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Consciousness

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Quiz

  • 1. Name one psychologist who did not believe in the study of consciousness.
  • 2. In what level of consciousness can you recall certain ideas?
  • 3. What is one altered state of consciousness?
  • BONUS: What part of the neuron controls the speed of the message?

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Consciousness

  • Consciousness = awareness
  • Psychological construct

(like intelligence and emotion)

    • Cannot be seen, touched,

or measured directly

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    • Types: Sensory

Direct Inner

Sense of Self

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Sensory Awareness

  • Conscious of sensations around you
  • Selective Attention: screen out other senses; makes senses keener

Sudden changes, unusual stimuli

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Direct Inner Awareness

Think of getting in a hot tub on a cold night- describe it to a neighbor.

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  • You are not experiencing it but you are conscious of what it’s like
    • Thoughts, images, emotions, memories

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  • ABSTRACT concepts: love, fear, loss, fairness
  • Aware of things inside yourself

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Sense of Self

  • We understand that we are unique individuals
  • Aware of ourselves and our existence

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Levels

  • Preconscious
    • What did you eat for breakfast yesterday?
    • Recall ideas- not in consciousness now

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  • Un(sub)conscious
    • Unavailable to awareness under most circumstances; hidden
    • Freud (party example)

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  • Nonconscious
    • Basic biological functions
    • Pupils dilate, fingernails grow

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Altered States

  • Sleep, meditation, hypnosis, biofeedback, drugs

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Sleep and Dreams

Sleep

periodic, natural,

reversible loss of

consciousness

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Sleep & Dreams

One third of your life = sleeping

Circadian Rhythms = biological clocks

Sequence of body changes- temperature, blood pressure, sleepiness, wakefulness

24-hour cycle; without cues it becomes 25-hour

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Stages

Defined by brain-wave patterns measured by EEG

STAGE 1: Lightest sleep

Brain waves slow down, brief dreamlike images, if awakened it will feel like you weren’t asleep at all

Remain here for 30-40 minutes

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Stages 2-4

STAGE 3-4: Deep sleep

Brain produces slowest waves, greatest difficulty waking up

90 minutes since falling asleep

Breathe irregularly, blood pressure rises, heart beats faster

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Rapid-eye Movement (REM)

REM: eyes moving rapidly

Go through stages about 5 times in typical night

Final period of REM sleep lasts at least 30 minutes

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REM rebound: learn more slowly, forget more rapidly

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Stages in a Typical Night’s Sleep

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

4

3

2

1

Sleep

stages

Awake

Hours of sleep

REM

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Stages of Sleep

  • Upon reaching stage 4, after about 80 to 100 minutes of total sleep time, sleep lightens and returns through stages 3 and 2
  • REM sleep emerges, characterized by EEG patterns that resemble beta waves of alert wakefulness
    • muscles most relaxed
    • rapid eye movements occur
    • dreams occur

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Functions of Sleep

  • Restoration theory —body wears out during the day and sleep is necessary to put it back in shape
  • Adaptive theory— sleep emerged in evolution to preserve energy and protect during the time of day when there is little value and considerable danger

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Dreams

  • During REM sleep we have vivid dreams (NREM produces vague, fleeting dreams)
  • Black and white & full color!
  • Dreams are extensions of the day’s activities
  • Difficult to hold on to information from one state of consciousness to another (sleeping to wakefulness)

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Sleep and Dreams

REM SLEEP

NREM SLEEP

1. Rapid eye movement

1. Non-rapid eye movement

2. Increases in length as

night’s sleep progresses.

2.Decreases in length as night’s sleep progresses.

3. Vivid dreams

3. Vague, partial images and stories

4. Nightmares

4. Incubus attacks (night terrors)

5. Paralyzed body

5. Sleepwalking & talking in sleep

6. Essential part of sleep

6. Less essential part of sleep

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Freud

  • What would Freud think of dreams?

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Sleep Deprivation

  • Effects of Sleep Loss
    • Fatigue
    • Impaired concentration
    • Depressed immune system
    • Greater vulnerability to accidents

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Sleep Deprivation

  • Has little effect on

performance of tasks

requiring physical

skill or intellectual

judgment

  • Hurts performance on simple, boring tasks more than challenging ones

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Individual Differences �in Sleep Drive

  • Some individuals need more and some �less than the typical 8 hours per night
  • Nonsomniacs—sleep far less than most, but do not feel tired during the day
  • Insomniacs—have a normal desire for �sleep, but are unable to and feel tired �during the day

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Sleep Problems

  • Insomnia: inability to sleep
    • Racing minds, worry at bedtime
    • Make it worse by trying to get sleep

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  • Nightmares and terrors
    • Common- snakes and murders
    • Middle Ages- brought by demons
    • Anxiety & depression- more nightmares
    • Night terrors → more severe; do not fully wake up, stages 3-4 (not REM)

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Sleep Disorders

Nightmares

Night Terrors

1. Occurs during REM sleep, usually during the second half of the night.

1. Occurs during NREM sleep, usually during the first hour of the night.

2. Mild physiological changes

2. Drastic bodily changes: breathing & heart rate rise dramatically.

3. Associated with vivid images

3. Associated with panic

4. Most likely to occur during REM rebound.

4. Most likely to occur in children

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  • Sleepwalking: deep sleep stages, no memory of it

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  • REM sleep disorder— sleeper acts out his or her dreams; paralysis is absent or incomplete

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  • Sleep Apnea: interruptions in breathing, do not automatically start breathing again when asleep
    • Can lead to high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes
    • Associated with obesity, snoring

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  • Narcolepsy: suddenly fall asleep (REM), wake up refreshed but can be dangerous

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