Narcolepsy: Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder where the affected individual falls asleep without warning. A person with narcolepsy can fall asleep while driving or while filming their family on vacation. The inability to control their sleep obviously causes challenges in their everyday lives. Naturalistic Observation: Researchers use all sorts of techniques to collect data, ranging from very controlled lab experiments to natural observation. With naturalistic observation the researcher allows behavior to occur without interference or intervention at all. We all do this type of research when we do things like people watch. This is a great way to study behavior in "real settings" and to see behavior occur in its most natural state. The problem is that it's often difficult to study the behaviors you're most interested in without being intrusive. Nature-Nurture Issue: This is one of if not the longest running debate since the science of psychology began…what makes us who we are and drives how we behave, our genes (nature) or our experiences (nurture)? For example, if a person commits a violent crime, did they do so because of their genetic makeup (they are genetically pre-wired to be violent) or because of their experiences (e.g., growing up in an impovershed area, not getting a good education, no parental guidance or some other experience)? This is the nature-nurture debate
Nearsightedness: An eye condition where one cannot see objects clearly from afar. For example, if you are nearsighted you will be able to read these words without any difficulty but you may have trouble seeing a stop sign a block away. Needs: We all have them, but what are they? A simple way to think about needs is that they are states of deprivation that emerge within the body. Hunger is a common urge or need that motivates you to go to the nearest refrigerator, dining hall or supermarket. The drive theory postulates that needs motivates us or living things to act and regain homeostasis. Negative Afterimage: A sensation of opposing colors that occur after staring at a colored stimulus. For example, if you were to stare at a green sheet of paper for an extended period of time, and then switch your focus to a white sheet of paper, an afterimage would appear on the white page. Negative afterimages are cause by stimulation fatigue from your eyes receptors. Negative Reinforcement: With negative reinforcement the occurrence of a behavior is increased by removing an unpleasant stimulus. For example, your dog can avoid being spanked when it sits in response to your command. If the dog has been getting spanked, not getting spanked is rewarding (removal of unpleasant stimulus) so the frequency of the behavior will increase. People confuse negative reinforcement with punishment--just remember that with reinforcement you increase the occurrence of the behavior but punishment extinguishes a behavior. Negative State Relief: A process in which people escape their depressed state by doing something good for others. For example, giving a homeless person a dollar bill may make you happier than the receiver. Giving the dollar lets you escape your unpleasant thoughts regarding the person's situation, and thus, allows you to maintain your mood. Nervous System: The nervous system is a complex system of nerves which allows you to register touch, move, breathe, feel and think. The nervous system includes your brain, spinal cord, and the nerves that travel throughout your body. Neural Networks: A neural network is an artifical network or mathematical model for information processing based on how neurons and synapses work in the human brain. Using the human brain as a model, a neural network connects simple nodes (or "neurons", or "units") to form a network of nodes - thus the term "neural network". Neurons: Neurons are nerve cells and the basic building blocks of our entire nervous systems. The neurons act as sensors for all types of stimuli and communicate the stimuli throughout the body. For example, neurons communicate to the brain that you should not leave your hand on a hot stove. In addition, the neurons are composed of 3 main components, the axon (the tail), the soma (the body), and the dendrites (the branch-like arms that stem from the soma).
Neuroses: This is a general term applied to a variety of mild disorders or conditions that are characterized by anxiety and phobias that don’t involve any altered senses of reality and don’t effect the entire personality. When a person is neurotic, they don’t have any breaks from reality, hallucinations, etc., but they do experience periods of clinical anxiety and/or phobias. Neurotransmitters: Neural transmission (information being sent from neuron to neuron) works at both the electrical and chemical levels. When the space between two neurons is small enough the electrical signal can simply jump the gap and continue on its way. However, when the gap is too large, the signal must be converted from electricity to chemicals. These chemicals are neurotransmitters, which can be defined as chemicals released by neurons which carry information from one neuron to another. These chemicals are then read or received by a neuron's synapses. Night Terrors: A disorder that interrupts your sleep. Individuals wake overcome by fear and an increased heart and respiratory rate. Unlike nightmares, night terrors do not occur in REM and there is no recollection of a bad dream. Nodes of Ranvier: Nodes of ranvier are small spaces or gaps between the myelin sheath (the fatty substance that coats the axon). The myelin sheath coats some neurons and speeds information through the neuron. The way the mylen sheath helps speed the neural impulse is by making it possible for the impulse to jump from node to node as opposed to traveling down the axon in tiny increments. Nonverbal Cues: Nonverbal cues are communication signals without the use of vocabulary. A facial expression of sadness would be an example of a nonverbal cue. How do you know when someone is happy with you even though they don't say they are happy? You may see nonverbal cues such as a smile, open arms, widened eyes, etc. Normal Curve: A frequency curve where most occurrences take place in the middle of the distribution and taper off on either side. Normal curves are also called bell shaped curves. A "true" normal curve is when all measures of central tendency occur at the highest point in the curve. The normal curve is an important, strong, reoccurring phenomenon in psychology. An example of a normal distribution would be a frequency distribution of people's height. Most people would be of average height with extremes occurring on either side. Normative Social Influence: Sometimes people behave in ways just to gain approval from others, even if they don't necessarily believe in what they are doing. This is normative social influence -- influence resulting in the desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval. For example, if you go to a play, many times you will applaud when others do even if you didn't really like the play that much. You do this to avoid the diapproval of the other people. Norms: Norms are the unwritten but understood rules of a society or culture for the behaviors that are considered acceptable and expected. For example, in some countries it is the norm to put large piercings through the face as decoration or indication of belonging to a particular group. This same behavior might be considered unacceptable in another place. Thus it would be a norm in one place and not in another. 
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