A biological rhythm that repeats about every 24 hours, such as the daily rise and fall of body temperature, is called what?
Circadian rhythm
✓
Chronotype
Sleep debt
Sleep rebound
Correct Answer
Circadian rhythm
A circadian rhythm is an internal cycle lasting roughly one day, seen in the sleep-wake cycle, body temperature and blood pressure. A chronotype is a person's individual pattern of circadian activity, such as being a night owl. Sleep debt is the accumulated cost of too little sleep. Sleep rebound is falling asleep faster after being deprived of sleep.
Category: Consciousness and Rhythms
Question 2
Which brain structure serves as the body's biological clock, keeping daily rhythms in step with the light-dark cycle?
Reticular formation
Suprachiasmatic nucleus
✓
Pineal gland
Amygdala
Correct Answer
Suprachiasmatic nucleus
The suprachiasmatic nucleus, a cluster of cells in the hypothalamus, is the brain's clock and receives light information from the retina to stay synchronized with the day. The reticular formation regulates arousal and alertness but is not the clock itself. The pineal gland releases melatonin under the clock's influence. The amygdala processes emotion.
Category: Consciousness and Rhythms
Question 3
A student flies from New York to Paris and for several days feels sluggish and irritable and cannot sleep at night. Which explanation fits best?
Narcolepsy
Sleep apnea
Jet lag
✓
Cataplexy
Correct Answer
Jet lag
Jet lag occurs when travel across time zones leaves the internal clock out of step with local time, causing fatigue, irritability and insomnia that fade as the body adjusts. Narcolepsy involves sudden, irresistible sleep episodes. Sleep apnea involves repeated pauses in breathing during sleep. Cataplexy is sudden muscle weakness linked to narcolepsy.
Category: Consciousness and Rhythms
Question 4
A student stays up studying and sleeps only five hours a night for two weeks, becoming steadily less alert. What is the accumulated effect of this shortfall called?
Sleep rebound
Insomnia
Chronotype
Sleep debt
✓
Correct Answer
Sleep debt
Sleep debt builds up when a person repeatedly gets less sleep than needed, and it reduces alertness and mental efficiency. Sleep rebound is the tendency to fall asleep faster once sleep is finally possible. Insomnia is a persistent difficulty falling or staying asleep, not a chosen shortage of sleep. Chronotype is a person's natural timing preference for sleep and waking.
Category: Consciousness and Rhythms
Question 5
During which stage of sleep is a person most easily awakened, often insisting afterward that they were never asleep?
Stage N1
✓
Stage N2
Stage N3
REM sleep
Correct Answer
Stage N1
Stage N1 is the light transition from wakefulness into sleep, and people woken from it often say they were not asleep. Stage N2 is a deeper state of relaxation. Stage N3 is deep slow-wave sleep, the hardest stage to wake someone from. REM sleep is the stage linked to vivid dreaming and muscle paralysis.
Category: Sleep Stages
Question 6
Sleep spindles and K-complexes in the EEG are characteristic of which stage of sleep?
Stage N1
Stage N2
✓
Stage N3
REM sleep
Correct Answer
Stage N2
Stage N2 is marked by sleep spindles, brief bursts of rapid waves, and K-complexes, large high-amplitude waves. Stage N1 shows alpha waves giving way to theta waves. Stage N3 is dominated by slow delta waves. REM sleep shows fast, wake-like brain activity.
Category: Sleep Stages
Question 7
Which type of brain wave, with the lowest frequency and highest amplitude, characterizes stage N3 sleep?
Theta waves
Alpha waves
Delta waves
✓
Beta waves
Correct Answer
Delta waves
Delta waves are slow, large waves that give stage N3 its name of slow-wave sleep. Theta waves dominate stage N2 sleep. Alpha waves appear in relaxed wakefulness and early stage N1. Beta waves have the highest frequency and dominate alert wakefulness.
Category: Sleep Stages
Question 8
What happens to most voluntary muscles during REM sleep?
They become more tense than when awake
They contract in rhythm with breathing
They move to act out dreams
They are essentially paralyzed
✓
Correct Answer
They are essentially paralyzed
During REM sleep the voluntary muscles are essentially paralyzed, except those needed for breathing and circulation, which keeps sleepers from acting out dreams. They become more tense than when awake is wrong, because muscle tension drops in sleep. They contract in rhythm with breathing is wrong, because only the breathing muscles keep working. They move to act out dreams describes REM sleep behavior disorder, where the normal paralysis fails.
Category: Sleep Stages
Question 9
A research participant is woken every time she enters REM sleep for several nights. When finally allowed to sleep undisturbed, she spends more time than usual in REM. What is this called?
REM rebound
✓
Sleep debt
Cataplexy
Lucid dreaming
Correct Answer
REM rebound
REM rebound is the increase in REM sleep after a period of REM deprivation, which suggests REM is regulated homeostatically. Sleep debt refers to accumulated lost sleep in general. Cataplexy is sudden muscle weakness seen in narcolepsy. Lucid dreaming is being aware that one is dreaming.
Category: Sleep Stages
Question 10
How does the pattern of sleep stages typically change as a night of sleep goes on?
REM periods shorten and stage N3 increases
REM periods lengthen and stage N3 fades
✓
Only stage N3 occurs after midnight
The stages stop cycling after the first hour
Correct Answer
REM periods lengthen and stage N3 fades
Deep stage N3 sleep is concentrated in the first few hours of the night, while REM periods grow longer in later cycles. REM periods shorten and stage N3 increases reverses the real pattern. Only stage N3 occurs after midnight is wrong, because stage N3 becomes scarce later in the night. The stages stop cycling after the first hour is wrong, because sleepers cycle through the stages repeatedly all night.
