Perception and the Mind

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Perception and the Mind

• Conscious- you are awake, alert, and aware
• Various LEVELS and STATES (they are not the same
  thing)

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Perception and the Mind

• Focus of Attention- figure/ground relationships
• Focal Point- single isolated stimulus you attend
  to

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Perception and the Mind

• Two ways to get a focal point
• 1.selective attention- YOU choose to pay
  attention to something
• 2. Feature Extraction- stimulus Grabs your
  attention

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Perception and the Mind

• Attention Span- how long you make an object your
  focal point
• average for a 16-year-old- 20 minutes

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Perception and the Mind

• Vigilance- small physical gestures you use to
  stay aware (or you end up daydreaming)

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Perception and the Mind

• Preconscious- level of mind you can be made aware
  of
• Short Term Memory- temporary storage of
  information just experienced (transducted and
  encoded)

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Perception and the Mind

• STM/WORKING MEMORY Relatively small capacity
• 7 /- 2 items can be stored
• about 20 seconds duration
• you can expand this with chunking!

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Perception and the Mind

• Long term memory- Relatively permanent storage of
  experiences
• capacity is very VAST
• Can be stored in preconscious or unconscious
  levels

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Preconscious

• Phenomenological Field- past experiences affect
  perception of current stimuli.

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Perception and the Mind

• Unconscious- not aware of this info, but its
  there.
• VERY QUICK
• REPRESSED MEMORIES

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Unconscious Mind

• subliminal programming
• Subconscious Memories- stuff you dont know you
  perceived
• Déjà vu? Dreams?

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States of Awareness

• Are you the same all the time???
• Car accident, 1st period on a Monday, really
  great party
• FOCAL POINT CHANGES.
• Naturally or artificially

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DRUGS and consciousness

• You know SO much of this!!!
• Drugs and brain function
• psychoactive substances- any chemical that
  changes consciousness
• LEGAL AND ILLEGAL!!!

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Altering Consciousness With Drugs

• Psychoactive substances are drugs that affect
  consciousness, perception, mood, and behavior.

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Why Do People Take Drugs in The First Place?
To Feel Better To lessen anxiety worries fears de
pression hopelessness
To Feel Good To have novel feelings sensations ex
periences AND to share them
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Types of Use

• Use as intended/prescribed
• Substance abuse- pattern of use that has negative
  effects
• substance dependence- addiction physical/
  psychological dependence on the substance

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Addiction Is A Developmental Disease that starts
in adolescence and childhood
1.8
1.8
TOBACCO
CANNABIS
1.6
1.6
ALCOHOL
1.4
1.4
1.2
1.2
1.0
1.0
in each age group who develop first-time
dependence
0.8
0.8
0.6
0.6
0.4
0.4
0.2
0.2
0.0
0.0
5
10
15
21
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
5
10
15
21
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
Age
National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and
Related Conditions, 2003.
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DRUGS and consciousness

• Tolerance- need more of the substance to have an
  effect
• withdrawal- changes in behavior when stopping or
  reducing heavy use of a substance

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Why Do People Abuse Drugs?
Drugs of Abuse Engage Motivation and Pleasure
Pathways of the Brain
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Dopamine
Movement
Motivation
Reward well-being
Addiction
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Natural Rewards Elevate Dopamine Levels
Sex
Food
200
200
NAc shell
150
150
DA Concentration ( Baseline)
of Basal DA Output
100
100
Empty
50
Box Feeding
Female Present
0
Sample Number
0
60
120
180
Time (min)
Di Chiara et al., Neuroscience, 1999.,Fiorino and
Phillips, J. Neuroscience, 1997.
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Effects of Drugs on Dopamine Release
Amphetamine
Cocaine
Morphine
Nicotine
Time After Drug
Di Chiara and Imperato, PNAS, 1988
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LETHARGIC STATE

• GREATLY decreased awareness accompanied by
  decreased physical activity
• focal point smaller/slower

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Lethargic State Causes

• 1. Drugs- DEPRESSANTS
• Slow CNS (neural) activity
• sedatives- Nyquil
• Alcohol- increases with dose
• Rx anti-anxiety- valium/ Xanax

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Altering Consciousness With Drugs

• The rate of alcohol abuse and dependence is
  higher in men than in women.

