Sleep Disorders

Insomnia: recurring problems in falling or staying asleep

Narcolepsy: characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks
-lapses directing into REM sleep (usually during times of stress or joy)

Sleep apnea: a sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and consequent momentary reawakenings

Night terrors: a sleep disorder characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified
-occur in stage 4, not REM and are not often remembered

Sleepwalking (somnambulism): sleep walking most often occurs during deep non-REM sleep (stage 3 or stage 4 sleep) early in the night

Dreams: a sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person's mind

Manifest content: the remembered storyline of a dream

Latent content: the underlying meaning of a dream

Three theories of why we dream
1. Freud's wish fulfillment theory
-dreams are the key to understanding our inner conflicts
-ideas and thought that are hidden in our unconscious

2. Information processing theory
-dreams act to sort out and understand the memories that you experience that day
-REM sleep does increase after stressful events

3. Activation-synthesis theory: during the night our brainstem released random neural activity, dreams may be a way to make sense of that activity

Sleep Stages

-there are 5 identified stages of sleep
-it takes about 90-100 minutes to pass through the 5 stages
-the brains waves will change according to the sleep stage you are in
-the first four stages are known as NREM sleep...
-the fifth stage is called REM sleep

Stage 1: 
-kind of awake and kind of asleep
-only lasts a few minutes, and you usually experience it once a night
-eyes begin to roll slightly
-your brain produces theta waves (high amplitude, low frequency (slow))

Stage 2: this follows stage 1 sleep and is the "baseline" of sleep
-this stage is part of the 90 minute cycle and occupied approximately 45-60% of sleep
-more theta waves that get progressively slower
-begin to show sleep spindles...short bursts of rapid brain waves

Stage 3 and 4
-slow wave sleep
-you produce delta waves
-if awoken you will be very groggy
-vital for restoring body's growth hormones and good overall health
-May last 15-30 minutes
-it is called "slow wave" sleep because brain activity slows down dramatically from the "theta" rhythm of stage 2 to a much slower rhythm called "delta" and the height or amplitude of the waves increase dramatically
-contrary to popular belief, it is delta sleep that is the "deepest" stage of sleep (not REM) and the most restorative
-it is delta sleep that a sleep-deprived person's brain craved the first and foremost
-in children, delta sleep can occupy up to 40% of all sleep time and this is what makes children unawakeable or "dead asleep" during most of the night

REM sleep
-rapid eye movement
-often called paradoxical sleep
-brain is very active
-dreams usually occur in REM
-body is essentially paralyzed

Stage 5: REM Sleep
-composed 20-25% of a normal nights sleep
-breathing, heart rate and brain wave activity quicken
-vivid dreams can occur
-from REM, you go back to stage 2

Sleep

Sleep: sleep is a state of consciousness
-we are less aware of our surroundings

Conscious
Subconscious
Unconscious: state of sleepiness, altered state

Biological rhythms
Annual cycle: seasonal variations (beats hibernation, seasonal affective disorder)

28 day cycles: menstrual cycle

24 hour cycle: our circadian rhythm

90 minute cycle: sleep cycles

Circadian rhythm:
-24 hour biological clock
-our body temperature and awareness changes throughout the day
-it is best to take a test or study during your circadian peaks

Conditioning and Learning

Operant conditioning: a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by reinforcement or diminished it followed by punishment

Classical v operant
-they both use acquisition, discrimination, SR, generalization and extinction
-classic conditioning is automatic (respondent behavior) dogs automatically salivate over beat, then bell -no thinking involved
-operant conditioning involves behavior where one can influence their environment behaviors which was have consequences (operant behavior)

Edward thorndike: law of effect; rewarded behavior is likely to occur

Shaping: a procedure in operant conditioning which rein enforcers guide behavior closer and closer towards a goal

Reinforcer: any event that strengthens the behavior it follows
-positive
-negative

Positive reinforcement: strengthens a response by presenting a stimulus after a response

Negative reinforcement: strengthens a response by reducing or removing an aversive stimulus

Primary reinforcement: an innately reinforcing stimuli an

Conditioned (secondary) enforcement: a stimulus that gains it  reenforcing power through it's association with a primary reinforcement

Continuous rein enforcement: reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

Partial reinforcement:
-reinforcing a response only part of the time
- the acquisition process is slower
-greater resistance to extinction


Fixed ratio schedule: a schedule that reinforces a response only after a  number of responses

5/7/15
Variable ratio schedule: a schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response after a unpredictable number of responses

Fixed interval schedule: a schedule of reinforcement that reinforcement that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed

Variable interval schedule: a schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals
-ex: pop quizzes

Punishment: meant to decrease a behavior
▫️positive punishment: addition of something unpleasant
▫️negative punishment (omission training): removal of something pleasant
-punishment works best when it is immediately done after behavior and if it is harsh!

