States of Consciousness

Levels of ConsciousnessWe know that various

levels exists beyond the conscious level.

• Mere-exposure effect

• Priming• Inattentional blindness and change blindness

Dual Processing“WE KNOW MORE THAN WE KNOW WE KNOW”

• Provides an account of how phenomenon can occur in two different ways, or as a result of two different processes.

• Information is processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks

• Conscious memories = explicit• Unconscious memories = implicit

Inattentional Blindnessand

Change Blindness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBPG_OBgTWg

Levels of Consciousness• Conscious Level-alert (Beta

waves)• Preconscious Level-

corresponds to ordinary memory

• Subconscious Level-outside of conscious awareness (everything we see, hear, etc)

• Unconscious Level-processes that occur automatically/not available to introspection

• Nonconscious

Sleep

• Sleep is a state of consciousness.

• Control center: hypothalamus

• We are less aware of our surroundings.

• Circadian Rhythm

ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP?SLEEP DEPRIVATION:

Decreases immunityLess sleep, more fat!Road deaths HypertensionPremature agingImpaired concentration/reflexesIncreases “stress” hormone - cortisol4 out of 5 teens are seriously sleep deprivedDEATH!

BENEFITS OF SLEEPMaximizes safety and protectionRestorativeBrain tissue is repairedHelps you be more creative

National Sleep Foundation 2007

AGE NATURAL BEDTIME

REC. HRS OF SLEEP

ACTUAL HRS SLEEP

0 - 1 7 – 8 pm 14 – 15 12.8

1 - 2 7 – 8 pm 12 – 14 11.8

3 - 6 7 – 8 11 – 13 10.3

7 - 11 8 – 9 10 – 11 9.4

12 - 17 10:30 – 11:30 8.5 – 9.5 7.6 (wd) 8.9 (we)

18 - 54 10 – 12 7 – 8.5 6.8 (wd) 7.4 (we)

55 - 84 8 – 10 7 – 8.5 6.9 (wd) 7.5 (we)

ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP?

BIOLOGICAL CLOCKS!• INTERNAL CHEMICAL UNITS THAT CONTROL REGULAR

CYCLES IN PARTS OF THE BODY• HYPOTHALAMUS• FREE-RUNNING CYCLES: IGNORE THE ENVIRONMENT (EX.

KIDNEYS)• ENTRAINMENT: OCCURS WHEN WE ALTER FREE-RUNNING

CYCLES (EX. TRAINING BABIES TO GET ONTO THEIR PARENTS CYCLE SO THAT EVERYONE CAN SLEEP!)

• HUMAN BODY HAS A NATURAL RHYTHM THAT “FREE-RUNS” ABOUT EVERY 25 HOURS!

• Ex. CHILEAN MINERS• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF24ZmPwzb0

Body Rhythms

• Circadian rhythm: biological rhythms that occur approximately once every 24 hrs. Ex. sleep/wake cycles (circa=about/dies=day

• Ultradian rhythms: biological rhythms that occur more than once a day. The most studied is the way we cycle through various stages of sleep each night

• Infradian rhythms: biological rhythms that occur once a month or once a season. Ex. Menstrual cycles or hibernation

Sleep Cycle • Use an EEG

(electroencephalograph) machine to measure stages of sleep.

• Relaxation (alpha waves > low beta)

• Onset of Stage 1 drowsiness

• Hallucinations, like a feeling of falling.

• Myclonic jerks (myclo=muscle)

• 50% reduction in activity between wakefulness and

Stage 1 sleep

Stage 1

• Kind of awake and kind of asleep. Theta waves

• NREM• Only lasts a few minutes,

and you usually only experience it once a night

• Your brain produces theta waves (also found in daydreaming – “theta state”.)

