Psychology-

Chapter 5

Consciousness

Study of consciousness

Construct Concept used to talk about something

we cannot see, touch, or measure directly

Intelligence, emotions, and consciousness are hard to define

Consciousness tends to mean awareness

Types of Consciousness

Consciousness as sensory awareness Sounds or smell around you Selective attention- Focusing on

particular stimulus- Watching TV and Studying Experiment Pick out the speech of an individual in a

crowded room with everyone talking

Consciousness as direct inner awareness Imagination is a different kind of

consciousness

Consciousness as sense of self Young children talk in first person

because they don’t know who they are yet

How we exist in the world

Levels of consciousness

Preconscious level not aware of right now but can be

thought of in an instant

Unconscious level Not available in most instances, gut

feeling on things??? Sigmund Freud

Non-conscious level internal organs working, fingernails

growing, judging distance, shapes

Altered states of consciousness sleep, drugs, hypnosis

Sleep and dreams Circadian rhythms-

24 hours long Stages of sleep-

Measured by EEG

Brain wave patterns

Beta When we are awake and alert, short and

quick

Alpha When brain waves slow and we start to relax

Theta First stages of sleep, slower waves

Delta Deepest level of sleep, very slow waves

Stages of Sleep

Stage 1- Stage 2- Stage 3- (deep sleep) Stage 4- (deep sleep) REM- Rapid eye movement

Sleep Facts Sleeping and coffee

Only a short term effect, crash after

Sleeping and Alcohol When tired, effects of alcohol are higher and work faster

Sleep and Driving 1 in 6 accidents are because of lack of sleep

What is the good habits of sleep? Wake up and go to bed at same time, use bed for sleep

only, don’t use alarm clock

Why is it difficult to accomplish? Different circumstances

Interesting Sleep Facts Ducks at risk of attack by predators are able to balance

the need for sleep and survival, keeping one half of the brain awake while the other slips into sleep mode

A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost sleep for parents in the first year

REM sleep occurs in bursts totalling about 2 hours a night, usually beginning about 90 minutes after falling asleep.

Dreams, once thought to occur only during REM sleep, also occur (but to a lesser extent) in non-REM sleep phases. It's possible there may not be a single moment of our sleep when we are actually dreamless.

Seventeen hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%.

- The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Challenger space shuttle disaster and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to human errors in which sleep-deprivation played a role.

The NRMA estimates fatigue is involved in one in 6 fatal road accidents

It's impossible to tell if someone is really awake without close medical supervision. People can take cat naps with their eyes open without even being aware of it.

Anything less than five minutes to fall asleep at night means you're sleep deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you're still tired enough to sleep deeply, but not so exhausted you feel sleepy by day

Experts say one of the most alluring sleep distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the internet.

The extra-hour of sleep received when clocks are put back at the start of daylight in Canada has been found to coincide with a fall in the number of road accidents

The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses

After five nights of partial sleep deprivation, three drinks will have the same effect on your body as six would when you've slept enough.

Some of the more scientific explanations of why we yawn are caused by physical needs. One likely explanation is that the yawning reflex is triggered when our blood needs more oxygen. The deep breath helps replenish the levels of oxygen in our blood. Another common theory is that the yawn help regulate our body temperature. Other hypotheses suggest that the same chemicals in our brain that affect our moods and emotions cause us to yawn.

Interesting Yawning Facts

* The average yawn lasts about six seconds. * Your heart rate can rise as much as 30 percent during a yawn. * 55 percent of people will yawn within five minutes of seeing

someone else yawn. * Blind people yawn more after hearing an audio tape of people

yawning. * Reading about yawning will make you yawn. * Olympic athletes often yawn before competition.

