Chapter 6 - Consciousness
"Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be
quietly and safely insane every night of our lives"
-William Dement
Defining Consciousness:
The organism’s awareness of, or possibility of
knowing, what is happening inside and outside
itself.
Fill in the following blanks as they pertain to the last few
hours:
I tasted ______.
I saw ______.
I heard _______.
I felt ________.
I smelled ______.
I touched ________.
I remembered _____.
I thought _______.
These sensations, feelings, and perceptions are processed
and sometimes stored and accumulated to form our
consciousness.
Our consciousness is different at each moment of our lives!
Consciousness is a construct – a concept requiring a belief in
something that cannot be seen or touched but that seems to
exist.
Levels of Consciousness
Are we conscious of everything we do?
NO.
Three Levels:
1. Conscious mind
2. Subconscious mind
3. Unconscious mind
Unconscious
Subconscious – consciousness just below our present awareness.
• example: “Zoning out” while driving
• serves as a filter for the stimuli we are constantly
assaulted with.
Unconscious – thoughts or desires about which we have no
direct knowledge.
• Includes intuitive feelings – those not necessarily
influenced by logic or reason.
Unseen Forces
• All creatures are controlled by bodily rhythms and cycles.
Types:
1. Day/night – animals/insects
2. Monthly (infradian rhythms)– females and males
3. Annual – humans (weight, energy, and chemical levels)
and birds.
* Birds respond to light/dark cycle of the earth as winter approaches as their cue to
migrate. They use the stars to guide their flight as well as built in magnetic particles
that orient them to the earth’s magnetic field so they can stay on course.
Biological Clocks
• Internal chemical units that control regular cycles in parts of the
body.
o Our body temperature is regulated by one of these clocks.
Free-running cycles – cycles set up by biological clocks that are
under their control, ignoring the environment.
example: The kidneys
Entrainment – The process of altering the free-running cycle to fit a
different rhythm.
• The human sleep-wake cycle (ultradian rhythms) can be
modified using this method.
Example: The human body goes through a natural 25-hour sleep-wake cycle, but
the earth moves on a natural 24-hour light-dark cycle. Through the process of
entrainment, the human body adapts to this 24-hour cycle.
Circadian Rhythms
Sequences of behavioral changed that occur every 24 hours.
• Human circadian rhythm is based on a 24-hour cycle that
contains within it a high point and a low point.
• For most people, the lowest point (low temperature, low
blood pressure, and weakness) occurs between 3 a.m. and 5
a.m.
http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/interactive/circadian
Hypothalamus
 Sleep control center in the brain
 Monitors changes in light or dark in the
environment
 Changes levels of hormones in the body
http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/interactive/circadian
Melatonin
 Hormone that helps regulate daily
biological rhythms-controlled by the
pineal gland which is regulated by the
hypothalamus
 Linked to the sleep-wake cycle
 Melatonin level increases during the day
and evening to make us sleepy at night
The Sleep Cycle
Beta Waves
BAD
Beta-awake/alert
Alpha-awake/relaxed
Delta-deep sleep
Stage 1-NREM
Cats nap on and off throughout the day and night.
Healthy humans typically have consolidated periods
of wakefulness and sleep.
Stage 1-NREM





Alpha waves present
Time distortion-approx. 5 min in length
Hypnic Myoclonia
Hypnogogic/hypnapompic hallucinations
REM replaces stage 1 in all but the first and
last sleep cycles
Stage 2-NREM
 Sleep spindles
 K-complexes
 First time through stage 2 lasts about 20
minutes
 Approximately 50% of total sleep time
Stage 3-NREM
 Beginning delta waves
Stage 4-NREM







Delta waves-slow wave sleep
First time through about 30 minutes
Hardest time to wake the sleeper
Bedwetting
Sleepwalking (somnambulism)
Sleep talking
Night terrors
REM-Rapid Eye Movement
"Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be
quietly and safely insane every night of our lives"
-William Dement
 Approximately 20% of sleep time
 Paradoxical sleep-brain active, but body
essentially paralyzed (brainstem blocks muscle
movement)
 Nightmares
 Necessary part of sleep
 REM periods increase as night progresses
REM Sleep
Sleep Changes Across the Life Span
Sleep Deprivation Effects
 Decreases efficiency of immune system
functioning
 Safety and accident issues
 Contributes to hypertension, impaired
concentration, irritability, etc.
 Peter Tripp
Winston Churchill napped for at least an hour
every afternoon during World War II.
Sleep Deprivation Disasters
– Sleep deprivation is the culprit for some of the
worst human-caused disasters in history.
– On top of that, approx 100,000 car crashes are
caused due to sleep fatigue which results in
1,550 deaths per year.
Chernobyl

