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MCAT Behavioral Sciences > Consciousness, Drugs, Language > Flashcards

Consciousness, Drugs, Language Flashcards

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MCAT flashcards
1
Q

What is consciousness?

A

one’s level of awareness of both the world and one’s own existence

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2
Q

What are states of consciousness?

A

alertness, sleep, dreaming, altered states

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3
Q

What is alertness?

A

state of being awake and able to think, perceive, process, and express information

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4
Q

What waves predominate during alert/wakeful states?

A

beta and alpha waves

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5
Q

Describe stage 1 sleep.

A

light sleep; dominated by theta waves

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6
Q

Describe stage 2 sleep.

A

slightly deeper than stage I; includes theta waves, sleep spindles, and K complexes

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7
Q

Describe stage 3 and 4 sleep.

A

deep (slow-wave) sleep (SWS); delta waves predominate; most sleep-wake disorders occur during stage 3 and 4 non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep; dreaming in SWS focuses on consolidating declarative memories

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8
Q

What is REM sleep?

A

paradoxical sleep; mind appears close to awake on EEG, but person is asleep; eye movements and body paralysis occur in this stage; dreaming in REM focuses on consolidating procedural memories

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9
Q

Describe the sleep cycle.

A
  • approximately 90 minutes for adults

- normal cycle: 1-2-3-4-3-2-REM or just 1-2-3-4-REM; REM becomes more frequent toward the morning

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10
Q

What major hormones are involved circadian rhythm?

A

Circadian rhythms normally trend around a 24-hr day

Melatonin: release from pineal gland triggered by changes in light in the evening, resulting in sleepiness

Cortisol: levels increase early in the morning and help promote wakefulness

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11
Q

When does dreaming occur?

A

most dreaming occurs during REM, but some occurs during other sleep stages; many different models attempt to account for content and purpose of dreaming

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12
Q

What are dyssomnias?

A

make it difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep, or avoid sleep: insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, sleep deprivation

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13
Q

What are parasomnias?

A

abnormal movements or behaviors during sleep: night terrors, sleepwalking (somnambulism)

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14
Q

What is hypnosis?

A

state of consciousness in which individuals appear to be in control of their normal faculties, but are in a highly suggestible state; used for pain control, psychotherapy, memory enhancement, weight loss, and smoking cessation

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15
Q

What is meditation?

A

a quieting of the mind and is often used for relief of anxiety; has also played a role in many of the world’s religions

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16
Q

What are the groups of consciousness-altering drugs?

A

depressants, stimulants, opiates, and hallucinogens

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17
Q

What are depressants?

A

alcohol, barbiturates, benzodiazepines; promote or mimic GABA activity in the brain

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18
Q

What are stimulants?

A

amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy; increase dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin concentration at the synaptic cleft

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19
Q

What are opiates and opioids?

A

heroin, morphine, opium, oxycodone/hydrocodone (pain meds); can cause death by respiratory depression

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20
Q

What are hallucinogens?

A

lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), peyote, mescaline, ketamine, psilocybin-containing mushrooms

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21
Q

Describe the effects of marijuana.

A

has depressant, stimulant, and hallucinogenic effects; active ingredient is tetrahydrocannabinol

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22
Q

What parts of the brain are implicated in drug addiction?

A

mesolimbic pathway:

  • nucleus accumbens
  • medial forebrain bundle
  • ventral tegmental area
  • dopamine is main neurotransmitter
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23
Q

What are types of attention?

A

Selective attention: allows one to pay attention to a particular stimulus while determining if additional stimuli in the background require attention

Divided attention: uses automatic processing to pay attention to multiple activities at once

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24
Q

What does language consist of?

A
  • phonology
  • morphology
  • semantics
  • syntax
  • pragmatics
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25
Q

What is phonology?

A

sounds of speech

26
Q

What is morphology?

A

building blocks of words, such as rules for pluralization, past tense, and so forth

27
Q

What are semantics?

A

meaning of words

28
Q

What is syntax?

A

rules of dictating word order

29
Q

What are pragmatics?

A

change in language delivery depending on context

30
Q

Explain the nativist (biological) theory.

A

Chomsky; explains language acquisition as being innate and controlled by the language acquisition device (LAD); sensitive period for language-learning between 2 y/o and puberty

31
Q

Explain the learning (behaviorist) theory.

A

Skinner; explains language acquisition as being controlled by operant conditioning and reinforcement by parents and caregivers

32
Q

Explain the social interactionist theory.

A

explains language acquisition as being caused by a motivation to communicate and interact with others

33
Q

What is the Whorfian (linguistic relativity) hypothesis?

