1. Variations in Consciousness
Chapter 5
Variations in Consciousness

2. 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

3. 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)

4. Correlation b/w brain waves and awareness

5. 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.

6. 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

7. Sleep/Waking Research
Instruments:
Electroencephalograph – brain electrical activity
Electromyograph – muscle activity
Electrooculograph – eye movements
Other bodily functions also observed

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. In REM the body is essentially paralyzed during REM (sleep paralysis).

13. The Neural Bases of Sleep
Brain Structures: - F 5.8
Ascending reticular activating system
Pons, medulla, thalamus, hypothalamus, limbic system

14. 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

15. REM deprivation effects
Figure 5.9

16. Figure 5.10. Mortality rates as a function of typical sleep duration.

17. 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

19. 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
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

20. Figure 5.13 – Sleep problems and the cycle of sleep

21. 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

22. Figure 5.15 Three theories of dreaming

23. 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

24. Figure 5.16 – Misconceptions regarding hypnosis

25. 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

26. 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

27. Opiates

28. Sedatives

29. Hallucinogens

30. Caffeine

31. Cannabis

32. Alcohol

33. MDMA

36. 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”

37. Figure 5.26 - Physiological malfunctions associated with alcoholism