When the nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded, creating what some have described as the world's
worst nuclear disaster, the engineers involved had beenworking for 13 hours or more, MSN reported.
Two plant workers died that night. Nearly 240 people were originally diagnosed with radiation
poisoning, and 134 cases were later confirmed. Of those confirmed cases, 28 people died during the
following few weeks. The number of deaths attributed to the explosion over the next 15 years proved
difficult to quantify. "In reality, the actual number
of deaths caused by this accident is unlikely ever to be precisely known," the World Health
Organization wrote in a 2006 report.
Three Mile Island

Considered to be the most serious nuclear incident on U.S. soil, the accident at Three Mild Island in
Pennsylvania was attributed to human error due to sleep deprivation. Between 4 and 6 a.m. on March
28, 1979, shiftworkers didn't notice as the plant lost coolant, eventually resulting in the overheating of
the reactor's core, according to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Officials
discovered later than about half of the core had melted, yet there were minimal effects outside of the
plant.
The Space Shuttle Challenger

The space shuttle exploded just seconds after its January 1986 launch, killing all seven crew
members. According to a 1988 report, certain managers involved in the launch had only slept two
hours before arriving to work at 1 a.m. that morning. The Presidential Commission on the accident
admitted the danger of this deprivation in its June 1986 report, writing, "The willingness of NASA
employees in general to work excessive hours, while admirable, raises serious questions when it
jeopardizes job performance, particularly when critical management decisions are at stake."
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

When the supertanker ran aground in Alaska in 1989, destroying wildlife and spilling 258,000 barrels
of crude oil in the process, third mate Gregory Cousins was allegedly sleeping at the helm, leaving
him unable to turn the boat back into the shipping lanes in time to avoid disaster. The crew had just
put in a 22-hour shift loading the oil onto the ship, the Anchorage Daily News reported, and Cousins
had reportedly only had a "catnap" in the last 16 hours leading up to the crash.
American Airlines Crash 1420

