Exam II (Chapters 3, 7, and 8) Flashcards
dual processing
the principle that info is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks
selective attention
focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus
is selective attention dangerous?
yes; distracted driving and accidents
consciousness
awareness of self and environment
altered state of consciousness
daydreaming, sleeping, dreaming, hypnosis.meditation, drug-induced states, and near-death experiences
fantasies
more men have sexual fantasies in dreams
fantasy-prone personalities
4% of population has this; they spend more than half of their time fantasizing, some have vivid day dreams to the point that they confuse their day dreams with reality
circadian rhythm
internal biological clock of 24-hour cycle of day and night
t or
there is evidence that being a morning vs night person is genetically influenced
true
how do light and scn affect the circadian rhythm?
light and scn decrease the production of melatonin, making you less tired
four stages of sleep
NREM1, NREM2, NREM3, REM
NREM1
2 minutes, sensation of floating or falling, visual hallucinations
NREM2
20 minutes, can be easily awakened, sleep talking occurs, sleep spindles (bursts of brain wave activity) occur
NREM3
deep sleep, sleep walking occurs
REM
rapid eye movement, sleep walking can occur, most vivid and bizarre dreams occur
REM rebound
the tendency for REM to increase when you are sleep deprived- you skip the stages of sleep
purposes of sleep
- protective role in evolution
- helps restore/repair damaged neurons
- strengthens neural connections (during REM, NREM2)
- promotes creative problem solving
- secretes a growth hormone for muscles
sleep deprivation
cause fatigue and irritability, impairs concentration, productivity, and memory consolidation, can lead to depression, obesity, joint pain, suppressed immune system
sleep debt
our bodies keep a record of the sleep that we need to make up and will make it up if necessary (this is why you sleep so long if you sleep in)
insomnia
recurring problems falling or staying asleep, can be a red flag for anxiety disorders, depression, or mood disorders
narcolepsy
sudden, uncontrollable sleep attacks, sometimes lapsing directly into REM sleep (only in dire cases)
sleep apnea
stopping breathing while asleep, associated with obesity and snoring, especially in men
night terrors
high arousal and appearance of being terrified, occurs during deep sleep, much more common in kids, will wake up and start screaming, most people outgrow it, will have amnesia the day after the episode (surrounding the episode)
nightmares
occur during REM, person with episode will remember it
sleep walking
walking during sleep, NREM3
sleep talking
talking during sleep, can happen during any stage of sleep
when do dreams occur?
during all stages of sleep
purposes of dreams
to satisfy our own wishes, to file away memories, to develop and preserve neural pathways, to make sense of neural static (we are just seeing lines and colors), to reflect cognitive development
Freud’s wish fulfillment (why we dream)
dreams have a second meaning (manifest content- dream itself; latent content- underlying meaning of the dream)
information processing (why we dream)
helps us consolidate our memories (some research support)
physiological function (why we dream)
helps develop and preserve neural pathways
neural activation (why we dream)
triggers neural activity that evokes random visual memories
cognitive development (why we dream)
reflects dreamers’ level of cognitive development
hypnosis
induces an altered state of consciousness, a social interaction in which suggests to another person that something is happening, someone is feeling something, etc.; a deep state of relaxation, the higher the suggestibility, the easier someone is hypnotized
suggestibility
the quality of being inclined to accept and act on the suggestion of others
can hypnosis be used as a treatment for pain?
it can be used for chronic pain, it decreases activity in the brain where physical pain is processed
theories that explain why hypnosis works
social influence (you want to be a good patient)
dissociation (creates a divide in our levels of consciousness)
tolerance
with repeated use, the desired effect requires larger doses
withdrawal
discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing an addictive drug or behavior
addiction
compulsive craving of drugs or certain behaviors despite knowing harmful consequences
categories of psychoactive drugs
depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens
depressants
calm neural activity and slow bodily functions (i.e. alcohol, barbiturates (tranquilizers), and opiates)
stimulants
dilation of pupils, increase in heart/breathing rats, rise in blood sugar, drop in appetite, increase in energy and self confidence (i.e. caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy, meth)
hallucinogens
distorts perceptions (i.e. marijuana, LSD)
substance use disorder
a person’s inability to control their use of substances’ characterized by diminished control, diminished social function, hazardous use, and drug action
cage
C- feeling the need to CUT BACK
A- ANNOYED by others asking them to stop/cut back
G- GUILT about their use
E- EYE OPENER
eye opener
using a little more of the substance to get over their hangover
effects of psychoactive drugs
near death experiences
altered state of consciousness reported after havnig a close brush with death, 30-40% report having an NDE after having a close brush with death
what occurs during NDEs?
