consciousness
our awareness of ourselves and environment; began as sole topic of psychology
Biological Rythms
periodic phsyiological fluctuations including annual cycles, 28 day cycle, 90 minute cycle and 24 hour cycle
Annual cycles
migration, hibernation and Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D)
28 day cycle
female menstral cycle
24 hour cycle
varying body temperature, growth hormone secretion and alertness
90 minute cycle
sleep cycle
cicadian rythm
biological clock; regular body rythms of temperature and wakefullness during 24 hour cycle
suprachiasmatic nucleus
cluster of 20,000 cells that control cicadian clock that effects the pineal gland
melatonin
sleep-inducing hormone produced by pineal gland
light
helps reset cicadian clock
body temperature
rises in the AM, peaks during the day, dips slightly mid afternoon, starts to decrease right before bed
adenosine
inhibits certain neurons, making us sleepy; declines during sleep, accumulates during the day
5 sleep stages
Stage 1, 2, 3, 4, and REM sleep
REM sleep
rapid eye movement; when vivid dreams occur, muscles are relaxed but other systems are active; gets progressively longer through out night; can be easily awakened from
alpha waves
relatively slow brain waves of relaxed, aware state
sleep
periodic, natural and reversible loss of consciousness
Stage 1
stage of sleep characterized by slowed breathing, irregular brain waves, unremembered, and where hallucinations occur
hallucinations
false sensory experience
Stage 2
stage of sleep characterized by periodic appearance of sleep spindles and when sleep talking occurs; lasts about 20 minutes
sleep spindles
bursts of rapid rythimic brain activity
Stage 3
stage of sleep characterized by few minutes in duration, transition to next stage, delta waves begin to occur
Stage 4
sleep stage characterized by deep sleep, lasts about 30 minutes and gets progressively shorter through out the night, bedwetting and sleep walking occurs, certain stimuli is processed delta waves occur much more frequently
Sleep cycle
goes from stage 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 back to 3 to 2 to REM
sleep theories
sleep protects, helps recuperation, helps lay down memories, allows us to grow
insomnia
a sleep disorder characterized by recurring problems with falling or staying asleep
narcolepsy
sleep disorder characterized by experiencing periodic, overwhelming sleepiness
hypocretin
alerting neurotransmitter
sleep apnea
sleep disorder characterized temporary cessations of breathing during sleep causing repeated momentary awakenings; can be fatal
night terrors
high arousal and appearance of being terrified; usually occur during stage 4 of sleep; seldom remembered and target mostly children; different from nightmares
dreams
sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person's mind that are hard to remember if woken during stage 4 but more easily recalled if woken during REM; often accpeted by dreamer and typically occur during REM sleep
lucid dreams
awareness during a dream in which some people can test their consciousness
manifest content
concept proposed by Freud; the remembered storyline of a dream
latent content
a concept proposed by Freud; the underlying meaning of a dream that functions as a safty valve
Why we dream
wish-fulfillment, information processing, develop and preserve neural pathways, activation synthesis, cognitive development
activation synthesis theory
random neural activity that the brain makes sense of by dreaming
REM rebound
tendancy for REM to increase following REM deprivation that is created by repeated awakenings
Hypnosis
socail interaction in which 1 person suggests certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts and behaviors to another that they will spontaneously occur
hypnotic ability
ability to carry out any task while hypnotized
age regression
the supposed ability to relive childhood experiences during hypnosis
posthypnotic suggestions
a suggestion made during a hypnotic session to be carried out after subjects is no longer hypnotized; used by some to help control undesired symptoms and behaviors
dissociation
a split in consciousness which allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others; believed to cause pain alleviation in hypnosis
psychoactive drugs
a chemical that alters perception and mood
tolerance
diminishing effect with regular use of same dose of a drug requiring the user to take a larger and larger doeses to get the same effect
neuroadaptation
brain adapts its chemistry to offset the drug effect
withdrawl
the discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing the use of addictive drug
physical dependence
a physiological need for a drug marked by withdrawl symptoms when drug is stopped
psychological dependence
a psychological need to use a drug such as to relieve negative emotions
addition
craving for a supstance despite the adverse consequences
depressant
drugs that reduce neural activity and slow body functions such as alcohol, barbituates, and opiates.
barbituate
drug that supresses the activity of the CNS reducing anxiety but imparing memory and judgement
opiates
depress neural activity, temporarily lessen pain and anxiety such as morphine and heroin
stimulant
drugs that excite neural activity and speed body functions such as ecstacy, cocaine and nicotine
amphetamines
stimulate neural activity; associated with energy and mood changes
methamphetamine
over time can reduce baseline dopamine levels; powerful and addictive stimulant
ecstacy
synthetic stimulant and mild hallucinogen; produces a euphoria and social intimacy; does harm to seratonin producing neurons and to modd and cognition
hallucinogens
distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absense of sensory input such as LSD
LSD
hallucinogenic drug; also known as acid
THC
major active ingredient in marijuana; can cause hallucinogen
near death experience
altered state of consciousness reported after a close brush with death
dualism
presumption that mind and body are two distinct entities that interact
monism
presumption that mind and body are different aspects of the same thing