On June 1, 1999, American Airlines Flight 1420 overshot the runway at Little Rock National Airport,
killing 11, including the captain, and injuring the first officer, the flight attendants and 105 passengers.
Only 24 passengers were not injured. Severe thunderstorms played a role, but the National
Transportation Safety Board also determined that "impaired performance resulting from fatigue" was
involved.
Sleep Deprivation
Theories on why we Dream
1. Information-Processing Theory
 Dreams serve an important memoryrelated function by sorting and sifting
through the day’s experiences
 Research suggests REM sleep helps
memory storage.
Theories on why we Dream
2. Physiological Function Theory
 Neural activity during REM sleep
provides periodic stimulation of the brain.
Theories on why we Dream
3. Activation-Synthesis Theory
 Dreams are the mind’s attempt to make
sense of random neural firings in the brain
as one sleeps.
Theories on why we Dream
4. Cognitive Development Theory
 Dreams part of the maturation process
 Dreams reflect our knowledge
 Reflection of normal cognitive
development
Questions about Dreams
q. Are there people who never dream?
a. Only in special, rare cases.
 Dreams are most likely during a phase of sleep
called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Even
people who say they never remember dreams,
usually do remember dreams when lab
technicians wake them up during REM sleep. The
main exception seems to be people with rare kinds
of brain damage.
q. How many minutes does it take for the
average, normal person to fall asleep?
a. 15 - 20
 Of course, this varies from person to person and
from time to time. If you consistently fall asleep
much faster (say, within 5 minutes, every single
night), this could be a sign that you are overly
sleepy. If you consistently take more than 30
minutes to fall asleep, you may have insomnia.
q. How many hours of sleep should young
people (ages 11 – 17) get each night?
a. 9 - 10
 Research shows that young people your age
don’t perform their best, and don’t awaken easily
without an alarm clock, unless they get close to
ten hours of sleep!
q. How many nightmares does the average young
adult have in one year?
a. 12
•Some people have many nightmares. Others have
none. (Psychological tests show nightmare sufferers
may be more open, sensitive, and trusting than other
people). The frequency of nightmares changes with
age. Children aged 3-8 are particularly susceptible to
nightmares. The once-a-month figure (above) comes
from research on college students. Most nightmares
are due to stress, illness, trauma, or physical
discomfort.
q. How many dreams does the average person
have in one night?
a. 3 - 5
This is really a guess. But each night, we typically
have 3 – 5 periods of REM sleep. And when scientists
wake people up from REM sleep in sleep labs, most
of them (80%) report that they were dreaming.
q. Do blind people dream?
a. Yes.
The dreams of people blind from birth feature sounds,
touches, emotions, etc.-just like their waking
experience. People who went blind after age 7
usually see some visual images in their dreams.
q. Which animals dream?
a. All mammals (except the spiny anteater)
 If you have a pet, you have probably seen the
animal twitch in its sleep. All mammals
experience REM sleep, and research suggests
that during REM, they experience the same
hallucinations that we humans call dreams. But
different species go through the cycles of sleep
at different rates. For instance, cats’ REM
periods are only 24 minutes apart. Opossums’
REM periods are about 90 minutes apart, the
same as ours.
q. Sleepwalking occurs during which type of
sleep?
a. “Slow Wave” sleep / Delta sleep
• Most sleepwalking happens during the deepest
kind of sleep, Slow Wave Sleep (SWS). Contrary to
popular opinion, it is not harmful to wake up a
sleepwalker. However, it may be hard to do. People
are usually very hard to wake up from SWS.) Kids
often outgrow sleepwalking, although the problem
can linger into adulthood.
q. Do people dream in color?
a. Yes.
•People who pay more attention to color in waking life
(artists, etc.) are more likely to notice the colors in
their dreams. But even people who don’t normally
notice color in their dreams are often able to recall
specific dream colors under certain circumstances
(awakened during REM in a sleep lab, and asked
specific color questions by the technician).
q. Is it true that if you die in your dream, you’ll die
in real life?
a. NO!
•It is a common superstition, but a false one. Many
people do wake up from dreams or nightmares just
before the unavoidable death of their dream-self.
Even in our dreams, we have a strong survival
instinct; many peoples’ dreaming minds simply will
not allow the dream to continue if death seems
certain. But some people do dream of their own death
and live to tell about it.
q. What percentage of American adults say that
they have had a psychic dream?
a. 66%
•Reports of psychic dreams are amazingly common.
Scientists often attribute the reports to chance or
coincidence. But those who have experienced these
dreams staunchly believe in psychic phenomenon.
What do you think?
q. How many major religions have
teachings that include Divine/spiritual
dreams?
a. All.
 The Bible mentions quite a few important
dreams, as do the sacred texts of all major
world religions. Most religions teach that:
1. Dreams can be a way of communicating
with a Higher Power.
2. Not all dreams should be regarded as
messages from God.
q. What do the following have in common?
Pregnancy, psychological trauma, natural
awakening (without an alarm clock).
a. Increase dream recall.
 People who have been through traumatic
experiences such as rape, wartime combat, or
natural disasters, usually notice that their dream
recall increases sharply. The hormonal changes
(and/or lighter sleep) of pregnancy also seem to
boost dream recall. Some medications can
cause a sudden surge of dreams. You are much
more likely to remember dreams if you wake up
naturally and have an unhurried morning.
q. What do the following have in common?
Bright light, warm temperature, cold feet, caffeine,
stress.
a. Worsen sleep
•Even with your eyes closed, some light gets through
your eyelids and sends a subtle “wake-up” signal to
your brain. When the room is hot, it may cause
nightmares. Studies show it takes longer to fall asleep
when your feet are cold. Some people feel that
caffeine does not affect them much, since they can
still fall asleep. But research shows that the quality of
caffeinated sleep probably isn’t as good; there are
more arousals and restless movements. Caffeine can
stay in your system and affect your sleep for 6 hours.
q. What do the following have in common?
Waking up at the same time every day, milk &
turkey near bedtime, regular “white” noise?
a. Improve sleep.
 People who maintain very regular sleep
schedules of bedtime and awakening times tend
to sleep better. Milk and turkey contain an amino
acid called tryptophan, which may improve
sleep. Some light sleepers benefit by listening to
a very consistent noise (such as an electric fan),
which may help cover up irregular background
noises that might otherwise wake them up.
q. What do the following have in common?
Alcohol, marijuana, depression
a. Decrease dream frequency
•All of these affect REM sleep, and suppress dreams.
Oddly enough, some people may actually feel they
