Transcript Module 5

Chapter 13 States of Consciousness
Consciousness
Dual processing
Biological/Circadian rhythms
Selective attention Manifest/Latent content
NREM and REM sleep Inattentional Blindness
Theories of sleep Change blindness
Sleep disorders
Drug rebound effect
Dreams/theories Sensory deprivation tank
Hypnosis
Drugs and their effects
What is consciousness?
• Consciousness is your immediate awareness of
thoughts, sensations, memories
• What are states of consciousness?
• Perception, memory, thinking, language, and
attitudes all operate on two levels- a conscious
and an unconscious
• When you are operating in both the conscious or
deliberate mode while simultaneously operating
in the unconscious or automatic mode,
researchers call this dual processing. What are
some examples?
• What are automatic behaviors?
• Through selective attention, your conscious awareness
focuses on only a very limited aspect of your
experience
• How do automatic behaviors influence selective
attention?
• Many traffic accidents occur because we believe that
we can perform multiple activities while selectively
attending to the activity of driving
• Sometimes we may be so engaged in one activity or
behavior, selective attention, that we may miss
important details
• Magicians are successful at diverting our attention
elsewhere, making us blind to the “trick” Inattentional
blindness
• Change blindness occurs when we are so focused on a
behavior, activity, person; we miss a change elsewhere
Biological Rhythms and Sleep
• Modern sleep research began with the invention of the
EEG and the discovery that sleep is a state marked by
distinct physiological processes.
• The invention of the EEG in the 1920s gave sleep
researchers and important tool for measuring the
rhythmic electrical activity of the brain.
• The discovery of the rapid-eye-movement sleep, REM
sleep, in the early 1950s led researchers to distinguish
between two types of sleep…REM and Nrem sleep
• Circadian rhythms are the cyclical daily fluctuations in
many different biological processes. The cycle is about
24 hours long.
• The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is a tiny cluster of
neurons in the hypothalamus in the brain that governs
the timing of circadian rhythms
• Sunlight sets the SCN, and suppresses the release of
melatonin; decreased light increases the production of
melatonin, a pineal gland hormone that produces
sleepiness.
• Circadian Rhythms and Sunlight: The 24.2 Hour day
• Under free running conditions people drift toward the
natural rhythm of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (which
is about 24.2 hours)
• When people leave free-running conditions, sunlight
“resets” the biological clock within days, and their
circadian rhythms become synchronized again.
• You experience jet lag when your circadian rhythms are
drastically out of synchronization with daylight and
darkness cues.
• REM sleep, or rapid-eye-movement is active sleep
because it is associated with heightened body
and brain activity. dreaming occurs
• NREM sleep, non-rapid-eye-movement sleep is
referred to as quiet sleep because the body’s
physiological functions and brain activity slow
down.
• NREM sleep has 4 stages the progression takes
50-70 minutes
• Stage 1-lasts a few minutes, very relaxed brain
waves slow theta waves
• Hypnagogic hallucinations are the vivid
hallucinations experienced at the beginning of
sleep, feelings of falling.
• Stage 2- represents the onset of true sleep,
brief bursts of brain activity that last a second
or two, called sleep spindles, and K complexes,
delta waves begin to emerge
• Stages 3 and 4-deep sleep slow wave sleep
and are very similar the sleeper is oblivious to
the world
• During REM sleep, the visual and motor neurons
in the sleeper’s brain activate repeatedly just as
they do during wakefulness, the sleeper’s eyes
dart back and for the behind closed eyelids and
voluntary muscle movement is suppressed.
• Heart rate, blood pressure, and respirations can
fluctuate up and down, and muscle twitches
occur.
• Each cycle averages about 90 minutes.
• Yawning regulates and increases your level of
arousal. Yawing is not contagious, thinking about
yawning may trigger the behavior.
• Caffeine promotes wakefulness by blocking adenosine
receptors-slow-wave NREM sleep reduces adenosine levels.
• Sleep paralysis is a temporary condition in which a person
is unable to move upon waking in the morning or during
REM sleep.
• Deaf people have been known to sign, sleep sign during
sleep.
• Sleep researchers have been unsuccessful in having
extended dialogues with people who talk in their sleep.
