States of Consciousness What is Consciousness Consciousness consists

States of Consciousness

What is Consciousness? • Consciousness consists of all the sensations, perceptions, memories and feeling you are aware of. • Altered States of Consciousness

Levels of Consciousness • Based on Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory • Preconscious: Information that is not currently in consciousness but available to consciousness • Unconscious: Part of the mind that stores emotional memories, desires and feelings that could be harmful if brought to consciousness

Daydreams • A common variation of consciousness in which attention shifts to memories, expectations, desires or fantasies • Advantages include: – A way to escape – Prepare for future events – Aware of unfinished business – Increase creativity – Substitute for impulsive behavior

Who’s Paying Attention?

Biological Rhythms • Circadian Rhythms: periodic physiological fluctuations built into human beings that repeats approximately every 24 hours

Sleep’s Functions • Theories: • 1. Sleep protects • 2. Helps us recuperate • 3. Facilitates growth in babies

Sleep Deprivation

Sleep • Sleep: refers to the periodic, natural, reversible loss of consciousness. • Using an EEG, sleep researchers have shown the mind is “awake” during various stages of sleep.

Brain Waves and Stages of Sleep

Sleep Stages: Stage One (Light Sleep) • During Stage 1 sleep, your heart rate slows, breathing becomes irregular and experience hypnic jerks. • Slow Theta waves accompanied by fast Beta waves will appear on the EEG machine in Stage 1

Second Stage: Sleep Spindles • After about 5 minutes in stage 1 sleep, you delve into Stage 2 sleep which is characterized by – Sleep Spindles: bursts of rapid, rhythmic, brain wave activity. • Stage where you are clearly asleep. Sleep talking can occur in this stage or any other later stage.

Stages Three and Four • In these two stages the sleeper enters a progressively deeper state of relaxed sleep • The heart rate and breathing slows down at this stage. Brain waves also slow. • Deepest point of sleep occurs in Stage 4 • As stage 4 ends, the sleeper climbs back through the stages in reverse order

Stage Four: Deep Sleep • Stage when you are hard to awaken…but still aware of stimuli around you. This is due to a resurgence in electrical activity in the brain. • Stage at which children may wet the bed or sleep walk. • Also experience night terrors.

R. E. M. Sleep • R. E. M. : rapid eye movement sleep, stage where vivid dreams occur. Heart rate increases, Breathing more rapid, eyes dart behind lids. • R. E. M. sleep is now thought of as it’s own stage of sleep, between being awake and Stage 1 of sleep • NREM sleep occurs during the sleep stages, and this is a time where there are no dreams, or the dreams are not recalled as vividly as R. E. M. sleep

R. E. M. Sleep

Sleep Disorders • Insomnia: inability to fall asleep or stay asleep. • 10 -15 % of adults • Sleeping pills and alcohol might make it worse – Less REM sleep

Sleep Disorders • Sleep Apnea: sleep disorder characterized by a temporary stoppage of breathing during sleep and consequent momentary awakenings. • Often complained about as “snoring. ” • Often interrupts deep sleep stages leaving person feeling exhausted.

Dreams

What’s the Meaning Of Dreams? Depends Who You Ask! • Psychoanalytic Theorists like Freud will argue that dreams represent the royal road to the “unconscious. ” Dreams represent unresolved wishes/desires and discharge feelings that would be unacceptable if consciously voiced. – wish fulfillment – discharge otherwise unacceptable feelings • Manifest Content: represents remembered story line of a dream. • Latent Content: represents underlying meaning of dreams dealing with wishes and drives.

What’s The Meaning of Dreams? Depends Who You Ask! • Activation-Synthesis Theory: dreams begin with random electrical activation coming from the brain stem. Dreams, then, are the brain’s attempt to make sense of (synthesize) this random activity

ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS HYPNOSIS & MEDITATION

Hypnosis • Hypnosis- an altered • state of consciousness characterized by narrowed attention and increased suggestibility

Hypnosis Can anyone Experience Hypnosis? • It depends on the subject’s openness to suggestion

Hypnosis Can Hypnosis Enhance Recall of Forgotten Events? • Hypnosis does not help us recover “accurate memories as far back as birth” • Highly hypnotizable people are especially venerable to false memory suggestions

Is Hypnosis an Altered State of Consciousness Hypnosis as a social phenomenon • Behaviors produced through hypnotic procedures can also be produced without them • People do what is expected of them

MEDITATION • Is defined as a mental exercise for producing relaxation or heightened awareness • Meditation interrupts the typical flow of thoughts, worries and analysis. It helps to reduce stress, anxiety, tension, etc… • Evokes a Relaxation Response