CONSCIOUSNESS

1. CONSCIOUSNESS • Chapters 9, 19 (Bernstein), 326-362, 773-776

2. CONSCIOUSNESS • (def.) awareness of your thoughts, actions, feelings, sensations, perceptions, and other mental processes • an aspect of many mental processes rather than being a unique mental process of its own • possible that other creatures experience consciousness

3. ANALYZING CONSCIOUSNESS • Some scientists studying consciousness describe their work as cognitive science or cognitive neuroscience to highlight the connection of their work to biological psychology, sensation, perception, memory, and human cognition. • Other psychologists study consciousness more directly by addressing three central questions about it: • The first question concerns the mind-body problem. • DUALISM--a theory supported by 17th century philosopher René Descartes in which the mind and the body are considered separate or different; rarely accepted by modern psychologists • MATERIALISM--suggests the mind and the body are one and the same; validated by studies of individuals whose brain damage causes a disruption in consciousness

4. ANALYZING CONSCIOUSNESS • A second question looks at whether consciousness is a unified phenomenon or several different ones. • According to the theatre view, consciousness is a single phenomenon. It’s a “stage” on which all the various aspects of awareness converge to “perform” before the “audience” of your mind. • The parallel distributed processing (PDP) models describe the mind as processing many parallel streams of information which interact to create the unitary experience of consciousness. Support for this view comes from research on sensation, perception, memory, cognition, and language that suggest components of these processes are analyzed in separate brain regions. • A third question about consciousness addresses the relationship between conscious and unconscious mental activities. • Over a century ago, Sigmund Freud theorized that some mental activities occurred without our awareness. • Modern research doesn’t support much of Freud’s theory BUT studies have shown many important mental activities do occur outside of awareness.

5. ANALYZING CONSCIOUSNESS • SOME FUNCTIONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS • The conscious brain experiences a representation of the sensory world that is the result of many complex nonconscious computations. • The conscious brain has access to the RESULTS of these computational processes but not to the processes themselves as many occur so quickly our conscious experience cannot keep up with them. • The overall process of consciousness allows access to a vast store of memories and other information. • Over a century ago, psychologist William James compared consciousness to a stream, describing it as ever-changing, multilayered, and varying in both quantity and quality. • Variations in quantity--the degree to which one is aware of mental events--result in levels of consciousness. • Variations in quality--in the nature of the mental processing available to awareness--are referred to as different states of consciousness.

6. ANALYZING CONSCIOUSNESS • LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS • Again, variations in quantity (the degree to which you are aware of mental events) result in different levels of consciousness. • Mental activity that you are aware of occurs at the conscious level. • At the nonconscious level are physiological processes that you cannot be directly aware of existing although some use biofeedback training to learn to alter nonconscious processes. (e.g., lowering your own heart rate) • The cognitive unconscious includes: • the preconscious level in which mental events are outside of awareness but can easily be brought to awareness; and • the subconscious or unconscious level in which mental activities can alter thoughts, feelings, and actions but that are more difficult to bring into awareness.

7. ANALYZING CONSCIOUSNESS • MENTAL PROCESSING WITHOUT AWARENESS • Many important mental operations, such as learning, can occur without awareness. • blindsight--Some people with blindness caused by damage on top of the primary visual cortex still have fibers from the eyes connected to other brain areas that process visual information. Some of these connections may permit visual processing without awareness (a condition known as blindsight). Though they report seeing nothing, such patients can still perform tasks dependent upon vision. • priming--Research on priming finds that people are influenced by stimuli they are not consciously aware of processing. People tend to respond faster or more accurately to previously seen stimuli, even when they cannot consciously recall having seen those stimuli.

8. ANALYZING CONSCIOUSNESS • THE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS • Brain damage can impair consciousness. • People with prosopagnosia are not consciously able to recognize faces. However, such people show differences in eye movement, brain activity, and autonomic nervous system responses to faces that should be familiar to them. They unconsciously or “covertly” respond. • Damage to the hippocampus can result in anterograde amnesia--the inability to form new memories. Yet people with this condition can learn new skills. They just cannot consciously recall doing so.

9. ANALYZING CONSCIOUSNESS • STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS • Variations in quality, in the focus, and in the clarity of your experience of yourself are referred to as different states of consciousness. • States range from deep sleep to alert wakefulness. • States can also be affected by drugs and other influences. • Most people spend most of their time in a waking state of consciousness. • This is considered the baseline state against which other states of consciousness are measured. • Mental processing in this state varies with changes in attention or arousal. • When changes in mental processes are great enough for you or others to notice significant differences in how you function, you have entered an altered state of consciousness. • Value judgments of different states of consciousness, such as hallucinations (perceptual experiences that occur in the absence of sensory stimuli), vary from culture to culture.

