Conciousness & Info Processing
Conciousness
• Exert voluntary control
• Our awareness of ourselves
and our environment
•Communicate our mental
state to others
• Information processed
automatically & in parallel
• Consciousness emerges from
interaction of individual brain
events
Unconscious/
Subconscious
Biological Rhythms and Sleep
Circadian Rhythm = internal biological clock that regulates the timing
for sleep in humans. Occurs on a 24-hour cycle, unless placed under
unnatural constant illumination (then, clock runs closer to a 25-hour
day).
Light triggers the suprachiasmatic nucleus in hypothalamus
to decrease melatonin (sleep inducing hormone) from
the pineal gland in the morning and increase it at nightfall.
Rhythm of Sleep
• The circadian clock needs information about light to reset itself daily, which can
come in the form of daylight exposure or other cues associated with your daily
sleep/wake cycle (such as your alarm clock, an evening bath or your sleep
habits).
• Desynchronization = conflict between external and internal clocks. Several
things can confuse the CNS, making it difficult to get a good night’s sleep.
– Jet Lag: The time changes experienced in travel can disrupt your body’s
clock. Your body stays on the time in the time zone it is used to. The SCN
can only adjust at a rate of about 1 hour per day.
– Night Shift: People working at night must override their body’s natural
circadian rhythms. Reversing the normal sleep/wake cycle can result in
drowsiness at work, an increased risk of accidents and workplace errors.
– Monday Morning Blues: Staying up and sleeping in an hour or more later
than usual on weekends provides our bio clock different cues that push it
toward a later nighttime phase, making it harder to fall asleep on Sunday and
hard to wake up on Monday morning.
– Blindness: Unable to receive cues about light, melatonin supplements may
help people with blindness regulate their circadian rhythms.
Rhythm of Sleep
• We are physiologically primed to fall asleep most easily at a particular time of
day – varies among people and age (larks vs. owls).
– Most humans sleep 9-10 hours unhindered
– Survey 7-4: Count up the number of times you circled the answers in the
right hand column.
• 7+ = clear owl  night
• 3 and less = clear lark  morning
• 4-6 = no larkish/owlish tendencies
– Thinking is sharpest and memory most accurate when people are at their
daily peak in circadian arousal.
– Phase delay shift = bio clock shifts forward during adolescence, making
teens more alert at night.
• Creates a “forbidden” zone for sleep among teens around 9 or 10 pm;
followed by a profound drowsiness on waking. Later school starts???
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=frol
02sfacq392&continuous=1
Sleep Stages
Measuring sleep: About every 90 minutes, we pass through a cycle of five distinct
sleep stages. Sleep is divided into two major states: NREM and REM. With each 90minute cycle, stage 3 and 4 sleep decreases and the duration of REM sleep increases.
1 2 3 4 3 2 REM 2 3 4 3 2 REM 2 REM 2 REM
Five Stages of Sleep (~ 90 min)
~5 min – hallucinations (sensory stimuli
without real stimuli), such as floating or
knee jerks. Sensations lack narrative or
story line
~20-25 min – sleep-talking
may begin at Stage 2
~30 min - Sleepwalking and night
terrors in stage 4; deepest
sleep/hardest to awaken
~10-45 min – Dreams; deep muscle
paralysis but active brain waves
(paradoxical sleep)
{
When WE REM We Dream
Physiological Function:
Dreams provide the sleeping
brain with periodic
stimulation to develop and
preserve neural pathways.
Neural networks of newborns
are quickly developing;
therefore, they need more
sleep.
Activation-Synthesis Theory:
during the night our brainstem
releases random neural activity,
dreams may be a way to make
sense of that activity.
Stage 5: REM Sleep
After reaching the deepest sleep stage (4), the sleep cycle starts moving
backward towards stage 1. Although still asleep, the brain engages in
low- amplitude, fast and regular beta waves (15-40 cps) much like awakearoused state.
Paradoxical Sleep – brain waves similar to when we are awake, increase
in breathing and heart rate, but deep muscle paralysis (UNION of
OPPOSITES)
A person during this sleep exhibits Rapid Eye Movements
(REM) and reports vivid dreams.
Pons is critical for initiating REM sleep. Pons sends signals
to the visual nuclei of the thalamus (images), to the cerebral
cortex (thought processes), and spinal cord (paralysis)
REM Rebound
• All sleep researchers believe we need REM sleep.
– Infants enter REM sooner and for a greater
percentage of sleep than do adults or older children.
(50% versus 20%)
– When deprived of REM sleep and then allowed to
sleep, we show increased REM sleep called REM
Rebound.
– Drugs that regulate serotonin can mess up REM sleep
cycle, so recovering drug addicts spend a lot of time
in REM sleep; experience many nightmares
• What will happen if you don’t get a good nights sleep for a
week, and then sleep for 10 hours?
You will dream a lot.
We spend one-third of
our lives sleeping.
Sleep Theories
1.
