Transcript Chapter 4: States of Consciousness

What is consciousness?

Being aware of the immediate environment?


Listening to me lecture
Being aware of your inner thoughts, feelings,
and memories?



Things to do today
anger at a slow driver
smell of lilac’s reminding you of Grandma’s house

Early psychology (early 1880’s) was
interested in consciousness

Wundt and Titchner

report contents of consciousness while sitting
still, working, and while falling asleep.
Freud was also interested in
consciousness

According to Freud people have
different levels of consciousness


conscious thoughts of which we are aware
unconscious thoughts of which we are
unaware

Early psychology was dualistic




Today psychology is materialistic


Descartes 17th century
the mind and body are completely separate
it’s as if we have a soul that is our consciousness
that is separate from our bodies physiology
our mind and consciousness are presumed to be
rooted in the physiology of the brain
Also there is evidence that some animals may
be conscious as well.
Modern View of Consciousness

Consciousness is considered on a
continuum.


From alert to dreaming, hypnosis, or drug
states.
Driving a familiar route - suddenly arriving
home without memory of the drive
Sleep

Why do we sleep?

Circadian rhythms.




The bodies natural cycle from being wakeful, to being
sleepy.
Morning people; evening people
jet lag
factory shift work.

Day (8 - 4)  afternoon (4 - 12)  Night (12-8)
What good does sleep do?

The repair and restoration theory

The purpose of sleep is to enable the body
to recover form the exertions of the day.



Do we sleep more after heavy exercise?
Do we all need the same amount of sleep?
What happens if we don’t get to sleep?


Randy Gardner
 stayed awake for 11 days
Peter Tripp (Disc Jockey)
 awake 10 days.
Sleep Deprivation

For the most part Randy Gardner and
Peter Tripp showed little damage from
their sleep deprivation

Didn’t sleep that much more

14 hours the first night


Then back to normal
Didn’t get sick
Peter Tripp

No longer sure he was himself



frequently tried to gain proof of his own
identity
convinced that there was a conspiracy
against him to send him to jail
Demand Characteristics?
The Evolutionary or EnergyConservation Theory

Perhaps we have evolved a regular
pattern of sleeping and waking to
conserve our energy, and keep us out
of danger.

We are more inefficient at night




without light we don’t see well
wasteful of energy resources
potentially dangerous
Horse, Human, Cats
Stages of sleep


A polysomnograph combines EEG brain
waves with eye movement data.
Rapid-eye movement (REM sleep)

eyes move rapidly back and forth beneath
the lids. High frequency (desychronized)
brain waves.
REM is also called paradoxical
sleep


Light - because the brain is active and
heart rate, breathing rate, and
temperature fluctuate substantially
Deep - because muscles that control
posture and locomotion are very
relaxed
EEG activity during sleep




Stage 1 - quite a bit of brain activity
Stage 2, 3, and 4 - The brain activity slows
and becomes more and more synchronized
until the waves are much slower, larger, and
well defined.
Then the person progresses back up from
stage 4, to stage 3, to stage 2.
Instead of having stage 1 repeated they have
REM sleep.
REM Sleep and Dreaming


about 80% of awakenings from REM
sleep led to dream reports
only 7% of awakenings from nonREMsleep stages led to dream reports
Dreams


People are most likely to report dreams
during REM sleep.
People do dream in the non REM states
as well though.



Dreams in REM sleep are more coherent and have
a story line.
Dreams in non REM sleep are less organized.
Stage 4 sleep has been associated with dreams
called night terrors.
Dream Content: What we
dream about and why

Freud



Dreams reveal a person’s unconscious
thoughts and motivations.
Often has to do with sexual tensions
related to repressed desires.
Freud may be far fetched but do you
dream about water when thirsty?

Activation-Synthesis theory


spontaneous activity occurs in brain areas especially during REM sleep.
The brain tries to make sense of this
spontaneous activity.
Interesting Dream/Sleep Facts

(1) Are external stimuli incorporated into dream sequences?


(2) Do dreams run on "real time"?




Yes, even people who claimed that they did not dream had normal amounts
of REM, and they reported dreams if they were awakened during REM-although less frequently
(5) Are somnambulism and sleep talking the acting out of dreams?


Yes, subjects awakened 5 or 15 minutes after the beginning of a dream
could guess the correct interval on the basis of the contents of their dreams
(3) Does everybody dream?


Yes, dripping water onto subjects was in 14 out of 33 dream cases
No, they usually occur during stage 4
(6) myoclonic twitch
(7) hypnagogic hallucinations
(8) recurring dreams
Hypnosis

A condition of increased suggestibility
that occurs in the context of a special
hypnotist-subject relationship.


They are not asleep - brain waves like
being awake - can walk and talk
Requires wanting to be hypnotized and
believing that you are hypnotized

Hypnosis can be used to inhibit pain.



Dental work
surgery
Post hypnotic suggestions.