Sleep facts

We go through the stages an average of 5 times

Bodies are paralyzed (most of the time)

Each cycle lasts about 90 minutes REM becomes longer closer to

morning Each cycle is shorter in time

Why do we sleep? Rest, stress reliever, helps immune

system Will change the aging process if you

don’t get enough sleep Some need 8 hours a night You cannot catch up on your sleep

Damage has already been done

Polyphasic Sleep Awake for 4 hours and you sleep for 30

minutes and repeat this No deep levels of sleep

Micro sleep

Microsleeps are brief, unintended episodes of loss of attention associated with events such as blank stare, head snapping, prolonged eye closure, etc., which may occur when a person is fatigued but trying to stay awake to perform a monotonous task like driving a car or watching a computer screen.

Microsleep episodes last from a few seconds to several minutes, and often the person is not aware that a microsleep has occurred. In fact, microsleeps often occur when a person's eyes are open.

While in a microsleep, a person fails to respond to outside information. A person will not see a red signal light or notice that the road has taken a curve.

Microsleeps are most likely to occur at certain times of the day, such as pre-dawn hours and mid-afternoon hours when the body is "programmed" to sleep.

Dreams

Lucid Dreams- Know that you are dreaming and can control it

Freuds dreams- dreams reflect a persons unconscious wishes and urges- “wishes your heart makes”

Biological Approach

When neurons fire in the brain, our brain likes to make sense of everything, so it makes up dreams to make sense of it.

Dreams interpretation

http://www.dreammoods.com/http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/http://petrix.com/dreams/everything.html

Sleep problems

Insomnia Inability to sleep Americans spend $34 billion a year on sleep aids

Nightmares Night terrors- deep stage of sleep

Usually don’t remember dreams

Sleep walking- Sleepwalkers are not conscious of their actions on a level where memory of the sleepwalking episode can be recalled, and because of this, unless the sleepwalker is woken or aroused by someone else, this sleep disorder can go unnoticed. Sleepwalking is more commonly experienced in people with high levels of stress, anxiety or other psychological factors and in people with genetic factors (family history) or sometimes a combination of both.

18% of the world's population is prone to sleepwalking Sleep talking-Sleep talking or somniloquy, refers to any utterance

made during sleep, and may range from a single word to entire sentences. Although sleep-talking episodes vary, a person typically starts while in deep sleep or NREM. Sleep talking can, however, happen during REM sleep too. It can be initiated by stress or illnesses and is relatively harmless, although disturbing to roommates.

Sleep apneais a sleep disorder characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep. These episodes, called apneas (literally, "without breath"), each last long enough so one or more breaths are missed, and occur repeatedly throughout sleep. The standard definition of any apneic event includes a minimum 10 second interval between breaths, with either a neurological arousal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qQtDDO1gPY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QcmK24ZNyQ&feature=related

Meditation Narrow their consciousness so that

the stresses of the outside world fade away.

Biofeedback

System that provides information about something happening in the body. Willpower, knowing how

Hypnosis Altered state of consciousness during

which people respond to suggestions and behave as if in a trance.

Effectiveness of hypnosis

Memory- lose or gain? Pain prevention Habits Dangerous suggestions

Drugs and consciousness

Addiction After taking a drug for a while their

body craves the drug just to feel normal.

Depressants

Alcohol Intoxication-1/2 traffic deaths Narcotics- numbness or stupor

Heroine, morphine, codeine

Ten warning signs of alcoholism 1. Drinking alone 2. Making excuses, finding excuses to drink 3. Daily or frequent drinking needed to function 4. Inability to reduce or stop alcohol intake 5. Violent episodes associated with drinking 6. Drinking secretly 7. Becoming angry when confronted about drinking 8. Poor eating habits 9. Failure to care for physical appearance 10. Trembling in the morning

Stimulants

Nicotine- 400,000 die birth defects second hand smoke 50,000 deaths each year

Narcotics- numbness or stupor Heroine, morphine, codeine

Crack Cocaine

Meth

Amphetamines

uppers, speed-effects of the drug?

Hallucination

perception of an object or sound that seems real but is not

Delusion- false thought or idea that seems real.

Cocaine

What are the effects of this drug?

Hallucinogens

Marijuana what are the effects of the drug

LSD-effects?

Drug treatment

Detoxification Maintenance programs Counseling support groups.