Foundations Of Psych. - Midterm #2

Front 1

Dual Processing

Back 1

The principle that information if often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks.

Front 2

Blindsight

Back 2

A condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it.

Front 3

Parallel Processing

Back 3

The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions.

Front 4

Selective Attention

Back 4

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.

Front 5

Inattentional Blindness

Back 5

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.

Front 6

Change Blindness

Back 6

Failing to notice changes in the environment.

Front 7

Sleep

Back 7

Periodic, natural loss of consciousness -- as distinct from unconsciousness resulting from a coma, general anesthesia, or hibernation.

Front 8

Circadian Rhythm

Back 8

The biological clock; regular bodily rhythms (e.g., temperature and wakefulness) that occur on a 24 hour cycle.

Front 9

REM Sleep

Back 9

Rapid eye movement; recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. Also known as paradoxical sleep, because the muscles are relaxed (except for minor twitches) but other body systems are active.

Front 10

Alpha Waves

Back 10

The relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state.

Front 11

Hallucinations

Back 11

False sensory experiences such as seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus.

Front 12

Delta Waves

Back 12

The large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep.

Front 13

Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)

Back 13

A pair of cell clusters in the hypothalamus that controls circadian rhythm. In response to light, the SCN causes the pineal gland to adjust melatonin production, thus modifying our feelings of sleepiness.

Front 14

Insomnia

Back 14

Recurring problems in failing or staying asleep.

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Narcolepsy

Back 15

A sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks. The sufferer may lapse directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times. No stage 1, five minutes or less.

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Sleep Apnea

Back 16

A sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings. Up to 100 times/night.

Front 17

Night Terrors

Back 17

A sleep disorder characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified; unlike nightmares, night terrors occur during REM-3 sleep, within two or three hours of falling asleep, and are seldom remembered. Most common in children.

Front 18

Dream

Back 18

Sequence of images, emotions and thoughts passing through a sleeping person's mind. Dreams are notable for their hallucinatory imagery, discontinuities and incongruities, and for the dreamer's delusional acceptance of the content and later difficulties remembering it.

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Manifest Content

Back 19

According to Freud, the remembered story line of a dream (as distinct from its latent, or hidden content).

Front 20

Latent Content

Back 20

According to Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream (as distinct from its manifest content).

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REM Rebound

Back 21

The tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation (created by repeated awakenings during REM sleep).

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Substance Use Disorder

Back 22

Continued substance craving and use despite significant life disruption and/or physical risk.

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Psychoactive Drug

Back 23

A chemical substance that alters perceptions and moods.

Front 24

Tolerance

Back 24

The diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug, requiring the user to take larger and larger doses before experiencing the drug's effect.

Front 25

Addiction

Back 25

Compulsive craving of drugs or certain behaviour's (such as gambling) despite known adverse consequences.

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Withdrawal

Back 26

The discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing an addictive drug or behaviour.

Front 27

Depressants

Back 27

Drugs (such as alcohol, barbiturates, and opiates) that reduce neural activity and slow body functions.

Front 28

Alcohol Use Disorder

Back 28

Alcohol use marked by tolerance, withdrawal, and a drive to continue problematic use.

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Barbiturates

Back 29

Drugs that depress central nervous system activity, reducing anxiety but impairing memory and judgement.

Front 30

Opiates

Back 30

Opium and its derivatives, such as morphine and heroin; depress neural activity, temporarily lessening pain and anxiety.

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Stimulants

Back 31

Drugs (such as caffeine, nicotine, cocaine or ecstasy) that excite neural activity and speed up body functions.

Front 32

Amphetamines

Back 32

Drugs that stimulate neural activity, causing speeded-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes.

Front 33

Nicotine

Back 33

A stimulating and highly addictive psychoactive drug in tobacco.

Front 34

Cocaine

Back 34

A powerful and addictive stimulant derived from the coca plant; produces temporarily increased alertness and euphoria.

Front 35

Methamphetamine

Back 35

Powerfully addictive drug that stimulates the CNS. With speeded up body functions and associated energy and mood changes; over time, appears to reduce baseline dopamine levels.

Front 36

Ecstasy (MDMA)

Back 36

A synthetic stimulant and mild hallucinogen. Produces euphoria and social intimacy, but with short term health risks and longer term harm to serotonin producing neurons and to mood and cognition.

Front 37

Hallucinogens

Back 37

Psychedelic drugs, such as LSD, that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input.