10. SLEEPING & DREAMING Stages of Sleep • Early researchers thought that sleep was a time of mental inactivity, but modern research shows sleep is actually a very active, complex state. • The brain’s electrical activity is monitored by an electroencephalograph (EEG) which records changes in brain waves as behavior or mental processes change. • The waves of an awake, alert person are small, closely spaced, and irregular. These are called beta waves. • A relaxed person with closed eyes (awake but inattentive) shows alpha waves, which are regular, rhythmic waves occurring at speeds of eight to twelve cycles per second. • Theta waves follow alpha waves and indicate even slower brain waves. • Delta waves show low brain activity and are associated with deep sleep. • As a person sleeps, he or she experiences four NREM (non-rapid eye movement stages) of sleep as well as periods of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. • During a normal night’s sleep brain waves show distinctive and systematic changes as a person passes through various stages of sleep.

11. SLEEPING & DREAMING Stages of Sleep link

12. SLEEPING & DREAMING Sequence of Sleep Stages • Most people experience four to six cycles of NREM and REM sleep every night. • Begins with NREM Stage 1 (lasts a few minutes) • Followed by NREM Stage 2 (about 20 minutes) • Next comes NREM Stages 3 and 4 (roughly the next 40 minutes) • Once relaxed and deeply asleep in NREM Stage 4, the sequence reverses. • Goes back through NREM Stage 3 and into NREM Stage 2 • After NREM Stage 2, then REM sleep (usually lasting 5-15 minutes) • As sleep continues, the periods of REM sleep get longer and slow-wave NREM Stages 3 and 4 become shorter. • The last few sleep cylces are primarily NREM Stage 2 and REM sleeping lasting up to 40 minutes. • Over a person’s lifetime, NREM Stages 3 and 4 gradually decrease. • Bu late adulthood, most average only about 20 minutes in these stages as compared to a young child who spends two or more hours in NREM Stages 3 and 4.

13. SLEEPING & DREAMING link

14. SLEEPING & DREAMING Why Do We Sleep? • Sleep as a Circadian Rhythm • Cyclical patterns of behavior and physiology that repeat about every 24 hours are called circadian rhythms. They are linked to light and dark environmental cues. • Disrupting sleep-wake cycles can cause problems. Jet lag is a pattern of fatigue, irritability, inattention, and sleep problems that can last several days when a traveler’s body wants to sleep at the wrong time for a new locale. • Circadian rhythms vary among people. • The “biological clock” in the brain that keeps track of time is in a part of the hypothalamus called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). • SCN neurons regulate the release of the hormone melatoninwhich is important in maintaining circadian rhythms. video

15. SLEEPING & DREAMING Why Do We Sleep? • The Functions of Sleep • Sleep deprivation leads to fatigue, irritability, inattention, and has been implicated in many accidents. • Sleep helps restore the body and the brain for future activity and helps to consolidate memories of newly learned facts. • Restorative functions are especially associated with non-REM sleep. • People spend more time compensating for lost REM sleep when they have been deprived of it. This suggests that REM sleep has special functions. • REM sleep may improve the functioning of neurons that use norepinephrine, which affects waking alertness and mood. • REM sleep may may also be a time for creating and solidifying connections between neurons. • REM sleep may help solidify the day’s experiences, including newly learned skills. video

16. SLEEPING & DREAMING Sleep Disorders • INSOMNIA • NARCOLEPSY • SLEEP APNEA • SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME (SIDS) • NIGHTMARES • NIGHT TERRORS • SLEEPWALKING (SOMNAMBULISM) • BEDWETTING (NOCTURNAL ENURESIS) • REM SLEEP BEHAVIOR DISORDER • SLEEP BRUXISM

17. SLEEPING & DREAMING Dreams • What are dreams? • Dreams are story-like sensations and perceptions. • Dreams occur every night of normal sleep. • Most dreams (and the most vivid and bizarre dreams) occur during REM sleep. • Daytime activities and experiences may influence the content of dreams to some degree. • During lucid dreaming, the dreamer is aware he/she is dreaming and may intentionally direct the dream’s storyline. • Some people have difficulty remembering dreams when awakened during REM sleep: • During REM sleep, the frontal lobe is inactive making it hard to form new memories. • Neurotransmitters (dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin) needed for new memory formation are also reduced during sleep.

