Sleep, Dreaming, and Psychoactive Drugs

The personal awareness of thoughts, sensations, memories, and the external world

Consciousness

William James likened consciousness to:

An ever-changing "stream" or "river" that nonetheless is perceived as unified and unbroken

Controlled processes require:

Both focused, maximum attention, and minimal attention

Example of controlled processes requiring focused, maximum attention:

Taking an AP exam or backup parking during a driver’s test

Example of controlled processes requiring minimal attention:

Walking in a shopping mall while talking on a cell phone

Subconscious is below:

Conscious awareness

When is a person subconscious?

Sleeping and dreaming

Biologically-based lowest level of awareness:

No awareness

When does a person have no awareness?

Being in a coma or under anesthesia

Levels of awareness:

Controlled processes, subconscious, no awareness

Biological processes that systematically vary over a period of about 24 hours

Circadian rhythms

Researchers have identified more than ______ bodily processes that rhythmically peak and dip each day

100

Examples of circadian rhythms:

Sleep-wake cycle, blood pressure, secretion of different hormones, pulse rate

When all time cues are removed, our sleep-wake cycle averages about:

25 hours

Common examples of activities that disrupt normal circadian rhythms:

Jet lag and rotating work schedules

Activities that disrupt normal circadian rhythms can lead to:

Reduced concentration and increased fatigue

What things are involved in regulating circadian rhythms?

Photoreceptors, the pineal gland, and the hypothalamus

A prolonged period of unconsciousness that typically happens for several hours each night

Sleep

Sleep researchers use what to to detect and record brain-wave changes during the sleep cycle?

Electroencephalograph

Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings show that:

Sleep consists of a repeating pattern of distinct stages

Two basic types of sleep:

REM and NREM

REM stands for:

Rapid-eye-movement sleep

Active sleep in which the sleeper's eves dart back and forth behind closed eyelids

REM

REM is accompanied by:

Increased brain activity, blood pressure, and heart rate

REM is highly correlated with:

Dreaming

NREM stands for:

Non-rapid-eye-movement sleep

NREM is what type of sleep:

Quiet

NREM is associated with:

Slowing brain activity

NREM is divided into how many stages?

4

What percent of sleep is in the form of NREM sleep?

80%

What type of sleep is it during stage 1 of NREM sleep?

Light

How long does stage 1 of NREM sleep last?

Only a few minutes

NREM is characterized by:

Slowing heart rate and decreasing blood pressure

What type of sleep is it during stage 2 of NREM sleep?

True

How long does stage 2 of NREM sleep last?

15-20 minutes

Stage 2 of NREM is characterized by:

The periodic appearance of sleep spindles

Short bursts of rapid, high-amplitude brain waves

Sleep spindles

What type of sleep is it during stage 3-4 of NREM?

Deep

How long do stage 3-4 of NREM last?

20-40 minutes

Stages 3-4 of NREM are characterized by:

Low levels of breathing, blood pressure, and
heart rate

The initial four NREM stages typically last about:

An hour

What happens after a sleeper completes stage 4 of NREM?

Reverses back through stage 3, then stage 2, then REM sleep instead of stage 1

REM sleep is often referred to as:

Paradoxical sleep

A phenomenon that is contradictory, but nonetheless true

Paradox

Why is REM sleep paradoxical?

It is simultaneously characterized by active eye movements and the loss of muscle movement

Why is the suppression of voluntary muscle activity during REM sleep important?

Prevents the sleeper from acting out dreams

The amount of REM sleep changes / stays constant during our life span

Changes

Infants spend about ___ percent of their sleep in REM.

40%

Adults spend about ___ percent of their sleep in REM.

20%

People over age 70 spend about ___ percent of their sleep in REM.

14%

How long is a cycle of alternating NREM and REM sleep?

90 minutes

In a typical night, how many cycles of alternating NREM and REM sleep are there?

