Making Sense of the Environment Flashcards
1
Q
What are the 4 main types of brainwaves?
A
Alpha, beta, delta, theta
2
Q
Alpha waves
A
8-13 Hz
Associated with relaxed awake states; daydreaming; light meditation
Disappear as you become drowsy, but can reappear later when you’re in deep sleep
3
Q
Beta Waves
A
12-30 Hz
Associated with normal waking consciousness and concentration
If you maintain this heightened alertness for too long, your beta levels get really high and you may experience stress, anxiety, and restlessness
4
Q
Theta Waves
A
4-7 Hz
Associated with drowsiness or deep meditation
Appear right after you fall asleep and are sleeping lightly
Appears in N1 (NREM)
5
Q
What is the order of sleep stages that occurs through one sleep cycle?
A
N1 - N2 - N3 - N2 - REM - N1
6
Q
What are some characteristics of sleep stage N1?
A
Stage between sleep and wakefulless
Theta waves
May experience hypnagogic hallucinations or hypnagogic jerks
7
Q
What are some characteristics of sleep stage N2?
A
Harder to awaken than N1
More theta waves
Sleep spindles, K complexes
8
Q
What are sleep spindles? In what stage(s) of sleep do they appear?
A
Stage N2
Bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain activity
Some researchers think they inhibit certain cognitive processes or perceptions so that we maintain a tranquil state during sleep
For example, some sleep spindles are associated with people’s ability to sleep through loud noises
9
Q
What are k-complexes? In what stage(s) of sleep do they appear?
A
Appear in N2
Thought to suppress cortical arousal and keep you asleep
Also thought to help with sleep-based memory consolidation, which is the theory that some memories are transferred to your long-term memory during sleep
Even though they occur naturally, you can make them occur by just brushing against someone’s skin who is in this stage of sleep; The brain processes the non-threatening stimuli and suppresses the processing of that stimuli to help keep you asleep
10
Q
What are some characteristics of sleep stage N3?
A
Slow-wave sleep
Delta waves (0.5 - 2Hz)
Really difficult to wake up
When someone might sleepwalk or sleeptalk
11
Q
Why does sleep deprivation increase one’s risk for obesity?
A
When you’re sleep deprived, your body makes more cortisol, which tells your body to make more fat
You also produce more of the hormone that tells you you’re hungry
12
Q
Sleep apnea most seriously disturbs what stage of sleep?
A
N3 sleep
13
Q
With regards to breathing-related sleep disorders, generally the cause is from which 3 key areas of the body?
A
- Problem arising from the brain, the brain being a key central organ that controls the respiratory centers that help regulate the lungs
- Problem with the upper airways; An obstruction to the airways from the mouth/nose to the lungs
- Problem with the lungs themselves, or the chest wall; Anything that stops the lungs from being able to expand out
14
Q
What’s an example of a sleep-related disorder that arises from problems in the airway? How is it diagnosed?
A
Obstructive sleep apnea
Diagnosed through a sleep study or a polysomnography; Looking for 15+ apneas/evidence of obstruction per hour
15
Q
What is an example of a sleep-related disorder that arises from problems in the brain? How is it diagnosed?
A
Central Sleep Apnea
Looking for the presence of apnea with no obstruction
Criteria: 5+ apneas/hour during sleep
Problem with the brain’s control system for ventilation
16
Q
As you enter into hypnosis, an EEG would pick up what type(s) of brain waves?
A
Alpha waves (indicate an awake, but relaxed state)
17
Q
What is an example of a sleep-related disorder that arises from problems in the lungs?
A
Hypoventilation Disorders
We don’t ventilate our lungs enough → can get a buildup of CO2, and in some cases we can not have enough oxygen
Low oxygen can lead to problems with the brain over time (chronically, can lead to a degree of cognitive impairment), problems with heart (some may develop arrhythmias over time), or problems with our blood, polycythemia, which is an elevated amount of red blood cells in our blood
18
Q
What are the 3 major theories that try to explain selective attention?
