Unit 1 - Biological Bases Of Behavior (Week 10)

UNIT 0 CONTENT ON WEEK 10 EXAM:

Module 5 - The Scientific Method & Description

• Scientific attitude (curiosity, skepticism, & humility) is the foundation of all science

• Scientific method:

  • Theory - Explains behaviors or events by offering ideas that organize observations

  • Hypothesis - A testable prediction, often implied by a theory

*The falsifiability - the possibility that an idea, hypothesis, or theory can be disproven by observation or experiment is a mark of its scientific strength

• Operational definition - A statement of the exact procedures used in a research study

  • EX: Human intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures

• Replication - Repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding can be reproduced

• Descriptive methods:

  • Case study - Examines one individual or group in depth in the hope of revealing things true of us all

    • EX: Studying a few chimpanzees has revealed their capacity for understanding a language

• Naturalistic observation - Observing/recording behavior in natural situations without manipulation

  • EX: Analyzing/videotaping parent-child interactions across cultures

• Survey - Looks at many cases in less depth, asking people to report their behaviors/opinions

• People often respond negatively or positively to some word choices more than others. As a result, the wording of questions may influence responses to a survey

• Sampling bias - A flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample

• When dealing with research all those in a group being studied from which samples may be drawn are the population

• Random Sample - That fairly represents a population because each number has an equal chance of inclusion

***The author’s point to remember is to think critically before accepting survey findings. The best basis for generalizing is from a representative sample (Rep sample def - a group of people that accurately reflects the characteristics of a larger population)***

Module 6 - Correlation & Experimentation

Describing behavior is the first step toward predicting it

• Correlation - Measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, how well either factor predicts the other

• Correlation Coefficient - A statistical index of the relationship between two things

• Variables, when discussing correlation, are anything that can vary and is feasible and ethical to measure

• Scatter Plots - A graphed cluster of dots, each representing the values of two variables. The slope suggests the direct relationship between the two variables

• Positive Correlation ex: If two sets of scores such as for height & weight rise or fall together

• Negative Correlation ex: If two sets of scores relate inversely, one set is going up as the other goes down

• Illusory Correlation - Perceiving a relationship where none exists or perceiving a stronger-than-actual relationship

• The tendency for extreme/unused scores or events to fall back toward the average is meant by regression toward the mean

• Experiment - Research where the independent variables are observed and how they affect dependent variables by random assignment of participants

• Experimental group - group exposed to the treatments that is to one version of the independent variable

• Control group - a group not exposed to treatment; serves as a comparison evaluating the effect of the treatment on the other group

• Random assignment - assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing pre-existing differences between the different groups

• A point to remember when dealing with experiments is unlike correlational studies, which uncover naturally occurring relationships, an experiment manipulates a variable to determine its effect

• Double-blind procedure - Where research participants and staff are ignorant about whether the participants have received the treatment or a placebo

• Placebo effect - Experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by the administration often an inert substance or candidate that the recipient assumes is an active agent

• Independent Variable - factor being manipulated in an experiment

• Dependent variable - factor that can vary when independent variable is changed. the outcome that is measured

• Confounding variable - factor other than the factor being studied that might influence a study’s results

• *Double blind procedures reduce experiment bias - bias caused when researchers may unintentionally influence results to confirm their own beliefs

• A key goal of experimental design is validity. The extent to which a test or experiment measures or predicts what it is supposed to

Module 8 - Statistical Reasoning in Everyday Life

• For psychologists, statistics are the tools that allow them to measure variables and then interpret results

*Doubt big, round, undocumented numbers. (Someone’s guessing)

• Descriptive statistics - Numerical data used to measure and describe characteristics of a group. Includes measures of central tendency and measures of variation

• Histogram - A bar graph depicting a frequency distribution

• Mode - Most frequently occurring scores in a distribution

• Mean - Arithmetic average of distribution, obtained by adding scores and dividing by # of scores

• Median - Middle score in distribution; half the scores are above it and half below

• Skewed distribution - A representative of scores that lack symmetry around their average value

• The amount of variation in the data is how similar or diverse the scores are

• Averages derived from scores with low variability are more reliable than averages based on scores with high variability

• Range - The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution

• Standard deviation - A computed measure of how much scores vary around mean score

• Normal curve (normal distribution) - Describes the distribution of many types of data; most scores fall near the mean and fewer and fewer near the extremes

• Inferential statistics - Numerical data that allow one to generalize to infer from sample data the probability of something being true of a population

• Meta-analysis - A statistical procedure for analyzing the results of multiple studies to reach an overall conclusion

