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Chapter 5

Variations in Consciousness

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Consciousness: Personal Awareness

Awareness of Internal and External Stimuli…in other words our awareness of ourselves and our surroundings.

Levels of awareness• James – stream of consciousness• Freud – unconscious• Sleep/dreaming research

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The Electroencephalograph: A Physiological Index of Consciousness

EEG – monitoring of brain electrical activity

Brain-waves– Amplitude (height)– Frequency (cycles per second)

• Beta (13-24 cps)• Alpha (8-12 cps)• Theta (4-7 cps)• Delta (<4 cps)

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Correlation b/w brain waves and awareness

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Biological Rhythms and Sleep

Biological Rhythms: periodic fluctuations in physiological functioning- existence shows we have internal “biological clocks”

Circadian Rhythms – 24 hr biological cycles- Our body temperature and awareness changes throughout the day.

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Altering your sleep schedule

Jet lag- A disruption of circadian rhythms- Flying to California is easier

than flying to New York

Melatonin- A hormone produced by pineal gland at night to help you sleep. Sunlight tells your body to stop producing it.- Helps regulate circadian rhythms

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Sleep/Waking Research

Instruments:

– Electroencephalograph – brain electrical activity– Electromyograph – muscle activity – Electrooculograph – eye movements– Other bodily functions also observed

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Stage One

This is experienced as falling to sleep and is a transition stage between wake and sleep

It usually lasts between 1 and 7 minutes

eyes begin to roll slightly.

Hypnic jerks

consists mostly of theta waves

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Stage two

This follows Stage 1 sleep and is the "baseline" of sleep.

About 10 - 25 minutes

More mixed brain wave activity

Spindles: random bursts of higher frequency waves

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Stage three & four

Stages three is "Delta" sleep or "slow wave" sleep and may last 15-30 minutes.

It is called "slow wave" sleep because brain activity slows down dramatically from the "theta" rhythm to the “Delta”

It is delta sleep that a sleep-deprived person's brain craves the first and foremost.

In children, delta sleep can occupy up to 40% of all sleep time

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REM Sleep REM: Rapid Eye Movement

AKA “paradoxical sleep”

Composes 20-25 % of a normal nights sleep.

Breathing, heart rate and brain wave activity quicken.

Vivid Dreams can occur.

From REM, you go back to Stage 2

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In REM the body is essentially paralyzed during REM (sleep paralysis).

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The Neural Bases of Sleep

Brain Structures: - F 5.8– Ascending reticular activating system– Pons, medulla, thalamus, hypothalamus, limbic

system

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Sleep Deprivation

Complete deprivation– 3 or 4 days max– Maximum duration?

Partial deprivation or sleep restriction– impaired attention, reaction time, coordination, and

decision making

Selective deprivation– REM and slow-wave sleep: rebound effect – F 5.9

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REM deprivation effects

Figure 5.9

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Figure 5.10. Mortality rates as a function of typical sleep duration.

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Sleep Needs Averages:

- adults sleep 6 hrs and 54 minutes during the workweek – recommended 8 hrs- Younger adults (i.e., 18-29 year-olds) sleep 6 hours and 48 minutes during the week and an hour longer on the weekend - Adolescents need 9.25 hours of sleep – 20 % fall asleep in school- Younger children require 10 or more hours of sleep

“Power Nap” - 15 -20 minutes of duration

“Power Sleep” – strategies for better sleep

Takes about four weeks to stabilize sleep cycle

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Sleep Problems A majority of adults in the U.S. (62%) experienced a sleep

problem a few nights per week or more during the past year.

Insomnia – difficulty falling or staying asleep

Narcolepsy – falling asleep uncontrollably

Sleep Apnea – reflexive gasping for air that awakens – current estimates: 21 million in US and 470 million in the world

Nightmares – anxiety arousing dreams – REM

Night Terrors – intense arousal and panic – NREM

Somnambulism – sleepwalking

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XX 5.12

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Figure 5.13 – Sleep problems and the cycle of sleep

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Dreams and Dreaming: Content and Significance

Dreams – mental experiences during sleep– Content usually familiar– Common themes – Waking life spillover – day residue

Western vs. Non-Western interpretations

Freud – wish fulfillment – manifest content and latent content

Hobson & McCarley – activation – synthesis hypothesis

Table of ContentsFigure 5.15 Three theories of dreaming

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Hypnosis: Altered State of Consciousness or Role Playing?

Hypnosis = a systematic procedure that increases suggestibility

Hypnotic susceptibility: individual differences – Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale

Hilgrad’s neural disassociation (hidden observer)and Barber’s role theory

Effects produced through hypnosis:– Anesthesia– Sensory distortions and hallucinations– Disinhibition– Posthypnotic suggestions and amnesia

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Figure 5.16 – Misconceptions regarding hypnosis

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Sensory Deprivation and Meditation

McGill University sensory deprivation study “Psychology of Boredom” – problems with participation and altered states

Meditation = practices that train attention to heighten awareness and bring mental processes under greater voluntary control

Yoga, Zen, transcendental meditation (TM)– Potential physiological benefits

• Similar to effective relaxation procedures

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Principal Abused Drugs and Their Effects

■ 6 categories of psychoactive drugs – Narcotics (opiates) – pain relieving - OxyContin– Sedatives – sleep inducing – effects GABA– Stimulants – increase CNS activity – effects on

dopamine – methamphetamine– Hallucinogens – distort sensory and perceptual

experience– Cannabis – produce mild, relaxed euphoria – Alcohol – produces relaxed euphoria, decreases in

inhibitions– MDMA – “Ecstacy” produces a warm, friendly euphoria –

problems of temperature regulation – effects serotonin

Brain reward pathways – dopamine and limbic system

Drug dependency and tolerance – physical and psychological

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Questions about Sleeping and Dreaming

Variations in length of sleep

Suggestions on improving quality of sleep

Anxiety and sleep difficulties – possible classical conditioning

Thinking and insomnia

Alcoholism a disease ?– Malfunctions as a result of alcoholism – Genetic basis– Learned behaviors– Problems with a definition of a “disease”

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Figure 5.26 - Physiological malfunctions associated with alcoholism