Memory consolidation occurs during sleep, learning during the day is consolidated and memories and new information becomes more “stable” meaning you are likely to forget it

Circadian rhythm

24 hr cycle of physical, mental, and behavioral changes that occur in the body. Known as the bodily clock

Melatonin

Hormone produced by the body in response to your exposure to the light. Drowsiness increases with rising levels.

Hypnopompic vs hypnogogic hallucinations. What are they? How are they different?

Hypnopompic hallucinations: false perceptions that occur during the transition from wakefulness to sleep (occurs when falling asleep)

Hypnogogic hallucinations: false perceptions that occur during the transition from sleep to wakefulness (occurs when waking up)

What is REM sleep? How is it different from non-REM sleep

REM Sleep: important for mood regulation, brain repair, and memory consolidation. It is characterized by:

Rapid eye movement

Muscle paralysis

Dreaming

High levels of brain activity

**is 20-25 percent of sleep*

Non-REM sleep: can be broken down into 3 stages. 1 being lighter and 3 being deeper.

Know about the different disorders: insomnia, sleep apnea, somnambulism, sleep paralysis

Insomnia: sleep disorder characterized by difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or getting high quality sleep

Sleep apnea: causes breathing to repeatedly stop or become shallow during sleep. Results in poor quality sleep. Can be incredible dangerous bc it is caused by blocked airways.

Somnambulism: sleepwalking. Causes people to walk or perform other activities while they are still asleep. Occurs during deep Non-REM sleep

Sleep paralysis: a state either waking up or falling asleep in which a person is conscious but in a complete state of full body paralysis

Know the difference between coma, persistent vegetative state, and brain death

Coma: an unconscious state that lacks both awareness and wakefulness. They do not respond to stimuli

Persistent vegetative state: a chronic condition where a person has severe brain damage and is in a state of partial arousal. They are consciously unaware of their surroundings but may involuntarily respond to their external environment

Brain death: the permanent, irreversible, and complete loss of brain function

Who was Terri Schiavo

Brain dead

Multiple controversies

Sensation and Perception

What is sensation? What is perception?

Sensation: the simple stimulation of a sense organ. It is the basic registration of light, sound, pressure, odor, or taste as parts of your body interact with the physical world

Perception: the organization, identification, and interpretation of a sensation in order to form a mental representation

know about some of the illusions demonstrated in class: Rubin’s vase, Muller-Lyer illusion, ponzo illusion

Rubin’s vase: the face and chalice illusion

Classic example of figure-ground reversal, where the brain’a perception of the border between the black and white areas determines whether the image is seen as a vase or two faces

Muller-Lyer illusion

Two or more lines of the same length appear to be different lengths

Ponzo illusion

Ladder with parallel lines, with the lengths of the lines appearing longer than the other, but are actually the same length

What are rods and cones? What is the trichromatic theory of color?

Rods and cones: photoreceptors that are sensory receptors in the eye that turn light waves into brain signals

Rods: receptors that respond to low levels of light

Cones: respond better to higher levels

Trichromatic theory of color: the idea that humans perceive color by combining the wavelengths of red, green, and blue light. They contain s-cones, m-cones, l-cones

Know about color blindness: the nature of it? Who does it tend to affect most?
- myth: people who are color blind do not see color at all.

Facts:

Full color-blindness (known as achromatopsia) is very rare

It affects men significantly more than women (bc of genetics) affects approx. 8% men and 1% women

define prosopagnosia 

Known as face blindness, a cognitive disorder of face perception in which the ability to recognize familiar faces including one’s own face is impaired while other aspects of visible processing is functioning

what are nociceptors?

Pain receptors; they detect changes in the body that could be harmful such as extreme temperatures, pressure, or chemicals. When they detect something, they send signals to the spinal cord and brain to start the pain sensations

what is the mind-body connection? 

The relationship between a person’s mental and emotional state and their physical health. It’s a two way relationship where the mind and body influence each other

What is symptom amplification?

The more you focus on the physical sensation of pain, the more you feel it. This is common w those struggling w chronic pain

What are opioids? Be able to identify some of the more common opioids

A broad class of drugs that work to relieve pain. They are available via a prescription from a doctor.

Common opioids: oxytocin, morphine, codeine, tramadol

What is the best psychotherapy treatment of choice for pain (answer CBT)

define gustation.

Gustation: taste; the sense of perceiving flavors through receptors on the tongue when chemicals from food interact with taste buds

What are the 5 senses

Vision, olfaction, gestation(taste), audition ( hearing), tactile sensation. (Touch)

What are cats unable to taste?!

They are unable to taste sweetness bc they have no taste receptors for it

Define taste aversion

(Sometimes called the Garcia effect): a learned association between a taste and a negative experience that leads to the avoidance of that taste in the future

what is ageusia? What is hypogeusia?

Ageusia: the total inability to detect any taste

Hypogeusia: reduced ability to taste, making it hard to differentiate between certain tastes or flavors

What is olfaction?

Refers to the sense of smell. The ability to detect airborne chemicals through the nose

why can’t you smell yourself?

It is more important to be able to identify new smells rather than continuously smelling yourself

What is audition?

Hearing; the ability of an organism to sense sound and to process and interpret the sensations to gain information about the source and nature of sound

Knowt