Unit 1.1 Part 2

Consciousness

our awareness of ourselves and our environment

States of consciousness

normal waking awareness and various altered states

Conscious

what we are actively thinking

Unconscious

rarely if ever visible

Cognitive neuroscience

the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (thinking, remembering, communicating)

Dual Processing

information is simultaneously processes on both conscious and unconscious tracks

Parallel Processing

multiple aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously- handles routine business

Sequential Processing

processing one aspect of a stimulus or problem at a time

Wakefulness

state of consciousness (tip of the iceberg)

Sleep

the periodic, natural loss of consciousness distinct from coma, anesthesia, or hibernation

Protection (things that happen during sleep)

our ancestors would hide and sleep out of harm’s way

Restoration (things that happen during sleep)

repair, rewire, reorganize

• heal from infection, restore the immune system, repair neurons, and cleans up toxins

Memories (things that happen during sleep)

restore and rebuild our memories- consolidation, storage, repeating

Creativity (things that happen during sleep)

• dreams can inspire us

• those who sleep perform better on problem solving tasks

Growth (things that happen during sleep)

during sleep, pituitary gland releases growth hormone- needed for muscle development

Energy (things that happen during sleep)

sleeping uses very little energy, so it allows us to use energy when we need it most (during the day)

Biological rhythm

periodic fluctuations in physiological functioning

Circadian rhythm

biological clocks that keep our bodies on a 24-hour cycle

• more awake at sunrise/the morning, more tired at dusk/nighttime

Melatonin

hormone that induces sleep

• more melatonin- more tired, less melatonin- less tired

Ultradian rhythm

cycle that repeats more than once a day

• 3 NREM stages, 1 REM stage, and repeat

Stage N1

• First 5 minutes or so, easy to wake

• Everything begins to slow— heart rate, muscle tension, body temperature

Hypnagogic Hallucinations

vivid sensory phenomena

• muscle spasm or twitch that often wakes a person

ex: feeling or falling

• Alpha waves

Stage N2

• lasts 20 min

• more clearly asleep

Sleep spindles

sudden bursts  of brain activity

Stage N3

• lasts about 30 minutes

• deepest stage of sleep

• no memory- brain is ASLEEP

• long time to wake up but still capable of moving

• Delta waves

REM

rapid eye movement

Paradoxical sleep

body is asleep, but mind is awake/active- similar brain waves to wakefulness

• closer to consciousness than any other stage of sleep, but muscles are paralyzed

• VIVID dreams ONLY occur here

What Effects Sleep?

• Age

• Genes

• Culture

Insomnia

recurring problems in falling or staying asleep

Narcolepsy

uncontrollable sleep attacks

Sleep apnea

temporary stoppage of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings

REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

act out dreams; body doesn’t stay paralyzed

Somnambulism (sleepwalking)

body moving while the brain is in Stage 3; harmless,no memory the following morning

Sleep talking

talking while asleep; can be jumbles words or clear sentences

Night terrors

high arousal and feelings of fear

• disorder

Nightmares

scary visuals while you are in REM sleep; just dreams, not a disorder

REM Rebound

tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation

Dreams

sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind

• ex: musicians dream about music more than others

Manifest content

the remembered story line of a dream (ex: childhood home burning down)

Latent content

underlying meaning of a dream

• ex: moving to college, loss of childhood / innocence

File away memories

sift though the day’s events and process problems

Develop and preserve neural pathways

provide brain with stimulation to expand neural pathways

Make sense of neural static aka Activation synthesis

REM triggers lots of  neural activity/static while we sleep, especially in emotional regions → brain pieces it together

Reflect cognitive development

the more we develop cognitively, the more complex of dreams we have