• Sleep walking has a genetic component
• Over the course of our lives, the quantity and quality of
sleep change considerably,
• From birth onward, total sleep time, REM sleep, and NREM
sleep slowly decrease.
• The amount of time spent in slow-wave NREM sleep (stages
3 and 4) also decreases over the lifespan.
Why do we sleep?
• There is a biological need for sleep.
• Sleep deprivation studies, people who go without sleep for extended
periods of time experience disruptions in mood can become volatile,
mental ability, reaction time, perceptual skills, and complex motor skills.
• Sleep restriction results in diminished concentration, vigilance, reaction
time, memory skills, and the ability to gauge risks.
• When people are selectively deprived of REM sleep, they experience REM
rebound and the same for NREM (stages 3 and 4) sleep.
• How can sleep restriction be dangerous?
• The restorative theory of sleep suggests that sleep promotes physiological
processes that restore and rejuvenate the body and the mind.
• NREM sleep is important for restoring the body.
• REM sleep is important for restoring mental and brain functions.
• The adaptive theory of sleep, or evolutionary theory of sleep, suggests
that wave patterns have evolved over time as a way of preventing a
particular species from interacting with the environment when it is too
dangerous to do so.
Effect of Sleep deprivation
Sleep Disorders
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What is the most common sleep disorder?
The most common sleep disorder among adults is insomnia.
Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep, stay asleep, or feel adequately rested by
sleep.
Which sex suffers more from insomnia?
Women
Obstructive sleep apnea is the second most common sleep disorder, especially for
overweight men over 50.
Obstructive sleep apnea is a disorder in which the sleeper repeatedly stops
breathing during sleep.
OSA tends to run in families, is 2x as common in men than in women, and
increases other serious health risks.
Narcolepsy is a chronic lifelong condition, typically beginning in adolescence, and
is characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, often causing lapses of sleep in
the daytime.
Narcolepsy affects males and females equally, and is characterized by sleep
paralysis when going to sleep or waking from sleep.
There are several factors that play a role including chromosomal, brain,
neurotransmitter, and immune system abnormalities. there is no cure.
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What are some parasomnias?
1.night terrors
2.sleep sex
3. sleep walking
4. sleep eating
Parasomnias-undesired arousal or actions during sleep, the parasomniacs
arise during NREM sleep (stages ¾), occur most commonly in children,
have a genetic predisposition, can be triggered by many things,
researchers do not know what all is involved with the parasomias.
Night terrors, or sleep terrors, are characterized by sharply increased
physiological arousal, intense fear and panic, frightening hallucinations
and no recall of the episode the next morning.
Sleep terrors are typically brief, and typically resolves itself by
adolescence.
Sleep sex, occurs more in men than in women, involves abnormal sexual
behavior during sleep, masturbation and/or sexual intercourse.
Sleepwalking, or somnambulism, is characterized by an episode of walking
or performing actions during stage 3 or 4 of NREM sleep, most are
children, 4% are adults.
Sleep related eating, more women that men, the sleeper sleepwalks and
eats compulsively, the eater may eat potentially dangerous items like cat
food.
Is sleep murder possible? some factors
are considered
• 1. sleep disorder present
• 2. no motive
• 3. sleep related violence precipitated by
medication/fever
• 4. person happened to be present
• 5. there is some amnesia
• 6. sorrow after the event
• 7. the event is brief
• In REM sleep behavior disorder, the sleeper
acts out his dreams.
• the disorder has several causes
• 1- there is some brain damage in lower brain
centers that control physical and mental
arousal during sleep
• 2-side effect of anti-depressants
• 3-people with this disorder later develop
Parkinson’s disease
Dreams
• Adults spend about 25 percent of their night’s sleep dreaming.
• During sleep, sleep thinking occurs frequently, more frequently than
dreams.
• A dream is a sequence of perceptions, thoughts, and emotions during
sleep that are experienced as a series of real-life events.
• Most dreams occur during REM sleep, people may have four or five
episodes a night.
• An important activity during sleep is memory consolidation.
