Consciousness and Its Variations

Chapter IV Consciousness and its Variations Intro 4. 1 Consciousness Your immediate awargonness of thoughts, intelligences, memories, and the human existences around you represent the start of conscious(p)ness. William James described consciousness as a stream or river. Although always changing, consciousness is perceived as unified and unbroken much like a stream. Be form his idea of structural anthropology was based off of introspection, many of the leading psychologists at the turn of the 20th century emphasized with the study of overt behavior, which could be directly observed, measured, and verified.In middle 90s many psychologists once again turned their watchfulness to the study of consciousness. This was callable to twain main rea word of honors. First it was becoming undefended that a complete understanding of behavior would not be accomplishable unless(prenominal) psychologists considered the role of conscious mental processes in behavior. Second was becaus e psychologist had devised to a greater extent than aim ways to stud conscious causes. For example, they could often infer the conscious become that fronted to be occurring by c befully observing behavior.Techno system of logical advances in studying psyche activity were also producing intriguing correlations between whiz activity and diametrical dry lands of consciousness. Different perspectives that psychologist atomic number 18 using to piece together a demonstrate of consciousness ar the role of psychological, physiological, social, and cultural influences. Biological and Environmental time that regulate Consciousness. Through the assembly line of the mean solar day, there is a natural fall back and flow to consciousness. The most obvious variation of consciousness that we get a line is the daily relief-wake musical rhythm. These daily cycles such as this atomic number 18 called circadian rhythms.You actually experience many distinguishable circadian rhyth ms that ebb and flow over the course of any given 24hr issue. Normally your circadian rhythms ar closely synchronised with virtuoso another. For example, the circadian rhythm for the release of growth hormone is synchronized with the repose-wake circadian rhythm so that growth hormone is released only during stillness. The suprachiasmatic nucleus Your main circadian rhythms are controlled by a master biologic clock-a tiny cluster of neurons in the hypothalamus in the brain. This tiny cluster of neurons is called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, decrease SCN.The SCN is the inside pacemaker that governs the timing of circadian rhythms. The most important environmental time cue is bright lighter, especially temperatenesslight. The light is detected by special photoreceptors in the middle and is communicated via the optical system to the SCN. As the cheerniness sets each day, the decrease in available light is detected by the SCN, and then in turn the CN triggers an increase i n the production of a hormone called melatonin. Melatonin is manu topured by the pineal gland, an endocrine gland primed(p) in the brain. Increased rip levels of melatonin help make you wait periody and garnish activity levels.The levels of melatonin rise at wickedness and peak around 0100 and 0300. Melatonin levels spend shortly before sunrises. The pineal gland stops producing melatonin, as the light from the sun is senesced by the SCN. Circadian Rhythms and Sunlight The 24hr day Since the light from the sun helps regulate our circadian rhythm, what would happen if the external environmental factors were taken outside(a)? Well the circadian rhythm then will be referred to as a free-running condition, because the soundboxs internal clock runs freely and singly of external time cues.Without the external time cues researchers bugger off erect that our internal clay clock drifts to its natural (or intrinsic) rhythm. They also found that our natural circadian rhythm is as tir(predicate) 24. 2 time of days, or meold agerly age dour than a day. Also as our melatonin peaks, our organic structure core temperature also drops to its lowest. but when deprived of all external environmental cues your bodys kip-wake, body temperature, and melatonin circadian rhythms aim desynchronized. This means that they no longer properly machinate with one another. An example is beingness jet lagged. Your out of sync with the sun set because the time zone difference is 12 hrs. relief **Fun fact over a persons fashiontime, youll spend approximately 22years of your life a residual. *** (Pg143) Prior to the 20th century, eternal forty winks was largely viewed as a period of restful inactivity in which fantasys or sotimes occurred. The Dawn of Modern repose Research The invention of the electroencephalograph by Hans Berger gave stop researchers an important tool for cadence the rhythmic electrical activity of the brain. These electrical patterns were referre d to as brain waves. The electroencephalograph assigns a graphic record called EEG, or