Consciousness

Consciousness

Awareness of everything that is going on around you and inside your own head at any given moment, which you use to organize your behavior

Waking consciousness

State in which thoughts, feelings, and sensations are clear and organized and the person feels alert

Altered states of consciousness

State in which there is a shift in the quality/pattern of mental activity as compared to consciousness

Circadian rhythm

A cycle of bodily rhythm that occurs over a 24-hour period

Microsleeps

Brief sidesteps into sleep lasting only a few seconds

Adaptive theory

Animals and humans evolved sleep in patterns to avoid predators by sleeping when predators are most active

Restorative theory

Sleep is necessary to the physical health of the body and serves to replenish chemicals and repair cellular damage

Sleep deprivation

Any significant loss of sleep, resulting in problems in concentration and irritability

REM sleep

Stage of sleep in which the eyes move rapidly under the eyes and the person is experiencing a dream

NREM sleep

Any of the stages of sleep that do not include REM

Beta waves

Smaller and faster brain waves typically indicating mental activity

Alpha waves

Brain waves that indicate a state of relaxation/light sleep

Theta waves

Brain waves indicating the early stages of sleep

Delta waves

Long, slow brain waves that indicate the deepest stage of sleep

Sleep paralysis

The inability of the voluntary muscles to move during REM sleep

REM behavior disorder

A rare disorder in which the mechanism that blocks the movement of the voluntary muscles fails, allow the person to thrash around and even get up and act out nightmares

REM rebound

Increases amounts of REM sleep after being deprived of REM sleep on earlier nights

Nightmares

Bad dreams occurring during REM sleep

Night terrors

Relatively rare disorder in which the person experiences extreme fear and screams or runs around during deep sleep without waking fully

Sleepwalking

Occurring during deep sleep, and episode of moving around or walking around in one’s sleep

Sleep apnea

Disorder in which a person stops breathing for 10 seconds or more

Narcolepsy

Sleep disorder in which a person falls immediately into REM sleep during the day without warning

Activation-synthetic hypothesis

Premise that states that dreams are created by the higher centers of the cortex to explain the activation by the brain stem of cortical cells during REM sleep periods

Activation-information-mode model

Revised version of the activation-synthesis explanation of dreams in which information that is accessed during waking hours can have an influence on the synthesis of dreams

Hypnosis

State of consciousness in which the person is especially susceptible to suggestion

Contingency-management therapy

Patients earn vouchers for negative drug tests

Cognitive-behavioral interventions

Change the way people think about the stresses in their life and react to those stresses

Stimulants

Drugs that increase the functions of the nervous system

Depressants

Drugs that decrease the function of the nervous system

Hallucinogens

Drugs that alter perception and may cause hallucination or increases feelings of relaxation and intoxications

Amphetamines

Stimulants that are synthesize (made) in laboratories rather than being found in nature (stimulant)

Cocaine

A natural drug that produces feelings of euphoria (stimulant)

Barbiturates

Major tranquilizers; depressing drugs that have a sedative (sleep-inducing) effect

Benzodiazepines

Minor tranquilizers; Drugs that lower anxiety and reduce stress