dream more after having alcohol, for example. Why?
Because when our bodies are deprived of REM
sleep, they eventually go into “REM rebound,” an
intense REM state that tries to “make up for lost time”
in that sleep stage. The resulting dream may be
more memorable (and/or more disturbing!), but in
reality, the body is still not getting enough REM sleep.
q. What do the following have in
common? Loss of creative thinking,
irritability, slower reaction times,
difficulty learning new skills?
a. Effects of sleep deprivation
 It really is a bad practice to pull “all nighters”
before important exams. It affects the way your
brain works, and also may affect its ability to
store knowledge in an orderly way for long-term
retrieval. Your creative thinking and your good
mood are usually the first things to suffer!
q. What do the following have in common? Feel
awake but unable to move, may sense an “evil
presence” in the room, may struggle to breathe.
a. Symptoms of sleep paralysis (also called “Old Hag”
experience)
•People have been describing this phenomenon since ancient times.
Scientists have a theory about why it may happen. Ordinarily, during
dreaming sleep, our brain sends a chemical message that paralyzes
our body (which protects us from acting out our dreams and getting
into a lot of trouble!) But sometimes, for unknown reasons,
something goes wrong and this protective paralysis doesn’t go away
when we first wake up. It’s as if it takes our brain a minute to realize
that dreaming sleep has ended. The hallucinations of dreams may
continue, too, resulting in visions of evil creatures. Why are visions
almost always scary? Because it is very scary to feel helpless and
paralyzed, which may trigger us to imagine scenes of malevolent
spirits.
q. What do the following have in common?
Asleep, dreaming, aware that the dream images
are dreams, may include ability to control the
dream.
a. Characteristics of lucid dreams
•During ordinary dreams, we are no aware that the experience
is actually a dream. No matter how strange or bizarre the
dream becomes, we usually believe it to be real and act
accordingly – that is, until we wake up and realize our error! In
lucid dreams, the dreamer suddenly thinks, “Hey – right now I
am dreaming all this!” Sometimes, this awareness dawns
during a nightmare. We try to make ourselves wake up to end
it. Some people (including sects of Tibetan monks) try to
cultivate this mental state.
q. What do the following have in common?
Loud and irregular snoring, daytime
drowsiness, intermittent pauses in breathing
during sleep.
a. Symptoms of sleep apnea
 Sleep apnea is a potentially life-threatening
breathing disorder that occurs during sleep. It is
about as common as adult asthma. It is usually
treated with a special breathing mask that is
worn during sleep.
q. What do the following have in common?
Jerking in sleep, discomfort in limbs at sleep
onset, daytime drowsiness, difficulty falling
asleep.
a. Symptoms of movement-related sleep disorders
 Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) and Periodic
Limb Movement in Sleep (PLMS) are
movement-related sleep disorders. Sufferers
kick and jerk a lot at night, often rhythmically,
and may experience great discomfort or
“restlessness” of the limbs (especially legs) at
night.
q.What do the following have in common?
Muscle weakness (especially with emotion),
severe daytime drowsiness, hallucinations on
the borders of sleep, sleep paralysis.
a. Symptoms of narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a relatively rare sleep disorder, but it
often has a profound effect. People with severe
narcolepsy may fall asleep in the middle of a
sentence, or may drop to the ground during
laughter or tears. The onset of symptoms usually
occurs during adolescence or early adulthood.
q. What do the following have in common? Acting
out violent dreams, thrashing or moving about in
the bed primarily toward the early morning hours.
a. Symptoms of REM sleep behavior disorder (RSBD)
•Although it may be mistaken for sleepwalking, RSBD
is actually very different. It is a disorder of REM sleep
in which the normal muscle paralysis of REM does not
function properly. Unfortunately, aggressive or violent
dreams seem to be a part of this syndrome, so it may
lead to serious injury for the sleeper or his/her bed
partner. It occurs more often (although not exclusively)
in elderly men who have other neurological problems.
Insomnia
Lack of sleep caused by the inability to fall
asleep or stay asleep.
Symptoms: Delayed sleep, waking up in the
middle of the night, and/or waking up too
early.
Causes: Social entrainment, poor sleep
hygiene, caffeine, and/or stress.
Somnambulism
 Formal name for sleepwalking
 Starts in the deep stages of N-REM sleep
(stage 4)
 Person can walk or talk and is able to see
 Rarely person has any memory of the event
Night Terrors
 Sleep disorder characterized by high
arousal and appearance of being terrified
 Unlike nightmares
 Happens during stage 4 sleep; mostly
children
 Children seldom remember the event
Narcolepsy
Chronic sleep disorder involving overwhelming
daytime drowsiness and sudden attacks of sleep.
Symptoms: Falling asleep (REM) without warning, sudden
loss of muscle tone (cataplexy)usually triggered by strong
emotion, sleep paralysis, and hypnagogic (as one falls
asleep) halluncinations.
Causes: Low levels of an important brain chemical
called hypocretin, possibly due to genetics.
http://med.stanford.edu/school/Psychiatry/narcolepsy/moviedog.html
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/narcoleptic-dog/04253f2ccbeacf05177c04253f2ccbeacf05177c415349604694?q=narcoleptic+dogs&FORM=VIRE1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2x14qETS7E&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we9_CdNPuJg&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1
Sleep Apnea
Chronic sleep disorder involving multiple
periods of not breathing during the course of a
night’s sleep.
Symptoms: Overwhelming daytime
tiredness and/or snoring.
Causes: Being overweight and/or blockage of the
airway as the throat relaxes for sleep.
Delayed Sleep-Phase Syndrome
Feeling wide awake in the late-evening hours
with sleep onset delayed until 3 or 4 am-impacts
7% of teens.
Symptoms: Poor performance in school, and
chronic truancy and/or tardiness.
Causes: Social entrainment that disrupts the
natural circadian clock.
Idiopathic Hypersomnolence
Needing 12 or more hours per night to
function properly.
Symptoms: Excessive daytime sleepiness,
long naps (1-2 hours per day), long nightly
sleep periods (12 hrs. +).
Causes: Unknown
Other Sleep Disorders
 Bruxism – teeth grinding
 Enuresis – bed wetting
 Myoclonus – sudden jerk of a body part
occurring during stage 1 sleep
– Everyone has occasional episodes of
myoclonus
States of Consciousness
Not all states of consciousness occur naturallysome require special effort or training.
1. Hypnosis:
 Comes from the name of the Greek god
of sleep-Hypnos.
 Involves being in a relaxed state with a
heightened ability to focus on specific
things while ignoring distractions.
Hypnosis
 Also classified as a social interaction in
which a hypnotist makes suggestions
about perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or
behaviors, and the subject follows those
suggestions.
Hypnotizability
Hypnosis History
Mesmerize-which means to put someone under
your own power-makes people think that
hypnosis is a “magical” state.