• Three principles to keep in mind when deciding when it is safe to generalize from a sample:

• Representation samples are better than biased samples

• Less variable observations are more reliable than there that are more variable

• More cases are better than fewer

• The underlying logic when it related to the possibility of obtaining results by chance is when overages from two samples are each reliable measures of their respective populations then their differences is probably reliable as well

• Statistical significance - A statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occured by chance

• Final point to remember for Unit 0 is that several significance indicates the likelihood that a result could have happened by chance, but this does not say anything about the importance of the result

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Module 9 - Biological Psychology and Neurotransmission

Biology, Behavior, & Mind

• Biological Psychologists: Study the links between biological (genetic, neural, hormonal) processed & psychological processes

• Four things that researchers seeking to understand the biology of the mind have discovered:

  • Our adaptive brain is wired by our experiences

  • Among the body’s cells are nerve cells that conduct electricity and “talk” to one another by sending chemical messages across a tiny gap that separates them

  • Specific brain systems serve specific functions

  • Integrate information processed in brain systems to construct signals, sounds, meanings, memories, pain & passion

• What is meant that humans are considered biopsychosocial systems?

  • Body systems -> Individual -> Communities, -> families

Neural Communication

• Why is it a benefit that there is not much difference between the brains of humans & animals?

  • Allows researchers to study animals to understand our own bodies

• Neurons: A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system

• Function of the various parts of a neuron:

  • Cell body: Contains nucleus; cell’s life support center

  • Dendrite: Receive & integrate messages, conducting impulses toward the cell body

  • Axon: Neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to the other neurons or muscles or glands

• How is the myelin sheath related to multiple sclerosis?

  • If M.S degenerates, Mult. sclerosis results: communication to muscles slow, with eventual loss of muscle control

• Glial Cells: Cells in nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons; they also play a role in learning, thinking, and memory

• Neuron’s Action Potential: A neural impulse; A brief electrical charge that travels down an axon

• Chemical events that allow neurons to fire: Neurons fire when ions flow across their selectively permeable membranes, disrupting the resting potential and creating an electrical impulse

• When a neuron’s fires, the security parameters change as the neuron’s membrane depolarizes, allowing positively charged ions to flow in, reversing the resting potential and creating an action potential. This process can repeat rapidly, up to hundreds of times per second, depending on the neuron’s refractory period and recovery

• Excitatory signals: Increase the likelihood that a neuron will fire by depolarizing the membrane and bringing it closer to the threshold (pushing neuron’s gas pedal/accelerator)

• Inhibitory signals: Decrease the likelihood of firing by hyper-polarizing the membrane, moving its further from the threshold (pushing its brake)

• Threshold: The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse

• Refractory period: In neural processing, a brief resting pause that occurs often a neuron has fried; subsequent action potentials cannot occur until the axon returns to its resting state

• All-or-none response: Neuron’s reaction of either firing (with full-strength response) or not firing

• Synapse: the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite/cell of the body receiving neuron. The gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap/synaptic cleft A.K.A the meeting point between neurons

• Neurotransmitters: chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps -> when released by sending neuro they travel across the synapse and bind receptor sites on the receiving neuron -> influence whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse

• Re-uptake: A neurotransmitter’s re-absorption by the sending/missing neuron (reabsorbs excess neurotransmitters)

• Particular neurotransmitters affect specific receptors or the postsynaptic neuron, influencing the neuron’s activity

• Some neurotransmitters & their functions (LEARN THIS)

• Endorphins: “Morphine within”; natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control & to pleasure (lessen pain & boost mood)

• What happens when the brain “flooded” with opiate drugs such as heroin and morphine?

  • Disrupt brain’s chemical balancing act. Brain suppresses its natural opiates & when drug is withdrawn, brain may be deprived of any form of opiate, causing intense discomfort

• Agonist: A molecule that increases a neurotransmitter’s action

• Antagonist: A molecule that inhibits/decreases or blocks a neurotransmitter’s action

Module 10 - The Nervous & Endocrine Systems

The Nervous System

• Nervous system: Body’s speed, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems

• Central Nervous system: Brain and spinal cord

• Peripheral Nervous system: Sensory and motor neurons that connect the central neurons system (CNS) to the rest of the body

• What makes up nerves?

  • Bundled axons that form neural cables connecting the central nervous system with muscles, glands and sense organs

• Describe what makes up the following components of the peripheral nervous system:

  • Somatic nervous system: Division of peripheral nervous system that controls the body’s skeletal muscles. Also called the skeletal nervous system

  • Autonomic nervous system: Controls glands and muscles of internal organs (heart). It’s sympathetic division arouses; it’s parasympathetic division calms.