aerial view of one’s body (can see/hear what is happening)
going through a long, dark tunnel with a light at the end of the tunnel that they feel drawn to (religious people think the light is God)
have contact with people who already died
mostly positive experiences, many people do not want to go back to their physical bodies
Monist explanation of NDE
believe the mind/soul can not be separated
physiological explanation- they occur because of chemical changes in the brain when death is near
Dualist explanation of NDE
believe mind and soul are separate entities
spiritual explanation- when body is dying, mind/soul exits the body
conditioning
the response to an object or event by a person/animal can be modified by a stimulus
classical conditioning (pavlov)
certain events that occur closely together in time become related (i.e. lightning and thunder, dentist and pain)
how do phobias form
classical conditioning
operant conditioning (skinner)
behavior operates on the environment to produce rewarding or punishing stimuli
conditioned stimulus (CS)
a previously natural stimulus that produces a conditioned response
unconditioned stimulus (US)
a stimulus that produces a UR
conditioned response (CR)
a learned response to a conditioned stimulus
unconditioned response (UR)
unlearned, naturally occurring response to an unconditioned stimulus
conditioning- dog image
acquisition
initial stage, when one links a neural stimulus and a US so that the neural stimulus begins to trigger a CR
extinction
diminishing of a CR
spontaneous recovery
the reappearance of an extinguished CR
generalization
the tendency for stimuli that are similar to the CS to elicit similar responses (think Little Albert)
discrimination
learned ability to distinguish between a CS and other irrelevant stimuli
Little Albert experiment
induced a phobia, made Albert scared of a white rate
when they brought out any white animals/objects (dog, bunny, santa beard), Albert got scared
proves discrimination
shaping
gradually guiding closer to the desired behavior is likely
law of effect (Thorndike)
rewarded behavior is likely to occur
skinner box
when the bar is hit, food is dispensed
positive reinforcers
strengthens response by giving it to the person/animal after the response occurs (i.e. praise, attention, food, money)
negative reinforcers
remove something aversive to reinforce behavior (i.e. taking advil to get rid of a headache, hitting snooze on an alarm to get rid of the noise)
primary reinforcer
immediately reinforcing the stimuli (i.e. food, pain relief)
secondary reinforcers
gains power through association with primary reinforcers (i.e. money)
immediate reinforcers
occurs immediately after a behavior
delayed reinforcers
there is a time delay between the desires response of the reward and the delivery of the reward
continuous reinforcement
reinforcing the desired response every time that it occurs
partial (intermittent) reinforcement
scheduling reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but greater resistance to extinction than continuous reinforcement
how do we explain gambling addictions and why they exist
partial (intermittent) reinforcement- the reward is intermittent
types of reinforcement schedules
fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, variable-interval
fixed-ratio schedule
reinforce behavior after a set number of responses (i.e. coffee shops give you a free drink after the 10th purchase)
variable-ratio schedule
provides reinforcers after a seemingly unpredictable amount of responses (this is why people play slot machines or fish)
fixed-interval schedule
reinforcer the first response after a fixed time period (i.e. checking for mail the closer it gets to delivery time)
variable-interval schedule
reinforce the first response after varying time intervals (i.e. your boss checking in at unpredictable times throughout the day to make sure that you are working keeps you working)
positive punishment
presenting a negative consequence after an undesired behavior is exhibited (i.e. verbally reprimanding, spanking)
negative punishment
removing the desired stimulus after an undesired stimulus is exhibited (i.e. grounding a child from watching tv, time out)
effects of physical punishment
- punished behavior is suppressed (sneakily done), not forgotten
- can make child afraid of caregiver
- teaches discrimination
- may increase aggression through modeling
modeling
the process of observing and imitating a certain behavior
bobo doll experiments
kid watched an adult beat a doll, when the kid was left alone in the room with the doll, the kid modelled the behavior
mirror neurons
the brain’s mirroring of another’s actions may enable imitation and empathy
observational learning
learning through watching other’s actions, responses, etc.
