psych 101 lesson 4-6

consciousness

one’s moment to moment subjective experience of the world

of external events

internal sensations or reactions

qualia

subjective experience of sensory perception

change blindness

is when we fail to notice changes in our environment due to distraction

shadowing

where people receive different auditory input in each ear to study selective attention

endogenous attention

is attention directed voluntarily

exogenous attention

is when external stimuli catches our attention involuntarily

priming

facilitation in the response to a stimulus due to recent experience with that stimulus or related stimulus

subliminal perception

involves processing without conscious awareness

freudian slips

freud believed that slips of the tongue had unconscious meaning

concentrative meditation

focused attention on one thing (ie. your breath)

mindfulness meditation

letting thoughts flow freely and paying attention but not reacting to them

flow

an experience that is engrossing and can change consciousness

religious ecstasy—religious ceremonies/practices decrease awareness of external stimuli

athletic “zones”

escapist activities (ie. gaming)

hypnosis

a person, responding to suggestions, experiences changes in memory, perception, and/or action

sociocognitive theory

suggests that hypnotized people are highly suggestible and essentially acting upon a role directed by the hypnotist

neodissociation

views hypnotic states as truly altered states of consciousness

brain imaging supports…

neodissociation theory especially in the context of hypnotic analgesia—pain relief

evidence suggests both…

nature (sleepless gene) and nature (environmental influences on sleep)

most of what we know about seep comes from…

lab research

EEG is used in

sleep research

biological rhythms

periodic fluctuations in physiological functioning

circadian rhythms

24-hour biological rhythms in humans and other species

includes sleep/waking, body temperature

regulated by dark/light exposure

when light is detected by the eyes, signals are sent to the…

suprachiasmatic nucleus—small region of hypothalamus

suprachiasmatic nucleus sends signals to…

the pineal gland, part of the endocrine system

the pineal gland secretes?

melatonin (a hormone) synthesized using serotonin

alert wakefulness

beta waves prominent—high frequency

drowsiness

alpha waves prominent—lower frequency

stages 1-2 of sleep (light sleep)

1. theta waves prominent—even slower

2. brief bursts of high frequency sleep spindles and k-complexes

stages 3-4 (slow wave or deep sleep)

delta waves prominent—slow waves

REM

first cycle occurs about 90 minutes into sleep

deep sleep stage, but with beta waves that are consistent with waking alertness (paradoxical sleep)

eyes dart back and forth

paralysis of motor/muscle systems

genital arousal

frequent dream episodes

repeat sleep cycles…

5 times a night→slow wave periods get slower→REM periods get longer

most dreaming occurs…

toward the end of the night’s sleep

dream

a mental experience during sleep that includes vivid imagery/sensation, emotion

altered states of consciousness

dream content differs in REM or non-REM sleep

non-REM dreams are more…

dull, deactivation of brain regions

REM sleep is

more exciting/bizarre, activation of structures associated with motivation, emotions, visual processing, and reward

wish-fulfillment theory (freud)

manifest (what we dream about) and latent content (what it really means)

activation-synthesis theory (Hobson and McCarley)

dreams are the brain’s attempt to make sense of random neural firing