Week 6/ Chapter 5

• Circadian rhythm:

  • Cyclical changes that occur on a roughly 24-hour basis in many biological processes
• Biological clock:

  • Term for the area of the hypothalamus responsible for controlling our levels of alertness
• Rapid eye movement (REM):

  • Darting of the eyes underneath closed eyelids during sleep
• REM sleep:

  • Stage of sleep during which the brain is most active and vivid dreaming most often occurs
• Non-REM (NREM) sleep:

  • Stages 1 through 4 of the sleep cycle, during which rapid eye movements do not occur and dreaming is less frequent and vivid
• Sleep paralysis:

  • State of being unable to move just after falling asleep or right before waking up
• Lucid dreaming:

  • Experience of becoming aware that one is dreaming
• Insomnia:

  • Difficulty falling and/or staying asleep
• Narcolepsy:

  • Disorder characterized by the rapid and often unexpected onset of sleep
• Sleep apnea:

  • Disorder caused by a blockage of the airway during sleep, resulting in daytime fatigue
• Night terrors:

  • Sudden waking episodes characterized by screaming, perspiration, and confusion, followed by a return to a deep sleep
• Sleepwalking:

  • Walking while fully asleep
• Activation-synthesis theory:

  • Theory that dreams reflect inputs from brain activation originating in the pons, which the forebrain then attempts to weave into a story
• Neurocognitive theory:

  • Theory that dreams are supported by the brain’s default network and are a meaningful product of our cognitive capacities, which shape what we dream about
• Out-of-body-experience (OBE):

  • Sense of our consciousness leaving our body
• Near-death experience (NDE):

  • Experience reported by people who’ve nearly died or thought they were going to die
• Deja vu:

  • Strong feeling of familiarity regarding a new experience
• Mystical experience:

  • Feelings of unity or oneness with the world, often with strong spiritual overtones
• Hypnosis:

  • An interpersonal situation in which imaginative suggestions are administered to produce changes in consciousness
• Sociocognitive theory:

  • Approach to explaining hypnosis based on people’s attitudes, beliefs, expectations, and responsiveness to waking suggestions
• Dissociation theory:

  • Approach to explaining hypnosis based on a separation between personality functions that are normally well integrated
• Past-life regression therapy:

  • Therapeutic approach that uses hypnosis to supposedly age-regress patients to a previous life to identify the source of a present-day problem