Front 38

Near-Death Experience

Back 38

An altered state of consciousness reported after a close brush with death (such as through cardiac arrest); often similar to drug induced hallucinations.

Front 39

LSD

Back 39

Powerful hallucinogenic; known as acid.

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THC

Back 40

The major active ingredient in marijuana; triggers a variety of effects, including mild hallucinations.

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Learning

Back 41

The process of acquiring through experience new information or behaviours.

Front 42

Associative Learning

Back 42

Learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning).

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Stimulus

Back 43

Any event or situation that evokes a response.

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Respondent Behaviour

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Behaviour that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus.

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Operant Behaviour

Back 45

Behaviour that operates on the environment, producing consequences.

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Cognitive Learning

Back 46

The acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events by watching others, or through language.

Front 47

Classical Conditioning

Back 47

A type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events.

Front 48

Behaviorism

Back 48

The view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behaviour without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not (2).

Front 49

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

Back 49

In classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning.

Front 50

Unconditioned Response (UR)

Back 50

In classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (US) (such as food in the mouth).

Front 51

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

Back 51

In classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally -- naturally and automatically -- triggers an unconditioned response (UR).

Front 52

Conditioned Response (CR)

Back 52

In classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS).

Front 53

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Back 53

In classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR).

Front 54

Acquisition

Back 54

In classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response.

In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.

Front 55

Higher Order Conditioning

Back 55

A procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus.

E.g., an animal that has learned that a tone predicts food might then learn that a light predicts the tone and begin responding to the light alone.

Front 56

Extinction

Back 56

The diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS).

In operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced.

Front 57

Spontaneous Recovery

Back 57

The reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response.

Front 58

Generalization

Back 58

The tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses.

Front 59

Discrimination

Back 59

In classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned response.

Front 60

Operant Conditioning

Back 60

A type of learning in which behaviour is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher.

Front 61

Law of Effect

Back 61

Thorndike's principle that behaviours followed by favourable consequences become more likely, and that behaviours followed by unfavourable consequences become less likely.

Front 62

Operant Chamber

Back 62

In operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal's rate of bar pressing or key pecking.

Front 63

Reinforcement

Back 63

In operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behaviour it follows.

Front 64

Shaping

Back 64

An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behaviour toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behaviour.

Front 65

Positive Reinforcement

Back 65

Increasing behaviours by presenting positive reinforcers. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.

Front 66

Negative Reinforcement

Back 66

Increasing behaviours by stopping or reducing negative stimuli. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response (negative reinforcement is not punishment).

Front 67

Primary Reinforcer

Back 67

An innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need.

Front 68

Conditioned Reinforcer

Back 68

A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; also known as a secondary reinforcer.

Front 69

Reinforcement Schedule

Back 69

A pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced.

Front 70

Continuous Reinforcement Schedule

Back 70

Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs.

Front 71

Partial (intermittent) Reinforcement Schedule

Back 71

Reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement.

Front 72

Fixed Ratio Schedule

Back 72

In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.

Front 73

Variable-Ratio Schedule

Back 73

In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses.

Front 74

Fixed-Interval Schedule

Back 74

In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed.

Front 75

Variable-Interval Schedule

Back 75

In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals.

Front 76

Punishment

Back 76

An event that tends to decrease the behaviour that it follows.

Front 77

Cognitive Map

Back 77

A mental representation of the layout of one's environment. For example, after exploring a maze, rats act as if they have learned a cognitive map of it.

Front 78

Latent Learning

Back 78

Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it.

Front 79

Intrinsic Motivation

Back 79

A desire to perform a behaviour effectively for its own sake.

Front 80

Extrinsic Motivation

Back 80

A desire to perform a behaviour to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment.

Front 81

Observational Learning

Back 81

Learning by observing others.

Front 82

Modeling

Back 82

The process of observing and imitating a specific behaviour.

Front 83

Mirror Neurons

Back 83

Frontal lobe neurons that some scientists believe fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so. The brain's mirroring of another's action may enable imitation and empathy.

Front 84

Prosocial Behaviour

Back 84

Positive, constructive, helpful behaviour. The opposite of antisocial behaviour.

Front 85

Memory

Back 85

The persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information.

Front 86

Recall

Back 86

A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.

Front 87

Recognition

Back 87

A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple choice test.

Front 88

Relearning

Back 88

A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again.

Front 89

Encoding

Back 89

The processing of information into the memory system -- for example, by extracting meaning.

