States of Consciousness
Chapter 4
How do we define consciousness?
• A state of being alert
• Our awareness of various mental processes
(making decisions, planning remembering,
reflecting, sleeping, dreaming)
• A dialog between the cerebral cortex and the
thalamus- various sensory modalities are
forwarded to the cerebral cortex to be analyzed
and processed at a rate of 40X per second
Different Levels of Consciousness
(least active to most active)
Coma (resulting from physical injury)
Dreaming
Fatigue or dullness
Wakefulness
Alertness
Full activity and creativity thinking
Hyperactivity
Criteria of Consciousness
(Davis 1962)
• The person must be aware of:
1. Self- he must be able to recognize
himself as distinguished from the
environment
2. Time- he must be able to discriminate
between the present, past and future
3. Location in space- he must have a sense
of his location in the external world
The brain and consciousness
• Consciousness is a dialog between the
cerebral cortex and thalamus
• Waking consciousness: conscious
awareness- all the thoughts, feelings,
perceptions that occur when we are awake
and reasonably alert
• Involves sensation, perception, learning,
memory, thinking, problem solving,
decision making, intelligence, creativity
• Altered states of consciousness: we are
detached, in varying degrees, from our
external environment
• Sleep, daydreaming, dreaming- occur
routinely
• Hypnosis, meditation, mind-altering
substances (alcohol) can also induce ASC
Daydreaming and Fantasy
• Daydreaming: rapid thinking unrelated to
an individual’s current environment. Can
result form boredom, sensory deprivation,
sleep deprivation
• Momentary escape from reality
• Fantasy-prone people spend more than
50 of their time not merely daydreaming
but lost in elaborate reveries
Categories of daydreams:
• Worrying (anxiety daydreams)
• Achievement oriented- self-doubt, fear of
failure
• Happy daydreamers- happy,
uncomplicated, free of guilt or worry
• Unusual curiosity- highly creative
Functions of daydreams
(Freudian theorists)
• 1. to help us deal with our desires- sex or
hostility
• 2. builds cognitive and creative skillsartists and writers
• 3. relief from unpleasant reality-enduring
difficult situations (POWs)
Sleep
• Spend 1/3 of our life in ASC- sleep
• Our rhythms- sleeping, waking, alertness,
blood pressure, hormones- referred to as
our biological clock.
• Circadian cycles- daily cycle; 24 hour
cycle influenced by the sun, length of day
light (seasonal light changes)
• all body cycles follow different patterns
Purpose of sleep
?
• May restores effective functioning of the
body and brain
• Evolutionary perspective: May occur at
times of day when food supplies were low
or predators were numerous
What triggers sleep?
• Possibly adenosine: naturally occurring
chemical that may trigger sleepiness
• Sleep lab studies: electrodes monitor
brain waves, eye movements, muscle
tension, other psychological functions
Stages of Sleep
• Twilight sleep- floating or falling sensation
characterized by a quick jolt back to
consciousness- irregular, low-voltage alpha
waves
• Stage 1: slowing of pulse, side-to-side rolling of
eye movement
• Stages 2 and 3- progressively deeper sleepheart rate, blood pressure, temperatures
continue to drop
• Stage 4- slow delta waves- heart rate, breathing
rate, blood pressure, body temperature- as low
as it will get
REM Sleep
(Rapid eye movement)
• About an hour after falling asleep- 40 minute
process
• Sleeper ascends from stage 4 to 3 to 2 to 1• Waking alertness, heart and blood pressure
increase- body more relaxed than at any other
time, body’s voluntary muscles are essentially
paralyzed
• Eyes move rapidly under eyelids
• Non-REM sleep- precedes and follows REM
sleep
• Humans go through 4-5 sleep cycles per
night
• Sleep patterns change with age- infants
requiring the most sleep, elderly less
• Gender differences: Men generally sleep
less well than females
Dreams
• Visual and auditory experiences that our
minds conjure up during sleep
• Average 2 hours of sleep time per night
with dreams
• 4-5 dreams per night
Dream Content
• Related to what you were doing before sleep,
gender, age, socio-economic status
• Women report more dreams then men- more
likely to report dreams
• Women report dreams related to characters,
emotions, friendly interactions, inside dealing
with home and family
• Men remember dreams about aggression, overt
hostility, aggression, striving for achievement
• Dream content may be modified by pre-sleep
