States of Consciousness

What do you think?

• Write your definition of consciousness.

• Get with a partner and share

Consciousness• Awareness of yourself and the

environment.

• The experience of conscious behaviors can include thoughts, sensations, and memories

Levels of Consciousness

• Consciousness – current level of awareness

• Subconscious – information out of awareness, memories aren’t easily accessible

• Unconscious – information out of awareness, no actual memories may even exist, though behavior may be affected

• Nonconscious – body processes that we are not aware of, but are active

• Preconscious – information out of awareness, but memories are easily accessible

Biological Rhythms - natural life cycles that help to guide our levels of awareness and our behaviors

• Annual Cycles – Seasonal changes affecting moods, appetite, sleep patterns

• Twenty-Eight Day Cycle – Female Menstrual Cycle

• Ninety-Minute Cycle – Sleep Cycle

• Twenty-Four Hour Cycle – Daily cycle of levels of alertness, hormones, body temperature, etc. also known as…

Circadian Rhythms

• A cycle or rhythm that is roughly 24 hours long. The cyclical daily fluctuations in biological and psychological processes.

Circadian Rhythms• IE.

– Peak Mental Alertness at 9:00 AM and 9:00 PM

– Low Mental Alertness at 3:00 AM and 3:00 PM

– Peak Physical Strength at 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM

– Peak Sensations at 3:00 AM and 6:00 PM– Peak Sensitivity to Pain at 3:00 AM and

5:00 PM– Peak Degrees of Sleepiness at 3:00 AM

and 3:00 PM

The Sleep-Wake Cycle

–When decreased levels of light, the pineal gland releases melatonin, which causes sleepiness and reduced activity level

–When there are increased levels of light, melatonin levels decrease and conscious awareness level increase

When there are increased levels When there are increased levels of light, melatonin levels of light, melatonin levels decrease and conscious decrease and conscious awareness level increasesawareness level increases

SLEEP !!!!!

• On average, humans sleep 22 years of their lifetime.

Why do we sleep?

• Restorative Theory of Sleep

–Sleep promotes physiological processes that restore and rejuvenate the body and the mind

–NREM = bodily restoration and REM = mind restoration

Theory of Sleep

• Adaptive theory—sleep emerged in evolution to preserve energy and protect during the time of day when there is little value and considerable danger

Sleep• There are 2 different types of sleep:

–REM Sleep: type of sleep during which rapid eye movements and dreaming occur and voluntary muscle activity is suppressed

–NREM Sleep: quiet, typically dreamless sleep in which rapid eye movements are absent

Stages of Sleep – Pre-Sleep• Pre-Sleep:

– As you transition from wakefulness to sleep (drowsy stage), you may experience some type of hypnagogic hallucinations and/or myoclonic jerks• You may hear a loud crash, hear someone

call your name, feel a sensation of floating, smell something burning, see a variety of colors

• Involuntary muscle spasms

four NREM sleep stages• STAGE 1:

–Transitional stage from wakefulness to sleep

–First 5-10 minutes of sleep

–Gradually disengage from the sensations of the surrounding world

–Still able to regain consciousness easily at this point

–Some hypnagogic experiences continue here

four NREM sleep stages•Stage 2:

–15-20 minutes

–Breathing becomes rhythmical

–Some small muscle twitches

–Brain activity begins to slow down

–Sleep Spindles - Quick bursts of brain activity that last for a second or two

four NREM sleep stages•Stages 3

–Transitional stage from 2 to 4

four NREM sleep stages•Stages 4:

–Heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing drop to their lowest levels

four NREM sleep stages•… by Stage 4:

–Slow delta waves• the sleeper is nearly

oblivious to the outside world, and may take 15 minutes or more to regain consciousness from this level

four NREM sleep stages

•Stage 4:– It is possible to carry

conversations, answer the phone, walk in this stage and never remember it

–Most sleeping disorders occur during this time

Stages of Sleep – back again

• By the time a sleeper has reached Stage 4, they have been asleep for about 60 minutes total.

• After Stage 4 has been reached, the sleeper cycles back from Stage 3 to Stage 2 in a matter of minutes and enters REM Sleep.