  • Sympathetic nervous system: The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy

  • Parasympathetic nervous system: Division of autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy

• What does it mean “the brain enables our humanity?”

  • Our thinking, feeling, & acting

• Tens of billions of neurons are in the central nervous system

• Neural networks: Cluster of neurons into work groups. (short/fast connections)

• Neurons that fire together wire together, helping learning occur

• Spinal cord: Connects peripheral nervous system and brain. Ascending neural fibers send up sensory information and re sending fibers send back motor-control info

• Reflexes: A simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response

• If the spinal cord if severed, paralysis and loss of sensation occur below injury

The Endocrine System:

• Endocrine system: The body’s “slow” chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream

• Hormones: Chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream and affect other tissues

• What happens when they act on the brain?

  • Influence our interest in sex, food, and aggression

• How is the endocrine system similar to the nervous system? Different from the nervous system?

  • Both produce molecules that act on receptors elsewhere

  • Nervous system is much faster than the endocrine system

• What is the Pituitary gland? Why is it the most influential endocrine gland?

  • Endocrine system’s most influential gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the pituitary regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands

Module 11 - Study the Brain, Older Brain Structures, & the Limbic System

The Tools of Discovery: Having Our Head Examined

• Lesion: Tissue destruction. A brain lesion is a naturally or experimentally caused destruction of brain tissue

• How else can scientists observe brain functions?

  • Can stimulate various brain parts electrically, chemically, or magnetically and note the effect

• What is an electroencephalogram and for what purpose is it used?

  • An EEG records the electrical activity of the brain via electrodes attached to the scalp. EEG results show changes in brain activity that may aid in diagnosing brain conditions, especially epilepsy and other seizure conditions

• Magnetoencephalography: Brain imaging technique that measures magnetic fields from the brain’s natural electrical activity. (How certain tasks influence brain activity)

• CT (Computed tomography) scan: A series of x-ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice of the brain’s structure (reveals brain damage)

• PET (Positron emission tomography) scan: Visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task

• MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging): Uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images of soft issues, MRI scans show brain anatomy

• FMRI (Functional magnetic resonance imaging): Reveals blood flow and therefore brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans. FMRI scans shows brain function and structure

Older Brain Structures

• Example of how animals’ capacities come from brain structures:

  • Monkeys with an anxious temperament have brains that use more glucose in regions related to fear, memory, & expectations of reward & punishment

• Hind-brain: Consists of the medulla, pons, and cerebellum; directs essential survival functions such as breathing, sleeping, wakefulness, as well as coordination and balance

• Mid-brain: Found atop the brain-stem; connects the hind-brain with the fore-brain, controls some motor movement, and transmits auditory and visual information

• What makes the brain of advanced mammals more complex?

  • Enables increased foresight

  • Brain’s increasing complexity arises from nerve systems built on top of the old

• Describe the location and the function of the following older brain structures:

  • Brain-stem: Oldest part & central core of brain, beginning where the spinal cord surely as it enters the skull; the brain-stem is responsible for automatic survival functions

  • Medulla: Bass of the brain-stem; control heartbeat & breathing

  • Reticular formation: A nerve network that travels through the brain-stem into the thalamus and plays an important role in controlling arousal

  • Thalamus: Brain’s sensory control center, top of brain-stem; directs messages to sensory receiving areas in cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla

  • Cerebellum: “Little brain” at rear of brain-stem; functions include processing sensory input, coordinating movement output and balance, and enables nonverbal learning/memory

  • These older brain functions all occur without any conscious effort

The Limbic System

• Limbic system: Neural system (including amygdala, hypothalamus, and hippocampus) located below the cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions?/drives

• Amygdala: 2 Lima-bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotion. Not the only area that controls rage and fear (Hypothalamus and prefrontal cortex also contribute)

• Hypothalamus: Neural structure lying before (hypo) the thalamus; its directs several maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion/reward

• It is referred to as the reward center because its intense enough to cause rats to self stimulate those brain regions more than 1,000 times per hr

• Humans have limbic systems for pleasure. Particularly through structure like the amygdala and nucleus access? which regulate emotions and reward processing

• Hippocampus: Neural center located in limbic system; helps process for storage explicit (conscious) memories of facts and events

Module 12 - The Cerebral Cortex

• Cerebrum: Largest part of brain, responsible for higher brain functions like thinking, reasoning, memory, sensory perception, and voluntary movement. Purpose = Control/integrate complex activities and coordinate motor functions

