Psych 4: Consciousness

Consciousness

awareness of ourselves and our environment

Selective Attention

focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Cocktail party effect

the ability to focus hearing on one specific thing even though noise is all around you

Inattentional blindness

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Change blindness

type of inattentional blindness when we miss visible changes in front of us

Blindsight

responding to visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it

Multitasking

humans cannot concentrate on two things at once well, brain activity decreases overall when we do this

Circadian Rhythm

24-hour cycles of varying alertness (sleep), body temperature, and growth, the internal biological clock which is different for different ages

Ninety-minute sleep cycles

biological rhythm for sleep, melatonin

Melatonin

sleep hormone, activated release by lack of sunlight

Conscious stage brain waves

Beta (awake and alert consciousness), Alpha (relaxed and calm, creative visualization)

Sleep stage brain waves

Theta (deep relaxation and meditation, problem-solving), Delta (deep dreamless sleep)

Stages 1-4

Non-REM sleep, NREM

Stages 1-2

early light sleep theta waves, daydreaming, hypnic/hypnogogic jerks, sleep spindles

Sleep spindles

random abnormal waves within light sleep brain waves

Stages 3-4

deep sleep, delta waves, heart rate and blood pressure decline, non-vivid dreams, about 30 minutes

stage 5

REM sleep, rapid eye movement, dreaming stage, increases in length throughout the night every 90 minutes, the body is paralyzed and there is possible lucid dreaming

Sleep Deprivation

fatigue, irrationality, and impaired concentration, depressed immune system, emotional irritability, hallucinations, paranoia, impaired connectivity between amygdala and prefrontal cortex, decreased leptin levels aka increased hunger, REM rebound

REM Rebound

when sleep deprived, we immediately enter REM sleep when sleeping

Insomnia

difficulty falling/remaining asleep and persistent awakening, treated with sedatives and sleep restrictions

Sleep Apnea

frequent, temporary halt of breathing for 15-60 seconds while sleeping

Nightmares

anxiety arousing dreams lead to awakening from REM sleep, stress is closely related

Narcolepsy

disease marked by sudden irresistible onsets of sleep during normal waking periods, treated with amphetamines

Parasomnia Disorders

atypical movement during sleep

Somnambulism

sleepwalking

Night Terrors

abrupt awakenings from Non-REM sleep accompanied by intense arousal and panic attack, not triggered by bad dreams

REM Motor Disorder

acting out ones dreams

Restless leg syndrome

irresistible urge to move legs

Dreams happen because

wish fulfillment (manifest and latent), Information processing (memories), activation-synthesis theory (random neural activity and dreams)

Pineal gland

activated by light, secreates meletonin

Activation-synthesis dream theory

the brain engages in a lot of random neural activity, and dreams make sense of this

Wish-fulfillment dream theory

dreams are a place to release unacceptable feelings, manifest content and Latent content

Information processing theory

we organize memories as we sleep and dreams are a byproduct of that process

Manifest Content

the actual content of a dream

Latent Content

Hidden meaning of a dream

Hypnosis

suggestive social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur

Divided consciousness theory of hypnosis

hypnosis creates a dissociation in consciousness, altered consciousness communicates with the hypnotist/external world and a hidden observer is what the subject is aware of

Tolerance

diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug

Withdrawal

discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing an addivtive drug or behavior

Psychoactive Drugs

chemical substances that modify mental, emotional, or behavioral functions

Depressants

drugs like alcohol, barbiturates (anxiety reducers), and opiates (pain relievers ex morphine and heroin) that reduce neural activity and slow body function. Alcohol stops glutamate and increases GABA levels, opiates stop endorphin production

Stimulants

drugs like caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, amphetamines, methamphetamine, and ecstacy that excite nerual activity and speed up body function

Cocaine

blocks the reuptake of dopamine, norepinephrine, and seretonin, producing a euphoric rush, when cocaine levels drop there is a crash

psychological dependence

belief in the brain that a drug is needed as opposed to physical effects

Hallucinogens

psychedelic drugs, such as LSD, that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input