States of Consciousness

1. States of Consciousness Unit 3 Psychology

2. consciousness as the awareness of objects and events in the external world and the subject’s own existence and activities; • Consciousness - is the awareness of objects and events in the external world and of our own existence and mental processes at any given moment. • Our state of consciousness – is our level of awareness of our internal state and external events, that determines how much of this information we take in and respond to. • Altered state of consciousness – any state of consciousness that is distinctly different form normal waking consciousness in terms of awareness, sensations, perceptions, thoughts, feelings and memories.

3. concepts of normal waking consciousness and altered states of consciousness, in terms of attention, awareness, content limitations, controlled and automatic processes, perceptual and cognitive distortions, emotional awareness, self-control, time orientation;

4. measurement of physiological responses which can indicate different states of consciousness, including electrical activity of the brain and other physiological responses, including heart rate, body temperature and galvanic skin response; • EEG - An electroencephalograph measures that amplitude and frequency of brain wave patterns. Beta, alpha, theta and delta waves. • Heart rate – In some ASCs heart rate increases, while in others it decreases. • Body temperature – changes during some ASCs eg. It drops by more than 1 degree during sleep. • Galvanic skin response – measures the electrical conductivity of the skin. Electrode are placed on the hands. Increased sweat = increased electrical conductivity, a low level of sweat = decreased electrical conductivity. High emotional arousal (often experienced in an ASC) results in increased sweating.

5. methods used to study sleep electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyograph (EMG), electrooculogram(EOG eye movements); • Electroencephalograph (EEG) – detects, amplifies and records brain waves. • Electromyograph (EMG) – detects, records and amplifies electrical activity of muscles. Progressive reduction of muscle tension through stages 1-4 • Electro-oculargram (EOG) – detects, records and amplifies electrical activity of muscles that control eye movements. Minimal eye movement in NREM and rapid eye movement in REM

6. characteristics and patterns of sleep: rapid eye movement (REM sleep), non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep; • Naturally occurring biological rhythm • An ASC • Two main types: - Non rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep - Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep • Periods of NREM sleep alternate with periods of REM sleep about 4-5 times during a night • As sleep progresses: - Periods of NREM sleep get shorter (particularly stage 3 & 4) - Periods of REM sleep get longer and closer together • Dreams occur more in REM sleep

7. NREM Sleep • 80% of the full sleep cycle is spent in NREM sleep. • A full cycle of NREM lasts about 70 to 90 minutes and is followed by a period of REM sleep. • During the cycle a person moves through stages 1-4 and back up to the early stages again before entering REM sleep. • The four stages of NREM progress from lightest to deepest sleep and can be identified by their brain wave patterns. • Before stage 1 begins a transition from being awake to entering the first stages of sleep occurs. This is known as the ‘hypnogogic state’ where the person may experience flashes of light or slow rolling eye movements.

8. REM Sleep Also called paradoxical sleep – brain is extremely active while the body has no muscle tone/tension and appears inactive and calm.

9. NREM Sleep – Stages 1-4

10. psychological and physical effects of sleep deprivation; • Going without sleep partially or totally. • Effects depend on the amount of sleep loss and the period of time over which it occurred. • Normally has temporary effects such as irritability, tiredness, lack of concentration, headaches and slower reaction time. All of the effects can be overcome with sleep. • If excessive or prolonged deprivation occurs it can: • Cause hallucinations and delusions • Impair performance on simple, monotonous tasks • Complex or interesting tasks- performed normally • Hard to study for more than 3 days as people drift into microsleeps – very short period of sleep when the person is apparently awake. (brain waves = early NREM sleep)

11. Psychological & Physiological effects of sleep deprivation • Psychological – lack of concentration, irritability, moodiness, heightened anxiety and lack of motivation. Short term memory can be significantly impaired. Depression, hallucinations, delusions and paranoia have also been reported. A reduced ability to perform cognitive tasks that are monotonous and boring is also a concern. More errors are made on simple tasks than complex ones. • Physiological – sleepiness and fatigue, hand tremors, drooping eyelids, lack of energy, slurred speech and an increased sensitivity to pain. After 5 consecutive days and nights, heart rate falls, respiratory rate slows, biochemical changes occur and hallucinations may be experienced.

12. sleep phenomena, including insomnia, hypersomnia, sleep apnoea, nightmares, night terrors, sleep walking, sleep talking; • A sleep disorder is any problem that disrupts the NREM or REM sleep cycle. • Insomnia – ongoing experience of insufficient or poor quality sleep due to: • Difficulty falling asleep or (sleep onset insomnia) • Difficulty staying asleep (sleep maintenance insomnia) • Awaking prematurely from sleep • Caused by: • Psychological factors (stress, anxiety) or • Physiological factors (chronic pain, illness) • Treatment: • Medication or re-establishing sleep patterns • Diet/activity

13. Sleep Disorders – Sleep Apnoea & Hypersomnia • Temporarily stop breathing when asleep (20 secs to 2 mins) • Occurs repeatedly throughout the night and terminates in a loud snore, body sitting upright or limbs flinging out. • Cause: • Failure of breathing centres in brain • Narrowing of the airway –excess fat • Treatment – relaxants for throat or nose or a nasal mask to force oxygen down the throat at night. • HYPERSOMNIA • Sleepiness/drowsiness when awake • Excessive sleeping (eg. 12 hours per night for an adult)

14. Sleep Phenomena

15. research designs used to minimise the effects of extraneous variables, including repeated measures design, matched–participants design, independent–groups design; • There are 3 experimental designs that may reduce or eliminate EVs. • Repeated Measures Design: is an experiment where the same group of participants makes up both groups (experimental and control) in the experiment. Advantages: minimal differences in personality characteristics between the two groups and fewer participants are required for the study. Limitations: Order effects – this occurs when prior knowledge of a task/situation influences the performance participant and therefore the results of the experiment. • Matched Participants Design: is when participants are paired up or ‘matched’ on the basis of personality characteristics. One member of the pair or ‘match’ is then assigned to the control group and the other member is assigned to the experimental group. Twins are often perfect for this type of design. Advantages: Provides two very similar groups. Limitations: Time consuming to arrange. • Independent Groups Design: is the most common experimental design. Each participant is randomly allocated to one of the two groups. Advantages: There are no order effects to control, and it is quick to set up. Limitations: Equally sized groups are often difficult to achieve with a small sample size.

16. Experimental Design Independent Groups Design Matched Pairs Design Repeated Measures Design Participants are randomly allocated to either the experimental of the control group. Participants are ‘matched’ as pairs on the basis of relevant variables; one of the pair is allocated to the experimental group, the other to the control group The same Participants are used in both the experimental and control group.

17. placebo effects, experimenter effects, single blind and double blind procedures; • A placebo is a fake pill or injection. The Placebo effect is when changes in occur in behaviour of a participant due to the belief that they have taken a drug. Eg. A saline injection can be 70% as effective as morphine when given as a placebo. • A single blind procedure can be used to control for placebo effects. The participants are simply not told (are blind) as to whether they are in the control group (given the placebo) or in the experimental group (given the real drug). • The experimenter effect refers to changes that occur in participants’ behaviour that are caused by the unintended influence of an experimenter. • A double blind procedure can be used to control for experimenter effects. In this procedure, neither the experimenter or the participant knows who has received the placebo (control group) and who has received the real drug (experimental group). This keeps the experimenters from unintentionally influencing the participants.

18. ethical principles in the conduct of psychological research related to sleep • See Page 347 – 350