Front 90

Storage

Back 90

The process of retaining encoded information over time.

Front 91

Retrieval

Back 91

The process of getting information out of memory storage.

Front 92

Parallel Processing

Back 92

The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions.

Front 93

Sensory Memory

Back 93

The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

Front 94

Short-Term Memory

Back 94

Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while calling, before the information is stored or forgotten.

Front 95

Long-Term Memory

Back 95

The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

Front 96

Working Memory

Back 96

A new understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.

Front 97

Explicit Memory

Back 97

Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and 'declare.'

Front 98

Effortful Processing

Back 98

Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

Front 99

Automatic Processing

Back 99

Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings.

Front 100

Implicit Memory

Back 100

Retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection.

Front 101

Iconic Memory

Back 101

A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.

Front 102

Echoic Memory

Back 102

A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds.

Front 103

Chunking

Back 103

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.

Front 104

Mnemonics

Back 104

Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

Front 105

Spacing Effect

Back 105

The tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.

Front 106

Testing Effect

Back 106

Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test enhanced learning.

Front 107

Shallow Processing

Back 107

Encoding on a basic level based on the structure or appearance of words.

Front 108

Deep Processing

Back 108

Encoding semantically, based on the meanings of the words; tends to yield the best retention.

Front 109

Hippocampus

Back 109

A neural centre located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage.

Front 110

Memory Consolidation

Back 110

The neural storage of a long term memory.

Front 111

Flashbulb Memory

Back 111

A clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Front 112

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

Back 112

An increase in a cell's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory.

Front 113

Priming

Back 113

The activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory.

Front 114

Encoding Specificity Principle

Back 114

The idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it.

Front 115

Mood-Congruent Memory

Back 115

The tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood.

Front 116

Serial Position Effect

Back 116

Our tendency to recall best the last (a recency effect) and first (a primacy effect) items in a list.

Front 117

Anterograde Amnesia

Back 117

An inability to form new memories.

Front 118

Retrograde Amnesia

Back 118

Inability to retrieve information from one's past.

Front 119

Proactive Interference

Back 119

The forward-acting disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.

Front 120

Retroactive Inference

Back 120

The backward-acting disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information.

Front 121

Repression

Back 121

In Psychoanalytic Theory, the basic defence mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.

Front 122

Reconsolidation

Back 122

A process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again.

Front 123

Misinformation Effect

Back 123

When misleading information has corrupted one's memory of an event.

Front 124

Source Amnesia

Back 124

Attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined (source misattribution). Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is the at the heart of many false memories.

Front 125

Déjà-Vu

Back 125

That eerie sense that "I've experienced this before." Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience.

Front 126

Differing States of Consciousness

Back 126

- Circadian (daily) rhythms

- Sleep rhythms and dreaming

- Hypnosis

- Addictive States

Front 127

When are we most alert?

Back 127

We are most alert from 9 to 10am, sleepiest from 2 to 3pm, and begin to desire sleep around 11pm.

Front 128

How many years of our lives are spent asleep?

Back 128

25 yrs on average in an 80 yr lifespan.

Front 129

Why do we sleep?

Back 129

- Evolutionary protection

- Restore the immune system and repair brain tissue, wash away toxins

- Consolidate the day's memories (shifts from the hippocampus to elsewhere in the cortex permanently).

- Feeds creative thinking

- Supports growth (pituitary gland releases a growth hormone for muscle development).

Front 130

How long are indebted in sleep?

Back 130

2 weeks.

Front 131

Why do we dream?

Back 131

- To satisfy our own wishes.

- To file away our memories.

- To develop and preserve neural pathways.

- To make sense of neural static.

- To reflect cognitive development.

Front 132

How many stages of sleep are there? How long?

Back 132

5 stage pattern that occurs over 90 minute cycles.

Front 133

What are the two types of sleep?

Back 133

REM and NREM (non-REM); we do not dream during NREM.

Front 134

NREM Stage 1

Back 134

Hypnagogic sleep. Sensations of falling/floating. Hallucinatory sleep. Transitional state to full sleep.

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NREM Stage 2

Back 135

First stage of 'real' sleep.

Front 136

NREM 3 & 4

Back 136

Deep sleep, hard to awaken. Mix of waves.

Front 137

REM Sleep

Back 137

Body is externally calm; internally aroused. Most dreams, sexual arousal, can't move. Fast brain activity.

Front 138

When sleep deprived, which sleep do we lost most of?

Back 138

When we don't get enough sleep, we lost mostly the REM portion of our sleep cycle (last stage).

