States of Consciousness Practice Questions

This video covers 10 multiple choice practice questions on states of consciousness and includes concepts related to sleep, classifications of drugs, attention, dreaming, and more. I hope this can help you to review your knowledge and understanding, let me know if you have any suggestions for future practice and review videos! Get a free PDF with the questions and answers … Read More

What is Meditation?

In this video I describe meditation, focusing on two types of practices: focused awareness meditation and mindfulness meditation. Focused awareness involves maintaining fixed attention on a particular object, sound, or mantra, while mindfulness allows attention to move freely without allowing thoughts to become attached to any particular focus. Both types involve a state of relaxation that can produce physiological changes … Read More

What is Hypnosis?

In this video I describe hypnotic induction and hypnotic suggestibility. Next I describe several applications where hypnosis has been shown to be effective (such as analgesia), as well as areas where it is not effective (accurately recalling “lost” memories). Finally I consider two theories of hypnosis, Role Theory and Ernest Hilgard’s Dissociation Theory. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel … Read More

How Are Psychoactive Drugs Classified?

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, withdrawal, tolerance, and overdose. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel to see future videos! Have questions or topics you’d … 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 to certain drugs. In addition to this physiological aspect of addiction, drugs can also carry psychological aspects of addiction, particularly … 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, while Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley’s later activation-synthesis model viewed dreams as the result of random brain activation during sleep. … Read More

Is Polyphasic Sleep Possible?

In this video I describe the polyphasic sleep schedules often promoted by lifehackers as ways of reducing the need for sleep. Though these schedules originate from sleep research, they are intended for maintaining performance in situations necessitating chronic sleep deprivation rather than for use as a long-term schedule when chronic sleep deprivation isn’t necessary or desirable. These schedules don’t align … 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 questions or topics you’d like to see covered in a future video? Let me know by commenting or sending me … Read More

What Happens When You Don’t Get Enough Sleep?

In this video I describe the effects of sleep deprivation. Sleep is about more than just rest, recovery, and energy conservation and it plays an important role in memory consolidation and integration of our experiences into a coherent sense of self. Sleep deprivation can occur as either chronic sleep deprivation or as acute sleep deprivation. Physical effects include fatigue, dark … Read More

Stages of Sleep

In this video I introduce the different stages of sleep and the brain waves associated with each. NREM Stages 1 and 2 are characterized by theta waves, while NREM Stage 3 slow-wave sleep is associated with delta waves. REM sleep features increased brain activity, heart rate, respiration, and sexual arousal, accompanied by rapid eye movements and body paralysis and is … Read More