AP Psych Levels of Consciousness Notes

Consciousness

The awareness of one’s environment and mental processes

Most early psychologists studied levels of consciousness

varies throughout the day

Higher level of consciousness= better to process info

William James’ definition of Consciousness

• Always Changing

• A personal experience

  • different for everyone

• Continuous

• Selective

Freud’s View on Consciousness

Iceberg Theory

Conscious- ideas, memories, feelings, or motives of which we are actively aware

Preconscious- aspects of our experience that are not conscious but can easily be brought to awareness

• more info based like old locker number

Unconscious- cognitions, feelings, or motives of which we are not aware

• takes time and effort to bring to awareness

  • need hypnosis

Sleep

an altered state of consciousness

a form of consciousness

a lot of processing goes on when we sleep

Electroencephalogram

One of the devices used to determines a person’s sleep stages

EEG- best measure of brain electrical activity

measures electrical activity of the brain

Electromyogram

Measures Muscle tone, another indicator of sleep stages

also used in sleep studies to help indicate sleep level

if have major sleep issues, you will be prescribed a sleep study

measures what the sleep actually looks like

4 brainwave stages

Beta- awake and REM, 13-30 Hz

• dreams in REM sleep are more vivid, not the same as NREM dreams

Alpha- stage 1 sleep, 7-13 Hz

Theta- transitional sleep (when brain is transitioning between stages of sleep), 3.5-7 Hz

Delta- deep sleep, 0.5-3.5 Hz

• stages 3 and 4

How many stages of NREM sleep are there?

4

NREM

Non Rapid Eye Movement

Dreams can occur, but not the same as REM dreams

Stage 1 of Sleep

Stage 1: Brief transitional stage usually lasts 5-10 minutes

• shallow sleep, short nap

Alpha waves give way to Theta waves

Predominatly alpha waves with theta waves towards the end

very light sleep

hypnotic state

change one’s habits through hypnotic suggestions

Hypnic jerk

Hypnotic state

at the beginning of sleep and at the end when waking up- not with alarm

change one’s habits through hypnotic suggestions- right before falling asleep

right before going to sleep feels like about to go into hypnosis

Hypnic Jerk

feeling of falling followed by a jerk into wakefulness

almost like the brain does want to do to sleep yet

Stage 2 of Sleep

Stage 2: Characterized by brief burst (spindles) of higher frequency brain waves, sleep spindles- fairly regular intervals

relatively easy to be awakened

predominantly theta waves

• transitional waves that happens between stages of sleep

Sleep spindles- unique to this stage

K-complex- unique to this stage

Sleep Spindles

unique to Stage 2

short bursts of brain activity

K complex

unique to stage 2

the brain is shutting out external stimuli (ability to hear and sense of surroundings)

• shut out what we don’t need so brain can go into deep sleep

Stage 3 of Sleep

20% of EEG activity DELTA WAVES

predominantly delta waves, deep sleep waves

very difficult to awaken

internal functions slow down, brain is most inactive in deep sleep

“deep sleep” or physical restful sleep

• get most physical restfulness

more 3 and 4 at the beginning of the night, less as night goes on

stage 3 and 4, tossing and turning occurs

stage 3 sleepwalking occurs, motor cortex is activated in this stage

• somnambulism

Sleepwalking

also known as somnambulism

occurs in stage 3

motor cortex in the brain is activated which allows sleepwalking to occur

Stage 4 of Sleep

More than 50% of EEG DELTA WAVES

last stage of NREM sleep

at the end of stage 4 brainwaves start to increase as you travel up stages 3,2,1 and then enter your first period of REM sleep (vivid dream time)

What is the ideal amount of sleep per night?

7-8 hours

B-A-T-D back to B

Beta

Alpha

Theta

Delta

Back to beta

REM Sleep

Rapid Eye Movement

Brain is just as active as when it is awake

Beta Waves- same as awake and alert

REM is caused by the visual cortex (occipital lobe which is 1 of 4 main parts of the brain, located in the back) of the brain being activated during dreaming

adults typically spend 25% of night in REM sleep

• teens spend more

REM is most essential for our cognitively ability and mood

REM increases as the night goes on and during stressful times

FMRI

Functional Magnetic Residents Imagining

machine that reads activity in the brain as it is going on

• a lot of activity in REM sleep

Time for entire sleep cycle

90 minutes

Time for stages 1-4 of sleep

60 minutes