Gen Psych Chp 10 Key Terms, Concept checks, quiz

What evidence suggests that we construct a conscious perception of a stimulus afterward instead of simultaneously with it?

A brief masked stimulus is not perceived consciously, but a slightly longer one is perceived as lasting the entire duration. Also, the perception of a first stimulus can be altered by a stimulus that follows it

What did Freud mean by the "latent content" of a dream?

A hidden meaning that the dream symbolizes

What evidence shows that déjà vu does not always indicate that an experience was actually familiar?

A person with temporal lobe epilepsy reported an intense déjà vu experience immediately before his seizures, regardless of where he was or what he was seeing at the time

Manifest content

According to Freud, content that appears on the surface of a dream

Latent content

According to Freud, hidden ideas that a dream experience represents symbolically

On average, how does the alertness of an older person change over the course of a day?

Alertness is highest in the morning and then decreases

Binocular rivalry

Alteration between seeing the pattern in the left retina and the pattern in the right retina

What is responsible for the circadian rhythm of wakefulness and sleepiness?

An area in the brain generates this rhythm

What experience reflects the fact that part of the brain can be awake while another is asleep?

Any of the following: waking up but finding oneself unable to move, sleepwalking, or lucid dreaming

During a state of meditation, what does a person practice?

Concentration on an image or sensation while remaining passive

Narcolepsy

Condition characterized by sudden attacks of sleepiness during the day

Sleep apnea

Condition in which someone fails to breathe for a minute or more during sleep

Minimally conscious state

Condition in which someone has brief periods of purposeful actions and speech comprehension

Coma

Condition in which the brain shows a steady but low level of activity and no response to any stimulus

Brain death

Condition in which the brain shows no activity and no response to any stimulus

Vegetative state

Condition marked by limited responsiveness to stimuli, such as increased heart rate in response to pain

Periodic limb movement disorder

Condition marked by unpleasant sensations in the legs and repetitive leg movements strong enough to interrupt sleep

Hypnosis

Condition of increased suggestibility that occurs in the context of a special hypnotist subject relationship

Insomnia

Condition of not getting enough sleep to feel rested the next day

Night terror

Condition that causes someone to awaken screaming and sweating with a racing heart rate, sometimes flailing with the arms

Polysomnograph

Device that combines an EEG measure with a simultaneous measure of eye movement

What question should you ask to decide whether you have insomnia?

Do you feel sufficiently rested the next day?

How does dreaming differ from other thinking?

Dreaming resembles other thinking, but it occurs during a time of decreased sensory input and loss of voluntary control of thinking

In which of these ways is dreaming usually different from waking thought?

Dreams usually feature less pleasant emotions

Suppose we present a weak, brief stimulus that an observer does not perceive consciously. What happens if we gradually increase the stimulus from one trial to the next?

Either activity spreads widely in the brain or it does not. Intermediates do not occur

Déjà vu experience

Feeling that an event is uncannily familiar

Name two practical applications of hypnosis

Hypnosis can relieve pain, and posthypnosis suggestions help some people break unwanted habits, such as smoking

Readiness potential

Increased motor cortex activity prior to the start of a movement

Why are people unconscious most of the time while they are asleep?

Inhibitory synapses block the spread of messages from one brain area to another

Posthypnotic suggestion

Instruction to do or experience something after coming out of hypnosis

Narcolepsy can be described as which of the following?

Intrusions of REM sleep into the waking period

In what way, if at all, can hypnosis relieve pain?

It decreases the brain's response to pain, especially to the emotional aspect

What are the effects of hypnosis on memory?

It leads people to confidently report more details, most of which are wrong

What role does sunlight play, if any, in the circadian rhythm?

It rests the rhythm, like resetting the time on your watch

If someone remains awake nonstop for three days, what happens to the person's alertness?

It rises and falls on a 24 hour schedule, superimposed on a downward slope.

What is characteristic of someone in a vegetative state?

Limited responsiveness, such as increased heart rate in response to pain

electroemcephalograph (EEG)

Measures and amplifies tiny electrical changes on the scalp that reflect patterns of brain activity

The neurocognitive theory of dreams compares dreams to what?

Mind wandering and daydreaming

What does it indicate if a sleeper's EEG shows long, slow, high-amplitude waves?

Most neurons are active in synchrony with one another

What do people perceive during binocular rivalry?

Most people perceive one stimulus and then the other, alternating

Why did the American Medical Association recommend that courts refuse to admit testimony that was obtained under hypnosis?

Much of the information reported under hypnosis is incorrect

Why is it hard to test whether hypnosis can get people to do something they would refuse to do otherwise?

Nonhypnotized people are willing to do some strange and dangerous acts

On a submarine with constant artificial light and no sunlight, what happens to a sleep-wake cycle?