• If aroused during this stage a person might feel as though they have not slept

• May last 5-10 min

Click the couple to see Theta Waves

Stage 2• More Theta Waves that get

progressively slower.• NREM• Period of light sleep• Heart rate slows/body temp

decreases• Body prepares to enter deep

sleep• Begin to show sleep

spindles…sudden increase in wave frequency.

• K complexes: sudden increase in wave amplitudes

• Lasts about 20 min.

Click image to see Stage Two of sleep.

Stages 3 and 4• Slow wave sleep and our

deepest sleep.• You produce Delta waves

(slowest and highest amplitude).

• If awakened you will be very groggy.

• Sleep walking/talking/night terrors

• Vital for restoring body’s growth hormones and good overall health.

• Lasts approx. 15-30 min.• Completed within the first two

90 min sleep cycles or within the first 3 hours of sleep

Click boys to see deep sleep.

REM Sleep• Rapid Eye Movement• Often called paradoxical

sleep.• Brain is very active.• 20-25% of a normal nights

sleep (90-120 min)• Vivid dreams usually occur

in REM.• Body is essentially

paralyzed.• REM Rebound: lengthening

and increasing frequency and depth of REM sleep which occurs after periods of sleep deprivation.

Click boy dreaming to see REM sleep.

In a normal night's sleep, a sleeper begins in stage 1, moves down through the stages, to stage 4, then back up through the stages, with the exception that stage 1 is replaced by REM, then the sleeper goes back down through the stages again. One cycle, from stage 1 to REM takes approximately ninety minutes. This cycle is repeated throughout the night, with the length of REM periods increasing, and the length of delta sleep decreasing, until during the last few cycles there is no delta sleep at all.

Sleep Disorders“The brain keeps an accurate of sleep debt”

William Dement

Insomnia

• Difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep

• Effects 30-50% of the population

• Affects people of all ages

• Causes: stress, caffeine, meds, smoking, hunger, doing work in bed, exercising prior to sleep, too much light/noise

• Primary insomnia: Primary insomnia is sleeplessness that

cannot be attributed to a medical, psychiatric, or environmental cause (such as drug abuse or medications). It is characterized by the following:

• A 1-month or longer history of at least one of the following: a) difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep or b) nonrestorative sleep.

• Sleep disturbance causing significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

• Secondary insomnia is the most common form of insomnia, and it is estimated that as many as 8 out of every 10 cases of this disorder is secondary to some other cause. The symptoms of secondary insomnia are the same as those for primary insomnia, including excessive daytime sleepiness, anxiety, depression, and the inability to focus or concentrate.

Narcolepsy

• Suffer from sleeplessness and may fall asleep at unpredictable or inappropriate times.

• Hereditary (lack of neurotransmitter hypocretin)

Attacks when CNS is aroused

Fall directly into REM sleep

• Less than 1% of the pop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0h2nleWTwI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmXSJooA6T4&feature=relmfu

Sleep Apnea• A person stops

breathing during their sleep.

• Wake up momentarily, gasps for air, then falls back asleep (up to 400x’s a night)

• Very common, especially in heavy males.

• Can be fatal.• http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JkiWvWn2aU

Night Terrors• Wake up screaming and

have no idea why.• Occurs during NREM• Not a nightmare.• Most common in

children (boys) between ages 2-8.

• Seem to be connected with a maturing brain

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ujSv2z3MEk

Somnambulism• Sleep Walking• Most often occurs

during the first few hours of sleeping and in stage 4 (deep sleep).

