Psychology 2000 Exam 2 Chapter 4 Consciousness o Consciousness is the awareness of the sensations thoughts and feeling being experienced at a given moment o It deals with sleeping and dreaming hypnosis alcohol and drugs o Q What are some states of consciousness o Neuroscience Consciousness o Consciousness Emerges from the interaction of individual brain events like a chord that emerges from different notes o High level of awareness o Controlled Processes o Automatic Processes o Focused attention high level of concentration o Some awareness but minimal attention required Ex daydreaming autopilot o Unconscious o Due to head injury anesthesia coma o NO AWARENESS o Measuring Attention o Attention o The internal process people use to set priorities for mental The resources of the brain and nervous system are functioning limited o How can you measure attention o One method is called dichotic listening two ear tasks o About 1 3 of people could hear their name while shadowing when there name was said in the unattended ear o How do we know what happens to the material that is unattended o The brain does not simply filter out what goes on in the unattended message It focuses the spotlight of attention Some unconscious monitoring of the rest of the environment o Dichotic Listening Task o o Sleep o Sleep Patterns rhythm o Follow natural Circadian Rhythm but we often disrupt this How do we disrupt this rhythm Late nights of studying alarms work jet lag Consequences of disrupting the rhythm Not very aware and focused wears down the immune system resulting in getting sick o Rhythm of Sleep and wakefulness o Circadian Rhythms occur on a 24 hour cycle and include sleep o Light triggers suprachiasmatic nucleus to decrease melatonin from pineal gland when it is time to wakeup and increases at night when time to go to sleep Why it is hard to fall asleep in light or if looking at something bright like a tv or a phone o Sleep Deprivation o Effects of sleep loss Fatigue impaired concentration immune suppression irritability slowed performance Car accidents happen more frequently once you are sleepy Even if you get 8 hours of sleep alcohol can leave you feeling tired because it suppresses your REM sleep o Sleep Disorders o Insomnia Persistent problems in falling or staying asleep Very common o Narcolepsy Uncontrollable sleep attacks May lapse directly into REM sleep o Sleep Apnea Temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and momentary reawakening Stop breathing for a couple seconds Bad because when you keep waking up you never go into REM sleep or deep cycles Very common o Night Terrors High arousal Appearance of being terrified Usually in Stage 4 within 2 3 hours of falling asleep Psychologists know it is different from nightmares because nightmares don t occur in stage 4 o Why do we sleep o We spend 1 3 of our lives asleep thank god o 2 Theories of why we sleep 1 Repair Restoration Theory Sleep serves an important recuperative function have to recharge Physical fatigue emotional and intellectual demands brain organizes information and consolidates memories 2 Evolutionary Circadian Theory Sleep evolved so humans and animals could conserve energy when not foraging for food or seeking mates when it was dark Serves to keep animals still when predators are active o Measuring Sleep o About every 90 minutes we pass through a cycle of five distinct sleep stages o EEG Patterns Associated with States of Consciousness o Beta o Alpha o Theta o Delta Frequency 13 24 cps Normal waking thought alert problem solving Frequency 8 12 Deep relaxation blank mind meditation Frequency 4 7 Light Sleep Frequency less than 4 Deep Sleep o Sleep Stages o Stage 1 Lasts few minutes brain slows breathing more regular HR slows easily awakened o Stage 2 o Stage 3 Lasts about 20 minutes sleep spindles definitely asleep relatively easily awakened Lasts a few minutes transitional stage between light Lasts 30 40 minutes brain waves change to large slow and deep sleep o Stage 4 waves Deep Sleep o REM Rapid Eye Movement o REM Sleep Lasts few minutes early on increases during the night HR increases almost paralyzed Babies have a higher percentage of REM If awakened during REM 78 90 remember dreams as compared to 10 14 who remember dreams in nonREM sleep REM sleep increases after stressful experiences or intense learning periods it helps memory and may help us solve problems REM periods increase in length and frequency toward the morning o Dreams o The link between REM sleep and dreaming has opened up a new era of dream research o Spend 600 hours year dreaming have about 1 500 dreams year 100 000 dreams in a lifetime which is about 6 years of your life dreaming o Dream Content o Most dreams reflect real life worries hopes and desires o Most involve people and places you know o Dreams of being nude falling or floating probably derive rom our body s lack of motor and sensory feedback while dreaming o Why We Dream Three Theories o 1 Wish Fulfillment Theory Freud s theory Preserve our sanity by allowing us to gratify forbidden or unrealistic wishes Freud hypothesized that material was so threatening or disgusting it was disguised in dreams Manifest Content The surface content of a dream containing dream symbols Latent Content The true unconscious meaning of a dream Modern psychodynamic theorists a form of wish or a fear Not a deeply repressed thing o 2 Activation Synthesis Hypothesis Dreaming is an unimportant by product of RANDOM stimulation of brain cells Cerebral cortex tries to make sense of this random stimulation Soo it creates a fragmented story o 3 Information Processing Theory Dreams help us sift through sort and fix in memory our everyday experiences and thought A form of thinking during sleep o Conclusion of Why We Dream Mental housecleaning o Three different perspectives none of the three has been shown to be clearly superior and other perspectives do exist o Hypnosis o Franz Mesmer o In Paris 1783 To restore balance of universal fluids within his patients Mesmer used large magnets and iron rods waving them around o Controlling Consciousness o Hypnosis A trance like state great concentration high suggestibility reduced response to outside stimuli o Facts and Falsehood Those who practice hypnosis agree that its power resides in the subject s openness to suggestion Can anyone experience hypnosis Yes to some extent have to be open to it Can hypnosis enhance recall of forgotten events Can hypnosis force people to act against their
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