• Cerebral cortex: The intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body’s ultimate control and info - processing center

• As we “move up the ladder of animal life” the cerebral cortex expands, tight genetic controls relax, and the organism’s adaptability increases

Structure of the Cortex

• Describe the function of the four lobes located in each of the brain’s two hemispheres

  • Frontal lobe: Involved in speaking, muscle movements & in making plans/judgement

  • Parietal lobe: Receives sensory input for touch and body position

  • Occipital lobe: Includes areas that receive information from visual fields

  • Temporal lobe: Includes auditory areas, each receiving info primarily from the opposite ear

Functions of the Cortex

• Motor cortex: An area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements

• Fingers/mouth occupy the greatest amount of cortical space because they require precise control

  ***Prosthetics can be moved by thinking through brain - computer interfaces, which translate brain signals into commands for the device

• Somatosensory cortex: An area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations

• The more sensitive the body region, the larger the somatosensory cortex area devoted to it

• Additional area that provide input to cortex besides touch - Visual info going to visual cortex in occipital lobes

• Association areas: Areas of cerebral cortex involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, & speaking

• Association areas cannot be neatly mapped unlike sensory and motor areas

• Association areas in the frontal lobes enable judgement, planning, and processing of new memories

• If there is frontal lobe damage, it results in higher intelligence test scores, & great cake-baking skills. Damage can also alter personality & remove inhibitions

• Other mental functions like mathematical/spatial reasoning, & the ability to recognize faces are accomplished through association areas

• Broca’s area: Located in frontal lobe. Responsible for speech production and ability to form coherent sentences

• Wernicke’s area: Located in temporal lobe. Crucial for understanding language and processing the meaning of words

Power of Plasticity

• The brain’s ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience

• Plasticity is strongest in childhood. It’s also what makes the human brain unique

• Most brain-damage effects can be traced to two hard facts:

  • Severed brain and spinal cord neurons (do not regenerate)

  • Damage to brain functions that stem? preassigned to specific area

• Brain plasticity is beneficial to blind/deaf people. Blindness/deafness makes unused brain areas available for other uses

• Neurogenesis: The formation of new neurons

Module 13 - Brain Hemisphere Organization & the Biology of Consciousness

The Divided Brain

• Lateralization: A functional dominance of one hemisphere over the other, in which one is more responsible or entirely responsible for control of a function in comparison to the other

• Neurosurgeons Vogel and Bogen speculated that Major epileptic seizures were caused by an amplification of abnormal brain activity bouncing back and forth between the 2 cerebral hemispheres, which work together is a whole system

• Corpus Callosum: Large band of neural fibers connecting the 2 brain hemispheres & carrying messages between them

• Split brain: A condition resulting from surgery that isolates the brain’s two hemispheres by cutting the fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum) connecting them

• When the “two minds” are at odds, the left hemisphere does mental gymnastics to rationalize reactions it does not understand

• Right hemisphere is more active with perceptual tasks and left hemisphere is more active with speaking/doing math

• Right brain: Manage creativity, spatial awareness, emotions, & visual processing

• Left brain: Handles language, logic, math & analytical thinking

The Biology of Consciousness

• Consciousness: Our subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment

• “Hard problem” in regards to consciousness - The question of how consciousness arises from the material brain is one of life’s deepest mysteries

• Cognitive neuroscience: The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, & language)

• “Beneath the surface” ? - Refers to underlying issues, emotions, factors that are not immediately visible. In various contexts, it can signify deeper psychological stars, hidden motivations, or complexities in sitmilois? that require further explanation to understand fully

• Dual processing - The principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks

• Blind-sight: A condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it

• Most people have trouble accepting that much of our everyday thinking, feeling, and acting operates outside our conscious awareness

• Parallel processing: Processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; generally used to process well-learned information or to solve easy problems

• Sequential processing: Processing one aspect of a problem at a time: generally used to process new information or to solve difficult problems

• Running on auto-pilot mode allows our consciousness to monitor the whole system and deal with new challenges, while neural assistants automatically take care of routine business

Module 14 - Behavior Genetics: Predicting Individual Differences

Genes: Our Codes for Life

• Natural Selection: The principle that inherited traits enabling an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations

• Evolutionary Psychology: The study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior

• Behavior genetics: Study of relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior

• Influences of heredity and environment on behavior:

  • Heredity: Interacts with our experience to create our universal nature, our individual and social diversity

