Week 4 - Consciousness: Wide Awake, in a Daze, or Dreaming?

Consciousness: feelings, thoughts, and aroused states of which we are aware. Altered states of consciousness occur when we sleep, are hypnotized, or take any psychoactive drug.

Sleeping, Dreaming, Circadian Rhythm: Benefits of sleep include restored body tissues, body growth, increased immunity, an alert mind, processed memories, and enhanced mood. A circadian rhythm is a natural rhytm of sleep and waking programmed by a group of brain cells in the hypothalamus called the suprachiasmastic nucleus. A typical night of sleep involves cycling through non-REM and REM-sleep. Freud beleived that dreams allow us to express fears and desires. The threat simulation theory proposes that dreaming is a defense mechanism that allows us to rehearse responses to threatening situations. Activation-synthesis theory suggests that dreaming is just a consequence of the aroused brain during REM sleep. Insomnia is the inability to sleep or stay asleep (most common sleep disorder). Others include sleep apnea (stop breathing while asleep) and narcolepsy (falling asleep during alert times of the day).

Hypnosis: Real or Imagined?: Hypnosis is used to create a state of heightened suggestibility - this isn't rekated to intelligence, gender or sociability. Those who focus better, have vivid imaginations, or positive expectations are more easily hypnotized. Hypnosis can relieve pain and decrease anxiety.

Psychoactive Drugs: Psychoactive drugs are substances that influence the brain and the behavior of a person. Tolerance is the amount of drug required to produce tis effects. The more a person uses a drug, the more of it is needed to create the desired effect. Substance dependence is the person's need for a drug to function. Different kinds of psychoactive drugs include: depressants, (alcohol, sedatives, barbiturates; slow down neural function) opiates, (morphine, codeine, opium; treat pain by mimicking neurotransmitters) stimulants, (caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, amphetamines; speed up brain activities) and hallucinogens (marijuana, LSD; speed up and slow down neural activity at the same time, causing hallucinations).

Accomplished this week: Read chapter 4, two discussion posts, C&R, crossword, quiz, 3 tweets, blog post. 2 Home volleyball games, 2 volleyball practices, 3 dance practices, dance performance, 4 tests, and a preparing for homecoming!

Next Week: Chapter 5 - How Do We Learn?

Happy Homecoming Week! :)

The Sleep Cycle

Week 3 - How Do We Sense and Perceive Our World?

Review of the Week:

Psychophysics studies how we process sensory stimuli.

Vision: Wavelength (hue) and amplitude (brightness). Visible spectrum is the narrow band of light we are able to see. In the retina are rods and cones that convert light into neural impulses, which travel to the brain through the optic nerve. The trichromatic theory of color vision and the opponent-process theory are both used to explain how we process color. Color blindness is the inability to see certain colors.

Hearing: Sounds are produced by waves of compressed air. Frequency=pitch; amplitude=loudness. The eardrum, located in the middle ear, vibrates to incoming sounds and transmits these sounds through the small bones to the hair cells of the choclea, where neural impulses are generated, which are carried through the auditory nerve to the brain.

Taste, Smell, Touch, and the Body Senses: Humans taste five tastes: bitter, sweet, sour, salty, and umami. The taste buds convert chemicals in the foods you eat into neural impulses. The sense of smell uses the olfactory epithelium to convert odors to neural impulses. Many animals uses pheromones to communicate with other animals. The sense of touch originates in the skin, the inner layer is the dermins while the outer layer is the epidermis. Kinesthesis is our ability to sense the position of our body parts in space and relation to one another. The vestibular sense monitors the position of our head in space and helps us stay balanced.

Perception: Top-down perceptual processing refers to using previously gained knownledge to interpret a sensory stimilus. Botom-up perceptual processing refers to using properties of the stimulus itself to form our perception of a stimulus.

Accomplished this week: Read Chapter 3, Discussion Post, C&R Paper on the Vestibular Sense, 3 Tweets, Blog Post, Crossword, Quiz; a volleyball triangular, 3 dance practices, went to the Volleyball Continental Tournament to watch Team USA, and watched the Huskers cream SDSU!

Next Week: Chapter 4 - Consciousness: Wide Awake, in a Daze, or Dreaming? :)

The 5 Senses (Missing Vestibular and Kinesthesis) :)

Week 2 - How does Biology Influence our Behavior?

Review of this week: Neurons use electrochemical energy to create action potentials that travel to the end of the neuron and release neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters regulate behavior and mood. The nervous system is categorized into two main categories: the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The endocrine system uses glands to release hormones into the bloodstream. The brain is divided into three main regions: the hindbrain, midbrain, forebrain. Hindbrain: basic and life-sustaining functions. Midbrain: connects lower structures of hindbrain with the structures of the forebrain. Forebrain: regulates high-order processes (thinking and emotional control). The cerebral cortex is a thin layer of wrinkled tissue that covers the outside of the brain and is responsible for cognition, decision making, and language capabilities. The brain is divided into two hemispheres: the right hemisphere governs the left side of the body and the left hemisphere governs the right.

What I found the most interesting this week: Endorphins are released in the central nervous system during times of stress (such as physical exertion) to protect us from pain. These endorphins block pain messages in the central nervous system, and we feel less pain and a mild sense of euphoria when released.

Brain Lobes

Accomplished this week: Read the chapter, two discussion posts, C&R paper, review crossword, 3 Tweets, a quiz, and a blog post. :)

Next Week: How Do We Sense and Perceive Our World?

Week 1 - What is Psychology

This week I've learned: 1.) What psychology is. 2.) The many misconceptions of psychology 3.) There are sevel perspective to explaining behavior. You can combine perspectives (ecletic approach) 4.)The main goals of psychology: to describe behavior, to predict behavior, to explain behavior, to control or change behavior 5.) The many ways of researching as a psycholoigst: Naturalistic observation, Case study, Survey, Correlation studies, Experiments 6.)Difference between predictive and casual hypotheses Accomplished: I read chapter 1, completed both discussion posts, wrote a concept/reaction paper, completed the crossword, made a twitter account, made this new blog, and will soon take the quiz. Also had my first volleyball tournament of the season! Can't wait for next week, chapter 2! :)