• If you have had night terrors, you are more likely to sleep walk when older.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibQ3-EwdthM

Dreams

• Categories – Anxiety, fulfillment, cathartic

• COMMON THEMES– Pregnancy – Death – Teeth falling out – Chased– Falling or flying– Naked – Body parts– Colors– House – Animals

CONTENT OF DREAMS• Daytime events (50% of dreams)• strenuous activity OR passive activity• Occur in a realistic time scale

–Avg = 10 – 15 mins

• IMAGES & CHARACTERS–You are a ‘character’ 90% of the time–½ of the ppl you know, ½ you don’t know–drab color w/ blurry backgrounds–Girls = Even mixture of gender; boys = have

more men–Mostly visual– 20% of dreams include auditory or body

sensations –1% contain tastes or smells

• EMOTIONS– Mostly unpleasant/ - emotions

• Sadness, anger, anxiety, dread, failure– Men more likely to have + emotions &

aggression– usually the ‘victim’, not the aggressor– * recurrent dreams* - fear or vulnerability– More likely to have ‘bad’ dreams after an

upsetting event– 10% - sexual in nature & usually contain body

sensations

• CREATIVE & BIZARRE ASPECTS– Mix of bizarre & realistic elements

• 10% are completely bizarre– Sudden/unrealistic changes from one setting to

another

MEANING OF DREAMS• Day residue

– Process things in real life

• Stimulus Incorporation– stimuli in the ext. environ. in the dream

• Subcon influence & symbols–express impulses, thoughts, conflicts,

memories, issues, fears, anxieties, & motives that are unacceptable @ the conscious level

INTERPRETATION• Meaning? Psychologists can’t agree! • Objectivly verify accuracy of interpretation (?)• Rich source of info. about hidden aspects of our

personalities, conflicts, emotions, etc.• Creative insights about prob solving

–Discover a ‘solution’ to a prob. in real life

Freud’s Theory of Dreams

• Dreams are a roadway into our unconscious.

• Manifest Content (storyline)

• Latent Content (underlying meaning)

• Psychoanalytical theory

***See handout

Activation-Synthesis TheoryHobson & McCarley (1977)

• Our Cerebral Cortex is trying to interpret random electrical activity we have while sleeping.

• Pons continues to function and produce stimuli during sleep

• There is nothing to interpret

• That is why dreams sometimes make no sense.

• Biological Theory

Information-Processing Theory• Dreams are a way to

deal with the stresses of everyday life.

• We tend to dream more when we are more stressed.

• May be a way to integrate the info processed through the day into memories

Additional info… Carl Jung was a student of Freud who later rejected many of Freud's

theories. Jung expanded on Freud's idea that dream content relates to the dreamer's unconscious desires. He described dreams as messages to the dreamer and argued that dreamers should pay attention for their own good. He came to believe that dreams present the dreamer with revelations that can uncover and help to resolve emotional or religious problems and fears

Fritz Perls presented his theory of dreams as part of the holistic nature of Gestalt therapy. Dreams are seen as projections of parts of the self that have been ignored, rejected, or suppressed

REM sleep and the ability to dream seem to be embedded in the biology of many organisms that live on Earth. All mammals experience REM. The range of REM can be seen across species: dolphins experience minimum REM, while humans remain in the middle and the opossum and the armadillo are among the most prolific dreamers

Lucid dreaming is the conscious perception of one's state while dreaming Enuresis (bedwetting) and bruxism (teeth grinding) Deja Vu

HYPNOSIS

Hypnosis

• Altered state of consciousness?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLhkKx-Bv4A

• Posthypnotic suggestions

• Posthypnotic amnesia

• Hypnotic analgesia

Hypnotic Theories

Social or Role Theory• Hypnosis is NOT an

altered state of consciousness.

• Different people have various state of hypnotic suggestibility.

• A social phenomenon where people want to believe.

• Work better on people with richer fantasy lives.

Altered State Theory• Hypnosis is an altered

state of consciousness.

• Dramatic health benefits

• It works for pain best.

Dissociation Theory

• Theory by Ernest Hilgard. (Stanford)

• We voluntarily divide our consciousness up.

• We have a hidden observer, a level of us that is always aware.

• Exagerrated division of internal consciousness

Drugs

Drugs• Our brain is protected

by a layer of capillaries called the blood-brain barrier.

• The drugs that are small enough to pass through are called psychoactive drugs. These change perceptions and moods through actions at the neural synapses.

