Psychology Chapter 3

stimulants

drugs (such as caffeine, nicotine, and the more powerful amphetamines, cocaine, Ecstasy, and methamphetamine) that excite neural activity and speed up body functions.

depressants

drugs such as alcohol, barbiturates (tranquilizers), and opiates that calm neural activity and slow body functions.

change blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment.

inattention blindness

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

dual processing

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

REM rebound and why it is of interest

the tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation. -Most other mammals also experience REM rebound, suggesting that the causes and functions of REM sleep are deeply biological - WE NEED REM SLEEP

NonREM 3

- deep sleep -slow-wave sleep, which lasts for about 30 minutes, your brain emits large, slow delta waves and you are hard to awaken.

cocktail party effect

-A classic example of selective attention-your ability to attend to only one voice among many

cell phones and attention

-About 28 percent of traffic accidents occur when people are chatting or texting on cell phones—something one in four drivers admits to doing . -In brain areas vital to driving, fMRI scans indicate that activity decreases an average 37 percent when a driver is attending to conversation -One study, which tracked long-haul truck drivers for 18 months, showed they were at 23 times greater risk of a collision while texting -Another study, which focused vehicle video cams on teen drivers, found that 58 percent of crashes followed driver distraction from other passengers or phones. -Cell-phone users (even those with hands-free sets) were, like the average drunk driver, four times more at risk. -Teen drivers' crashes and near-crashes have increased sevenfold when dialing or reaching for a phone, and fourfold when sending or receiving a text message.

REM

-Occurs about an hour after you first fall asleep; ascend from your initial sleep dive -rapid eye movement sleep -genitals aroused -energetic brain activity -dreams -heart rate rises, your breathing becomes rapid and irregular, and every half-minute or so your eyes dart around in momentary bursts of activity behind closed lids. These eye movements announce the beginning of a dream—often emotional, usually story-like, and richly hallucinatory. -paradoxical sleep: The body is internally aroused, with waking-like brain activity, yet asleep and externally calm.

effects of sleep loss

-Sleep loss is also a predictor of depression -difficulty studying, diminished productivity, tendency to make mistakes, irritability, fatigue," -weight gain: increase in ghrelin, a hunger-arousing hormone, and decreases its hunger-suppressing partner, leptin.decreases metabolic rate.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 -weakens immune system

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. - target mostly children

hypnagogic sensations

-fantastic images resembling hallucinations -sensations of falling or floating

insomnia

-sleep disorder -recurring problems in falling or staying asleep.

NREM- 1

-slowed breathing and the irregular brain waves -During this brief NREM-1 sleep you may experience fantastic images resembling hallucinations—sensory experiences that occur without a sensory stimulus. You may have a sensation of falling (at which moment your body may suddenly jerk) or of floating weightlessly. These hypnagogic sensations may later be incorporated into your memories.

parallel processing

-the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions. -Unconscious parallel processing is faster than conscious sequential processing, but both are essential. - Sequential processing is best for solving new problems, which requires your focused attention.

5 functions of sleep

1)sleep protects: Those who didn't try to navigate around dark cliffs were more likely to leave descendants. 2)Sleep helps us recuperate: Sleep helps restore the immune system and repair brain tissue. 3) Sleep helps restore and rebuild our fading memories of the day's experiences. 4) Sleep feeds creative thinking 5) Sleep supports growth: During deep sleep, the pituitary gland releases a growth hormone that is necessary for muscle development.

5 theories of why we dream

1. Freud's wish-fulfillment: 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). 2. Information-processing: Dreams help us sort out the day's events and consolidate our memories. 3. Physiological function:Regular brain stimulation from REM sleep may help develop and preserve neural pathways. 4. Neural activation: REM sleep triggers neural activity that evoked random visual memories, which our sleeping brain weaves into stories. 5. Cognitive development: Dream content reflects dreamers' level of cognitive development—their knowledge and understanding. Dreams simulate our lives, including worst-case scenarios.

order of sleep stages

NREM-1,NREM-2,NREM3, NREM-2, REM

alcohol expectancy effects

When people believe that alcohol affects social behavior in certain ways, and believe that they have been drinking alcohol, they will behave accordingly.

neuroadaptation

With continued use of alcohol and some other drugs (but not marijuana), the user's brain chemistry adapts to offset the drug effect

psychoactive drug

a chemical substance that alters perceptions and moods.

blindsight

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

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.

melatonin

a sleep-inducing hormone

4 stages of sleep

about every 90 minutes, you cycle through four distinct sleep stages:NREM- 1, NREM -2, NREM -3, REM

sleep walking/talking

another NREM-3 sleep disorder. usually childhood disorders and, like narcolepsy, they run in families.

influences on drug use

biological influences; psychological influences: lacking sense of purpose, significant stress, depression ;sociocultural influences: difficult environment, cultural acceptance, negative peer influences

sleep spindles

bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain-wave activity.

addiction

compulsive craving of drugs or certain behaviors (such as gambling) despite known adverse consequences.

substance use disorder

continued substance craving and use despite significant life disruption and/or physical risk.

tolerance

needing more substance for the desired effect; the diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug, requiring the user to take larger and larger doses before experiencing the drug's effect.

consciousness

our awareness of ourselves and our environment.

NREM- 2

periodic sleep spindles— Although you could still be awakened without too much difficulty, you are now clearly asleep.

sleep

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

alcohol use disorder

popularly known as alcoholism) alcohol use marked by tolerance, withdrawal, and a drive to continue problematic use.

hallucinogens

psychedelic ("mind-manifesting") drugs, such as LSD, that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input.

circadian rhythm

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

withdrawal

the discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing an addictive drug or behavior.

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