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
Cognition: another term for thinking, knowing, and remembering -We form concepts in order to think about the world.
Concepts: a mental grouping of similar objects, ideas, or people. -Concepts are similar to Piaget's idea of Schemas. We base our concepts on prototypes. Prototypes: a mental image or best example of a category
How do we solve problems?
Algorithms: a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem Heuristics: a rule-of-thumb strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve problems efficiently Insight: a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem -No real strategy involved
Obstacles to Problem Solving
Confirmation Bias: a tendency to search for information that confirms one's preconceptions
Match Problems
Fixation: the inability to see a problem from a new perspective Mental Set: a tendency to approach a problem in a particular way, especially if it has worked in the past The Jug Problem
Functional Fixedness: the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions
Types of Heuristics
(That often leads to errors)
Representativeness Heuristic: a rule of thumb for judging the likelihood of thinking in terms of how well they match our prototype -Can cause us to ignore important information Availability Heuristic: estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in our memory
Overconfidence: the tendency to be more confident than correct Framing: the way an issue is posed -It can have a drastic effects on your decisions and judgements Belief Bias: the tendency for one's preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning. -Sometimes making invalid conclusions valid or vice versa. Belief Perseverance: clinging to your initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed had been discredited.
LANGUAGE: our spoken, written, or gestured words and the way we combine them to communicate meaning.
Phonemes: the smallest, distinctive sound unit of a spoken language. Ex: Ching has 4 phonemes... ch... i... n... g. Morphemes: the smallest unit in a language that carries meaning. -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. Syntax: the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.
Language Development
Babbling Stage: starting at 3-4 months, the infant makes spontaneous sounds. One-word Stage: 1-2 years... uses one word to communicate big meanings. "NO" Two-word Stage: age 2... uses two words to communicate meanings- called telegraphic speech.
How do we explain language development?
Skinner
-Skinner thought that we can explain language development through social learning theory. Social Learning Theory:states that social behavior (any type of behavior that we display socially) is learned primarily by observing and imitating the actions of others.
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 determines the way we think.
INTELLIGENCE:The ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.
-To find out whether intelligence is one thing or several different abilities, scientists use factor analysis. Factor Analysis: a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test. -Charles Spearman used factor analysis to discover his g or (general intelligence).
Multiple Intelligence
Howard Gardner disagreed with Spearman's g and came up with the idea multiple intelligences by studying savants (a condition where a person has limited mental ability but is exceptional in one area).
Sternberg's Three Aspects of Intelligence
Gardner simplified...
Analytical (academic problem solving)
Creative (generating novel ideas)
Practical (required for everyday tasks where multiple solutions exist)
Emotional Intelligence: the ability to perceive, express, understand, and regulate emotions. -Some studies show EQ to be a greater predictor for future success than an IQ.
Brain Function and Intelligence
-Higher performing brains use less active than lower performing brains (use less glucose). -Neurological speed is also a bit quicker.
How do we assess Intelligence?
Mental Age: (Alfred Binet and Theadore Simon) what a person of a particular age should know. -They discovered that discovering someone's age can predict their future performance.
Terman and his IQ Test
IQ= Mental Age/Chronological age x 100 -His IQ test doesn't really work well on adults.
Modern Tests of Mental Abilities
WAIS (Wechsler adult Intelligence Scale): consists of 11 subtests and cues us into strengths by using factor analysis.
Aptitude vs. Achievement Tests
Aptitude: A test designed to predict a person's future performance. Achievement: A test designed to asses what a person has learned. -Tests must be standardized, reliable, and valid. Standardization -The test must be pre-tested to a representative sample of people and form a normal distribution or bell curve. Reliability -The extent which a test yields consistent results over time. Validity -The extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure
Content Validity: does the test sample a behavior of interest?
Predictive Validity: does the test predict the future behavior?
-Intelligence changes over time depending on the type of intelligence, crystallized or fluid.
