In this video I describe the 3 main classifications of psychoactive drugs: stimulants, depressants (including narcotics), and hallucinogens. I provide several examples of each drug type, the associated effects on the nervous system, and the relationship to concepts of neuroadaptation, … Read More
How Do Drugs Influence Neural Communication?
In this video I describe how psychoactive drugs can influence neural communication by passing through the blood-brain barrier and acting as either agonists or antagonists. The brain also responds to this influence via neuroadaptation which can create tolerance and withdrawal … Read More
Theories of Dreaming: Freud, Activation-Synthesis, & Information Processing
In this video I describe three approaches for thinking about dreaming; a Freudian perspective, the activation-synthesis model, and information-processing theory. Freud emphasized the role of the unconscious and believed that dreams could be divided into manifest content and latent content, … Read More
Sleep Disorders
In this video I describe the symptoms and treatment for several sleep disorders including insomnia, sleep apnea, sleepwalking, night terrors, sleep paralysis, REM sleep behavior disorder, and narcolepsy. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel to see future videos! Have … Read More
The Circadian Rhythm
In this video we’ll consider a different state of consciousness that occurs during sleep. Our pattern of wakefulness and drowsiness varies throughout the course of the day and this is known as our circadian rhythm. This cycle is influenced by … Read More
How Much Control Do We Have Over Our Minds?
In this video I consider how much control we have over our own minds. We may not have as much control as we think and this can be demonstrated in ironic processes of mental control as well as unconscious processes. … Read More
The Somatic Marker Hypothesis
Do we need emotions to make decisions? In this video I describe Antonio Damasio’s Somatic Marker Hypothesis and then discuss research using Antoine Bechara’s Iowa Gambling Task to assess how emotional reactivity guides decision-making in healthy controls and patients with … Read More
Characteristics of Consciousness
In this video I describe 4 characteristics of human consciousness. These include unity, intentionality, selectivity, and transience. The selectivity of our consciousness and our ability to filter out perceptions which are deemed irrelevant can be demonstrated in the Cocktail Party … Read More
Sensation & Perception Knowledge Organizer
Here’s a knowledge organizer I’ve created of the most essential terms for sensation and perception in an introductory psychology course. These knowledge organizers are designed to help you identify the most important factual knowledge you need to have in order … Read More
Levels of Consciousness
In this video I describe different levels of consciousness that we have based on our level of access to different types of information. These include conscious, preconscious, subconscious/unconscious, and nonconscious levels of awareness. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel … Read More