5

The first REM episode is long/short

Short

As the night progresses, the REM phases become longer/shower

Longer

As the night progresses, more/less time is spent in NREM

Less

Theories of sleep:

Restoration theory, adaptive theory

Proponents of the Restoration Theory of Sleep argue that:

Sleep rejuvenates the mind and the body

REM sleep restores:

Mental and brain functions

NREM sleep restores:

Key physical functions

The restoration theory is supported by:

Studies in which researchers selectively deprive subjects of REM sleep

When subjects deprived of REM sleep are allowed to resume uninterrupted sleep cycles, they experience a:

REM rebound

Dramatic increase in REM sleep

REM rebound

When subjects deprived of NREM sleep are allowed to resume uninterrupted sleep cycles, they experience a:

NREM rebound

Evolutionary psychologists argue that:

Sleep patterns evolved so that both human and non-human animals could conserve energy and avoid predators, sleep is a necessary part of circadian cycles

Theories of dreams:

Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic view, Activation-synthesis view

In The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud boldly declared that:

Dreams are "the royal road to the unconscious"

According to Freud, dreams provide:

Insights into unconscious motives

According to Freud, how do dreams provide insights into unconscious motives?

By expressing hidden desires and conflicts

According to Freud, dreams contain:

A story line or manifest content that consists of symbols

What do manifest symbols do?

Disguise the dream’s true meaning

According to Freud, what provides the dream’s real unconscious meaning?

The latent or hidden content

Freud’s theory is subjective/objective

Subjective

Freud’s theory lacks:

Scientific support

J. Allan Hobson is a:

Sleep researcher

J. Allan Hobson proposed:

An activation-synthesis theory of sleep

What led J. Allan Hobson to propose an activation-synthesis theory of sleep?

His research findings

According to the activation-synthesis theory of sleep, the brain is:

Attempting to make sense of random stimulation from the brain stem

According to Hobson, how does the brain make sense of random stimulation from the brain stem?

By synthesizing these spontaneous signals into coherent patterns or dreams

Does Hobson believe that dreams are completely meaningless?

No

How is Hobson different from Freud?

Believes that a dream's meaning is not derived from decoding hidden symbols, but from analyzing the personal way in which a dream organizes images

Examples of sleep disorders:

Insomnia, sleep apnea, sleepwalking

The most common sleep disorder

Insomnia

Insomnia is characterized by:

Persistent problems in falling asleep, staying asleep, or awakening too early

"Apnea" is a Greek term meaning:

"Want of breath"

Sleep apnea is common in:

Overweight men over the age of 50

Sleep apnea is characterized by:

Periods of loud snoring, interrupted breathing, gasping for air, and brief awakenings

Sleepwalking is much more common in children or adults?

Children

Sleepwalking is characterized by:

An episode of walking or performing other actions during Stage 3 or Stage 4 of NREM sleep

a trance-like state of heightened suggestibility, deep relaxation, and intense focus

Hypnosis

Hypnosis is used to:

Reduce stress and anxiety, divert attention from pain, manage pain during medical and dental procedures

Hypnosis is used in:

Efforts to lose weight or stop smoking

Limitations of hypnosis:

No one can be hypnotized against his or her will, hypnosis cannot make a person violate their moral values, hypnosis cannot bestow new talents or make a person stronger, the validity of hypnosis as a treatment for psychiatric disorders is most directly challenged by the lack of empirical support for its efficacy - There is no reliable way to determine if a person is hypnotized

Explanations of Hypnosis:

Dissociation and Social Influence Theory

Ernest Hilgard conducted an experiment in which:

Hypnotized subjects showed no sign of pain when they submerged their arms in an ice bath. However, when Hilgard asked the subjects to lift their index finger if they felt pain, 70 percent did

Hilgard theorized that:

Hypnosis induces a special state of dissociation

Dissociation means:

Divided consciousness

Dissociation enables the hypnotized subjects of Ernest Hilgard to:

Consciously respond to the hypnotist’s suggestion that the cold water is not painful, while at the same time processing a second dissociated stream of mental activity that enabled them to sense the water's
temperature

Proponents of the social influence theory argue that:

There is no such thing as a hypnotic trance

Proponents of the social influence theory believe in what instead of the existence of a hypnotic trance?

People are enacting the socially constructed role of a hypnotic subject

The social influence theory explains:

Hilgard’s findings