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Chapter 5 States of Consciousness
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Lecture Overview

• Issues in Consciousness
• Sleep and Dreams
• Drugs that Influence Consciousness
• Alternate States of Consciousness

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• Consciousness an organisms awareness of its
  own self and surroundings
• Levels of awareness
• HIGH Controlled processes that require
  attention (and interfere with other functions)
• MIDDLE Automatic processes requiring minimal
  attention (such as riding your bike)
• LOWEST Minimal or no awareness of the
  environment

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• Levels of awareness
• HIGH Controlled processes that require
  attention (and interfere with other functions)
• MIDDLE Automatic processes requiring minimal
  attention (such as riding your bike)
• LOWEST Minimal or no awareness of the
  environment

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Sleep

• Sleep is a behavior AND an altered state of
  consciousness
• The nature of consciousness is changed during
  sleep
• We experience some dreaming during sleep
• We may recall very little of the mental activity
  that occurred during sleep
• We spend about a third of our lives in sleep

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EEG Changes During Sleep

• Summated brain wave activity (EEG)
• Wakefulness beta activity (13-30 Hz)
• Eyes closed alpha activity (8-12 Hz)

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EEG Changes During Sleep
Stage 1 Light Sleep Alpha Waves Stage 2 Eye
movements brain waves slow sleep spindles
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EEG Changes During Sleep

• Stage 3 very slow waves - delta waves appear
• Stage 4 almost all delta waves
• Very hard to wake during this stage
• REM stage rapid, irregular and shallow
  breathing, eyes jerk rapidly, both wake and sleep
  waves (sawtooth pattern)

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EEG Changes During Sleep

• Stage 3 very slow waves - delta waves appear
• Stage 4 almost all delta waves
• Very hard to wake during this stage
• REM stage rapid, irregular and shallow
  breathing, eyes jerk rapidly, both wake and sleep
  waves (sawtooth pattern

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Theories of Sleep

• Repair/Restoration
• Sleep allows for recuperation from physical,
  emotional, and intellectual fatigue
• Evolutionary/Circadian
• Sleep is part of a circadian cycle
• Sleep evolved to conserve energy and protect our
  ancestors from predators

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Sleep Duration in Mammals
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Sleep and Dreams

• Psychoanalytic Dreams represent disguised
  symbols of repressed desires and anxieties
  (Freud)
• Manifest Content symbols used to disguise true
  meaning of dream
• Latent Content true unconscious meaning of a
  dream

Sometimes,a cigar is just a cigar. - Freud, on
the meaning of dreams
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WHY DO WE DREAM!?

• Biological
• Activation-synthesis hypothesis
• Dreams represent random activation of brain cells
  during sleep
• Cognitive Dreams help to sift and sort the
  events of the day

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Dyssomnias

• Insomnia - difficulty in getting to sleep or
  remaining asleep
• Situational related to anxiety or excitement
• Drug-induced sleeping pills (tolerance)

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Dyssomnias

• Sleep apnea person stops breathing and is
  awakened when blood levels of carbon dioxide
  stimulate breathing
• Narcolepsy Sleep appears at odd times
• Sleep attack urge to sleep during the day
• Cataplexy REM paralysis occurs, person is still
  conscious

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Myths of Sleep

• Everyone needs 8 hrs of sleep per night to
  maintain good health
• Learning of complicated subjects such as calculus
  can be done during sleep
• Some people never dream
• Dreams last only a few seconds
• Genital arousal during sleep reflects dream
  content
• It is unrelated to sexual content
• May be a useful index of physical versus
  psychological causes of impotence in males

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Hypnosis

• Hypnosis is an altered state of heightened
  suggestibility
• The hypnotic state is characterized by
• Narrow and focused attention
• Imagination and hallucinations
• Passive receptive attitude
• Reduced reaction to pain
• Heightened suggestibility

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Myths of Hypnosis

• People can be hypnotized against their will
• People will do immoral things while hypnotized
• Hypnosis improves memory recall
• Hypnotized persons have special strength
• Hypnosis involves a form of role playing

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Altered States

• Meditation refers to a set of techniques that
  promote a heightened sense of awareness
• Can involve body movements and posture, focusing
  of attention on a focal point, or control of
  breathing
• Meditation can induce relaxation, lower blood
  pressure, and can be associated with a sense of
  euphoria