People continue to alternate between wakeful and sleepy on a 24 hour basis

Jet lag

Period of discomfort and inefficiency while your internal clock is out of phase with your new surroundings

Which animal species spend the greatest amount of time sleeping?

Predatory animals

Flash suppression

Procedure of blocking consciousness of a stationary visual stimulus by surround it with rapidly flashing items

Backward masking

Procedure of following a stimulus with an interfering pattern that might prevent consciousness of the stimulus

Masking

Procedure of preceding or following a stimulus with an interfering pattern that might prevent consciousness of the stimulus

How did researchers arrange for a stimulus to be conscious on some trials and not others?

Researchers presented a word for a small fraction of a second. When they simply presented the word, most people identified it. In other cases, researchers put interfering patterns before and after the word. In those cases, people were not conscious of it

Circadian rhythm

Rhythm of activity and inactivity lasting approximately one day

How do self-initiated movements differ from stimulus-elicited movements?

Self-initiated movements are generally slow and gradual

What did one woman in a vegetative state do that suggested she might be conscious?

She responded to instructions with increased activity in appropriate brain areas

Name two important functions of sleep

Sleep conserves energy, and memories strengthen during sleep

Sleepwalking, lucid dreaming, and waking up unable to move illustrate which idea?

Sometimes one brain area is awake while another is asleep

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep

Stage characterized by rapid eye movements, a high level of brain activity, and deep relaxation of the postural muscles; also known as paradoxical sleep

Consciousness

Subjective experience of perceiving oneself and one's surroundings

Which of the following is characteristic of people with narcolepsy?

Sudden intrusions of REM sleep into the waking period

What do the long waves of brain activity during stage 4 sleep indicate?

Synchrony among neurons

Meditation

Systematic procedure for inducing a calm, relaxed state

During which sleep stage is the brain least active? During which stage are the muscles least active?

The brain is least active during stage 4 sleep. The muscles are least active during REM sleep

When you are conscious of one eye's stimulus during binocular rivalry, what happens to the representation of the stimulus in the other eye?

The brain processes that stimulus enough to determine whether or not it is important

Can hypnosis cause people to do anything they would be unwilling to do otherwise?

The evidence is unclear. In certain experiments, hypnotized people have done some strange things, but so have nonhypnotized people

Why do people almost never act out their dreams during REM sleep?

The major postural muscles are paralyzed during REM sleep

In Libet's experiment, in which people reported the time of a decision to flew the wrist, why were the results relevant to philosophical questions?

The results implied that conscious decisions do not control behavior

Why are many researchers skeptical of Freud's theory of dreams?

The theory offers interpretations whose accuracy we cannot check

Activation-synthesis theory of dreams

Theory that dreams occur because the cortex takes the haphazard activity that occurs during REM sleep plus whatever stimuli strike the sense organs and does its best to make sense of this activity

What is one likely explanation for why horses evolved a tendency to sleep few hours per night?

They are at high risk of being attacked during their sleep

Hibernating male ground squirrels emerge from their burrows before the females do, and before food is available. What important point does this fact demonstrate?

Timing mechanisms prepare animals for future needs

When researchers briefly flash a word and then present a masking pattern, what is the purpose of the masking patter?

To prevent consciousness of the word

Several studies indicate that brain activity preparing for a movement starts before the conscious decision to make the movement. Why is the interpretation of results uncertain?

Voluntary decisions are gradual and difficult to pinpoint in time

Sleep spindles

Waves of brain activity at about 12 to 14 per second

Libet's experiment indicated that the brain activity responsible for a movement began earlier than the conscious decision to make the movement. What is the main reason to be uncertain of this conclusion?

We have reasons to doubt that people can accurately state the time that a conscious decision began. Spontaneous movements and the decisions behind them develop gradually, not suddenly.

How is the content of dreams similar to waking thoughts, and how is it different?

We mostly dream about the same topics we think about, but dreams usually feature less happy emotions

A brief masked stimulus is not perceived consciously, but a slightly longer one is perceived as lasting the entire duration. That finding supports which of these conclusions?

We sometimes construct a conscious perception after the stimulus, not simultaneously with it.

With masking, flash suppression, or binocular rivalry, a viewer is conscious of a stimulus under one condition but not another. How does the brain representation differ as a result?

When a viewer is conscious of a stimulus, the brain activity is stronger and more widespread

Suppose someone with intact retinas becomes blind because of damage to the visual cortex. Will that person nevertheless synchronize the circadian rhythm to the time of the sunlight? Explain

Yes, someone with blindness because of cortical damage nevertheless tends to wake during time of sunlight. The average amount of bright light activates certain ganglion cells that send their output not to the visual cortex but to the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which controls the circadian rhythm