SLEEP AND DREAMS…

Chapter 5 Huffman/Ch 6 NairneChapter 5 Huffman/Ch 6 NairneStates ofStates of ConsciousnessConsciousness

• Consciousness: an organism’s subjective awareness of internal and external events in its environment

• Attention: internal processes that set priorities for mental functioning

• Levels of awareness:

–HIGH: Controlled processes that require attention (and interfere with other functions)

–MIDDLE: Automatic processes requiring minimal attention (such as riding your bike)

–LOWEST: Minimal or no awareness of the environment

• Levels of awareness:

–HIGH: Controlled processes that require attention (and interfere with other functions)

–MIDDLE: Automatic processes requiring minimal attention (such as riding your bike)• Automaticity – fast and effortless processing that requires little or no focused attention

• Levels of awareness:

–HIGH: Controlled processes that require attention (and interfere with other functions)

–MIDDLE: Automatic processes requiring minimal attention (such as riding your bike)

–LOWEST: Minimal or no awareness of the environment

Sleep• Sleep is a behavior

AND an altered state of consciousness

• We spend about a third of our lives in sleep.

EEG Changes During Sleep

• Summated brain wave activity (EEG)– Wakefulness: beta activity

(13-30 Hz) – Eyes closed: alpha activity

(8-12 Hz)

EEG Changes During SleepStage 1: Light Sleep – Alpha Waves

Stage 2: Eye movements & brain waves slow; sleep spindles

EEG Changes During Sleep

• Stage 3: very slow waves - delta waves appear

• Stage 4: almost all delta waves– Very hard to wake during this

stage

EEG Changes During Sleep

• REM stage: rapid, irregular and shallow breathing, eyes jerk rapidly, both wake and sleep waves (sawtooth pattern)

Theories of Sleep• Repair/Restoration

–Sleep allows for recuperation from physical, emotional, and intellectual fatigue

• Survival Value–Sleep evolved to conserve energy

and protect our ancestors from predators

“Sometimes,a cigar is just a cigar.”

- Freud, on themeaning of dreams

A.K.A. Psychoanalytic theory: Dreams represent disguised symbols of repressed desires and anxieties Manifest Content: symbols used to disguise true meaning of dreamLatent Content: true unconscious meaning of a dream

Wish Fulfillment –

Freud’s DreamTheory…

WHY DO WE DREAM!?

• Activation-synthesis hypothesis:–Dreams represent random activation

of brain cells during REM sleep

• Problem Solving–Dreams focus on the problems we

have in an attempt to find a solution

• Threat simulation–Dreams evolved to help us practice

skills we need to avoid threats.

Dyssomnias

• Insomnia - difficulty in getting to sleep or remaining asleep–Situational: related to anxiety or

excitement–Drug-induced: sleeping pills

(tolerance)

Dyssomnias• Sleep apnea: person stops

breathing and is awakened when blood levels of carbon dioxide stimulate breathing

• Narcolepsy: Sleep appears at odd times–Sleep attack: urge to sleep during the

day–Cataplexy: REM paralysis occurs,

person is still conscious

Myths of Sleep• Everyone needs 8 hrs of sleep per night to

maintain good health• Learning of complicated subjects such as

calculus can be done during sleep• Some people never dream• Dreams last only a few seconds• Genital arousal during sleep reflects dream

content• It is unrelated to sexual content• May be a useful index of physical versus

psychological causes of impotence in males