• Episodic memories=NREM
• Procedural memories=REM
• REM sleep is characterized by:
• 1. decreased activity in the frontal lobes and the primary visual cortex,
cutting dreamers off from reality which explains the bizarre dreams.
bizarre dreams are the exception, not the rule
• 2. increased activity in association areas of the visual cortex, increasing
visual images
• 3. increased activity in the limbic system brain areas associated with
emotions, motivation, and memory, which causes the emotionality of the
dream. (neg are more common)
Dreams
• What is the difference between a dream and a
nightmare?
• A nightmare is a dream in which the dreamer
is being attacked or pursued aggressively.
Nightmares typically waken the dreamer.
• Nightmares occur more frequently during
middle and late childhood, then the frequency
decreases
• Family and twin studies suggest some genetic
role in the predisposition to nightmares.
• Sigmund Freud believed that dreams were an
outlet for unacceptable urges.
• According to Freud, there are two
components to dreams, the manifest content
and the latent content.
• The manifest content is the dream content,
the latent content is the psychological
meanings of the dream.
Hypnosis
• Hypnosis is a social interaction in which the
hypnotic participant responds to the hypnotist’s
suggestions.
• There are limitations to hypnosis
• 1. a person cannot be hypnotized to do
something against his or her will
• 2. Hypnosis cannot make you perform behaviors
that you are morally opposed to performing.
• 3. Hypnosis cannot make you perform actions
that you are not physically capable of performing.
Benefits of a
Sensory
Deprivation Tank
• Treatment in sensory deprivation tanks has
been shown to help with a variety of
psychological and medical issues.
• The sensory deprivation tank has been used
for therapy and relaxation. In a typical
session for alternative healing and
meditative purposes, a person may rest in
an isolation tank for up to an hour.
Treatment in isolation tanks has been
shown to help with a variety of medical
issues, including insomnia and muscle pain,
headaches, and addictive behaviors such as
smoking, alcoholism, and obesity.
• Although relatively short sessions of sensory
deprivation can be relaxing and both
mentally and physically beneficial,
prolonged sensory deprivation can lead to
disorders of perception, including confusion
and hallucinations which is why the sensory
deprivation is sometimes used as an
instrument of torture.
Meditation
• Meditation refers to techniques in which the individual
focuses on something specific, such as an object, a
word, or one’s breathing, with the goal of ignoring
external distractions, focusing on one’s internal state,
and achieving a state of relaxation and well-being.
• Brain imaging studies have indicated that meditation is
not only relaxing but can also induce an altered state of
consciousness.
• the action of the sympathetic division of the
autonomic nervous system (ANS) is suppressed during
meditation, creating a more relaxed physiological state
as the meditator moves into deeper states of relaxation
and consciousness.
What are Psychoactive Drugs?
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Psychoactive drugs are chemical substances that can alter arousal, mood, thinking,
sensation, and perception.
Addiction- a condition in which a person feels psychologically and physically
compelled to take a specific drug.
Physical dependence- a condition in which a person’s body and brain chemistry
physically adapt to a drug.
Drug tolerance- a condition in which the user needs increasing amounts of the
drug to achieve the original, desired effect.
Drug abuse-refers to recurrent drug use that results in disruption in academic,
social, other functioning or in legal and psychological problems.
The drug rebound effect is the experience of withdrawal symptoms that are the
opposite of the drug’s effect.
Psychoactive drugs influence the brain activity by altering synaptic transmission by
blocking, mimicking, or influencing a particular neurotransmitter’s effects…usually
dopamine producing neurons.
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With repeated drug use, the brain’s reward pathways adapt to the high dopamine
levels.
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Usually a person who has developed an addiction to a drug, will only overcome
the addiction through psychotherapy and the benefit of a treatment program
Determining whether there is drug abuse is influenced by many factors.
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Drug
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Heroin
Strong depressant
GHB (Gamma hydroxy butyrate)
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Isobutyl nitrite Depressant and toxic inhalant Poppers, rush, locker room
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Alcohol
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Methamphetamine May be injected or smoked Meth, crank
Cocaine
May be inhaled or smoked
Crack, coke, rock, blue
MDMA (methylene-dioxymethamphetamine) Very powerful stimulant Molly,Ecstasy
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Codeine
Depressant
Methadone
Opioid
Mescaline
Hallucinogen
Benzodiazepine Prescription tranquilizer Centrax, Dalmane, Doral, Halcion, Librium, ProSom,
Restoril, Xanax, Valium
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Description
Street or brand names
Smack, junk, H
Rave” drug (not Ecstacy), also used as a “date rape” drug.
