Consciousness: the awareness of the sensations, thoughts, and feelings being experienced at a given moment – a person’s momentary awareness of experiencing sensations, thoughts, and feelingsAltered state of consciousness: states that differ from normal, waking consciousnessStage 1 sleep: the state of transition between wakefulness & sleep, characterized by relatively rapid, low-amplitude brain waves (alpha waves)Stage 2 sleep: a sleep deeper than stage 1, characterized by slower, more regular wave pattern, along with momentary interruptions of “sleep spindles” (theta waves)Stage 3 sleep: a sleep characterized by slow brain waves, with greater peaks and valleys in the wave pattern than in stage 2 (delta waves)Stage 4 sleep: the deepest stage of sleep, during which we are the least responsive to outside stimulation (delta waves)Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep: sleep occupying 20% of an adult’s sleeping time, characterized by increased heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate; erections; eye-movements; and the experience of dreaming** -- skeletal muscle paralysis, shallow stageUnconscious Wish Fulfillment Theory: Freud’s theory that dreams represent unconscious wishes that dreamers desire to see fulfilled – manifest content (storyline; what we remember) disguises the latent content (actual underlying wishes – universal symbols)Dreams for Survival Theory: suggests that dreams permit information that is critical for our daily survival to be reconsidered and reprocessed during sleep – dreaming considered inherited from our animal ancestors whose small brains were unable to go through all the info during waking hours (limited brain power) – dreams are inherently meaningfulActivation-Synthesis Theory: Hobson’s theory that the brain produces random electrical energy during REM sleep that stimulates memories stored in the brain – neuroscience perspective; result of changes in the production of particular neurotransmitters – brain excels at making memory meaning out of ambiguous or fragmentary stimuliReverse Learning Theory: dreams have no meaning at all, mental housekeeping -> flushing away unnecessary info accumulated throughout the day, un-learning of material that serves no purpose and could end up being confusing – searching for meaning in the dream content is therefore pointlessAttention: a state of focused awareness on a subset of the available perceptual info, “focused consciousness”, much of the available perceptual info in environment never enters awarenessSelective attention: choosing the stimuli that will enter awareness, goal-directed selection – purposeful attention, stimulus-driven capture – stimulus captures attention – repetition, novelty, change, unusual featuresInattentional blindness: failing to see an obvious visual stimulus when your attention is narrowly focusedChanges in blindness: failing to notice changes in the visual field internal representation of the visual world is not as precise as you might think Insomnia: affects as many as 1/3 people – all have it at some point in our livesCircadian rhythms: biological processes that occur regularly on approximately a 24-hour cycle – blood pressure, hormone production, body temperature, SLEEPING & WAKING all on circadian rhythmsDaydreams: fantasies people construct while awake – more under control than dreams, part of waking consciousnessHypnosis: a trancelike state of heightened susceptibility to the suggestions of others – do not lose all will of their own, 5-20% cannot be hypnotized at all,and ~15% are very easily hypnotized – hypnosis is a state of consciousness different from normal waking – helps with controlling pain, reducing smoking, treating psychological disorders, assisting in law enforcement, improving athletic performanceMeditation: a learned technique for refocusing attention that brings about an altered state of consciousnessPsychoactive drugs: drugs that influence a person’s emotions, perceptions, and behavior – some alter limbic system, others affect the operation of specific neurotransmitters across the synapses of neuronsAddictive drugs: drugs that produce a biological or psychological dependence in the user so that withdrawal from them leads to a craving for the drug that, in some cases, may be nearly irresistible – physiological dependence the body becomes so accustomed to functioning in the presence of the drug thatit cannot function without it; psychological dependence people believe that they need the drug to respond to the stress of daily livingDifferent ways drugs produce effects: enhances release of neurotransmitter, blocks removal of transmitter, enhances by mimicking neurotransmitter, blocks receptor for neurotransmitter, blocks release of neurotransmitterStimulants: drugs that have an arousal effect on the central nervous system, causing a rise in heart rate, blood pressure, and muscular tension – ex) caffeine & nicotine – cocaine & amphetamines are more dangerous, can lead to convulsions and deathDepressants: drugs that slow down the nervous system, can cause intoxication along with feelings of euphoria – ex) alcohol & barbituatesNarcotics: drugs that increase relaxation and relieve pain and anxiety – ex) morphine & heroin (very addictive & dangerous)Hallucinogen: a drug that is capable of producing hallucinations, or changes in the perceptual process – ex) marijuana & LSDLearning: a relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience, almost everything we do is influenced by what we have learnedStimulus: physical aspect of the environment that is capable of exciting an organism’s sense organs – visual, auditory, tactileClassical conditioning: a type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to bring about a response after it is paired with a stimulus that naturally brings about that response (Ivan Pavlov) – procedure: UCS goes to UCR, then NR, CR goes to CR – does NOT create new behaviors, only connects naturally occurring responses to new stimuli, mainly visceral responses (gut, “emotional” responses); S comes before R; R achieves no resultResponse: overt act or movementS-R connectionism: learning consists of the connection of certain responses to the perception of certain stimuli, conditioning; not all learning can be explained in terms of pure S-R connectionism – ex) driving a car is observational learning (learning occurs without direct experience)Neutral stimulus: a stimulus