Cognition, consciousness, and language

Question 1

Stages of consciousness - awake

Answer 1

Awake - EEG waves alpha and beta, able to perceive, process, access, and express info.

alpha waves - lower f than beta waves, awake but resting with eyes closed

beta waves - high frequency, neurons randomly firing

Question 2

Stages of consciousness - 1

Answer 2

EEG theta, light sleep.

theta waves - irregular wave forms with lower f and higher voltage.

Question 3

Stages of consciousness - 2

Answer 3

EEG theta waves, sleep spindles and K complexes

sleep spindle - small, high f area
K complex - spike in voltage

Question 4

Stages of consciousness - 3/4

Answer 4

EEG delta, slow-wave sleep; dreams; declarative memory consolidation; some sleep disorders, difficult to rouse someone in this stage of sleep

delta waves - lower f, high voltage

Question 5

Stages of consciousness - REM

Answer 5

EEG mostly beta, appears awake physiologically; dreams; paralyzed; procedural memory consolidation; some sleep disorders.

interspersed between stages of NREM

Question 6

Sleep disorders

Answer 6

dyssomnias - changes in the amount or timing of sleep
ex) insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, sleep depravation.

parasomnias - odd behaviors during sleep
ex) night terrors, sleep-walking.

Question 7

Depressants

Answer 7

alcohol, barbituates, benzodiazepines.

give sense of relaxation and reduced anxiety

Question 8

Stimulants

Answer 8

amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy

cause increased arousal

Question 9

Opiates/opioids

Answer 9

heroin, morphine, opium, pain meds

decreased reaction to pain, euphoria

Question 10

Hallucinogens

Answer 10

LSD, peyote, mescaline, ketamine, psilocybin-contianing mushrooms

Question 11

marajuana

Answer 11

produces some features of depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens (in high doses)

Question 12

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

Answer 12

sensorimotor -> preoperational -> concrete operational -> formal operational

each steps prepares the individual for the next step

Question 13

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development - sensorimotor, key components - circular reactions and object performance. age range.

Answer 13

focuses on manipulation the environment to meet physical needs

birth ->2

circular reactions: repetition, primary - repetitive body movement that originally occurred by chance and is continued b/c it is soothing. secondary - manipulation is focused on something outside the body.

object permanence: key milestone that ends this stage and signifies the beginning of representational thought, understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of view.

Question 14

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development - preoperational

Answer 14

2-7 years

characterized by:
symbolic thinking - ability to pretend, play make-believe, and have imagination.

egocentrism - inability to imaging what another person thinks and feels.

centration - focusing on only one aspect of a phenomenon

Question 15

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development - concrete operational stage

Answer 15

understanding of feelings of others and manipulating physical (concrete) objects

have not developed ability to think abstractly, but can think logically as long as there is a concrete object of info that is directly available.

age 7-11

Question 16

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development - formal operational stage

Answer 16

development of abstract thought and problem-solving.

ages 11 and older

pendulum experiment - gave children a pendulum and ask to figure out what factor determines the frequency - children in concrete stage manipulated variables at random, while children in the formal stage were able to methodically manipulate individual variables.

Question 17

problem-solving techniques

Answer 17

trial and error
algorithms
deductive reasoning - deriving conclusions from general rules
inductive reasoning - deriving generalizations from evidence

Question 18

Heuristics

Answer 18

simplified principles used to make decisions

“rules of thumb”

biases, intuition, and emotions that may assist in decision-making - may also lead to erroneous or problematic decisions

Question 19

selective attention

Answer 19

paying attention to one particular thing while determining if additional stimuli in the background need attention

Question 20

divided attention

Answer 20

using automatic processing to pay attention to multiple activities at one time

automatic processing - permits the brain to focus on other tasks with divided attention

Question 21

Wernicke’s area

Answer 21

controls language comprehension

damage to this area results in Wernicke’s aphasia - fluent but nonsensical speech with lack of comprehension

Question 22

Broca’s area

Answer 22

controls motor function of speech

damage to this area causes broca’s aphasia - nonfluent speech in which findings words requires a huge amount of effort.

Question 23

Arculate fasciculus

Answer 23

connects Werincke’s area and Broca’s area

damage results in conduction aphasia - inability to speak words despite intact speech generation and comprehension