States of Consciousness

1. States of Consciousness By: Jenna Goodrich AP Psychology 2009

2. Waking Consciousness • Consciousness– our awareness of ourselves and our environment

3. Waking Consciousness We register and react to stimuli that we do not consciously perceive • Unlike the parallel processing of subconscious information, conscious processing takes place in sequence

4. Daydreams and Fantasies • Daydreaming can be adaptive

5. How are daydreams adaptive? • Some daydreams prepare us for future events • Playful fantasies enhance the creativity of scientists, writers and artists • For children, the daydreaming of imaginative play nourishes social and cognitive development

6. Sleep and dreams BiologicalRhythms -periodic physiological fluctuations -annual cycles– bears hibernate -28-day cycles– female menstrual cycle -24 hour cycles– varying and falling alertness -90 minute cycles- various stages of sleep

7. The rhythm of sleep • Circadian Rhythm– the biological clock; regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24 hour cycle • Thinking is sharpest and memory most accurate when we are at their daily peak in circadian arousal

8. Sleep stages • About every 90-100 minutes we pass through a cycle of five distinct sleep stages. • REM sleep– rapid eye movement sleep, a recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. • Also known as paradoxical sleep because the muscles are relaxed but other body systems are active

9. sleep • Alpha waves– the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state • Sleep– periodic, natural, reversible loss of consciousness– as distinct from unconsciousness resulting from a coma, general anesthesia, or hibernation

10. Stage 1 sleep • Lasts up to 5 minutes • During stage one sleep you may experience hallucinations • Hallucinations- false sensory experiences, such as seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus

11. Stage 2 sleep • About 20 minutes long • Characterized by the periodic appearance of sleep spindles– bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain wave activity

12. Sleep stages • First in stage 3 and increasingly in stage 4, your brain emits delta waves • Delta waves– the large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep • These stages together are called slow-wave sleep

13. Why do we sleep? • Sleep Deprivation Effects • Major effect of lessened sleep in not only sleepiness but a general malaise • Less sleep= more accidents • More sleep= less accidents

14. Why do we sleep? • Other effects of sleep loss are subtle • Suppression of the immune system, altering of the metabolic and hormonal functioning, irritability, slowed performance, and impaired communication, concentration, and creativity.

15. Why do we sleep? • Sleep Functions • Sleep protects • Sleep helps us recuperate • Sleep may also play a role in the growth process • During deep sleep, the pituitary gland releases a growth hormone

16. sleep disorders • Insomnia • Recurring problems in falling or staying asleep

17. Sleep disorders • Narcolepsy • A sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks. • The sufferer may lapse directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times.

18. Sleep disorders • Sleep Apnea • A sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and consequent momentary reawakening

19. Sleep disorders • Night Terrors • A sleep disorder characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified. • Unlike nightmares, night terrors occur during stage 4 sleep, within 2 or 3 hours of falling asleep and are seldom remembered. • Occur mostly in children

20. dreams • REM dreams • “hallucinations of the sleeping mind” • Are vivid, emotional, and bizarre

21. dreams • Dreams • A sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind. • Dreams are notable for their hallucinatory imagery, discontinuities, and incongruities, and for the dreamer’s delusional acceptance of the content and later difficulties remembering it. • Freud argued that by fulfilling wishes, a dream provides a psychic safety value that discharges otherwise unacceptable feelings.

22. dreams • Manifest content • According to Freud, the remembered story line of a dream • A dreamer’s manifest content is a censored, symbolic version of its latent content • Latent Content • According to Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream. • Freud believed that a dream’s latent content functions as a safety value

23. dreams • Dreams may also serve a physiological function • Provide the sleeping brain with periodic stimulation • Activation-Synthesis Theory • this neural activity is random, and dreams are the brain’s attempt to make sense of it

24. dreams • REM rebound • The tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation

25. hypnosis • Hypnosis • A social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur.

26. hypnosis • Posthypnotic Amnesia • Supposed inability to recall what one experienced during hypnosis • Induced by the hypnotist’s suggestion

27. Hypnosis: Fact and falsehoods Nearly everyone can experience hypnosis. 60 years of research dispute the claims of age regression. Hypnosis can NOT force someone to act against their will. Behaviors produced through hypnotic procedures can also be produced without them

28. Hypnosis: fact and falsehoods • Can hypnosis be therapeutic? • Posthypnotic Suggestion • A suggestion, made during a hypnotic session, to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotized. • Used by some clinicians to help control undesired symptoms and behaviors. • Can Hypnosis Alleviate pain? • YES!.. Dissociation- a split in consciousness, which allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others. • Selective attention- an injured athlete, caught up in the competition, feels little or no pain until the game ends.

29. Hypnosis: an altered state of consciousness? • Hypnosis as divided consciousness: • Most hypnosis researchers grant that normal social and cognitive processes play a part in hypnosis, but they nevertheless believe hypnosis is more than imaginative acting • Hidden observer • Hilgard’s term describing a hypnotized student’s awareness of experiences, such as pain, that go unreported during hypnosis.

30. Drugs and consciousness • Psychoactive drug • A chemical substance that alters perceptions and moods • Tolerance • The diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug, requiring the user to take larger and larger doses before experiencing the drug’s effect • Withdrawal • The discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing the use of an addictive drug

31. Drugs and consciousness • Physical dependence • A physiological need for a drug, marked by unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the drug is discontinued • Psychological dependence • A psychological need to use a drug, such as to relieve negative emotions

32. Psychoactive drugs • Depressants • Drugs that reduce neural activity and slow bodily functions • Ex: alcohol, barbiturates, and opiates

33. Psychoactive drugs • Barbiturates • Drugs that depress the activity of the central nervous system and reduce anxiety and impair memory and judgment.

34. Psychoactive drugs • Opiates • Opium and its derivatives such as morphine and heroin • They depress neural activity and temporarily lessen pain and anxiety

35. Psychoactive drugs • Stimulants • Drugs that excite neural activity and speed up body functions • Ex: caffeine, nicotine, and powerful amphetamines

36. Psychoactive drugs • Amphetamines • Drugs that stimulate neural activity, causing sped-up body functions, associated energy and mood changes

37. Psychoactive drugs • Ecstasy (MDMA) • A synthetic stimulant and mild hallucinogen • Produces euphoria and social intimacy, but with short-term health risks and longer- term harm to serotonin-producing neurons and to mood and cognition

38. Psychoactive drugs • Hallucinogens • Psychedelic (“mind-manifesting”) drugs, such as LSD, that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input • Ex: LSD • A powerful hallucinogen drug (also known as acid)

39. Influences on drug use • Biological influences • Some people may be biologically vulnerable to alcohol

40. Influences on drug use • Psychological and cultural influences • Psychological • The feeling that one’s life is meaningless and directionless • Social • Drugs can have social roots, evident in differing rates of drug use across cultural groups • Peers influence through words and examples

41. Near death experiences • Near-death experiences • An altered state of consciousness reported after a close brush with death • Often similar to drug-induced hallucinations • about 1/3 of those who have survived a brush with death, such as through cardiac arrest, later recall visionary near-death experiences

42. Near death experiences • Dualists • The presumption that mind and body are two distinct entities that interact • Dualists interpret near-death experiences as evidence of human immortality

43. Near death experiences • Monists • The presumption that mind and body are different aspects of the same thing • Monists point out that reports of near-death experiences closely parallel reports of hallucinations and may be products of a brain under stress