Thursday, May 15, 2014

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. 

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

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.

04/24/14 Memory


  • Memory- the persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information. 
  • Memory processing
    1.  Encoding- the process of information into the memory system. 
    2.  Storage- the retention of encoded material over time. 
    3.  Retrieval- process of getting the information  out of memory storage. 
  • Recall v. Recognition 
    • With recall,  you must retrieve the information from your memory (fill in the blank tests)
    • With recognition, you must identify the target from possible targets (multiple choice tests) 
  • Flashbulb memory- A clear moment of emotionally significant moment or event. 
  • Types of memory
    1.  Sensory memory 
    2.  Short- term memory 
    3.  Long - term memory 
  • Sensory memory is the immediate,  initial recording of sensory information in the memory system. 
    • Stored just for instant,  and must get unprocessed. 
  • Short term memory is memory that holds a few items briefly 
    • Seven digits (Plus of minus two) 
    • The information will be stored into long- term or forgotten. 
  • Working memory (modern day stm)
    • Another way of destroying the use of short term memory is called working memory. 
    • Working memory has three parts
      1.  Audio 
      2.  Visual 
      3.  Integration of audio and visual (controls where your attention lies)
  • Long- term memory 
    • The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. 
  • Encoding 
    • Automatic Processing
      • Unconscious encoding of incidental information
      • You encode space, time, and word meaning without effort.
      • Things can become automatic with practice.
    • 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. 

04/22/14 Intelligence

  • Intelligence- The ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt new situations.
    • Is socially constructed, thus, can be culturally specific. 
  • Factor analysis- a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test. 
  • Charles Spearman used FA to discover his general intelligence. 
  • Multiple intelligences 
    • Howard Gardner disagreed with Spearman's general intelligence and instead came up with the concept of multiple intelligences. 
    • He came up with the idea by studying savants. ( a condition where a person has limited mental abilitybut is exceptional in one area.) 
  • Gardner's multiple intelligences 
    • Visual/ spatial 
    • Verbal/ linguistic 
    • Logical/ mathematical 
    • Bodily/kinesthetic 
    • Musical/ rhythmic 
    • Interpersonal
    • Intrapersonal
    • Natural 
  • Sternberg's three aspects of intelligence 
    • Gardner simplified
    • Analytical