What is consciousness?

  Being aware of the immediate environment?

 Listening to me lecture Being aware of your inner thoughts, feelings, and memories?

  Things to do today anger at a slow driver  smell of lilac’s reminding you of Grandma’s house

 Early psychology (early 1880’s) was interested in consciousness  Wundt and Titchner  report contents of consciousness while sitting still, working, and while falling asleep.

Freud was also interested in consciousness

 According to Freud people have different levels of consciousness  conscious thoughts of which we are aware  unconscious thoughts of which we are unaware

   Early psychology was dualistic  Descartes 17th century   the mind and body are completely separate it’s as if we have a soul that is our consciousness that is separate from our bodies physiology Today psychology is materialistic  our mind and consciousness are presumed to be rooted in the physiology of the brain Also there is evidence that some animals may be conscious as well.

Modern View of Consciousness

 Consciousness is considered on a continuum.

  From alert to dreaming, hypnosis, or drug states.

Driving a familiar route - suddenly arriving home without memory of the drive

Sleep

 Why do we sleep?

 Circadian rhythms.

 The bodies natural cycle from being wakeful, to being sleepy.

   Morning people; evening people jet lag factory shift work.

 Day (8 - 4)  afternoon (4 - 12)  Night (12-8)

What good does sleep do?

 The repair and restoration theory  The purpose of sleep is to enable the body to recover form the exertions of the day.

  Do we sleep more after heavy exercise?

Do we all need the same amount of sleep?

 What happens if we don’t get to sleep?

 Randy Gardner   stayed awake for 11 days Peter Tripp (Disc Jockey)  awake 10 days.

Sleep Deprivation

 For the most part Randy Gardner and Peter Tripp showed little damage from their sleep deprivation   Didn’t sleep that much more  14 hours the first night  Then back to normal Didn’t get sick

Peter Tripp

  No longer sure he was himself   frequently tried to gain proof of his own identity convinced that there was a conspiracy against him to send him to jail Demand Characteristics?

The Evolutionary or Energy Conservation Theory

 Perhaps we have evolved a regular pattern of sleeping and waking to conserve our energy, and keep us out of danger.

  We are more inefficient at night   without light we don’t see well wasteful of energy resources  potentially dangerous Horse, Human, Cats

Stages of sleep

 A polysomnograph combines EEG brain waves with eye movement data.

 Rapid-eye movement (REM sleep)  eyes move rapidly back and forth beneath the lids. High frequency (desychronized) brain waves.

REM is also called paradoxical sleep

 Light - because the brain is active and heart rate, breathing rate, and temperature fluctuate substantially  Deep - because muscles that control posture and locomotion are very relaxed

EEG activity during sleep

    Stage 1 - quite a bit of brain activity Stage 2, 3, and 4 - The brain activity slows and becomes more and more synchronized until the waves are much slower, larger, and well defined.

Then the person progresses back up from stage 4, to stage 3, to stage 2.

Instead of having stage 1 repeated they have REM sleep.

REM Sleep and Dreaming

  about 80% of awakenings from REM sleep led to dream reports only 7% of awakenings from nonREM sleep stages led to dream reports

Dreams

  People are most likely to report dreams during REM sleep.

People do dream in the non REM states as well though.

  Dreams in REM sleep are more coherent and have a story line.

Dreams in non REM sleep are less organized.

 Stage 4 sleep has been associated with dreams called night terrors.

Dream Content: What we dream about and why

  Freud   Dreams reveal a person’s unconscious thoughts and motivations.

Often has to do with sexual tensions related to repressed desires.

Freud may be far fetched but do you dream about water when thirsty?

 Activation-Synthesis theory   spontaneous activity occurs in brain areas especially during REM sleep.

The brain tries to make sense of this spontaneous activity.

Interesting Dream/Sleep Facts

       (1) Are external stimuli incorporated into dream sequences?

 Yes, dripping water onto subjects was in 14 out of 33 dream cases (2) Do dreams run on "real time"?

 Yes, subjects awakened 5 or 15 minutes after the beginning of a dream could guess the correct interval on the basis of the contents of their dreams (3) Does everybody dream?  Yes, even people who claimed that they did not dream had normal amounts of REM, and they reported dreams if they were awakened during REM- although less frequently (5) Are somnambulism and sleep talking the acting out of dreams?

 No, they usually occur during stage 4 (6) myoclonic twitch (7) hypnagogic hallucinations (8) recurring dreams

Hypnosis

 A condition of increased suggestibility that occurs in the context of a special hypnotist-subject relationship.

  They are not asleep - brain waves like being awake - can walk and talk Requires wanting to be hypnotized and believing that you are hypnotized

  Hypnosis can be used to inhibit pain.

  Dental work surgery Post hypnotic suggestions.

 Stop smoking  lose weight

Myths of hypnosis

  Becoming stiff as a board Enhance memory   from a witnessed crime  if told they will remember more they will, but the information is often not accurate From the deep past    child hood memories largely inaccurate retain vocabulary and writing skills previous lives? - kinds of money? - is your country at war?

