Chapter 7 States of Consciousness Consciousness our awareness

Chapter 7 States of Consciousness

Consciousness § our awareness of ourselves and our environments

Consciousness n Waking Consciousness ¨ What you are currently aware of and attending to ¨ Linear (serial) processing ¨ The result of cognitive processing

Consciousness n Subconsciousness ¨ That which lies just below your waking consciousness ¨ Easily accessible ¨ Parallel processing

Consciousness n Unconsciousness ¨ Reactions and processing outside our awareness

Altered States of Consciousness Sleep and Dreams n Hypnosis n Chemically altered states n

Sleep and Dreams § Sleep § § periodic, natural, reversible loss of consciousness Circadian Rhythm the biological clock § regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24 -hour cycle, such as of wakefulness and body temperature §

Sleep and Dreams n Stage 1 ¨ Lasts up to 5 minutes ¨ Hallucinations ¨ Hypnogogic experience n Stage 2 ¨ 20 minutes ¨ Sleep spindles ¨ Sleep talking may occur

Sleep and Dreams n Stage 3 ¨ Transitional stage ¨ Lasts only a few minutes n Stage 4 ¨ Brain emits delta waves ¨ Lasts 30 minutes ¨ Sleep walking, bed wetting may occur ¨ You can still process the outside world

Brain Waves and Sleep Stages § Alpha Waves § § slow waves of a relaxed, awake brain Delta Waves § large, slow waves of deep sleep

Stages in a Typical Night’s Sleep stages Awake 1 2 3 REM 4 0 1 2 3 4 Hours of sleep 5 6 7

Stages in a Typical Night’s Sleep Minutes of Stage 4 and REM Decreasing Stage 4 25 20 15 Increasing REM 10 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 Hours of sleep 6 7 8

Sleep and Dreams § REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep recurring sleep stage § vivid dreams § “paradoxical sleep” § § muscles are generally relaxed, but other body systems are active

Sleep Deprivation § Effects of Sleep Loss fatigue § impaired concentration § depressed immune system § greater vulnerability to accidents §

Sleep Disorders § Insomnia § § Narcolepsy § § persistent problems in falling or staying asleep uncontrollable sleep attacks Sleep Apnea temporary cessation of breathing § momentary reawakenings §

Night Terrors and Nightmares Sleep stages 1 2 3 REM 4 1 Night Terrors occur within 2 or 3 hours of falling asleep, usually during Stage 4 § high arousal-appearance of being terrified § Awake 0 § 2 3 4 5 6 Hours of sleep 7

Dreams n What are dreams made of?

Dreams: Freud § Sigmund Freud--The Interpretation of Dreams (1900) wish fulfillment § discharge otherwise unacceptable feelings § § Manifest Content § § remembered story line Latent Content § underlying meaning

Dreams: Freud § Dreams § § § Dream is a safe outlet for the mind Deals with unacceptable thoughts and emotions Manifest content is the “dressed up” symbolic version of the unconscious Most adult dreams have strong sexual undertones Dream interpenetration is the “royal road to the unconscious”

Dreams: Information processing § As Information Processing Dreams serve to sift and sort memories of our daily experiences § Helps us to better process and store memories and learning from the previous day §

Dreams: Information processing n Support for theory ¨ REM sleep increases following a stressful experience and intense learning experiences ¨ People will perform worse on a memory test if kept from dreaming the night before

Dreams: Activation-synthesis Neural activity is random and dreams are your brain’s attempt to make sense of it n Your brain tries to impose meaning on meaningless stimuli n

Dreams: Activation-synthesis n Support ¨ Eye movement of REM sleep coincides with bursts of neural activity in the visual cortex ¨ Would account for random and bizarre occurrences in dreams

Dreams: Physiological Function Dreams serve to provide neural stimulation for a sleeping brain n Stimulation of the neural pathways strengthens connections and makes processing faster and more efficient n

Dreams: Physiological Function n Support ¨ Infants and children experience longer periods of REM sleep than adults. ¨ REM sleep periods decrease as we age

Sleep Across the Lifespan

Dreams n So which is the best theory?