States of Consciousness

  • consciousness- awareness of ourselves (self, sensation, thoughts) and our environment

  • altered state of consciousness

    • temporary state

    • occurs during sleep and dreaming

    • may be the result of psychoactive drugs or hypnosis or mindfulness training

  • it may be impossible to study alternate states of consciousness scientifically, since science is a product of normal consciousness

  • selective attention- leads to in attentional blindness

Levels of awareness

  • controlled processes

  • automatic processes (autopilot)

  • subconscious (unconscious)

  • little or no awareness

Circadian Rhythms and Sleep

  • internal 24-hour biological clock

  • changes in alertness, body temperature, moods, blood pressure, pulse and others

  • peaks midday and reaches low point at night

  • during puberty, a shift occurs in the timing of circadian rhythms

    • melatonin release is delayed

      • adults released @ 10pm

      • teenagers released @ 1am

  • sleep deprivation

    • reduced cognitive functioning

      • harder concentration

    • lessened motor functioning

    • irritability and other mood alterations

    • increased cortisol levels

      • stress hormone; increased amount of stress and release of ghelin (hunger hormone)

    • greater risk for illness and disease

      • within 1-2 days of no sleep, we fall into mental psychosis (hallucination, separating from reality)

      • measured also by immune function

      • people who sleep less than 7 hours are 300x more likely to catch a cold than those who sleep 8 hours

    • higher rate of obesity

  • stages of sleep

    • general summary various stages, 90 minute cyclical pattern, 4 cycles

    • REM- rapid eye movement; sleeping and dreaming

    • non-REM- non rapid eye movement; deepest sleep

Why do we sleep and dream? (Sleep)

  1. Adaptation/protection theory- conserve energy and protect from predators

  2. Repair/restoration theory- recuperate from daily activities

  3. Growth/development theory- more sleep during stages of brain growth

  4. Learning/memory theory- more sleep during peak learning stages

Sleep Disorders

  • insomnia- persistent difficulty falling or staying asleep or waking up too early; occurs with 80% of the population

    • treatments include medication, sleep hygiene and sleep restriction therapy

    • side affects- dependency on drugs for sleep

  • narcolepsy- falling asleep randomly during unusual circumstances

    • treatment medication

  • sleep apnea- repeated interruption of breathing during sleep, causing loud snoring or poor quality sleep and excess daytime sleep; effects 1 in 5 people

    • treatment- cpap machine

  • nightmare- bad dreams that disrupt REM sleep

  • sleep terror- abrupt awakening with feelings of panic that disrupt NREM sleep

    • reimagining the nightmare and changing the ending to become the powerful person in the nightmare

  • parasomnia- abnormal movements during sleep stages, including sleepwalking

    • no remedy due to lack of understanding

Why do we sleep and dream? (Dream)

  1. Wish fulfillment- unacceptable desires that are normally repressed emerge in dreams

    1. manifest content- storyline of the dream

    2. latent content- what the dream represents

  2. Activation-synthesis- dreams are the brain’s way of making sense of random electrical stimulation occurring during REM sleep

    1. pre-frontal cortex- very low activation; lacks logic, leads to abstract thinking

  3. Cognitive- dreams organize and interpret information from waking experience into memories

Sleep Patterns

  • infant-14 hours with 40% in REM

  • adult-7.5 ours with 20% REM sleep

  • old age-6 hours with 14% REM sleep

Common Dream Themes

  • being attacked or pursued

  • falling

  • sexual experience

  • being lost

  • being paralyzed

  • flying

  • being naked in public

  • school, teachers, studying

  • arriving too late

  • death of a loved one or dead people as being alive

Gender, Culture and Dreams

  • men- strangers, violence, weapons, sexual activity

  • women- children, family members , familiar people

Hypnosis

  • an altered state of consciousness

  • characteristics

    • deep relaxation

    • trance-like state

    • heightened suggestibility

    • intense focus

    • increase in imagination and hallucinations

    • passive/receptive attitude

    • decreased responsiveness to pain

  • pregnant women in hypnosis experience less pain during labor

Mindfulness

  • paying attention in a particular way (on purpose, in the present, non-judgmental)

  • mindlessness- doing things on autopilot; unaware of surroundings

  • formal mindfulness- breath exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, 5 senses, thoughts

  • informal mindfulness- mindfully doing what you’re already doing

  • helps to overcome fear and anger

    • forebrain- prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate are strengthened

    • hindbrain- relatively suppressed

  • neuroplasticity- what we practice grows stronger; when we think certain thoughts, it strengthens those neural circuits

    • the brain is like a muscle that we can build through practicing skills

  • less loss of grey matter, which slows down the decline of the brain

    • increased gyrification- folding of the cortex, leading to faster mental processing

    • increased thickness of the prefrontal cortex and right anterior insula

    • increases memory and learning and decreases addiction, depression, and anxiety

Psychoactive Drugs

  • hallucinogen- alters perception of time, visual/auditory hallucinations, e.g. movement in the walls)

    • e.g. psychedelic mushrooms, peyote, LSD, ketamine

  • depressants- depress the nervous system into a relaxed state

    • e.g.alcohol, pain medication

  • stimulants- speeds up the nervous system

    • e.g. caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, adderall, etc.

Implicit Attitudes

  • non-conscious biases or attitudes that we may be consciously motivated to suppress

  • during period of low conscious awareness, when we’re engaging in automatic behavior processing, biases kick in most strongly