Exam 2 Study Guide

The content included in the study guide is not an exhaustive list! It is likely you will come across
terminology and concepts on the exams that are not explicitly included in this study guide. Instead, the
study guide is geared towards major themes that feature prominently in your textbook and/or have
been discussed in lectures. Ultimately, the goal of the study guide is to help focus some of your
studying. While there are a LOT of terms of definitions in this course, be sure to use MindTap to help
you think of examples and applications of these terms. In other words, don’t just memorize all of
these terms and definitions …. try to apply them to a real-life situation or behavior.

Important Terms and Concepts:

Ch.6: Consciousness
- Compare and contrast the different meanings of consciousness.
- Why is consciousness important to our survival?
- What are the major models used to understand consciousness? Is it possible to find
consciousness in the brain? Why or why not?
- Is your brain more active when your thoughts are unfocused (mind wandering) or when you
are focusing on something?

- Describe the effects of different stages of waking and sleep on consciousness, electroencephalogram
(EEG) patterns, autonomic nervous system function, and muscle activity.
- Can you identify what occurs in each of the four stages of sleep?
- In what way does sleep help with memory and growth functions?

- Differentiate sleep-wake disorders in terms of their symptoms and the type of sleep disturbed.

- Explain disorders of consciousness in terms of damage or dysfunction of the brain.

- Categorize the neurochemical mechanisms and effects on consciousness of major types of

psychoactive drugs.
- What are the variety of ways people alter consciousness? Which seem to be more popular?
Why?

Some key terms & definitions:

Addiction: A compulsive physical or psychological dependence on a substance or activity that continues
in spite of negative consequences.
Alpha wave: A waveform of 9 to 12 cycles per second recorded by electroencephalogram that usually
indicates relaxed waking.
Beta wave: A waveform of 15 to 30 cycles per second recorded by electroencephalogram that usually
indicates alert waking.
Biological clock: An internal mechanism that provides an approximate schedule for various
physical processes.
Circadian rhythm: A daily biological rhythm.
Coma: A state of deep unconsciousness resulting from brain damage or illness.
Consciousness: A state of awareness.
Delta wave: A waveform of 1 to 4 cycles per second recorded by electroencephalogram that usually
indicates deep non–rapid eye movement sleep.

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Dreaming: A mental state that usually occurs during sleep that features visual imagery.
Gamma wave: A waveform of more than 30 cycles per second recorded by electroencephalogram that
indicates attention to sensory input.
Hallucinogen: A drug that stimulates the experience of false perceptions.
Hypnosis: An altered state of consciousness characterized by relaxation and increased suggestibility.
Insomnia: A sleep disorder characterized by an inability to either initiate or maintain normal sleep.
Lucid dreaming: A conscious awareness of dreaming accompanied by the ability to control the content of
the dream.
Meditation: A voluntary alteration of consciousness characterized by positive emotion and absence of
thought.
Narcolepsy: A sleep disorder characterized by the intrusion of rapid eye movement phenomena into
waking.
Near-death experience: An altered state of consciousness reported by people who were close to death
because of cardiac or other medical problems that features out-of-body experiences, light-at-the-end-of-
a-tunnel perceptions, and a state of calmness.
Non–rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep: The components of sleep characterized by theta and delta
wave activity, as recorded by electroencephalogram, and deep physical relaxation.
Psychoactive drug: Any drug with the capability of altering a person’s state of consciousness.
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep: The component of sleep characterized by waveforms resembling
waking, as measured by electroencephalogram, accompanied by rapid motion of the eyes, muscular
paralysis, and sympathetic nervous system activation.
Restless legs syndrome (RLS): A disorder characterized by the involuntary movement of an
extremity, usually one leg.
Seizure: An abnormal level of brain activation with a sudden onset.
Self-awareness: The special understanding of the self as distinct from other stimuli.
Sleep: A normal state of consciousness characterized by reduced awareness of external stimuli.
Sleep apnea: A sleep disorder in which the person stops breathing while asleep
Sleep terror: A sleep disorder occurring in non–rapid eye movement sleep in which the sleeper
wakes suddenly in great distress but without experiencing the imagery of a nightmare.
Stimulant: Any drug that increases the activity of the nervous system.
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS): A sleep disorder in which an otherwise healthy infant dies while
asleep.
Theta wave: A waveform of 4 to 7 cycles per second recorded by electroencephalogram that is
characteristic of lighter stages of non–rapid eye movement sleep.
Tolerance: The need to administer greater quantities of a drug to achieve the same subjective effect.
Vegetative state (VS): An abnormal state following brain injury featuring wakefulness without
consciousness.
Waking: A normal state of consciousness characterized by alertness and awareness of external stimuli.
Withdrawal: Physical responses to the removal of some habitually administered drugs.