  • Environment: “Turn on” genes

• Chromosomes: Threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain genes. Humans have 46 and 23 are donated from each parent

• When genes are “turned on”, they provide the code for creating protein molecules or body’s building block

• Examples of traits influenced by genes: Intelligence, happiness, & aggressiveness

Twin & Adoption Studies

• Identical twins: Single fertilized egg

• Fraternal twins: Separate eggs

• Shared genes can translate into shared experiences

• Identical twins are more behaviorally similar than fraternal twins

  • Identical twins share all their genes and their home environment. Fraternal twins also share their home environment, but only half of their genes. So a greater similarity between identical twins for a particular trait compared to fraternal twins provides evidence that genetic factors play a role.

• Thomas J. Bouchard Jr. found that twins raised in different environments showed remarkable similarities in personality and intelligence, indicating strong genetic influence

  • Criticisms on study: Sample size (small/non-representation), Methodology (reliability of assessments), genetic emphasis (overemphasis on genetics whole under-emphasis on environmental factors), Sensationalism (misinterpretation due to media coverage), Bias (favored genetic explanations)

• Adoption creates a second type of real-life experiment. Allows researchers to compare adopted kids with their biological and adoptive parents, helping to isolate the effects of genetics and environmental behavior/traits

• The effect of the adoptive families on the adoptees’ personality:

  • Shape personality through parenting style and stability. Supportive environment fosters residence, but instability can lead to behavior issues. Adoptive parents also serve as role models, influencing social behaviors and behavioral development

• Adopted children are influenced by their adoptive parents in areas like emotional development, social behavior, cultural identity, and self-esteem. A supportive environment fosters emotional security, & confidence while parenting styles shape social skills & relationships

Gene-Environment Interaction

• Interaction: The interplay that occurs when the effect of one factor (such as environment) depends on another factor (such as heredity)

• Molecular behavior genetics: Study of how the structure & function of genes with our environment to influence behavior

Biological Bases of Behavior: Part II - States of Consciousness

Module 23 - Sleep Patterns & Sleep Theories

• Sleep: A periodic, natural loss of consciousness - as distinct from unconsciousness resulting from a coma, general anesthesia , or hibernation

• EEG recordings confirmed that the relatively slow alpha waves of your wake but relaxed state?

  • The electroencephalogram (EEG) is a medical test used to measure the electrical activity of the brain. A number of electrodes are applied to your scalp. EEG can help diagnose a number of conditions including epilepsy, sleep disorders and brain tumors.

Biological Rhythms & Sleep

• Circadian rhythm: The natural cycle of physical, mental, & behavior changes that the body goes through in a 24hr cycle

• We go through distinct sleep stages typically 4-5 sleep cycles. A complete cycle takes 90-110 mins

• REM Sleep: Rapid eye movement sleep; a recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. Also known as paradoxical sleep, because the muscles are relaxed (except for minor twitches) but other body systems are active

• Alpha waves: Relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state

• NREM Sleep: Non-rigid eye movement sleep: encompasses all sleep cycles except for REM sleep

• Stage 1 sleep:

  • Hallucinations: False sensory experiences such as seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus

  • Hypnagogic Sensations: Bizarre experiences such as jerking or a feeling of falling or floating weightlessly which transitioning to sleep

• NREM - 2: Sleep spindles - Bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain-wave activity

• NREM - 3: lasts 30 mins, brain emits large, slow delta waves and become hard to awaken

  • Delta waves: Delta waves are the slowest recorded brain waves in human beings. They are found most often in infants and young children, and are associated with the deepest levels of relaxation and restorative, healing sleep

• Physiologically during REM sleep the brain shows increased activity, rapid eye movements, elevated heart rate, & irregular breathing, while muscles becomes temporarily paralyzed to prevent activity at drums

• REM sleep is sometimes called paradoxical sleep because the body is internally aroused, with waking-like brain activity, yet asleep and externally calm

• We spend 600 hours a year dreaming

• Sleep patterns are both genetically and culturally influenced

• Suprachiasmatic nucleus: A pair of cell clusters in hypothalamus that controls circadian rhythm. Response to light = SCN causes pined? gland to adjust melatonin production, thus modifying our feelings of sleepiness

• Melatonin is the hormones that helps regulate sleep and body’s circadian rhythm or internal 24hr clock

• Reasons why we need sleep:

  • Protection

  • Recuperation

  • Restore & rebuild our fading memories of day’s experiences

  • Feeding creative thinking

  • Supporting growth

Module 24 - Sleep Deprivation, Sleep Disorders, & Dreams

• If students don’t get enough sleep then they start feeling tired, have little energy, & have more conflicts in relationships

