General Psychology Chapter 6

Consciousness

Your awareness of your surroundings and yourself (everything you are thinking about right now

Consciousness involves

• Attention

• Monitoring

• Remembering

• Planning

Parallel Processing

The brains ability to process different parts of a task simultaneously in different areas (doing 2 things at once)

Blindsight

neurological condition in which damage to the cortex leaves people able to reflexively respond to stimuli without consciously perceiving them (unable to say why they dodged a ball but they still reacted to it - couldn’t tell you why they reacted to it)

Split Brain

Severed Corpus Callosum

• 2 sides of the brain doing different things

Preconscious

Information from your past that is stored in your long term memory and can be easily accessed if you need it

• Ex: what you did last weekend

Unconscious

Information from your past is stored in your long term memory but it is not easily accessed

• Ex: feeling associated with a forgotten childhood event

Implicit Memory

knowledge of which we are not typically aware (not actively thinking about but affect your day to day experiences)

• Ex: Learning how to drive - now you just know how to drive

Explicit Memory

Knowledge where we are fully aware (we can actively think about day to day)

Hypnosis

trancelike state heightened suggestibility, deep relaxation and intense focus

How Hypnosis Works

• Divided Consciousness Theory

• Social/Cognitive Process Theory

Divided Consciousness Theory

Hypnosis Splits Awareness into 2 parts; one part responds to the hypnotists suggestion, the other part continues to process pain information but at a conscious level

Social/Cognitive Theory

The participant is highly motivated to believe in hypnosis and without awareness, works hard to ignore pain

Meditation

Techniques designed to refocus attention, block out distractions, and produce a relaxed state

Why do we sleep?

• Adaptive Theory

• Biological Theory

Adaptive Theory

Humans can conserve energy while it’s dark and they can’t hunt for food. Also prevents humans from getting harmed at night

• “evolutionary theory”

Biological Theories

• Pituitary glands produce growth hormones during sleep

• Repair/Restoration Theory: sleep restores our brains and bodies

Circadian Rhythms

biological rhythms that occur on a roughly 24 hour cycle

• sleep/wake cycle

• brain function spiked throughout the day and then it starts to decrease throughout the day

What Affects or Circadian Rhythms

• Genetics

  • Morning vs Evening people

  • Needing more sleep than others

• Environmental

  • Low sunlight

  • Ex: Using your phone before bed increases dopamine making it harder to fall asleep

Stage 1 of Sleep

A transition into sleep (5 min)

• alpha waves change to theta waves

• HR slows, BP decreases

Stage 2 of Sleep

Harder to Wake (15-20min)

• More relaxed

• Sleep spindles (burst of rapid brain waves)

  • make you jerk awake

Stage 3 of Sleep

Deepest Sleep (25-45min)

• theta waves to delta waves

• Slow HR, body and brain in total relaxation

• Transition to all delta waves

Rapid Eye Movement

REM Sleep

• brain is relatively awake and doing things while you sleep

  • Dreaming

Freudian Theory of Dreams

Wishful fulfillment: we use dreams to fulfill the wishes in our life

Information Processing Theory of Dreams

• Dreams involve processing information from the day

• can be a mental realm where we can solve problems and think creatively

Activation Synthesis Model

Dreams reflect the minds effort to make sense of the brain neural activity during sleep

Chronic sleep loss results in

• reduced immune system function

• lower ability to concentrate

• Higher incidence of accidents

• Lower Productivity

Insomnia

• most common (43%)

• Difficulty going to sleep, staying asleep, or waking early

• Caused by stress, drug dependance

Sleep Apnea

• second most common

• Repeatedly stop breathing during the night

• Over 300 attacks per night possible

• Common in overweight men

Narcolepsy

• excessive daytime sleepiness

• Dramatic sudden “sleep attacks”

• Genetic Factors

• N0 cure; drugs reduce symptoms

Sleepwalking

• most common in children

• Occurs in stages 3

• No known cause

Night terrors

• fully relaxed locked into position but they wake up they sense danger while they are unable to move

• Occurs onstage 3

Coma

Deep level of unconsciousness that is marked by a lack of responsiveness or wakefulness and an absence of brain wave changes that indicated sleep stages

Vegetative State

State of wakefulness without consciousness. Much like a coma but with wakefulness 

Brain Death

Irreversible lack of brain activity, and often requires machines to keep other functions operating 

Near Death Experiences

Quick rush of neurotransmitters due to deoxygenation in certain parts of the brain

Seizures

• Electrical activity in the brain that causes physical tremors that can be severe 

Tonic Clonic Seizures

• Tonic Phase - tensing of the skeletal muscles 

• Clonic Phase - skeletal muscle contract and relax rapidly 

• Postictal Phase - unresponsive, sleep-like, unconsciousness

Absences Seizures

Brief stent of Unconsciousness

Psychoactive Drugs

any substance that affects awareness, behavior, sensation, perception, or mood

3 Categories:

• Depressant

• Stimulants

• Hallucinogens

Depressants

act on the central nervous system (CNS) to suppress bodily processes 

• Alcohol, Opioids 

Stimulants

act on the CNS to increase bodily process 

• Caffeine, nicotine, cocaine 

Hallucinigens

produce sensory or perceptual distortions called hallucinations 

• LSD, marijuana

Effects of Psychoactive Drugs

• Drugs work by affecting neurotransmitters 

• Reward learning pathway 

  • AKA pleasure pathway 

  • Key neurotransmitter is dopamine 

  • Stimulated directly or indirectly by drugs

  • Reward Deficiency Syndrome

Reward Deficiency Syndrome

hypothesized condition in which people do not find events rewarding and are more inclined to use drugs