This term comes from Anton Mesmer who worked in
the late 1700’s “curing” people by bringing their
bodies’ magnetism back into alignment.

Anton Mesmer was a colorful “quack” whose
methods were discredited as they were not scientific.

Many of Mesmer’s patients were cured by the power
of the placebo effect.
Theories Regarding Hypnosis: Social
Influence Theory
 Theory that powerful social influences
produce a state of hypnosis.
 This theory notes that a person’s
physiological (physical) state does not
change under hypnosis.
 Social factors influence people to believe
hypnosis will work.
Theories Regarding Hypnosis: Divided
Consciousness Theory
 Theory that during
hypnosis our
consciousness splits so
that one aspect of
consciousness is not
aware of the role that
other parts are playing.
 Promoted by Ernest
Hilgard (1904-2001)
Hypnotic Induction
 The process by which a hypnotist creates a
state of hypnosis in a subject
 Usually done by voicing a series of
suggestions
 Voice is usually calm and of a rhythmic tone
Posthypnotic Suggestions
 Hypnotic suggestion that the
subject will carry out after the
hypnosis session has ended.
 Won’t cause you to do something
that you can’t control, but the
suggestion may impact the
behavior of the individual.
 Technique can be used to
encourage helpful behavior
changes.
Hypnosis
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
6 Possible Uses of Hypnosis:
Weight reduction
Smoking cessation
Minor pain relief
Help a woman through
normal childbirth
Headache reduction
Help a person to focus more on
schoolwork
Hypnosis
Hypnotists use the power of suggestion to aid in
focusing or blocking stimuli. Thus a person can
be aided in forgetting or remembering
something, or in reducing pain, etc.
Trance-the state of deep relaxation that can occur
during hypnosis.
Hypnotic Amnesia-Inability to remember what
happened during hypnosis because the hypnotist
suggests that the subject will have no memory of
that period of time.
Hypnosis



Hypnosis does not provide us with special
powers!
Hypnosis is not a sleep state. It is an
intense form of relaxation in which the
person is fully conscious.
Hypnosis makes a person more
suggestible to a request, but it will not
make them do immoral acts.
Hypnosis
Other issues surrounding hypnosis:
 Hypnosis can be dangerous! A person lets down his/her
guard when relaxed and they may do something that
will embarrass them later on. They also might be
susceptible to “suggested” memories.
 Some people believe that hypnosis can take us
back in time through the power of age
regression-reliving periods as far back as
infancy.
 This is not scientifically proven! Our brains
are not even capable of forming memories
until about age 3!
States of Consciousness
2. Meditation:
 Form of self-control in which the outside
world is cut off from consciousness.
Brain goes into “neutral” and the person
feels more relaxed.
 Meditation and hypnosis are alike in
that they are both relaxed states in
which the person is fully conscious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwG77NXbJkE&sa
fety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1