Study the consciosness

1. States of Consciousness
Chapter 4

2. Consciousness
• Consciousness: All the sensations,
perceptions, memories, and feelings
you are aware of in any instant
• Waking Consciousness: Normal, clear,
organized, alert awareness
• Consciousness - a person’s awareness of
everything that is going on around him or her
at any given moment.

3. Explaining Waking
Consciousness
• Stream of information resulting from the
activity of the thalamus which analyzes
and interprets information
• Consciousness may only be the “tip of
the iceberg” that includes unconscious
mental activities
• Consciousness is also viewed as an
adaptation allowing us to get along with
others in our group (humans)

4. Daydreaming and Fantasy
• Spontaneous shifts if attention away
from the here and now into a make-
believe world
• Urge to daydream peaks about every
90 minutes
• Daydreams may provide stress relief
and encourage creativity

5. Consciousness
• Altered state of consciousness -
state in which there is a shift in the
quality or pattern of mental activity
as compared to waking
consciousness.
• Awareness that is distinctly
different in quality or pattern from
waking consciousness

6. Necessity of Sleep
• Circadian rhythm - a cycle of bodily rhythm that
occurs over a 24-hour period.
• “circa” – about
• “diem” – day
• Hypothalamus – tiny section of the brain that
influences the glandular system.
• suprachiasmatic nucleus – deep within the
hypothalamus; the internal clock that tells people
when to wake up and when to fall asleep.
• Tells pineal gland to secrete melatonin, which makes a
person feel sleepy.

7. Circadian Cycles:
The Biological Clock
• Circadian cycles are those that last “about a
day”
• Circadian rhythms are governed by an area
of the hypothalamus called the
suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)
• Controls body temperature, metabolism,
blood pressure, hormone levels, and hunger
• Jet lag is the result of desynchronization of
the circadian rhythm

8. Necessity of Sleep
• Microsleeps - brief sidesteps into
sleep lasting only a few seconds.
• Sleep deprivation - any significant
loss of sleep, resulting in
problems in concentration and
irritability.

9. Necessity of Sleep
• Adaptive theory - theory of sleep proposing that animals
and humans evolved sleep patterns to avoid predators by
sleeping when predators are most active.
• Restorative theory - theory of sleep proposing that sleep is
necessary to the physical health of the body and serves to
replenish chemicals and repair cellular damage.

11. Brain Wave Patterns
• Electroencephalograph (EEG) - allows
scientists to see the brain wave activity as a
person passes through the various stages of
sleep and to determine what type of sleep the
person has entered.
• Alpha waves - brain waves that indicate a state of
relaxation or light sleep.
• Theta waves - brain waves indicating the early
stages of sleep.
• Delta waves - long, slow waves that indicate the
deepest stage of sleep.

13. Stages of Sleep
• Rapid eye movement (REM) - stage of
sleep in which the eyes move rapidly
under the eyelids and the person is
typically experiencing a dream.
• NREM (non-REM) sleep - any of the
stages of sleep that do not include
REM.

14. The Rhythms of Sleep
• Brain waves and
sleep stages
• Stage 1
• Stage 2
• Stage 3
• Stage 4
• REM sleep

15. • Non-REM (NREM) Sleep: Occurs
during stages 1, 2, 3, and 4; no rapid
eye movement occurs
• Seems to help us recover from daily
fatigue
• Rapid Eye Movements (REM):
Associated with dreaming; sleep is very
light
• Body is very still during REM sleep
• Lack of muscle paralysis during REM sleep
is called “REM Behavioral Disorder”

16. Stages of Sleep
• Non-REM Stage One – light sleep.
• May experience:
• hypnagogic images – vivid visual events.
• hypnic jerk – knees, legs, or whole body jerks.
• Non-REM Stage Two – sleep spindles (brief
bursts of activity only lasting a second or
two).
• Non-REM Stages Three and Four – delta
waves pronounced.
• Deep sleep – when 50%+ of waves are delta
waves.

17. Click to see an
Sleep Cycle
awake brain.
Click dude for alpha
Waves.
• Use an EEG
machine to measure
stages of sleep.
• When you are the
onset of sleep you
experience alpha
waves.
• Produces mild
hallucinations, like
a feeling of falling.

18. Stage 1
• Kind of awake and
kind of asleep.
• Only lasts a few
minutes, and you
usually only
experience it once
a night.
• Your brain
produces Theta
Waves.

19. Stage 2
• More Theta Waves
that get
progressively
slower.
• Begin to show sleep
Click image to see Stage Two of sleep. spindles…short
bursts of rapid
brain waves.

20. Stages 3 and 4
• Slow wave sleep.
• You produce Delta
waves.
• If awoken you will
be very groggy.
• Vital for restoring
body’s growth
hormones and good Click boys to see deep sleep.
From stage 4, your brain begins to speed up and you
overall3,health.
go to stage then 2….then ……

21. REM Sleep
• Rapid Eye
Movement
• Often called
paradoxical sleep.
• Dreams usually
occur in REM.
Click boy dreaming to see REM sleep. • Body is essentially
paralyzed.

22. REM Sleep and Dreaming
• If wakened during REM sleep, almost always report a
dream.
• REM rebound - increased amounts of REM sleep
after being deprived of REM sleep on earlier nights.
• Nightmares - bad dreams occurring during REM
sleep.
• REM behavior disorder - a rare disorder in which the
mechanism that blocks the movement of the
voluntary muscles fails, allowing the person to thrash
around and even get up and act out nightmares.

