AP Psychology - Unit 1: Biological Bases of Behavior; Modules 1.5-1.6

Consciousness

Awareness of yourself and your environment.

Dual-Processing

The brain works on two levels—conscious and unconscious—at the same time.

Blindsight

Ability to respond to visual stimuli without consciously seeing them.

Parallel Processing

Handling many aspects of a problem at once (e.g., color, shape, motion).

Sequential Processing

Focusing on one thing at a time, useful for solving problems step-by-step.

Cognitive Neuroscience

Study of brain activity linked to thinking, memory, and perception.

Circadian Rhythm

Your body’s 24-hour biological clock.

REM Sleep

Deep sleep stage with vivid dreams and rapid eye movement.

Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)

Brain part that controls circadian rhythm using light cues.

Reasons We Sleep

To restore energy, repair tissue, strengthen memory, and support growth.

Effects of Sleep Loss

Mood swings, poor memory, slower reaction time, more stress, and trouble learning.

Insomnia

Trouble falling or staying asleep.

Narcolepsy

Sudden sleep attacks during the day.

Sleep Apnea

Breathing stops briefly during sleep.

Night Terrors

Intense fear during sleep, mostly in children, without memory of it.

Freud’s Wish Fulfillment

Dreams express hidden desires.

Information Processing

Dreams help sort and store memories.

Physiological Function

Dreams keep the brain active during sleep.

Activation-Synthesis

Brain makes sense of random signals during sleep.

Cognitive Development

Dreams reflect your mental growth and understanding.

Manifest Content

What you remember from a dream.

Latent Content

The hidden meaning behind the dream.

Sensation

Detecting physical energy from the environment.

Perception

Interpreting sensory information.

Transduction

Turning sensory input into neural signals.

Signal Detection Theory

Predicts when we’ll notice weak signals amid noise.

Difference Threshold

Smallest change you can detect between two stimuli.

Weber’s Law

The change needed to notice a difference depends on the original intensity.

Sensory Adaptation

Getting used to a constant stimulus (like a smell or sound).

Retina

Light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye.

Pupil

Opening that lets light in.

Iris

Colored part that controls pupil size.

Lens

Focuses light onto the retina.

Rods

Detect black, white, and dim light.

Cones

Detect color and detail.

Fovea

Center of retina with sharpest vision.

Accommodation

Lens changes shape to focus.

Optic Nerve

Sends visual info to the brain.

Blind Spot

Area with no receptors where optic nerve exits the eye.

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory

We see color through red, green, and blue cones.

Opponent Process Theory

We see colors in opposing pairs (red-green, blue-yellow).

Feature Detectors

Brain cells that respond to specific shapes, angles, or movements.

Middle Ear

Transfers sound from eardrum to inner ear.

Cochlea

Fluid-filled inner ear that processes sound.

Inner Ear

Includes cochlea and semicircular canals (balance).

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Damage to inner ear or nerve.

Conduction Hearing Loss

Problem with sound waves reaching inner ear.

Cochlear Implant

Device that helps people with hearing loss by stimulating the auditory nerve.

Place Theory

Pitch depends on where sound hits the cochlea.

Frequency Theory

Pitch depends on how fast the sound wave travels.

Gate-Control Theory

Spinal cord “gate” blocks or allows pain signals.

Taste

Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami.

Smell

Linked closely to memory and emotion.

Kinesthesia

Sense of body movement and position.

Vestibular Sense

Sense of balance and head position.

Sensory Interaction

Senses work together (e.g., smell affects taste).