Sleep Protects: Sleeping in the darkness when predators
loomed about kept our ancestors out of harm’s way.
2.
3.
Sleep Helps us Recover: Sleep helps restore and repair brain tissue.
Sleep Helps us Remember & LEARN: Sleep restores and rebuilds
our fading memories and Builds and reinforces on the Days
Learning
Sleep Feeds Creative Thinking: After working on a task, then
sleeping on it, people solve problems more insightfully than do
those who stay awake
Sleep may play a role in the growth process: During sleep
(specifically, stage 4), the pituitary gland releases growth hormone.
Older people release less of this hormone and sleep less.
4.
5.
How Long can Humans Stay Awake?
Research participants have stayed awake for 8-10 days. While
showing deterioration in concentration, motivation, and perception,
none suffered serious medical or psychiatric problems.
However, rats sleep deprived for two or more weeks caused death.
Fatal Familial Insomnia – rare brain disease in which patients lose the
ability to fall asleep; fatal in 6 to 30 months due to multiple organ
failure. Onset of disorder occurs between the ages of 40 and 60
Effects of
Sleep Deprivation
Fatigue and subsequent death
Impaired Creativity
Impaired Concentration
Emotional Irritability
Depressed immune system
Slowed Performance
Accidents
Frequency of accidents increase with loss of sleep
Sleep Disorders
1.
Insomnia: A persistent inability to fall asleep.
1.
Narcolepsy: Overpowering urge to fall asleep that may occur
while talking or standing up. Lapses directly into REM sleep
(usually during times of stress or joy). Last from 5 to 20
minutes. Enter REM sleep within a few minutes of dozing off.

2.
Narcoleptic Dog http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0h2nleWTwI
Sleep apnea: A sleep disorder characterized by temporary
cessations of breathing during sleep and consequent momentary
re-awakenings, possibly as many as 500 times. (1:25, mostly
overweight men). Either diaphragm stops moving because the
brain no longer sends impulses to control it or breathing is
blocked by loss of muscle tone in the tongue, throat and larynx.
Sleep Disorders
Children are most prone to:
• Night terrors: The sudden arousal from sleep with intense fear
accompanied by physiological reactions (e.g., rapid heart rate,
perspiration). Lake fearful narratives that characterize nightmares.
Stage 4 Body Not Ready for paralysis (mostly children - little recall
next morn)
• Sleepwalking: A Stage 4 disorder which is usually harmless and
unrecalled the next day. Effects an estimated 10 percent of all
humans at least once in their lives.
• Sleeptalking: A condition that runs in families, like sleepwalking.
Dream Theories
Summary
What We Dream
Manifest Content: A Freudian term meaning the story
line of dreams.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Negative Emotional Content: 8 out of 10 dreams have negative
emotional content.
Failure Dreams: People commonly dream about failure, being
attacked, pursued, rejected, or struck with misfortune.
Sexual Dreams: Contrary to our thinking, sexual dreams are
sparse. Sexual dreams in men are 1 in 10; and in women 1 in 30.
Often described in full color
Some people experience lucid dreaming – dreaming while
knowing that you are dreaming; thus better able to control the
dream, such as participating in what is most interesting
We retain some awareness of our external world while we
dream.
Freudian (Psychoanalytic Theory)
Why We Dream?
Wish Fulfillment: Sigmund Freud suggested that dreams provide a
psychic safety valve to discharge unacceptable feelings. The
dream’s manifest (apparent) content may also have symbolic
meanings (latent content) that signify our unacceptable feelings.
Dreams are the key to understanding our inner conflicts. Ideas and
thoughts that are hidden in our unconscious.
“Sometimes,
a cigar
is just a
cigar.”
- Freud, on the
meaning of dreams
Common Dreams and Freudian Interpretations
•
•
•
Example 1: Falling Teeth
– In the dream, I dream that all my teeth are loosen, my sister wants to put my teeth into his mouth,
above her teeth. Finally all my teeth have fallen off.
– Interpretation: Freud thinks that mouth, teeth, tongue are some sensitive areas, they are closely
related to our sexual desires. On the other hand, teeth represents promises. It reflects that you feel
sorry for not keeping a promise. You have to look after your body also, always try to keep yourself
healthy.
Example 2: Poisonous Snake
– I dream that when I went back to my home, opened the door, I found that my employer was sitting on
my sofa with her daughter. They were watching TV ( I am surprised at this). When I went to the
balcony, I was sacred to find that there is a snake. The snake appeared in a round shape. Afterwards,
my employer ordered the snake to bite me, it bit my wrist. I quickly asked my friends to bring me to
the hospital. The doctor there heal me. Afterwards, I awake.
– Interpretation: You dream shows that you are forced to do something unwillingly by some powerful
people, such as your parents. Your dream shows that you encounter some difficulties in your work,
things do not happened as you expected. You have to care more about your health recently, since
doing too much work may make you feel tired.
