Myers EXPLORING
PSYCHOLOGY
(6th Edition in Modules)
Module 15
Waking and Sleeping
Rhythms
James A. McCubbin, PhD
Clemson University
Worth Publishers
Waking Consciousness
 Consciousness
 our awareness of ourselves
and our environments
Waking Consciousness
 Selective Attention
 focusing of consciousness on a
particular stimulus
 as in the cocktail party effect
Sleep and Dreams
 Biological Rhythms
 periodic physiological fluctuations
 Circadian Rhythm
 the biological clock
 regular bodily rhythms, such as of
wakefulness and body temperature,
that occur on a 24-hour cycle
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 and Dreams
 Measuring sleep activity
Brain Waves and
Sleep Stages
 Alpha Waves
 slow waves of a
relaxed, awake
brain
 Delta Waves
 large, slow waves
of deep sleep
 Hallucinations
 false sensory
experiences
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 Deprivation
 Effects of Sleep Loss
 fatigue
 impaired concentration
 depressed immune system
 greater vulnerability to accidents
Sleep Deprivation
Less sleep,
more accidents
Accident
frequency
More sleep,
fewer accidents
2,800
2,700
4,200
2,600
4000
2,500
3,800
2,400
3,600
Spring time change
(hour sleep loss)
Monday before time change
Fall time change
(hour sleep gained)
Monday after time change
Sleep Disorders
 Insomnia
 persistent problems in falling or staying
asleep
 Narcolepsy
 uncontrollable sleep attacks
 Sleep Apnea
 temporary cessation of breathing during
sleep
 momentary reawakenings
Night Terrors and
Nightmares
 Night Terrors
 occur within 2 or 3 hours of falling
asleep, usually during Stage 4
 high arousal-- appearance of
being terrified
 seldom remembered
Dreams: Freud
 Dreams
 sequence of images, emotions, and
thoughts passing through a sleeping
person’s mind
 hallucinatory imagery
 discontinuities
 incongruities
 delusional acceptance of the content
 difficulties remembering
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
 As Information Processing
 helps facilitate memories
 As a Physiological Function
 periodic brain stimulation
 REM Rebound
 REM sleep increases following REM
sleep deprivation
Sleep Across the
Lifespan