B MCAT -psyc/soc II Flashcards
EEG waves present in various forms of consciousness:
Alert-
Daydreaming (light meditation)-
Drowsy (heavy meditation)-
Sleep-
Alert- Beta waves, frequency 12-30Hz (high f, short wavelength).
Daydreaming (light meditation)- alpha waves, frequency 8-13Hz.
Drowsy (heavy meditation)-theta waves, frequency 4-7Hz (lower f, longer more spread out wavelength).
Sleep- Varies by stage!
Stages of sleep (including EEG waves)
N1 > N2 > N3 > N2 > REM
N1 - Theta waves (like when drowsy, 4-7Hz).
N2 - Theta waves + K Complex (sharp peaks) + spindle waves (high f, tiny wavelength).
N3 - Delta waves (lonnnng wavelength), difficult to wake. Can involve talking or walking in sleep.
REM - paradoxical= active mind, paralyzed body. Includes dreams.
(N=Non-rapid eye movement)
Neurotransmitter associated with increased alertness
norepinephrine
GABA
GABA is one of the main inhibitory neurotransmitters and has a role in decreasing anxiety.
Beta endorphin
Beta-endorphins are an opioid neuropeptide that have a role in pain perception, some behavioral patterns, and obesity.
Types of clinical trial participant treatment arms
Placebo comparator arm (eg. sugar pill).
Sham comparator arm (eg. fake therapy treatment designed by experimentors).
Experimental arm, or the group receiving the therapy to be tested.
Active comparator arm is a group receiving a legit therapy other than the one being tested.
Dopamine
Dopamine has many functions but is most often associated with reward, learning, and attention.
What neurotransmitter is most often associated with mood, appetite, social behavior, and memory.
serotonin
hypocretin / orexin
neurotransmitter receptor, which affects the control of sleep and arousal, and results in direct transitions from an alert state to REM sleep.
exogenous vs. endogenous cues for attention
exogenous cues = external cues are things that capture our attention without us actively thinking about them. eg. a red dot among a bunch of yellow dots.
endogenous cues = require internal meaning of cues that we intentionally want to follow. eg. hearing our name come up in a conversation across the room that we weren’t previously paying attn to.
Inattentional blindness vs. change blindness
(on topic of attention)
Inattentional blindness = failure to notice something that is right in front of us because our attention is directed elsewhere.
Change blindness = failure to notice a change in the situation or environment because our attention is directed elsewhere.
Selective attention vs. divided attention
Selective attention describes the ability to sustain attention during distraction.
Divided attention occurs when two or more tasks are completed simultaneously. Bottleneck occurs.
Internal vs. external validity of an experiment
Internal validity describes the extent that a study is able to show a cause-effect relationship between the variables tested in the study.
External validity describes the extent to which the results of the study can be generalized or repeated.
The Hawthorne Effect
Changing behavior in response to being observed.
Allostasis and allostatic load
Allostasis describes systems that keep homeostasis maintenance systems in balance. Allostatic load describes the effects of chronic stress if the allostatic changes are not adequate in maintaining homeostasis.