electroencephalogram.By studying the EEG researchers firmly schematic that brain-wave activity systematically changes without pause. Eye movements, heftiness movements, breathing rates, airflow, pulse, personal credit line mash, amount of exhaled carbon dioxide, body temperature, and breathing sounds are solely some of the bodys functions that are measured in contemporary slumber research. Nathaniel Kleitman used his 8-year-old son to discover a pattern from the EEG and his sons fast eye movements. More of these rapid eye movements were find when subjects reputationed reveries. Today we distinguish between devil basic types of residue. paradoxical catnap catch some Zs and nonrapid eye movement sleep. REM is often called active sleep or self-contradictory sleep because it is associated with heightened body and brain activity during which dreaming systematically occurs. nonrapid eye movement sleep sleep, or non-rapid eye movement sleep, is often referred to as quiet sleep because the bodys physiological functions and brain activity slow rectify during this period of slumber. orthodox sleep sleep is divided into four different distributor implys. The onrush of sleep and hypn pastgic hallucinations Beta brain waves are produced as you lift for bed. They are dispirited, fast brain waves.After youre head hits the pillow and your body begins to relax, your brains electrical activity gradually gears d receive generating slightly larger and sluggish alpha brain waves. During this drowsy, pre-sleep phase, you whitethorn experience quaint but vividly realistic sense experiences. You may hear your name called or a loud crash, fell as if youre falling or floating, flying, or see kaleidoscopic patterns or an unfolding landscape. The most communal hypnagogic hallucinations are the vivid sense of falling. This hallucination is often accompany by a myoclonic j erk-an involuntary muscle spasm of the whole body that jolts the person completely awake.The First 90 proceeding of sleep and beyond each(prenominal) nonrapid eye movement sleep sleep stage is characterized by corresponding decreases in brain and body activity. On average the progression through the starting signal four stages of nonrapid eye movement sleep occupies the set-back 50-70 minutes. STAGE 1 nonrapid eye movement sleep As the alpha brain waves of drowsiness are replaced by withal slower tbeta brain waves, you enter the first stage of sleep, which only lasts a a couple of(prenominal) minutes. Stage1 is a transitional stage during which you gradually disengage from the sensation of the surrounding world. During stage 1 you poop quickly regain conscious alert if ingested.Although hypnagogic experiences squeeze out occur in stage one, less vivid mental imagery is green, such as imagining yourself engaged in some e realday activity. STAGE2 nonrapid eye movement slee p Stage two represents the onset of align sleep. Stage two sleep is defined by the appearance of sleep spindles, brief bursts of brain activity that last a second or two, and K complexes, single high-voltage spikes of brain activity. Breathing becomes rhythmical, slight muscle twitches may occur, theta waves are predominant in stage two, but larger, slower brain waves, called delta brain waves, also begin to emerge.During the 15-20 minutes initially worn-out(a) in stage 2, delta brain-waves activity gradually increases. STAGE 3 NREM Stages three and four are physiologically really similar. Both are defined by the amount of delta brain-wave sleep. In combination they are sometimes reefed to as slow-wave sleep (SWS). When delta brain waves represent more than 20 percentage of total brain activity, the tie beam is said to be in stage 3 NREM. When delta brain waves exceed 50% of total brain activity, the link is said to be in stage 4 NREM. During the first 20-40 minutes of stage four NREM, delta waves eventually come to represent 100 percent of brain activity.At that point, subject matter rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate drop to their lowest levels. In stage four the sleeper maybe totally unretentive to the world but his muscles are still capable of movement. For example, if sleepwalking occurs, it typically happens during stag 4 NREM sleep. In stage four NREM it is possible for a person to rejoinder a ringing phone, await on a conversation for severa minutes, and hang up without ever leaving stage 4 sleep- without remembering the conversation the next day. At this point the sleeper is approximately 70 minutes into a typical nights sleep and immersed in deeply relaxed stage four sleep.At this point the sequence reverses from stage 4 to 3 to 2 and then enters a dramatic new phase called REM. REM rest During REM sleep the brain becomes more active and generates smaller and faster brain waves. visual and motor neurons in the brain activate repea tedly, just as they do during wakefulness. Dreams usually occur during REM sleep. Although the brain is very active, voluntary muscle activity is suppressed, which prevents the dreaming sleeper from acting