26. Some Sleep Disorders

27. Insomnia
• Persistent
problems falling
asleep
• Effects 10% of the
population
• Primary versus
Secondary
Insomnia

28. Narcolepsy
• Suffer from
sleeplessness and
may fall asleep at
unpredictable or
inappropriate
Click above to see Skeeter the narcoleptic dog. times.
• Directly into REM
sleep
• Less than .001 % of
population.

29. • A person stops
Sleep Apnea
breathing during
their sleep.
• Wake up
momentarily, gasps
for air, then falls
back asleep.
• Very common,
especially in heavy
males.
• Can be fatal.

30. Night Terrors
• Wake up screaming
and have no idea
why.
• Not a nightmare.
• Most common in
children (boys)
between ages 2-8.

31. Somnambulism
• Sleep Walking
• Most often occurs
during the first few
hours of sleeping and
in stage 4 (deep
sleep).
• If you have had
night terrors, you
are more likely to
sleep walk when
older.

34. Dreams

35. Freud’s Theory of Dreams
• Dreams are a
roadway into our
unconscious.
• Manifest Content
(storyline)
• Latent Content
(underlying
meaning)

36. Activation-Synthesis Theory
• Physiological
View /Biological
Theory.
• Our Cerebral
Cortex is trying to
interpret random
electrical activity
we have while
sleeping.
• That is why dreams
sometimes make no

37. Information-Processing Theory
• Dreams are a way to
deal with the
stresses of everyday
life.
• We tend to dream
more when we are
more stressed.

38. Cognitive View
• Two facts about REM sleep are crucial in →→
understanding nature of dreams
1) During REM sleep areas of the cerebral cortex that play a role
in waking perception, thought and regulating of motor processes
are highly active
2) Yet, during REM sleep there is massive inhibition of input from
sensory systems and muscles
• As a result, the cortical structures or systems that normally
regulate perception & thought have only their own activity as
input. This activity forms the basis for the imagery and ideas in
dreams

39. Hypnosis

40. Hypnosis
• Altered state of
consciousness?
• Posthypnotic
suggestion
• Posthypnotic
amnesia

41. Hypnotic Theories
Role Theory State Theory
• Hypnosis is NOT an altered • Hypnosis is an altered
state of consciousness.
state of consciousness.
• Different people have
various state of hypnotic • Dramatic health
suggestibility. benefits
• A social phenomenon where
people want to believe( social • It works for pain best.
learning  they experience
what they expect to
experience through learning)
• Work better on people with
richer fantasy lives.

42. Dissociation Theory
• We voluntarily
divide our
consciousness up.
• Ice Water
Experiment.
• We have a hidden
observer, a level of
us that is always
aware.

43. • Neo-dissociation • Theory of
theory : suggests dissociated control:
that hypnotized suggests that
individuals enter a hypnotism weakens
an altered state of control of the central
consciousness in function over other
which cognitive and
consciousness is behavioral
divided subsystems, letting
these subsystems to
be invoked by the
hypnotist’s
suggestions.

44. Some facts
• Certain findings suggest that some people
produce actual changes in perception and
states of consciousness. But this is common
amongst people who are highly suggestible /
susceptible to hypnotism.
• Evidence is more for the social cognitive/
social learning view. i.e. reaction to hypnosis
seem to stem from primarily from their beliefs
and expectations about it.

45. Drugs

47. Psychoactive Drugs
• Psychoactive drugs - drugs that alter thinking,
perception, and memory.
• Physical Dependence
• Tolerance – more and more of the drug is needed
to achieve the same effect.
• Withdrawal - physical symptoms that can include
nausea, pain, tremors, crankiness, and high blood
pressure, resulting from a lack of an addictive drug
in the body systems.
• Psychological dependence - the feeling that a
drug is needed to continue a feeling of
emotional or psychological well-being.

48. Drugs
• Our brain is
protected by a layer
of capillaries called
the blood-brain
barrier.
• The drugs that are
small enough to pass
through are called
psychoactive drugs.

49. Drugs are either….
If a drug is used often,
a tolerance is
created for the
drug.
Thus you need more of
the drug to feel the
same effect.
If you stop using a
drug you can develop
withdrawal
symptoms.

50. Stimulants
• Speed up body
processes.
• More powerful ones
(like cocaine) give
people feelings of
invincibility.

51. Depressants
• Depressants - drugs that
decrease the functioning
of the nervous system.
• Slows down body
processes.
• Alcohol
• Anxiolytics (barbiturates
and tranquilizers)

52. Alcohol
• More than 86 billion
dollars are spent
annually on alcoholic
beverages.
• Alcohol is involved in
60% of ALL crimes.
• Alcohol is involved in
over 70% of sexually
related crimes.
• Is it worth the cost?

53. Hallucinogens
• Psychedelics
• Causes changes in
perceptions of reality
• LSD, peyote,
psilocybin mushrooms
and marijuana.
• Reverse tolerance or
synergistic effect

54. Opiates
• Has depressive and
hallucinogenic
qualities.
• Derived from poppy
plant.
• Morphine, heroin,
methadone and
codeine.
• All these drugs cross
the placental
barrier….teratogens.