Consciousness and Its Variations - Key Terms

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the Consciousness and Its Variations chapter, including sleep, dreams, hypnosis, meditation, and psychoactive drugs.

Consciousness

Personal awareness of mental activities, internal sensations, and the external environment; includes waking awareness and attention, with risks when attention is split.

Private I

The sense of a self that experiences consciousness; the subjective 'I' described as the experiencer of thoughts and perceptions.

Stream of consciousness

William James’s metaphor for continuous flow of thoughts, feelings, and experiences in awareness.

Attention

The mind’s spotlight: the capacity to selectively focus awareness on external stimuli or internal thoughts and sensations.

Circadian rhythm

A roughly 24-hour cycle of biological and psychological processes, synchronized by environmental cues like light and regulated by a clock in the hypothalamus.

Master clock (hypothalamus)

The brain’s central timekeeper that helps regulate circadian rhythms.

Environmental cues

Signals like sunlight that help synchronize circadian rhythms.

REM sleep

Rapid eye movement sleep; vivid dreaming often occurs and voluntary muscles are largely inhibited.

NREM sleep

Non-rapid-eye-movement sleep; quieter, typically dreamless; divided into stages 1–3.

Sleep cycle

About 90-minute sequence of REM and NREM sleep, with REM periods lengthening as the night progresses.

Stage 1 sleep

Light sleep; transitional stage with reduced brain activity.

Stage 2 sleep

Deeper sleep characterized by sleep spindles and K-complexes.

Stage 3 sleep

Deep, slow-wave sleep with large, slow brain waves.

Dream

An unfolding sequence of perceptions, thoughts, and emotions that typically occurs during REM sleep.

Manifest content

Freud’s term for the surface, visible content of a dream.

Latent content

Freud’s term for the hidden, underlying meaning of a dream.

Activation–Synthesis Model

Dreams arise from brainstem activation during sleep that the cortex synthesizes into a story.

Neurocognitive dream theory

Dreams reflect waking concerns and mirror ongoing cognitive processes, showing continuity between waking and dreaming.

Sleep thinking

Vague, thought-like activity during NREM slow-wave sleep.

Parasomnias

Undesired arousal or actions during sleep (e.g., sleep terrors, sleepwalking, sleeptalking, sexsomnia, sleep-related eating disorder).

Sleep terrors

episodes of intense fear during sleep (a parasomnia).

Sleepwalking

Acting out behaviors while still asleep (a parasomnia).

Sleeptalking

Speaking during sleep (a parasomnia).

Sleep-related eating disorder

Consuming food while asleep or in a sleep state (a parasomnia).

Sexsomnia

Sexual acts performed during sleep (a parasomnia).

Insomnia

Regular inability to fall asleep, stay asleep, or feel adequately rested by sleep, leading to daytime impairment.

Sleep hygiene

Practices and habits that promote good quality sleep and daytime functioning.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)

Recurrent cessation of breathing during sleep, leading to daytime problems; treated with lifestyle changes or CPAP.

Narcolepsy

Excessive daytime sleepiness with sleep attacks and sudden episodes of muscle weakness.

Hypnosis

Cooperative social interaction in which the person responds to suggestions with changes in perception, memory, thoughts, and behavior.

Posthypnotic suggestion

Suggestions given during hypnosis that influence behavior after the trance ends.

Susceptibility to hypnosis

About 15% of adults are highly hypnotizable; about 10% are difficult or impossible to hypnotize.

Meditation

Practice involving sustained attention to induce a state of focused awareness and heightened calm.

Focused attention meditation

Meditation technique that concentrates on a single object or mantra.

Open monitoring meditation

Meditation that maintains awareness of the present moment without focusing on a specific object.

Psychoactive drugs

Chemical substances that alter arousal, mood, thinking, sensations, and perceptions.

Depressants

Drugs that depress CNS activity, producing drowsiness or sedation and reducing anxiety.

Opioids

Addictive drugs that relieve pain and produce euphoria by binding to endorphin receptors.

Stimulants

Drugs that excite brain activity, increasing alertness and energy.

Nicotine

Stimulant in tobacco that increases arousal and is highly addictive.

Caffeine

Stimulant found in coffee, tea, and many foods; blocks adenosine receptors and increases dopamine activity.

Amphetamines

Stimulant drugs that energize the CNS and suppress appetite.

Cocaine

Stimulant derived from coca leaves that increases alertness and energy.

Methamphetamine

Highly addictive stimulant that can cause extensive brain damage and behavioral changes.

Mescaline

Psychedelic compound found in certain cacti (peyote).

LSD

Lysergic acid diethylamide; a powerful psychedelic drug that distorts sensory perception.

Psilocybin

Psychedelic compound found in certain mushrooms.

Marijuana

Cannabis; psychoactive drug that alters mood, perception, and thinking.

THC

Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol; active component of cannabis; can relieve pain and nausea but may impair memory and motivation.

The Addicted Brain

Drugs activate dopamine-producing neurons in reward circuits; repeated use reduces reward system activation over time.

Dopamine and reward circuitry

Brain pathways that reinforce rewarding experiences; central to addiction.

Amotivational syndrome

Long-term cannabis use linked to reduced motivation and initiative.

Working memory impairment

Difficulty holding and manipulating information in short-term memory.

Alcohol

Depressant with high potential for abuse; linked to health, social, and safety harms and birth defects during pregnancy.