• Lack of sleep leads to weight gain because it enhances limbic brain responses to the mere sight of food & decreases cortical responses that help us resist temptation

• Lack of sleep affects our physical health by suppressing immune system that battle viral infections & cancer

• Sleep disorders:

  • Insomnia: Recurring problems in falling or staying asleep

  • Narcolepsy: Characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks. Sufferer may lapse directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times

  • Sleep apnea: Characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep & repeated momentarily awakening

  • Sleep walking/talking: Exhibits behavior like being awake, appears to be awake but are sleeping. Individual vocalizes in their sleep

  • Night Terrors: Characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified. Occurs during NREM -3 sleep, with 2-3 hrs of sleeping & seldom remembered

  • REM sleep behavior disorder: A sleep disorder in which normal REM paralysis does not occur; instead twitching, talking, or even kicking & punching may occur

Dreams

• Dreams: A sequence of images, emotions, & thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind

• For both men and women, 8 in 10 dreams are marked by at least one negative event or emotion

• Explanations on why we dream:

  • Freud’s wish-fulfillment theory

  • Information-processing theory: Dreams help us sort out the day’s events & consolidate our memories

  • Physiological function theory: Regulate brain stimulation from REM sleep may help develop & preserve neural pathways

  • Cognitive development theory: Dream content reflects dreamers’ level of cognitive development their knowledge & understanding. Dreams simulate our lives, including worst-case scenarios

Module 25 - Psychoactive Drugs

Tolerance & Addiction in Substance Use Disorders

• Psychoactive drugs: A chemical substance that alters perceptions & moods

• Substance abuse disorder: A disorder characterized by continued substance craving & use despite significant life disruption & or physical risk

• Indicators of substance abuse disorder:

  • Diminished control: Tried to unsuccessfully regulate rise of substance. Uses more substance, or for longer than intended

  • Diminished social functioning: Use disrupts life commitments. Causes reduced social, recreational, & work activities

  • Hazards Use: Continues despite hazards. Continues despite worsening physical or psychological problems

  • Drug Action: Experience tolerance (needing more substance for desired effect) Experiences withdrawal when attempting to end use

• Tolerance: Diminishing effect with regular use of same dose of a drug, requiring the user to take larger & larger doses before experiencing drug’s effect

• Withdrawal: Discomfort & distress that follow discontinuing an addictive drug or behavior

  • INSERT PHOTO OF “A GUIDE TO SELECTED PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS”

Module 16 - Basic Concepts of Sensation

Processing Sensation & Perception

• Sensation: Sensory receptors & nervous system receive & represent stimulus energies from our environment

• Sensation receptors: Sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli

• Perception: Organizing & interrupting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects & events

• Bottom-up processing: Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors & works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information

• Top-down processing: Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience & expectations

Transduction

• Transduction: Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies such as sights, sounds and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret

• All of our senses:

  • Receive sensory stimulation, often using specialized receptor cells

  • Transform that stimulation into neural impulses

  • Deliver the neural information to our brain

Thresholds

• Absolute threshold: The minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time

• What did an experiment conclude about much of our information processing?

  • Detecting a weak stimulus, depends not on on its strength but also on our psychological state-our experience, expectations…etc

• Signal Detection theory: How & when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulate. Assures there is no single absolute threshold & threat detection depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivations & alertness

• Subliminal: Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

• Difference threshold: Minimum difference between 2 stimuli required for detection 50% of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference (original)

• Weber’s law: Principle that, to be precieved as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount)

• Sensory adaptation: Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Module 18 - Vision: Sensory & Perceptual Processing

Light Energy & Eye Structures

• Transduce: Our eyes receive light energy & translate (transform) it into neural messages

• How wavelength, hue, & intensity related to vision:

  • Light’s wavelength is distance from one waves peak to the next. Wavelength determines hue, the color we experience. A light wave’s height determines its intensity

• Parts of the eye:

  • Cornea: The eye’s clear, protective outer layer. It covers the pupil and iris, helping to bend light to provide focus

  • Pupil: Adjustable opening in the center of the eye, which allows light to enter.

    • (Its size is controlled by the iris, adjusting based on light intensity and emotions to regulate the amount of light reaching the retina)

  • Iris: The colored muscle surrounding the pupil. It adjusts the pupil's size in response to light intensity and emotional arousal.

  • Lens: A transparent structure behind the pupil. It changes shape to focus incoming light on the retina, a process called accommodation.

