Module 1.5a-c

Consciousness

Our subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment. It allows us to:
- Make sense of sensations, emotions, and choices.
- Focus our awareness
- Flip between stages of consciousness

Spontaneous Consciousness

Sudden, includes daydreaming, flow, dreaming.

Physiological Induced Consciousness

States of consciousness that are caused physically, such as hallucinations, orgasm, starvation.

Psychologically Induced Consciousness

States of consciousness that are caused psychologically, such as sensory deprivation, hypnosis, and meditation.

Cognitive Neuroscience

The interdisciplinary (more than one branch of knowledge) study of the brain’s activity linked to mental processes.

Dual Processing

The principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious & unconscious tracks.

Parallel Computing

Unconscious processing of multiple aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously. Beneficial for routine tasks.

Sequential Computing

Conscious process of one aspect of a stimuli at a time. Beneficial for learning new or difficult tasks.

Blindsight

A condition where a person can respond unconsciously to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing (seeing) it.

Sleep

A periodic natural loss of consciousness.

Circadian Rhythm

A biological clock with regular body rhythms that happen on a 24 hour cycle

Effect of bright light on sleep

Activates sensors in the eye, causing the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN) or the pacemaker of the Circadian Rhythm to decrease melatonin production, causing desynchronization of the Circadian Rhythm.

Alpha Waves

The slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake brain.

Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (REM/R)

A recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams occur.
The heart & breathing rate goes up, eyes dart around, genitals become aroused, muscles become relaxed.

Paradoxical Sleep

Another name for REM sleep because it causes your internal body to be aroused but not your external body.

Stage 1 Sleep

Transition to sleep, where there are brief hallucinations that may be incorporated into memory.

Hypnagogic Sensations

Brief hallucinations of jerking or feeling of floating happening in N1 sleep.

Stage 2 Sleep

When you are asleep, with sleep spindles. It aids in memory processing. At first it is ~20 minutes but increases as you sleep.

Stage 3 Sleep

Deep sleep that emits large and slow delta waves. ~30 minutes.

Reasons for Sleep (6)

1. Sleep Protects (our ancestors that slept in the dark had a higher survival rate).

2. Sleep Restores

3. Sleep aids memory consolidation

4. Feeds creative thinking via dreams

5. Human growth hormone

6. Conserves energy.

What does sleep restore?

• Heals infections

• Restores Immune

• Strengthens and rests neurons

• Gets rid of free radicals (damages neurons).

• Gets rid of protein fragments (causes Alhzeimer’s).

Effects of sleep loss on mood:

Tiredness causes testiness, and without REM Sleep, emotions are not processed leading to depression.

Effects of sleep loss physically:

Tiredness, Weight Gain, Decreased Immune, Microsleep (1-6s of sleep you don’t realize), Sleep Apnea.

Ghrelin

Hormone that increases with lack of sleep, arousing hunger.

Leptin

Hormone that suppresses hunger, decreases with lack of sleep,

Cortisol

Stress hormone that stimulates the body to make fat/decrease metabolism. Increases with lack of sleep.

Sleep disrupts gene expression, increase risk of _______ disease and other diseases

Heart.

Lack of sleep enhances the ______ system’s brain response to food, _________ the body’s temptation to eat

Limbic, increasing.

REM Dreams

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

Things that determine a dream’s content:

Trauma, Vision Loss (some people who are blind or deaf still experience sight or hearing in their dreams), Media Experiences, and External Stimulus like music or touching.

Insomnia

Difficulty falling asleep, which causes chronic tiredness.

Narcolepsy

Sudden attacks of overwhelming tiredness, which can cause you to sleep in dangerous situations like driving.

Sleep Apnea

Stopping breathing while sleeping, which causes fatigue, depression, and obesity (esp. in men).

Sleep Walking

Complex motor behavior during N3 sleep, though not necessarily harmful and people usually remember these motor events.

REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

Acting out the contents of dreams, like vocalization or kicking. It may cause injury to self/sleeping partner.

Dream Purpose Theories

Information Processing/Consodilation, Physiological Functions, Activation Synthesis, Cognitive Development.

REM Rebound

The tendency for REM Sleep to increase once one is allowed to sleep after a period of REM sleep deprivation

Manifest Content

A dream’s apparent and remembered storyline, that serves as a censored version of its latent content.

Latent Content

A dream’s unconscious drives and wishes (often erotic) that would be threatening if expressed explicitly. It symbolizes something.

Information Processing of Dreams

Dreams help consolidate memories by sorting out the day’s experiences.

Physiological Function of Dreams

Regular stimulation from REM cycles may develop & preserve nerve pathways.

Activation Synthesis

The theory suggesting that dreams’ REM cycles triggers neural activity causing random visual memories which our brain interprets as dreams.

Cognitive Development of Dreams

Dreams’ content reflect one’s cognition (knowledge) and simulate worst-case scenarios in preparation.