A

states that the lens through we view and interpret the world is created by language

34
Q

Where are speech areas usually found in the brain?

A

the dominant hemisphere (usually the left)

35
Q

What does Broca’s area do?

A

controls motor function of speech; damage causes Broca’s aphasia, a nonfluent aphasia in which generating each word requires great effort

36
Q

What does Wernicke’s area do?

A

controls language comprehension; damage causes Wernicke’s aphasia, a fluent, nonsensical aphasia with lack of comprehension

37
Q

What is the arcuate fasciculus?

A

connects Wernicke’s and Broca’s area; damage results in conduction aphasia, marked by the inability to repeat words heard despite intact speech generation and comprehension

38
Q

How is alertness maintained by the brain?

A

neurological circuits in the prefrontal cortex communicate with the reticular formation to keep the cortex awake ad alert

39
Q

When does beta waves occur?

A

when the person is alert or attending to a mental task that requires concentration; high frequency waves

40
Q

When do alpha waves occur?

A

awake but relaxing with our eyes closed; somewhat slower and more synchronized than beta waves

41
Q

When do theta waves occur?

A

Stages 1 and 2

42
Q

When do delta waves occur?

A

Stages 3 and 4 (SWS)

43
Q

What is SWS associated with?

A

cognitive recovery and memory consolidation, increased GH release

44
Q

What comprises NREM sleep?

A

Stages 1-4

45
Q

How does cortisol release happen in the circadian rhythm?

A

light -> CRF -> ACTH -> Cortisol

46
Q

What is the activation-synthesis theory of dreaming?

A

dreams are caused by widespread, random activation of neural circuitry; can mimic incoming sensory information and may also consist of pieces of stored memories, current and previous desire, met and unmet needs, and other experiences

47
Q

What is the problem-solving dream theory?

A

dreams are a way to solve problems while you are sleeping; dreams are untethered by the rules of the real world, and thus allow interpretation of obstacles differently than during waking hours

48
Q

What is the cognitive process dream theory?

A

dreams are merely the sleeping counterpart of stream-of-consciousness

49
Q

What are neurocognitive models of dreaming?

A

seek to unify biological and psychological perspectives on dreaming by correlating the subjective, cognitive experience of dreaming with measurable physiological changes

50
Q

What is insomnia?

A

difficulty falling or staying asleep; most common sleep-wake disorder; may be related to anxiety, depression, medications, or disruption of sleep cycles and circadian rhythms

51
Q

What is narcolepsy?

A

characterized by lack of voluntary control over the onset of sleep:

  • cataplexy: loss of muscle control and sudden intrusion of REM sleep during waking hours; emotional trigger
  • sleep paralysis: sensation of being unable to move despite being awake
  • hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations: hallucinations when going to sleep or awakening
52
Q

What is sleep apnea?

A

inability to breath during sleep;

  • obstructive: physical blockage in pharynx or trachea prevents airflow
  • central: when brain fails to send signals for diaphragm to breathe
53
Q

What are night terrors?

A

most common in children; periods of intense anxiety that occur during slow-wave sleep: thrashing and screaming, sympathetic overdrive, usually during SWS (child is hard to wake and usually does not remember the dream the next morning)

54
Q

Describe sleepwalking (somnambulism)?

A

usually occurs during SWS; most sleepwalkers return to their beds and awake in the morning with no knowledge of their nighttime activities; awakening a sleepwalker will not cause harm, but is is generally suggested to quietly guide the sleepwalker back to bed to avoid disturbing SWS

55
Q

What is sleep deprivation?

A

can result from as little as one night without sleep, or from multiple nights with poor-quality, short-duration sleep; results in irritability, mood disturbances, decreased performance, and slowed reaction time; extreme deprivation can cause psychosis

56
Q

What is REM rebound?

A

people who are permitted to sleep normally after sleep deprivation often exhibit an earlier onset and greater duration of REM sleep compared to normal

57
Q

What is hypnotic induction?

A

part of hypnotism in which hypnotist seeks to relax the subject and increase the subject’s level of concentration

58
Q

What are effects of meditation?

A

decreased HR and BP; resembles Stage 1 sleep with theta and slow alpha waves

59
Q

What is prosody?

A

the rhythm, cadence, and inflection of our voices

60
Q

What are the expected milestones of language development?

A
  • 9 to 12 months: babbling
  • 12 to 18 months: increase of about one word per month
  • 18 to 20 months: explosion of language, combining words (2-word sentences)
  • 2 to 3 years: longer sentences of three or more words
  • 5 years: language rules largely mastered

MCAT Behavioral Sciences (15 decks)

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