Table of Contents Chapter 5 Variations in Consciousness
Table of Contents Consciousness: Personal Awareness Awareness of Internal and External Stimuli…in other words our awareness of ourselves and our surroundings. Levels of awareness James – stream of consciousness Freud – unconscious Sleep/dreaming research
Table of Contents The Electroencephalograph: A Physiological Index of Consciousness EEG – monitoring of brain electrical activity Brain-waves –Amplitude (height) –Frequency (cycles per second) Beta (13-24 cps) Alpha (8-12 cps) Theta (4-7 cps) Delta (<4 cps)
Table of Contents Correlation b/w brain waves and awareness
Table of Contents Biological Rhythms and Sleep Biological Rhythms: periodic fluctuations in physiological functioning - existence shows we have internal “biological clocks” Circadian Rhythms – 24 hr biological cycles - Our body temperature and awareness changes throughout the day.
Table of Contents Altering your sleep schedule Jet lag - A disruption of circadian rhythms - Flying to California is easier than flying to New York Melatonin - A hormone produced by pineal gland at night to help you sleep. Sunlight tells your body to stop producing it. - Helps regulate circadian rhythms
Table of Contents Sleep/Waking Research Instruments: –Electroencephalograph – brain electrical activity –Electromyograph – muscle activity –Electrooculograph – eye movements –Other bodily functions also observed
Table of Contents Stage One This is experienced as falling to sleep and is a transition stage between wake and sleep It usually lasts between 1 and 7 minutes eyes begin to roll slightly. Hypnic jerks consists mostly of theta waves
Table of Contents Stage two This follows Stage 1 sleep and is the "baseline" of sleep. About minutes More mixed brain wave activity Spindles: random bursts of higher frequency waves
Table of Contents Stage three & four Stages three is "Delta" sleep or "slow wave" sleep and may last minutes. It is called "slow wave" sleep because brain activity slows down dramatically from the "theta" rhythm to the “Delta” It is delta sleep that a sleep-deprived person's brain craves the first and foremost. In children, delta sleep can occupy up to 40% of all sleep time
Table of Contents REM Sleep REM: Rapid Eye Movement AKA “paradoxical sleep” Composes % of a normal nights sleep. Breathing, heart rate and brain wave activity quicken. Vivid Dreams can occur. From REM, you go back to Stage 2
Table of Contents In REM the body is essentially paralyzed during REM (sleep paralysis).
Table of Contents The Neural Bases of Sleep Brain Structures: - F 5.8 –Ascending reticular activating system –Pons, medulla, thalamus, hypothalamus, limbic system
Table of Contents Sleep Deprivation Complete deprivation –3 or 4 days max –Maximum duration? Partial deprivation or sleep restriction –impaired attention, reaction time, coordination, and decision making Selective deprivation –REM and slow-wave sleep: rebound effect – F 5.9
Table of Contents REM deprivation effects Figure 5.9
Table of Contents Figure Mortality rates as a function of typical sleep duration.
Table of Contents Sleep Needs Averages: - adults sleep 6 hrs and 54 minutes during the workweek – recommended 8 hrs - Younger adults (i.e., year-olds) sleep 6 hours and 48 minutes during the week and an hour longer on the weekend - Adolescents need 9.25 hours of sleep – 20 % fall asleep in school - Younger children require 10 or more hours of sleep “Power Nap” minutes of duration “Power Sleep” – strategies for better sleep Takes about four weeks to stabilize sleep cycle
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Sleep Problems A majority of adults in the U.S. (62%) experienced a sleep problem a few nights per week or more during the past year. Insomnia – difficulty falling or staying asleep Narcolepsy – falling asleep uncontrollably Narcolepsy Sleep Apnea – reflexive gasping for air that awakens – current estimates: 21 million in US and 470 million in the world Nightmares – anxiety arousing dreams – REM Night Terrors – intense arousal and panic – NREM Somnambulism – sleepwalking Somnambulism
Table of Contents XX 5.12
Table of Contents Figure 5.13 – Sleep problems and the cycle of sleep
Table of Contents Dreams and Dreaming: Content and Significance Dreams – mental experiences during sleep –Content usually familiar –Common themes –Waking life spillover – day residue Western vs. Non-Western interpretations Freud – wish fulfillment – manifest content and latent content Hobson & McCarley – activation – synthesis hypothesis
Table of Contents Figure 5.15 Three theories of dreaming
Table of Contents Hypnosis: Altered State of Consciousness or Role Playing? Hypnosis = a systematic procedure that increases suggestibility Hypnotic susceptibility: individual differences – Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale Hilgrad’s neural disassociation (hidden observer)and Barber’s role theory Effects produced through hypnosis: –Anesthesia –Sensory distortions and hallucinations –Disinhibition –Posthypnotic suggestions and amnesia
Table of Contents Figure 5.16 – Misconceptions regarding hypnosis
Table of Contents Sensory Deprivation and Meditation McGill University sensory deprivation study “Psychology of Boredom” – problems with participation and altered states Meditation = practices that train attention to heighten awareness and bring mental processes under greater voluntary control Yoga, Zen, transcendental meditation (TM) –Potential physiological benefits Similar to effective relaxation procedures
Table of Contents Principal Abused Drugs and Their Effects ■ 6 categories of psychoactive drugs –Narcotics (opiates) – pain relieving - OxyContin –Sedatives – sleep inducing – effects GABA –Stimulants – increase CNS activity – effects on dopamine – methamphetamine –Hallucinogens – distort sensory and perceptual experience –Cannabis – produce mild, relaxed euphoria –Alcohol – produces relaxed euphoria, decreases in inhibitions –MDMA – “Ecstacy” produces a warm, friendly euphoria – problems of temperature regulation – effects serotonin Brain reward pathways – dopamine and limbic system Drug dependency and tolerance – physical and psychological
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Questions about Sleeping and Dreaming Variations in length of sleep Suggestions on improving quality of sleep Anxiety and sleep difficulties – possible classical conditioning Thinking and insomnia Alcoholism a disease ? –Malfunctions as a result of alcoholism –Genetic basis –Learned behaviors –Problems with a definition of a “disease”
Table of Contents Figure Physiological malfunctions associated with alcoholism