AP Psychology Practice Test 2026 - Free AP Psychology Practice Questions and Study Guide

Narcolepsy is characterized by the uncontrollable tendency to fall asleep directly into REM sleep. This condition often leads individuals to experience sudden sleep attacks at inappropriate times, resulting in a blend of excessive daytime sleepiness and the occurrence of cataplexy, where the person can lose muscle tone and may collapse. The hallmark aspect of narcolepsy is that it allows the person to skip the usual stages of non-REM sleep and enter REM sleep almost immediately after falling asleep.

The other options relate more to different sleep disorders or phenomena. For example, bursts of rapid brain activity might be associated with different stages of sleep but do not specifically define narcolepsy. Being terrified during sleep relates more to disorders such as night terrors, and recurring problems in sleeping can pertain to various sleep disorders, not specifically narcolepsy.