Consciousness and The 2 Track Mind

1. Consciousness and The 2 Track Mind Chapter 3

2. Are we always conscious of the things we do? • What are some examples of times when you perform a task but your mind is somewhere else?

3. What is Consciousness? • The awareness of ourselves and our environment. • Our awareness allows us to assemble information from the past and present. • Once we learn a complex skill, we are less conscious (or give less direct attention) and able to divide attention.

4. States of Consciousness • Sleeping • Waking • Various altered states • Daydreaming – spontaneously occurs • Dreaming – spontaneously occurs • Hallucination – Physiologically induced • Hypnosis – Psychologically induced • Meditation – Psychologically induced

5. The Two Track Mind • Otherwise known as DUAL PROCESSING • The principle of information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks • Perception, memory, thinking and language all operate on 2 levels; a conscious, deliberate “high road” and an unconscious, automatic “low road”

6. Dual Processing

7. Selective Attention • The focusing of conscious attention on a particular stimuli • The “cocktail party” effect; your ability to attend to only one voice among many. • One estimate is we take in 11 million bits of information per second (through all five senses) but only consciously process about 40. • Still making use of the other 10,999,960 bits of information.

8. Selective Attention and Accidents • 80% of of vehicle accidents are due to driver distraction (NTSB, 2006). • Because attention is selective, attending to a cell phone causes inattention to other things. • Study analyzed phone records for moments before car crash found that cellphone users (even with hands free device) are 4 more times at risk than others. • Passengers in car onlly increases risk 1.6x

9. Selective Inattention • Intentional Blindness: failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere. • Change Blindness: failing to notice changes in the environment

10. Sleep and Dreams • Biological Rhythms and Sleep • Circadian Rhythm – the regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24 hour cycle (such as body temperature and wakefulness) • Reacts to light • Artificial light (light bulbs) disrupts our natural 24 biological clock by delaying sleep.

11. Sleep and Dreams • During sleep, every 90 minutes we go through 5 distinct stages. • Stage 1: brief stage when we fall asleep. May experience hallucinations, such as feeling of falling (sudden jerks) • Stage 2: 20 minutes, more relaxed but with rapid, rhythmic brain wave activity. Easily awakened, may sleeptalk. • Stage 3: few minutes of transitional sleep, followed by deep sleep, beginning of delta waves; 30 minutes • Stage 4: Deep sleep; brain continues to emit slow delta waves;30 minutes • Sleep walking or bed wetting may occur at end of Stage 4

12. Sleep and Dreams • Stage 5: REM – Rapid Eye Movement • Come out of deep sleep and return to stage similar to stage 1. • Differs because heart rate rises, breathing becomes irregular and rapid, eyes dart around • Dreams occur during this stage of sleep; even if you don’t remember • 20-25% of night is spent in REM sleep

13. The Sleep Cycle

14. Sleep Patterns • Babies spend nearly 2/3 of a day sleeping; adults spend no more than 1/3. • Sleep may be genetically influenced; Identical twins sleep patterns are very similar. • People tend to be more efficient, have better moods when they sleep about 9 hours a night. • We can’t make up our sleep.

15. Diminished productivity Tendency to make mistakes Contributes to weight gain; increasing hunger inducinghormones and stress hormone Cortisol. Suppress immune system, interfering with ability to fight viral infections and cancer. May impact/influence hypertension and memory impairment. Driver fatigue contributes to 20% of US auto accidents (higher in Australia) Many major man made disasters (Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Exxon Valdez Oil spill) all occurred after midnight; theorized workers were at drowsiness and more prone to mistakes. The Effects of Sleep Loss

16. Why do we Sleep? • Sleep Protects: Darkness interfered with our ancestors hunting, gathering and made travel treacherous, sleep made sense. • Sleep Helps with Recuperation: Restores and repairs brain tissue. • Sleep Makes Memories: Restores and rebuilds memories. Aids in learning. • Sleep Feeds Creative Thinking: Dreams have inspired certain artistic, creative and scientific achievement. Aids in learning and ability to think clearly. • Sleep May Aid in Growth: The pituitary gland releases growth hormone during deep sleep. As we age the hormone and time in deep sleep decrease.

17. Sleep Disorders • Insomnia: persistent problems in falling or staying asleep • 1 in 10 adults; 1 in 4 older adults • People are quick to try to treat with alcohol and sleep medication which can make the problem worse. • Reduced REM sleep • Increased dosing needed • Discontinuing use may make insomnia worse

18. Sleep Disorders • Narcolepsy: uncontrollable sleep attacks, dropping instantly into REM sleep at often inopportune times. • 1 in 2000 people • Related to a missing neurotransmitter linked to alertness

19. Sleep Disorders • Sleep Apnea: Intermittent, cessation of breathing during sleep, as well as repeated momentary awakenings. • 1 in 20 people have the disorder • Occurs hundreds of times in a night • Associated with obesity, high blood pressure and are at higher risk for heart attack or stroke.

20. Sleep Disorders • Night Terrors: high arousal, appearance of being terrified. May sit up, walk around, talk incoherently, double heart and breathing rate but not wake fully. • Mostly seen in children • Rarely remembered the next day. • Occurs in Stage 4 sleep; unlike dreams which occur in REM sleep.

