ap pysc

Sleep 

  • Consciousness = is our awareness of ourselves and our environment 

    • 2 types of consciousness:

      • Wakefulness = when we are awake, aware of surroundings, think, feel and react 

      • Sleep = not fully aware of surroundings, but brain is on and can process things like sounds 

  • Cognitive Neuroscience - how brain activity is linked with cognition 

  • Circadian rhythm - biological clock that is a 24 hour cycle

    •  involves changing your blood pressure, internal temperature, hormones and regulating your sleep wake cycle 

    • Jet lag - Can become disrupted - change to working the night shirt or travel to different time zones - your clock will become out of sync with the local time; causes individual to feel tired, disoriented and sluggish 

  • EEG - allows us to measure the frequency of waves (the number of wakes per sec) and the amplitude (size of wave) 

    • Types of brain waves

      • Delta - deep sleep 

      • Theta - drowsy 

      • Alpha - relaxed - slower waves with high amplitude

      • Beta - focused - low in amplitude with the fastest frequency - usually when you are engaged in something (baseball) 

  • Stages of sleep 

    • NREM stage 1 

      • Lasts about 5-10 mins

      • Body will start to relax and your mind starts to slow

      • Common waves = alpha waves

      • Hypnagogic Sensations - experience sensations that you imagine are real, when you are in light sleep (fall from a dream) 

    • NREM stage 2

      • Lasts 10-20 mins 

      • K-complexes and Sleep spindles (which are bursts of neural activity)

      • Common waves = theta waves 

    • NREM stage 3 

      • Deepest stage of sleep

      • Lasts 30 mins 

      • Growth hormones are produced

      • individual may experience sleepwalking or sleep talking

      • Common waves = delta waves 

    • REM sleep (rapid eye movement) 

      • External muscles = paralyzed

      • Internal muscles = active 

      • Common waves = Beta waves

      • Lasts for about 10 minutes

      • Experience dreams or nightmares

      • Considered paradoxical = brain waves are similar to wakefulness, but the body is at its most relaxed

      • As sleep cycle progresses, REM stage becomes longer 

      • If you keep getting woken up and never get to REM sleep = REM deprivation, which could cause REM rebound → next time you get REM sleep, reach it more quickly and spend more time in REM 

  • Theories of trying to understand dreams

    • Activation-Synthesis Theory - takes the perspective that dreams are the brain's way of making sense of random neural activity during sleep 

    • Consolidation theory - takes the perspective that dreams help process and strengthen our memories and experiences 

    • Restoration Theory - believes that we sleep b/c we get tired from daily activities and we sleep to restore our energy and resources 

  • Insomnia - sleeping disorder where an individual will have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep 

    • Can be caused by stress, pain, medication or irregular sleep schedule 

  • Sleep Apnea - when an individual has a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep b/c they are struggling with breathing 

  • REM sleep behavior disorder - person acts out their dreams during REM sleep 

  • Somnambulism (sleep walking) - this a disorder where a person gets up and walks around while still sleeping (stage 3) 

  • Night Terror - experience intense fear while sleeping (nightmare) 

  • Narcolepsy - individuals will struggle to get sleep at night and will uncontrollably fall asleep during the day 


Sensation 

  • Sensation = the process of detecting information from the environment

  • Sensory Transduction - taking in an outside stimulus through one of your senses you activate sensory neurons, creating a sensation 

    • You must hit an Absolute threshold to experience a sensation - smallest amount of stimulation needed for you to notice a sensation at least 50% of the time 

  • Sensory adaptation - happens when we have a stimulus that is continuous, and doesn't change (candle) 

  • Habituation - when you are repeatedly exposed to stimulus and start to have a reduced response to the stimulus (drugs) 

  • Difference Threshold - the minimum change between 2 stimuli that causes an individual to detect the change (outside temp vs. inside temp) 

    • Weber-Fechner-Law = is the idea for us to notice a difference between 2 stimuli, the 2 stimuli must differ by a constant percent = not a constant amount 

  • Sensory Interaction - when are sight, hearing taste, smell, and touch work together 

  • Synesthesia - is a neurological condition where one sense is experienced through another (might see color when they hear music) 


  • Visual Sensory system 

    • 2 types of visual photoreceptors in the eye

      • Rods 

        • Located on the periphery of the retina 

        • See in dim light, no color information 

      • Cones 

        • Located in the fovea 

        • See fine detail, clear vision, and color

    • Trichromatic Theory - individuals are able to see color b/c different wavelengths of light stimulate combinations of 3 color receptors - RED, GREEN, and BLUE 

    • Opponent processing theory -