Vegetative state Moderate consciousness Wakefulness lack of awareness or wakefulness and inability to communicate Awareness Minimal consciousness material that is potentially accessible to the conscious mind but degree of alertness reflecting whether a person is awake or asleep awareness of one s surroundings and of what s on one s mind our state of consciousness in which the eyes are closed and the person is monitoring of information from the environment and one s own thoughts th 2013 Feb 4 Consciousness subjective experience Two dimensions of consciousness reticular formation but able to show signs of intentional behavior Coma unresponsive and unarousable state of minimal consciousness in which the eyes may be open but the person is otherwise unresponsive consciousness but no awareness Terry Shivo mental activity that occurs somewhere between minimal consciousness and full consciousness day dreaming being drowsy Freud s preconscious not currently available Tip of the tongue phenomenon unable to articulate it Full consciousness Flow feelings and sensations Three types Selective attention ability to focus awareness on specific features in the environment while ignoring others Cocktail party effect ability to filter out auditory stimuli and then refocus attention when you hear your name is called Inattentional blindness inability to notice unexpected objects in our surroundings Perceptual load model we do not notice potential distractors when a primary task consumes all of our attentional capacity Sustained attention Continuous performance test measures sustained attention by having participants give a computer input when a letter Y appears among a sequence of other letters fractured attention rather than sustained lose time stress and distraction limited capacity to process information that is under conscious control heightened awareness of the present moment includes all thoughts the art of screwing several things up at once Fast task switching ability to maintain focused awareness on one target or idea periods when we are more alert and present than normal state of involvement in which one loses a sense of time Mindfulness knowing that we know something to say but being Attention Multitasking February 6 2013 Meditation full consciousness Perceptual wall between the conscious mind and the outside world regulates physiological activity on a daily basis internal time variations on physiological processes that cycle within training for the conscious mind stabilize concentration focus attention a state in which our brain is active but is only partially processing information Many techniques develop mindfulness and enhance awareness higher physical and mental well being Sleep from the outside world Two main features State can be immediately reversed Circadian rhythms approximately a 24 hour period includes sleep wake cycle Suprachiasmatic nucleus keeper Pineal gland of waves not as much as beta Theta Waves waves Sleeping amount of time spent in REM and non REM as well as total hours of sleep needed changes over our lifetime newborns spend more time in REM and typically sleep for only a few hours at a time we need 8 hours of REM and 8 hours of non REM per day rapid low energy wave pattern in the brain while awake lots of waves slower higher energy waves than beta when relaxed and drowsy lots Rapid eye movement REM Non REM Beta Waves Alpha Waves regulates the release of melatonin to induce relaxation and drowsiness higher energy than theta waves during stage 3 sleep few waves slower and fewer movements of the eye during sleep slower lower energy waves than alpha waves during stage 1 sleep less quick movements of the eye that occur during sleep Delta Waves Three major restorative functions Neural growth Memory consolidation hippocampus activates as though we are learning and deprivation fewer neurons are developed some neurons are lost and connectivity is decreased rehearsing while we are sleeping napping after learning new information may help too Protection against cellular damage metabolism is slowed during sleep Sleep deprivation Sleep debt Insomnia not feel rested in the morning Approximately 20 of the US has some type of sleep disorder 40 of adults in U S suffer affects accidents and mental health the amount of sleep our brains owe our bodies most don t pay back a sleep difficulty characterized by difficulty falling and staying asleep do cells are damaged by our metabolism Narcolepsy sleep difficulty characterized by activities occurring during non REM sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness February 8 2013 Sleep Walking sleep that usually occur when one is awake Cataplexy weakness of facial and limb muscles People falling asleep during inopportune times for 2 weeks or more urge to nap at inappropriate times and ultimately awakens from sleep in fear occur during non REM associations hard to recall occur during REM images thoughts and feelings experienced during sleep based on loose sleep difficulty characterized by sleeping more than 10 hours a day state that occurs when a person walks around speaks incoherently Hypersomnia Night Terrors Dreams Freud s Psychoanalytic Theory Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious Distortion of impulses thoughts feelings and drives from our waking world that are being released through the sleeping mind Latent level Manifest level what s happening in the dream what the dream means Cognitive Theory Dreams are not different than every day thinking Lucid dreaming aware that one is dreaming Mind altering drugs Psychoactive drugs produce qualitative changes in conscious experience Physical dependence challenges in daily life Psychological dependence and regulate mood psychological dependence on a substance naturally occurring or synthesized substances that reliably use of a drug to maintain normal function and cope with compulsive use of a drug to alleviate boredom cope Addiction condition that results from the habitual use or physical and