Example 3: Being Chased
– I always have a nightmare. In the dream, a Chinese dead body was chasing me, every time when I was
nearly bit by him, I woke up. Sometimes when the dream was very horrible, I woke up in the middle
of the dream. However, when I calm down and sleep again, the same dream appeared again. What
does this dream mean?
– Interpretation: Your dream shows that you are afraid of something. If you are young, you may think
that you want to run away from the protection of your parents and want to live independently. If you
have grown up, you may want to break some social customs and want to have your own style of
living. However, you are afraid of the constraints that brought up by the society. The Chinese dead
body is the reflection of your fearfulness
Neuroscience Theory:
Why We Dream?
Information Processing: Dreams may help
sift, sort, and fix a day’s experiences in our
memories. Dreams act to sort out and
understand the memories that you
experience that day. REM sleep does
increase after stressful events.
Cognitive Development: Some researchers
argue that we dream as a part of brain
maturation and cognitive development.
Remembering your Dreams
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Place a pen and pad next to your bed before retiring.
Make sure the light switch can be easily reached or place a flashlight by your bedside
Before you fall asleep tell yourself several times, “I’m going to wake up after a dream.”
When you do awaken, keep your eyes closed and run through the dream until it is fixed in your
mind.
Gently sit up, turn on the light, and record your dream. Include whatever info you can
remember about the:
1.
Setting
2.
Characters
3.
Nature of interaction (friendly, aggressive, sexual)
4.
Activities
5.
Outcomes
6.
Emotions
7.
Relationship of the dreams to the previous day’s events or to the next day’s planned
activities
If telling yourself to wake up after a dream fails to improve recall, you may want to try the
alarm-clock method. Set a relatively quiet alarm for 2 hours after you usually fall asleep and for
every 2 hours thereafter. You are likely to catch at least two dreams this way. Or, set the alarm
for 15 minutes before you normally get up. Since dreams often occur then, there’s a good
chance you will recall one.
Creativity and Inventions that Came from Dreams
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Kekule, the German chemist who discovered the structure of the benzene
molecule, had worked endlessly to figure it out. Then, in a dream, he saw
snakes forming circles with their tails in their mouths. When he awoke, he
realized that the benzene molecule, unlike all other known organic
compounds, had a circular structure rather than a linear one.
The inventor of the sewing machine, Elias Howe, had struggled in 1884 to
figure out how the needle could work in a machine for sewing. In a dream,
he found himself surrounded by native tribesmen with spears that had a hole
in the pint. When he woke up, he realized that a needle with a hole in the
point would solve his problem.
Mary Shelly, author of “Frankenstein,” got the idea for the story from a
dream.
Many musicians, including Paul McCartney, Billy Joel and Beethoven, have
found inspiration for their music from their dreams. Some hear musical
arrangements in their dreams, while others hear lyrics.
Golfer Jack Nicklaus found a new way to hold his golf club in a dream,
which he credits as significantly improving his golf game
Hypnosis
You are getting sleepy…
Hypnosis
You are getting sleepy…
What is it?
A state of apparently heightened suggestibility in which one
person (the hypnotist) suggests to another (the subject) that
certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will
spontaneously occur.
Explaining the Hypnotized State
1. Divided Consciousness
Theory: Hypnosis is a
special state of
dissociated (divided)
consciousness (Hilgard)
2. Social Influence
Theory: Hypnotic
subjects may
simply be
imaginative actors
playing a social
role. (See Clip!)
Facts and Falsehood
Those who practice hypnosis agree that its power
resides in the subject’s openness to suggestion.
Can anyone experience hypnosis?
Yes, to some extent.
Can hypnosis enhance recall of
forgotten events?
No.
Can hypnosis force people to act against
their will?
No.
Can hypnosis be therapeutic?
Yes. Self-suggestion
can heal too.
Can hypnosis alleviate pain?
Yes. Lamaze can do
that too.
Flap Your Arms and Cluck Like
A Chicken
“Can I Be Forced to Act
Against My Will?
NO
Experimental Group
vs
Control Group
- Both are equally likely to
perform acts seemingly
against their will
Hypnosis As Therapy
Age Regression
Ability to relive childhood experiences, but research disputes ability!
Post-Hypnotic Suggestions - Useful?
Suggestions to be carried out after hypnosis
Stop Smoking & Nail Biting?
NO more successful than positive thinking.
Stop or Alleviate Pain?
YES Just ask your Dentist!
Dissociation or Selective Attention
Near-Death Experiences
Are people experiencing the
after-life, or the last sensations
of an oxygen-deprived brain?
Near-death & hallucinogenic experiences
may be somewhat similar.
Biological Evidence?
Near-Death & Philosophy
Can the mind exist separate from the body?
Dualists
Mind & Body interact but
are distinct
Mind is Non-Physical
Body is Physical
Mind & Body are different
aspects of the same thing
Mind is what the Brain does
Monists