Georgia home boy, liquid ecstasy, liquid X, liquid G, fantasy
Active compound is ethanol
DXM (Dextromethorphan) Active ingredient in over-the-counter cold and cough medicines
Ketamine Prescription anesthetic
Ketanest, Ketaset, Ketalar ,Special K
DMT (Dimethyltryptamine)
Hallucinogen
Phenobarbital
Usually prescribed as a sleeping pill Luminal (Phenobarbital), Mebaraland,
Nembutal, Seconal, Sombulex
Drug Description
Street or brand names
• Laughing gas
• Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) Acid
• Marijuana (Cannabis) Active ingredient is THC
Pot, spliff, weed
Use of Various Drugs by 12th-Graders
in 2005
Dependence and Addiction
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Drugs stimulate, inhibit, or mimic the activity of the brain’s own chemical messengers, the
neurotransmitters
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Why do drugs affect people in different ways?
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What is tolerance?
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As drug use increases, the brain’s chemistry changes in composition, to offset the drug’s
effect…called neuroadaptation…this is why the person needs more of the drug to achieve
the initial effect, tolerance
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Drug tolerance- a condition in which the user needs increasing amounts of the drug to
achieve the original, desired effect.
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When do we know when we have developed a dependency on a drug?
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When we feel that we need the drug, physically and/or psychologically, we can say that we
are dependent and have developed an addiction
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When we stop taking the drug, we experience discomfort and distress…this is withdrawal
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Psychoactive Drugs
There are three categories of psychoactive drugs
Depressants
Stimulants
Hallucinogens or psychedelic drugs
• What are depressants?
• Depressants are a class of psychoactive drugs that depress or inhibit the
CNS activity.
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• All depressants are potentially physically addictive.
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• What are some depressants?
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• Alcohol
• Inhalents
• Barbituates
• Opiates
Stimulants
• What are stimulants?
• Stimulants are mildly addicting tend to
increase brain activity
• Stimulants include…
• Caffeine
• Nicotine
• Cocaine
• Amphetamines
Psychedelic drugs or Hallucinogens
• Psychedelic drugs create sensory and perceptual distortions, alter
mood, and affect thinking…mind manifesting
• Psychodelic drugs include mescaline, LSD, and marijuana
• Mescaline is a naturally occurring psychedelic drug derived from
the peyote cactus
• LSD is a powerful synthetic psychedelic drug and is very similar
chemically to the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is involved in
regulating moods and sensations
• The effects of a psychedelic experience vary greatly, depending on
an individual’s personality, current emotional state, surroundings,
and the other people present. Adverse reactions include
flashbacks, depression, and long-term psychological instability.
• Marijuana is derived from the hemp plant, the chemical THC, is
the active ingredient is marijuana
Designer or Club drugs
• Designer drugs are a loose collection of psychoactive drugs
that are popular at dance clubs, parties, and raves…many
are designer drugs, that is, drugs that were synthesized in
the laboratory
• Ecstasy, which is the chemical MDMA, at low doses has
stimulant effects; at high doses, it has mild psychedelic
effects
• Ecstasy’s effects may result from its causing the release of
serotonin and its ability to block serotonin reuptake
• Side effects include dehydration, rapid heartbeat, tremors,
muscle tension and involuntary teeth-clenching,
hyperthermia, and enlarged pupils
• Dissociative anesthetics deaden pain; at high doses, they induce a stupor
or coma
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• PCP (angel dust) and ketamine (special K) produce marked feelings of
dissociation and depersonalization, PCP effects are unpredictable and
highly addictive…memory problems and depression are common effects
of long-term use
• Biological Influences
• Some people may be biologically vulnerable to drugs
• Psychological and Social-cultural Influences
• Psychological and social-cultural influences also contribute to drug use