Psychology Test 2 (chapters 3 & 6)

At its beginning, psychology was:

"the description and explanation of states of consciousness" BUT during the first half of the twentieth century, the difficulty of scientifically studying consciousness led many psychologists— including those in the emerging school of behaviorism—to turn to direct observations of behavior

Scientists now assume, in the words of neuroscientist Marvin Minsky

"the mind is what the brain does."

A visual perception track enables us:

"to think about the world"—to recognize things and to plan future actions.

By the 1960s, psychology had nearly lost consciousness and was defining itself as:

- "the science of behavior." - Consciousness was likened to a car's speedometer: "It doesn't make the car go, it just reflects what's happening"

sleep deprivation on the immune system:

- Decreased production of immune cells; increased risk of viral infections, such as colds

sleep deprivation on stomach

- Increase in hunger-arousing ghrelin; decrease in hunger-suppressing leptin

sleep deprivation on joints:

- Increased inflammation and arthritis

sleep deprivation on fat cells:

- Increased production; greater risk of obesity

what we dream

- More commonly, a dream's story line incorporates traces of previous days' nonsexual experiences and preoccupations -Trauma and dreams :After suffering a trauma, people commonly report nightmares, which help extinguish daytime fears -Musicians dreams: Compared with city dwellers, people in hunter-gatherer societies more often dream of animals. Compared with nonmusicians, musicians report twice as many dreams of music - Blind people's dreams: Studies in four countries have found blind people mostly dreaming of using their nonvisual senses. But even natively blind people sometimes "see" in their dreams Likewise, people born paralyzed below the waist sometimes dream of walking, standing, running, or cycling - media experiences and dreams: participants who consumed violent media tended to have violent dreams and ppl who consumed sexual media tended to have sexual dreams

To make sense of neural static:

- Other theories propose that dreams erupt from neural activation spreading upward from the brainstem - According to "activation-synthesis theory," dreams are the brain's attempt to synthesize random neural activity

What are the four sleep stages, and in what order do we normally travel through those stages?

- REM (R) - NREM-1 (N1) - NREM-2 (N2) - NREM-3 (N3) normally we move through N1, then N2, then N3, then back up through N2 before we experience REM sleep.

sleep deprivation on muscles:

- Reduced strength; slower reaction time and motor learning

why we dream

- To satisfy our own wishes. - To file away memories. - To develop and preserve neural pathways - To make sense of neural static. - To reflect cognitive development

sleep deprivation on the brain:

- brain: decreased ability to focus attention and process and store memories; increased rate of depression; decreased metabolic rate; increased cortisol; enhanced limbic brain responses to the mere sight of food; decreased cortical responses- reducing ability to resist temptation

You then relax more deeply and begin about 20 minutes of NREM-2 sleep, with its periodic sleep spindles----

- bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain-wave activity

Biological rhythms and sleep

- circadian rhythm - sleep stages - REM Sleep - What affects our sleep pattern

defining consciousness

- consciousness

Some states occur spontaneously

- daydreaming - drowsiness - dreaming

consciousness some basic concepts:

- defining consciousness - cognitive neuroscience - selective attention - dual processing: the two-track mind

dual processing: the 2 track mind

- dual processing - blindsight - parallel processing - sequential processing

hallucinations

- false sensory experiences, such as seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus. - sensory experiences that occur without a sensory stimulus - N1

N1

- fleeting images

Some are physiologically induced

- hallucinations - orgasm - food or oxygen starvation

You may have a sensation of falling (at which moment your body may suddenly jerk) or of floating weightlessly. These ___________ sensations may later be incorporated into your memories

- hypnagogic sensations (also called hypnic)

sleep deprivation causes:

- increases ghrelin, a hunger-arousing hormone, and decreases its hunger-suppressing partner, leptin -decreases metabolic rate, a gauge of energy use - increases cortisol, a stress hormone that stimulates the body to make fat - enhances limbic brain responses to the mere sight of food and decreases cortical inhibition

major sleep disorders

- insomnia - narcolepsy - sleep apnea - sleepwalking and sleeptalking - night terrors

effects of sleep loss

- lack of sleep can also make you gain weight

N3

- minimal awareness

explain 2 attentional principles that magicians may use to fool us

- our selective attention allows us to focus on only a limited portion of our surroundings. - Inattentional blindness explains why we don't percieve some things when we are distracted. -change blindness, for example, happens when we fail to notice a relatively unimportant change in our environment. these principles help magicians fool us, as they direct our attention elsewhere to perform tricks

sequential processing

- processing one aspect of a stimulus or problem at a time; generally used to process new information or to solve difficult problems.

