characterized by sudden, unexpected flashbacks and sensory recurrences weeks or months following the use of hallucinogenic drugs.

THC

The active psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that produces relaxation and mild hallucinations, slows reaction time, and impairs coordination and memory formation.