States of Consciousness

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States of Consciousness

• Kathleen Shea
• Brittany Scott

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States of Consciousness

• Consciousness Our awareness of various
  cognitive processes sleeping, dreaming,
  concentrating, and making decisions
• Waking Consciousness
• Altered State of Consciousness

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Conscious Experience

• For centuries people have tried to understand the
  abstract nature of consciousness
• Its meaning we know as long as no one asks us to
  define it. William James
• Waking Consciousness
• Daydreaming

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Waking Consciousness

• Mental state that encompasses the thoughts,
  feeling, and perceptions that occur when we are
  awake and alert
• Usually action or plan-oriented
• Tuned in to the external environment
• We are exposed to a vast variety of stimuli
• We select to pay attention to what seems the most
  important at the moment

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Explaining Waking Consciousness

• Stream of Consciousness
• Pieces of information are received from various
  sensory modes sent to areas on the cerebral
  cortex
• The thalamus scans these areas
• Each scan is a single image or moment of
  consciousness

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The Tip-of-the-Iceberg

• The view that consciousness is a small peak
  emerging from a large mass of unconscious mental
  representations
• Many reject the idea that people are driven by
  mainly unconscious motives
• Some prefer the term non-conscious

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Consciousness and Adaptation

• Some American behaviorists viewed consciousness
  as inconsequential and irrelevant
• Todays psychologists see it as highly adaptive
• Consciousness is an important element in human
  sociability
• Self-consciousness is an important part of
  natural selection

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Daydreaming and Fantasy

• Daydreams
• Effortless shifts in attention away from the
  here-and-now into a private world of make-believe
  
• Occur about every 90 minutes
• Studies show they are variations on a central
  theme
• Daydreams and dreamers fall into categories
• Positive
• Negative
• Scattered
• Purposeful

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Sleep

• Sleep natural state of rest characterized by
• A reduction in voluntary body movement
• Decreased awareness of the surroundings
• Sleep deprivation impairs cognitive skills to a
  great extent

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America Needs More Sleep

• Between one-third and one-half of adults fail to
  get enough sleep
• High school and college students on average about
  6 hours of sleep a night
• Research shows losing an hour of sleep every
  night, week after week, makes it difficult for
  people to pay attention and remember things
• One way to reduce sleep deprivation is to take
  short naps a quick 20 minute nap can increase
  alertness, and reduce irritability

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Circadian Cycles The Biological Clock

• Circadian Rhythms
• Ancient adaptation to the 24-hour solar cycle of
  light and dark
• Found in all organisms
• Biological Clock
• A tiny group of neurons in the hypothalamus that
  responds to levels of proteins in the body
• It is self-sustaining
• Our body clocks reset themselves to match
  prevailing cycles of light and dark
• We dont notice the cycle until it is disturbed
• Jet lag

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The Rhythms of Sleep

• Going to sleep losing awareness and failing
  to respond to a stimulus that would produce a
  response in the waking state
• Several stages of sleep
• Stage 1
• Stage 2
• Stage 3
• Stage 4
• REM

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Stage 1

• Brain waves are tight and of very low amplitude
• Marked by
• Slowing of the pulse
• Muscle relaxation
• Side to side rolling
• movements of the eyes

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Stages 2 and 3

• Stage 2
• Sleep spindles (short rhythmic bursts of
  activity) appear
• Breathing and heart rate continue to slow down
  there is a slight decrease in body temperature
• Stage 3
• Delta waves (slow waves with very high peaks)
  appear
• The sleeper is harder to awaken and does not
  respond to stimuli

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Stage 4

• The brain emits very low delta waves
• Heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature
  are as low as they will get during the night
• Delta sleep lessens
• with age

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Sleep Cycle

• About an hour after falling asleep
• The sleeper begins to go from Stage 4 to Stage 3
  to Stage 2, and back to Stage 1
• The process takes about 40 minutes
• Brain waves return to the low amplitude of Stage
  1 and waking alertness

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REM stage

• REM Rapid Eye Movement
• Characterized by rapid eye
• movements and increased dreaming
• Also referred to as Paradoxical Sleep
• Other physiological function resemble those
  recorded during waking consciousness
• Person in this stage appears to be deeply asleep
  is incapable of moving
• Heart rate and blood pressure also increase

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Sleep Disorders

• Sleep talking, Sleepwalking, and Night Terrors
• Sleep talking and sleepwalking usually occur
  during Stage 4
• Sleepwalking may represent a temporary disruption
  of the normal state of deep-sleep paralysis
• Night terrors form of nocturnal fright that
  makes them suddenly sit up in bed, often
  screaming out in fear
• They cannot be recalled the next morning
• Usually seen in children 4-12 years old