Stop smoking
lose weight
Myths of hypnosis


Becoming stiff as a board
Enhance memory

from a witnessed crime


if told they will remember more they will, but the
information is often not accurate
From the deep past



child hood memories largely inaccurate
retain vocabulary and writing skills
previous lives? - kinds of money? - is your country at
war?
Age Regression



Robert True (1949) - regressed hypnotized
volunteers back to Christmases and birthday
parties at ages 10, 7, and 4.
Without hypnosis the odds a person could
name what day of the week that Christmas
fell on are 1 in 7 (14%).
The subjects were correct 82% of the time.
Could not be replicated.



Orne (1982) asked why it could not be
replicated.
True said the journal Science had shortened
his key question to “what day is this”.
Actually he had asked his regressed subjects
“Is it Monday?”, “Is it Tuesday?” and so on
until the subject stopped him with a yes.
More of Orne

Will a hypnotized person do something they
would not normally do.




Hand in acid
grab a poisonous snake
throw acid on another person.
Hypnotized - 5 out of 6 did these things


6 out of 6 pretending
2 out of 6 who just thought it was an experiment.
WHY?
Hypnotized or pretending?

Pretenders can:




tolerate sharp pain
make body stiff as a board
experience physiological changes associated with
being told to be angry or happy
Differences between pretenders and
hypnotized:

subtle things - chair and imaginary person
Hill side Strangler


Bianchi - under hypnosis a second
personality was found - that the
defense wanted to claim did the killings
(insanity defense).
Orne again.



Tearing filter from a cigarette
shaking hands with someone not there
response to a false statement.
Is hypnosis real?



People truly hypnotized are not just
faking it - there are identifiable
differences
Hypnosis does not give special powers
that you do not already possess.
Hypnosis merely enables people to
relax, concentrate, and follow
suggestions better than they usually do.
Drugs

A psychoactive drug is a chemical
substance that alters perceptions and
moods

Anything from coffee or cigarettes, to LSD
and heroin
Depressants

Drugs that cause calming effects




Alcohol
Valium and Xanax (benzodiazepines)
Morphine and Heroin (opiates)
Pentobarbital and phenobarbital
(barbiturates)
Stimuluants

Drugs that increase energy and
altertness




Caffeine
Cocaine
Amphetamine
Methamphetamine
Mixed stimulant-depressants

Drugs that seem to both stimulate and
depress.

Nicotine - stimulates brain activity, but
many smokers find it relaxing.
Drugs that distort experience and
hallucinogens





Marijuana (THC)
LSD
Mescaline
mushrooms
peyote
Why are these drugs abused?



One major commonality is that these drugs
all affect the reward pathway in the brain.
Any drug that decreases output from the
nucleus accumbens is rewarding.
Dopamine - shuts down (inhibits) the nucleus
accumbens

most of the drugs I have mentioned increase
dopamine in the synapse.
The Reward Pathway



Some drugs like Angel Dust (PCP)
decrease the amount of Glutamate in
synapses in the nucleus accumbens.
Glutamate is an excitatory
neurotransmitter - so the nucleus
accumbens will become less active
This is also rewarding - feels good.
Which drugs are most
addictive?

Two sets of standards

Legal standards


Set by the Controlled Substances Act of 1970
Five different schedules of drugs



Note that alcohol and nicotine are not on the drug
schedule
Can be bought without prescription
Scientific standards

Reflected by expert views of addictive potential

Two experts rated
abuse potential of
various drugs


Jack Henningfield,
formerly Chief of Clinical
Pharmacology at the
Addiction Research
Center at NIDA
Neil Benowitz, addiction
researcher at University
of California at San
Francisco




1) presence and severity
of withdrawal
2) how reinforcing the
drug is (from human and
animal studies)
3) the degree of tolerance
produced by the drugs
4) degree of dependence



Difficulty quitting
Relapse
5) degree of intoxication

Overall rankings









Heroin (1.9)
Alcohol (2.5)
Cocaine (2.65)
Nicotine (3.35)
Caffeine (5.0)
Marijuana (5.4)
Two of the top 4 substances
are legal
Marijuana is lowest on this
list, but a schedule 1 drug.
Keep in mind long term
consequences were not
included.


Note that low numbers
indicate the most
serious abuse potential
Also note how closely
the two experts rated
the drugs on the
various measures

Physical dependence

Psychological dependence

What does it mean to be addicted?

American Psychiatric Association has
stopped using the term addiction and
addict in their professional writing


Due to bad connotation
They use the term substance related
disorders

Two general disorders


Substance Dependence (more severe)
Substance Abuse


Note that merely using a drug, even if it
is illegal, does not necessarily indicate a
substance related disorder
The use must be maladaptive
Drug classes in more detail

Alcohol (considered a dirty drug)



Ethanol is the type of alcohol that people
consume. Rubbing alcohol (isopropyl) is
very dangerous to consume.
Ethanol is primarily a relaxant
can lead to aggressiveness and risky
behavior by depressing brain areas that
would normally inhibit those behaviors.

Excessive use of alcohol can lead to



liver damage
can impair memory and motor control
A woman that drinks during pregnancy

can impair brain development in her child.




Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
stunted growth of the head and body
malformation of the face, heart, and ears
learning disabilities - mental retardation
Delirium Tremens (DT’s)



Severe Alcoholics are dependent on
alcohol.
They have changed their nervous
system, so that without Alcohol they
will become very sick and could die.
Severe trembling of the hands


Leaving Las Vegas
Hallucinations

seeing Pink Elephants
Tranquilizers



Help to relax and fall asleep
decrease muscle tension
suppress epileptic seizures

barbiturates - highly habit forming and can be fatal in high
doses






Pentobarbital (Nembutal)
Secobarbital (Seconal)
Amobarbital (Amytal)
phenobarbital (Luminal)
slang names for these barbiturates include yellow jackets,
reds, blues, Amy's, and rainbows.
benzodiazepines (Valium and Xanax) – better therapeutic
index

still habit forming, but less so.
Tranquilizers and alcohol do
not mix.



Benzodiazepines work by increasing the
release of the neurotransmitter GABA.
GABA decreases the activity of the
brain.
Alcohol works on GABA as well

If you take tranquilizers and drink
alcohol you have a good chance of
shutting down your medulla.


The medulla is a primitive part of your
brain that controls the heart beat and
breathing
Alcohol and tranquilizers interact 
they increase GABA release much more
together than either would alone.
Opiates

Our body produces endorphins.


Natural chemicals that bind to opiate
receptors in the brain. They serve to
inhibit pain.
The opiates are drugs derived from the
poppy, or human-made (synthetic)
drugs that have a similar chemical
structure to opium.



Morphine and heroin are opiates.
Makes people feel happy and content.
Decreases anxiety and pain.


Tends to make people feel nauseous
Having a good sick


Rat study
Can become physically dependent

kicking the habit; going cold turkey
Myth about Morphine

Many people believe that if they take
morphine to relieve pain from surgery
or some injury that they risk becoming
addicted.

This is unlikely.
Methadone maintenance



Methadone maintenance is a program
where people receive a drink that
prevents the withdrawal symptoms
associated with heroin addiction.
They are still addicted but they have
more control.
No needles and less intense
psychological effects.
Marijuana

Variety of effects






drowsiness
intensification of sensory experience
illusion that time is passing slowly
under high doses some report mild hallucinations.
Can reduce the pressure in the eye
associated with glaucoma
Cancer patients - reduce nausea and pain
Can be detected for a long
time



Marijuana dissolves in the fats of the
body, so it can be detected weeks after
taking the drug.
It is not physically addictive, but people
do become psychologically addicted.
It would be very difficult to overdose on
marijuana
Risks?


Lung Cancer
impairment of learning and memory



animal studies have shown that it can temporarily
shrink dendrite size.
There are a large number of receptor sites for
THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) in the
hippocampus.
The hippocampus is an important brain structure
involved in learning and memory
Stimulants

Boost energy, heighten alertness,
increase activity, and produce a
pleasant feeling.

Coffee - contains caffeine. People can
become dependent


drowsiness
headaches
Cocaine and Amphetamine

They act by increasing the amount of
dopamine in the synapse.


Also increase the activity of norepinephrine
and serotonin
Cocaine is also a local anesthetic.
Produces numbness - placing cocaine
on the tongue.

Novocaine is used by dentists

Cocaine was predominately inhaled as a
powder into the nostrils until recently.




This type of cocaine use has caused
addiction in many people.
Makes people feel powerful, and vibrant.
Can lead to holes in the nasal membrane
severe use can lead to symptoms that
resemble paranoid schizophrenia (Cocaine
Psychosis) - Insects under the skin.
Crack Cocaine


Crack is cocaine that has been processed so
that it can be smoked.
This increases it’s ability to get to the brain.



More intense rush
high in seconds
It is very addictive - Addiction may not set in
rapidly, but once it does the drug is more
important than other basic drives.
Tobacco

Cigarettes, cigars, dip, and chew all contain
nicotine.


Nicotine acts at dopamine receptors much like
cocaine and amphetamine - however it produces a
smaller high.
Increases heart rate and blood pressure.


People still consider it calming, however
nicotine addiction occurs slowly, but it is hard to
break the addiction.
Hallucinogens





Drugs that cause sensory distortions.
Derived from mushrooms and other plants
LSD, PCP (angel dust), and mescaline
intensify sensations.
Can cause dream like states and mystical
experiences
can cause hallucinations (probably due to
action at the serotonin receptors)
MDMA - Ecstasy

3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine




Sense of well being
People say it helps them to open up and talk about
their feelings



The relationship drug
Destroys serotonin neurons in rat models
Causes abnormalities in the serotonin system of
squirrel monkeys after 12-18 months of exposure


Related to amphetamine
Also phenthylamine – a hallucinogen
Mood – sleep
Very high doses destroy DA cells in rats
Ketamine – Special K

Described as a "dissociative" drug, meaning
that it feels as if the mind is separated from
the body.



PCP – Angel Dust
At low doses, K gives users a floating feeling,
numb extremities and an increased heart
rate.
At high doses, hallucinations, depressed
breathing and unconsciousness can occur,
therefore, it is very dangerous when
combined with alcohol or Valium.