Consciousness and Information Processing

Consciousness: our awareness of ourselves and our environment Allows us to voluntarily control and

communicate our mental states Enables processing outside of our awareness

Conscious Processing is sequential Slow and limited capacity EX: driving– hands and feet do the driving

while your mind handles new challenges

SLEEP and DREAMS

What is sleep? Definition: periodic, natural, reversible

loss of consciousness Biological Rhythms

Periodic physiological fluctuations Our bodies experience 4 TYPES of

Biological Rhythms

Biological Rhythms

Annual Cycles Example: Seasonal Affective Disorder

Depression in the dark, winter months

Twenty-eight-day Cycles Female Menstrual Cycle

Twenty-four-hour Cycles Varying alertness, body temperature, and growth

hormone secretion

Ninety-minute Cycles Stages of sleep in 90 minute cycles

The Rhythm of Sleep

Circadian Rhythm The biological clock; regular body rhythms that

occur on a 24 hour cycle. Example: body temperature

Rises in morning, dips in early afternoon, dips more before we go to sleep

Thinking is sharpest & memory is most accurate when we are in our peak circadian arousal Younger: “night owls” Older: morning people

Transition from sleeping later to sleeping earlier occurs around age 20 (esp. for women who begin puberty earlier than men)

The Rhythm of Sleep (cont’d)

What disrupts our circadian rhythm? Jet Lag Light: triggers proteins & decreases

melatonin Melatonin: sleep inducing hormone

We can reset our biological clocks by adjusting sleep schedules

SLEEP STAGES

Every 90 minutes we pass through a cycle of 5 distinct sleep stages

Stage 1: brief, many experience hallucinations; feeling of falling (body may jerk) Hallucinations: false sensory experiences

Stage 2: 20 minutes, periodic sleep spindles; now fully asleep Sleep talking can occur at this stage

Stage 3: transitional, only a few minutes until stage 4

SLEEP STAGES cont’d

Stage 4: deep sleep; brain emits large delta waves; 2 slow-wave sleep stages last for about 30 minutes—hard to awaken End of stage 4 likely to see sleep walking or bed

wetting REM (Rapid Eye Movement): recurring

sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur AKA Paradoxical sleep: muscles are relaxed but

other body systems are active

About 1 hour after falling into a deep sleep go back to Stage 3 and Stage 2 (where you spend about half of your night)

End in REM: heart rate increases, irregular breathing, eyes move around Often remember these dreams more vividly

if woken during REM

Sleep Theories

4 Theories for why we sleep1. Protect2. Recuperate3. Remember4. Growth

WHY DO WE SLEEP?

Sleep patterns are not uniform Age-Related

Infants sleep for 2/3 of their day Most adults sleep for less than 1/3

Culturally Influenced Industrialized nations (USA) sleep less

than those without artificial light

Without interruption, most will sleep for 9 hours

Can not “catch-up” on sleep

The Need for sleep Strengthen memory Increases concentration boost mood moderates hunger & obesity helps immune system resets biological clock helps organs

The effects of sleep deprivation

Teens should sleep for 8-9 hours Ranges from serious to subtle

Car accidents to lower immune system

Reduced: productivity Concentration Ability to remember, think critically and logically Creativity, vocabulary, and communication skills

How long can humans stay awake? 8 to 10 days

Can recover to relatively normal functioning with one or two nights of recovery sleep

SLEEP DISORDERS Insomnia: recurring problems in falling or staying

asleep Chronic if lasts for 3-4 weeks Anxiety, depression, situational stress, and stimulus overload

cause about 50% of all cases Drugs (caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine ) account for 10%

Narcolepsy: uncontrollable sleep attacks; may lapse directly into REM at inappropriate times

Sleep Apnea: temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings

Night Terrors: high arousal and appearance of being terrified; occur during stage 4 of sleep not REM—seldom remembered

~ ~* DREAMS

* ~

~ Dream: a sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind—notable for hallucinatory images and discontinuities.

Lucid Dreams: When you are aware that you are dreaming

Manifest Content: The remembered storyline from a dream (says Freud)

Latent Content: underlying meaning of a dream (says Freud)

What do we dream about?

8 in 10 dreams involve negative emotions

Commonly dream of: Repeated failures Rejections Experience misfortunes Events of our daily lives

Why do we dream?-- Dream Theories

To satisfy our own wishes To file away memories To develop and preserve neural

pathways The make sense of neural static To reflect our cognitive development

HYPNOSIS

Hypnosis: a social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur.

FACT v. FICTION All of us are somewhat susceptible to

suggestion 20% of people are highly susceptible

Also very imaginative, likely to be easily absorbed in a vivid novel, lead fantasy lives

Hypnosis (cont’d)

Can hypnosis enhance recall of forgotten events Can hypnosis force people to act against their will? Can hypnosis be therapeutic?

Posthypnotic suggestions: actions intended to be carried out once the person is not hypnotized

Can hypnosis relieve pain? Yes! Can reduce fear thus reducing hyperactivity to pain Dissociation: a split in consciousness which allows some

thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others.

Is Hypnosis an Altered State of Consciousness? Hypnosis is a combination of

Biological Influences Distinctive Brain activity unconscious info. processing

Psychological Influences Focused attention expectations

Social-Cultural Influences Authoritative figure and the need to play your

role “be a good subject”