Chapter 7
States of
Consciousness
Consciousness

Consciousness

our awareness
of ourselves
and our
environments
Consciousness

Waking
Consciousness
 What
you are currently
aware of and attending
to
 Linear (serial)
processing
 The result of cognitive
processing
Consciousness

Subconsciousness
 That
which lies just
below your waking
consciousness
 Easily accessible
 Parallel processing
Consciousness

Unconsciousness
 Reactions
and
processing outside our
awareness
Altered States of Consciousness
Sleep and Dreams
 Hypnosis
 Chemically altered states

Sleep and Dreams

Biological Rhythms


periodic physiological fluctuations
Circadian Rhythm


the biological clock
regular bodily rhythms that occur on
a 24-hour cycle, such as of
wakefulness and body temperature
Sleep and Dreams

Stage 1
 Lasts
up to 5 minutes
 Hallucinations
 Hypnogogic experience

Stage 2
 20
minutes
 Sleep spindles
 Sleep talking may occur
Sleep and Dreams

Stage 3
 Transitional
stage
 Lasts only a few minutes

Stage 4
 Brain
emits delta waves
 Lasts 30 minutes
 Sleep walking, bed wetting may occur
 You can still process the outside world
Brain Waves and Sleep
Stages

Alpha Waves


slow waves of a
relaxed, awake
brain
Delta Waves

large, slow waves
of deep sleep
Stages in a Typical Night’s
Sleep
Awake
Sleep
stages
1
2
3
REM
4
0
1
2
3
4
Hours of sleep
5
6
7
Stages in a Typical Night’s
Sleep
Minutes
of
Stage 4
and
REM
Decreasing
Stage 4
25
20
15
Increasing
REM
10
5
0
1
2
3
4
5
Hours of sleep
6
7
8
Sleep and Dreams

REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep



recurring sleep stage
vivid dreams
“paradoxical sleep”


muscles are generally relaxed, but other
body systems are active
Sleep

periodic, natural, reversible loss of
consciousness
Sleep Deprivation

Effects of Sleep
Loss

fatigue
 impaired
concentration
 depressed immune
system
 greater vulnerability
to accidents
Sleep Disorders

Insomnia


Narcolepsy


persistent problems in falling or staying
asleep
uncontrollable sleep attacks
Sleep Apnea

temporary cessation of breathing
 momentary reawakenings
Night Terrors and
Nightmares

Sleep
stages

Awake
1
2
3
REM
4
0
Night Terrors
1
2
3
4
5
Hours of sleep
6
7
occur within 2 or
3 hours of falling
asleep, usually
during Stage 4
 high arousal-appearance of
being terrified
Dreams

What are dreams
made of?
Dreams: Freud

Sigmund Freud--The Interpretation of
Dreams (1900)

wish fulfillment
 discharge otherwise unacceptable
feelings

Manifest Content


remembered story line
Latent Content

underlying meaning
Dreams: Freud

Dreams





Dream is a safe outlet for the mind
Deals with unacceptable thoughts and
emotions
Manifest content is the “dressed up”
symbolic version of the unconscious
Most adult dreams have strong sexual
undertones
Dream interpenetration is the “royal road
to the unconscious”
Dreams: Information
processing

As Information Processing


Dreams serve to sift and sort
memories of our daily experiences
Helps us to better process and store
memories and learning from the
previous day
Dreams: Information
processing

Support for theory
 REM
sleep increases following a stressful
experience and intense learning experiences
 People will perform worse on a memory test if
kept from dreaming the night before
Dreams: Activation-synthesis
Neural activity is random and dreams are
your brain’s attempt to make sense of it
 Your brain tries to impose meaning on
meaningless stimuli

Dreams: Activation-synthesis

Support
 Eye
movement of REM sleep coincides with
bursts of neural activity in the visual cortex
 Would account for random and bizarre
occurrences in dreams
Dreams: Physiological Function
Dreams serve to provide neural
stimulation for a sleeping brain
 Stimulation of the neural pathways
strengthens connections and makes
processing faster and more efficient

Dreams: Physiological Function

Support
 Infants
and children experience longer
periods of REM sleep than adults.
 REM sleep periods decrease as we age
Sleep Across the Lifespan
Dreams

So which is the best theory?