Front 139

Sleep Over the Life Span

Back 139

Shorter sleep cycles in infancy

90 minute cycle emerges around 5 yrs

Childhood --> adulthood = sleep time decreases

Over life span, stages 1 and 2 increase, stages 3 and 4 decrease

REM decreases in late adulthood

Front 140

Sleep in Other Mammals

Back 140

All mammals have REM sleep

The larger the herbivore, the less sleep needed

Birds have REM cycles of 2-3 seconds

Many animals sleep with one eye open/one side of brain at one time

Front 141

Effects of Sleep Deprivation

Back 141

Fatigue

Impairment of concentration, creativity, communication

Can lead to obesity, hypertension, suppressed immune system

If we are awoken every time we enter REM, we will hallucinate during waking moments

Front 142

Sleep Walking

Back 142

NREM activity, rarely remembered. Most common in children. Strong genetic component.

Front 143

How many times do we dream/night?

Back 143

4-5 times per night/most have some negative imagery.

Front 144

Do animals dream?

Back 144

We are not sure if they dream for sure, but we assume yes.

Front 145

Do blind people dream?

Back 145

They do dream, but through non-visual senses; sound, taste, smell, touch.

Front 146

How many dreams are sexual?

Back 146

1 in 10 dreams for men

1 in 30 dreams for women

Front 147

Dream Theories (Freud)

Back 147

Believed that dreams provided a psychic safety valve for unacceptable feelings.

Front 148

Manifest Content

Back 148

Elements of a dream that are consciously experienced and remembered (e.g., dragon chasing you).

Front 149

Latent Content

Back 149

Unconscious thoughts, wishes, urges that are concealed in the manifest content of a dream; its underlying meaning (e.g., the dragon is a dark memory from your past).

Front 150

Information Processing of Dreams

Back 150

Dreams help us sort out the day's events/consolidate memories.

Critical considerations: why do we sometimes dream about things we have not experienced.

Front 151

Physiological Function of Dreams

Back 151

Regular brain stimulation from REM sleep may help develop and preserve neural pathways.

Critical considerations: this may be true, but it does not explain why we experience meaningful dreams.

Front 152

Activation Synthesis

Back 152

REM sleep triggers neural activity that evokes random visual memories, which our sleeping brain weaves into stories.

Critical considerations: The individual's brain is weaving the stories which still tells us something about the dreamer.

Front 153

Cognitive Development

Back 153

Dream content reflects dreamer's cognitive development -- their knowledge and understanding.

Critical considerations: Does not address the neuroscience of dreaming.

Front 154

Is all learning just conditioning?

Back 154

No.

Front 155

Little Albert Experiment

Back 155

John Watson conditioned a baby to associate white rats (CS) with a loud noise (US); so as to fear rats (CR).

Front 156

Pavlov's Legacy

Back 156

Classical conditioning is one way all species learn to adapt to their environment.

Front 157

Immune System's Response to CC

Back 157

Robert Ader and Nicholas Cohen demonstrated that immune system responds to being classically controlled.

When a certain taste accompanies a drug that triggers the immune response (vomiting), the taste itself may trigger the response.

Front 158

Thorndike and the Law of Effect

Back 158

Placed cats in a puzzle box with a food reward outside. Recorded the amount of time it took to figure out escape; concluded that rewarded behaviour is likely to recur.

Front 159

When does memory begin to decline?

Back 159

Around 25 yrs, memory begins to decline.

Front 160

Improving Memory

Back 160

Distributed practice

Make the material meaningful

Active retrieval cues

Mnemonic devices (grouping, chunking, hierarchies)

Minimize interferences

Sleep more

Test yourself

Front 161

Three Stage Model of Memory

Back 161

1. Sensory input from the environment is recorded as fleeting sensory memory

2. Information is processed in short term/working memory

3. Information is encoded into long-term memory for later retrieval.

Front 162

The Retention Curve

Back 162

Hermann Ebbinghaus

We retain more when our learning involves more time and repetition.

Front 163

Spacing Effect

Back 163

Information is retained better when rehearsal is distributed over time.

Front 164

Recency Effect

Back 164

People recall the last items in a list better. Possibly short term memory.

Front 165

Primacy Effect

Back 165

When exposure to a list if followed by a long delay, people recall the first items better.

Front 166

Strategies for Initial Encoding of Information

Back 166

Semantic depth (word's meaning), Rhyme (word's sound), visual judgement (how the word looks).