Token economy: every time a desired behavior is performed, a token is given
-they can trade tokens in for a variety of prizes (reinforcers)
-used in homes, prisons, mental institutions and schools

Observational learning: we learn through modeling behavior from others
-observational learning + operant conditioning = social learning theory

Latent learning: Edward toleman
-sometimes learning is not immediately evident

Insight learning: Wolfgang Kohler and his chimpanzees
-some animals learn through the "ah ha" experience

5/14/15

Discrimination: the learned ability to distinguish between a CS and other stimuli that does not signal UCS

Generalization: the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the CS to elicit similar responses

Spontaneous recovery: the reappearance. After a rest period, of an extinguished conditioned response

Extinction: the diminishing of a conditioned response. Will eventually happen when the UCS does not follow the CS

Acquisition: the initial stage of learning
-the phase where the neutral stimulus is associated with the UCS do that the neural stimulus comes to elicit the CR (thus becoming the CS)

Does timing matter?
-the CS should come before the UCS
-they should be very close together In timing

Pavlov spent the rest of his life outlining his ideas. He came up with 5 critical terms that together make up classical conditioning
-acquisition
-extinction
-spontaneous recovery
-generalization
-discrimination

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): a stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response

Unconditional response(UCR): the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the UCS

Classical conditioning: it all started with Ivan Pavlov

Three main types of learning
-classical conditioning
-operant conditioning
-observational conditioning
-latent learning
-abstract learning
-insight learning

Associative learning: learning that certain events occur together

Deja vu: that eerie sense that you have experienced something before
-what is occurring is that the current situation cues past experience that

Conditioned stimulus (CS): an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with the UCS, comes to trigger a response

Conditioned response(CR): the learned response to a previously neutral stimulus

Encoding

Things to remember about encoding
1. The next in line effect: we seldom remember what the person has just said or done if we are next
2. Information minutes before sleep is seldom remembered; in the hour before sleep, well remembered
3. Taped info played while asleep is registered by ears, but we do not remember it

Spacing effect: we encode better when we study or practice over time
-do not cram!

Serial positioning effect: our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list

Semantic encoding: the coding of meaning, like the meaning of words

Acoustic encoding: the encoding of sound, especially the sounds of words

Visual encoding: the encoding of picture images

Self reference effect: the idea that we remember things (like adjectives) when they are used to describe themselves

Tricks to encode
Use imagery: mental picture

Mnemonic devices use imagery. Like my "peg word" system

Chunking: organizing items into familiar, manageable units
-often it will occur automatically

Storage
Iconic memory: a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli, a photograph like quality lasting only about a second
-we also have an echoic memory for auditory stimuli

Long term potentiation: long lasting enhancement in signal transmission between two neurons that results from stimulating them synchronously
-in other words they learn to fire together and get better at it...creating a memory

Hippocampus
Damage to the hippocampus disrupts out memory
Left=verbal
Right=visual and locations

Types of retrieval failure
Proactive interference: the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information

Retroactive interference: the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information

Memory

Memory: the persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information

Memory Process

1. Encoding: The processing of information into the memory system

• Ex: typing info into a computer, getting a girl's name at a party

     2. Storage: the retention of encoded material over time

•   Ex: pressing ctrl s and saving the info, trying to remember her name when you leave the party

     3. Retrieval: the process of getting the information out of memory storage

• finding your document and opening it up, seeing her the next day and calling her the wrong name (retrieval failure)

Recall: you must retrieve the information from your memory (fill in the blanks)

Recognition: you must identify the target from possible targets (multiple choice tests)

Flashbulb memory; a clear moment if an emotionally significant moment or event

Sensory memory: the immediate, initial recording if sensory information in the memory system
-stored just for an instant, and most gets unprocessed
-lasts up to a half a second for visual, it lasts 2-4 seconds for auditory, the capacity of storage is large and any information that is not transferred is lost

Short term memory: memory that holds a few items briefly
-seven digits (plus of minus two)
-the info will be stored into long term or forgotten
-aka working memory
-it has a limited capacity

Working memory has three parts
1. Audio
2. Visual
3. Integration of audio and visual (controls where your attention lies)

Long term memory: permanent and limitless storehouse

Encoding: getting the information in our heads

Two ways to encode information
-automatic processing: unconscious encoding of incidental information, you encode space, time and word meaning without effort, things can become automatic with practice
-effortful processing: encoding that requires attention and conscious effort, rehearsal is the most common effortful processing technique, through enough rehearsal, what was effortful becomes automatic 

Language

Language: our spoken, written or gestured words and the way we combine them to communicate

Phonemes: in a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

Morphemes: in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning
-can be a word or part of a word (prefix or suffix)

Grammar: a system of rules in a language that enables us to communicate and understand others

Semantics: the set of rules by which we derive meaning in a language
-adding ed at the end of words means past tense

Syntax: the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences
-in English, adjectives come before nouns but not in Spanish

Language development.

