States of Consciousness

1. PSYCHOLOGY – SSC 210 States of Consciousness ZahbiaSarfraz Lahore School of Economics

2. What is Consciouness? • A state of awareness of: • The sights and sounds of the outside world • Our feelings • Our thoughts • Our own consciousness • Consciousness is: • Personal • Can be selective • Continuous and ever-changing

3. Common States of Consciousness • Wide awake and thinking • Daydreaming • Hypnosis • High on drugs • Dreaming

4. Divided Consciousness • Divided consciousness: the splitting off of two conscious activities that occur simultaneously • The ability to focus awareness on a single stimulus to the exclusion of other stimuli

5. The Unconscious Mind • Unconscious mind: mental processes that occur without conscious awareness • Cocktail party phenomenon - you are in a room with more than one person talking and you mostly listen to one person tuning out other voices • Evidence that other noises reach your brain even though we are never consciously aware of it

6. The Unconscious Mind • Andrew Mathews and Colin Maclead (1986): • Participants listen to 2 messages – 1 in each earphone • Asked to ignore messages from 1 & repeat the other • Nonthreatening words (friend) and threatening words (e.g. assault) presented • Asked to keep eye on screen & press key when the word ‘press’ appeared on screen • Results: when threatening word presented in the earphone that was being ignored, subjects pressed key less quickly than otherwise • Conclusion: ignored words were being processed without conscious awareness

7. Stages of Sleep • 5 stages of sleep • First four stages are non-REM • Fifth and final stage is REM • Stage 1 • Brain activity: beta to alpha to theta (by end of stage) • Hypnagogic state: relaxed state of dreamlike awareness between wakefulness and sleep • ‘twilight’ state: neither daydreaming nor dreaming • Myoclonia: abrupt movement sometimes occurs during this state; sleeper experiences a sense of falling • Lasts about ten minutes • Begin to lose voluntary control over body movements, sensitivity to outside stimuli diminishes, thoughts less bound by reality.

8. Stages of Sleep • Stage 2 • EEG pattern: even slower and larger waves; periodic short bursts of activity called ‘sleep spindles’ • More relaxed • Rolling eye movements stop • Less easily disturbed • If someone makes noise, brain will register but probably will not wake up • About 20 minutes

9. Stages of Sleep • Stage 3 & 4 • Hard to distinguish from each other - differ only in degree • EEG: onset of very slow waves with large peaks – ‘delta waves’ – last for about 30 minutes • Sleep walking or talking occurs during this stage • After stage 4 – go back to 3 and 2 and then go to stage 5

10. Stages of Sleep • Stage 5 • EEG: short, high frequency beta waves (similar to those when you are awake) • Blood flow to the brain increases • Breathing and pulse rates speed up • Muscles are totally relaxed • Rapid eye movements: eyelids shut but eyeballs moving frantically back and forth • Subjects sleeping awakened during: - non REM stages report dreams about half the time - REM stages report dreams about 80% of the time • REM dreams are visual, vivid, detailed and storylike.

11. Why do we sleep? • Restorative theories • Sleep rejuvenates us • Amount of slow wave sleep depends on how long we’ve been awake • Circadian theories • Evolutionarily, it has survival value • REM sleep plays an essential role in consolidation of newly learned information from the day before

12. What are Dreams? • Dreams are electrochemical events that involve the brainstem, the cortex and the eyes • Why do we have dreams? • What, if anything, do they mean? • Can you guess the three most common themes?

13. Content of Dreams • Common themes • Falling • Being chased or attacked • Repeatedly trying but failing to do something

14. Content of Dreams • What influences the dreams we have? • Day residue: events and concerns about the person’s waking life • Stimulus incorporation: stimuli occurring during sleep incorporated directly or in altered form • The dreamer himself: lucid dreaming

15. Why do we dream? • Wish fulfillment (Freud) • Manifest content • Latent content • Activation-synthesis (Hobson & McCarley) • Activation: random neural signals firing in the brainstem that spread up to the cortex • Synthesis: the brain then creates images and stories in an effort to make sense out of these random signals • So who’s right?

16. Sleep Disorders • Insomnia • Sleep-onset insomnia • Early-awakening insomnia • Narcolepsy • Person suddenly falls asleep during activities usually performed when fully awake • Sleep apnea • The sudden interruption of breathing during sleep

17. Altered States of Consciousness • Common characteristics: • Distortion of perception • Intense positive emotions • Illogical • Indescribable Can you suggest other characteristics?

18. Altering Consciousness • Meditation A method of focusing concentration away from thoughts and feelings and generating a sense of relaxing • Mindfulness The state of focusing conscious awareness completely on what is going on at the present moment • Hypnosis Altered state of consciousness in which the individual is highly relaxed and susceptible to suggestions • Depersonalization The perceptual experience of one’s body or surroundings becoming distorted or unreal

19. Drugs and Altered Consciousness • Psychotropic drugs • Various classes of drugs that alter conscious experience. • Induce changes in thinking, perception and behavior by affecting neural activity in the brain • Four general categories • Depressants • Stimulants • Hallucinogens • Inhalants

20. Depressants • Reduce the activity of inhibitory centers of the central nervous system • Create a sense of relaxation • Reduce inhibitions • E.g. alcohol, sedatives, valium, morphine

21. Stimulants • Activate motivational centers • Reduce activity in inhibitory centers of the central nervous system • Provide a sense of energy and well being • E.g. caffeine, cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy), nicotine

22. Hallucinogens • Most powerfully alters consciousness • Alter perceptual experience • Large doses lead to vivid hallucinations • E.g. LSD

23. Inhalants • Common chemicals that are put to dangerous use when inhaled to produce feelings of intoxication • E.g. gasoline, glue, nail polish remover