chapter 5: states of consciousness psych conscicous...consciousness 1 • the awareness of ... •...

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Chapter 5: States of

Consciousness


Consciousness 1

• The awareness of sensations, thoughts, and feelings being experienced at

a given moment, an “attentional spotlight”, internal and external awareness

• Is slow, but skilled at new challenges-

• “ Does consciousness exist?” debated by early psychologists

• Psychological constructs-

• Selective attention-

Consciousness 2

Weiten breaks it down into 4 components:

Awareness

• of external events

• of internal sensations

• of self as unique

• of thoughts about experiences

Our levels of consciousness vary as well

Controlled, automatic, lowered

Freud also described levels as preconscious, unconscious and non-

conscious


Consciousness 3

Neuroscience-

-Libet study-.35 sec

-Kosslyn and Koenia 2004-” chords guitar”

Brain: -EEG measures electrical activity measures amplitude and frequency, Beta-

awake

-Alpha, Theta, Delta- frequency declines in each

Biological rhythms:

-Annual cycles-

-28 day cycles-

-24 hour cycles( or 25)-

-90 min cycles-



Circadian Rhythms: Life Cycles

• Biological processes that occur repeatedly on a 24-hour

cycle

– Seasonal

affective

disorder

– Jet lag

• Latin “circa” “ diem”

• Infradian and ultraidan

Circadian cont’d

• Ex: body temp, low in am, up mid day, lower again pm

• Studies inconsistent on how to assist humans – adjust to disruptions

• Light tweaks our rhythms-, retinal proteins,suprachiasmatic nucleus, pineal

gland, melatonin production, adenosine inhibitors

• We are at highest arousal at our daily peak, but it differs by age

• Artificial light-

• Age and cycles: as we age it varies

• Rotating shifts at jobs, optimal to have later start times

• Jet lag- see basketball study in text

• Sunday night insomnia and Monday morning blues- Carlson and Kalat

• Insomnia- Bloom and Lazerson 1988- delayed sleep insomnia



Hypnosis

• Hypnosis

– Originated by Franz Mesmer in the 18th century, it is described as being in a trance-like state of heightened susceptibility to the suggestion of others

Hilgards’ research 1960’s- people differ in responses -10 % on each side

Stanford Hypnotic susceptibility scale- 500 subjects

Theories of: -

– Barber & Spanos “expectations” of the role, situational factors not the hypnosis: non hypnotized people did the same as hypnotized

-Memory- little recall, more mistakes

-Regression tends to be inaccurate

• Hypnosis & personality- not attributed to traits except perhaps imaginativeness and absorption

• During hyp- people may experience distortions or hallucinations

• Dissociation in consciousness- splits mental processes, Hilgard determines these are normal brain functions

• Many still depend on it as a source of treatment, even with little empirical evidence.

• Applications

– Control pain, reduce smoking, treating psychological disorders, assisting law enforcement, improving athletic performance, anesthesia


Stages of Sleep

• Stage 1 – The stage of transition

– wakefulness and sleep

– relatively rapid, low voltage brain waves

• Stage 2 – slower, more regular wave pattern

– momentary interruptions of sharply

pointed spiky waves- sleep spindles


Stages of Sleep

• Stage 3

– Waves become slower,

with higher peaks and

lower valleys in the wave

pattern

• Stage 4

– Waves are even slower

and more regular, and

people are least responsive

to outside stimulation

Sleep cycles and REM

• Average person takes 25 min to fall asleep

• REM was discovered accidentally in a lab

• REM is dominated by Beta waves-

what???

• REM cycles longer each time

• Note: be sure to read the personal

application in text p 206-7



The Sleep Cycle


REM Sleep:

The Paradox of Sleep • Sleep that occupies a

little over 20% of adult’s

sleeping time and is

characterized by

• Rapid eye movement

• Increased and irregular heart rate

• Increase in blood pressure

• Increase in breathing rate

• Erections in males

• Usually accompanied by dreams

• Person’s body is typically “paralyzed”


REM Sleep:

The Paradox of Sleep


The Function and Meaning of

Dreaming

• Unconscious wish fulfillment theory

(Freud 1900) – Proposed that dreams represented unconscious wishes that

dreamers desire to see fulfilled

• Latent content refers to the “disguised” meaning of the dream

• Manifest content refers to the actual story line of the dream

• Carl Jung also had a very detailed system for analyzing

dreams, see handout



Dreaming • Dreams-for-survival

theory

– Dreams permit information that is critical for our daily survival to be reconsidered and reprocessed during sleep



Dreaming

• Activations-synthesis theory – The brain produces random electrical

energy during REM sleep that

stimulates memories lodged in various

portions of the brain which are put

together to make a logical story line

– Hobson etc study- just bursts of

activity or side effects of the neural

activity that produce beta waves during

REM

Dreaming continued

• Cartwrights and Lamberg 1990’s

• Problem solving model of dreaming

• Allows room for creativity, dealing with issues,” sleep on it”

• We dream about what we are going through- ie study on divorced

women

• Studies do not implicate solutions, though. • Newer Neural Cognitive research- see packet reading

• Other models: Van de Castle index


Common dreams


Falling-over 80%

attacked, chased

school, teachers studying

sexual

being late

eating

frozen fear

loved one is dead

locked up

finding money

swimming

snakes

dressing poorly,

inadequately

smothering

nude

fire

failing and exam

flying

seeing s

• Freud and Jung’s ideas and methods

• 1. Freud- unconscious wish fulfillment theory

• Interpretation of dreams-

• Manifest content

• Latent content

• Symbols- Sexual intercourse- climbing stairs crossing a bridge…flying

airplane, walking down hallway, train in tunnel etc

• Apples, peaches grapefruits- • Snakes fire sticks umbrellas, guns horses-

• Ovens tunnels closets caves bottle-

• Wish fulfillment- your ID’s true desire

• Looked at repressed issues in childhood.

