Variations in Consciousness Chapter 5

n Have you ever spaced out while driving because you were deeply engrossed in thought? n You suddenly snap out of it with no memory of the miles you’ve just driven n What keeps you on track of the road and controls your responses at the wheel???

States of consciousness n Normal waking states n Sleep/dreams n Drug-induced experiences n Daydreams n Hypnosis n Unconsciousness

What is consciousness??? n Moment-to-moment awareness of ourselves and our environment –Subjective and private –Dynamic (ever changing) –Self-reflective and central to our sense of self n Connected with process of selective attention –e.g., mind is a “theatre”…consciousness reflects what is “illuminated in the spot light”

Measuring states of consciousness n Self-reports –People describe their inner experiences n Physiological measures –EEG recordings during stages of sleep n Behavioral measures –Performance on special tasks

Levels of consciousness n William James-stream of consciousness n Sigmund Freud-levels of awareness –Conscious –Preconscious –Unconscious n Cognitive unconscious –Controlled vs. automatic processing n Emotional unconscious

Sleep IQ Quiz n 1.During sleep, your brain rests. n 2.You cannot learn to function normally with one or two fewer hours of sleep than you need. n 3.Boredom makes you feel sleepy, even if you have had enough sleep.

Sleep IQ Quiz n 4. Resting in bed with your eyes closed cannot satisfy your body’s need for sleep. n 5. Snoring is not harmful as long as it doesn’t disturb others or wake you up. n 6. Everyone dreams nightly. n 7. The older you get, the less sleep you need.

Sleep IQ Quiz n 8. Most people don’t know when they are sleepy. n 9. Cranking the radio while driving will help you stay awake. n 10. Sleep disorders are mainly due to worry or psychological problems. n 11. The human body never adjusts to night shift work. n 12. Most sleep disorders go away without treatment.

Sleep quiz answers n 1. F n 2. T n 3. F n 4. T n 5. F n 6. T n 7. F n 8. T n 9. F n 10. F n 11. T n 12. F Average = 5.5 points (1994)

Circadian Cycles: Biological Clock n Daily biological cycles are called circadian rhythms –Regulated by suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) –Regulates levels of melatonin (hormone that relaxes body) n What happens if you lived w/out clocks and can’t determine day from night?? –Circadian rhythm runs longer than 24-hours n Environmental disruptions of circadian rhythms –Jet lag (adjust faster when flying west) –Night-shift work –Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)

Sleep and Dreaming n Spend 1/3 of life asleep…yet we don’t get nearly enough of it! n We sleep less as we age n Before invention of the light bulb, people slept around 10 hours a night –Today we average only 6.9 hours during the week

Stages of sleep n Every 90 minutes, we cycle through different sleep stages n Measure brain activity during sleep with EEG recordings

Stage 1 through Stage 4 n Stage 1 – light sleep, easily awakened –Transitional, lose responsiveness to stimuli –1-7 minutes n Stage 2 - Sleep spindles (rapid brain activity) appear –Muscles more relaxed, dreams may occur –10-25 minutes n Stage 3-4 – appearance of very slow and large delta waves –Deepest sleep –Heart rate, respiration, and body temperature decrease –Voluntary muscles paralyzed –30 minutes n Cycle of stages: n Pg

Stage 5-REM sleep –Characterized by rapid eye movements (REM), high arousal, and frequent dreaming n minutes n REM sleep cycles become progressively longer throughout the night n Brain activity, heart rate, blood pressure resemble waking state n Age alters sleep cycles (p. 136)

Why do we sleep? n Restoration model –Sleep recharges our bodies –High adenosine levels triggers sleep n Evolutionary/circadian sleep models –Increase a species’ chance of survival n Memory consolidation –Strengthening of neural circuits in remembering important info that we encountered during the day

Sleep Deprivation n Among American adults, 37% report they are so sleepy that it interferes with their daily activities n All types of sleep deprivation detrimentally effect functioning –Lack of sleep can lead to moodiness, impulsivity, and depression n Little effect on performance of tasks requiring physical skill or intellectual judgment n Hurts performance on simple, boring tasks more than challenging ones

Sleep Studies n n Subjects were allowed to sleep 8 hours the first 3 nights, followed by 6 nights of 4 hours – the end of the study, researchers found symptoms of sleep deprivation n n Mimicked signs of aging – –Their cells responded like those of 60 year olds n n Higher levels of cortisol (indicator of stress) n n Memory impairment n n Adverse health effects-more prone to infection and circulatory diseases

Sleep Deprivation Studies on Rats n n 8 pairs of rats studied 5-33 days n n Sleep of experimental rats reduced 87%; whereas control animals slept only 31% less n n Experimental rats stopped grooming and looked ill n n Experimental rats died after 28 days, or were nearly dead and needed to be euthanized at the end of the study

What we know about sleep deprivation… n n 1. Undermines efficiency at work and school n n Lower grades (4o min. later/25 min. less more likely to receive D’s than C’s) n n Lost productivity --- $18 billion/yr n n Health care --- $14 billion/yr n n Motor vehicle accidents ---$13 billion n n 2. It contributes to countless accidents – –Getting less than 6 hours has been compared to having the same effects as being drunk. n n 70,000 crashes per year n n 1,550 fatal crashes

n n 3.Affects the body’s ability to metabolize glucose which leads to diabetes n n study of 10,000 adults suggests that sleep deprivation leads to obesity.

n n 5. Sleep deprivation leads to depression. n n 60% of patients showed immediate recovery when they got a good night’s sleep n n 6. Sleep is vital to good health!

Dreams n When do we dream? –Most often during REM sleep (85% of the time) n What do we dream about? –Not nearly as strange as stereotyped to be –Most are negative –Shaped by culture and experiences

But why do we dream???

Drug-altered Consciousness n Tolerance –Decreasing responsivity to a drug –Faster a substance makes it to the brain, the more quickly addicting it is…WHY??? n Withdrawal –Occurrence of compensatory responses after discontinued drug use n Conditioned drug responses

Drug-altered Consciousness n Substance dependence –Maladaptive pattern of substance use that causes a person significant distress or substantially impairs that person’s life

Mechanisms of Drug Action n Psychoactive drugs alter neurotransmitter activity in the brain n Many researchers believe that all abused drugs increase activity in a neural pathway called the mesolimbic dopamine pathway

Hypnosis

Hypnosis n Demonstration

Hypnosis n A trancelike state in which susceptibility to suggestion is heightened n Hypnotic susceptibility

Hypnosis n Inducing hypnosis and making suggestions n clinical applications of hypnosis –smoking cessation, pain management, phobia reduction