  • Retina: The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing rods and cones. It processes visual information by converting light into neural signals that travel to the brain.

• Accommodation: The process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

Information Processing in the Eye & Brain

• Parts of the retina:

  • Rods: Photo-receptors in the retina that detect black, white, and gray. They are essential for peripheral and low-light (night) vision, as they are more sensitive in dim conditions

  • Cones: Photo-receptors in the retina that detect fine detail and color. They function best in bright light and are concentrated near the retina’s center, in an area called the fovea

  • Optic Nerve: The nerve that carries visual information from the retina to the brain. It forms at the retina's back and creates a small blind spot where there are no photo-receptors

• Blind spot: The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a “blind” spot because no receptor cells are located there

• Fovea: Central focal point in retina, around which the eye’s cones cluster

• Cones enable you to perceive color, while rods enable black and white vision

• In visual processing, what happens at the entry level?

  • Light enters the eye & is focused onto the retina, where photo-receptor cells (rods & cones) convert the light into neural signals. These signals are then transmitted to the brain for further processing

• EX: Tomato is not red. It reflects the long wavelengths of red. It is our mental construction

• Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (3 color) theory: Retina contains 3 types of color receptors - our most sensitive to red, green, blue - which when stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any color

• Color deficient: Not blind to all colors. Lack functioning to red or green sensitive cones. Sometimes both

  ********Present day solution to color vision: The trichromatic theory explains that we have three types of cones in the retina sensitive to red, green, and blue light. These cones work together to create the full spectrum of color. The opponent-process theory complements this by explaining that after the initial processing by cones, the brain interprets colors in opposing pairs, like red-green and blue-yellow. Both theories work together to explain color perception********

• Parallel processing: Refers to the brain's ability to simultaneously process different aspects of a visual scene, such as color, motion, form, and depth. This allows for more efficient perception & interpretation of complex information

Module 20 - Hearing

• Audition: Sense or act of hearing

The Stimulus Input: Sound Waves

• The height (amplitude) of sound waves determine their perceived loudness

• Frequency: Refers to the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given period of time, typically measured in Hertz (Hz).

• Pitch: Perception of the frequency of sound waves—higher frequencies correspond to higher pitches, and lower frequencies correspond to lower pitches. (cochlea)

• We measure sound amplitude in decibels. Every 10 decibels correspond to a tenfold increase in sound intensity

Hearing:

• Make-up of the ear:

  • Middle ear: A piston made of 3 tiny bones: hammer, anvil, stirrup

  • Cochlea: Snail-shape tube in inner ear

  • Inner ear: Contains cochlea, semicircular canals, & vestibular sacs

• Auditory nerve: Hair cell movements in turn trigger impulses in adjacent nerve cells, whose axons coverage to form the auditory nerve

• Conduction hearing loss: A less common form of hearing loss, caused by damage to mechanical system that conducts sound waves to cochlea

  • Sensorinural hearing loss: Hearing loss caused by damage to cochlea’s receptor cells or the auditory nerves; the most common form of hearing loss also called nerve deafness

• Cochlear implant: A device for converting sounds into electrical signals & stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, & Location

• How do we detect loudness:

  • A soft, pure tone activated only the few hair cells attuned to its frequency. Given louder sounds, neighboring hair cells also respond

• Place theory of pitch perception: Idea that different pitches are perceived based on which part of the cochlea is stimulated by sounds waves. Higher-pitched sounds stimulate the part of the cochlea near the base, while lower-pitched sounds affect the tip

  • Problem: Cannot fully explain how we perceive low-pitched sounds, as they stimulate the entire cochlea, not just specific places, making it less effective for understanding pitch perception across the entire range

• Frequency theory (Temporal theory): Suggests the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matched the frequency of a tone, enabling us to perceive its pitch

  • Problem: Neurons cannot fire faster than approximately one thousand times per second, making it difficult to explain how we perceive pitches higher than 1 thousand

• Volley principle: Frequency theory, extended by the volley principle, also explains how we sense low pitches

• Two ears are better than one because we get to enjoy stereophonic (“ 3 - dimensional”) hearing

Module 21 - The Other Senses

Touch

• Sense of touch is a mixture of distinct senses - pressure, temperature, etc through various skin receptors that send signals to the brain for integration

• Basic touch receptors: Pressure, warmth, cold, & pain

Pain

• Pain is the body’s way of conveying that something is wrong

• Pain is a biopsychosocial event. Pain experiences vary widely, from group to group & from person to person. Viewing pain from biological, psycho-biological, & social-cultural perspectives can help us better understand/help/cope/treat it (Both a bottom-up sensation and top-down cognition)