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Sleep Disorders

• Insomnia, Apnea, and Narcolepsy
• Insomnia inability to fall or remain asleep
• It may be a part of a larger psychological
  problem (such as depression) for some people
• It also may result from an over aroused
  biological system
• Apnea characterized by breathing difficulty
  during the night feelings of exhaustion during
  the day
• Narcolepsy hereditary disorder characterized by
  sudden nodding off during the day and sudden loss
  of muscle tone following moments of emotional
  excitement
• Another symptom immediate entry into REM sleep

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Dreams

• Dreams vivid visual and auditory experiences
  that occur primarily during REM periods of sleep
• Average person has 4 to 5 dreams a night
• Accounts for 1 to 2 hours of total time sleeping
• Dreams consist of a sequential story or series of
  stories
• Both external and internal stimuli may modify and
  ongoing dream they do not initiate dreams

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What do we dream?

• Dream content related to
• Where you are in your sleep cycle
• Activities before sleep
• Gender
• Age
• Socioeconomic status
• People from different cultures report dream
  content consistent with unique cultural patterns

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Why Do We Dream?

• Dreams as Unconscious Wishes
• Sigmund Freud Dreams represent wishes that have
  not been fulfilled in reality
• Manifest content surface content of the dream
• Latent content unconscious thoughts or desires
  that were expressed indirectly through dreams
• According to Freud people permit themselves to
  express primitive desires that are free of moral
  controls

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Dreams and Information Processing

• Another theory Dreams reprocess information
  gathered during the day as a way of strengthening
  the memory of information crucial to survival
• During waking hours our brains are bombarded with
  data We need time to decide
• What info is valuable
• Whether it should be filed in long term memory
• Where it should be filed
• Whether info should be erased

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Dreams and Neural Activity

• Activation Synthesis Theory - dreams are the
  result of neurons misfiring and are meaningless
• Neurons in the pons fire at random during REM
  sleep
• The neural signals are electrochemical gibberish
• Higher brain centers try to make sense of them
• They create irrational and impossible stories -
  dreams

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Dreams and Waking Life

• Another theory is dreams are an extension of the
  conscious concerns of daily life in altered form
• Dream content reflects and individuals
  conceptions, interests, and concerns
• Dream content can be influenced by pre-dream
  events so that it complements for waking
  experiences

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Do We Need to Dream?

• In experiments people were awakened just as they
  entered REM sleep
• They became anxious, testy, and hungry
• They had difficult concentrating
• Hallucinations occurred during waking hours
• The effects ended when they experienced REM sleep

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Drug-Altered Consciousness

• Psychoactive drugs substances that change
  peoples moods, perceptions, mental functioning,
  and behavior
• Many of these drugs have been used for thousands
  of years. Two of the most common
• Marijuana
• Alcohol
• Motives for use have changed
• Today they are used for recreation rather then
  religious or cultural purposes
• They have become stronger and more addictive over
  the years

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Substance Use, Abuse, and Dependence

• Psychoactive drugs
• Substance Abuse pattern of drug use that
  diminishes the ability to fulfill
  responsibilities or results in repeated use of a
  drug
• Substance Dependence also called addiction
  pattern of compulsive drug taking that results in
  tolerance and withdrawal symptoms
• Tolerance phenomenon in which higher doses of a
  drug are required to produce its original effects
  or to prevent withdrawal symptoms
• Withdrawal Symptoms unpleasant physical or
  psychological effects that follow the
  discontinuance of a dependence-producing
  substance
• Psychoactive Drugs are grouped into three
  categories
• Depressants
• Stimulants
• Hallucinogens

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Depressants Alcohol, Barbiturates, and Opiates

• Depressants temporarily slow down activity in
  the central nervous system leads to one feeling
  calm and drowsy
• Reduce tension
• Usually taken to relieve feelings of inadequacy,
  loneliness,or boredom
• Alcohol depressant that is the intoxicating
  ingredient in fermented and distilled liquors,
  wine, beer, etc.
• Most frequently used psychoactive drug in Western
  societies

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Effects of Alcohol

• Alcohol affects
• Frontal lobes inhibitions, reasoning, judgment
• Moves to cerebellum motor control and balance
• Affects spinal chord and medulla- breathing, body
  temperature, heart rate
• Alcohol myopia alcohol induced shortsightedness
  makes drinkers oblivious to many behavioral cues
  in the environment

