Introduction to Course Web Site: 2.html Instructor TA’s Course Secretary Major Instructional Strategy and Goals –Depth, higher educ., focus, purpose(s) Major Activities: highly varied Methodology

Questions For the first recitation, bring a significant or “big” and real question about psychology, one that psychology might (or perhaps might not) have an answer to, and be prepared to discuss it a bit and also turn it in to your TA. It should be something that you are genuinely interested in and curious about.

Question Example David Brook’s Ex. (NYT 8/24/10)- What are our thinking weaknesses? “For example, Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway once described “The Psychology of Human Misjudgment.” He and others list our natural weaknesses: -We have confirmation bias; we pick out evidence that supports our views. -We are cognitive misers; we try to think as little as possible. -We are herd thinkers and conform our perceptions to fit in with the group. To use a fancy word, there’s a metacognition deficit. Very few in public life habitually step back and think about the weakness in their own thinking and what they should do to compensate. A few people I interview do this regularly (in fact, Larry Summers is one). Of the problems that afflict the country, this is the underlying one.” Brooks also more recently wrote about what makes true genius: the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in your head simultaneously; a kind of self examining or self-challenging stance we might think of as a thinking strength.

Methodology: Some Major Issues Why Psychology? (vs. other sources of wisdom) Observation vs. experimentation Independent and dependent variables Experimental control Correlation and causation “Unusualness” of a result: statistics Focus on actual data

Sleeping The ignored behavior!

Defining/describing sleep Decreased awareness & interaction with world Decreased motility & muscular activity Characteristic posture Partial or total decrement in voluntary consciously directed behavior Decreased forebrain activity & cortical input from lower centers

Sleep as a behavior Quietude Life span decrease Brain activity/EEG & reactivity

Theories of sleeping Motivation Energy conservation Restorative Memory consolidation Adaptive

Brain Control Hypothalamus: Rostral/Caudal sleep areas –Rostral (stimulate --> sleep, extirpate --> wake) –Caudal (stimulate --> wake, extirpate --> sleep) –Reticular activating system & monitoring –Melatonin (pineal & hypothal.) and diurnal cycle –Suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus and entrainment to diurnal rhythm “zeitgrabers” –Dement in a cave!

Arguments for Necessity/Functionality of sleep! –Regularity –Motivation/crummy feelings –Health involvement -Fatal Familial Insomnia (30+ families/thalamic/death) -Some linkage to other disorders (depression) –Hallucination argument –REM recovery –Restorative: increase in SWS in sleep deprived and athletes, increase anabolic/decrease catabolic activity –Memory consolidation REM block->poor memory function

Deprivation/human & animal Exceptional sleepers Hallucination explanation Dement study 11 days deprv. Then 16/8 REM recovery: limited Programmatic reduction-->1-2 hr. dec. 5.5/60, 1/2 hr per 2 weeks-> ok and year later slept 1 to 2.5 less! Cats in a puddle! Arguments Against Necessity

Conclusions Adaptive theory seems to win! –The function of sleep is sleep! –Ungulates sleep much less than meat eaters Five hours or less (opossums hours) –Accounts for life span decrease as well –But still a bit of an open question

Dreaming: What & Why? Multiple perspectives and much speculation!

Outline Dream behavior Theories of Dreaming Conclusions –What can we learn from our dreams? –Are they meaningful? True / predictive?

Dream behavior & description Within sleep Amount Brainwave activity & bodily quietude:the paradox REM

Dreams & REM sleep Aserinsky-REM Dement & Kleitman-Stages REM amount & periodicity Brainstem cholinergic & adrenergic promoting & inhibiting areas for REM

Some Questions: Are Dreams meaningful--what do they mean? Are the predictive or “true”? How do they differ from other states? What is their function do they even have one? Are they brain functions or mind functions?

Outline Characteristics and Descriptions Theories of Dreaming Conclusions –What can we learn from our dreams? Are they meaningful? True / predictive?

Theories of Dreaming Dreams as meaningful events: Freud (& Jung) Aserinsky, Dement & Kleitman implications Hall/Cartright Dreams as random activity (Hobson +) Synthesis (perhaps)

Psychoanalytic Theory Mental conflict Unconscious motivations Two forces: impulses & defenses Dreams as a release Dreamwork and its results –Latent dream –Manifest dream –Remembered dream Dreamwork and forgetting as protective mechanisms Poetzel Effect

Freud & Neuroimaging Michael Anderson- Validates Repression: Forebrain active in inhibiting hippocampus on repressed items Allen Braun: Limbic system-emotion active during REM Prefrontal cortex (working mem. Attention, logic & self- monitoring) inactive during REM Above consistent with dream bizarreness & emotional disinhibition/wish fulfillment Visual cortex inactive but higher visual areas active so we see w.o. visual input- one of the amazing things about dreaming!

Freud & Neuroimaging (Mark Solms) Injured Pons vs. injured Forebrain -Pons-disrupts REM but dreaming goes on. -Forebrain-lose dreaming but REM goes on. -Also, some dreaming outside of REM Role of Motivation (in addition to emotional areas) -Prefrontal leukotomy (white matter in ventro-medial forebrain area) decreases dopamine release. It’s a motivational area “seeking” behavior. -Hartmann: administering dopamine supercharges dreaming! Freudian tie between motiv. & dreaming.

Variations on Psychoanalytic Explanation + Challenges Aserinsky, Dement & Kleitman: REM & implications Hall and Cartwright: Dream Series Challenging Views Dreams as random activity (Hobson +) Synthesis (perhaps) as Hobson accepted imaging results

Other Neuroscience Views Crick: Purge extraneous connections Evans: Sorting function on day’s events Winson: Sorting for survival Wilson: Rat Dream article- maze learning during dreams Hobson: random activity & activation- synthesis hypothesis

Hobson: Dream Transformations From: inanimate animate character To: inanimate Animate 20 7 Character 0014

Dream Characteristics Lack of active volition Absence of ongoing reflective judgment Limited to phenomena of the immediate present Diffuse cognitive slippage--dreamlike confusion- transformations of perception, thought, memory, emotion, relationships, etc. Gaps in experience: 20% Confusion of thought & irrational intuitions: 41% Problems in sustained attention: 5% Memory deficiencies within the dream: 15% Overall, even 51% of "clearest dreams" had clouding of cs. --Usually not radical (scz, psychedelic) but rather more like that of waking life Can even have hallucinations or psychedelic exper. in dreams (as in waking life!) ex. flying 4%, bizarre figures,4%, changed identity 3%, LSD-like transformations of vision 13%. Mostly visual 47%. Somatic 10%, audit. 14%.

Conclusions Can we obtain meaningful insights about ourselves through our dreams? What can we learn from our dreams? Are they meaningful? true / predictive/useful? Dream problem-solving (Lowie, Kekule)!