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MCAT psych/soc > chapter 4 > Flashcards

chapter 4 Flashcards

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1
Q

consciousness

A

awareness that we have of our surroundings, our internal states, and ourselves

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2
Q

consciousness is important from a medical POV because

A

it’s not a steady state phenomenon; humans aren’t conscious all the time and consciousness can vary in terms of degree and quality

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3
Q

alertness

A

when we are paying especially close attention to the various forms of sensory input that we’re receiving

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4
Q

the structure in the brain most closely associated with alertness is the

A

reticualr formation and its subcomponent the RAS

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5
Q

deeper unconsciousness

A

when a person cannot be easily roused can occur due to loss of oxygen, trauma and drug use (anesthesia)

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6
Q

coma

A

when a person has lost consciousness and does not react normally to stimuli like light, sound, pain and does not make any voluntary motions and is not in a normal sleep/wake cycle

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7
Q

how do we record brain activity during sleep

A

electroencephalogram (EEG)

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8
Q

how do we record muscle activity during sleep?

A

electromyography (EMG)

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9
Q

how do we record eye activity as we sleep?

A
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10
Q

comprehensive sleep study is known as

A

polysomnographic study

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11
Q

when a person is fully awake, an EEG will pick up?

A

beta waves

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12
Q

beta waves have

A

high frequency and low amplitude and are not very sythmic

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13
Q

when we start getting fatigued and close our eyes but aren’t asleep yet, the EEG picks up?

A

alpha waves with a lower frequency

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14
Q

the highest level division of sleep is between what?

A

rapid eye movement (REM) and non rapid eye movement (nonREM)

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15
Q

REM sleep is also called

A

paradoxical sleep and shows brain waves similar to when a person is awake but muscle movement is very low

loosening of homeostasis occurs

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16
Q

majority of dreams happen during which kind of sleep

A

REM sleep

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17
Q

the stages of what become longer as the night progresses

A

REM

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18
Q

REM rebound

A

if we miss REM the night before, this night we catch up on REM

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19
Q

stage 1 of non REM sleep

A

characterized by theta waves which have an even lower frequency than alpha waves and tend to have low amplitudes

stage 1 sleep is quite light

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20
Q

deeper sleep is stage 2 nonREM where

A

eye motion stops and heart rate and breathing rate slow down

theta waves and K complexes and sleep spindles

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21
Q

K complexes

A

are periodic high-amplitude bursts

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22
Q

sleep spindles

A

are occasional high-frequency bursts of activity that are thought to play a role in memory consolidation

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23
Q

stage 3 non-REM is called

A

deep sleep

slow-wave sleep

slow/low frequency waves called delta waves but have high amplitude

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24
Q

stage 3 nonREM sleep is important for

A

memory processing and brain recovery

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25
Q

general schematic of sleep cycle

A
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26
Q

in adults each sleep cycle is about

in children it’s about

A

90 minutes and 50 minutes

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27
Q

24-hour sleep wake cycle is known as the

governed by what hormone

A

cyrcadian rhythm

melatonin promotes drowsiness and cortisol promotes wakefulness

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28
Q

insomnia

A

makes it difficult to fall asleep

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29
Q

narcolepsy

A

involves excessive daytime sleepiness and abormal REM sleep, cataplexy or sudden loss of muscle control, sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations

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30
Q

sleep apnea

A

occurs when a person is unable to breathe while sleeping due to physical pbstruction or problems with neural signalling

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31
Q

dyssomnias

A

disorders that interfere with whether or not sleep takes place

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32
Q

parasomnias

A

involve abnormal behaviour during sleep

33
Q

sleepwalking (somnambulism)

A

during sleepwalking a person can talk, walk and engage in other activities while being fully asleep and not remember it the next day

34
Q

night terrors and nightmares

A

when a person is suddenly plunged into the fight-or-flight response

night terrors last 30sec-3mins

35
Q

Sigmund Freud and dreams

A

dividing dreams into manifest content and latent content

36
Q

manifest content

A

refers to the surface-level plotline and details of a dream

37
Q

latent content

A

the hidden meaning of a dream

38
Q

Freud and dream fulfillment

A

states that dreams provide a way to resolve a repressed conflict by allowing a person to visualize the satisfaction of a desire

39
Q

activation-synthesis model

A

states that the activation of neurons in REM sleep results in a synthesis of that experiential input through dreaming

40
Q

problem solving theory

A

views dreams as a way that the brain inconsciously processes and works through problems encountered in one’s day to day life

41
Q

cognitive theory

A

suggests that dreams reflect cognitive structures that play a role in our everyday lives, such as conceptions of slef, others, and the world

42
Q

hypnosis

A

involves a practiotioner or hypnotist inducing a hyper-suggestible state in subject

in that state the subject may respond normally to most stimuli but is extremely responsive to certain suggestions with effects that may persist even after the hypnosis session

43
Q

meditation

A

quieting one’s mind to focus one’s attention more deliberately

promotes more alpha and theta waves

44
Q

caffeine

A
  • is a stimulant so it increases the activity in the CNS
  • has an energizing effect or mimics the sympathetic NS
  • works by blocking receptors for adenosine (a compound that promotes drowsiness)
45
Q

addiction

A

pattern of compulsive behaviour that persists despite negative consequences

involves repeatedly engaging in some sort of process that triggers the brains reward pathway

