Chapter 6 - Slides_students

Chapter 6: Consciousness

Definition of Consciousness

• Consciousness: Awareness of internal and external stimuli

  • Subjective awareness of oneself and the environment.

Characteristics of Consciousness

• Subjective and Private:

  • Personal reality that others cannot fully know.

• Dynamic:

  • Constantly changing.

• Self-reflective:

  • Mind is aware of its own consciousness.

Testing for Consciousness

• Self-reports:

  • Individuals describe inner experiences, providing insight into subjective experiences, yet these cannot be verified.

  • Example: Satisfaction scale.

• Physiological Studies:

  • Connects biological processes to mental states.

  • Provides objective measures (e.g. EEG for sleep stages), but not subjective experience.

• Behavioral Studies:

  • Observe behavioral responses to situations which require inferring the state of mind.

  • Example: Rouge test (self-recognition in a mirror).

The Psychodynamic View

• Conscious:

  • Mental events currently in awareness.

• Preconscious:

  • Events outside of current awareness that can be recalled easily.

• Unconscious:

  • Mental events typically not accessible to awareness.

• Criticisms:

  • Behavioralists critique reliance on unconscious processes.

  • Cognitive psychologies question specific aspects, especially the focus on sexual and aggressive urges.

The Cognitive View

• Contrast to Psychodynamic View:

  • Conscious and unconscious are complementary processing forms.

  • Controlled processing:

    • Effortful, voluntary attention; slow but flexible.

  • Automatic processing:

    • Minimal conscious processing; fast but fixed.

Awareness and Attention

• Awareness:

  • Ability to know and perceive events; a state of cognizance.

• Attention:

  • Concentration on a specific phenomenon while ignoring others; limited mental resources.

Divided Attention

• Adaptive but limited; harder with tasks requiring similar resources (e.g., multitasking).

  • Example: Listening to lecture while reading.

Directing Attention

• Can be conscious (choosing to focus) or unconscious (attention-grabbing stimuli).

  • Example: Sirens on a fire truck.

Testing Attention

• Shadowing:

  • Participants repeat audio from one side while ignoring another.

Inattention Blindness

• Unfocused stimuli can register but do not enter consciousness.

Factors Influencing Attention

• Nature of Stimuli:

  • Novelty, movement, intensity, and contrast attract attention.

• Personal Factors:

  • Individual's internal state and motivation influence focus.

Attentional Predispositions

• Tendency to quickly notice specific stimuli (e.g., attractive or angry faces).

Peripheral Attention

• Vision is more precise when focusing on direct stimuli, yet humans have specialized peripheral vision for natural stimuli.

Sleep

Sleep Regulation

• Regulated by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN):

  • Signals pineal gland for melatonin release, essential for biological clocks.

Signal and Rhythms

• Circadian rhythms governed by changes in body temperature and melatonin levels across the day.

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

• Measures brain surface activity, especially during sleep, noting brain waves and muscle tension (EMG, EOG).

Stages of Sleep

1. Stage 1: Transition to light sleep, alpha/beta to theta waves.

2. Stage 2: Deeper sleep, characterized by sleep spindles and relaxation.

3. Stages 3 and 4: Slow-wave sleep; restores physical restfulness.

4. Stage 5 (REM sleep): Occupies 20-25% of sleep time; critical for cognitive function and dreams.

Why Do We Sleep?

• Hypotheses:

  1. Conserves energy.

  2. Reduces danger through immobility.

  3. Restores bodily resources and energy.

Sleep Disorders

• Insomnia: Difficulty falling/staying asleep; can be conditioned or idiopathic.

• Hypersomnia: Excessive sleepiness.

• Narcolepsy: Uncontrollable sleep episodes.

• Sleep Apnea: Reflexive gasping that interrupts sleep.

• Nightmares vs. Night Terrors: Distinctions based on arousal and content during REM or non-REM sleep.

Dreaming

• Nature of Dreams: Mental experiences; often remembered if odd or interesting.

  • Freud's interpretation includes waking life spillover and integration of stimuli.

Cultural Perspectives on Dreams

• Varies between cultures; Western cultures less likely to see dreams as important compared to non-Western cultures.

Theories on Why We Dream

• Freud's Dream Protection Theory: Dreams guard sleep by disguising psychological urges.

• Activation-Synthesis Theory: Dreams reflect brain activation and neural firing.

• Cognitive Theories: Dreams help in problem-solving and use the same frameworks as waking thoughts.

Alterations of Consciousness

Hypnosis

• Systematic procedure that enhances suggestibility with various effects like sensory distortions and posthypnotic suggestions.

Meditation

• Practices to train attention and awareness; includes various styles like yoga and mindfulness.

Psychoactive Drugs

• Chemicals that alter consciousness and are affected by psychological and environmental factors.

Drug Classifications

• Agonists: Increase neurotransmitter activity.

• Antagonists: Inhibit neurotransmitter activity.

• Tolerance: Decreased responsiveness to drugs over time.

• Withdrawal: Compensatory reactions after stopping use lead to strong opposite effects.

Categories of Drugs and Their Effects

• Narcotics: Pain relief, high tolerance risk.

• Sedatives: Induce sleep, high tolerance risk.

• Stimulants: Increase CNS activity, moderate to high tolerance.

• Hallucinogens: Distort perceptions, gradual tolerance.

• Cannabis: Mild euphoria, low tolerance risk.

• Alcohol: Relaxed euphoria, varying dependence risks.