events
• After having learned more difficult material,
subjects spend more time in REM sleep- if you
interrupt REM sleep, this severely disrupts
memory for the newly learned material ex.) study
hard all week then stay up all night on Saturday
and Sunday, likely to forget 1/3 of the material
• Dreams last about as long as the real event
• Dreams help us to process emotional
information
Sleep talking, Sleep walking, and
Night Terrors
•
•
•
•
Occur during deep sleep
More common among children than adults
Boys more likely to than girls
Sleep terrors, night terrors: nocturnal fright,
generally cannot be awakened from, cannot be
recalled, 4-12 years of age
• Nightmares: can be recalled, occur when the
child is very tired – in adults: may signal
personality disorder, drug abuse, brain injuries
Sleep Disorders
• Insomnia: difficulty in falling asleep or
remaining asleep
• Many incidents result from stressful events
• May be a symptom of depression or an
abnormally aroused biological system
(cycles of insomnia and distress over
sleeplessness creates a cycle of biological
and emotional factors reinforcing each
other)
• Apnea: condition associated with
breathing difficulties at night
• Severe cases, person may stop breathing
after falling asleep
• Level of carbon dioxide in the blood rises
to a certain point, spurred to a state of
arousal just short of waking consciousness
• Happens hundreds of times a night- feel
exhausted
• Narcolepsy: hereditary disorder, victims
nod off without warning in the middle of a
conversation or other activity
• Sudden loss of muscle tone upon
expression of any emotion- laughter,
anger, sexual arousal
• Immediate entry into REM sleepfrightening hallucinations
• Defect in central nervous system
Artificial Alterations in
Consciousness
• Sensory deprivation: (sensory deprivation
chambers) radical reduction of sensory
stimulation- severe restriction of visual, auditory,
tactile stimulation
• Resulting in alternating states of drowsiness,
sleep, wakefulness
• Difficult to distinguish between waking
hallucinations and dreams
• Perception and reaction time impaired when
released from solitary confinement
• Meditation: experiencing an alteration in
consciousness
• Zen: focus on respiration
• Sufism: frenzied dance and prayer
• TM transcendental meditation: recite a chant,
a mantra
• Meditation works by suppressing the activity of
the sympathetic nervous system that prepares
the body for an emergency
• Lowers rate of metabolism, reduces heart and
respiratory rates
Cont.
• Used to treat certain medical problemsdrug abuse
• May result in emotional and spiritual
advantages- sense of timelessness, peace
of mind, sense of well-being, total
relaxation
• Hypnosis: used since mid-eighteenthcentury; thought to cure illnesses
• Controversial even today- is it a valid
ASC?
• Trance-like state in which a person
responds readily to suggestions
• ?s how it occurs, ways it is experienced,
susceptibility from one person to another
Cont.
• Hypnotic susceptibility partly learned partly
inherited
• Varies according to age- children generally
more susceptible to suggestion than adults
• Behavior greatly affected by contextual
cues, including the setting and exact word
used
Inducing hypnosis
• Begins with willing subject’s attention on
hypnotist’s voice, specific object, visualizing a
particular scene
• Guided imagery brings the scene into focus
• Progressive relaxation
• Varying results
• Easy to convince people of suggestions (ex.
arms are heavy)- harder to produce anesthesia
for pain sensitivity-most difficult to recall lost
memories or to generate hallucinations
Uses of Hypnosis
• Medical and counseling sessions
• Some have found it effective for pain
reduction
• Hypnosis may strengthen a person’s will
for weight loss, smoking cessation- may or
may not be effective
Drug-Altered Consciousness
• Since ancient times, people have used
drugs for social, religious, and personal
reasons
• Drug use has always been associated with
abuse of substances
ASC and Psychoactive Drugs
• Psychoactive drugs- chemical substances
that change moods and perceptions
• Categories: depressants, stimulants,
hallucinogens
Use, Abuse, and Dependence
• Substance abuse: a pattern of drug use
that diminishes a persons’ s ability to fulfill
responsibilities
• Substance dependence: compulsive use
of a substance (addiction)
– Usually follows a period of abuse
– Dependence includes tolerance: higher
doses of drugs are required to produce
original effects
Cont.