A
- Broadbent’s Early Selection Theory
- Deutsch and Deutsch’s Late Selection Theory
- Treisman’s Attenuation Theory
19
Q
Broadbent’s Early Selection Theory
A
Attempts to explain the process of selective attention
- All the information in your environment goes into your sensory register, which briefly registers or stores all of the sensory input you get
- Then this input gets transferred to the selective filter right away, which identifies what it should be attending to via basic physical characteristics
- Selected information moves along so that perceptual processes can occur, which assign meaning to the information
- Then you can engage in other cognitive processes, such as deciding how to respond
20
Q
What are problems with Broadbent’s Early Selection Theory? What theory tried to explain this?
A
If you completely filter out the unattended information before it gets assigned meaning, then you shouldn’t be able to identify your own name when it’s spoken in an unattended ear (cocktail party effect)
Deutsch and Deutsch’s Late Selection Theory
21
Q
Deutsch and Deutsch’s Late Selection Theory
A
Moved Broadbent’s selective filter to after the perceptual processes
→ This means that you actually do register and assign everything meaning, but then your selective filter decides what to pass on to your conscious awareness
22
Q
What is questionable about Deutsch and Deutsch’s Late Selection Theory? What theory tried to address this?
A
Given the limited resource of attention, and the fact that we know our brains are super efficient, it seems wasteful to spend all that effort assigning meaning to stuff you’ll never need
Treisman’s Attenuation Theory
23
Q
Treisman’s Attenuation Theory
A
- Instead of a complete filter, we have something called an attenuator, which weakens, but doesn’t eliminate the input from the unattended ear
- Then some of it gets through to the perceptual processes, so we still assign meaning to stuff in the unattended ear, it’s just not as high priority
- If, at this point, you realize the unattended stuff is actually important, then you’ll switch over your attention and attenuate what you were previously listening to
24
Q
Spotlight Model of Attention
A
Even though we can only consciously attend to a small amount of information at a time, we know that a lot of other information is being taken in by our bodies, and we seem to be aware of that information, at least on an unconscious level
25
Resource Model of Attention
We have limited resources when it comes to attention, resources that are easily overtaxed if we try to pay attention to multiple things at once
26
What do both the Spotlight Model of Attention and Resource Model of Attention suggest about our ability to multitask?
We probably aren’t actually very good at it!
27
What are the 3 main factors that influence our ability to multitask?
1. Task similarity
2. Task difficulty
3. Practice
28
Information Processing Model
Proposes that our brains are similar to computers in that we get input from the environment, process it, and then output decision
1. **Sensory memory**: when we first interact with our environment; Includes **iconic** and **echoic memory**
2. What we pay attention to is passed onto **working memory**; Different components to process different types of information: **visuo-spatial sketchpad** processes visual/spatial information; **phonological loop** processes verbal information
3. **Central Executive**: Coordinates the efforts of the visuo-spatial sketchpad and phonological loop; integrated representation that gets stored in the episodic buffer, which acts as a connector to long-term memory
4. **Long term memory**
29
2 main types of long term memory
Explicit (delcarative)
Implicit (procedural)
30
What are 2 types of explicit memory?
**Semantic Memory**: Having to do with words; Remembering simple facts, like the meaning of words
**Episodic Memory**: Memory for events
31
What are 2 types of implicit memory?
**Procedural Memories**: Memories for procedures, like riding a bike
**Priming**: Previous experience influences your current interpretation of an event
32
**Retrieval**
Any time you pull something out of your long-term memory and bring it into your working memory
Includes **free recall, cued recall, and recognition**
33
What is **source monitoring**, and how does it relate to human memory?
**Source monitoring**: keeping track of where various information came from, the source of the information
One reason false/misleading information can have such a strong impact on memory is that people often have difficulty with source monitoring
34
What are the 2 main types of memory **interference**?
**Retroactive Interference**: Interference that goes backwards; Some new piece of learning seems to reach back and impair your ability to retrieve something you used to know
**Proactive Interference**: Interference acting forward; Something you learned in the past gets in the way of your ability to learn and retrieve something in the future
35
What cognitive processes **decline** with age?
**Recall**
**Episodic memory**: Often memories formed a long time ago will be relatively stable, but forming new episodic memories becomes more difficult
**Processing speed**
**Divided attention**
36
What cognitive processes remain **stable** with age?
**Implicit memory**
**Recognition memory** (Once you learn something, your ability to pick it out of a list remains the same)
37
What cognitive processes **improve** with age?
