Psychology Module 5 Chapter 3 & 4

Mescaline

a hallucinogen derived from the mescal (peyote) cactus

Hertz (Hz)

a unit expressing the frequency of sound waves, one hertz equals one cycle per second

Decibels (dB)

a unit expressing the loudness of a sound

Sleep Terrors

frightening dreamlike experiences that occur during the deepest stage of NREM sleep; nightmares, in contrast, occur during REM sleep

Odor

sample of molecules of a substance in the air

Theta Waves

slow brain waves produced during the hypnagogic state

Nonrapid Eye Movement (NREM) Sleep

the first four stages of sleep

Taste Buds

the sensory organs for taste; they contain taste cells and are located mostly on the tongue, located in roof, sides, and back of the mouth, and in the throat

Sensation

the stimulation of sensory receptors and the transmission of sensory information to the central nervous system

Size Constancy

the tendency to perceive an object as being the same size even as the size of its retinal image changes according to the object's distance

Common Fate

the tendency to perceive elements that move together as belonging together

Sound or Auditory Stimulation

the vibration of molecules in a medium such as air or water

Cornea

transparent tissue forming the outer surface of the eyeball

Weber's Constant

1/60 - the fraction of the intensity by which a source of physical energy must be increased or decreased so that a difference in intensity will be perceived

Absolute Threshold

German psychologist Gustav Fechner, the minimal amount of energy that can produce a sensation

Narcolepsy

a "sleep attack" in which a person falls asleep suddenly and irresistibly

Abstinence Syndrome

a characteristic cluster of withdrawal symptoms that results from sudden decrease in an addictive drug's level of usage

Flavor

a complex quality of food and other substances that is based on their odor, texture, and temperature as well their taste

Consciousness

a concept with many meanings, including sensory awareness of the world outside, direct inner awareness of one's thoughts and feelings, personal unity, and the waking state

Circadian Rhythm

a cycle that is connected with the twenty-four-hour period of the earth's rotation

Opiates

a group of narcotics derived from the opium poppy that provide a euphoric rush and depress the nervous system

Iris

a muscular membrane whose dilation regulates the amount of light that enters the eye

Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep

a stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movements, which have been linked to dreaming

Hallucinogenics

a substance that causes hallucinations

Barbiturates

an addictive depressant used to relieve anxiety or induce sleep

Phencyclidine (PCP)

another hallucinogen whose name is an acronym for its chemical structure

Nonconscious

bodily processes that we recognize but are not conscious of/cannot directly experience the biological process

Stage 2 Sleep

brain waves are medium in amplitude with a frequency of about 4 to 7 cycles per second, but these are punctuated by sleep spindles, brief bursts of brain activity that have a frequency of 12 to 16 cycles per second

Hydrocarbons

chemical compounds consisting of hydrogen and carbon

Opioids

chemicals that act on opiate receptors but are not derived from the opium poppy

Cochlear Implants

contain microphones that sense sounds and electronic equipment that transmits sounds past damaged hair cells to stimulate the auditory nerve

Middle Ear

contains the eardrum and three small bones, which also transmit sound by vibrating, functions as an amplifier, increasing the pressure of the air entering the ear

Active Touching

continuously moving your hand along the surface of an object so that you continue to receive sensory input from the object, receives information concerning pressure, temperature, texture, and feedback from the muscles involved in movements of our hands

Loudness

corresponds to the height, or amplitude, of sound waves

Stage 4 Sleep

deepest stage of sleep, from which it is the most difficult to be awakened, delta waves slow to about 0.5 to 2 cycles per second, and their amplitude is greatest

Stage 3 Sleep

delta waves have a frequency of 1 to 3 cycles per second

Pitch

determined by its frequency, or the number of cycles per second as expressed in the unit hertz (Hz)

Sir Isaac Newton

discovered that sunlight could be broken down into different colors by means of a triangular solid of glass called a prism

Psychophysicist Ernst Weber

discovered that the threshold for perceiving differences in the intensity of light is about 2% (actually closer to 1/60th) of their intensity

David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel (1979)

discovered that various neurons in the visual cortex of the brain fire in response to particular features of the visual input

Flashbacks

distorted perceptions or hallucinations that occur days or weeks after LSD usage but mimic the LSD experience

Narcotics

drugs used to relieve pain and induce sleep; the term is usually reserved for opiates

Prostaglandins

facilitate transmission of the pain message to the brain and heighten circulation to the injured area, causing redness and swelling

Johan Karremans and his Colleagues (2006)

flashed "Lipton Ice" for about 1/50th of a second—too briefly to be consciously recognized—on a computer screen that was viewed by a group of participants, participants showed a preference for Lipton Ice

Tolerance

habituation to a drug, with the result that increasingly higher doses of the drug are needed to achieve similar effects

Unconscious

in psychodynamic theory, descriptive of ideas and feelings that are not available to awareness; also: without consciousness

Preconscious

in psychodynamic theory, descriptive of material that is not in awareness but can be brought into awareness by focusing one's attention

Repression

in psychodynamic theory, the automatic (unconscious) ejection of anxiety-evoking ideas, impulses, or images from awareness

Direct Inner Awareness

knowledge of one's own thoughts, feelings, and memories without the use of sensory organs

Stage 1 Sleep

lightest stage of sleep, brain waves slow down from the alpha rhythm and enter a pattern of theta waves, slow, rolling eye movements

Psychophysicists

look for the absolute thresholds of the senses by exposing individuals to progressively stronger stimuli until they find the minimum stimuli that the person can detect 50% of the time