– Withdrawal symptoms: unpleasant physical
or psychological effects following
discontinuance of the substance
Causes: vary for each individual and for each
substance; complex combination of biological,
psychological and social factors
Drug Effect Studies
• Double-blind procedure: neither the subject
nor the researcher knows at the time of
administration which subjects are receiving an
active drug and which are receiving an inactive
substance
• Placebo: a neutral, inactive substance
• Studying drug-altered consciousness
complicated by the fact that most drugs affect
people in different ways and also produce
different effects in the same person at different
times or in different settings
Depressants: Alcohol, Barbiturates,
and the Opiates
• Depressants are chemicals that retard
behavior and thinking by either speeding
up or slowing down nerve impulses.
Alcohol
• Socially accepted legal drug used in celebrations, to
break down social isolation and inhibitions, promote
group harmony
• Widely used in our society
• Despite age restrictions on purchase and consumption,
much of the use by American youth
• Social costs: responsible for 2/3 of all fatal automobile
accidents, 2/3 of all murders, 2/3 of all spousal beatings,
½ all cases of violent child abuse
• Fetal alcohol syndrome: birth defects caused by
alcohol consumption during pregnancy
Other consequences
(National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)
• 40% of heavy drinkers die before age 65
• Light to moderate drinking associated with
shorter life spans
• Unknown cost to 30 million children of
alcoholics
Effects of Alcohol
• Depressant: calms down nervous system like a general
anesthetic
• Also experienced as a stimulant that inhibits centers in
the brain that govern critical judgment and impulsive
behavior
• Alcohol myopia: alcohol-induced shortsightedness that
makes drinkers oblivious to behavioral cues in the
environment and less able to make sense of those cues
(aggression, hostility, violence, abusive behavior- less
aware of and concerned about negative consequences
of their actions)
Physiological Effects
• Initially, affects frontal lobes of the brain which
figure in inhibitions, impulse control, reasoning,
judgment
• As consumption continues, affects the
cerebellum, the center of motor control and
balance
• Eventually, affects spinal cord and medulla,
which regulates breathing, body temperature,
heart rate
• BAC 0.25% severely impairs function- slightly
higher can cause death from alcohol poisoning
Cont.
• Compromises perception, motor processes,
memory
• Diminishes ability to see clearly, to perceive
depth, distinguish between bright lights and
colors
• Hearing, taste, smell perceptions diminish as
does perception of time
• 2-3 drinks affect memory, prolonged drinking
impairs retrieval of memories
• Blackouts: heavy drinkers (unable to remember
anything during certain periods of time)
Cont.
• 2-3 drinks and memory is impaired
• One theory- alcohol affects the brain and
memory at the neurological level
• Alcohol may disconnect the fibers that link cells
to one another
• 1 drink for a female = 2 drinks for a male
• Females have less stomach enzymes present in
their empty stomach than males= greater
alcohol impact
• 20 million people in US abuse or are dependent
on alcohol
Cont.
