05/15/14 Dreams

• 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. 
• Why do we dream?
1. Freud's wish- fulfillment Theory
• Dreams are the key to understanding our inner conflicts.
• Ideas and thoughts are hidden in our unconscious.
• Manifest and Latent Content.
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 brain stem releases random neural activity, dreams may be a way to make sense of that activity. 

05/14/14 Sleep Disorders

• Insomnia
• Persistent problems falling asleep.
• Affects 10% of the population.

• Narcolepsy
• Suffer from sleeplessness and may fall asleep or unpredictable or inappropriate times. 
• Directly into REM sleep,
• Less than .001% of 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 mates.
• Can be fatal.

• 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)
• An estimated ten percent of all humans at least 1 in their lives. 
• Sleep walking most often occurs during deep Non- REM sleep stage 3 or Stage 4 early in the night. 

05/07/14 Sleep

• Stages of consciousness
• Sleep, Hypnosis, Sleep
• Sleep
• State of consciousness
• We are less aware of our surroundings.
• Conscious
• Subconscious
• Unconscious
• Why we daydream
• Help us prepare future events.
• Nourish our social development.
• Substitute for impulsive behavior.
• Fantasy Prone Personalities 
• Someone who imagines and recalls experiences with lifelike vividness and who spends considerable time fantasizing.
• Biological Rhythms
• Annual cycles- Seasonal variations (Bears hibernate, seasonal affective disorder.)
• 28 Days cycle- Menstrual Cycle
• 24 Hour cycle- Our circadian rhythm 
• 90 minute cycle- sleep cycle.
• Circadian Rhythm
• Our 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.
• Sleep Stages
• There are 5 identifies 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 four stages are known as NREM sleep.
• The fifth stage is called REM sleep.

1. Stage 1 of Sleep
• Kind of awake and kind of asleep.
• Only lasts a few minutes and you usually only experience it once a night.
• Eyes begin to roll slightly.
• Your brain produces theta waves (high amplitude low frequency/slow.)
2. Stage 2
• This follows stage 1. Sleep and is the "baseline" of sleep.
• The stage is put of the 90 minute cycle and occupies approximately 45- 60% of sleep more theta waves that get progressively slower. 
3. Stage 3 and 4
• Slow wave sleep
• You produce delta waves.
• If awaken 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 slower rhythm called "delta" and the height or amplitude of the waves increases dramatically.
• Contrary to popular relief, it is delta sleep that is the "deepest" stage of sleep (Not REM) and the most restorative.

• H is delta sleep that a sleep deprived person's brain craves the first and foremost. 
• In children, delta sleep can occupy up to most 40% of all sleep time and this is what makes children unwakeable 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.
• Composes 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. 

05/06/14 Token Economy

• 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. 
• Ratio Schedules
1. Fixed Ratio- Provides a reinforcement after a set number of responses.
2. Variable Ratio- Provides a reinforcement of random number of responses.
• Interval Schedules
1. Fixed Interval- Requires a set amount of time to elapse before giving the reinforcement.
2. Variable Interval- Requires a random amount of time to elapse before giving the reinforcement.
• Very hard to get acquisition but also very resistant to extinction. 
• Observational Learning 
• Albert Bandura and his Bobo doll. 
• We learn through modeling behavior from others.

• Observational Learning + Operant Conditioning= Social Learning Theory
• Latent Learning
• Edward Toleman
• Three rat experiment
• Latent means hidden
• Sometimes learning is not immediately evident.
• Insight Learning
• Wolfgang Kohler and his chimpanzees.
• Some animals learn through the "ah ha" experience.
• A reinforcement is used to increase a desired behavior.
• A punishment is used to decrease an unwanted behavior.

05/05/14 Operant Conditioning

• Operant Conditioning 
• The learner is not passive
• Learning based on consequence.
• 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). Dogs automatically salivate over meat, then bell- no thinking involved.
• Operant conditioning involves behavior where one can influence their environment with behaviors which have consequences. (Operant behavior.)

• Law of Effect by Edward Thorndike
• Rewarded behavior is likely to reccur.
• B.F. Skinner
• Shaping- a procedure in operant conditioning in which reinforces guide behavior closer and closer towards a goal.
• Reinforcers
• Any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.
• Two types of reinforcment.
• 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. 
• Types of Reinforcers
1. Primary Reinforcers
• an innately reinforcing stimulus.
2. Conditiones (Secondary) Reinforcers
• A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association within its primary reinforcement. 
• Punishment
• An event that decreases the behavior that it follows.
• Reinforcement Schedules
1. Continuous Reinforcement
• Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs. 
2. Partial Reinforcement
• Reinforcing a response only part of the time
• The acquisition process is slower.
• Greater resistance to extinction.
3. Fixed- Ratio Schedules
• A schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.
• Ex: I give cookie monster a cookie every five times he sings "C is for Cookie."
4. Variable- Ratio Schedules
• A schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of response.
5. Fxed Interval Schedule
• A schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed. 
6. Variable Interval Schedule
• A schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response at unpredictable intervals.

05/01/14 Learning

• Associative Learning
• Learning that certain events occur together.
• Classical Conditioning
• Ivan Pavlov, tested theory on dogs.
• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCR) the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the UCS.
• Conditioned Response (CR) The learned response to a previously neutral stimulus. 
• Pavlov spent the rest of his life outlining.
• Stages
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
• Will eventually happen when the UCS does not follow the CS.
3. Spontaneous Recovery
• The reappearance. After a rest period, of n extinguished conditioned response.
4. Generalization
• The tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the CS to elicit similar responses. 
5. Discrimination
• The ability to distinguish between a CS and other stimuli that does not signal UCS.

04/28/14 Types of Long Term Memory

1. Explicit ( Declarative) with Conscious Recall
• Facts- general knowledge "semantic memory" personally experienced events "episodic memory"
2. Implicit (non declarative) with unconscious recall.
• Skills- motor and cognitive
• Classical and operant conditioning effect.

• 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.
• Misinformation effect- Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.