Age Regression

   Robert True (1949) - regressed hypnotized volunteers back to Christmases and birthday parties at ages 10, 7, and 4. Without hypnosis the odds a person could name what day of the week that Christmas fell on are 1 in 7 (14%).

The subjects were correct 82% of the time.

Could not be replicated.

   Orne (1982) asked why it could not be replicated.

True said the journal Science had shortened his key question to “what day is this”.

Actually he had asked his regressed subjects “Is it Monday?”, “Is it Tuesday?” and so on until the subject stopped him with a yes.

More of Orne

  Will a hypnotized person do something they would not normally do.

 Hand in acid   grab a poisonous snake throw acid on another person.

Hypnotized - 5 out of 6 did these things  6 out of 6 pretending  2 out of 6 who just thought it was an experiment.

WHY?

Hypnotized or pretending?

  Pretenders can:   tolerate sharp pain make body stiff as a board  experience physiological changes associated with being told to be angry or happy Differences between pretenders and hypnotized:  subtle things - chair and imaginary person

Hill side Strangler

  Bianchi - under hypnosis a second personality was found - that the defense wanted to claim did the killings (insanity defense).

Orne again.

   Tearing filter from a cigarette shaking hands with someone not there response to a false statement.

Is hypnosis real?

   People truly hypnotized are not just faking it - there are identifiable differences Hypnosis does not give special powers that you do not already possess.

Hypnosis merely enables people to relax, concentrate, and follow suggestions better than they usually do.

Drugs

 A psychoactive drug is a chemical substance that alters perceptions and moods  Anything from coffee or cigarettes, to LSD and heroin

Depressants

 Drugs that cause calming effects     Alcohol Valium and Xanax (benzodiazepines) Morphine and Heroin (opiates) Pentobarbital and phenobarbital (barbiturates)

Stimuluants

 Drugs that increase energy and altertness     Caffeine Cocaine Amphetamine Methamphetamine

Mixed stimulant-depressants

 Drugs that seem to both stimulate and depress.

 Nicotine - stimulates brain activity, but many smokers find it relaxing.

Drugs that distort experience and hallucinogens

     Marijuana (THC) LSD Mescaline mushrooms peyote

Why are these drugs abused?

   One major commonality is that these drugs all affect the reward pathway in the brain.

Any drug that decreases output from the nucleus accumbens is rewarding.

Dopamine - shuts down (inhibits) the nucleus accumbens  most of the drugs I have mentioned increase dopamine in the synapse.

The Reward Pathway

   Some drugs like Angel Dust (PCP) decrease the amount of Glutamate in synapses in the nucleus accumbens.

Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter - so the nucleus accumbens will become less active This is also rewarding - feels good.

Which drugs are most addictive?

 Two sets of standards   Legal standards  Set by the Controlled Substances Act of 1970  Five different schedules of drugs   Note that alcohol and nicotine are not on the drug schedule Can be bought without prescription Scientific standards  Reflected by expert views of addictive potential

 Two experts rated abuse potential of various drugs  Jack Henningfield, formerly Chief of Clinical Pharmacology at the Addiction Research Center at NIDA  Neil Benowitz, addiction researcher at University of California at San Francisco      1) presence and severity of withdrawal 2) how reinforcing the drug is (from human and animal studies) 3) the degree of tolerance produced by the drugs 4) degree of dependence  Difficulty quitting  Relapse 5) degree of intoxication

    Overall rankings       Heroin (1.9) Alcohol (2.5) Cocaine (2.65) Nicotine (3.35) Caffeine (5.0) Marijuana (5.4) Two of the top 4 substances are legal Marijuana is lowest on this list, but a schedule 1 drug.

Keep in mind long term consequences were not included.

  Note that low numbers indicate the most serious abuse potential Also note how closely the two experts rated the drugs on the various measures

 Physical dependence  Psychological dependence  What does it mean to be addicted?

  American Psychiatric Association has stopped using the term addiction and addict in their professional writing  Due to bad connotation They use the term disorders substance related  Two general disorders  Substance Dependence (more severe)  Substance Abuse

 Note that merely using a drug, even if it is illegal, does not necessarily indicate a substance related disorder  The use must be maladaptive

Drug classes in more detail

 Alcohol (considered a dirty drug)    Ethanol is the type of alcohol that people consume. Rubbing alcohol (isopropyl) is very dangerous to consume.

Ethanol is primarily a relaxant can lead to aggressiveness and risky behavior by depressing brain areas that would normally inhibit those behaviors.

  Excessive use of alcohol can lead to  liver damage  can impair memory and motor control A woman that drinks during pregnancy  can impair brain development in her child.

 Fetal Alcohol Syndrome    stunted growth of the head and body malformation of the face, heart, and ears learning disabilities - mental retardation

Delirium Tremens (DT’s)

    Severe Alcoholics are dependent on alcohol.

