CHAPTER 7
CONSCIOUSNESS
 Define: consciousness is our awareness
of ourselves and our environment.
CONSCIOUSNESS
 We will explore altered states of consciousness
 Sleep
 Hypnosis
 Drug induced
SLEEP
 Our sleep/wake cycle is a circadian rhythm, meaning
one cycle takes about a day to complete.
 It is regulated by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)
located in the hypothalamus.
 Melatonin is a critical hormone that brings on sleep
and it released by the pineal gland when daylight
changes.
 Staring at an electronic device at night can distort your
body’s perception of nighttime leading to insomnia.
STAGES OF SLEEP
STAGES
OF
SLEEP
 4 distinct stages repeating every 90-100 minutes
 Non-REM Stage 1: Also known as “twilight sleep,” duration
~5 minutes, often includes vivid images, sensations of
falling or floating, muscle twitches and jerks will often
occur; alpha & theta brain waves
 Non-REM Stage2: duration ~20 minutes, experiences
include rapid, rhythmic brainwave activity, sleep talking
may occur during this stage; sleep spindles: sudden bursts
of brain wave activity occur in this stage. It is presumed
their purpose is to maintain a state of tranquility
STAGES OF SLEEP
 Non-REM Stage 3: transitional sleep to stage 4 ~30
minutes, brain emits large, slow delta waves, difficult
to wake during this stage of sleep (and into stage 4),
typically when bed wetting and sleep walking will
occur in children. Auditory cortex is still responsive,
but only some sounds will wake us like our name or a
baby’s cry.
STAGES OF SLEEP
 Each cycle last ~90-100 minutes. This illustrates about
7-8 hours of sleep:
STAGES OF SLEEP
 You then ascend out of stage 4, through stage 3 and 2
and enter REM sleep (rapid eye movement).
 REM sleep: duration ~10 minutes, brain waves become
rapid and sharp, much like being in stage 1 sleep.
Heart rate increase, breathing becomes rapid and
irregular, eyes dart around, sexual arousal, dreams
occur that are often story-like and emotional.
Everyone dreams, just some don’t remember them.
STAGES OF SLEEP
 The motor cortex is active during REM sleep, but the
brainstem blocks its messages leaving muscles so
relaxed you are almost paralyzed. This is known as
“paradoxical sleep.”
 The cycle repeats itself with stage 4 getting
progressively shorter and then disappears and REM
gets longer.
 Therefore, if you deprive yourself of sleep, you deprive
yourself of primarily REM
STAGES OF SLEEP
 REM rebound: after being sleep deprived, it is found
that people will fall into REM more quickly and stay
their longer.
 What’s the point of REM? Why is it so important?
 Recent research finds that there is a necessary cleaning
process that occurs during sleep, specifically during
REM
 http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/10/18/236211811/b
rains-sweep-themselves-clean-of-toxins-during-sleep
 http://www.apa.org/topics/sleep/why.aspx
DREAMS
 Freud: Dreams is the outlet for our unacceptable
feelings and desires. He believed the manifest (literal)
content of the dream is a censored version of the latent
(hidden) content which he believed was usually of a
sexual nature. He felt they were the key to our inner
conflicts.
DREAMS
 Information processing theory claims that dreams may
help us sift, sort and fix the day’s experiences into our
memories. This is supported by studies that show
REM increases following stressful experiences or
intense learning periods.
 Research also shows that repeated patterns of brain
activity of wakeful acitivities illustrate themselves
when we sleep.
DREAMS
 Activation-synthesis theory claims that the associate
brain activity of REM sleep stimulates the sleeping
brain developing and preserving the neural
connections. Neural activity from the brainstem
spreads upward and dreams are the brain’s way of
making sense of the impulses.
 It’s as if the conscious part of our brain cannot help but
try to organize this activity.
 Essentially, though, the dream is meaningless waste.
DREAMS
 And here are some more thoughts on dreams:
 V sauce: Why do we dream? (youtube.com)
COMMON SLEEP DISORDERS
AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES
 Insomnia: persistent problems in falling or staying
asleep.
treatment: medication,
therapy to deal with stress, better
sleep habits & environment
COMMON SLEEP DISORDERS
AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES
 Narcolepsy: experience periodic, overwhelming
sleepiness; in severe cases the person will collapse into
immediate REM sleep with loss of muscle tension.
High risk of automobile accidents.
 Reduced amounts of hypocretin
may be most likely cause
 Treatment: medication, therapy,
healthy lifestyle changes
COMMON SLEEP DISORDERS
AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES
 Sleep apnea: (typically occurring in overweight men)
intermittent cessation (stopping) of breathing during
sleep, their body awakens them to breathe resulting in
disrupted sleep. Suffers are less rested, irritable, also
at risk of increased traffic accidents.
COMMON SLEEP DISORDERS
AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES
 Night terrors: (typically occur in children) person may
sit up or walk around, talk incoherently, experience
doubling of heart rate and breathing rates, and appear
terrified. Sufferers seldom remember the episode.
These are not nightmares because it occurs during
stage 4 sleep. They may
HYPNOSIS
 State of consciousness in which a person is especially
susceptive to suggestion.
 Can be used to reduce pain, create temporary states of
amnesia, and affect sensory perception
 It cannot increase physical strength, enhance memory,
or regress a person to childhood
DIFFERENT THEORIES OF
HYPNOSIS
 What is known:
 The power is in the hypnotized openness to
suggestion. To some degree everyone is “suggestible.”
Anyone who can turn attention inward, relax, and
imagine is able to experience some degree of hypnosis,
and if lead to expect hypnotic responses, one likely
will. (1989 UConn experiment)
DIFFERENT THEORIES OF
HYPNOSIS
 In terms of therapy, hypnosis and positive suggestions,
like placebos, change people’s expectations, but unlike
placebos, involve no deception.
 Hypnosis can relieve pain. Some theories suggests this
is dissociation of the sensation from the emotional
state of pain. Another theory is selective attention,
focus on something else (think athletes and Lamaze).
DIFFERENT THEORIES OF
HYPNOSIS
 Is it an altered state of consciousness? Since similar
behaviors have been seen in un-hypnotized people, it
implies that hypnosis is not an altered state. Social
influence theory suggests that hypnotized subjects are
caught up in a role they are playing. Dividedconsciousness theory suggests is caused by splitting
our awareness/attention, like being on autopilot.
ADDICTION, TOLERANCE,
WITHDRAWAL
 Addiction is the physical and psychological need for a
drug.
 People rarely become addicted to psychoactive drugs
used for medicinal purposes.
 Therapy is not always needed to overcome addictions.
 “Addiction-as-a-disease” mentality may cause more
harm than good if people choose to use it as a crutch for
overcoming their habits. Highly debatable topic.
ADDICTION, TOLERANCE,
WITHDRAWAL
 Tolerance occurs when the drug user requires larger
and larger doses to experience the drug’s effect.
 Withdrawal is the body’s response to the absence of a
drug to which it has grown accustomed
PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS
 3 categories of psychoactive drugs (chemicals that
change perceptions and moods):
 1. Depressants: calm neural activity and slow body
functions (examples: alcohol, barbiturates, and
opiates)
PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS
 2. Stimulants: excite neural activity and arouse body
functions (examples: caffeine, nicotine,
amphetamines, and cocaine)
PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS
 3. Hallucinogens: distort perceptions and evoke
sensory images in the absence of sensory input.
(examples: marijuana, PCP, LSD)