Transcript sleep - States of Consciousness

By: Jenna Goodrich
AP Psychology 2009
 Consciousness–
our awareness of ourselves
and our environment
We register and react to stimuli that we do not
consciously perceive
 Unlike
the parallel processing of
subconscious information, conscious
processing takes place in sequence
 Daydreaming
can be adaptive
 Some
daydreams prepare us for future events
 Playful
fantasies enhance the creativity of
scientists, writers and artists
 For
children, the daydreaming of imaginative
play nourishes social and cognitive
development
Biological Rhythms
-periodic physiological fluctuations
-annual cycles– bears hibernate
-28-day cycles– female menstrual cycle
-24 hour cycles– varying and falling alertness
-90 minute cycles- various stages of sleep
 Circadian
Rhythm– the biological clock;
regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24
hour cycle
 Thinking
is sharpest and memory most
accurate when we are at their daily peak in
circadian arousal
 About
every 90-100 minutes we pass through
a cycle of five distinct sleep stages.
 REM
sleep– rapid eye movement sleep, a
recurring sleep stage during which vivid
dreams commonly occur.

Also known as paradoxical sleep because the
muscles are relaxed but other body systems are
active
 Alpha
waves– the relatively slow brain waves
of a relaxed, awake state
 Sleep–
periodic, natural, reversible loss of
consciousness– as distinct from
unconsciousness resulting from a coma,
general anesthesia, or hibernation
 Lasts
up to 5 minutes
 During stage one sleep you may experience
hallucinations

Hallucinations- false sensory experiences, such as
seeing something in the absence of an external
visual stimulus
 About
20 minutes long
 Characterized by the periodic appearance of
sleep spindles– bursts of rapid, rhythmic
brain wave activity
 First
in stage 3 and increasingly in stage 4,
your brain emits delta waves


Delta waves– the large, slow brain waves
associated with deep sleep
These stages together are called slow-wave sleep
 Sleep



Deprivation Effects
Major effect of lessened sleep in not only
sleepiness but a general malaise
Less sleep= more accidents
More sleep= less accidents
 Other

effects of sleep loss are subtle
Suppression of the immune system, altering of
the metabolic and hormonal functioning,
irritability, slowed performance, and impaired
communication, concentration, and creativity.
 Sleep



Functions
Sleep protects
Sleep helps us recuperate
Sleep may also play a role in the growth process

During deep sleep, the pituitary gland releases a
growth hormone
 Insomnia

Recurring problems in falling or staying asleep
 Narcolepsy


A sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable
sleep attacks.
The sufferer may lapse directly into REM sleep,
often at inopportune times.
 Sleep

Apnea
A sleep disorder characterized by temporary
cessations of breathing during sleep and
consequent momentary reawakening
 Night


Terrors
A sleep disorder characterized by high arousal
and an appearance of being terrified.
Unlike nightmares, night terrors occur during
stage 4 sleep, within 2 or 3 hours of falling
asleep and are seldom remembered.

Occur mostly in children
 REM


dreams
“hallucinations of the sleeping mind”
Are vivid, emotional, and bizarre
 Dreams


A sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts
passing through a sleeping person’s mind.
Dreams are notable for their hallucinatory
imagery, discontinuities, and incongruities, and
for the dreamer’s delusional acceptance of the
content and later difficulties remembering it.

Freud argued that by fulfilling wishes, a dream
provides a psychic safety value that discharges
otherwise unacceptable feelings.
 Manifest



content
According to Freud, the remembered story line
of a dream
A dreamer’s manifest content is a censored,
symbolic version of its latent content
Latent Content

According to Freud, the underlying meaning of a
dream.
 Freud believed that a dream’s latent content
functions as a safety value
 Dreams
may also serve a physiological
function


Provide the sleeping brain with periodic
stimulation
Activation-Synthesis Theory

this neural activity is random, and dreams are the
brain’s attempt to make sense of it
 REM

rebound
The tendency for REM sleep to increase following
REM sleep deprivation
 Hypnosis

A social interaction in which one person suggests
to another that certain perceptions, feelings,
thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur.
 Posthypnotic

Amnesia
Supposed inability to recall what one
experienced during hypnosis

Induced by the hypnotist’s suggestion
Nearly everyone can experience hypnosis.
60 years of research dispute the claims of age
regression.
Hypnosis can NOT force someone to act against
their will.
Behaviors produced through hypnotic procedures
can also be produced without them
 Can

Posthypnotic Suggestion

A suggestion, made during a hypnotic session, to be
carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotized.
 Used by some clinicians to help control undesired
symptoms and behaviors.
 Can


hypnosis be therapeutic?
Hypnosis Alleviate pain?
YES!.. Dissociation- a split in consciousness,
which allows some thoughts and behaviors to
occur simultaneously with others.
Selective attention- an injured athlete, caught
up in the competition, feels little or no pain until
the game ends.
 Hypnosis


as divided consciousness:
Most hypnosis researchers grant that normal
social and cognitive processes play a part in
hypnosis, but they nevertheless believe hypnosis
is more than imaginative acting
Hidden observer

Hilgard’s term describing a hypnotized student’s
awareness of experiences, such as pain, that go
unreported during hypnosis.
 Psychoactive

drug
A chemical substance that alters perceptions and
moods
 Tolerance

The diminishing effect with regular use of the
same dose of a drug, requiring the user to take
larger and larger doses before experiencing the
drug’s effect
 Withdrawal

The discomfort and distress that follow
discontinuing the use of an addictive drug
 Physical

dependence
A physiological need for a drug, marked by
unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the drug
is discontinued
 Psychological

dependence
A psychological need to use a drug, such as to
relieve negative emotions
 Depressants

Drugs that reduce neural activity and slow bodily
functions

Ex: alcohol, barbiturates, and opiates
 Barbiturates

Drugs that depress the activity of the central
nervous system and reduce anxiety and impair
memory and judgment.
 Opiates


Opium and its derivatives such as morphine and
heroin
They depress neural activity and temporarily
lessen pain and anxiety
 Stimulants

Drugs that excite neural activity and speed up
body functions

Ex: caffeine, nicotine, and powerful amphetamines
 Amphetamines

Drugs that stimulate neural activity, causing
sped-up body functions, associated energy and
mood changes
 Ecstasy


(MDMA)
A synthetic stimulant and mild hallucinogen
Produces euphoria and social intimacy, but with
short-term health risks and longer- term harm to
serotonin-producing neurons and to mood and
cognition
 Hallucinogens

Psychedelic (“mind-manifesting”) drugs, such as
LSD, that distort perceptions and evoke sensory
images in the absence of sensory input

Ex: LSD
 A powerful hallucinogen drug (also known as acid)
 Biological

influences
Some people may be biologically vulnerable to
alcohol
 Psychological

Psychological


and cultural influences
The feeling that one’s life is meaningless and
directionless
Social

Drugs can have social roots, evident in differing rates
of drug use across cultural groups
 Peers influence through words and examples
 Near-death


experiences
An altered state of consciousness reported after
a close brush with death
Often similar to drug-induced hallucinations

about 1/3 of those who have survived a brush with
death, such as through cardiac arrest, later recall
visionary near-death experiences
 Dualists

The presumption that mind and body are two
distinct entities that interact

Dualists interpret near-death experiences as evidence
of human immortality
 Monists

The presumption that mind and body are
different aspects of the same thing

Monists point out that reports of near-death
experiences closely parallel reports of hallucinations
and may be products of a brain under stress