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Ch. 7: Emotion and Motivation
- Distinguish between emotion, mood, and motivation

- Differentiate the features and predictions of major theories of emotion.

- Compare and contrast the James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, and Schachter-Singer (2-factor) models

- Explain the biological, social, and cognitive correlates of emotional expression and assessment.
- What is meant by the term “basic emotions”?
- What are the basic emotions?
- How do we know that they are basic/universal?
- Are there specific brain areas and physiological profiles associated with each emotion?

- Explain the key attributes of three motivational states: homeostasis, drive, and incentive.

- Analyze the physiological and environmental factors that influence hunger and sexual behavior.

- Describe motivations of affiliation and achievement in terms of how we prioritize motives.

Some key terms & definitions:

Achievement motivation: A desire to excel or outperform others.
Affiliation: Being associated with other people.
Appraisal: The detection and assessment of stimuli that are relevant to personal well-being.
Body mass index (BMI): A height-to-weight ratio used to identify healthy weight, underweight,
overweight, and obesity.
Cannon–Bard theory: A theory of emotion featuring the simultaneous and independent occurrence of
physical sensations and subjective feelings during an emotional experience.
Catharsis: A theory of emotion that views emotion as a reservoir that fills up and spills over; it predicts
that expressing an emotion will reduce arousal.
Display rule: A cultural norm that specifies when, where, and how a person should express an emotion.
Drive: A state of tension and arousal triggered by cues important for survival.
Drive reduction: The state of relief and reward produced by removing the tension and arousal of the
drive state.
Emotion: A combination of arousal, physical sensations, and subjective feelings that occurs
spontaneously in response to environmental stimuli.
Estradiol: An important type of estrogen, or female sex hormone.
Extrinsic reward: A reward from an outside source.
Glucose: A type of sugar that plays an important role in hunger levels.
Homeostasis: A steady internal balance, or equilibrium.
Incentive: A reward that pulls an organism’s behavior in a particular direction.
Insula: Regions of cortex located at the junction of the frontal and temporal lobes.
Intrinsic reward: A reward that arises internally.
James–Lange theory: A theory of emotion that proposes that physical sensations lead to subjective
feelings.
Leptin: A hormone secreted by fat cells that helps the body maintain an appropriate level of stored fat.
Motivation: A process that arouses, maintains, and guides behavior toward a goal.
Satiety: A sense of feeling full and not requiring further food.
Schachter–Singer two-factor theory: A theory of emotion in which general arousal leads to assessment,
which in turn leads to subjective feelings.
Self-actualization: A state of having fulfilled your potential.

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 Set point: A value that is defended to maintain homeostasis.
Sexual orientation: A stable pattern of attraction to members of a particular sex.
Testosterone: A male hormone.
Yerkes–Dodson law: A description of the relationships among task complexity, arousal, and
performance.

Ch.8: Learning
- Compare and contrast associative vs non-associative types of learning.