insomnia

- rate: 1 in 10 adults; 1 in 4 older adults - description: ongoing difficulty falling or staying asleep. - effects: chronic tiredness. reliance on sleeping pills and alcohol, which reduce REM sleep and lead to tolerance- a state in which increasing doses are needed to produce an effect

night terrors

- rate: 1 in 100 adults; 1 in 30 children - description: appearing terrified, talking nonsense, sitting up, or walking around during N3 sleep; different from nightmares - effects: doubling of a child's heart and breathing rates during the attack. Luckily, children remember little or nothing of the fearful event the next day. As people age, night terrors become more and more rare.

sleep apnea

- rate: 1 in 20 adults - description: stopping breathing repeatedly while sleeping - effects: fatigue and depression (as a result of slow-wave sleep deprivation). associated with obesity (especially among men).

narcolepsy

- rate: 1 in 2000 adults - description: sudden attacks of overwhelming sleepiness - effects: risk of falling asleep at a dangerous moment. narcolepsy attacks usually last less than 5 minutes, but they can happen at the worst and most emotional times. everyday activities, such as driving, require extra caution

sleepwalking and sleeptalking

- rate: 1-15 in 100 in the general population for sleepwalking; about half of young children fore sleeptalking - description: doing normal waking activities (sitting up, walking, speaking) while asleep. sleeptalking can occur during any sleep stage. sleepwalking happens in N3 sleep. - effects: few serious concerns. sleepwalkers return to their beds on their own or with the help of a family member, rarely remembering their trip the next morning

some are psychologically induced:

- sensory deprivation - hypnosis - meditation

states of consciousness

- some states occur spontaneously - some are physiologically induced - some are psychologically induced

REM (R)

- story-like dream

• The ______________ nucleus helps monitor the brain's release of melatonin, which affects our __________ rhythm.

- suprachiasmatic nucleus - circadian rhythm

What effects our sleep patterns?

- suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)

parallel processing

- the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions. - processing many aspects of a stimulus or problem at once

sleep stages

-REM - alpha waves - hallucinations - delta waves

What is the place of consciousness in psychology's history?

After initially claiming consciousness as their area of study in the 19th century, psychologists abandoned it in the first half of the 20th century, turning instead to the study of observable behavior because they believed consciousness was too difficult to study scientifically. since 1960, under the influence of cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive neuroscience, our awareness of ourselves and our environment- our consciousness- has reclaimed its place as an important area of research.

an ideal sleep aid would:

An ideal sleep aid would mimic the natural chemicals abundant during sleep, reliably producing sound sleep without side effects. Until scientists can supply this magic pill, sleep experts have offered some tips for getting better quality sleep

Freud considered dreams the key to understanding our inner conflicts. However, his critics say it is time to wake up from Freud's dream theory, which they regard as a scientific nightmare.

Based on the accumulated science, "there is no reason to believe any of Freud's specific claims about dreams and their purposes," observed dream researcher William Domhoff (2003)

Every psychologically meaningful experience involves an active brain. We are once again reminded of a basic principle:

Biological and psychological explanations of behavior are partners, not competitors

Ironically, insomnia is worsened by fretting about it. In laboratory studies, people who think they have insomnia do sleep less than others.

But they typically overestimate how long it takes them to fall asleep and underestimate how long they actually have slept (Harvey & Tang, 2012). Even if we have been awake only an hour or two, we may think we have had very little sleep because it's the waking part we remember

Evolutionary psychologists presume that consciousness offers a reproductive advantage

By considering consequences and reading others' intentions, consciousness helps us to cope with novel situations and act in our long-term interests.

to reflect cognitive development:

Dreams overlap with waking cognition and feature coherent speech. They simulate reality by drawing on our concepts and knowledge. They engage brain networks that also are active during daydreaming—and so may be viewed as intensified mind wandering, enhanced by visual imagery

To develop and preserve neural pathways:

Perhaps dreams, or the brain activity associated with REM sleep, serve a physiological function, providing the sleeping brain with periodic stimulation.

In 1900, in his landmark book The Interpretation of Dreams:

Sigmund Freud offered what he thought was "the most valuable of all the discoveries it has been my good fortune to make." He proposed that dreams provide a psychic safety valve that discharges otherwise unacceptable feelings.

The most common quick fixes for true insomnia—sleeping pills and alcohol— can aggravate the problem, reducing REM sleep and leaving the person with next-day blahs

Such aids can also lead to tolerance—a state in which increasing doses are needed to produce an effect

sleep deprivation on heart:

Increased risk of high blood pressure

inattentional blindness example

Viewers who were attending to basketball tosses among the black-shirted players usually failed to notice the umbrella-toting woman sauntering across the screen

selective attention and accidents

We pay a toll for switching attentional gears, especially when we shift to complex tasks, like noticing and avoiding cars around us. The toll is a slight and sometimes fatal delay in coping

change blindness example

While a man (in red) provides directions to a construction worker, two experimenters rudely pass between them carrying a door. During this interruption, the original worker switches places with another person wearing different-colored clothing. Most people, focused on their direction giving, do not notice the switch

blindsight

a condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it.

suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)

a pair of cell clusters in the hypothalamus that controls circadian rhythm. In response to light, the SCN causes the pineal gland to adjust melatonin production, thus modifying our feelings of sleepiness.

dream

a sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person's mind.

night terrors

a sleep disorder characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified; unlike nightmares, night terrors occur during NREM-3 sleep, within two or three hours of falling asleep, and are seldom remembered.

sleep apnea

a sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings.

narcolepsy

a sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks. The sufferer may lapse directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times.

manifest content

according to Freud, the remembered story line of a dream (as distinct from its latent, or hidden, content)

latent content

according to Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream (as distinct from its manifest content).