• 2. Jung- waking dreams

• Analysis, see crib sheet-Parts to the dream and active imagination, amplification, etc

• Archetypes in our collective unconscious

• The shadow



Sleep Disturbances

• Insomnia

• Sleep apnea

• Sudden infant

death syndrome

• Narcolepsy

• Sleepwalking

Why do we sleep? What happens when we are deprived?

• What is sleep for? Sleep protects, sleep repairs and recuperates, sleep helps us remember, sleep helps us grow

• 1/3 of our lives, to regenerate, keep our body clock, to function and survive.

• Does everyone need 8 hours? No

• Webb and Campbell 1983 genetics twins

• Culture? Edison’s light bulb transformed out sleep patterns, fats paced tech today?

• Coren- need 9 hours unhindered 1996

• Making up sleep- cannot really do that, Dement 1999

• Gallup poll- 61 % men 41% women

• Deprivation’s consequences- lowered immune system, loss of memory, mood worsens, obesity, poor habits, risk

of accident injury/ fatal even. Most major accidents in modern history were at midnight where sleepiest at shift,

• Teens? Nap 1st period, rest at lunch, sleep when class is boring, malaise,

• Stanford University Dement 1997-

• US Navy and NIH experiments 1999 and on-

• Kahnemen 2004- 909 women

• Think about Daylight Savings issues, Driver fatigue, pilots etc..


Daydreams

• under our control, part of waking consciousness, 2-

4 % half free time per day.

• Some studies show 10 % of day

• Brain waves are beta or at times alpha

• Freud and others considered this a way to repress or

avoid conflict, escape

• What do you day dream about?

• Usefulness of daydreaming?



Therapy For Insomnia

• Exercise during the day

• Choose a regular bedtime

• Don’t use your bed as an all purpose area

• Avoid caffeine after lunch

• Drink a glass of warm milk at bedtime

• Avoid sleeping pills

• Try not to sleep

• Talk yourself into sleeping


Meditation

Meditation

• Learned technique, repetition, unaware

of other external stimulus

• Relaxation studies mixed on

helpfulness, can improve health over

long term, how?

• Practice saying word one over and over

again for 20 min.

• Mantra

– Repetition of a word, a sound, or a

syllable


Drug Use: The Highs and Lows

of Consciousness

• Psychoactive drugs

– Influences a person’s emotions, perceptions, and behavior

– Modifies messages sent to brain in CNS

– See chart on p 199 for types

– Narcotics, sedatives, stimulants, hallucingens, cannabis, alcohol, MDMA( ecstasy)

• Addictive drugs

– Produce a biological or psychological dependence in the user, and withdrawal from them leads to a craving for the drug that, in some cases, may be nearly irresistible

– Biologically and psychological based

– Drup dependency depends on tolerance levels at the start

How do drugs work?

• Synaptic level, multiple effects • Ex: Amphetamines affect NE and DA and can mimic

monoamines

• Increases release of NE and DA and affect it at reuptake

• Increased dopamine activity has affects, then a large

crash after.

• Reuptake slows, and eventual depletion of dopamine

and norephineph

• These drugs also bind to endorphin receptors- newer

research



Stimulants: Drug Highs

• Affect the central nervous system by causing a rise in heart rate, blood pressure, and muscular tension

– Caffeine

– Nicotine

– cocaine

– Amphetamines • Methamphetamine– most dangerous street drug


Stimulants: Drug Highs

• How much caffeine do you consume?


Depressants: Drug Lows

• Impede the nervous system by causing neurons to fire more slowly

– Alcohol • Rohypnol

• Binge drinking

– Barbiturates • Nembutal

• Seconal

• Phenobarbital


Depressants: Drug Lows


Narcotics:

Relieving Pain and Anxiety

• Increase relaxation and relieve pain and

anxiety

• Heroin

– Methadone treatment

• Morphine


Hallucinogens: Psychedelic Drugs

• Drugs that are capable of producing

hallucinations, or changes in the

perceptual process

– Marijuana

– MDMA (Ecstasy)

– LSD

Dependence

• Psychological & Physical

Both function at the neural level, that is why it is hard to beat an addiction.

Mesolimbic dopamine pathways- goes to cortex,” reward pathway” strengthens

as you use more, so the mental addiction is as powerful as the physical one.

Overdoses see chart 5.3

Depressants most at risk for OD

Stimulants less common but damaging

Direct effects of continued abuse:

Indirect effects:

Marijuana:

Is it ok? Some risks are noted, but much evidence is still new or too small to

correlate: cancers, respiratory, fertility, cognitive functions,


chapter 5: states of consciousness psych conscicous...consciousness 1 • the awareness of ... •...

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