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Altering Consciousness With Drugs

• Like alcohol, barbiturates and benzodiazepines
  are depressants that slow CNS activity
• DO NOT COMBINE!

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Causes of Lethargy

• 2. Hormonal/chemical imbalance
• Low Sugar- HYPOGLYCEMIAcrashing coming off a
  high
• hypothyroid- overweight issues

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Causes of Lethargy

• 3. Emotional Reactions sadness or boredom
• 4. Clinical Depression
• MAJOR warning sign
• more than 2 weeks of sadness---
• May need more seratonin (SSRIs)

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Causes of Lethargy

• 5. illness/ injury
• 6. EXHAUSTION!!!

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Hyper-Alert State of Awareness

• A state of greatly increased awareness
  accompanied by major physiological changes
• Increased CNS activity
• Focal point? Increased/ external

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Hyper-Alert State

• Causes
• 1. Chemical/Hormonal imbalances (natural)
• hyperthyroid- gland in your neck that controls
  metabolism

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Hyper-Alert State

• Hyperglycemia- too much sugar in your system
• causes you to speed up?

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Hyper-Alert State

• Adrenaline- (epinepherine) produced by your
  adrenal glands
• FIGHT OR FLIGHT RESPONSE

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2. CNS Stimulants

• Increase activity of the central nervous system
• (Meth)Amphetamines (speed), cocaine, Ritalin,
  Adderall caffeine, nicotine
• Saved by the Bell
• Diet pills

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3. Emotional Reactions

• EUSTRESS- Positive
• epinephrine
• Laughter/ endorphins
• DISTRESS- Negative
• norepinephrine epinephrine

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Euphoria

• Intense OVERWHELMING feelings of a positive
  nature
• focal point is increased internal
• concentrating on how good you feel and lose touch
  with reality

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Euphoria Causes

• 1. Religious/Occult Experiences
• praying to the point where you are overcome with
  emotion
• 2. EXTREME POSITIVE emotional experiences (Much
  more intense than eustress)

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Euphoria Causes

• 3. Drugs
• Ecstasy (hallucinogenic stimulant)
• Opiates (opioids) /Narcotics
• Hallucinogens

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The Opiates/ Narcotics

• Loss of sensitivity to pain
• Endorphins block substance P
• Vycodin, Oxycontin, opium, morphine, codeine,
  heroin
• AGITATED Dysphoria!!! (withdrawal from heroin)
• Pain! Sweating, nausea, vomiting!!!

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The Hallucinogens

• Cause changes in perceptions
• (distorted perceptions/ hallucinations)
• LSD, PCP, Marijuana (THC)
• Affect a variety of neurotransmitters/ receptors
  (seratonin, dopamine)

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Euphoria (causes, contd)

• 4. Sexual Arousal- the orgasm stage (internal
  focal point, intense, positive overwhelming
  pleasure)

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The Focal Point

• Increased internal focal point reduced physical
  activity and environmental stimuli.

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Inducing the Meditative State

• Close eyes, relax
• deep, regulated, cleansing breaths
• In through the nose, out through the mouth

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The Focal Point

• Rhythmic chant-- MANTRA--a tone, music,
  heartbeat, breath, OHM
• vibrations aid concentration

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Meditation

• it can improve your life
• Reduce norepinephrine/ stress related illness
• Increase awareness/ contentment/ relaxation

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HYPNOSIS

• Different from meditation
• 1. FOCAL POINT is EXTERNAL
• 2. You are susceptible to subconscious suggestion

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Hypnosishow do I do it?

• You cant!- you NEED someone else!
• Induction starts like meditation
• NO MANTRA (internal)
• Subconscious SUGGESTION(external)

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Hypnosis what is it?

• Expose your unconscious mind
• lower your defense mechanisms
• Dissociaters and fantasizers

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Uses for Hypnosis

• 1. Behavior modification- change detrimental
  behaviors (phobias, diet, smoking, etc.)
• Power of suggestion

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Uses for Hypnosis

• 2. Age Regression
• Recover repressed memories, earlier
  lives--Distorted?
• 3. Age Progression positive mental imagery
  (rehearsal/improve performance)

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Uses of Hypnosis

• 3. Anesthesia!!
• (dissociate from pain)
• Anyone willing to try??