out those dreams. REM sleep is accompanied by considerable physiological arousal. The sleepers eye dart back and forth behind closed eyelids-the rapid eye movements.Heart rate, blood pressure, and respirations jakes fluctuate up and down, sometimes extremely. Muscle twitches occur. In both sexes sexual arousal may occur. The first episode of REM sleep is about 5-15 minutes. From the first stage of NREM to the completion of the first cycle of REM usually lasts about 90 minutes has pass all together. Beyond the first 90 minutes Throughout the rest of the night, the sleeper cycles between NREM and REM sleep. Each sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes on average, but the duration of cycles may vary from 70-120 minutes. Just and after REM sleep the sleeper changes positions.Stage 3 and 4 NREM usually occur only during the first two 90-minute cycles. As the night progresses, REM sleep episodes become increasingly longer and less time is spent in NREM. During the last two 90-minute sleep cycles before wakening, NREM sleep is composed primarily of stage two sleep and periods of REM sleep merchant ship last as long as 40 minutes. Changing sleep patterns over a life-time During the last trimester of prenatal development, active REM and quiet NREM sleep cycles emerge. In the final weeks, REM and NREM sleep are distinctly distinguishable in the fetus.Newborns sleep about 16 hours a day, although not all at once. Up to 8 hours or 50% of the newborns sleep is spent in REM sleep. The rest is spent in a quiet sleep that is very similar to NREM stages 1&2. Not until about the third month of life that the deep, slow-wave sleep of NREM stages 3&4 appear. Typically the 90-minute sleep cycle develops over the first few years of life. The infants first couple months is chara cterized as being a 60 minute sleep cycle, producing 13 sleep cycles per day. By the age of two the toddler is experiencing 75 minute sleep cycles.By 5 years old the typical 90 minute sleep cycles of jump NREM and REM sleep is established. Total time spent in slow-wave sleep (SWS) and sleep time decrease over the lifespan. Do we need sleep? Sleep red studies has show us that after one nights sleep deprivation, subjects develop microsleeps, which are episodes of sleep lasting only a few seconds that occur during wakefulness. pile who go without sleep for a day or more experience disruptions in mood, mental abilities, reaction time, perceptual skills, and complex motor skills.People us to thing that a person back end adapt to only having 4-5 hours of sleep, but this is simply not true. Sleep deprivation can decrease concentration, vigilance, reaction time, retentivity skills, and the ability to gauge risks. wherefore do we sleep? Toblers theory of restorative theory of sleep sta tes that NREM is vital to relate the body while REM is used to restore the brain and mental functions. Dreams and mental Activity during sleep4. 2 By the maturity date the average person spends 2hours a night dreaming. So if you live to a ripe old age. You will have spent about sextuplet years of your life dreaming.Although dream may be the most spectacular brain production during sleep, they are not the most common. More prevalent is sleep thinking, also called sleep mentation. Sleep thinking usually occurs during NREM slow-wave sleep. Sleep thinking probably contributes to those times when you wake up with a solution to some vexing problem. When awakened during active REM sleep, population report a dream about 95% of the time. Early dayspring dreams are the longest lasting up to 40 minutes and are the most belike to be remembered by the dreamer. People usually have four or five dreams a night. Sleep and memory integration let me sleep on it.Research shows that different s leep states and stages contribute to forming different kinds of memories. Evidence suggests that NREM sleep contributes to forming new episodic memories, which are memories of in person experienced events. In contrast, REM sleep and NREM stage2 sleep seem to help consolidate new procedural memories, which involve learning a new skill or task until it can be perform automatically. So how does sleep settle new memories? Almost a century ago John Jenkins and Karl Dallenbach showed that memories could be enhanced by sleep as compared to an cost amount of time spent awake.Their explanation was that, compared to wakefulness, sleep kept additional information from interfering with new memories. This explanation was however wrong. The correct answer using todays new technology is that New memories formed during the day are reactivated during the 90-minute cycles of sleep. This process of repeatedly reactivation these newly encoded memories during sleep postureen the neuronal connections that contribute to forming long-term memories. So after forming new memories or learning something it is best to sleep after wards. It is also important to sleep prior to learning.This has been proven to increase the chances of retaining information. Dream Themes and Imagery Here are some patterns and themes that are well-substantiated findings on dream content. 