Chapter 5 Huffman/Ch 6 Nairne
States of Consciousness

• Consciousness : an organism’s subjective awareness of internal and external events in its environment
• Attention : internal processes that set priorities for mental functioning

• Levels of awareness
:
– HIGH: Controlled processes that require attention (and interfere with other functions)
– MIDDLE: Automatic processes requiring minimal attention (such as riding your bike)
– LOWEST: Minimal or no awareness of the environment

• Levels of awareness
:
– HIGH: Controlled processes that require attention (and interfere with other functions)
– MIDDLE: Automatic processes requiring minimal attention (such as riding your bike)
• Automaticity – fast and effortless processing that requires little or no focused attention

• Levels of awareness
:
– HIGH: Controlled processes that require attention (and interfere with other functions)
– MIDDLE: Automatic processes requiring minimal attention (such as riding your bike)
– LOWEST: Minimal or no awareness of the environment

• Sleep is a behavior
AND an altered state of consciousness
• We spend about a third of our lives in sleep.

EEG Changes
During Sleep
• Summated brain wave activity (EEG)
– Wakefulness: beta activity
(13-30 Hz)
– Eyes closed: alpha activity
(8-12 Hz)

EEG Changes
During Sleep
Stage 1: Light Sleep –
Alpha Waves
Stage 2: Eye movements & brain waves slow; sleep spindles

EEG Changes
During Sleep
• Stage 3: very slow waves delta waves appear
• Stage 4: almost all delta waves
– Very hard to wake during this stage

EEG Changes
During Sleep
• REM stage: rapid, irregular and shallow breathing, eyes jerk rapidly, both wake and sleep waves (sawtooth pattern)

Theories of Sleep
• Repair/Restoration
– Sleep allows for recuperation from physical, emotional, and intellectual fatigue
• Survival Value
– Sleep evolved to conserve energy and protect our ancestors from predators

Wish Fulfillment –
Freud’s DreamTheory…
“Sometimes,a cigar is just a cigar.”
- Freud, on the meaning of dreams
 A.K.A. Psychoanalytic
theory: Dreams represent disguised symbols of repressed desires and anxieties
 Manifest Content : symbols used to disguise true meaning of dream
 Latent Content : true unconscious meaning of a dream

WHY DO WE DREAM!?
• Activation-synthesis hypothesis:
– Dreams represent random activation of brain cells during REM sleep
• Problem Solving
– Dreams focus on the problems we have in an attempt to find a solution
• Threat simulation
– Dreams evolved to help us practice skills we need to avoid threats.

Dyssomnias
• Insomnia - difficulty in getting to sleep or remaining asleep
– Situational: related to anxiety or excitement
– Drug-induced: sleeping pills
(tolerance)

Dyssomnias
• Sleep apnea: person stops breathing and is awakened when blood levels of carbon dioxide stimulate breathing
• Narcolepsy: Sleep appears at odd times
– Sleep attack: urge to sleep during the day
– Cataplexy: REM paralysis occurs, person is still conscious

Myths of Sleep
• Everyone needs 8 hrs of sleep per night to maintain good health
• Learning of complicated subjects such as calculus can be done during sleep
• Some people never dream
• Dreams last only a few seconds
• Genital arousal during sleep reflects dream content
• It is unrelated to sexual content
• May be a useful index of physical versus psychological causes of impotence in males