Important terms psych chapter 5-Consciousness Flashcards
Sleep paralysis
State of being unable to move just after falling asleep or right before waking up.
Consciousness
Our subjective experience of the world, our bodies, and our mental experiences
circadian rythm
Cyclical changes that occur on a roughly 24hr basis
Biological clock
Term for the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus that’s responsible for controlling our levels of alertness.
REM
Rapid eye movement: darting of the eyes underneath closed eyelids.
non-REM sleep
stages 1-4 of the sleep cycle, during which rapid eye movements do not occur and dreaming is less frequent and vivid.
REM sleep
Stage of sleep during which the brain is most active and during which vivid dreaming most often occurs.
What are beta waves?
Normal brain waves when awake.
What are alpha waves?
Waves of EEG during calm wakefulness.
What are theta waves?
Seen in stage 1 of sleep
What waves are in sleep stage 2?
Sleep spindles and k complexes
What waves are in stage 3 and 4 of the sleep cycle?
Delta waves
What is lucid dreaming?
Experience of becoming aware that one is dreaming.
Insomnia
difficulty falling and staying asleep
narcolepsy
Disorder characterized by the rapid and often unexpected onset of sleep. Often have few cells that produce orexin.
cataplexy
complete loss of muscle tone
Sleep apnea
disorder caused by a blockage of the airway during sleep, resulting in day time fatigue.
night terrors
sudden waking episodes characterized by screaming, perspiring, and confusion followed by a return to deep sleep.
sleepwalkin
Walking while fully asleep
activation-synthesis theory
theory that dreams reflect inputs from brain activation originating in the pons, which the forebrain then attempts to weave into a story.
Neurocognitive theory
Theory that dreams are a meaningful product of our cognitive capacities, which shape what we dream about.
OBE
out of body experience; sense of our consciousness leaving our body
NDE
near death experience; out of body experience reported by people who’ve nearly died or thought they were going to die
déja vù
feeling of reliving an experience that’s new, may be due to excess of the NT dopamine in the temporal lobe.
mystical experience
feelings of unity or oneness with the world, often with strong spiritual overtones
hypnosis
set of techniques that provide people with suggestions for alterations in their perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.
past life regression therapy
therapeutic approach that hypothesizes and supposedly age-regresses patients to a previous life to identify the source of the present-day problem.
sociocognitive theory
approach to explaining hypnosis based on people’s attitudes, beliefs, and expectations.
Dissociation theory
approach to explaining hypnosis based on a separation between personality functions that are normally well integrated.
psychoactive drug
substance that contains chemicals similar to those found naturally in our brains that later consciousness by changing chemical processes in neurons.
tolerance
reduction in the effect of a drug as a result of repeated use, requiring users to consume greater quantities to achieve the same effect.
withdrawal
unpleasant effects of reducing or stopping consumption of a drug that users had consumed habitually
physical dependence
dependence on a drug that occurs when people continue to take it to avoid withdrawal symptoms
psychological dependence
dependence on a drug that occurs when continued use of the drug is motivated by intense cravings.
sedative
drug that exerts a calming effect
hypnotic drug
drug that exerts a sleep-inducing effect
stimulant
drug that increases activity in the CNS, including heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure.
narcotic
drug that relieves pain and induces sleep
hallucinogenic
causing dramatic alterations of perception, mood, and thought.