1) Women report males and female in equal proportion as other dream recital characters. 2) Men are more in all probability to repot other males as the dream story characters. 3) Negative feelings and events are more common than positive ones. 4) Instances of trespass are more common than are instances of friendliness. 5) Dreamers are more likely to be victims of aggression than aggressors in their dreams. ) Men are more likely than women to report dreams involving physical aggression. 7) Women are more likely than men to report sensations in their dreams. 8) Sex and sexual behaviors seldom occur as elements of the dream. 9) leash or fear is the most frequently reported dream emotion for both sexes, followed by happiness and confusion. If apprehensive or fearful emotions become progressively more intense as a dream story unfolds, there person may experience a nightmare. The nightmare typically has the dreamer as being helpless or powerless in the face of being self-assertingly attacked or pursued.Although fear, anxiety, and even terror are the most commonly experienced emotions, some nightmares involve intense feelings of sadness, anger, disgust, or embarrassment. The Significance of Dreams Sigmund Freud Dreams as fulfilled wishes He was the founder of psychoanalysis. Freud believed that sexual and aggressive instincts are the motivating forces that dictate human behavior. Because these instinctual urges are so consciously unacceptable, sexual and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and wishes are pushed into the unconscious, or repressed. However, Freud believed that these repressed urges and wishes o uld surface in dream imagery. Freud believed that dreams had two components. The manifest content, and the latent content. The manifest content being the dream itself and the latent content being the disguised psychological intend of the dream. The Active-Synthesis Model of Dreaming Founded by J. Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley and stated that dreaming is our subjective sentiency of the brains internally generated signals during sleep. That the experience of dreaming sleep is due to the automatic activation of brainstem circuits at the base to the brain.So the brainstem sends electrical messages to the brain and then the brain attempts to make sense of the messages. Sleep Disorders 4. 2 According to data from National Sleep Foundations yearbook polls, 7 out of 10 multitude experience sleep disruptions. People with trouble sleeping usually complain about one or more of the following Insomnia, Excessive daytime sleepiness, and Abnormal behaviors or sensations during sleep. Sleep disruptions become a sleep disorder when A) abnormal sleep patterns consistently occur, B) They cause the subject distress, and C) they interfere with a persons daytime functioning.All sleep disorders can be classified into two broad categories. First is the dyssomnias, which are sleep disorders involving disruptions in the amount, quality, or timing of sleep (insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, and narcolepsy). past there is the parasomnias, which are sleep disorders involving undesirable physical arousal, behaviors, or events during sleep transitions. People are said to have insomnias when they repeatedly complain about quality or duration of their sleep, have difficulty going to sleep or staying asleep, or wake before it is time to get up. short insomnias last anywhere from about 1-2 nights to a couple weeks.Chronic insomnias last at least(prenominal) three nights each week that persist for a month or longer. Women are more predisposed to insomnias than men. Insomnias are also influenced by age, and gender. Most commonly insomnias can be traced to anxiety over nerve-wracking life events. Obstructive sleep apnea Sleep apnea is the second most common type of sleep disorder characterized by daytime sleepiness and overindulgence snoring. The sleepers airway becomes narrowed or blocked, causing very shallow breathing or repeated pauses or stops breathing. Each time breathing stops, oxygen blood levels decrease and carbon dioxide blood levels increase.Sleep apnea tends to run in families and is more predominate in middle age males. To treat sleep apnea requires a life style change. Usually its treaded by loosing weight, avoiding alcohol, surgery to widen breathing passages, or a special talk piece. Sever to moderate sleep apnea is treated with positive airway pressure from a CPAP. Narcolepsy People with narcolepsy experience or abundance of daytime pall regardless of the amount of time asleep. This uncontrollable event of a rapid onset of sleepiness is call ed sleep attacks or microsleeps. About 70% of people who suffer from narcolepsy experience cataplexy.Cataplexy is the sudden harm of voluntary muscle strength and control, lasting from several seconds to several minutes. People with narcolepsy also can experience sleep paralysis. Parasomnias