18. SLEEPING & DREAMING Dreams • Dream Theories • Some theories suggest dreaming helps mammals process and consolidate information of personal significance and value. • Sigmund Freud in his Intepretation of Dreams called dreams “the royal road to the knowledge of the unconscious mind.” • He believed dreams are a disguised form of wish fulfillment--a way to satisfy unconscious urges or resolve unconscious conflicts that are too upsetting to deal with consciously. • Freud said dreams consisted of two parts: • The manifest content consisted of the remembered meaning of the dream. • The latent content was the symbolized part of the dream. • These symbols in the latent content were the focus of Freud’s dream analysis and what he believed represented the deep-seated wishes of the unconscious. Jung video

19. SLEEPING & DREAMING Dreams • Dream Theories (cont.) • The activation-synthesis theory says dreams are meaningless byproducts of REM sleep. • Dreams represent efforts of the brain to make sense of random signals sent to the cortex from the hindbrain and activates other areas of the brain including the amygdala and hippocampus. • As the brain synthesizes these signals, it attempts to provide meaning. This could include synthesizing fragments of different memories to provide meaning, which might explain why some dreams make no sense. • The expectation fulfillment theory(Joe Griffin) holds that dreams are nature’s way of dealing with unresolved emotions and give people a chance to review and address problems from the waking hours. • According to Griffin, “the prime function of dreams is to metaphorically act out undischarged emotional arousals (expectations) that were not acted out during the previous day. By dreaming we complete the arousal/dearousal circuit so as to wake up with an unstressed autonomic nervous system and our instincts intact.”

20. HYPNOSIS Experiencing Hypnosis • HYPNOSIS is an altered state of consciousness brought on by special techniques, and characterized by responsiveness to suggestions for changes in experience and behavior. • Hypnotized people are NOT SLEEPING. • Experiencing Hypnosis • Procedures for inducing hypnosis focus on people’s attention on a restricted, often monotonous, set of stimuli while asking them to ignore everything else as they imagine certain feelings. • People cannot be hypnotized against their will. • about 10% of adults are difficult or impossible to hypnotize. • People with higher levels of hypnotic susceptibility have differences in certain brain structures, are more imaginative, tend to fantasize, tend to be suggestible, have a greater ability to focus attention, are able to process information quickly and effortlessly, and have more positive attitudes about hypnosis.

21. HYPNOSIS Experiencing Hypnosis • Experiencing Hypnosis (cont.) • Under hypnosis, people respond to suggestions and can display age regression--apparently recalling or reenacting their childhoods. • Instructions about behavior to take place after hypnosis has ended are called posthypnotic suggestions and can last for several hours or days. • Some people show hypnotic amnesia, which is an inability to remember what happened under hypnosis. • Ernest Hilgard described five main changes people display during hypnosis: • reduced planfulness (the ability to initiate action on their own) • redistributed attention (they ignore all but the hypnotist) • increased ability to fantasize • increased role taking • reduced reality testing

22. HYPNOSIS Explaining Hypnosis • Three major theories attempt to explain hypnosis: • STATE THEORY • Hypnotized people experience an altered state of consciousness. • Support comes from the notable changes in brain activity as well as the dramatic effects hypnosis can produce such as insensitivity to pain • ROLE THEORY • People under hypnosis merely act in accordance with the hypnotized role. • They are NOT in a special state but rather simply complying with the hypnotist’s directions. • Role theory is supported by the fact that nonhypnotized people sometimes display behaviors that are usually associated with hypnosis.

23. HYPNOSIS Explaining Hypnosis • Three major theories attempt to explain hypnosis (cont.): • Ernest Hilgard’s DISSOCIATION THEORY • This theory blends state and role theories. • Hypnotized people dissociate, or split, various aspects of their behavior and perceptions from the “self” that normally controls these functions. • Body movements normally under voluntary control can occur on their own, and normally involuntary processes (such as reactions to pain) can be controlled voluntarily. • Relaxation of this central control occurs as part of a social agreement to share control with the hypnotist. • e.g., Hilgard’s Ice water Immersion/Pain Button study and the “hidden observer” stream of consciousness

24. HYPNOSIS Applications of Hypnosis • can be used to eliminate pain from surgery, childbirth, and burns • relieves chronic pain from arthritis, nerve damage, migraine headaches, and cancer • can help eliminate diarrhea • reduces nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy • limits surgical bleeding • speeds postoperative recovery • has been controversially and unsuccessfully used in attempts to improve memory

25. MEDITATION • Meditation is intended to create an altered state of consciousness characterized by inner peace and tranquility. • Meditators claim it improves physical and mental health and aids in performance in everything from work to tennis. • In most types of meditation, attention is focused on just one thing until the person stops thinking about anything and experiences nothing but “pure awareness.” • Physiological effects include: • decreases in respiration rate, heart rate, muscle tension, blood pressure, and oxygen consumption • increases blood flow to the thalamus and frontal lobes • increases the level of the neurotransmitter dopamine (which is associated with the experience of pleasure) and induces relaxed alpha-wave EEG activity • Much remains unclear about exactly how meditation works. • It should be noted, however, that these changes have also been associated with techniques ranging from biofeedback to hypnosis to tai chi to simply relaxing.

26. PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS Psychopharmacology • PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS affect the brain, changing consciousness and other psychological processes. • PYSCHOPHARMACOLOGY is the study of psychoactve drugs and their affect on the brain and the nervous systems. • Most psychoactive drugs or substances influence the interaction between neurotransmitters and receptors. These drugs get into the brain through the blood supply when they pass the blood-brain barrier. • AGONISTS drugs that mimic the effects of neurotransmitters • ANTAGONISTS drugs that prevent neurotransmitters from binding with receptors and inhibit neurotransmitter activity • Other drugs work by increasing or decreasing the release of a specific transmitter. • Other drugs work by speeding or slowing the removal of a neurotransmitter from synapses.

27. PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS The Varying Effects of Drugs • Predicting a drug’s effects in complicated because most psychoactive drugs interact with many neurotransmitter systems. • Drugs have desirable main effects but may also have undesirable side effects. • SUBSTANCE ABUSE is the pattern of use that causes serious social, legal, and/or interpersonal problems for the user. • Psychological dependence occurs when a person continues to use the drug to gain a sense of well-being, even when the drug produces adverse consequences. However, the person can still function without the drug. • Physical dependence or addiction is a physiological state in which continued use of the drug is required to prevent the onset of an unpleasant withdrawal syndrome. • Tolerance is a condition in which increasingly large drug doses are needed to produce the same effect. It may develop with prolonged drug use. • By affecting the regulation of dopamine and other neurotransmitters in the brain’s “pleasure centers,” addictive drugs have the capacity to create tremendously rewarding effects in most people. • These changes created in the brain by drug addiction can remain long after drug use ends, increasing the chance for relapse months or even years later.

28. PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS The Varying Effects of Drugs • EXPECTATIONS and DRUG EFFECTS • Drug effects are not determined by biochemistry alone. • Learned expectations also play a role in that people who think they taken a drug but really haven’t may display the effects of the drug because they expect to be affected by it. • Learned expectations regarding drug effects vary from culture to culture.

29. PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS Drug Classifications • DEPRESSANTS • STIMULANTS • OPIATES • HALLUCINOGENS Create a skit, poem, or song that includes examples of your group’s drug classification, the drugs’ physical effects on the body and the brain, and the drugs’ psychological effects.

30. DISORDERS OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chapter 19 • Disorders of consciousness occur when problems in the brain impair people’s ability to be conscious or to be accurately aware of the world around them. • Damage to the reticular formation or reticular activating system (RAS) which normally serves to increase and decrease arousal in the rest of the brain and help create daily cyles of wakefulness and sleep. • Severe damage to the RAS results in an unconscious state known as a coma. • Lesser amounts of RAS damage may result in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) during which wake and sleep cycles may be intact and automatic movements occur. In this state, though brain activity may be evident, patients remain unaware of their environment. • Chances for recovery are poor when there is significant damage to the RAS. • Disruptions in the functioning of both sides of the cerebral cortex can affect consciousness. • The most common cause is drug abuse (alcohol or sleeping pills) but fever, seizures, chemical imbalances in the blood, hormonal disorders, and infections that have spread to the blood can also affect the cerebral cortex.

31. DISORDERS OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chapter 19 • A key feature of delirium is the rise and fall of consciousness--the alternation between impaired and abnormally elevated levels of consciousness over time. • These people display impairments in many mental functions, including poor memory, poor attention, and disorientation. Elevated consciousness may appear as hallucinations and mental agitation. • Common causes include fever, poisons, infections that have reached the bloodstream, and side effects of medication. • Delirium is usually not permanent and goes away when the underlying medical cause is corrected. • Neuropsychological testing is difficult as there are great differences among individuals and differences in the same individual at different times. Often no pattern is apparent--everything may look impaired. • Some disorders of consciousness involve the nature or content of consciousness. • In anosognosia (which means absence of knowledge of disease), a person may have no awareness that there is anything wrong with him or her. It appears that brain damage causes not only an impairment in functioning, but an impairment in the ability to know about that impairment. • It is likely after damage to the right side of the brain and occurs in more than 25% of stroke victims. • Anosognosia may fade or persist over time. When it persists, it impairs patients’ cooperation with rehabilitative treatments.