• Long term use associated with heart failure,
breathing difficulties, heart failure, pneumonia,
auto accidents, suicide
• Alcoholism does appear to run in families, which
indicates a hereditary connection
• Alcoholic personality: emotionally immature,
needy, low self-esteem unable to tolerate
frustration well
• Culture also influences use and certain patterns
exist in ethnic cultures
Barbiturates
• Commonly used to treat epilepsy and arthritis
• “downers”-Seconal, Nembutal
• Disrupts normal sleep pattern and causes
dependence
• Effects: small doses-lightheadedness, silliness,
poor motor coordination
• Large doses- slurred speech, loss of inhibition,
increase in aggression
• May cause birth defects
Opiates
• Derived form opium poppy
• Heroin: addiction becomes the way to
stave off withdrawal symptoms
• Effects- feelings of euphoria, well-being,
relaxation
• Criminal activities to pay for drug are
common
Stimulants
• Caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine
• Effects- feelings of optimism and energy
Caffeine
• Believed to maintain wakefulness and alertness
• Associated with coffee, tea, cocoa
• The only stimulant that does not alter sleep stages or
cause REM rebound- safer than amphetamines
• Considered benign drug, although 5-6 cups of coffee
may cause caffeinism, or “coffee nerves”, anxiety,
headaches, heart palpitations, insomnia, diarrhea
• Interferes with prescribed medications, appears to
aggravate symptoms associated with psychiatric
disorders
• Giving it up results in physical and psychological
distress- headaches, lethargy, depression
Nicotine
•
•
•
•
Less dangerous than coffee
Occurs only in tobacco
Stimulant effects
Short term effects- increased heart rate,
constricted blood vessels
• Long term effects- increased risk for lung and
other cancers, cardiovascular disease, blindness
• Causes elevation in mood, increases number of
neurotransmitters affecting areas of the brain,
and produces a craving for the drug
Cont.
• When ingested, arrives at brain all at once
causing a rush or “high”
• Brain then craves more nicotine, and
users become highly dependent
• Withdrawal includes nervousness,
insomnia, drowsiness, headaches,
irritability, intense craving for nicotine
• Quitting is very difficult
Amphetamines
• Stimulant drugs that produce feelings of
euphoria often followed by “crashes” and
occasional severe depression
• Chemically resemble epinephrine, a
neurotransmitter that stimulates the sympathetic
nervous system
• Because of their chemical similarity, they are
often used to treat asthma; also used for
narcolepsy because of their stimulant qualities
Cont.
• Commonly used by truck drivers to stay awake
and alert
• Depress the appetite, often used as diet pills
• Tremendous potential for abuse due to effects
on consciousness and behavior
• Amphetamine psychosis: in an attempt to
ward off the “crash” following the euphoric
sense, people tend to take more amphetamines
resulting I delusions, hallucinations, paranoia,
aggressive and violent behavior
Cont.
• Methamphetamines- Ecstasy: extraordinary
loss of inhibition as well as euphoria and
increased energy
• Even short-term heavy use results in long-term
harmful effects on sleep, mood, appetite, and
impulsiveness
• Damages the neuroconnections between lower
brain centers and the cortex
• Due to addictive nature, used medicinally now
for narcolepsy and hyperactivity
Cocaine
• Stimulant, can cause euphoria
• Extracted from leaves of cocoa bush
• Long term use- Freud recommended it to
friends for alcoholism and morphine addiction
• Novacain: familiar use
• Crystalline form of Cocaine “crack’
• Effects: stimulation of sympathetic nervous
system, increase in hear t rate and blood
pressure, constriction of blood vessels,
stimulates pleasure center at base of brain
responsible for emotions
• Effects last 30 minutes- difficult to
establish emotional balance
• Women addicted to crack and cocaine
often give birth to low birth weight babies
• Babies behavior characterized by agitation
and shaking
Hallucinogens
• Natural forms- mushrooms, fungi
• LSD (lyseric acid diethylamide) 1940s created
• Changes auditory perceptions (imaginary
conversations, foreign languages not known to
them before)
• No withdrawal effects- but tolerance builds up
rapidly
• “bad trips” –unpleasant experiences caused by
the drug, panic sets in
• Other consequences: memory loss, paranoia,
panic attacks, nightmares, aggression
Marijuana
• Cannabis plant-history in China, Greece,
India- this century-USA
• Revived by youth culture of 60’s
• Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-shares some
of the same chemical properties with LSD,
far less potent
• Effects: euphoric feelings, sense of wellbeing, swings of gaiety and relaxation
• Sometimes also anxiety and paranoia
Cont.
• Psychological effects: dilates blood vessels in eye, dry
mouth, coughing, increased thirst and hunger, mild
muscular weakness (drooping eyelids)
• Major negative physiological effects- potential
respiratory and cardiovascular damage
• Produces alterations in memory and attention
• Temporal disintegration: lose of ability to coordinate
information in the present (forget what one is saying I the
middle of a sentence)
• Considered to be a recreational drug- can have serious
effects- especially educational- on young population that
embraces it’s use