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States of Consciousness
Things never were “the way they used to be.”
Things will never be “the way it’s going to be someday.”
Things are always just the way they are for the time being. And the time is always in motion.
Alexander Evangeli Xenopouloudakis
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What is consciousness?
Awareness of one‟s own mental activity Personal
Can be selective Consciousness is continuous
and ever-changing
Klinger (1978)
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red it nor too difficult
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Attentional Processes
Selective Attention The ability to focus awareness on a single
stimulus to the exclusion of other stimuli
Cocktail party phenomenon
Divided attention The ability to distribute one‟s attention
and simultaneously engage in two or moreactivities
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Consciousness
Is awareness of both external andinternal stimuli or events.
It refers to our mental content(thoughts and feelings) which we are
aware.
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Degrees of Consciousness Conscious Preconscious - is part of the conscious
mind and includes our memory. These
memories are not conscious, but we canretrieve them to conscious awarenessat any time.
Unconscious- is a reservoir of feelings,thoughts, urges, and memories thatoutside of our conscious awareness.
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Levels of Consciousness High Level ofAwareness
Requires attention, controlled processes
Low Level ofAwareness
Automatic Processes- minimal attention
Day dreaming- between consciousness and
dreaming while sleepingAltered states ofConsciousness
Awareness produced by drugs, trauma,fatigue, meditation, and sensory deprivation.
Sleep and dreams- low level of consciousness
No Awareness Unconscious mind- Freud
Coma, disease, being knocked, anesthetized
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“Daydream Believer”
Imaginary scenes & events that occurwhile awake
When do they happen?
Possible functions:
Mental rehearsal Mental arousal when bored
Problem solving (practical & creative)
Pleasure
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Biological Rhythms
Periodic fluctuations in physiologicalfunctioning
Four cycles: Yearly
28-day
Circadian (24 hours) 90 minutes
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Circadian Rhythm
Synchronized behavior and body states inthe environment
Influences sleep & wakefulness
As well as: Blood pressure Hormones Body temperature
Humans drift toward 25-hour cycle becauseof advances in technology Syprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN)
Controls our timing device for our circadianrhythm
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Are you a Larks or Owls
Score Type70-86 Definitely Morning type
59-69 Moderately Morning type42-58 Neither Type31-41 Moderately Evening Type
16-30 Definitely Evening Type*extreme larks- difficulty in scheduleadjustment
*extreme owls- have little difficulty
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Sleep IQ Test
1. During sleep your brain rests.2. You can not learn to function normally
with one or two fewer hours of sleep a
night than you need.3. Boredom makes you feel sleepy, even if
you have had enough sleep.
4. Resting in bed with your eyes closedcannot satisfy your body‟s need for sleep. 5. Snoring is not harmful, as long as it
doesn‟t disturb others or wake you up.
6. Everyone dreams at night.
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Sleep IQ Test
7. The older you get, the fewer hours of sleep you need.
8. Most people don‟t know when they are sleepy.
9. Raising the volume of your radio will help youstay awake while driving.
10. Sleep disorders are mainly due to worry orpsychological problems.
11. The human body never adjusts to nightshift work.
12. Most sleep disorders go away, even without
treatment.
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Sleep IQ Answers
1. During sleep your brain rests.False: While your body rests, your brain doesn‟t.
2. You can not learn to function normally with one
or two fewer hours of sleep a night than youneed.True: Sleep need is biological. While children need moresleep than adults, how much sleep any individual needs is
genetically determined.3. Boredom makes you feel sleepy, even if you have
had enough sleep.False: Boredom only unmasks sleepiness, but it doesn‟t
cause it.
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Sleep IQ Answers
4. Resting in bed with your eyes closed cannotsatisfy your body‟s need for sleep. True: Sleep is as necessary to health as food and water,and rest is no substitute for sleep.
5. Snoring is not harmful, as long as it doesn‟tdisturb others or wake you up.False: Snoring may be a signal for sleep apnea (whichcan be fatal if untreated).
6. Everyone dreams at night.
True: Every person dreams every night – it‟s just thatsome of us can‟t remember much of our dreams.