They have changed their nervous system, so that without Alcohol they will become very sick and could die.

Severe trembling of the hands  Leaving Las Vegas Hallucinations  seeing Pink Elephants

Tranquilizers

   Help to relax and fall asleep decrease muscle tension suppress epileptic seizures   barbiturates - highly habit forming and can be fatal in high doses      Pentobarbital (Nembutal) Secobarbital (Seconal) Amobarbital (Amytal) phenobarbital (Luminal) slang names for these barbiturates include yellow jackets,

reds, blues, Amy's, and rainbows.

benzodiazepines (Valium and Xanax) – better therapeutic index  still habit forming, but less so.

Tranquilizers and alcohol do not mix.

   Benzodiazepines work by increasing the release of the neurotransmitter GABA.

GABA decreases the activity of the brain.

Alcohol works on GABA as well

  If you take tranquilizers and drink alcohol you have a good chance of shutting down your medulla.  The medulla is a primitive part of your brain that controls the heart beat and breathing Alcohol and tranquilizers interact  they increase GABA release much more together than either would alone.

Opiates

  Our body produces endorphins.  Natural chemicals that bind to opiate receptors in the brain. They serve to inhibit pain.

The opiates are drugs derived from the poppy, or human-made (synthetic) drugs that have a similar chemical structure to opium.

   Morphine and heroin are opiates.

Makes people feel happy and content. Decreases anxiety and pain.

  Tends to make people feel nauseous Having a good sick  Rat study  Can become physically dependent  kicking the habit; going cold turkey

Myth about Morphine

 Many people believe that if they take morphine to relieve pain from surgery or some injury that they risk becoming addicted.

 This is unlikely.

Methadone maintenance

   Methadone maintenance is a program where people receive a drink that prevents the withdrawal symptoms associated with heroin addiction.

They are still addicted but they have more control.

No needles and less intense psychological effects.

Marijuana

   Variety of effects   drowsiness intensification of sensory experience   illusion that time is passing slowly under high doses some report mild hallucinations.

Can reduce the pressure in the eye associated with glaucoma Cancer patients - reduce nausea and pain

Can be detected for a long time

   Marijuana dissolves in the fats of the body, so it can be detected weeks after taking the drug.

It is not physically addictive, but people do become psychologically addicted.

It would be very difficult to overdose on marijuana

Risks?

  Lung Cancer impairment of learning and memory  animal studies have shown that it can temporarily shrink dendrite size.

  There are a large number of receptor sites for THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) in the hippocampus.

The hippocampus is an important brain structure involved in learning and memory

Stimulants

 Boost energy, heighten alertness, increase activity, and produce a pleasant feeling.

 Coffee - contains caffeine. People can become dependent  drowsiness  headaches

Cocaine and Amphetamine

  They act by increasing the amount of dopamine in the synapse.

 Also increase the activity of norepinephrine and serotonin Cocaine is also a local anesthetic. Produces numbness - placing cocaine on the tongue.

 Novocaine is used by dentists

 Cocaine was predominately inhaled as a powder into the nostrils until recently.

  This type of cocaine use has caused addiction in many people.

Makes people feel powerful, and vibrant.

  Can lead to holes in the nasal membrane severe use can lead to symptoms that resemble paranoid schizophrenia (Cocaine Psychosis) - Insects under the skin.

Crack Cocaine

   Crack is cocaine that has been processed so that it can be smoked.

This increases it’s ability to get to the brain.

  More intense rush high in seconds It is very addictive - Addiction may not set in rapidly, but once it does the drug is more important than other basic drives.

Tobacco

  Cigarettes, cigars, dip, and chew all contain nicotine.

 Nicotine acts at dopamine receptors much like cocaine and amphetamine - however it produces a smaller high.

Increases heart rate and blood pressure.

 People still consider it calming, however  nicotine addiction occurs slowly, but it is hard to break the addiction.

Hallucinogens

     Drugs that cause sensory distortions.

Derived from mushrooms and other plants LSD, PCP (angel dust), and mescaline intensify sensations.

Can cause dream like states and mystical experiences can cause hallucinations (probably due to action at the serotonin receptors)

MDMA - Ecstasy

      3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine   Related to amphetamine Also phenthylamine – a hallucinogen Sense of well being People say it helps them to open up and talk about their feelings  The relationship drug Destroys serotonin neurons in rat models Causes abnormalities in the serotonin system of squirrel monkeys after 12-18 months of exposure  Mood – sleep Very high doses destroy DA cells in rats

Ketamine – Special K

   Described as a "dissociative" drug, meaning that it feels as if the mind is separated from the body.  PCP – Angel Dust At low doses, K gives users a floating feeling, numb extremities and an increased heart rate. At high doses, hallucinations, depressed breathing and unconsciousness can occur, therefore, it is very dangerous when combined with alcohol or Valium.