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Intro to Psych > Chapter 3 > Flashcards

Chapter 3 Flashcards

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1
Q

What is consciousness?

A

“Our subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment.”

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2
Q

What does conscious awareness allow us to do?

A

Make sense of our lives, choices, emotions, and sensations. Reflect on the past and plan for the future. Focus our attention.

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3
Q

What is hypnosis?

A

A psychologically induced altered state of consciousness brought on by the suggestions of a hypnotist, who influences their subject to experience certain thoughts, feelings, or sensations.

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4
Q

What is cognitive neuroscience?

A

The study of the connection between brain activity and cognition.

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5
Q

What does conscious experience arise from?

A

A stimulus strong enough to cause coordinated activity across the brain.

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6
Q

What is selective attention?

A

The focusing of conscious awareness on one thing in particular.

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7
Q

What is inattentional blindness?

A

The failure to notice things in our environment that we are not consciously focusing on.

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8
Q

What is inattentional numbness?

A

The tactile version of inattentional blindness.

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9
Q

What is change blindness?

A

A form of inattentional blindness in which someone fails to notice a change in their environment.

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10
Q

What is dual processing?

A

The principle that information processing occurs on two different levels: the conscious and the unconscious.

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11
Q

What is blindsight?

A

When someone is able to react to visual stimuli without consciously being able to see them.

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12
Q

What is parallel processing?

A

Processing many things simultaneously on an unconscious level.

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13
Q

What is sequential processing?

A

Processing information one piece at a time on a conscious level. Often used to process novel information or solve an especially difficult problem.

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14
Q

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

A

Originally defined as the study of consciousness, psychology became the study of behaviour when it was decided that consciousness is too hard to study. In the 1960’s, consciousness became part of the study of psychology again.

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15
Q

What psychological disciplines reintroduced the study of consciousness to psychology?

A

Neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and cognitive neuroscience.

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16
Q

How does selective attention direct our perceptions?

A

We can only carefully pay attention to a limited amount of incoming information, causing inattentional blindness and change blindness.

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17
Q

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

A

Inattentional blindness.

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18
Q

Inattentional blindness is a product of our:

A

Selective attention.

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19
Q

What is sleep?

A

A state of unconsciousness that occurs naturally and cyclically.

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20
Q

What is circadian rhythm?

A

The body’s internal clock, whose rhythms repeat over a 24-hour cycle.

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21
Q

What is paradoxical sleep?

A

Another name for REM sleep, because the brain is active despite the muscles being relaxed and the body paralyzed.

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22
Q

How often do we cycle through sleep stages?

A

About every 90 minutes for younger adults, becoming shorter and increasing in frequency with age.

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23
Q

What are alpha waves?

A

Slower brain waves that occur when someone is relaxed but awake.

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24
Q

What is a hallucination?

A

A sensory experience without an external cause.

