Deck 4: Section 3: Consciousness and Its Variations

Question 1

Because attention is limited in capacity, we tend to focus on information that is most relevant to our immediate or long-term goals.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

It was the famous American psychologist William James who talked about the stream of consciousness.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The suprachiasmatic nucleus is the internal master biological clock that governs the timing of circadian rhythms.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The pineal gland, located in the brain, is an endocrine gland that manufactures a hormone called melatonin.

Question 5

Magicians exploit a phenomenon known as inattentional blindness which occurs when we fail to notice something in our clear field of view because our limited attentional resources are devoted to another task or object in the environment.

Question 6

At any given moment we are faced with more information than we can effectively process. This suggests that attention has limited capacity.

Question 7

Dr. Castro is at a faculty party and is attentively listening to Dr. Chavez talk about her latest research on selective attention when Dr. Castro suddenly becomes aware of someone else mentioning his name on the other side of the room. This phenomenon is known as mindfulness.

Question 8

Yair failed to notice when his girlfriend Lena got her hair cut because he wasn't paying attention to her hair. Not noticing that Lena cut her hair is an example of inattentional blindness deficit.

Question 9

The word circadian is derived from a combination of Latin words meaning "sleep" and "cycle."

Question 10

The term circadian rhythm refers to biological and psychological processes that fluctuate over a period of about 24 hours.

Question 11

The suprachiasmatic nucleus is located in the retina of each eye.

Question 12

Decreased blood levels of melatonin make you sleepy.

Question 13

Typically, blood levels of melatonin reach their peak early in the morning and high levels keep you alert and awake.

Question 14

One of the most powerful environmental cues that keeps our circadian rhythms synchronized and operating on a 24-hour schedule is bright light, especially sunlight.

Question 15

Attention is the capacity to selectively focus senses and awareness on particular stimuli or aspects of the environment.

Question 16

The suprachiasmatic nucleus is a cluster of neurons located in the hypothalamus in the brain.

Question 17

The suprachiasmatic nucleus is the body's internal "clock" that governs the timing of circadian rhythms, including the sleep-wake cycle and the mental alertness cycle.

Question 18

In general, tasks that are very different are more likely to interfere with each other.

Question 19

In response to bright light, the suprachiasmatic nucleus signals the pineal gland to decrease production of melatonin.

Question 20

Consciousness is your delayed awareness of internal state, including thoughts, sensations, and memories.

Question 21

For most people, jet lag only lasts about 24 hours.

Question 22

The terms REM sleep, active sleep, and paradoxical sleep all refer to the same phenomenon.

Question 23

REM sleep is also called "quiet sleep."

Question 24

The only time that most people experience beta brain waves is in stage 4 NREM sleep.

Question 25

The experience of hypnagogic hallucinations is one of the most common sleep disorders.

Question 26

Increased blood levels of melatonin reduce activity levels and promote sleep.

Question 27

During REM sleep, voluntary muscle activity is suppressed and the sleeper is essentially paralyzed.

Question 28

A critical event that advanced the scientific study of sleep was the invention of the electroencephalograph by a German psychiatrist named Hans Berger.

Question 29

NREM sleep is also referred to as "quiet sleep."

Question 30

The presence of sleep spindles and K complexes indicates that the person is experiencing REM sleep.

Question 31

Numerous studies have confirmed that you can interact with people who are chronic sleeptalkers while they are asleep and get reliable answers to almost any question posed.

Question 32

When there are no external time cues, normally coordinated circadian rhythms become resynchronized.

Question 33

A myoclonic jerk is an involuntary muscle spasm of the whole body that jolts the sleeping person completely awake.

Question 34

Theta brain waves occur when you are awake, alert, and mentally active.

Question 35

If you are experiencing alpha brain waves, you are in the deepest stage of sleep.

Question 36

Although yawning is contagious among young children, studies have shown that adults do not demonstrate contagious yawning.

Question 37

There are two basic types of sleep: REM sleep and NREM sleep.

Question 38

Research has substantiated that yawning is often contagious.

Question 39

The electroencephalograph is the instrument that produces a graphic record of brain activity called an EEG, or electroencephalogram.

Question 40

One of the most common hypnagogic hallucinations is the sensation of falling.

Question 41

Sleep paralysis generally lasts from 90 minutes to two hours.

Question 42

A typical teenager needs about 8.5 to 9 hours of sleep per night to be fully rested.

