Psych Chapter 4: Consciousness

consciousness

your awareness of everything going around you and inside your head at any given moment, which you use to organize your behavior. Includes thoughts, sensations, and feelings.

Daniel Dennet

a philosopher asserts that there is no single stream of consciousness, but multiple “channels” each of which is handling its own tasks.

The biology of sleep

Sleep is one of the body’s biological rhythms, like the rise and fall of blood pressure or the menstrual cycle. The sleep wake cycle is a circadian rhythm which means it corresponds to the day-night cycle. This cycle is specifically controlled within the hypothalamus. This is where melatonin comes in.

walking consciousness

occurs when awake in which thoughts, feelings, and sensations are cleared and organized

altered state of consciousness

when there is a shift in the quality or pattern of your mental activity, this shift can include increased and decreased alertness. consciousness awareness can also be divided.

controlled processes

those that require our conscious attention to a higher degree, such as driving

automatic processes

those that occur at a low level of conscious awareness, such as brushing your teeth

the adaptive theory of sleep

proposes that animals and humans evolved different sleep patterns to avoid being present to avoid being present during the predator’s normal hunting times, which typically was at night

the restorative theory of sleep

states that sleep is necessary for the physical health of the body. During sleep, chemicals are returned to the baseline, cellular damage is repaired, brain plasticity is enhanced, and memories are strengthened

sleep deprivation

any significant loss of sleep, resulting in problems in concentration and irritability. Other typical symptoms include shakiness, zoning out, droopy eyes, depression, and more

stages of sleep

rapid eye movement (REM) and non rapid eye movement (NREM)

Beta Waves

smaller and faster, indicate mental activity

alpha waves

indicate a state of relaxation or light sleep

theta waves

indicate the early stages of sleep

delta waves

longer and slower, indicate the deepest stages of sleep

NREM Stage 1

transition period between wakefulness and sleep, lasts around 5-10 minutes

NREM Stage 2

body temperature drops and heart rate begins to slow down, brain begins to produce sleep spindles, lasts around 20 mins

NREM Stage 3

muscles relax, blood pressure and breathing rate drop, deepest sleep occurs

REM Sleep

brain becomes more active, body becomes relaxed and immobilized, dreams occur, eyes move rapidly

REM Behavior disorder

the mechanism that blocks the movement of voluntary muscle fails, allowing a person to thrash around and act out dreams

nightmares

bad dreams that occur during REM sleep

sleepwalking

an episode of moving around or walking, while someone is in deep sleep

night terrors

a person experiences extreme fear and screams, runs around during deep sleep without waking fully

insomnia

the inability to get to sleep, stay to sleep, stay asleep, or get quality sleep

sleep apnea

while sleeping, a person stops breathing for 10 seconds or more

narcolepsy

a person falls immediately into REM sleep during the day without warning

sleep paralysis

the inability of the involuntary muscles to move during REM sleep

activation synthesis hypothesis

the premise that states that dreams are created by the higher centers of the cortex to explain the activation by the brain stem of cortical cells during REM sleep periods. A dream is another way of thinking.

activation-information mode model

a revised version of the activation synthesis explanation of dreams in which information that is accessed during walking hours can have an influence on the synthesis of dreams

What do we dream about?

mosty dreams reflect the effects that occur in everyday life, people usually dream in color, there’s gender differences in dreams, difference in dream content across cultures

psychoactive drug use

chemical substances that alter thinking, perception, and memory

physical dependance

when a person’s body becomes unable to function normally without a particular drug

withdrawal

physical symptoms that can include nausea, pain, tremors, crankiness, and high blood pressure resulting from a lack of an addictive drug in the body systems

drug tolerance

the decrease of the response to a drug over repeated uses, leading to the need for higher doses of a drug to achieve the same effect

psychological dependence

the belief that a drug is needed to continue a feeling of emotional or psychological well-being

stimulants

drugs that increase the functioning of the nervous system

depressants

drugs that decrease the functioning of the nervous system

hallucinogenics

drugs including hallucinogens and marijuana that produce hallucinogens or increased feelings of relaxation and intoxication

The role of the hypothalamus

The release of melatonin is influenced by a structure deep within the hypothalamus in an area called the scn. This is the internal clock in the body that tells people when to wake up and when to fall asleep by being sensitive to changes in light. As daylight fades, the scn tells the pineal gland to secrete melatonin and as it accumulates, the neurons that keep us alert and awake become suppressed, resulting in sleepiness. As light coming into the eyes increases, the scn tells the pineal gland to stop secreting melatonin, telling the body to awaken.