**Semantic memory** (improves until ~60, then declines)
## Footnote
**Crystalized Intelligence**
**Emotional Intelligence**
38
Identify which of the following decline, remain stable, or improve with age:
1. Semantic memory
2. Divided Attention
3. Implicit Memory
4. Processing Speed
5. Episodic Memory
6. Recognition Memory
7. Emotional Reasoning
8. Crystalized Intelligence
9. Recall
1. Improves (until ~60, then declines)
2. Declines
3. Stable
4. Declines
5. Declines
6. Stable
7. Improves
8. Improves
9. Declines
39
What are the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease as it progresses?
* The earliest symptoms are **memory loss**, specifically the inability to encode/retrieve recent memories
* Subsequent problems include difficulty with **attention, planning, semantic memory,** and **abstract thinking**
* As the disease progresses, more severe **language difficulties** may appear, as well as **greater memory loss**, such as the inability to recognize close family and friends
* As the disease continues to progress, may experience **emotional instability** and **loss of control over their bodily functions**
* The disease is terminal
40
What causes **Korsakoff's Syndrome**?
Caused by a lack of **B1**, or **thiamine**, in the brain
Strongly linked to **severe malnutrition, eating disorders**, or especially **alcoholism** (These groups often don’t ingest or are unable to process all the nutrients their bodies need, including thiamine)
41
What are the early signs of Korsakoff's Syndrome? What is it called at this point?
**Wernicke’s Encephalopathy**
**Poor balance, abnormal eye movements, mild confusion**, and/or **memory loss**
\*\*If diagnosed in time, it is possible to reverse the damage, or at least prevent further damage
42
What are the symptoms of Korsakoff's Syndrome after it has passed the point of Wernicke's Encephalopathy?
**Severe memory loss**
Often accompanied by **confabulation**: the patient makes up stories, sometimes to fill in memory gaps
43
What is an important difference between Alzheimer's Disease and Korsakoff's Syndrome?
Unlike AD, Korsakoff's Syndrome is not necessarily progressive
If diagnosed/treated, people can get better
People are often treated with thiamine injections or other medication, and they have to stay on a healthy diet and abstain from alcohol, and some people may need to relearn some things
Effectiveness of treatment depends on how early the disease is diagnosed and how well the patient follows the treatment guidelines
44
**Encoding**
Moving information from the temporary store in your working memory into the permanent store in your long-term memory
45
What are Piaget's 4 main stages of cognitive development, and at what ages do they occur? What key cognitive abilities develop at each stage?
1. 0-2 years: **Sensorimotor**; **Object permanence**
2. 2-7 years: **Preoperational**; **Pretend play, egocentric**
3. 7-11 years: **Concrete Operational**; **Conservationism**
4. 12+: **Formal Operational**; **Abstract concepts, moral reasoning**
46
**Sensorimotor**
The 1st stage of development in Piaget's stages of development; 0-2 yrs
Sensory: Children gather information about the world through sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch
Motor: As they discover how to use their senses, also learn how to move their bodies around, which helps them explore the world and learn what they’re capable of
Learn **object permanence**: If you give an infant a toy and then take it away, they don’t understand it still exists
47
**Preoperational**
The 2nd stage of Piaget's stages of development; 2-7 yrs
Operational: mental operations; Imagining things, mentally reversing actions, etc.
When children start to develop/engage in **pretend play** and will begin to use symbols to represent things
~age 2 is also when children learn to talk; As they learn that words symbolize objects, starts to help them into the preoperational stage and understand the idea of symbols
Children in this stage are **egocentric**, meaning they don’t understand that other people have a different point of view than they do
48
**Concrete Operational**
The 3rd stage of Piaget's stages of development; 7-11 yrs
Operational: mental operations
Now children can do concrete operations
Learn the idea of **conservation**
Can begin to reason about mathematics
49
**Formal Operational**
The 4th stage of Piaget's stages of development; 12+ yrs
Children can reason about **abstract concepts** and think about consequences of potential actions, so they can reason out what might occur
Begin more sophisticated **moral reasoning**
At this point, children are reasoning more like adults, and they continue to develop that over time
50
According to Piaget, during what stage do children learn moral reasoning?
Formal Operational
51
According to Piaget, during what stage do children learn conservationism?