• Nociceptors (Sensory receptors): Mostly in skin, but also in muscles/organs detect hurtful temperature, pressure or chemicals

• Gate-control theory: A theory that the spinal cord contains a hematological “got” that controls transmission of pain messages to brain

• Pain is not just a physical phenomenon because the brain can also create pain

  • Phantom limb sensations: Happen often when limb is amputated

• Our attention is a powerful influence on our perception of pain

• When we seem to edit our memories of pain - Means that we overlook a pain duration and focus on the peak moment. Affects how we interpret & recall painful experiences, impacting future reactions

• Social situations and cultural traditions can significantly influence our perception of pain. Social context, such as having support from others, can also lessen the perceived intensity of pain

• Pain control therapies: Drugs, surgery, acupunctures, electrical simulations, meditation etc

• Endorphins are body’s natural pain killer

• Placebos can reduce pain by believing in a treatment’s effectiveness. Can trigger actual pain relief. Part of the brain's expectation-based processing. Distractions, such as engaging in other activities or focusing on something unrelated to the pain, can help reduce the perception of pain by directing attention away from the discomfort

Taste

• Gustation: Sense of taste

• Umami (savory), sweet, salty, sour, & bitter

• Taste exists to help organisms identify nutritious food and avoid harmful substances. It is a chemical sense because it involves detecting food molecules that interact with taste receptors on the tongue, sending signals to the brain for interpretation. (assess food’s safety and value)

• Taste receptors reproduce themselves every week or two but as you grow older, the number of taste buds decrease as does taste sensitivity

• Expectations/$ of food can influence taste, quality and what kind of food it is

Smell

• Olfaction: Sense of smell (chemical)

• The experience of smell (olfaction) occurs when odor molecules in the air bind to olfactory receptor cells located in the nasal cavity. These receptor cells then send signals to the olfactory bulb in the brain, which processes and interprets the information, allowing us to recognize and identify different smells.

• A smell’s appeal can depend on cultural experiences because different cultures associate certain smells with positive or negative emotions

• Smells evoke memories because the olfactory bulb is directly connected to the limbic system, which includes the hippocampus (memory) and amygdala (emotion)

Body Position & Movement

• Kinesthesia: Sense that detects body position, movements & the location of body parts, in space, allowing for awareness of physical activity & coordination

• Body “equipped” to recognize position & movement: Proprioceptors are the sensory receptors involved in detecting body position and movement. They are located in muscles, tendons, and joints, and they send signals to the brain about body orientation and movement, contributing to the kinesthetic sense

• Vestibular sense: Responsible for detecting changes in head position and movement. Help maintain balance and spatial orientation. Relies on the inner ear, & the semicircular canals and the vestibular sacs. This system helps coordinate balance and posture

• Semicircular canals: These three fluid-filled tubes are oriented at right angles to each other and detect rotational movements of the head. When the head moves, the fluid inside the canals shifts, bending hair cells that send signals to the brain about the direction and speed of the movement. Helps maintain balance & spatial orientation

Sensory Interaction

• Sensory Interaction: Refers to how one sense can influence the perception of another. For EX, taste is affected by smell, and visual cues can enhance or alter the experience of sound

• Smell can change our perception of taste - If our sense of smell is impaired (like when we have a cold), food can taste bland or different, as the brain uses olfactory cues to enhance flavor perception

• McGurk Effect: Occurs when conflicting visual and auditory information causes a person to perceive a different sound than what is actually spoken

• Embodied cognition: Idea that our thoughts and cognitive processes are shaped by our physical body and its interactions with the environment. Suggests that our body movements, posture, and even sensory experiences influence how we think, feel, and process information

  • EX: How people gesture while speaking which can enhance their thinking & articulate their idea

• Synesthesia: A condition where stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in another. It results from unusual connections or "cross-wiring" in the brain, blending sensory perceptions

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NEW CONTENT NOT IN THE TEXTBOOK

• Myasthenia gravis: An autoimmune disorder where the body's immune system attacks the connection between nerves and muscles, leading to muscle weakness.

• Nearsightedness (myopia): A condition where close objects are seen clearly, but distant objects are blurry because the eye is too long or the cornea is too curved.

• Farsightedness (hyperopia): Occurs when distant objects are seen clearly, but close objects appear blurry due to a short eye or a flat cornea.

• Pheromones: Chemical signals that influence the behavior or physiology of others of the same species.

• Olegustus: Refers to the phenomenon where humans experience an unpleasant taste from fat.