PSYCOLOGY

Stimulant and mild hallucinogen; emotional elevation, dis-inhibition; dehydration, overheating, depressed mood, impaired cognitive immune functioning

A sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and consequent momentary reawakenings

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particulat stimulus, like the coctail effect (Notice your name in a crowd)

Stimulant; increased alertness and wakefulness; Anziety, restlessness and insomnia in high doses, uncomfortable withdrawal

The principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks

Depressant; rush of euphoria, relief from pain; depressed physiology, antagonizing withdrawal

A physiological need for a drug, marked by unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the drug is discontinued

Stimulant; euphoria, alertness, energy; irritability, insomnia, hypertension, seizures

Hallucinogen; varies from euphoria to derachment to panic

The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

The diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug, requiring the user to take larger and larger doses before experiencing the drug's effect

To file away memories; dreams may help sift, sort and fix the day's experiences in our memory

The processing of several aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions including vision. Contrasts with the stwp-by-step processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving. Brain cell teams process combined information about color, movement, form and depth

• Difficulty studying, diminished productivity, tendency to make mistakes, irritability, fatigue, suppresses and weakens immune system, slowed reaction times
• Weight gain

Performing well-learned tasks automatically, changing our attitudes and reconstructing our memories with no awareness of doing so, registering and reacting to a vast number of stimuli we do not consciously perceive

• Freud's theory that we dream to satisfy our own wishes
• Dreams provide a psychic safety valve that discharges otherwise unacceptable feelings
• A dream's manifest content is a censored, symbolic version of its latent content which consists of unconscious drives and wishes that would be threatening if expressed directly

Social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur.

Hallucinogen; enhanced sensation relief of pain, distortion of time relaxation; Impaired learning and memory, increased risk of psychological disorders, lung damage from smoke

A sleep disorder characterized by high arousal and an appearancy of being terrified; unlike nightmares, night terrors occur during Stage 4 sleep, within two or three hours of falling asleep, and are seldom remembered

Depth perception is our ability to see objects in three dimensions, which lets us judge distance. The visual cliff and other research demonstrates that many species perceive the world in three dimensions at, or very soon after, birth

Stimulant; arousal and relaxation sense of well being; heart disease, cancer; diminishes appetite and boots alertness and mental efficiency, calms anxiety and reduces sensitivity to pain

Serious disturbances in the normal sleep pattern that interfere with daytime functioning and cause subjective distress

Depressant; Initial high followed by relaxation and disinhibition; can cause depression, memory loss, organ damage, impaired reactions