Concrete Operational
52
According to Piaget, during what stage do children learn about abstract concepts?
Formal Operational
53
According to Piaget, during what stage do children engage in pretend play?
Preoperational
54
According to Piaget, during what stage do children exibit egocentrism?
Preoperational
55
According to Piaget, during what stage do children learn object permanence?
Sensorimotor
56
What are the 'mental shortcuts' people use in decision making that often lead them astray? Provide specific examples
Heuristics
**Availability Heuristic**: Using examples that readily come to mind, or are easily available in your memory
**Representativeness Heuristic**: We judge the probability of an event based on our existing prototype/general concept of what is typical
57
**Availability Heuristic**
Using **examples that readily come to mind**, or are easily available in your memory
This can be a helpful shortcut, but our easily memorable experiences don’t always match the real state of the world
You’re thinking of actual memories that can come to your mind, that are available in your head
58
**Representativeness Heuristic**
* We judge the probability of an event based on our existing **prototype**/general concept of what is typical
* Most of the time, can help us make quick judgments, but it can also lead us to a **conjunction fallacy**: When people think the co-occurrence of two instances is more likely than a single one
* You’re not necessarily thinking of exact memories, you’re thinking of a prototype of this idea
59
What are the main types of bias that can prevent us from making decisions, or cause us to change decisions we've already made?
1. **Overconfidence**: Our tendency to be more confident than correct; Could be due to **fluency** (The ease of processing)
2. **Belief Perseverance**: Ignore/rationalize disconfirming facts
3. **Framing Effect**: How you present the decision
60
What evidence supports the theory that there is **one generalized intelligence**?
Evidence to support this theory comes from the fact that people who score really well on one type of test, such as verbal ability, tend to score really well on other types of tests, such as math
You may be better at one category or another, but relative to other people you probably have about the same level of skills in both areas
**G factor**: The factor underlying these consistent abilities (g=general intelligence)
61
Robert Sternberg's theory of 3 types of intelligence
1. **Analytical Intelligence**: Academic abilities; the ability to solve well-defined problems
2. **Creative Intelligence:** The ability to react adaptively to new situations and to generate novel ideas
3. **Practical Intelligence**: The ability to solve ill-defined problems
62
What does **Universalism** theorize about language and cognition?
**Thought determines language** completely
For example, in New Guinea, their language only has two words for color: light and dark. Universalists would say this is because those people only think of color in these two ways
63
What was Piaget's view on language and cognition?
**Thought influences language**
* Once children were able to think in a certain way, then they developed the language to describe those thoughts
* For example, when children learn that objects continue to exist even though they can’t see them, that’s when they start to learn words such as “gone”, “missing”, “find” → their language development is influenced by their cognitive ability and newly discovered ability that objects exist even though they can’t see them
64
What was Vygotsky's view on language and cognition?
* **Language and thought are independent**, but they converge through development
* They’re both there, neither influences the other, and eventually you learn to used them at the same time
* Believed that children develop language through social interaction with adults who already know the language, and through that interaction, then they learn to connect their thoughts and the language they eventually learn
65
**Linguistic Determinism**
(weak vs. strong only refers to how much language influences thought, not the strength of the hypothesis)
* **Weak Hypothesis**: Language influences thought; it makes it easier or more common for us to think in certain ways depending on how our language is structured
* **Strong Hypothesis**, aka **Whorfian Hypothesis**: Language determines thought completely
* Whorf observed that there is a Native American tribe called the Hopi that don’t have any grammatical tense in their language, and he thought that meant they couldn’t think about time in the same way
* Later, people studying the language found that Hopi have a different way of expressing past/present/future
66
What are the main theories about language development?