21. Dreams • A sequence of images, emotions and thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind. • Hallucinatory imagery, discontinuities and incongruities • Occur in REM sleep; often not remembered unless awoken during/shortly after and remain awake. • 2 contents according to Freud • Manifest content – remembered story line; a censored version • Latent content – the underlying meaning of a dream

22. Why do we Dream? • Freudian: To satisfy our own wishes. • Dreams provide a “psychic safety valve” for expressing unacceptable feelings. • Information Processing: To file away memories • Dreams help us sort out the day’s events and consolidate memories. • Physiological: To develop and maintain neural pathways • REM sleep gives the brain occasional stimulation throughout the night.

23. Drugs and Consciousness • Psychoactive Drugs: a chemical substance that alters perceptions and moods. • Include depressants, stimulants and hallucinogens • All classes work at the brain’s synapses and neurotransmitters • All classes alter consciousness

24. Dependence • Continued use of psychoactive drugs can produce tolerance: after repetitive use, the need for more of the drug to produce the desired effect. • Withdrawal: the discomfort and distress that following discontinuing the drug • Physical Dependence: A physiological need, marked by unpleasant withdrawal symptoms • Psychological Dependence: A psychological need to use a drug, such as to relieve negative emotions. Not physically addictive

25. Addiction • Addiction: a compulsive craving for a substance despite its adverse consequences and often physical symptoms following sudden withdrawal. • The odds of getting hooked after trying various drugs • Marijuana 9% Alcohol 15% • Heroin 23% Tobacco 32%

26. Depressants • Alcohol, barbiturates (tranquilizers) and opiates that calm neural activity and slow body functions.

27. Alcohol • Slows brain activities, even in small doses • Disinhibition: urges felt when you are sober are more likely to be acted on when intoxicated • Slows Neural Activity: reaction slows, slurs speech, acts as a sedative, contributes to car accidents and violent crime • Memory Disruption: disrupts processing recent events into long term memory by interfering with REM sleep

28. Alcohol • Effects Brain Size and Cognitions: MRI’s show long term drinking can shrink brain size, especially in woman • Reduced Self Awareness and Self Control: limits impulse control. ½ of rapists surveyed reported drinking before attack • Expectancy Effects: If people think their behavior will be affected by alcohol, it will (placebo experiements) • Strong Correlation between drinking and risky sexual behavior

29. Opiates • Opium, Heroin and Morphine • Depress neural functioning • Pleasurable feeling reduces pain and anxiety • Highly addictive, extremely painful withdrawal • Brain stops producing endorphins, which are painkilling neurotransmitters. • Prescription derivatives, such as OxyContin and Fentanyl are as addictive and dangerous as Opiates when abused.

30. Stimulants • Included Methamphetamines, Amphetamines, Cocaine, Caffeine, Nicotine, Ecstasy

31. Methamphetamine • Stimulates the CNS with speeded up body functions, and associated energy and mood levels. • Over time, appears to reduce baseline dopamine levels; affects mood long term • Possible permanent after effects include irritability, insomnia, seizures, depression

32. Before and After Meth Use

33. Caffeine’s regular use can result in increased tolerance Discontinuation results in withdrawal such as fatigue and headache. Nicotine is as addictive as heroin and cocaine Alters mood, diminishes appetite and boosts alertness Tolerance develops Withdrawal includes cravings, insomnia, anxiety and irritability Caffeine and Nicotine

34. Cocaine • Sniffed or injected, cocaine enters the bloodstream quickly resulting in a “rush” of euphoria. • Depletes the brain of dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, resulting in a “crash” of depression when the drug wears off • Can lead to emotional disturbances, suspiciousness, convulsions, cardiac arrest or respiratory failure.

35. Ecstasy • Stimulant and mild hallucinogen • Triggers dopamine release and stored serotonin and blocks its reuptake, prolonging the “feel good flood” of serotonin. • Results in 3-4 hours of emotional elevation and social connectedness. • Side effects are dehydration that can lead to death, repetitive leeching of serotonin can result in decreased output and permanent depression, suppresses the immune system, impairs memory and disrupts sleep.

36. Hallucinogens • Distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input • LSD and Ecstacy are synthetic • Marijuana and “Mushrooms” are more mild natural hallucinogens.

37. LSD • A powerful hallucinogenic drug, also known as acid. • Chemically similar to a subtype of serotonin, resulting in the blocking of serotonin. • Experience of the “trip” in many cases is mood and expectation dependent. • Similarities across all hallucinations are initial phases of geometric shapes, followed by more meaningful experiences, peaked with a feeling of separation from the body (at times resulting in panic).

38. Marijuana • Active ingredient THC produces a mix of effects • Relaxation, disinhibition, euphoria • Mild hallucinogen that amplifies sensitivity to colors, counds, taskes and smells • Remains in the body for over a month • Regular use can lead to increased rish for anxiety, depression or possibly schizophrenia • Impairs motor coordination, reaction time, memory formation • Can be used therapeutically to control pain, nausea and weight loss associated with AIDS.