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Barbiturates

• Potentially deadly depressants first used for
  sedative and anti-convulsant properties, now used
  to treat epilepsy and arthritis
• Early 20th century - barbiturates were widely
  prescribed as a sleeping medication
• 1950s they were discovered to be potentially
  lethal and highly addictive

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Opiates

• Drugs derived from the opium poppy
• They dull the senses and induce feelings of
  euphoria, well-being, and relaxation
• Originated in Turkey, then became popular to
  smoke in China, where many became addicted
• A derivative of opium is morphine
• Opiates resemble endorphins and occupy the same
  nerve-receptor sites
• Regular use leads to tolerance and physical
  dependence
• Advanced stages of addiction - heroin becomes a
  painkiller to keep off withdrawal symptoms
• sweating, hot flashes and chills, severe cramps,
  vomiting, diarrhea, convulsive shaking and
  kicking

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Stimulants Caffeine, Nicotine, Amphetamines, and
Cocaine

• Stimulants drugs that stimulate the sympathetic
  nervous system and produce feelings of optimism
  and boundless energy
• They excite the central nervous system
• Temporarily increase mental alertness
• Reduce physical fatigue

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Caffeine

• Occurs naturally in coffee, tea, cocoa, and
  chocolate
• Can become addictive
• Can possibly cause withdrawal symptoms
• Caffeine suppresses naturally occurring sedatives
• May interfere with prescribed medications such as
  tranquilizers

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Nicotine

• Addictive ingredient in tobacco
• Probably most dangerous and addictive stimulant
  in use today
• Affects levels of several neurotransmitters
• Norepinephrine
• Dopamine
• Serotonin
• Symptoms of withdraw from nicotine
• Nervousness
• Difficulty concentrating
• Insomnia and Drowsiness
• Headaches
• Irritability
• Intense Craving

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Amphetamines

• Stimulant drugs that initially produce rushes of
  euphoria often followed by sudden crashes
• Increase alertness
• Chronic users might develop amphetamine psychosis
• Different Types
• Methamphetamine speed produced in
  laboratories
• Ecstasy (MDMA) acts as both stimulant and
  hallucinogen

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Cocaine

• Drug derived from the coca plant
• Produces a sense of euphoria by stimulating the
  sympathetic nervous system
• Leads to anxiety, depression, and addictive
  cravings
• 1970s - powdered form coke was snorted
• 1980s - cheaper crystallized form crack was
  smoked
• Blocks reabsorption of neurotransmitter dopamine
• Excess dopamine intensifies and prolongs feelings
  of pleasure

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Hallucinogens

• Hallucinogens drugs that distort visual and
  auditory perception
• Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) - hallucinogenic
  or psychedelic drug that produces hallucinations
  and delusions similar to those occurring in a
  psychotic state
• They do not produce withdraw effects
• Tolerance develops quickly

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Marijuana

• Mild hallucinogen that produces a high often
  characterized by feelings of euphoria, a sense of
  well-being, and swings in mood
• Active ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)
• Temporal disintegration - people lose ability to
  remember and coordinate information

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Is Marijuana a dangerous drug?

• Some argue that marijuana can be psychologically
  if not physiologically addicting
• However, frequent, long-term use negatively
  effects learning and motivation

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Explaining Abuse and Addiction

• Biological Factors
• People whose parents have alcohol-abuse problems
  are more likely to abuse alcohol
• Identical twins are closer in drinking patterns
  than fraternal twins
• Many consider alcoholism a medical disease
• It could possibly be inherited based on genetic
  evidence

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Psychological, Social, and Cultural Factors

• Expectations influence effects of psychoactive
  substance
• Children with alcoholic parents tend to drink
  heavily
• Could be a result of heredity (alcoholism)
• Could be a result of heavy influence and example
• Drug problem is reflection of mainstream cultural
  norms

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Meditation and Hypnosis

• Mediation
• Any method of concentration, reflection, or
  focusing of thoughts undertaken to suppress the
  activity of the sympathetic nervous system
• Zen Meditation concentrates on respiration
• Sufism relies on dancing and prayer
• Transcendental Meditation repetition of a
  mantra-sound that relaxes the practitioner

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Hypnosis

• Trancelike state in which a person responds
  readily to suggestions
• mid-18th century Europe Anton Mesmer began
  putting people into trances to cure their
  illnesses Mesmerism
• Its effectiveness depends upon how suggestible
  people are
• Can ease the pain of certain medical conditions

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