1. **Nativist/Innatist Perspective**: Children are born with the ability to learn language
2. **Learning Theory**: Children aren’t born with anything, they only acquire language through **reinforcement**
3. **Interactionist Approach** (Social Interactionist Approach): **Biological** and **social** factors have to interact in order for children to learn language
67
**Nativist/Innatist Perspective** on language development
* Children are born with the ability to learn language
* Main theorist associated with this perspective: **Noam Chomsky** thought that humans have a **language acquisition device (LAD)** in their brains that allows them to learn language
* Goes along with the idea that there is a **critical/sensitive period**
* ****Nativists, like Chomsky, would say that it is harder to learn language after the critical period because the LAD only operates during that critical period; once you start using it, it specializes to your languages and becomes unable to detect sounds/grammar from other languages
68
**Learning Theory** of language development
* Children aren’t born with anything, they only acquire language through **reinforcement**
* These theorists would say that a child learns to say “mama” because every time it makes a sound that approaches that word, the mom starts smiling and hugging the child. So over time, the child learns that making that sounds results in more hugs/smiles from mom. Eventually, the child learns to say “ma”, then says it again, “mama”
* This theory doesn’t explain how children are able to produce words they’ve never heard before, or produce unique sentences
69
**Interactionist Approach** (Social Interactionist Approach) to language development
* **Biological** and **social** factors have to interact in order for children to learn language
* These theorists would say that children strongly desire to communicate with others, such as the adults in their lives, and that desire motivates them to learn to communicate via language
* Main theorist associated with this school of thought: **Vygotsky** was a big proponent of the importance of social interaction in the development of children
70
Where is **Broca's Area**? Where is **Wernicke's Area**?
* **Broca's: Frontal Lobe**
* **Wernicke's: Temporal Lobe**
* Both are usually in the left hemisphere, but they are found on whichever hemisphere is dominant in each person (which is usually the left)
71
**Nonfluent Aphasia**
Also known as **Broca's Aphasia**, occurs when there is damage to Broca's Area
When this area is damaged, people have **trouble producing speech**, and their words become halting/slurred (can think “Broka” for “broken” speech)
72
**Broca's Aphasia**
Also known as **nonfluent aphasia**, results from damage to Broca's Area.
When this area is damaged, people have **trouble producing speech**, and their words become halting/slurred (can think “Broka” for “broken” speech)
73
**Fluent Aphasia**
Also known as **Wernicke's Aphasia**, results from damage to Wernicke's Area
When damaged this area is damaged, people can produce words, but they produce **jumbled speech, nonsense sentences.** These people can also have **trouble understanding** what people say
74
**Wernicke's Aphasia**
Also known as **Fluent Aphasia**, occurs when there is damage to Wernicke's Area
When damaged this area is damaged, people can produce words, but they produce **jumbled speech, nonsense sentences**. These people can also have **trouble understanding** what people say
75
**Global Aphasia**
When both Broca’s aphasia and Wernicke’s aphasia are present; Globally affects language instead of only affecting a subsection of it
76
What structure connects Broca's Area and Wernicke's Area?
**Arcuate Fasciculus**
Interestingly, this loop is also found in deaf people who learn sign language → so it’s not specific to a spoken language, but the brain adapts to whatever modality is necessary for communication
77
What is the **arcuate fasciculus**, and what happens if it's damaged?
* Bundle of nerve fibers that connects Broca's Area and Wernicke's Area
* Damage results in **conduction aphasia**: Their ability to conduct information between listening and speaking is disrupted, which makes them unable to repeat things, even though they understand what’s being said
78
**Conduction Aphasia**
Results from damage to the **arcuate fasciculus**
The ability to conduct information between listening and speaking is disrupted, which makes them unable to repeat things, even though they understand what’s being said
79
Describe the results of a severed corpus collosum
* Assuming language is centralized in the left hemisphere, this means that the right side of your brain can’t connect to the language side → anything you perceive in the right side of your brain can’t be named or dealt with in terms of language
* Brains have a contralateral organization, meaning that information you perceive in your left visual field gets processed by the right side of your brain, and vice versa.
* → In split-brain patients, if you see an object on your left, and it gets sent to your right hemisphere, you won’t be able to name it. You’d still be able to pick it up with your left hand, but you’d have to turn your head so that the object would be in your right visual field before the language part of your brain would have any access to it
* \*Note: right visual field does not mean just your right eye; it means the right side of your body, which you can view with half of each eye
80
What are the clinicals uses of **barbiturates**? What are some common side effects?
* Clinically used to induce sleep or reduce anxiety
* Depress CNS activity
* Side effects: Reduced memory, judgment, and concentration
* When combined with alcohol, can lead to death
81
What type of drug are **benzodiazepines**? How do they function in the brain?
* Barbiturates; most commonly prescribed
* Enhance your brain’s response to **GABA**, an inhibitory neurotransmitter
82
What are some clinical uses of **opiates**? On which receptors do they act, and what are some examples of opiates?
