Consciousness

• William James (1890):
– Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions
• Consciousness can be viewed as our subjective awareness of mental events
• Functions of consciousness:
– Monitoring mental events
– Control: consciousness allows us to formulate and reach goals
• Consciousness may have evolved to direct or control behavior in adaptive ways

• The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is activated during conscious control tasks
– Subjects asked to name the ink color in the Stroop task below have difficulty when the word name and color are different
– This color-naming task was associated with activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

• Our conscious awareness is limited in capacity and we are aware of only a small amount of the stimuli around us at any one time
• Attention refers to the process by which we focus our awareness
• Three functions of attentional processes:
– Orienting function toward the environment
– Control of the content of consciousness
• I will think about this issue but not that one…
– Maintaining alertness

• Notion that brief exposure to sub-threshold stimuli can influence awareness
• Study: subjects are shown aggressive (A) or positive
(B) stimuli
– and then rate a neutral stimulus (C)
– Subjects shown panel A first subsequently rated the boy in panel C more negatively
(Figure adapted from Eagle, 1959)

• Information-processing view can be extended to analyses of unconscious processes
• Notion is that many brain mechanisms operate in parallel
– Some of these mechanisms operate outside of the level of consciousness
• Functional significance of unconscious mechanisms:
– Are efficient and rapid
– Can operate simultaneously
– Operate in the absence of consciousness?

• Consciousness is distributed throughout the brain
– Hindbrain and midbrain are important for arousal and for sleep
– Damage to the reticular formation can lead to coma
– Prefrontal cortex is key for conscious control of information processing

• Behavioral characteristics of sleep
– Minimal movement
– Stereotyped prone posture
– Require a high degree of stimulation to arouse organism
• Physiological characteristics of sleep
– Brain wave activity (seen in the EEG)
– Paralysis of muscles (seen in the EMG)
– Cardiovascular changes (alternating cycles of arousal)

• Memory consolidation
• Energy conservation
• Preservation from predators
• Restoring bodily functions
– Sleep deprivation can alter immune function and lead to early death
– Sleep deprivation can also lead to hallucinations and perceptual disorder

(Figure adapted from Cartwright, 1978)

• Characteristics of REM sleep
– Presence of rapid-eye-movements
– Presence of dreaming
– Increased autonomic nervous system activity
– EEG resembles that of awake state (beta wave)
– Motor paralysis (except for diaphragm)

• Psychoanalytic view: Dreams represent a window into the unconscious
– The latent content (meaning) can be inferred from the manifest content (the actual dream)
• Cognitive view: Dreams are constructed from the daily issues of the dreamer
• Biological view: Dreams represent the attempt of the cortex to interpret the random neural firing of the brain during sleep

• Evolutionary view: on-line threat simulation and behavioral rehearsal system
• Virtual reality training center
• Problem solving Perspective

1) Dream journaling – note dream signs
2) Reality testing
3) Relaxation techniques
4) Pre-sleep suggestions
5) Sleep in a different place or position

Garfield, P. (1974). Creative Dreaming. New York:
Ballantine.
LaBerge, S. (1985). Lucid Dreaming. Los Angeles:
J. P. Tarcher.
LaBerge, S. & Rheingold, H. (1990). Exploring the
World of Lucid Dreaming. New York: Ballantine.
Zadra, A.L., Donderi, D.C. & Pihl, R.O. (1992)
Efficacy of lucid dream induction for lucid and non-lucid dreamers. Dreaming, 2, 85-97.
Zadra, A.L., & Pihl, R.O. (1997). Lucid dreaming as a treatment for recurrent nightmares.
Psychotherapy Psychosomatics, 66, 50-55.

• Changes in consciousness can be brought on by
– Meditation
– Hypnosis
– Drug ingestion
– Religious experiences

• Focused Breathing
• Physiological responses
• Cognitive responses
• Attentional Focus
• Quieting the mind (self-talk)
• Alpha waves (EEG)

• Hypnosis is a state of consciousness characterized by
– Deep relaxation
– Suggestibility
• Effects observed during hypnotic state:
– Age regression
– Change in pain perception
– Ability to recall memories into consciousness
• Dissociation?