Chapter 6 Psychology

Consciousness

our immediate awareness of our internal and external states

William James

coined “stream of consciousness” to signify how we experience our conscious life because consciousness, like a running stream, keeps moving yet seems to be the same

• requires attention and awareness

Limited Capacity

brain’s processing power is finite

Selective Attention

• select specific stimuli while ignoring others

• sustained attention, divided attention, spatial attention

Cocktail Party Effect

dichotic listening and shadowing

Biological Rhythms

internal rhythms of biological activity

Circadian Rhythm (Biological Clock)

pattern of sleep-wake cycles that in humans roughly correspond to period of day and night

Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)

• a small group of neurons in the hypothalamus

• when day turns to night the SCN gets notified via incoming information from the retina, and then directs the pineal gland to secrete melatonin triggering sleepiness

• during the day, photoreceptors in the retina communicate to the SCN and melatonin remains low

Sleep Regulation

brain’s ability to switch between sleep and wakefulness in response to external environment

Insomnia

an inability to fall asleep or stay asleep, it is the most common sleep disorder

Sleep Debt/ Insufficient Sleep

can cause increase blood pressure, stress hormones, obesity, irritability, distraction, impairment with > 48 hours can result in hallucinations

Sleep Rebound

we fall asleep quickly if we are sleep deprived

Brain Structures Involved in Sleeping

• Thalamus, hypothalamus, pons, SCN

• Melatonin, FSH, LH, and growth hormones

Restorative Theory of Sleep

• holds that sleep restores our brains and bodies

• sleep deprivation reduces immune systems functioning

Adaptive Theory of Sleep

theory that organisms sleep for the purpose of self-preservation, to keep away from predators

Sleep Cycle

90-100 min/cycle, ~5x/night, through 5 stages (NREM and REM)

Stage One (Sleep)

• NREM

• transition into sleep (5min)

• heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and muscle tension all decrease

• alpha waves change to theta waves

• easy to wake

• Experience hypnagogic state, hypnagogic hallucinations, and myoclonic jerks

Stage Two (Sleep)

• NREM

• harder to wake (15-20min)

• slowing of brainwaves - still theta

• sleep spindles and K-complex

• rhythmic breathing, occasional body twitches, but generally relaxed

• near the end, brainwaves slow to delta waves (deep sleep)

Stages Three and Four (Sleep)

• NREM

• deepest sleep (5-15 and 20-30min)

• low frequency high amplitude waves

• slow heart rate, brain and body in total relaxation

• mostly delta waves

• sleep walking more likely

• hard to wake

Stage Five (Sleep)

• REM - Rapid Eye Movement (5-15min)

• rapid and jagged brainwaves (just like being awake)

• increased heart rate, rapid and irregular breathing, and dreaming - paralysis of muscle systems

• dreaming during this time

• if deprived of REM we enter into REM sleep more quickly and stay there longer

Freudian Dream Analysis

• dreams represent the expression of unconscious wishes or desires - usually unacceptable

Manifest Content

what you are able to recall - actual event

Latent Content

unconscious element - symbolic meaning

Jung’s Archetypes

commonalities among people’s dreams

• chased, sexual experiences, falling, school, being late, swimming, being nude, teeth falling out

Cartwright’s Information-processing Theory

• dreams involve processing information from the day

• people tend to spend more time in REM if they have experienced multiple stressors, or extensive learning

Hobson’s Activation-Synthesis Hypothesis

• during sleep the brain has a lot of random activity via the brainstem that activates the sensory systems

• dreams reflect the brains efforts to make sense of, or find meaning in the neural activity taking place during sleep - synthesizing

Nightmares

• dreams filled with intense anxiety, helplessness, powerlessness, danger

• more common among those under stress

Lucid Dreams

when the sleeper knows they are dreaming and can actively guide the outcomes

Daydreams

fantasies that occur while one is awake and aware of external reality but is not fully conscious

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy

psychotherapy that focuses on cognitive processes and problem behaviours

Parasomnia

• a group of sleep disorders

• disruptive motor activity in REM or non-REM

• sleepwalking, restless leg syndrome, night terrors

Sleepwalking

Get up and walk around. Usually avoid complex activities, stairs, and obstacles, but accidents happen. Appears to be inherited.

RBD

• muscle paralysis during REM seizes to occur

• a lot of motor activity (kicking flailing)

• related to Parkinson’s disease

Restless Leg Syndrome

• discomfort in the legs during inactivity or sleep

• associated with kidney disease and diabetes

Night Terrors

• related to sleepwalking

• people awake suddenly screaming in fear and agitated, increased heart rate and breathing

• more common among children

• tends to occur in Stages 3&4

• no memory

Sleep Apnea

is repeatedly ceasing to breathe during the night, depriving the brain of oxygen and frequent awakenings. It’s the second most common.