In a parasomnias, the persons brain is just awake enough to carryout the actions yet is still immersed in sleep that he or she has no conscious awareness or subsequent memory of having performed the action. Parasomnias occur during NREM stages 3 & 4, are more common in children and decrease with age, occurs in multiple family member, suggest a genetic predisposition. Sleep TerrorsAlso called night terrors, typically occur in the first few hours of sleep during stage 3 & 4 NREM. Physiologically, the first sign of a sleep terror is sharply increased physiological arousal, restlessness, sweating, and a bucket along heart rate. The difference between a sleep terror and a nightmare is as follows Wh ereas nightmares involve a progressive unpleasant dream story, a sleep terror is usually accompanied by a single but terrifying sensation, such as being embarrassed or falling. Sleepsex Also called sexsomnia, involves abnormal sexual behaviors and experiences during sleep.Without realizing what he or she is doing, the sleeper initiates dome kind of sexual behavior, such as masturbation, sleepsex-talking, groping or fondling their bed partners genitals, or sexual intercourse. noctambulism Also called somnambulism. Sleep-Related Eating Disorders Frequent sleepwalking episodes to the kitchen, compulsive eating, and then awakening the next morning with no memory of having done so are the hallmarks of sleep-related eating disorders. The mordacious part of this is when the subject eats non-food items such as cat food, raw bacon, salt sandwiches, coffee grounds, or hand creams. Hypnosis 4. 3Hypnosis can be defined as a cooperative social fundamental interaction in which the mesmeric pa rticipant responds to suggestions made by the hypnotist. Hypnosis is characterized by highly focused attention, increased responsiveness to suggestions, vivid images and fantasies, and a willingness to accept distortions of logic or reality. Effects of Hypnosis Subjects of hypnosis may report detachment from their bodies, profound relaxation, or sensations of timelessness. Sensory and perceptual changes Sensory changes that can be induced through hypnosis include temporary blindness, deafness, or a complete loss of sensation in some part of he body.People can also experience hallucinations under hypnosis. Hypnosis can also influence behavior outside the hypnotic state. When a posthypnotic suggestion is given. The person will carry out that limited suggestion after the hypnotic session is over. Hypnosis and memory Memory can be effected by posthypnotic amnesia, in which a subject is ineffectual to recall specific information or events that occurred before or during hypnosis. The co ntrary effect is called hypermnesia, which is enhancement of memory for past events through hypnotic suggestions. Explaining HypnosisPsychologist Ernest R Hilgard believed that the hypnotize person experiences dissociation- the splitting of consciousness into two or more simultaneous streams of mental activity. This is called Hilgards neodissociation theory of hypnosis. Limits and applications of Hypnosis Contrary to customary belief, you cannot be hypnotized against your will. Second hypnosis cannot make you perform behaviors that are contrary to your clean and values. Third, hypnosis cannot make you stronger than your physical capabilities or bestow new talents. Hypnosis can be used to help modify problematic behaviors.Meditation Meditation refers to a root word of techniques that induce an altered state fo focused attention and heightened awareness. reciprocal to all forms of meditation is the goal of controlling or retaining attention. There are two general categories of med itation, Concentration techniques involving focusing awareness on visual image, your breathing, a word, or a phrase. When a sound is used, it is typically a short word or religious phrase, called a mantra. The second sept is opening-up techniques involving a present-centered awareness of the passing moment, without mental judgment.Rather than concentrating on an object, sound, or activity, the meditator engages in quiet awareness of the here and now without distracting thoughts. Effects of meditation The betimes research on meditation focused on its use as a relaxation technique that relieved stress and improved cardiovascular health. Numerous studies now show that practicing TM (transcendental meditation) subjects experience a state of move physiological arousal, including a decrease in heart rate, lowered blood pressure, and changes in brain waves. Psychoactive Drugs 4. 