Psych

• Neurons are specialized cells that transmit information throughout the nervous system through electrical impulses.
• The brain is the most complex organ in the body, with over 100 billion neurons.
• Psychology


  The scientific investigation of mental processes and behaviour
• Psychology


  • Overlaps with many other traditional and social sciences (e.g. biology)
  • Based on three processes: gathering factual information, forming theories to explain said information, testing the theories
• Psychologist


  Completes a minimum of four years of study
• Psychiatrist


  Completes a six-year medical degree
• Social Worker


  Completes an AASW-accredited Bachelor of Social Work
• Specialist fields in Psychology

  • Clinical neuropsychologists
  • Clinical psychologists
  • Counselling psychologists
  • Community psychologists
  • Educational & developmental psychologists
  • Forensic psychologists
  • Health psychologists
  • Organisational psychologists
  • Sports psychologists
• Dualism


  The view that the mind is a separate entity then the body
• Dualism


  • Philosophical contributors: Plato, Aristole, Rene Descartes
• Monism


  The mind is the same as the brain
• Monism


  • Philosophical contributors: Heraclitus, George Berkley, Baruck de spinza
• Nature v. Nurture


  Debates which has greater influences on a person's mental processes and behaviour
• Nature v. Nurture


  • Contributors: Charles Darwin – natural selection; evolution; hereditary, Plato, Descartes
• Variable


  A quantity or quality that can be different at different times or in different places
• Variables


  • Gender, age, eye colour
• Independent variable


  The variable that is deliberately manipulated in an experiment
• Dependent variable


  The variable that is measured depending on the independent variable
• Normal waking conscious


  Being awake and aware of objects, events etc.
• Altered States of Consciousness

  Any state distinctly different from waking consciousness in terms of level of awareness and experience
• Stream of Consciousness


  Continuous, Personal, Active, Ever-changing, Selective
• Consciousness


  A continuum that varies throughout the day, with different states representing different levels of awareness
• Attention


  The information you are actively processing consciously or unconsciously, usually involving focusing on a specific stimulus/stimulus while ignoring others
• Types of attention


  • Selective, selective inattention, divided
• Selective inattention


  The limitations on how much we can focus on one stimulus or event, to the exclusion of others
• Divided attention


  The capacity to attend to and perform two or more activities at the same time (multitasking)
• Controlled processes


  Processes that require mental effort/concentration to complete the task, slower than automatic processes, improve efficiency over time with practice
• Automatic processes


  Processes that require little to no attention/thought, can allow you to multitask, assists with divided attention
• Content Limitations


  In altered states of consciousness, our ability to focus on specific tasks are often reduced, limits selective attention and divided attention tasks
• Video Monitoring


  Used to study sleep, sleep disturbances and/or sleeping disorders, advantages: real-time (more data), can record sound, disadvantages: costly, time-consuming
• Physiological measures


  Obtains information on levels of alertness and underlying bodily changes that occur in different states, measures brainwave patterns, muscle activity, and eye movements
• EEG (Electroencephalograph)


  Electrodes attached to the brain detect, amplify, and record brainwaves, looks at amplitude and frequency, advantages: non-invasive, real-time, reliable, disadvantages: poorly measures activity that occurs below cerebral cortex, it provides summary only
• EMG (Electromyography)


  Electrodes attach to the skin above relevant muscles and detect, amplify, and record electrical activities of muscles, advantages: similar to EEG - non-invasive, disadvantages: technical limitations arise in the setting of obesity and advanced age – can limit the diagnostic certainty
• EOG (Electrooculography)


  Electrodes attached to face surrounding eyes, records electrical activities of eye muscles, advantages: non-invasive, real-time, disadvantages: superposition of signals from mimic or chewing muscles
• Sleep


  A collection of different states of consciousness, unique state of consciousness with little to no awareness of our environment, impacts our self-control, emotional awareness
• Circadian Rhythm


  Roughly requires 24 hours to complete a full cycle, controls our daily cycles of sleep
• Infradian Rhythms


  Takes more that 24 hours to complete
• Ultradian Rhythms


  Take fewer that 24 hours to complete, repeated throughout the day
• Non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep


  Consists of four main stages
• Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep


  Has distinctive brainwave patterns, light level of sleep, more likely to have dreams