Category: Sleep Stages
Question 11
In Sigmund Freud's view of dreams, what is the hidden, symbolic meaning of a dream called?
Manifest content
Collective unconscious
Latent content
✓
Archetype
Correct Answer
Latent content
Freud called the hidden meaning of a dream its latent content, which he believed revealed unconscious wishes and conflicts. Manifest content is the storyline of the dream as remembered. The collective unconscious is Carl Jung's idea of a shared store of universal symbols. An archetype is one of those universal symbols in Jung's theory.
Category: Dream Theories
Question 12
Which theory, associated with J. Allan Hobson, proposes that dreams result from the brain trying to make sense of neural activity during REM sleep?
Psychoanalytic dream theory
Social-cognitive theory
Collective unconscious theory
Activation-synthesis theory
✓
Correct Answer
Activation-synthesis theory
Activation-synthesis theory holds that the brain is activated during REM sleep and synthesizes that activity into a dream story. Psychoanalytic dream theory is Freud's view that dreams express unconscious wishes. Social-cognitive theory is an explanation of hypnosis as role-playing. Collective unconscious theory is Jung's idea that dreams draw on universal symbols.
Category: Dream Theories
Question 13
Which treatment for chronic insomnia is effective and avoids the dependence risk that comes with sleep medications?
Cognitive-behavioral therapy
✓
Nightly benzodiazepine use
Extra caffeine in the afternoon
Several daytime naps
Correct Answer
Cognitive-behavioral therapy
Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia teaches stress management and changes problem habits and thoughts about sleep, and it does not create drug dependence. Nightly benzodiazepine use carries a risk of dependence. Extra caffeine in the afternoon makes falling asleep harder. Several daytime naps reduce sleep pressure at night and can worsen insomnia.
Category: Sleep Disorders
Question 14
A man's partner reports that he snores loudly and repeatedly stops breathing for ten seconds or more before gasping awake. Which sleep disorder is most likely?
Narcolepsy
Sleep apnea
✓
Restless leg syndrome
Night terrors
Correct Answer
Sleep apnea
Sleep apnea involves episodes in which breathing stops during sleep, often with loud snoring, brief arousals and daytime fatigue. Narcolepsy involves falling asleep suddenly during the day. Restless leg syndrome involves uncomfortable leg sensations relieved by movement. Night terrors involve panic and screaming during NREM sleep.
Category: Sleep Disorders
Question 15
In which disorder does the normal muscle paralysis of REM sleep fail, so that people physically act out their dreams?
Sleepwalking
Narcolepsy
REM sleep behavior disorder
✓
Restless leg syndrome
Correct Answer
REM sleep behavior disorder
REM sleep behavior disorder occurs when muscle paralysis during REM sleep breaks down, so sleepers may kick or punch while dreaming and risk injury. Sleepwalking happens mostly during slow-wave NREM sleep, not REM. Narcolepsy involves sudden sleep attacks during the day. Restless leg syndrome involves an urge to move the legs at rest or at sleep onset.
Category: Sleep Disorders
Question 16
A woman who slept well the night before suddenly falls asleep during a meeting, and her muscles sometimes go weak when she laughs hard. Which disorder fits?
Insomnia
Sleep apnea
REM sleep behavior disorder
Narcolepsy
✓
Correct Answer
Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy causes irresistible sleep episodes at inopportune times and is often accompanied by cataplexy, a sudden loss of muscle tone. Insomnia is difficulty falling or staying asleep. Sleep apnea involves pauses in breathing during sleep. REM sleep behavior disorder involves acting out dreams at night.
Category: Sleep Disorders
Question 17
Alcohol, barbiturates and benzodiazepines are depressants that act as agonists for which neurotransmitter?
GABA
✓
Dopamine
Serotonin
Acetylcholine
Correct Answer
GABA
Depressants enhance the activity of GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter with a calming effect, which is why low doses relax people and high doses can suppress breathing. Dopamine is the main target of stimulants such as cocaine. Serotonin is a target of hallucinogens such as LSD. Acetylcholine receptors are a target of nicotine.
Category: Substance Use
Question 18
How does cocaine increase dopamine activity in the brain?
It blocks dopamine receptors
It blocks dopamine reuptake
✓
It breaks down dopamine
It slows dopamine release
Correct Answer
It blocks dopamine reuptake
Cocaine prevents dopamine from being taken back into the sending neuron, so dopamine builds up in the synapse and intensifies reward signals. It blocks dopamine receptors describes an antagonist and would reduce dopamine's effect. It breaks down dopamine would lower dopamine levels. It slows dopamine release would also decrease dopamine activity.
Category: Substance Use
Question 19
A man who drinks every evening notices that he now needs three drinks to feel the relaxation that one drink used to produce. What is this called?
Withdrawal
Psychological dependence
Tolerance
✓
Detoxification
Correct Answer
Tolerance
Tolerance develops when the body adapts to a drug so that more of it is needed for the same effect, which raises the risk of overdose. Withdrawal is the set of symptoms that appear when drug use stops. Psychological dependence is an emotional need or craving for the drug. Detoxification is the process of clearing a drug from the body.
Category: Substance Use
Question 20
In Ernest Hilgard's studies, hypnotized participants with an arm in ice water said they felt no pain, yet pressed a button they had been told to press if they felt pain. Which view of hypnosis do these results support?
Social-cognitive view
Activation-synthesis view
Psychoanalytic view
Dissociation view
✓
Correct Answer
Dissociation view
The dissociation view holds that hypnosis splits consciousness, so one part of the mind registers pain while another reports none, as Hilgard's results suggest. The social-cognitive view explains hypnosis as people playing the role they expect of a hypnotized person. The activation-synthesis view is a theory of dreaming, not hypnosis. The psychoanalytic view is Freud's approach to the unconscious and dreams.
Category: Hypnosis and Meditation