Our
brain is protected by a layer of capillaries called the blood-brain barrier.
Drugs are either...
Agonists
Antagonists
Reuptake
inhibitors
If a drug is used often, a tolerance is created for the drug. Thus you need more of the drug to feel
the same effect. If you stop using a drug you can develop withdrawal symptoms.
Stimulants
-Speed
up body processes.
Depressants
- Slows down body processes
Alcohol
- More
than 86 billion dollars are spent annually on alcoholic beverages.
- Alcohol
is involved in 60% of ALL crimes.
- Alcohol
is involved in over 70% of sexually related crimes.
Opiates
- Has
depressive and hallucinogenic qualities.
- Agonist
for endorphins.
- Derived
from poppy plant.
- Morphine,
heroin, methadone and codeine.
- All
these drugs cross the placental barrier….teratogens.
- Our body temperature and awareness changes throughout the day
- It is best to take at est or study during your circadian peaks
Sleep
There are 5 stages of sleep.
- It takes about 90- 100 minutes to pass through the 5 stages
- The brain's waves will change according to the sleep stage you are in.
- The first 4 stages are known as NREM sleep
- The 5th stage is called REM sleep
Stage 1
- kind of awake and kind of asleep
- only lasts a few minutes, and you usually only experience it once a night
- eyes begin to rolls 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 occupies approximately 45-60% of sleep
- more theta waves that get progressively slower
- begin to shows sleep spindles... short burst or rapid brain waves
Stage 3&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
- last 15-30 minutes a night
- it is called "slow wave" sleep because brain activity slows down dramatically from the "theta" rhythm called "delta" and the height or amplitude of the waves increases dramatically.
REM Sleep
- rapid eye movement
- often called paradoxical sleep
- brain is very active
- dreams usually occur in REM
- body is essentially paralyzed
- composes 20-25% normal night sleep
- breathing, heart rate and brain wave activity quickens
- vivid dreams can occur
- from REM, you go back to sleep
How muck sleep do we need?
- We all need different amounts of sleep depending on our age and genetics
- We sleep about 25 years on average
Sleep Disorders
Insomnia: persistent problems falling asleep affects 10% of the population
Narcolepsy: suffer from sleeplessness and may fall asleep at unpredictable or inappropriate times
- Directly into REM sleep
- Less that .001% of the population
Sleep Apnea: a person stops breathing during their sleep
- wake up momentarily, gasps for air, then falls back asleep
- very common, especially in heavy males
- very fatal
Night Terrors: sleeping disorder characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified.
- occur in Stage 3, not REM stage, and are not often remembered.
Sleepwalking (Somnambulism): sleepwalking is a sleep disorder affecting an estimated 10% of all human at least once in their lives
- Sleepwalking most often occurs during deep non-REM sleep (stage 3 and 4) early in the night.
Dream
- a sequence of images, emotions, and though passing through a sleeping persons mind
Manifest content: the remembers story line of a dream
Latent Content: the underlying meaning of a dream
Why do we dream?
Freud wish-fulfillment Theory:
- dreams are the key to understanding our inner conflicts
- ideas and thoughts that are hidden in our unconsciousness
- Manifest and latent content
Information processing theory: dreams act to sort out and understand the memories the you experience that day
- REM does increase after stressful event
Activation synthesis Theory: during the night our brain stem releases random neural activity, dreams may be a way to make sense of that activity.
Most learning is associative learning- learning that certain events occur together.
Types of Learning
Classical Conditioning- Ivan Pavlov
Unconditional Stimulus (UCS)- a stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response
Unconditional Response (UCR)- the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the UCS.
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)- an originally irrelevant stimulus that after association with the UCS, comes to trigger a response
Conditioned Response (CR)- the learning response to a previously neutral stimulus
Ivan Pavlov studied...
1. Acquisition- the initial stage of learning.
-The phase where the neutral stimulus is associated with the UCS so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit the CR (thus becoming the CS)
2. Extinction- the diminishing of a conditioned response
3. Spontaneous Recovery- the reappearance after a rest period of an extinguished conditioned response.
4. Generalization- the tendency, once a response has been conditioned for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses.
5. Discrimination- the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that does not signal stimuli.
Operant Conditioning
- a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by reinforcement or diminished if followed by punishment.
Classical v. Operant
- They both use acquisition, discrimination, SR, Generalization, and extinction.
- Classical conditioning is automatic (respondent behavior)
- Operant conditioning involves behavior where once can influence their environment with behaviors which have consequences (operant behavior)
The Law of Effect
- Edward Thorndike
Law of Effect- rewarded behavior is likely to occur.
B.F. Skinner
Shaping- a procedure in operant condition in which reinforcers guide behavior closer and closer towards a goal.
Reinforcer- any event that strengthens a response by reducing or removing an aversive stimulus
2 Types.. (positive and 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
Punishment (2 Types)
- any event that decreases the behavior that follows it
Positive Punishment: i order to decrease an unwanted behavior, something bad is added
Negative Punishment: something good is removed to cause an unwanted behavior to decrease
Primary Reinforcer: innately reinforcing stimulus
Secondary Reinforcer: a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer.
Reinforcement Schedule
Continuous Reinforcement- 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 Schedules- a schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number or responses
Variable Ratio Schedule- a schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses.
Fixed Interval Schedule- a schedule of reinforcement hat reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed.
Variable Interval Schedule- a schedule of reinforcement that reinfoces a response at unpredictable time intervals.
Token Economy- every time a desired behavior is performed, a token is given.
Reinforcement
ContinuousPartial
reinforcement behavior every some of the time that behavior
time behavior is exhibited is modified
Observational Learning
- Albert Bandura and his Bobo doll - We learn through modeling behavior from others -Observational learning plus operant conditioning- social learning theory Latent Learning- sometimes learning does not immediately happen Insight Learning- "ah ha" moment. - Some animals learn through the "ah ha" experience.
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 2. Storage: the retention of encoding material over time 3. Retrieval: the process of getting the information out of the memory stage
Recall v. Recognition
Recall: you must retrieve the information from your memory (aka fill in the blank tests) Recognition: you must identify the target from possible targets Flashbulb Memory: a clear movement of an emotionally significant moment or event.
3 Types of Memory
1. Sensory Memory: based upon your senses
the immediate initial recording of sensory information in the memory system
stored just for an instant, and most gets unprocessed.
2. Short-term Memory: memory that holds a few items briefly
7 digits (+/- 2)
the into will be stored into a long term or forgotten
Working Memory (modern say STM): another way of describing the use of short term memory is called working memory
Working memory has 3 parts:
Audio
Visual
Integration of audio and visual (controls where your attention lies)
3. Long-term Memory- the relativity permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.
You encode space, time, and word meaning without effort.
Things can become automatic with practice
2. 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.
The-Next-In-Line Effect- we seldom remember what the person had just said or done if we are next. Spacing Effect- we encode better when we study or practice over time Serial Positioning Effect- our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list
Types of Encoding
1. Semantic Encoding- the encoding of meaning, like meaning of the words 2. Acoustic Encoding- the encoding of sound, especially the sounds of words. 3. Visual Encoding- the encoding of picture images Mnemonic Devices use imagery.
Chunking- organizing items into familiar manageable units.
often will occur automatically
2 Types of Retrieval Failure
Protractive 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
-Repression is apart of why people forget things
Misinformation Effect- incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event