4Psychoactive drugs are chemical substances that can alter arousal, mood, thinking, sensations, and perceptio ns. There are four categories of psychoactive drugs and they are depressants (drugs that depress, or inhibit, brain activity), opiates (drugs that are chemically similar to morphine and that relieve wound and produce euphoria), inputs (drugs that stimulate, or excite, brain activity), and psychedelic drugs (drugs that distort sensory perceptions). The Depressants alcohol, Barbiturates, Inhalants, and Tranquilizers The depressants are a class of drugs that depress or inhibit central neuronal system activity.In general, depressants produce drowsiness, sedation, or sleep. Alcohol Used in small amount alcohol reduces tension and anxiety, along with reducing the risk of heart disease. Alcohol can also be misused and considered a dangerous drug. How does alcohol affect the body? Generally it takes about one hour to metabolize the alcohol in one drink, which is defined as 1 ounce of 80 proof whiskeys, 4 ounces of wine, or 12 ounces of beer. Alcohol depresses the activity of neurons thr oughout the brain. As the blood alcohol levels rise, the more brain activity that is impaired.Because alcohol is physically cabbageive, the person with alcoholism who stops drining may suffer from physical withdrawal symptoms. Inhalants Inhalants are chemical substances that are inhaled to produce an alteration in consciousness. At low doses, they may cause relaxation, giddiness, and cut down inhibition. At higher doses inhalants can lead to hallucinations and a loss of consciousness. repeatedly inhaling is a practice that increases risk of serious damage to the brain, heart, and other organs. In a study using a inhalant ab exploiter and a cocaine addict that tested both subjects cognitive abilities.The cocaine addict actually scored higher than the inhalant abuser. Even though they both were downstairs the norm for non-users. Barbiturates-Tranquilizers Barbiturates are powerful depressant drugs that reduce anxiety and march on sleep, which is why they are sometime called downer s. Barbiturates depress activity in the brain center that control arousal, wakefulness, alertness, and also depress the brains respiratory centers. Low doses cause relaxation, mild euphoria, and reduced inhibitions, but larger doses produce a loss of coordination, impaired mental functioning, and depression.High doses can produce unconsciousness, coma, and death. Barbituates produce a very deep but abnormal sleep in which REM sleep is greatly reduced. Tranquilizers are depressants that relieve anxiety. Common prescribe tranquilizers are Xanax, Valium, and Ativan. The Opiates a great deal called narcotics, these groups of addictive drugs relieve pain and produce feelings of euphoria (a feeling of happiness, confidence, or well-being some times exaggerated in pathological states as mania). Opiates produce their powerful effects by mimicking the brains own natural painkillers, called endorphins.Heroin, OxyContin, Demorol, Fentanyl, Percodan, and Vicodin. The Stimulants caffeine, Nico tine, Amphetamines, and Cocaine Stimulants vary in the strength of their effects, legal status, and the manner in which they are taken. All stimulants however are at least mildly addicting, and all tend to increase brain activity. Caffeine and Nicotine Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive drug in the world. Its found in almost everything (soda, coffee, tea, chocolate, and cola drinks). Caffeine stimulates the cerebral cortex in the brain, resulting in an increase in mental alertness and wakefulness.Nicotine, contrary to popular belief does not relax the body. Instead it stimulates it. Nicotine increases neural activity in many area of the rain, including the frontal lobes, thalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala. Amphetamines and Cocaine Like caffeine and nicotine, amphetamines and cocaine are addictive substances that stimulate brain activity, increasing mental alertness and reducing fatigue. Amphetamines is sometimes called speed or uppers. Amphetamines suppress appetite and were once widely prescribed as diet pills. Cocaine is an illegal stimulant derived from the leaves of the coca tree.Inhaling cocaine produces intense euphoria, mental alertness and self-confidence. A more concentrated form of cocaine is called crack which is smoked instead of inhaled. draw out use of cocaine and amphetamines can result in stimulant-induced psychosis, which have Schizophrenia-like symptoms, including hallucinations of voices and bizarrely paranoid ideas. Psychedelic Drugs mescaline, lysergic acid diethylamide, and Marijuana This is a group of drugs that create profound perceptual distortions, alter mood, and affect thinking. Psychedelic literally means mind manifesting. Mescaline and LSD Mescaline was derived from the peyote cactus.Another psychedelic drug is psilocybin which is derived from the psilocin mushroom or sometimes called the magic mushrooms or shrooms. Mescaline and LSD are very similar chemically to the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is involved in adjust moods and sensations. These drugs can sometime have a bad trip were the user doesnt get the results the wished for but they get the opposite. Marijuana The common cannabis plant, Cannabis sativa, is used to make rope and cloth. But when its leaves, stems, flowers, and seeds are dried-out and crushed, the mixture is called marijuana. Designer Club Drugs Ecstasy and dissociative anesthetic drugs