Ch 10 Psych

Consciousness

Consciousness: Subjective experience of perceiving oneself and other entities.
Investigating consciousness is complex due to its varying degrees.
Brain activity and consciousness are interconnected; decreases in brain activity correlate with lower levels of consciousness.
Brain activity below a certain threshold indicates unconsciousness.

Consciousness plays a crucial role in many human experiences.
Stream of Consciousness: A term coined by psychologist William James to describe the continuous flow of sensations, thoughts, feelings, and images.

Evidence of unconscious processing includes Spatial Neglect and Blindsight.
- Blindsight: Individuals with damage to the visual cortex can respond to visual stimuli without conscious awareness.
- Spatial Neglect: Resulting from right hemispheric damage, individuals habitually ignore sensations from the left side of their body.
  - Tendency to neglect left-sided objects and the left side of their body.
  - Notable effect: An individual may give more attention to their neglected left arm if it crosses over their right arm.

Ready potential: Increased motor cortex activity occurs before the individual is conscious of their intention to act.
Déjà vu: A feeling of familiarity in new situations.
Imposter Syndrome: The feeling of being a fraud despite evident success; commonly includes doubts about one's abilities.

Brain Death: Complete absence of brain activity or responses to stimuli.
Coma: Characterized by a slow, steady brain activity rate with no responses.
Vegetative State: Limited responses to stimuli without purposeful activities.

Circadian Rhythms: Daily cycles of activity and inactivity lasting approximately one day.
- Travel and time zones impact sleep; jet lag is common as the body clock adjusts to new environments.
- Adjusting to time changes is easier traveling east to west than vice versa.
- Shift work may lead to fatigue, especially during night shifts, contributing to decreased alertness.

Sleep helps in multiple ways:
- Conserves energy (lowered body temperatures in mammals).
- Fosters restorative functions; sleep deprivation causes irritability and impaired cognitive function.
- Enhances learning and memory, aiding in memory consolidation and reanalysis after learning new tasks.
Predatory mammals typically sleep more than prey mammals due to safety concerns during sleep.

Research in the late 1950s identified REM Sleep characterized by:
- Rapid Eye Movements with high brain activity and deep muscle relaxation (also called paradoxical sleep).
Paradoxical Sleep: Physiological activity indistinguishable from waking state.

Insomnia: Difficulty obtaining adequate sleep; varying definitions based on quantity.
Sleep Apnea: Breathing interruptions during sleep; associated with snoring and excess fatigue.
Narcolepsy: Sudden, extreme daytime sleepiness with associated muscle paralysis and vivid dreams.
Parasomnias: Unsettling sleep experiences, including:
- Sleepwalking (common in children).
- Nightmares (frequent and uncomfortable dreams).
- Night terrors (panic waking during slow-wave sleep).
Hypersomnia: Excessive sleep that is not restorative.

Freud’s Dream Theory: Dreams reflect unconscious thoughts and motivations.
- Manifest Content: The visible story of the dream.
- Latent Content: The hidden symbols and meanings behind dreams.

Hypnosis: A state of increased suggestibility, not the same as sleep; individuals remain responsive to external stimuli.
- The practice began with Franz Anton Mesmer focusing on suggestion power.
Limitations of hypnosis include:
- Cannot grant special physical abilities or enhance memory significantly.
Uses:
- Increases relaxation and focus.
- Posthypnotic suggestions can aid in habit change but show mixed effectiveness.

Meditation shares similarities with hypnosis; it promotes relaxation without hypnotist intervention.
A practice used in various cultures for thousands of years to achieve a calm state.