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Chapter 6 States of Consciousness. Some Early Definitions . Consciousness: All the sensations, perceptions, memories, and feelings you are aware of at any instant Waking consciousness: Normal, clear alert awareness
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Some Early Definitions • Consciousness: All the sensations, perceptions, memories, and feelings you are aware of at any instant • Waking consciousness: Normal, clear alert awareness • Altered state of consciousness (ASC): Changes that occur in quality and pattern of mental activity; different from waking consciousness
Sleep • Innate, biological rhythm • Sleep deprivation: Sleep loss; being deprived of needed amounts of sleep • Hypersomnia: Excessive daytime sleepiness • Microsleep: Brief shift in brain activity to pattern normally recorded during sleep
More on Sleep • Sleep-deprivation psychosis: Confusion, disorientation, delusions, and hallucinations that occur because of sleep loss • Sleep patterns: Daily rhythms of sleep and waking
Measuring Sleep Changes • Electroencephalograph (EEG): Brain-wave machine; amplifies and records electrical activity in the brain • Beta waves: Small, fast waves associated with alertness and wakefulness • Alpha waves: Large, slow waves associated with relaxation and falling asleep
Stage 1 • Small, irregular waves produced in light sleep (people may or may not say they were asleep) • Hypnic jerk: Reflex muscle twitch
Stage 2 • Deeper sleep; sleep spindles (short bursts of distinctive brain-wave activity) appear
Stage 3 • Deeper sleep; delta waves appear; very large and slow
Stage 4 • Deepest level of normal sleep; almost purely delta waves
Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep • Associated with dreaming; sleep is very light • Return to Stage 1 sleep EEG patterns • Body is very still during REM sleep
Non-REM (NREM) Sleep • Occurs during stages 1, 2, 3, and 4; no rapid eye movement occurs • 90 percent of non-REM sleep is dream-free • Seems to help us recover from daily fatigue
Sleep Disturbances • Insomnia: Difficulty in getting to sleep, frequent nighttime awakenings, or waking too early • Sleeping pills exacerbate insomnia; cause decrease in REM and Stage 4 sleep and may cause dependency • Drug-dependency insomnia: Sleeplessness that follows withdrawal from sleeping pills • Lack of muscle paralysis during REM sleep is called REM behavioral disorder
Temporary Insomnia • Brief period of sleeplessness caused by worry, stress, and excitement • Avoid fighting it and read a book, for example, until you’re struggling to stay awake
Chronic Insomnia • Exists if sleeping troubles last for more than three weeks • Adopt regular schedule; go to bed at the same time each night, for example
Stimulus Control • Linking a particular response with specific stimuli
Tryptophan • Amino acid (chemical) that increases serotonin levels and therefore leads to sleepiness (thanksgiving turkey)
Sleep Disturbances • Sleepwalking (somnambulism): Occurs in NREM sleep during Stages 3 and 4 • Sleeptalking: Speaking while asleep; occurs in NREM sleep
Some Other Sleep Disturbances • Nightmares: Bad dreams that occur during REM sleep • May occur once or twice a month; brief and easily (unfortunately) remembered • Imagery rehearsal: Mentally rehearse the changed dream before you go to sleep again; may help to eliminate nightmares
Night Terrors • Night terrors: Total panic occurs; hallucinations may occur during Stage 4 NREM sleep • Most common in childhood; may occur in adults • Not remembered
Sleep Apnea • Repeated interruption during sleep • Produces loud snoring with short silences and gasps for breath • Apnea can be treated by • Surgery • Weight loss • Breathing mask
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS; Crib Death) • Sudden, unexplained death of healthy infant (infants should sleep on back to try to prevent it) • May be related to sleep apnea • May have weak arousal reflex • May be related to secondhand smoke
Narcolepsy • Sudden, irresistible sleep attacks • May suffer from catalepsy: Sudden, temporary muscle paralysis leading to complete body collapse • Fall directly into REM sleep
REM Rebound • Occurrence of extra REM sleep following REM sleep deprivation
Discussion • What are dreams? Is it important to remember and pay attention to your dreams? Why or why not?
Dreams • Psychodynamic (Freudian) theory: Emphasizes internal conflicts, motives, and unconscious forces • Wish fulfillment: Freudian belief that many dreams are expressions of unconscious desires • Much evidence to refute this • Dream symbols: Images in dreams that have a deeper symbolic meaning
Dream Content (Freud) • Manifest: Obvious, visible meaning of dream • Latent: Hidden symbolic meaning of dream
Activation-Synthesis Hypothesis • Random activity in lower brain centers results in the manufacture of relatively bizarre dreams by higher brain centers
Neurocognitive Dream Theory • Dreams reflect everyday working thoughts and emotions
Hypnosis • Altered state of consciousness characterized by intensely narrowed attention and increased openness to suggestion • Mesmer: Believed he could cure diseases by passing magnets over body; true “animal magnetism” (“mesmerize” means to hypnotize) • Mesmer was, in effect, a fraud and a quack • Must cooperate to become hypnotized
Hypnotic Susceptibility • How easily a person can be hypnotized • Basic suggestion effect: Tendency of hypnotized people to carry out suggested actions as though they were involuntary • Hidden observer: Detached part of hypnotized person’s awareness that silently observes events
Hypnosis Can… • Help people relax • Reduce pain • Get people to make better progress in some types of therapy
Hypnosis cannot… • Produce acts of superhuman strength • Produce age regression • Force you to do things against your will
Stage Hypnosis • Simulation of hypnotic effects
“Tricks of the Trade” • Waking suggestibility: People on stage do not want to spoil the act, so they will follow any instruction • Selection of responsive subjects: Any “volunteer” who does not get hypnotized in the group on stage and does not follow instructions is “thrown off”
More “Tricks of the Trade” • Hypnotists as director: Once they are in a trance, the “volunteers” are suddenly the show’s stars, and they will act like it. The hypnotists only need to direct them • The hypnosis label disinhibits: On stage, once you are “in a hypnotic trance,” your responsibility for actions is removed; you can do whatever you want!