- Identify the components of a classical conditioning experiment and discuss major terms, definitions,
and processes related to classical conditioning
- what is meant by extinction, stimulus generalization, stimulus discrimination, and
spontaneous discovery in classical conditioning? What are practical examples of each?
- what are some of the cognitive and biological influences on classical conditioning?

- Describe the major components of operant conditioning and distinguish operant conditioning from
classical conditioning.
- what is a reinforcer? How do we distinguish between positive and negative reinforcement?
- what is punishment? How do we distinguish between positive and negative punishment?
- what are primary reinforcers, and how do they differ from conditioned reinforcers?
- define and think of examples of immediate and delayed reinforcers
- distinguish between continuous vs intermittent reinforcement
- regarding intermittent reinforcement, what are the four different schedules of reinforcement?
How do they differ in terms of resulting behaviors?

- Analyze the processes that result in observational learning.

- Discuss the interactions between learned processes and animals’ preparation to learn in species-
specific ways.

- PRACTICE! Apply learning principles and terminology to everyday situations and problems.

Some key terms & definitions:

Acquisition: The development of a learned response.
Associative learning: The formation of associations, or connections, among stimuli and behaviors.
Aversion therapy: An application of counterconditioning in which a conditioned stimulus (CS) formerly
paired with a pleasurable unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is instead paired with an unpleasant UCS.
Classical conditioning: A type of learning in which associations are formed between two stimuli that
occur sequentially in time.
Conditioned reinforcer: A reinforcer that gains value from being associated with other things that are
valued; also known as a secondary reinforcer.
Conditioned response (CR): A response learned through classical conditioning.
Conditioned stimulus (CS): An environmental event whose significance is learned through classical
conditioning.
Discrimination: A learned ability to distinguish between stimuli.

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Extinction: The reduction of a learned response. In classical conditioning, extinction occurs when the
unconditioned stimulus (UCS) no longer follows the conditioned stimulus (CS). In operant conditioning,
extinction occurs when the consequence no longer follows the learned behavior.
Fixed interval (FI) schedule: A schedule of reinforcement in which the first response following a specified
interval is reinforced.
Fixed ratio (FR) schedule: A schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement occurs following a set
number of behaviors.
Generalization: The tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar to an original conditioned stimulus
(CS).
Habituation: A simple form of learning in which reactions to repeated stimuli that are unchanging and
harmless decrease.
Higher-order conditioning: Learning in which stimuli associated with a conditioned stimulus (CS) also
elicit conditioned responses (CRs).
Imitation: Copying behavior that is unlikely to occur naturally and spontaneously.
Inhibition: A feature of classical conditioning in which a conditioned stimulus (CS) predicts the
nonoccurrence of an unconditioned stimulus (UCS).
Instinct: An inborn pattern of behavior elicited by environmental stimuli; also known as a fixed action
pattern.
Latent inhibition: The slower learning that occurs when a conditioned stimulus (CS) is already familiar
compared to when the CS is unfamiliar.
Latent learning: Learning that occurs in the absence of reinforcement.
Learning: A relatively permanent change in behavior or the capacity for behavior due to experience.
Method of successive approximations: A method for increasing the frequency of behaviors that never or
rarely occur; also known as shaping.
Negative punishment: A method for reducing behavior by removing something desirable whenever the
target behavior occurs.
Negative reinforcement: A method for increasing behaviors that allow an organism to escape or avoid
an unpleasant consequence.
Nonassociative learning: Learning that involves changes in the magnitude of responses to stimuli.
Observational learning: Learning that occurs when one organism watches the actions of another
organism; also known as social learning or modeling.
Operant conditioning: A type of learning in which associations are formed between behaviors and their
outcomes.
Partial reinforcement: The reinforcement of a desired behavior on some occasions, but not others.
Partial reinforcement effect in extinction: The more rapid extinction observed following continuous
reinforcement compared to that following partial reinforcement.
Positive punishment: A consequence that eliminates or reduces the frequency of a behavior by applying
an aversive stimulus.
Punishment: A consequence that eliminates or reduces the frequency of a behavior.
Reflex: An inevitable, involuntary response to stimuli.
Sensitization: An increased reaction to many stimuli following exposure to one strong stimulus.
Spontaneous recovery: During extinction training, the reappearance of conditioned responses (CRs) after
periods of rest.
Systematic desensitization: A type of counterconditioning in which people relax while being exposed to
stimuli that elicit fear.
Token economy: An application of operant conditioning in which tokens that can be exchanged for other
reinforcers are used to increase the frequency of desirable behaviors.
Unconditioned response (UCR): A response to an unconditioned stimulus that requires no previous
experience.
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): A stimulus that elicits a response without prior experience.