Babbling stage: starting at 3-4 months, the infant makes spontaneous sounds. Not limited to the phonemes of the infant's household language

One word stage: 1-2 years old, used one word to communicate big meanings

Two word stage: at age 2, uses two words to communicate meanings-called telegraphic speech

Skinner thought that we can explain language development through social learning theory

Chomsky
Inborn universal grammar
-we acquire language too quickly for it to be learned
-we have this "learning box" inside our heads that enable us to learn any human language

Whorf's linguistic relativity: the idea that language determined the way we think (not vice versa)

Perception

Perception: the process of organizing and interpreting information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Visual capture: the tendency for vision to dominate the other senses

Gestalt psychology: Gestalt means an "organized whole" these psychologists emphasize our tendency to integrate prices of information into meaningful wholes
-the whole is greater than the sum of its part

Figure ground relationship: the organization of the visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (ground)

Grouping: the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into groups that we understand

Proximity: we group nearby figures together

Similarity: we group similar figures together

Continuity: we group continuous patterns together

Connectedness: we group together uniform and linked figures

Depth perception: the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two dimensional
-allow us to judge distance

Binocular cues: depth cues that depend on two eyes

Retina disparity: a binocular cue for seeing depth
-the closet an object comes to you the greater the disparity is between the two images

Monocular cues: depth cues that depend on one eye

Interposition: if something is blocking our view, we perceive it as closer

Relative size: if we know that two objects are similar in size, the one that looks smaller is farther away

Relative clarity: we assume hazy objects are farther away

Texture gradient: the coarser it looks, the closer it is

Relative height: things higher in out field of vision, they look farther away

Relative motion: things that are closer appear to move more quickly

Linear perspective: parallel lines seems to converge with distance

Light and Shadow: dimmer objects appear farther away because they reflect less light

Phi phenomenon: an allusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in succession
-ex; christmas lights

Perceptual consistency: perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images  changes

Touch

Receptors located in our skin

Gate control theory of pain: the nervous system blocks or allows pain signals to pass to the brain

Vestibular sense:

• tells us where our body is oriented in space
• our sense of balance
• located in our semicircular canals in our ears

Kinesthetic sense: 

• tells us where are body part are
• receptors located in our muscles and joints

Smell and Taste

Sensory interaction: the principle that one sense may influence another

Taste and smell are chemical senses

Papillae: those bumps on our tongue

-help grip food while your teeth are chewing. They also have another special job-they contain your taste buds

Sweet: located on the tip of the tongue and it is since when our taste buds come in contact with it

Salty: sensed when sensitive taste buds come in contact with salt, located on the front side of the tongue

Sour: sensed when our taste buds comes into contact with acid, located on back side of tongue

Bitter: sensed when our taste buds come in contact with an alkaline chemical, located on base of the tongue

Spicy: sensed when the nocio receptors in our mouth come into contact with a chemical that irritates them

Pheromones: chemical messengers that are picked up through our sense of smell

-found in the early 1930s by studying silkworms

Hearing

Frequency: the number of complete wavelengths that pass through a point at a given time. This determines the pitch of a sound

Amplitude: how loud the sound is. The higher the crest if the wave is the louder the sound is. it is measured in decibels

Helmholtz place theory: we hear different pitches because different sound waves trigger activity at different places among the cochlea's basilar membrane

Frequency theory: we sense pitch by the basilar membrane vibrating at the same rate as the sound

Conduction hearing loss: caused by damage to mechanical system of ear

Sensorineural hearing loss: caused by damage to cochlea's receptor cells or to auditory nerves

Sensation and Perception

Sensation: your window to the world
-Sensation is the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive stimulus from the environment

Perception: interpreting what comes in your window
-perception is essentially an interpretation and elaboration of sensation. Therefore, a sensation refers to the initial steps in the processing of a stimulus
-the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Bottom-up processing: analysis that beings with the sense receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

Top-down processing: information processing guided by higher level mental processes
-we when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

Absolute threshold: the minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time

Difference threshold
-the minimum difference that a person can detect between two stimuli
-also known as just noticeable disease

Weber's law: the idea that to perceive different two stimuli they must differ

Signal detection theory:
-we detect a stimulus and other stimuli
-assumes that we do not have an absolute threshold
-we detect stuff based on our experiences, new motivations and fatigue level

Transduction: transforming signals into neural impulses. Information does from the senses to the thalamus. Then to the various areas of the brain
-conversion of one form of energy to another

Sensory adaptation: diminished sensitivity as a result of constant stimuli

Selective attention: focused of conscious awareness in a particular way

Cocktail party effect: ability to listen to notice among many

Wavelength: the distance from the peak of one light wave to the peak of the next
-the distance determines the hue (color) of the light we perceive

Short wavelength = high frequency

Intensity: the amount of energy in a light wave. Determined by the height of the wave; the higher the wave the more intense the light is

Parallel Processing: the processing of several aspects of a problem simultaneuously

•  color
• motion
• form
• depth

Young-helmholtz trichromatic (three color) theory: realized that any color can be created by combining the light waves of three primary colors: red, green, blue

Rods facilitate black and white vision

Cones facilitates color vision

Opponent process theory: we cannot see certain colors together in combination (red green, blue yellow, and white black) these are antagonist/opponent colors