Chapter 7

States of Consciousness

Consciousness

Consciousness our awareness

of ourselves and our environments

Consciousness

Waking Consciousness What you are currently

aware of and attending to

Linear (serial) processing

The result of cognitive processing

Consciousness

Subconsciousness That which lies just

below your waking consciousness

Easily accessible Parallel processing

Consciousness

Unconsciousness Reactions and

processing outside our awareness

Altered States of Consciousness

Sleep and Dreams Hypnosis Chemically altered states

Sleep and Dreams

Sleep periodic, natural, reversible loss of

consciousness

Circadian Rhythm

the biological clock regular bodily rhythms that occur on a

24-hour cycle, such as of wakefulness and body temperature

Sleep and Dreams Stage 1

Lasts up to 5 minutesHallucinationsHypnogogic experience

Stage 220 minutesSleep spindlesSleep talking may occur

Sleep and Dreams Stage 3

Transitional stageLasts only a few minutes

Stage 4Brain emits delta wavesLasts 30 minutesSleep walking, bed wetting may occurYou can still process the outside world

Brain Waves and Sleep Stages

Alpha Waves slow waves of a

relaxed, awake brain

Delta Waves large, slow waves

of deep sleep

Stages in a Typical Night’s Sleep

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4

3

2

1

Sleepstages

Awake

Hours of sleep

REM

Stages in a Typical Night’s Sleep

Hours of sleep

Minutesof Stage 4 and REM

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 80

10

15

20

25

5

Decreasing Stage 4

Increasing REM

Sleep and Dreams REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep

recurring sleep stage vivid dreams “paradoxical sleep”

muscles are generally relaxed, but other body systems are active

Sleep Deprivation

Effects of Sleep Loss fatigue impaired

concentration depressed immune

system greater vulnerability

to accidents

Sleep Disorders Insomnia

persistent problems in falling or staying asleep

Narcolepsy uncontrollable sleep attacks

Sleep Apnea temporary cessation of breathing momentary reawakenings

Night Terrors and Nightmares

Night Terrors occur within 2 or

3 hours of falling asleep, usually during Stage 4

high arousal-- appearance of being terrified0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4

3

2

1

Sleepstages

Awake

Hours of sleep

REM

Dreams

What are dreams made of?

Dreams: Freud Sigmund Freud--The Interpretation of

Dreams (1900) wish fulfillment discharge otherwise unacceptable

feelings Manifest Content

remembered story line Latent Content

underlying meaning

Dreams: Freud Dreams

Dream is a safe outlet for the mind Deals with unacceptable thoughts and

emotions Manifest content is the “dressed up”

symbolic version of the unconscious Most adult dreams have strong sexual

undertones Dream interpenetration is the “royal road

to the unconscious”

Dreams: Information processing

As Information Processing Dreams serve to sift and sort

memories of our daily experiences Helps us to better process and store

memories and learning from the previous day

Dreams: Information processing Support for theory

REM sleep increases following a stressful experience and intense learning experiences

People will perform worse on a memory test if kept from dreaming the night before

Dreams: Activation-synthesis

Neural activity is random and dreams are your brain’s attempt to make sense of it

Your brain tries to impose meaning on meaningless stimuli

Dreams: Activation-synthesis

SupportEye movement of REM sleep coincides with

bursts of neural activity in the visual cortexWould account for random and bizarre

occurrences in dreams

Dreams: Physiological Function

Dreams serve to provide neural stimulation for a sleeping brain

Stimulation of the neural pathways strengthens connections and makes processing faster and more efficient

Dreams: Physiological Function

Support Infants and children experience longer

periods of REM sleep than adults. REM sleep periods decrease as we age

Sleep Across the Lifespan

Dreams

So which is the best theory?