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 Variable interval (VI) schedule: A schedule of reinforcement in which the first response following a
varying period is reinforced.
Variable ratio (VR) schedule: A schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement occurs following some
variable number of behaviors.

Ch.9: Memory
- Define and apply the core memory concepts of encoding, storage, and retrieval.

- Understand the Atkinson-Shiffrin model of memory: Differentiate among sensory memory, short-
term or working memory, and long-term memory, as well as the subtypes of long-term memory.
- Explain the models describing the organization of long-term memories.

- Analyze the variables influencing retrieval from short- and long-term memory.
- what is the role of rehearsal in memory storage and retrieval?
- what is the serial position effect?

- Explain forgetting, decay, interference, motivated forgetting, and confabulation

- distinguish between retroactive and proactive inhibition as it relates to forgetting

- Identify the biological correlates of memory.

Some key terms & definitions:

Autobiographical memory: Semantic or episodic memories that reference the self.
Chunking: The process of grouping similar or meaningful information together.
Cue: A stimulus that aids retrieval.
Decay: A reduction in ability to retrieve rarely used information over time.
Declarative memory: A consciously retrieved memory that is easy to verbalize, including semantic,
episodic, and autobiographical information; also known as explicit memory.
Encoding: The transformation of information from one form to another.
Encoding specificity: A process in which memories incorporate unique combinations of information when
encoded.
Episodic memory: A memory for personal experience.
Flashbulb memory: An especially vivid and detailed memory of an emotional event.
Forgetting: A decrease in the ability to remember a previously formed memory.
Information processing: A continuum including attention, sensation, perception, learning, memory, and
cognition.
Interference: Competition between newer and older information in memory.
Levels of processing theory: The depth (shallow to deep) of processing applied to information that
predicts its ease of retrieval.
Long-term memory: The final stage of the Atkinson–Shiffrin model that is the location of permanent
memories.
Long-term potentiation (LTP): The enhancement of communication between two neurons resulting from
their synchronous activation.
Memory: The ability to retain knowledge.
Mnemonics: Memory aids that link new information to well-known information.
Motivated forgetting: Failure to retrieve negative memories.

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Nondeclarative memory: An unconsciously and effortlessly retrieved memory that is difficult to
verbalize, such as a memory for classical conditioning, procedural learning, and priming; also known as
implicit memory.
Priming: A change in a response to a stimulus as a result of exposure to a previous stimulus.
Procedural memory: A nondeclarative or implicit memory for how to carry out skilled movement.
Reconstruction: Rebuilding a memory out of stored elements.
Rehearsal: Repetition of information.
Retrieval: The recovery of stored information.
Schema: A set of expectations about objects and situations.
Semantic memory: A general knowledge memory.
Sensory memory: The first stage of the Atkinson–Shiffrin model that holds large amounts of incoming
data for brief amounts of time.
Short-term memory (STM): The second stage of the Atkinson–Shiffrin model that holds a small amount
of information for a limited time.
Spreading activation model: A connectionist theory proposing that people organize general knowledge
based on their individual experiences.
Storage: The retention of information.
Working memory: An extension of the concept of short-term memory that includes the active
manipulation of multiple types of information simultaneously.