Consciousness: Key Terms

the awareness of the sensations, thoughts, and feelings being experienced at a given moment

consciousness

awake and aware

walking consciousness

include sleeping, dreaming, drug use, hypnosis

altered states of consciousness

stage of transition between wakefulness and sleep; rapid, low-amplitude brain waves

stage 1 of sleep

slower and more regular wave pattern; momentary interruptions of sleep spindles

stage 2 of sleep

deepest, least responsive to outside stimulation; not REM

stage 3 of sleep

sleep occupying 20% of an adult's sleeping time, characterized by increased heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate; erections; eye movements; and the experience of dreaming

rapid eye movement

most people sleep between 7 and 8 hours per night

why do we sleep and how much sleep is necessary?

participants feel weary, irritable, unable to concentrate, loss of creativity, decline in logical reasoning ability, but no lasting effects; rebound after a few days of regular sleep

sleep deprivation experiment

dreams represent unconscious wishes that dreamers desire to see fulfilled; theory by Sigmund Freud

unconscious wish fulfillment theory

information one remembers and reports; disguises the latent content

manifest content of dreams

underlying wishes of the dreamer

latent content of dreams

dreams permit us to reconsider and reprocess information that is critical for our daily survival; dreaming as a mechanism to process information

dreams for survival theory

the brain produces random electrical energy during REM sleep that stimulates memories stored in the brain

activation-synthesis theory

dreams initiated in the pons, which sends random signals to the cortex

activation information modulation (AIM)

a disorder in which the person stops breathing for brief periods while asleep

sleep apnea

a sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks; the sufferer may lapse directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times

narcolepsy

biological processes that occur regularly on approximately a 24-hour cycle

circadian rhythm

controls circadian rhythms

suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)

severe depression which increases during the winter and decreases during the rest of the year

seasonal affective disorder (SAD)

anti-anxiety drugs/anxiolytics

benzodiazepines

xanax, atiuan, librium, klonopin

what are examples of anxiety drugs/anxiolytics?

painkillers/ophidious

narcotics/analgesics

fentanyl, oxycontin, vicodin, norco, codeine, heroin, percocet, dilaudid

what are some examples of narcotics/analgesics?

a neutral stimulus produces a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally produces a response

classical conditioning

Ivan Pavlov

who is a supporter of classical conditioning?

accidental research; original research focus was physiological in nature, observed unusual phenomenon with dog salivation during his study

what did Ivan Pavlov study?

occurs after a stimulus has been conditioned to produce a particular response, stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus produce the same response

stimulus generalization

occurs if two stimuli are sufficiently distinct from one another, happens such that one evokes a conditioned response but the other does not, the ability to differentiate between stimuli

stimulus discrimination

process by which a stimulus increases the probability that a preceding behavior will be repeated

reinforcement

any stimulus that increases the probability that a preceding behavior will occur again

reinforcer

stimulus added to the environment that brings about an increase in a preceding response

positive reinforcers

unpleasant stimulus whose removal leads to an increase in the probability that a preceding response will be repeated

negative reinforcers

appropriate for dangerous behaviors, temporary suppression provides opportunity to reinforce more desirable behavior

PROS of punishment

does not relay; frequently ineffective; punished behavior may be replaced by even less desirable behavior; physical punishment has harmful side-effects; fear, lowered self-esteem

CONS of punishment

number of responses made before reinforcement

ratio

amount of time that elapses before reinforcement

interval

provide reinforcement for a response only after a fixed time period has elapsed; typically long pauses in responding after reinforcement

fixed-ratio schedule

time between reinforcements varies around some average rather than being fixed; responding occurs at a steady rate

variable-interval schedule

formalized technique for promoting the frequency of desirable behaviors and decreasing the incidence of unwanted ones

