Chapter 4 Study Guide William James coined the idea of a stream of consciousness Stream of consciousness the mind as a continuous flow of changing sensations images thoughts and feelings Awareness vs Arousal two parts of consciousness o Awareness includes awareness of the self and thoughts about one s experiences o Arousal the physiological state of being engaged with the environment Prefrontal cortex location where the subjective state of being conscious of what is going on as occurring in the global brain workspace where various brain areas are working in parallel Theory of mind individuals understanding that they and others think feel perceive and have private experiences Essential to many valuable social capacities such as empathy and sympathy Levels of consciousness Level of Awareness Higher level Consciousness Lower Level Consciousness Altered states of Consciousness No awareness Description Involves controlled processing in which individual actively focuses their errors on attaining a goal the most alert state of consciousness Includes automatic processing that requires little attention as well as daydreaming Can be produced by drugs trauma fatigue possibly hypnosis and sensory deprivation Can occur when people are awake sleeping and dreaming Freud s belief that some unconscious thoughts are too laden with anxiety and other negative emotions for consciousness to admit them Examples Doing math or science problem preparing for a debate Dialing a cell phone number typing as an expert gazing at a sunset Feeling the effects of alcohol or psychedelic drugs undergoing hypnoses Having unconscious thoughts being knocked out by a blow us anesthetized Subconscious awareness Sleeping and dreaming Controlled vs Automatic Processes o Controlled the most alert state of human consciousness during which individuals actively focus their efforts towards a goal o Automatic states of consciousness that require little attention and do not interfere with other ongoing activities Circadian rhythm daily behavioral or psychological cycles that involve the sleep wake cycle body temperature blood pressure and blood sugar level Suprachiasmatic nucleus also known as the SCN a small brain structure that uses input from the retina to synchronize its own rhythm with the daily cycle of light and dark the body s way of monitoring the change from day to night Sleep s effect on memory sleep may play a role in the consolidation of memories whether for specific information skills or emotional experiences During sleep the cerebral cortex is free to conduct activities that strengthen memory associations so that memories formed during recent waking hours can be integrated into long term memory storage Lost sleep can lead to lost memories Stages of sleep o Stage 1 drowsy sleep person may experience sudden muscle movements stage is characterized by theta waves o Stage 2 muscle activity decreases person is no longer consciously aware of their environment sudden increase in wave frequency o Stage 3 characterized by delta waves typically occurring less than 50 percent of the time o Stage 4 characterized by delta waves occurring more than 50 percent of the time Stage when bedwetting sleep walking etc occur Hardest stage to awake sleepers from o REM Stage 5 Sleep an active stage of sleep during which dreaming occurs rapid eye movement plays a role in memory Insomnia the inability to sleep May involve problems with falling asleep waking up during the night or waking up too early Narcolepsy sudden overpowering urge to sleep Immediately enter REM sleep rather than passing the earlier 4 stages of sleep first Involves problems with the hypothalamus and amygdala Sleep terrors nightmare frightening dreams that awaken a dreamer from REM sleep Peak between ages of 3 and 6 A night terror involves sudden arousal from sleep and intense fear Accompanied by physiological reactions Less common than nightmares and don t occur in REM sleep Sleep apnea sleep disorder when individuals stop breathing because the windpipe fails to open or because the brain process involved in respiration fail to work properly Most common among infants and elderly Freud s theories about dreams says that dreams are a key to our unconscious minds He believed that dreams symbolize unconscious wishes and that analysis of dream symbols could uncover our hidden desires o Manifest content the surface content of a dream containing dream symbols that disguise the dream s true meaning o Latent content a dream s hidden content it s unconscious and true meaning James theories about dreams felt that dreams are our real world while we are sleeping Cognitive theory of dreaming proposes that we can understand dreaming by applying the same cognitive concepts we use in studying the waking mind Rests on the idea that dreams are essentially subconscious cognitive processing Does not involve symbolism of dreams Activation Synthesis Theory of dreaming theory that dreaming occurs when the cerebral cortex synthesizes neural signals generated from activity in the lower brain and that dreams result from the brain s attempts to find logic in random brain activity that occurs during sleep Driven by internal stimuli Psychoactive Drugs drugs that act on the nervous system to alter consciousness modify perceptions and change moods Tolerance the need to take increasing amounts of a drug t get the same effect Physical vs Psychological Dependence o Physical physiological need for a drug that causes unpleasant withdrawal symptoms such as physical pain and a craving for the drug when it is discontinued o Psychological strong desire to repeat the use of a drug for emotional reasons such as a feeling of well being and reduction of stress Dopamine helps to control voluntary movement and affects sleep mood attention learning and the ability to recognize rewards in an environment Stimulant drugs produce excitement alertness elevated mood decreased fatigue and sometimes increased motor activity by activating dopamine receptors Brain s reward pathway located in the VTA and Nac Drugs increase the activity of the reward pathway by increasing dopamine transmission Binge drinking having five or more drinks in a row Often increases during the first two years of college Alcoholism disorder that involves long term repeated uncontrolled compulsive and excessive use of alcoholic beverages that impairs the drinker s health and social relationships Depressants vs Stimulants o Depressants slow down mental and
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