46
Q

dependence

A

do not show patterns of compulsive reward pathway usage of a substance but can have withdrawal symptoms

47
Q

tolerance

A

heavy users get acustomed to the effects of a drug and need higher doses to get the same effect

48
Q

nicotine

A
  • stimulant
  • highly addictive
49
Q

amphetamines

A
  • class of stimulants that are derived from amphetamine
  • increase energy and alertness, promote concentration and focus and reduce appetite
  • negative side effects such as hypnosis and mood swings
  • adderall is trade name
50
Q

MDMA/ecstasy/molly

A
  • belongs to amphetamines
  • promotes empathy and pleasure
  • releases serotonin, norepinepherine, and dopamine
  • depression after use
51
Q

cocaine

A
  • a strong stimulant
  • works by blocking the reuptake of serotonin, dopamine and norepinepherine
52
Q

depressants

A

reduce activity in the CNS which has psychological and physiological effects

53
Q

alcohol (ethanol)

A
  • depressant found in beer, wine, and spirits
  • enhances the action of GABA receptors so it makes the brain think its receiving more GABA input than it actually is (makes neurons fire less often slowing the brain down)
54
Q

Karsakoff syndrome

A

psychiatric condition associated with the chronic alcoholism that involves amnesia (both anterograde and retrograde)

  • associated with lack of vitamin B1 (thiamine)
55
Q

benzodiazepines and barbiturates

A
  • 2 classes of depressants that increase GABA receptor activity
  • treats alcohol dependence
  • high risk of addiction
  • cannot be combined with alcohol
56
Q

opiods

A
  • cause sedation and sleepiness and respiratory depression, pain relief and euphoria
  • bind opioid receptors on neurons
57
Q

morphine vs heroin

A

naturally occuring opiod is morphine while heroin is synthesized in the lab

extremely potent endorphin agonists

58
Q

hallucinogens and example

A
  • distort perceptions
  • enhance sensory experiences
  • promote introspection
  • mimic sympathetic nervous system activation
  • LSD
59
Q

marijuana

A
  • major psychoactive constituent is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)
  • bind with cannabinoid receptors in the brain
60
Q

reward pathway is also called the

A

mesolimbic pathway that has dopaminergic neurons

61
Q

habituated

A

when a person requires a drug to function normally which means they are also dependent on it

62
Q

attention

A

serves as a crucial link between perception and higher-level congnitive processes involving learning and memory

63
Q

William James

A

described attention as having a focus, a fringe area we aren’t paying attention to and a margin which lies between the focus and the fringe

64
Q

Broadbent model of selective attention

A

posits that the dozens of input streams of sensory information undergo basic processing for things like colour, shape, etc. that enter a sensory buffer. the mind picks something to focus on, process, and assign meaning to from the sensory buffer and then the rest of the information in the buffer decays

65
Q

shadowing

A

when subjects are asked to repeat words as soon as they hear them

  • tests attention a bit more directly
  • takeaway: we process the information stream that we’re focusing on much more than the one we’re not focusing on
66
Q

cocktail party effect

A

describes how if you’re in a room with a lot of different groups talking, you can be focused on teh conversation you’re having with your group but if someone across the room mentions you by name, you’ll immediately notice

  • in some level we are processing input that we’re not directly paying attention to, so that we can immediately notice if something important happens
67
Q

Anne Treismanman’s attenuation model

A

proposed a modification to the Broadbent model according to which instead of passing through an all or nothing buffer, unattended-to-information is attenuated or reduced in intensity

affter attenuation, particularly intense or important information might come to our attention

68
Q

inattentional blindness

A
  • when we’re working on a focused task, we can definitely miss things happening in the background
  • found using gorilla experiment
69
Q

change in blindness

A
  • refers to failure to notice changes that take place between 2 stimuli
  • ex. you don’t notice someone got a haircut or changed their shirt
70
Q

multitasking

A

being able to reliably do multiple things at the same time but is unproductive after a certain point

71
Q

simultaneous attention

A

Simultaneous Attention is the ability to multitask with success. It is the ability to move attention and effort back and forth between two or more activities when engaged in them at the same time.

72
Q

sequential attention

A

switching back and forth between tasks

73
Q

Daniel Kahneman model

A

we have an infinite amount of attention that we can allocate among various tasks, and the more demanding one of those tasks becomes, the less attention we can pay to others

  • we have a certain capacity for attention that we allocate among tasks, with the attention required for each task depending on our expertise, the difficulty of the task, our level of psychological arousal
74
Q

Allport’s module resource theory

A
  • posits that instead of a central structure in the brain that allocates attention among all competing demands, we have distinct, specialized modules
  • this means we can multitask well as long as the tasks draw from different modules but will run into trouble if we try to do 2 similar tasks at the same time
75
Q

controlled processing

A

takes place when we consciously focus on exactly how to carry out a task

76
Q

automatic processing

A

takes place when we can more or less do something on autopilot

77
Q

attention-defecit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

A

3 subtypes

78
Q

inattentive type ADHD

A
  • relate to difficulties in sustaining attention
  • symptoms include not paying close attention, having toruble sustaining attention on tasks, being easily distracted

MCAT psych/soc (12 decks)

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