Substance Dependence

loss of control over use of a substance; biologically speaking, dependence is typified by tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, or both

LSD

lysergic acid diethylamide; a hallucinogen

Hypnagogic State

may experience brief but vivid dreamlike images

Proximity

nearness; the perceptual tendency to group together objects that are near one another

Feature Detectors

neurons in the sensory cortex that fire in response to specific features of sensory information such as lines or edges of objects

Phantom Limb Pain

people with amputated limbs report feeling pain in such missing, or "phantom," limbs, pain sometimes involves activation of nerves in the stump of the missing limb

Substance Abuse

persistent use of a substance even though it is causing or compounding problems in meeting the demands of life

REM Sleep or Paradoxical Sleep

produce relatively rapid, low-amplitude brain waves that resemble those of light stage 1 sleep, EEG patterns observed suggest a level of arousal similar to that of the waking state, difficult to awaken a person during REM sleep

Alpha Waves

rapid low-amplitude brain waves that have been linked to feelings of relaxation, 8 to 13 cycles per second

Taste Cells

receptor cells that are sensitive to taste

Pain

results when neurons called nociceptors in the skin are stimulated

Subliminal Stimulation

sensory stimulation below a person's absolute threshold for conscious perception

Outer Ear

shaped to funnel sound waves to the eardrum, a thin membrane that vibrates in response to sound waves, and thereby transmits them to the middle and inner ears

Secondhand Smoke or Passive Smoking

smoke from the tobacco products and exhalations of other people

Sensorineural Deafness

stems from damage to the structures of the inner ear, most often the loss of hair cells, people tend to be more sensitive to some pitches than others

Conductive Deafness

stems from damage to the structures of the middle ear—either to the eardrum or to the bones that conduct (and amplify) sound waves from the outer ear to the inner ear, often found among older people

Amphetamines

stimulants derived from alpha-methyl-beta-phenyl-ethylamine, a colorless liquid consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen

Delta Waves

strong, slow brain waves usually emitted during stage 4 sleep

Sleep Apnea

temporary absence or cessation of breathing while sleeping

Retina

the area of the inner surface of the eye that contains rods and cones

Auditory Nerve

the axon bundle that transmits neural impulses from the organ of Corti to the brain

Pupil

the black-looking opening in the center of the iris, through which light enters the eye

Inner Ear

the bony tube called the cochlea

Hue

the color of light, as determined by its wavelength

Suppression

the deliberate, or conscious, placing of certain ideas, impulses, or images out of awareness

Marijuana

the dried vegetable matter of the Cannabis sativa plant

Selective Attention

the focus of one's consciousness on a particular stimulus

Pitch

the highness or lowness of a sound, as determined by the frequency of the sound waves

Just Noticeable Difference (jnd)

the minimal amount by which a source of energy must be increased or decreased so that a difference in intensity will be perceived

Difference Threshold

the minimal difference in intensity required between two sources of energy so that they will be perceived as being different

Olfactory Nerve

the nerve that transmits information concerning odors from olfactory receptors to the brain

Optic Nerve

the nerve that transmits sensory information from the eye to the brain

Bottom-Up Processing

the organization of the parts of a pattern to recognize, or form an image of, the pattern they compose

Visible Light

the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that stimulates the eye and produces visual sensations

Similarity

the perceptual tendency to group together objects that are similar in appearance

Perception

the process by which sensations are organized into an inner representation of the world

Visual Perception

the process by which we organize or make sense of the sensory impressions caused by the light that strikes our eyes, involves our knowledge, expectations, and motivations

Dark Adaptation

the process of adjusting to conditions of lower lighting by increasing the sensitivity of rods and cones

Sensory Adaptation

the processes by which organisms become more sensitive to stimuli that are low in magnitude and less sensitive to stimuli that are constant or ongoing in magnitude

Vestibular Sense

the sense of equilibrium that informs us about our bodies' positions relative to gravity

Kinesthesis

the sense that informs us about the positions and motion of parts of our bodies, sensory information is fed back to the brain from sensory organs in the joints, tendons, and muscles

Perceptual Organization

the tendency to integrate perceptual elements into meaningful patterns

Closure

the tendency to perceive a broken figure as being complete or whole

Continuity

the tendency to perceive a series of points or lines as having unity

Brightness Constancy

the tendency to perceive an object as being just as bright even though lighting conditions change its intensity

Color Constancy

the tendency to perceive an object as being the same color even though lighting conditions change its appearance

Shape Constancy

the tendency to perceive an object as being the same shape although the retinal image varies in shape as it rotates

Desensitization or Negative Adaptation

the type of sensory adaptation in which we become less sensitive to constant stimuli

Sensitization or Positive Adaptation

the type of sensory adaptation in which we become more sensitive to stimuli that are low in magnitude

Top-Down Processing

the use of contextual information or knowledge of a pattern in order to organize parts of the pattern

Activation-Synthesis Model

the view that dreams reflect activation of cognitive activity by the reticular formation and synthesis of this activity into a pattern

Signal-Detection Theory

the view that the perception of sensory stimuli involves the interaction of physical, biological, and psychological factors

Freud on Dreams

theorized that dreams reflect unconscious wishes and urges, argued that dreams express impulses we would censor during the day, content of dreams is symbolic of unconscious fantasized objects

Gate Theory

Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall, nervous system can process only a limited amount of stimulation at a time, rubbing the area that hurts transmits sensations to the brain that "compete" for the attention of neurons