Philosophical Background
Who said "I think, therefore I am"?
Rene Descartes
What is the first stage of sleep?
wakefulness
What is a circadian rhythm?
the daily cycle of waking and sleeping, body temperature, and hormones that is generated by an internal biological clock and synchronized to light and dark patterns due to the Earth's rotation
What is hypnosis?
induction of a state of consciousness in which a person apparently loses the power of voluntary action and is highly responsive to suggestion or direction
Who made one of the first attempts to study mental images?
Roger Shepard and Jacqueline Metzler
What perspective of consciousness is based on the argument that all knowledge based on perception can be doubted, so the best foundation for human knowledge is logic?
Rationalism
What are the two additional names for emergent stage 1 sleep?
paradoxical sleep, REM
According to Freud's theory of dreams, what is manifest content?
people and things that actually appear in the dream scenario
What is hypnotic analgesia?
use of hypnosis for pain relief
What is mental rotation?
an experimental technique in which participants view images depicting two objects that have been rotated relative to one another and report whether the two objects are the same or different
What perspective of consciousness is the belief that there are two kinds of things in the world, physical things and mental things, that exist independently?
Dualism
Why is emergent stage 1 sleep paradoxical?
because brain activity is characteristic of light sleep, but muscle tone is characteristic of deep sleep
According to Freud's theory of dreams, what is latent content?
the actual fantasy the id wishes to indulge in dreams, but disguises in symbols to avoid arousing the ego
What are the four categories of psychoactive drugs?
stimulants, depressants,marijuana, and hallucinogens
Why did behaviorists deem the study of mental images to be unproductive?
because every person's internal experiences are private, so there is no way to compare the results of one person's introspection with another person's
What is monism?
Argues that there is just one kind of thing in the world; rejects dualism
What are the three stages of sleep?
wakefulness, non-REM, and REM
Name four kinds of sleep disorders.
insomnia, hypersomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, narcolepsy, cataplexy, sleep paralysis
What neurotransmitter do most stimulants enhance the effectiveness of?
dopamine
What is change blindness?
a perceptual phenomenon that occurs when an observer does not notice a change in visual stimulus
What are the two kinds of monism and what do they claim?
idealism (claims there are only mental things in the world) and materialism (claims there are only physical things are called materialists)
How long does the sleep cycle, from stage 1 to stage 3 and back again, typically take?
90 minutes
According to Freud, why do we dream?
while the ego and superego are suppressed, the id takes the opportunity to play out its fantasies in the mental theater of dreams
What neurotransmitter do most depressants enhance the effectiveness of?
GABA
Explain what typically happens in a change blindness experiment.
the participant was so focused on the task of providing directions that they failed to notice when external objects are switched and continue to provide directions as if nothing unusual had just occurred; our conscious experience of the world consists of the stories we tell ourselves