prosocial behaviors
behavior modeling enhances learning of communication, sales, and customer service skills
antisocial behaviors
abusive parents may have aggressive children
watching tv and videos may teach children that bullying is an effective tool for controlling others, free and easy sex has little to no consequences, and men should be touch/women should be gentle
violence viewing effect
recall
retrieving info that is not currently in your conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time
recognition
identifying items that were previously learned
relearning
learning something more quickly than when you learned it for the first time
encoding
initially getting memory in your brain
storage
slowly retaining info in your brain over time
retrieval
accessing info that was memorized
short-term memory (working memory)
activated memory that holds info for a few, brief moments
adds conscious, active processing of both incoming sensory information and of information retrieved from long-term memory
sensory memory
first stage in forming explicit memories; immediate, very brief recording of sensory info
long-term memory
the relatively permanent and limitless archive of the memory system
automatic processing
used for well-learned tasks (i.e. driving a familiar route and not remembering driving)
implicit memory (nondeclarative memories)
memories that form through automatic processes (i.e. riding a bike)
effortful processing
using various techniques to best learn new info (i.e. spaced study and self-assessment)
explicit memory (declarative memories)
memories of conscious facts and experiences (i.e. the first time that you went to Disneyland)
iconic picture
picture-image memory
echoic memory
sound memory
rehearsal
repeatedly looking or saying stuff to remember it; the more we rehearse it, the better we remember something
spacing effect
encoding is more effective when it is spread over time
serial position effect
involves the tendency to recall best to last (recency effect) and first (primacy effect) items in a list
semantic encoding
remembering somethign because it elaborates on the context of the word’s meaning (i.e. giving an example of a word to remember it)
superior in terms of recall
deep processing
encodes semantically based on word meaning (e.g. remembering a dove is a white bird)
shallow processing
encodes on a very basic level or a more intermediate level (i.e. remembering a white dove
mnemonics
memory aids (ROY G BIV)
chunking
organization of items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically (phone numbers, social security numbers)
hierarchies
organization of items into a few broad categories that are divided and subdvided into narrower concepts and facts (i.e. using outlines)
short-term memory storage/capacity
magical number 7, capacity is 7+ - 2 bits of info
long-term memory storage/capacity
limitless
forgetting curve
course of forgetting is initially rapid, then levels off with time
stress-related hormones
when we are stressed, our memory is boosted (through the amygdala)
semantic memories (implicit)
facts and general knowledge (cerebellum, basal ganglia)
episodic memories (explicit)
experienced events (hippocampus, frontal lobe)
longterm potentiation (LTP)
provides the neural basis for memories, after LTP, brain will not erase memories
infantile amnesia
conscious memories of first three years are blank because hippocampus is not fully developed and infants do not talk, which enforces memory
priming
activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory
retrieval cues
things that help you remember something (i.e. trying to remember the name of someone, and someone giving you the first letter of their name)
context-dependent memory
improved recall of specific info when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same (i.e. childhood memories increase when visiting one’s childhood home)
state-dependent memory
what we learn in one state may be more or less easily remembered when we are in some state (i.e. sober, tired)
mood-congruent memory
involves the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one’s current good or bad mood
encoding failure
failure to encode, usually due to lack of attention or age
storage decay
memories are discarded
retrieval failure
tip of the tongue feeling, usually stems from interference or motivated forgetting
proactive interference
occurs when older memories make it difficult to remember new info (i.e. remembering old password instead of new password)
retroactive interference
occurs when new learning interferes with old memories (i.e. learning German in college interferes with French from high school)
motivated forgetting
repressed memories protect self-concept and minimize anxiety, developed by Freud
repression
the idea that we repress painful or unacceptable memories to protect out self-concept and to minimize anxiety
memory construction
when we remember, we actively construct our memories using new and stored info, we essentially reweave our memories
misinformation effect
when a memory has been corrupted by misleading info
imagination effect
when repeatedly imagining fake actions and events can create false memories that seem real
source amnesia
faulty memory for hwo, when, or where info was learned or imagined
deja vu
the sense that I’ve experienced this before
children as eyewitnesses
must do an interview with a neutral interviewer (people pleasers) with neutral language right after event (because of high suggestibility)
false memory syndrome
false memories of a traumatic episode that one person strongly believes happened to them (usually sexual abuse)
repressed or constructed memories of abuse
the following are correct: sexual abuse happens, injustice happens, forgetting happens, recovered memories are commonplace, memories of things happening before age 3 are unreliable, memories “recovered” under hypnosis are especially unreliable, memories, whether real or false, can be emotionally upsetting
Ramona case
Holly Ramona believes her father, Gary Ramona, raped her after her therapist, Marche Isabella, used leading questions and possibly led her to experience false memory syndrome. Gary sued Marche and won, but Holly and her family does not believe Gary.