Drugs are either….

• Agonists mimic effects (pleasure, arousal)• Antagonists block (analgesia)• Reuptake inhibitors

If a drug is used often, a tolerance is created for the drug.

Thus you need more of the drug (or a more powerful drug) to feel the same effect.

If you stop using a drug you can develop withdrawal symptoms.

Dependence: physical & psychological

Meth addict 4 yrs later >>>>

HOW DO THEY WORK? • 1) Prevent some substances in blood stream

from entering brain tissue • 2) Similar enough to a certain

neurotransmitter bind to the receptors & mimic its effects

• 3) Bind to receptors and block the normal neurotransmitter from binding to the receptors

• 4) Increase or decrease the release of certain neurotransmitters

Stimulants:Caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, “E”, amphetamines and

meth• Speeds up body

processes.• Heart/breathing rates,

energy, self-confidence increase

• Meth: 8 hrs of continued energy/euphoria, triggers release of dopamine – very addictive & dangerous (crystal meth)

• More powerful ones (like cocaine) give people feelings of invincibility.

• CAFFEINE:World’s most widely

consumed psychoactive substance

Impairs sleepWithdrawal symptoms

including fatigue and headache

• NICOTINE Every year 5.4 million people

die from using tobacco Teen-to-grave smokers: 50%

chance of dying from the habit

Tobacco products are as powerful & addictive as heroin and cocaine

Releases epinephrine and norepinephrine

HALLUCINOGENS• Loss of contact w/ reality & alter emotions,

sensory perceptions, & thoughts, affects memory• Distortions in body image; loss of identity;

hallucinations; dream-like fantasies• Unpredictable behavior, emotional instability;

violent behavior; focus on detail• Low potential for physical dependence• High potential for psych. dependence (coping)

• Psychedelics• Causes changes in

perceptions of reality

• LSD, peyote, psilocybin mushrooms and marijuana.

• Reverse tolerance or synergistic effect

• Marijuana• euphoria,

calmness/relaxation, exaggerated emotions

• More pronounced body sensations

• Anxiety, paranoia, panic attacks, depression

• Probs w/ learning, memory, & social skills

• 33% Americans

• LSD (acid)• vivid hallucinations; time

& space is distorted; sensory distortions (i.e. smell colors & see sounds)

• ‘bad trip’ = unpleasant hallucinations & delusions, flashbacks, violent outbursts, panic attacks, suicide

• 7% Americans

ECSTASY• MDMA• Stimulant & hallucinogen• Amphetamine derivative• Triggers dopamine release• Releases stored serotonin & blocks reabsorption (“feel-good flood” X

3-4 hrs)• Dehydrates• Overheating, increased blood pressure, death• Risk of permanently depressed mood (damage to serotonin

producing neurons)• Suppresses immune system• Impairs memory

• MDMA (Ecstasy)• Euphoric &

hallucinogenic effects; closeness to others, psychosis, insomnia, paranoia

• Depression, anxiety when coming down

• Long-term: interfere w/learning ability & memory functioning

Depressants• Slows down body

processes.• Alcohol• Disinhibition• Slowed neural

processing• Memory disruption• Reduced self-

awareness/control

DEPRESSANTS: Barbiturates and

Opiates• BARBITURATES Tranquilizers Mimic effects of alcohol Depress nervous system Induce sleep or reduce

anxiety Can lead to impaired

memory/judgement Nembutal, Seconal Can be lethal due to

overdose

• OPIATES Depress neural functioning Pupils constrict, breathing

slows, lethargy No pain/anxiety Highly addictive:the more

you take reduces natural endorphins

Morphine, heroin, Vicodin Used for medical

analgesia/anesthesia

Alcohol

• More than 86 billion dollars are spent annually on alcoholic beverages.

• Alcohol is involved in 60% of ALL crimes.

• Alcohol is involved in over 70% of sexually related crimes.

• Is it worth the cost?