States of Consciousness

Sleep: It is a state of consciousness and that we are less aware of our surroundings

• conscious
• subconscious
• unconscious
  

Why do we daydreams?

• Help prepare for future events
• Nourish our social development
• Substitute for impulsive behavior

Fantansy Prone Personalities: Someone who imagines and recalls experiences with like vivdness and who spend considerate tme fantasizing

Biological Rhythms

• Annual cycles: seasonal variations
• 28 day cycles: menustrual cycle
• 24 hour cycle: our circadian rhythm
• 90 minute cycle: sleep cycles

Circadian Rhythm

• Our 24 hour biological clock
• Our body temperature and awareness changes throughout the day

Sleep of Consciousness

• 90 - 100 minutes to pass through 5 stages
• The brain's waves change according to the sleep stage you are in
• The firsts four stages; it is called NREM sleep
• The fifth 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
• Your brain produces Theta waves

Stage 2

• Follows stage 1 sleep and is the "baseline" of sleep
• This stage is part of the 90 minute cycle and occupies appromixately, 45 - 60% of sleep
• More Theta waves that get progressively slower

Stage 3-4

• Slow wave sleeo
• You produce Delta waves
• If awoken, you will be very groggy
• Vital for restoring body's growth hormone and good overrall health
• May last 15 - 30 minutes
• It is called "slow wave" sleep because brain activity slows down dramactically from the "theta" rhythm of stage 2 to a much slower rhythm called "delta" and the height of amplitude of the waves increases dramatically
• Contrary to popular belief, it is delta sleep that is the "deepest" stage of sleep (not REM) and the most restorative
• It is delta sleep that a sleep deprived person's brain craves the first and foremost
• In chldren, delta sleep can occupy up to 40% of all sleep time and this is what makes children unawakenable

REM Sleep

• Rapid eye movement
• 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 gback to stage 2

DREAMS

Dreams: a ssequence 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?

Three Theories

Freud's Wish-Fulfillment Theory

• Dreams are the key to understanding our inner conflicts
• Ideas and thoughts that are hidden in our unconscious
• Manifest and latent content

Information Processing Theory

• Dreams act to sort out and understand the memories that you experience that day
• REM sleep does not increase after stressful events

Activation - Synthesis Theory

• During the night, our brain stem releases random neural activity, dreams may be a way to make sense of that activity

Learning

Learning: It is a long lasting change in behavior due to experience

Ivan Pavlov: He was best known for being the man behind classical conditioning

 Classical Conditioning: it is an automatic learning; it involves being exposed to an unconditioned stimulus which is respnded with an uncondiotioned response

-Soon enought the (UCS) and the (UCR) become (CS) and (CR)

Acquisiton: does not exist for long

Timing Matters:

- Delayed Conditioning: present (CS), why (CS) is still there, present (UCS)

-Trace Conditioning: present (CS), short break, then present (UCS)

-Simultaneous Conditioning: (CS) and (UCS) presented at the same time

-Backward Condtioning: (UCS) is presented, then (CS) is presented

Spontaneous: After extinction, the (CR) still randomly appears after the (CS) is presented

Generalization: Something is so similar to the (CS) that you get a (CR)

Discrimination: Something is so different to the (CS) so you don't get a (CR)

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OPERANT CONDITIONING

Edward Thorndike: He made the theory Law of Effect; It is said that behavior changes when consequences are given

B.F. Skinner: well known for the theory, Operant Conditioning



Reinforces

- A reinforcer is anyhting that increases a behavior

Positive Reinforment: The addition of something pleasant

Negative Reinforcement: The removal of something unpleasant

Punishment

- To punish is to decrease an undesirable behavior

Positive Punishment: addition of something unpleasant

Negative Punishment: removal of something pleasant

Shaping: is reinforcing small steps on the way to the desired behavior

Primary v. Secondary Reinforcers

Primary Reinforcer: Things that are in themselves rewarding

Secondary Reinforcer: Things we have learned to value

Token Economy: Every time a desired behavior is performed, a token is given

Reinforcement Schedules

• Continuous
• Fixed Ratio
• Fixed Interval
• Variable Ratio
• Variable Interval

Memory

Memory: is the persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information.

Memory Process:

• Encoding
• Storage
• Retrieval

Encoding: is the processing of information into the memory system.

Storage: is the retention of encoded material over time.

Retrieval: is the process of getting the information out of memory storage.

Recall Vs. Recognition:

• With recall you must retrieve the information from your memory, while with recognition you must identify the target from other possible targets.

Flashbulb Memory: is a clear moment of an emotionally significant moment or event.

Types of Memory:

Sensory: immediate, initial recording of sensory information stored just for an instant, must get unprocessed.

Short-term: memory that holds only a few items, the information will be stored into long-term or forgotten.

Long-term: relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system.

Encoding

Automatic Processing:

-unconscious encoding of incidental information

-you encode space, time, and word meaning

-things 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

The next-in-line effect: we seldom remember what the person has 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:

Semantic Encoding: the encoding of meaning, like the meaning of words.

Acoustic Encoding: the encoding of sound, especially the sounds of words.

Visual Encoding: the encoding of picture images.

Mnemonic Devices: use imagery"

Chunking:

-organizing items into familiar, manageable units

-often it will occur automatically

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.