Modules 7-10 States of Consciousness Sleep & Dreams Hypnosis Drugs & Consciousness

What is Consciousness? Awareness of self and environment Cognitive Neuroscience MRI can detect activity- even if there is no outward appearance of of conscious awareness Dual Processing – High Road Processing – conscious & deliberate Low Road Processing - unconscious/automatic “Autopilot” especially when doing routine tasks

Selective Attention BE THERE! The FISH! Philosophy (Book /Website / Documentary) Distracted Driving – your mind is in one place at a time! Cocktail Party Effect – your ability to listen to one person in a noisy room. Eye blinks and attention… there is a good book about this: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Inattentional Blindness (gorilla amid the ball passers & pickpockets) Change Blindness (after visual interruption, person/items change) Choice Blindness (taste testing)

So what if you don’t get enough sleep? It is a BIG DEAL! If you don’t get enough sleep, it can cause or worsen mental and physical health problems.

Need some ZZZZZs? College and University age students are especially sleep deprived. Sleep Debt cannot be made up easily. Sleep loss is a predictor of depression. Consequences: difficulty studying, diminished productivity, tendency to make mistakes, irritability, fatigue

Lack of sleep can make you fatter. Increases hunger hormone and decreases hunger- depressing hormone. Increases cortisol – stress hormone Can suppress immune cells Driver fatigue (DANGEROUS!) Sleep apnea – host of health effects

Dreams Hallucinations of the sleeping mind Many theories… Functions of Dreams Satisfy our own wishes File away memories Develop & preserve neural pathways Make sense of neural static Reflect cognitive development Dreams change as you mature -

Hypnosis Can you just hit “replay”? Nope. We don’t record everything/can’t retrieve everything we do record. Can we make people do what we want? (against their will) - probably not Pain relief??? Yep. Hypnosis can inhibit pain-related brain activity.

Module 10 Drugs & Consciousness Tolerance – neuroadaption – to experience the same effect, more of the substance is needed. Addiction – person craves and uses substance despite adverse consequences Withdrawal – side effects from substance absence

Physical dependence vs. psychological dependence… Types of drugs: Depressants – Alcohol Slow Neural Processing Memory Problems Reduces self-awareness/self-control Expectancy Effects – Study from Rutgers Barbituates Tranquilizers Can impair judgment/memory Lethal if taken with alcohol Opiates Morphine/heroin Brain stops producing endorphins Methadone - substitute

Stimulants – Amphetamines (Caffeine/Nicotine/Cocaine/Methamphetamine/Ecstasy) Nicotine – one of the most addictive substances Cocaine – fast high to crash – chasing the high – placebo had similar effect for users. Meth – triggers brain to release dopamine – energy & good mood. Overtime, reduces dopamine baseline – NEED the high! Ecstasy – stimulant AND Hallucinogen – triggers dopamine release as well as serotonin – blocks reuptake of serotonin so the high lasts longer – dehydrates you/temp & BP go up – and you can die. Bummer!

Hallucinogens – Hey did you see that? LSD – Oops, did I just ingest that? Stream of consciousness – Emotional response is not predictable. Could be great – could be panic! Link to near-death experiences? Marijuana – THC – mild hallucinogenic Takes longer to exit system than alcohol User experience varies Memory can be impacted Brain shrinkage/fetal development *summary on p. 125

Drug Use and Abuse  Biological Influences  Psychological Influences  Social-Cultural Influences