Question 43

For teenagers, the consequences of regular sleep loss include poor school performance, increased risk of accidents and injuries, and depressed mood.

Question 44

Over time, consistently getting too little sleep can produce potentially harmful physical effects.

Question 45

Some researchers believe that yawning may have evolved as an adaptive social cue, allowing groups to signal and coordinate times of activity and rest.

Question 46

Sleep appears to be especially important in preserving emotional memories.

Question 47

In a typical sleeper, a complete cycle of REM and NREM sleep is about 90 minutes long.

Question 48

As a general rule, the average amount of time spent sleeping each day gradually decreases over the lifespan.

Question 49

Even before birth, the developing fetus has distinct sleep-wake cycles.

Question 50

The phenomenon of REM rebound is the burst of physical energy, sometimes even manic behavior, that occurs on the day after someone is deprived of REM sleep.

Question 51

The appearance of sleep spindles and K complexes is a clear sign that the sleeper is in stage 2 NREM sleep.

Question 52

Sleep thinking is the most common mental activity during sleep.

Question 53

According to the Focus on Neuroscience box: The Sleep-Deprived Emotional Brain, sleep deprived individuals are more likely than their well-rested counterparts to engage in risky or addictive behavior.

Question 54

People can eventually adapt to sleeping for as little as four or five hours per night with little or no cognitive impairment.

Question 55

Over the course of a typical night, periods of REM sleep become progressively longer.

Question 56

In normal sleep, people enter the first episode of REM sleep within about 15 minutes after going to sleep.

Question 57

The deepest sleep of stages 3 and 4 NREM typically occurs in the early morning hours before awakening.

Question 58

The percentage of time spent in REM sleep increases during childhood and adolescence, remains stable throughout middle adulthood, and decreases during late adulthood.

Question 59

After as little as one night's sleep deprivation, research subjects develop what are called microsleeps, which are episodes of sleep lasting only a few seconds that occur during wakefulness.

Question 60

A newborn baby spends more time in REM sleep each day than does a 3-year-old child.

Question 61

Rather than being bizarre, dreams are, by and large, a realistic simulation of waking life.

Question 62

Although dreams can occur in REM sleep, most dreams happen during NREM sleep.

Question 63

Sigmund Freud (1911) believed that dream images of sticks, swords, and other elongated objects were phallic symbols, representing the penis. He also believed that dream images of cupboards, boxes, and ovens symbolized the vagina.

Question 64

Research does NOT support Sigmund Freud's belief that dream images are symbols that disguise a dream's true psychological meaning.

Question 65

In contrast to the activation-synthesis model, the neurocognitive model of dreaming emphasizes the relationship between the manifest content and the latent content of dreams.

Question 66

Although it may seem as if some dreams last for 20 minutes or longer, dreams actually last for only a few seconds.

Question 67

In dreams, positive feelings and events are more common than negative ones.

Question 68

As a general rule, nightmares are indicative of a psychological or sleep disorder that may require medical treatment.

Question 69

Approximately 5 to 10 percent of adults experience nightmares on a weekly basis.

Question 70

According to Freud's theory of psychoanalysis, the disguised, symbolic meaning of dream images is called the manifest content.

Question 71

Men are more likely to experience emotions in their dreams, whereas women are more likely to experience physical aggression.

Question 72

PET scans of sleeping subjects have shown that the brain's frontal lobes and primary visual cortex are basically inactive during REM sleep.

Question 73

In contrast to the activation-synthesis model, the neurocognitive model of dreaming emphasizes the continuity between waking and dreaming cognition.

Question 74

Apprehension or fear is the most frequently reported dream emotion for both sexes.

Question 75

The activation-synthesis model of dreaming contends that dreams are completely meaningless.

Question 76

Compared to what happens during NREM sleep, during REM sleep there is a sharp increase in activity in the limbic system areas of the brain, including the hippocampus and the amygdala.

Question 77

Dream themes, such as being naked in a public place, flying, or failing an exam, are common among most adults.

Question 78

A couple of times during the night, you awaken slightly. Each time you awaken, you're aware of vague mental images that reflect a conversation you and your boss had about resolving a problem at work. These bland, thought-like ruminations about real events are best described as sleep mentation.

Question 79

According to the activation-synthesis model of dreaming, dreaming is caused by the activation of brainstem areas that in turn trigger brain areas involved in sensation, emotions, and memory.

Question 80

Early morning dreams, which can last as long as 40 minutes, are the dreams that people are most likely to remember.