Altered States of Consciousness Chapter 7 Objectives Describe

Altered States of Consciousness Chapter 7

Objectives Describe the research related to sleep and dreaming Define altered states of consciousness, including hypnosis and hallucination Discuss the effects of drug states and such substances as marijuana and alcohol Describe research into such techniques as biofeedback and mediation

Terms Biofeedback Consciousness Hallucinations Hypertensions Hypnosis LSD Marijuana Meditation Posthypnotic suggestion REM Sleep

Hey there You are looking around the room and your awareness is drifting to that attractive classmate sitting across the room. You are reading these words Everything you think and feel is part of your conscious experience Consciousness: A state of awareness, including a person’s feelings, sensations, ideas, and perceptions.

Introduction Normal states of consciousness the most active areas of research in psychology? No this is not the case. The subject that has had a great deal of research in recent years is the study of altered states of consciousness. Altered state of consciousness involves a change in mental processes, not just feeling more or less alert.

Introduction Since at least the 1960’s, psychologists have been studying altered states of consciousness by having people sleep, meditate, undergo hypnosis, take drugs during laboratory, researchers can observe changes in behavior and measure changes in breathing, pulse rate, body temperature, and brain activity.

Sleep zzzzzzzz Most people think of sleep as a state of unconsciousness, punctuated by brief periods of dreaming. Only partially correct Sleep is a state of altered consciousness, characterized by certain patterns of brain activity.

Sleep zzzzzzzz Sleep is a major part of human and animal behavior but it is difficult to study because a researcher cannot ask a sleeping person to report on the experience without first waking the person. Electroencephalograph (EEG)- Machine that records the electrical activity of the brain By observing sleeping subjects and by recording their brain and body responses, researchers have discovered 2 different types of sleep patterns: Quiet sleep Active sleep

Stages of sleep As you begin to fall asleep, your body temperature declines, your pulse rate drops, and your breathing grows slow and even. Gradually your eyes close and your brain briefly emits alpha waves, as observed on the EEG, which are associated with the absence of concentrated thought and with relaxation. Your body may twitch, your eyes roll, and brief visual images flash across your mind (although your eyelids are shut) as you enter Stage 1, the lightest level of sleep

Stages of sleep Turn to page 159

Stages of sleep Stage 1 Your pulse rate slows more Muscles relax, but breathing becomes uneven and your brain waves grow irregular If awakened during stage 1, you would report that your were “just drifting. ” Lasts 10 minutes

Stages of sleep Stage 2 Brain waves occasionally shift from low-amplitude high-frequency waves to high-amplitude lowfrequency waves Eyes roll slowly from side to side

Stages of sleep Stage 3 30 minutes after entering stage 2 Large amplitude delta waves begin to seep your brain every second

Stages of sleep Stage 4 Deepest sleep of all Difficult to awaken in this stage Large, regular delta waves State of oblivion If awaken by a loud noise or sudden movement, you may feel disoriented. Talking out loud, sleepwalking, and bed-wetting occur in this stage, leave no trace of memory

Stages of sleep On average, a person spends 75% of sleep time in Stages 1 -4 Then REM happens, where your muscles are even more relaxed than before, your eyes begin to move rapidly REM sleep: The period of sleep during which the eyes dart back and forth (rapid eye movement) and dreaming usually occurs

Stages of sleep REM Pulse rate and breathing become irregular Levels of adrenal and sexual hormones in your blood rise, as if you were in the middle of an intensely emotional or physically demanding activity Face and fingers twitch Muscles in arms and legs are paralyzed Brain sends out waves that closely resemble those of a person who is fully awake

Stages of sleep REM Called active sleep Stages 1 -4 referred to as NREM (quiet sleep) Or quiet sleep because of the absence of rapid eye movement, which is accompanied by slower pattern of brain waves During REM sleep that almost all dreaming normally takes place Lasts for about 10 minutes, after which you retrace the descent to stage 4. You go through the cycle every 90 minutes or so Each time the period of stage 4 sleep decreases and the length of REM sleep increase, until you eventually wake up At no point does your brain ever become inactive

Handout Falling a sleep

How much sleep? Newborns 16 -18 hours Half of it in REM 16 year olds 10 -11 hours of sleep Grad school 8 hours Men & Women 70 years and older May need only 5 hours of sleep

How much sleep? Adults average about 25% of their time in REM sleep, and 75% in NREM sleep. Amount of sleep a person needs may vary, it does appear that everyone sleeps and that both types of sleep are important to normal functioning.

Handout Sleeping a light fantastic

Dreams Everyone dreams although most people only recall only a few, if any of their dreams 1 st few dreams Usually composed of vague thoughts left over from the day’s activities (Watching TV) As night wears on, dreams become longer and more vivid and dramatic, especially during REM Last dream is likely to be the longest and the one people remember when they wake up, although people can rarely recall more than the last 15 minutes of a dream when they awaken

Dreams Researchers have found that after, people have been deprived of REM sleep, thy subsequently increase the amount of time they spend in REM sleep. Thus is appears that a certain amount of dreaming each night is necessary

Content of Dreams When people are awakened randomly during REM sleep and asked what they had just been dreaming, the reports are common and dull Commonplace settings (even late-night REM) occur in living rooms, cars, streets The dreams we remember “are more coherent, sexier, and generally more interesting”

Content of Dreams Most dreams involve either strenuous recreational activities or passive events such as sitting and watching Large percentage of dreams are negative or unpleasant Anxiety, anger, sadness We incorporate everyday activities into our dreams Can manipulate the content of a person’s dreams Light water spray 42% Light 23% Tone 9%

Nightmares Small portions of our dreams Frightening quality, we usually awaken in the middle of them Intensity of brain activity to the stimulation of those parts of the brain responsible for emotional reactions

Dream Interpretation Sigmund Freud 1 st to argue that dreams are an important part of our emotional lives Believed that no matter how simple, dreams contain clues to thought and desires the dreamer is afraid to acknowledge or express in waking hours Said dreams are full of hidden meanings and disguises

Dream Interpretation Nathaniel Kleitman Pioneer of REM sleep “Dreaming may serve no function” Unimportant bi-product of stimulating certain brain cells during sleep Mc. Carley “Feeling paralyzed in a dream simply means that brain cells that inhibit muscle activity were randomly stimulated

Freud on Dreams Page 162