1. Altered States of Consciousness

2. Dream Experiment Is it possible to successfully plan your dreams?
All students will keep a record of their dreams
Half of the students will write the following in their journal
A brief account of their day (1 paragraph)
What they want to dream about
In the morning record what you dreamed
The other half of the class
Only record what you dreamed about in the morning

3. Questions Why do we sleep? What purpose does it serve?
What is consciousness?
What are some ways it can be altered?

4. Sleep Deprivation Article
Read the sleep deprivation article
How long did Peter Tripp stay awake?
What effects did long term sleep deprivation have on him?
What long term effects did the sleep deprivation cause?

5. Altered States of Consciousness
Sleep and Dreams
Altered States of Consciousness

6. Sleep and Consciousness
Consciousness is a state of awareness
While awake there are varying degrees of awareness
Scientists are unsure exactly why people, and all animals, need to sleep
Theories
Time for the brain to recover from exhaustion
Primitive time for hibernation and energy conservation
Sleep kept early humans safe in the dark at night
Clear our minds of useless info
To problem solve

7. Stages of Sleep Stage I Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4
Lightest level of sleep
Easy to awaken
Uneven breathing
Lasts up to ten minutes
Stage 2
Shift to high amplitude and low frequency brainwaves
Stage 3
Large amplitude Delta waves
Stage 4
Deep sleep
Talking out loud, bedwetting, sleepwalking can occur

9. REM Sleep The fifth stage of sleep is REM or Rapid Eye Movement
Fingers twitch
Large muscles are paralyzed
Brainwaves match those of being awake
Dreaming occurs

10. Sleep Humans spend around 1/3 of their lives sleeping Circadian Rhythm
Newborns spend around 16 hrs. a day sleeping
Teenagers 8-11
Adults - ~8
Over 70 - ~5
Circadian Rhythm
Internal biological clock which dictates your sleep/wake hours
For humans it is hours

11. Sleep Disorders Insomnia – Inability to obtain adequate sleep
Sleep apnea – Interruption of breathing during sleep
Narcolepsy – Overwhelming sleepiness during the day. Sometimes causing sudden falling asleep
Nightmares – Bad dreams during REM sleep
Night Terrors – During stage IV
Cause sweating, thrashing, rapid heart rate
Generally cause a person to awaken with no memory

12. Crash Course Psychology
To Sleep: Perchance to Dream

13. Other States of Consciousness

14. Hypnosis
A state of altered consciousness where a person becomes highly susceptible to changes in behavior and thought
Very controversial among psychologists
Some argue that people who are hypnotized are just very enthusiastic and suggestible
Others believe it is an actual form of altered consciousness
All agree that people can not be compelled to do things they would not do while awake

15. Biofeedback
Learning how to control your physiological processes through feedback
Ex. A light turns on when your heart rate drops below 80
Learning to control your heart rate in relation to the light

16. Drugs and Their Effects
Psychoactive Drugs – Chemicals that effect the nervous system and alter states of consciousness
Drugs are absorbed into the blood and then act as neurotransmitters
This will cause neurons to either fire more frequently, less frequently, or more erratically

17. Drug Category
Effects on Behavior
Depressants (Alcohol)
Relaxants, relieve inhibitions, impair memory
Tranquilizers (Barbiturates, Valium, Xanax)
Relieve anxiety, relax muscles, induce sleep
Opiates (Morphine, Heroin)
Decrease pain, decrease attention to real world, unpleasant withdrawal effects
Stimulants (Caffeine, Amphetamines, Cocaine)
Increase energy, alertness
Mixed Stimulant-Depressants (Nicotine)
Stimulate brain activity
Distortion of Experience (Marijuana)
Intensify sensory experience, distort perception of time, can impair memory and learning
Hallucinogens (LSD, Mescaline)
Cause hallucinations, sensory distortions

18. Sensation and Perception

19. Sense of Touch Experiment
Find a partner
Find two fine tip pens or sharp pencils
Begin by touching both pens about three inches apart on the person’s neck
Can the person being touched tell there are two distinct objects touching them?
Decrease the distance by about half an inch and test again
Continue until the person can only feel one object
Experiment again on the elbow or shin

20. Sensation – A stimulus activating your senses
Perception – Organization of sensory info into meaningful experiences

21. Selective Attention
Your senses take in about 11,000,000 bits of information per second
You process about 40
Your brain focuses and ignore other information
Your nose in front of your face
Your shoes constricting your feet
Etc..
Cocktail Party Effect – Ability to speak to one person in a crowded space
Hearing your name stands out

22. Selective Attention Watch Video on Selective Attention
What accounts for this?

23. Threshold
Absolute Threshold – The smallest amount of a stimulus for a human to detect it
Vision: Seeing a candle at 30 miles on a clear night
Hearing: Hearing a watch ticking 20 ft away
Taste: Tasting one teaspoon of sugar in 2 gallons of water
Smell: One drop of perfume in a 3 bedroom house
Touch: Feeling a bee’s wing falling 1 cm onto your cheeck

24. Signal Detection Theory
Summary of people’s tendencies to make correct judgments in detecting the presence of stimuli
There is not true absolute threshold
Stroop Effect: Sometimes stimuli interfere with your ability to perform a task

25. Stroop Effect
Time yourself while reading the following text

26. Now time yourself while you state the colors of the following words

27. Vision

28. Rods – Low light vision
Cones – Color vision and detail

29. Binocular Fusion Your eyes receive different images
Your brain processes the images and creates one vision in your mind
This provides depth perception
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the location of this gazelle’s eyes?

30. Color Deficiency
When some or all cones do not work correctly color deficiency can occur
Most often people are red green color deficient
Some people though are totally color blind and only use rods to see
What would their vision look like?

31. Hearing Sounds waves enter your ear and vibrate small hairs
These then change the vibration into neuro-signals

32. Chemical Senses Taste and smell are closely linked
Most of what we perceive as taste is actually smell

33. Balance, Skin, and Body Senses
Vestibular system – regulates balance

34. Skin Senses
Skin sensors detect
Warmth
Cold
Pressure
Pain

35. Perception
Gestalt – Organizing bits and pieces of information into meaningful wholes
What do you see in each of the images?

37. Perceiving is generally something people learn to do
If people gain sight late in life it takes them time to learn how to interpret sensations

38. Constancy
Tendency to perceive certain objects in the same way regardless of changing angle, distance or lighting

39. Which Square is Darker?

40. They are the same color

41. Which line is longer?