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Sleep IQ Answers
7. The older you get, the fewer hours of sleep youneed.False: Although we tend to sleep less, our need for sleepdoesn‟t decrease as we age.
8. Most people don‟t know when they are sleepy.
True: We are not very good judges of our biologicalneed for sleep.
9. Raising the volume of your radio will help youstay awake while driving.False: The only short-term solutions are to pull over andtake a nap or to have a caffeinated drink.
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Sleep IQ Answers
10. Sleep disorders are mainly due to worry orpsychological problems.False: Sleep apnea is caused by relaxed muscles andnarcolepsy appears to be genetic.
11. The human body never adjusts to night shift work.True: No matter how long you work a night shift,sleeping during the day remains a challenge because ofour circadian rhythms that operate on the light/dark
schedule.12. Most sleep disorders go away, even without
treatment.False: On average, sleep disorders do not disappear
without treatment.
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The Stages of Sleep 5 stages
First four stages are non-REM Fifth, and final, stage is REM
Stage 1 As you start this stage, brain waves go
from beta to alpha to theta (by end ofstage)
Hypnic jerks Lasts about 10 minutes This is the transition from relaxed
wakefulness to sleep
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The Stages of Sleep
Stage 2 Sleep spindles
Lasts about 20 minutes
Stages 3 & 4 Delta wave
Deep sleep Last about 30 minutes
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The Stages of Sleep
REM After reverting back through stages 3 and 2,
the brain enters the REM (rapid eye movement)stage
Marked by more vivid, detailed, and storylikedreams We dream during all stages but these are more visual
Each cycle lasts roughly 90 minutes Approx. 4 to 6 cycles per night
The first time through the cycle, you only spendabout 10 minutes in REM – which increases to 30to 60 minutes by the last cycle
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Why do we sleep? Restorative theories
Sleep rejuvenates us Amount of slow wave sleep depends on
how long we‟ve been awake
Circadian theories Evolutionarily, it has survival value
Amount of REM sleep depends oncircadian rhythm
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What are dreams?
Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane
every night of our lives.
Charles Fisher What are dreams?
Electrochemical events that involve the
brainstem, areas of the cortex, and theeyes
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What do we dream about?
Dream content Most common themes: falling, being
chased/attacked, repeatedly trying but
failing to do something What influences the dreams we have
Concerns of your
everyday life External stimuli Yourself
Lucid dreaming
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Why do we dream?
Wish fulfillment (Freud) Manifest content
Latent content
Activation-synthesis (Hobson & McCarley) Activation: random neural signals firing in the
brainstem that spread up to the cortex
Synthesis: the brain then creates images andstories in an effort to make sense out of theserandom signals
So who‟s right?
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Sleep Disorders
Insomnia Chronic problems in getting good sleep
Difficulty in falling asleep, staying asleep
Causes Stress, depression, health problems
Solutions Sedatives aren‟t always effective and should never be a
long-term solution!!! Don‟t take naps during the day
Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and cigarettes within 5 hrsbefore bedtime (avoid exercise within 2 hrs)
Keep a rigid schedule – going to bed and waking up at the
same time
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Sleep Disorders
Hypersomnia Being sleepy during the day and sleeping
too much at night
Narcolepsy
Parasomnias Sleep apnea
Nightmares
Night terrors
Sleepwalking
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Meditation
Procedure that uses mental exercisesto achieve a highly focused state ofconsciousness TM
Relaxation response
Effects include: Increased self esteem & sense of control
Overcoming insomnia, preventing smoking
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Hypnotic Susceptibility Hilgard‟s Stanford HypnoticSusceptibility Scale
Roughly 10% highly hypnotizable Roughly 10% not hypnotizable at all
Effects of hypnosis Perceptual effects
Altering smells
Pain relief Cognitive effects
Hypermnesia vs. psuedomemories
Behavioral effects Posthypnotic suggestion
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Chemically Altered Consciousness
Psychoactive drugs Induce changes in thinking, perception &
behavior by affecting neuronal activity in
the brain
Four general categories
Depressants Stimulants Hallucinogens Opiates