Stages of Sleep

•REM Sleep:

–The brain becomes more active and generates small, fast brain waves

–Visual and motor neurons fire during this stage, but voluntary muscle movements are suppressed (paralysis)

• REM (Rapid Eye Movement)

–recurring sleep stage

–vivid dreams

–“paradoxical sleep”

•muscles are generally relaxed, but other body systems are active

REM Sleep is often referred to as Paradoxical Sleep because…

–Heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration increase, muscles twitches, heightened sexual arousal

–The first REM stage lasts about 15 minutes – the first sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes total

• REM Rebound Sleep–The less time we spend in REM sleep one night, the longer amount of time we will spend in REM sleep the next night

Beyond the first 90 minutes• Sleepers cycle between NREM

and REM sleep throughout the night

• Each cycle lasts about 90 minutes

Functions of Sleep• Restoration theory—body wears

out during the day and sleep is necessary to put it back in shape

• Adaptive theory—sleep emerged in evolution to preserve energy and protect during the time of day when there is little value and considerable danger

Individual Differences in Sleep Drive• Some individuals need more and

some less than the typical 8 hours per night

• Nonsomniacs—sleep far less than most but do not feel tired during the day

• Insomniacs—have a normal desire for sleep but are unable to and feel tired during the day

Sleep dysfunctions

Sleep Disorders

• Insomnia–A condition in which a

person regularly experiences an inability to fall asleep, to stay asleep, or to feel adequately rested by sleep.

Sleep Disorders

• Sleepwalking (somnambulism)–Usually within the first three

hours of sleep–The sleeper typically has the

ability to navigate around objects, albeit poorly coordinated and in a stiff, automatic manner

Sleep Apnea

–Carbon-dioxide builds up in the blood, causing a momentary awakening, during which the sleeper snorts or gulps for air

A sleep disorder in which the person repeatedly stops breathing during sleep

• Though narcoleptics can fall asleep at any time, arousals usually trigger sleep – laughter, anger, surprise, sex

• Narcoleptics instantly lose muscular control, and enter REM sleep. The dreams are often terrifying.

Narcolepsy– A sleep

disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and brief lapses into sleep throughout the day

• Night Terrors–occur within 2 or 3 hours of falling

asleep, usually during Stage 4

–high arousal- appearance of being terrified

–Right back to sleep – usually no memory of the event

• Nightmares–occur towards morning

–during REM sleep

Sleep Deprivation

• 8 hours is generally suggested for adults, but the typical adult sleeps

less than 7 hours a night.

• 9 hours is generally suggested for teenager, but the typical teen

sleeps only about 6 hours a night.

• Effects of Sleep Loss–fatigue

–impaired concentration

–immune suppression

–irritability

–slowed performance

•Accidents

–planes autos and trucks

Dreams

• 25% of a night’s sleep spent dreaming (about 2 hours) (6 yrs of your life)

• Sleep Thinking – much more common

–Vague, uncreative thoughts about real-life events

Sleep and Dreams

• Dreams are a sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind.

• Notable for their hallucinatory imagery, discontinuities, and delusions

Dreams are unfolding

episodes of mental images

(story-like)

Dreams and REM Sleep

What are true dreams for?

• Psychoanalytic interpretation

• Activation synthesis model

Activation Synthesis Model• Brain activity during sleep produces

dream images (activation) which are combined by the brain into a dream story (synthesis).

• Meaning is to be found by analyzing the way the dreamer makes sense of the progression of chaotic dream images.

Dreams5 Basic Characteristics

–Emotions can be intense–Content/organization are usually

illogical–Bizarre sensations–Even bizarre detail is uncritically

accepted–Dream images are difficult to

remember

Remembering Dreams

• We dream every night but often don’t remember.

• We remember dreams that occur close to waking.

Sleep and Dreams

• A lucid dream is the act of consciously perceiving and recognizing that one is dreaming, enabling a more cogent ("lucid") control over the content and quality of the experience.

Dream Theory

»Sigmund Freud (1900)

• The Interpretation of Dreams

–wish fulfillment • (disguised fulfillment of repressed wishes)

–discharge otherwise unacceptable feelings

–Sex and Aggression

Sleep and Dreams – When is a cigar just a cigar?

• The manifest content of a dream is the literal storyline and events that occurred

• The latent content of a dream is the interpretation of the unconscious drives, wishes, and desires that created the dream (the symbolism)