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25
What happens during N1 sleep?
The hypnagogic state.
26
What happens during N2 sleep?
Sleep spindles would show up on a readout, indicating bursts of brain-wave activity implicated in memory.
27
What happens during N3 sleep?
Deep sleep, characterized by delta waves.
28
What are delta waves?
Large, slow brain waves that occur during deep sleep.
29
What happens during REM sleep?
Brain waves become faster, resembling N1 stage sleep, except heart rate increases, breathing rate becomes irregular, and genitals usually become aroused. Intense dreaming happens and the eyes move rapidly.
30
What is the suprachiasmatic nucleus?
Two tiny clusters of cells located in the hypothalamus that control circadian rhythm by responding to light. It causes the pineal gland to increase or decrease melatonin production.
31
What is desynchronization?
A condition resulting from prolonged lack of exposure to sunlight, disrupting the circadian rhythm.
32
What are the five proposed functions of sleep?
Protecting us by keeping us inactive at night. Recuperation: restoring the immune system, repairing damaged neurons. Consolidating memories and strengthening neural connections. Enhancing creative problem solving ability. Release of growth hormone during slow-wave sleep that develops muscles.
33
What is ghrelin?
A hormone that stimulates hunger.
34
What is leptin?
A hormone that suppresses hunger.
35
What is insomnia?
Chronic difficulty with falling or staying asleep.
36
What is narcolepsy?
Episodes of sudden, uncontrollable sleepiness.
37
What is sleep apnea?
The repeated cessation of breathing while asleep.
38
What are night terrors?
Episodes of intense, fearful arousal that take place during N3 sleep, causing people to speak nonsense, sit up in bed looking terrified, or walk around the room. Most common in children.
39
What are nine ways sleep deprivation effects us?
Irritability. Fatigue. Joint inflammation. Lack of concentration. Poor memory consolidation. Compromised immune function. Slowed performance. Obesity. Depression.
40
What are the major sleep disorders?
Insomnia, night terrors, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, sleepwalking/sleeptalking.
41
What is manifest content?
In Freud's dream theory, the apparent, literal content of one's dreams.
42
What is latent content?
In Freud's dream theory, the hidden, symbolic meaning of one's dreams.
43
What function do dreams serve?
There is no consensus about what function dreams serve, if they serve one at all. What we do know is that we need REM sleep to support memory function.
44
What are five major dream theories?
Wish fulfillment (Freud), information processing and memory consolidation, support for physiological function through brain stimulation, activation synthesis (dreams are an attempt to make sense of "neural static"), cognitive development.
45
What is the wish fulfillment theory of dreams?
Freud's theory that dreams serve as an outlet for inappropriate desires, and that the obvious literal meaning of dreams (manifest content) hides symbolic meaning (latent content).
46
What is the information processing theory of dreams?
The theory that dreams help us sort out information and integrate it into memory.
47
What is the physiological function theory of dreams?
The theory that the brain stimulation provided by dreams helps to strengthen and expand neural pathways.
48
What is the activation synthesis theory of dreams?
The theory that dreams are the brain's attempt to make sense of random neural activity during sleep.
49
What is the cognitive development theory of dreams?
The theory that dreams simulate reality, and the content of our dreams is reflective of our level of cognitive development and knowledge of the world.
50
What is a limitation of the cognitive development theory of dreams?
It doesn't propose a function for dreaming.
51
What is a critical consideration of the wish fulfillment theory of dreams?
It lacks a scientific basis and relies on subjective interpretations that might interpret dreams in many different ways.
52
What is a critical consideration of the information processing theory of dreams?
We often dream about things that have nothing to do with the previous day's events or recently learned information.
53
As the night progresses, what happens to the REM stage of sleep?
It increases in duration.
54
What is the difference between narcolepsy and sleep apnea?
"With narcolepsy, the person periodically falls directly into REM sleep, with no warning; with sleep apnea, the person repeatedly awakens during the night."
55
The tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation is referred to as:
REM rebound.
56
What stage of sleep is characterized by sleep spindles?
N2.
57
How do our biological rhythms influence our daily functioning?
Our circadian rhythm dictates patterns of body temperature, arousal, waking, and sleeping over a 24-hour period.
58
What are psychoactive drugs?
Drugs that cause a change in mood or perception.
59
What is substance use disorder?
A condition characterized by a craving for and use of drugs that persists in spite of significant disruption to one's life.
60
What is a substance/medication-induced disorder?
When a misuse of a substance results in psychological changes resembling psychological disorders, such as sexual dysfunction, OCD, psychosis, depression, sleep disorders, and neurocognitive disorders.
61
What is the process that generally leads to drug tolerance?
Repeated exposure to a substance causes neuroadaptation and the effect of the substance becomes less intense, resulting in the user needing an increased dose to achieve the same effect as before.
62
Can someone become “addicted” to shopping?
"Unless it becomes compulsive or dysfunctional, simply having a strong interest in shopping is not the same as having a physical addiction to a drug. It typically does not involve obsessive craving in spite of known negative consequences."
63
What are the three major categories of psychoactive drugs?
Depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens.
64
What is a depressant?
A class of psychoactive drugs that neural activity and slow down the body.
65
What is alcohol use disorder?
When alcohol use results in tolerance, withdrawal, and continued use despite the negative consequences.
66
What are barbiturates?
Tranquilizer drugs with a depressant effect on the central nervous system that relieve anxiety but may impair memory and judgement.
67
What are opiates?
Depressant drugs that relieve pain and anxiety.
68
What is a stimulant?
A class of psychoactive drugs that excite the nervous system and accelerate bodily functions.
69
What are the withdrawal symptoms of quitting nicotine?
Irritability, lack of focus, anxiety, and insomnia.
70
What are the effects of cocaine?
"Temporarily increased alertness and euphoria."
71
What is methamphetamine?
A stimulant drug that temporarily increases dopamine levels and excites the nervous system, resulting in increased energy and mood, but reducing baseline dopamine levels over time.
72
What are the potential aftereffects of methamphetamine?
Violence, seizures, irritability, insomnia, hypertension, depression, and social isolation.
73
What is MDMA?
An amphetamine derivative, stimulant, and mild hallucinogen that increases mood, energy levels, and interpersonal connection by triggering the release of dopamine and blocking the reuptake of serotonin.
74
What are the risks associated with MDMA?
Dehydration that can lead to overheating and increased blood pressure, damage to serotonin-producing neurons (resulting in permanently decreased mood), immune suppression, insomnia.
75
What are hallucinogens?
Psychedelic (mind-manifesting) drugs that produce sensory experiences without sensory input and distort perception.
76
Why do some people become regular users of consciousness-altering drugs?
Because of genetic factors, psychological factors such as depression, or environmental/social-cultural factors such as peer influence, cultural attitudes, or environmental stress.
77
Why do tobacco companies try so hard to get customers hooked as teens?
Fewer people become addicted to smoking later than adolescence. Those who become addicted while young may find it harder to quit as adults.
78
How has the concept of addiction changed?
Psychologists acknowledge the existence of some behavioral addictions like gambling or internet gaming.
79
Since 1960, psychology has regained an interest in consciousness as psychologists of all persuasions began affirming the importance of:
Cognition.
80
Texting and talking on the cell phone while driving is responsible for:
28% of traffic accidents.
81
Oxygen deprivation, epilepsy seizures, and other insults to the brain are most clearly known to produce:
Hallucinations.
82
What is the cocktail party effect?
One's ability to pay attention to a stimulus while filtering out other stimuli (such as listening to someone talk at a cocktail party and filtering out background noise).

Intro to Psych (9 decks)

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