• Those working in the interdisciplinary field called _____________ _____________study the brain activity associated with the mental processes of perception, thinking, memory, and language.

cognitive neuroscience

chapter 3

consciousness: some basic concepts

night-shift workers may experience a chronic state of ________

desynchronization - as a result they become more likely to develop fatigue, stomach problems, heart disease, and for women, breast cancer

The information-processing perspective proposes

dreams may help sift, sort, and fix the day's experiences in our memory. Some studies support this view

Freud's wish-fulfillment theory

explanation: -Dreams preserve sleep and provide a "psychic safety valve"—expressing otherwise unacceptable feelings; contain manifest (remembered) content and a deeper layer of latent content (a hidden meaning). critical considerations: - Lacks any scientific support; dreams may be interpreted in many different ways

change blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment.

inattentional blindness (selective inattention)

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.

A visual action track:

guides our moment-to-moment movements

Failure to see visible objects because our attention is occupied elsewhere is called _____________

inattentional blindness

Psychologists of all persuasions were affirming the importance of cognition:

or mental processes (cognition definition)

what are the mind's 2 tracks, and what is dual processing

our mind simultaneously processes information on a conscious track and an unconscious track (dual processing) as we organize and interpret information

consciousness

our subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment.

Your brain's motor cortex is active during REM sleep, but your brainstem blocks its messages. This leaves your muscles relaxed, so much so that, except for an occasional finger, toe, or facial twitch, you are essentially paralyzed. Moreover, you cannot easily be awakened. REM sleep is thus sometimes called

paradoxical sleep

Sleep

periodic, natural loss of consciousness—as distinct from unconsciousness resulting from a coma, general anesthesia, or hibernation.

REM

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 - rapid eye movement sleep; also called R sleep

insomnia

recurring problems in falling or staying asleep

what is the dual processing being revealed by today's cognitive neuroscience?

scientists studying the brain mechanisms underlying consciousness and cognition have discovered that the mind processes information on two separate tracks, one operating at a conscious level (sequential processing) and the other at an unconscious level (parallel processing). Parallel processing takes care of the routine business, while sequential processing is the best for solving new problems that require our attention. together, this dual-processing- conscious and unconscious- affects our perception, memory, attitudes, and other cognition.

inattentional blindness is a product of our ________ attention

selective

sleepwalking is also called

somnambulism

Bright light affects our sleepiness by activating light-sensitive retinal proteins. This signals the brain's _________

suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) to decrease production of melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone

circadian rhythm

the biological clock; regular bodily rhythms (for example, of temperature and wakefulness) that occur on a 24-hour cycle. - Latin circa, "about", and diem, "day"

Today's science explores

the biology of consciousness

selective attention

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

cognitive neuroscience

the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language).

delta waves

the large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep. - N3

dual processing

the principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks.

alpha waves

the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state.

REM rebound

the tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation.

how does selective attention direct our perceptions?

we selectively attend to, and process, a very limited portion of incoming information, blocking out much and often shifting the spotlight of our attention from one thing to another. Focused intently on one task, we often display inattentional blindness to other events, including change blindness to changes around us

• Why would communal sleeping provide added protection for those whose safety depends upon vigilance, such as these soldiers?

with each soldier cycling through the sleep stages independently, at any given time at least one likely will be in an easily awakened stage

a classic example of selective attention is the cocktail party effect:

your ability to attend to only one voice in a sea of many

the sleep cycle repeats itself about every _____ minutes

90

why do we sleep?

1. Sleep protects 2. Sleep helps us recuperate 3. Sleep helps restore and rebuild our fading memories of the day's experiences 4. Sleep feeds creative thinking 5. Sleep supports growth (sleep can dramatically improve your athletic ability)

• A well-rested person would be more likely to have _________ (trouble concentrating/quick reaction times) and a sleep-deprived person would be more likely to ________ (gain weight/fight off a cold).

1. quick reaction time 2. gain weight

What are five proposed reasons for our need for sleep?

1. sleep has survival value 2. sleep helps us restore the immune system and repair brain tissue 3. during sleep we consolidate memories. 4. Sleep fuels creativity 5. Sleep play a role in the growth process

we register and react to stimuli outside of our awareness by means of ______ processing. when we devote deliberate attention to stimuli, we use _______ processing

1. unconscious 2. conscious