• Brain fails to send a breathe signal, throat muscles become too relaxed, in extreme cases can lead to cardiac arrest

• More common in overweight individuals, contributes to cardiovascular disease

two types: - obstructive (airway gets blocked) and central (disrupted signal from brain)

Narcolepsy

• marked by an uncontrollable urge to fall asleep

• may suddenly fall into REM and awake feeling refreshed

•  Some experience loss of muscle tone (cataplexy), experience vivid dream-like hallucinations during episode, appears to be inherited

• Report feeling well rested

• treat with psychomotor stimulants

Addiction

psychological or physical compulsion to take a drug, resulting from regular ingestion and leading to maladaptive patterns of behaviour and changes in physical response

• Physical dependence demonstrates in changes in bodily function

• Psychological dependence demonstrates an emotional need

Tolerance

mark of physical dependence on a drug, in which the person is required to take incrementally larger doses of the drug to achieve the same effect

Withdrawal Symptoms

unpleasant and sometimes dangerous side effects of reducing intake of a drug after a person has become addicted

Psychoactive Drugs

chemicals that affect awareness, behaviour, sensation, perception, or mood

• Some are illegal (heroin, ecstasy, cocaine) some are not (coffee, alcohol, cannabis)

  Broad Categories:

• depressants

• stimulants

• opiates

• hallucinogens

Depressants

• A drug that tends to suppress the CNS

• Alcohol, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines

• Agonists of GABA

• Alcohol is a depressant taken in liquid form and is the most commonly used psychoactive drug (biphasic effect: starts as a stimulant but ends as a depressant)

Alcoholism

long-term pattern of alcohol addiction

• Binge drinking is the consumption of 5+ drinks in a row, reported that 60% of college- and university-aged

  students binge drink

• Implicated in more than a third of suicides, homicides, assaults, rapes, and accidental deaths

• Just under 40% of car accidents in Canada involve alcohol

• Long-term effects like cirrhosis in which the liver is scarred, FASD

Sedative-Hypnotic Drugs

produce feelings of relaxation and drowsiness

• benzodiazepines (anti-anxiety)

Stimulants

substances that increase the activity of the CNS

• Agonist of dopamine

• Block reuptake of dopamine

• Associated with reward and craving – potential for abuse

• Cocaine is the most powerful natural stimulant.

• Brings a rush of euphoria and well-being

• Increases activity of dopamine

•  Methamphetamines produces feelings of euphoria

• Fast acting and leaving, prompting runs of use, lower risk of OD

• Meth mouth, skin infection, memory loss, paranoia, hallucinations

• Amphetamines are manufactured and increase energy and lower appetite. Highly addictive qualities

• Increases activity of dopamine

• Used to treat ADHD

• Club drug, ecstasy (MDMA) dumps serotonin resulting in euphoria 

• Caffeine is mild and legal and the world’s most widely used stimulant (80%)

• Nicotine legal, but highly addictive. Most commonly taken in via smoking and reaches the brain faster than

  injection into the blood stream

Opioid

• derived from the sap of the opium poppy

• herion, morphine, codeine, and OxyContin

• rush of euphoria lasting for hours

• pain reliever (analgesic) but highly addictive

• mimics the effects of endorphins

• danger for overdose

Hallucinogens

substances that dramatically change one’s state of awareness, causing powerful changes in sensory perception

• as a group they show considerable variability

• mescaline and LSD are serotonin agonists

• PCP and ketamine are antagonists of NMDA glutamate

• are thought to have fewer additive qualities

• (LSD) brings on hallucinosis, a

  state marked by a strengthening of visual perceptions and profound psychological and physical changes

• • Binds to serotonin receptors

  • Flashbacks: recurrences of sensory and emotional changes even after LSD has left the body

•  Cannabis is a hemp plant and produces cannabis (weak) and hashish (strong)

• Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the active chemical

• When smoked it produces a mixture of hallucinogenic, depressant, and stimulant effects

• Interferes with memory, sensorimotor tasks, can impact

  sperm count and abnormal ovulation

• Prenatal exposure has shown negative impacts on inhibition, behavioural self-control, and working memory

• Cannabis is more recently being used as a form of treatment

  – Chronic pain, chemotherapy, glaucoma, disease-related

  anorexia, MS, HIV or AIDS, spinal cord injury, arthritis, and epilepsy

Reward Learning Pathway (Pleasure Pathway)

 brain circuitry that is important for learning about rewarding stimuli

• Activated by pleasurable stimuli or events and comes to anticipate a response

Reward Deficiency Syndrome

people might abuse drugs because their reward centre is not readily activated by usual life events

Hypnosis

• altered state of consciousness during which people can be directed to act or experience the world in unusual ways

• still focus and attention, minimal attention to external stimuli

• guided into a suggestible state, must involve the person’s willingness to relinquish control

• those under tend to have memories of the event and are in control of their behaviours

Posthypnotic Responses

a predetermined signal that elicits a response after being roused from hypnosis

Posthypnotic Amnesia

directed to forget something learned in hypnosis

Hypnotic Hallucinations

guided to experience or not experience events or objects

How Hypnosis Works

• when put into a state of relaxation, the cerebral cortex and thalamus, slowly activate

• next guided to, mental absorption or total focus, where cerebral blood flow and neural activity speed back up

• anterior cingulate cortex is implicated in general awareness and the unpleasantness we feel during pain

Meditation

a technique designed to run one’s consciousness away from the outer world, towards inner cues and awareness, ignoring all stressors

• Typically, it involves going to a quiet place, in a specific or comfortable position, controlling one’s breathe, limiting outward attention, and forming internal images

• Ancient practice traced through world’s major religions

• Best-known practices derive from yoga

• All involve self-regulation practices

Mindfulness Meditation

has the person pay attention to their feelings, thoughts, and sensations, but with detachment and without judgement

• Has been shown to produce the same brainwaves associated with the relaxed phase prior to sleep

• Can lower respiration, heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension

• Been used to treat pain, asthma, high blood pressure, heart problems, skin disorders, diabetes, and viral infection