* Used to treat pain because they act at your body’s receptor sites for **endorphins**, which are your body’s natural pain reducers
* This mechanism is what makes opiates a different class of drugs than depressants, even though they can be used for overlapping purposes such as anti-anxiety
* High doses can lead to euphoria, which is why people take them recreationally
* Examples: morphine, heroin
83
What distinguishes opiates from depressants?
Opiates act on endorphin receptors, while depressants act on GABA receptors
84
What are 4 types of stimulants?
1. Caffeine
2. Nicotine
3. Cocaine
4. Amphetamine/Methamphetamine
85
What are the physiological effects of **nicotine**? Is it more or less addictive than caffeine?
* Increases heart rate and blood pressure, arouses the brain to a state of heightened alertness
* Suppresses appetite (why people tend to gain weight when they quit smoking)
* In high amounts, can cause muscles to relax and can cause the release of certain neurotransmitters that reduce stress
* This is your body’s natural response to counteract all that heightened alertness and tension
* More addictive
* Withdrawal can lead to anxiety, insomnia, distractibility, and irritability
86
How does cocaine act on the brain? What are some common side effects experienced by regular users?
* Causes your brain to release so much dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine that it basically depletes your brain’s supply
* → Once the drug wears off, you experience an intense crash and become very depressed
* Regular users can experience emotional disturbances, suspicion, convulsions, cardiac arrest, or respiratory failure
87
How do amphetamines/methamphetamines act on the brain?
Trigger release of dopamine
88
What are 3 examples of hallucinogens?
1. Ecstacy
2. LSD
3. Marijuana
89
How does ecstasy act on the brain, and what other drug class is this similar to mechanistically? What are potential dangerous side effects?
* Like a stimulant, greatly increases dopamine and seroton and leads to a feeling of euphoria, and also stimulates the CNS
* After taking ecstasy, people experience high blood pressure, dehydration, and overheating, sometimes to the point of death
* Can damage the neurons that produce serotonin
* One function of serotonin is monitoring your mood → if you don’t produce enough serotonin you may experience a permanently depressed mood (possible side effect of ecstasy)
90
How does LSD act on the brain? What types of hallucinations are common?
* Interferes with serotonin transmission → causes people to feel sensations that didn’t actually come from the environment (hallucinations)
* Most hallucinations are visual, as opposed to auditory
91
What is a clinical use of hallucinogens?
PTSD Treatment
Some types of hallucinogens seem to allow people to access painful memories from their past, but in a way that’s detached from any strong emotional reaction → they can recall a traumatic memory and come to terms with it in a way that’s not possible under normal circumstances
92
How does route of drug entry affect drug dependence?
People are more likely to become dependent on drugs that take effect more quickly
For example, injected drugs have higher addictive potential than pills
93
What reward pathway involves production of dopamine, and where is the majority of this dopamine made?
* **Mesolimbic Pathway**
* **Ventral tegmental area** (midbrain)
94
What pathway is known as the 'reward pathway'? What NT does it use?
**Mesolimbic Pathway**
**Dopamine**
95
Where does the **mesolimbic pathway** originate, and where does it project to in the brain?
* Originates in the **ventral tegmental area** (in the midbrain)
* Projects to:
* **Amygdala** (deals with emotions, among other things)
* **Nucleus Accumbens** (controls your body’s motor functions)
* **Prefrontal Cortex** (Helps focus attention and planning)
* **Hippocampus** (Responsible for the formation of memories)
96
When the mesolimbic pathway is activated by a stimulus, how does each structure it projects to contribute to the reinforcement of that stimulus?
* The **amygdala** will say “this was a pleasurable sensation, I enjoyed it"
* **Hippocampus** would say “well let me remember everything about this environment so we can do this again”
* **Nucleus accumbens**, which controls motor function, says, “let’s do it again”
* **Prefrontal cortex** helps focus on that stimulus and divert some of your attention to it
97
With the continued activation of the mesolimbic pathway, what NT levels are altered?
* With the continued activation of this reward circuit, **dopamine increases**, and at the same time **serotonin**, which is partially responsible for feelings of satiation, **decreases** → why drugs can be problematic when you continually activate this circuit