behavior modification

social cognitive approach; bobo doll study; fearless peer study

Albert Bandura

fire when one observes another person carrying out a behavior

mirror neurons

process by which we encode, store, and retrieve information

memory

encoding, storage, retrieval

three-system approach to memory

sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory

three separate memory stores

initial, momentary storage of information that lasts only an instant

sensory memory

holds information for 15 to 25 seconds, stores according to meaning rather than sensory stimulation

short-term memory

store information on a relatively permanent basis, although it may be difficult to retrieve

long-term memory

repetition of information that has entered short-term memory; maintains information in short-term memory; allows transfer of information into long-term memory

rehearsal

information is considered and organized in some fashion

elaborative rehearsal

organizing information in a way that makes it more likely to me remembered

mnemonics

something stated that presupposes something is true

presupposition

wording of questions can alter answers

"Smashed vs contacted"

specific piece of information must be retrieved

recall

occurs when one is presented with a stimulus and asked whether he/she has been: exposed to it previously, or is asked to identify it from a list of alternatives

recognition

memories related to a specific, important, or surprising emotionally significant event that are recalled easily and with vivid imagery

flashbulb memories

occurs when an individual has a memory for some material but cannot recall where he or she encountered it

source amnesia

loss of memories

amnesia

loss of memories for events that precede brain damage

retrograde amnesia

loss of memories for events that came after brain damage

anterograde amnesia

the eyewitness on trial

memory in the courtroom

highly vulnerable to the influence of others, especially susceptible to influence in emotional or stressful situations

children's reliability

the tendency for false post-event information to become integrated into memory

misinformation effect

information in memory disrupts the recall of other information

interference

occurs when there are insufficient retrieval cues to rekindle information that is in memory

cue-dependent forgetting

progressive brain disorder that heads to a gradual and irreversible decline in cognitive abilities

alzheimer's disease

afflicts long-term alcoholics; some abilities remain intact, but includes hallucinations and a tendency to repeat the same story

korsakoff's syndrome

a type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to bring about a response after it is paired with a stimulus that naturally brings about that response

classical conditioning

a basic phenomenon of learning that occurs when a previously conditioned response decreases in frequency and eventually disappears

extinction

the reemergence of an extinguished conditioned response after a period of rest and with no further conditioning

spontaneous recovery

learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened, depending on its favorable or unfavorable consquences

operant conditioning

a stimulus that decreases the probability that a previous behavior will occur again

punishment

different patterns of frequency and timing of reinforcement following desired behavior

schedules of reinforcement

a schedule in which behavior is reinforced every time the behavior occurs

continuous reinforcement schedule

reinforcing of a behavior some but not all of the time

partial (or intermittent) reinforcement schedule

a schedule by which reinforcement occurs after a varying number of responses rather than after a fixed number

variable-ratio schedule

a schedule in which reinforcement is provided for a response only after a fixed time period has elapsed

fixed-interval schedule

the process of teaching a complex behavior by rewarding closer and closer approximation of the desired behavior

shaping

an approach to the study of learning that focuses on the thought processes that underlie learning

cognitive learning theory

learning in which a new behavior is acquired but is not demonstrated until some incentive is provided for displaying it

latent learning

learning by observing the behavior of another person, or model

observational learning

a group of familiar stimuli stored as a single unit in short-term memory

chunk

a memory system that holds information temporarily while actively manipulating and rehearsing that information

working memory

memory for factual information: names, faces, dates, and the like

declarative memory

memory for skills and habits, such as riding a bike or hitting a baseball, sometimes referred to as nondeclarative memory

procedural memory

memory for general knowledge and facts about the world, as well as memory for the rules of logic that are used to deduce other facts

semantic memory

memory for events that occur in a particular time, place, or context

episodic memory

the theory of memory that emphasizes the degree to which new material is mentally analyzed

levels-of-processing theory

intentional or conscious recollection of information

explicit memory

memories of which people are not consciously aware but that can affect subsequent performance and behavior

implicit memory

a phenomenon that occurs when exposure to a word or concept (called a prime) later makes it easier to recall information related to the prime

priming