Chapter 4

Chapter 4
States of Consciousness

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Chapter 4 Overview

 What is consciousness?
 Circadian rhythms
 Sleep
 Dreams
 Meditation and hypnosis
 Psychoactive drugs


What is Consciousness?

 Consciousness is everything of which
we are aware at any given time-our
thoughts, feelings, sensations and
external environment


How have psychologists’ views
about consciousness changed since
the early days of psychology?
 Early psychologists saw consciousness as
psychological in nature
 Today’s psychologists use brain-imaging
techniques to identify brain activity
associated with different states of
consciousness
 They view consciousness as a
neurobiological phenomenon, rather than an
exclusively psychological one

What is the connection between
altered states of consciousness and
culture?
 Altered state of consciousness
– A change in awareness produced by sleep,
meditation, hypnosis, or drugs
 In some cultures, individuals deliberately
induce altered states as part of tribal
ceremonies or religious rituals


Circadian Rhythms

 More than 100 bodily functions and
behaviors follow circadian rhythms
fluctuating regularly throughout each
day


In what ways do circadian rhythms
affect physiological and
psychological functions?
 Circadian rhythm
– Regular fluctuation from high to low points of
certain bodily functions and behaviors within a
24-hour cycle
– Regulate all vital life functions
 Suprachiasmatic nucleus
– Structure in the hypothalamus
– The body’s biological clock
– Controls the timing of circadian rhythms
– Signals the pineal gland to secrete or suppress
melatonin


How do disruptions in circadian
rhythms affect the body and the
mind?
 Jet lag and working during subjective night
disrupt circadian rhythms
– Can lead to sleep difficulty and reduced
alertness
 Subjective night
– The time during a 24-hour period when the
biological clock tells a person to go to sleep


Sleep
 Before the 1950s, there was little
understanding of what goes on during the
state of consciousness know as sleep. From
analyses of sleep recordings, known as
polysomnograms, set up in sleep
laboratories, researchers discovered two
major types of sleep.


What is the difference between the
restorative and circadian theories
of sleep?
 Restorative theory of sleep
– The function of sleep is to restore body and
mind
 Circadian theory of sleep
– Sleep evolved to keep humans out of harm’s
way during the night
– Also known as the evolutionary theory


How do NREM and REM sleep
differ?

 NREM sleep
– Non-rapid eye movement sleep
– Characterized by slow respiration and heart rate,
little body movement, and low blood pressure
and brain activity
 REM sleep
– Characterized by rapid eye movements, paralysis
of large muscles, fast and irregular heart and
respiration rates, increased brain activity, and
vivid dreams
– REM sleep may be critical to the consolidation of
new memories after learning

Sleep cycles
 During a typical
night’s sleep, a
person goes
through about five
90-minute cycles


What is the progression of NREM
stages and REM sleep in a typical
night of sleep?
 Stage 1
– Transition stage between waking and sleeping
– Irregular EEG waves; some alpha waves
 Stage 2
– Deeper sleep than in stage 1
– Sleep spindles appear in EEG
 Stage 3
– Beginning of slow-wave sleep
– EEG registers 20% delta waves
 Stage 4
– Deepest stage of NREM sleep
– More than 50% delta waves


How does age influence sleep
patterns?

 Infants and young children
– Sleep the longest
– Have largest percentage of REM and slow wave sleep
 Children from 6 to puberty
– Sleep best
– Most consistent sleepers and wakers
 Adolescents
– Sleep patterns influenced by schedules
– Insufficient sleep may contribute to poor school performance
 Older adults
– More difficulty falling asleep; sleep more lightly
– Spend more time in bed, but less time asleep

Average hours of sleep
across the lifespan


How does sleep deprivation affect
behavior and neurological
functioning?
 Effects of sleep deprivation
– Difficulty concentrating
– Impaired learning
– Negative mood
 Effects on the brain
– Decreased activity in temporal lobes during
verbal learning tasks
– Increased activity in prefrontal cortex and
parietal lobes
 To compensate for decreased temporal lobe activity

What are the various disorders that
can trouble sleepers?

 Parasomnias is a sleep disturbance in which
behaviors and physiological states that normally
occur only in the waking state take place during
sleep
– Somnambulism (sleepwalking)
 Occurs during partial arousal from stage 4 sleep
– Somniloquy (sleeptalking)
 Can occur in any stage
– Sleep terrors
 Sleeper awakes in panicked state
 Happens during stage 4 sleep
– Nightmares
 Frightening dreams during REM sleep

What are the various disorders that
can trouble sleepers?

 Dyssomnia is a category of sleep disorder in
which the timing, quantity, or quality of sleep is
impaired
– Narcolepsy
 Disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and
attacks of REM sleep
– Sleep apnea
 Disorder in which breathing stops during sleep
– Insomnia
 Difficulty falling or staying asleep, or waking too early
 Sleep that is light, restless, or of poor quality


Dreams
 We generally think of dreaming as a
pleasant, imaginative experience, but
occasionally a frightening dream
occurs. Good or bad, just what exactly
is a dream?


What have researchers learned
about dreams, their biological
basis, and their controllability?
 REM dreams
– Have a storylike quality
– More visual, vivid, and emotional than NREM
dreams
 NREM dreams
– Occur during NREM sleep
– Less frequent and memorable than REM dreams
 Lucid dreaming
– Set of techniques that enable dreamers to
control the content of dreams

How do the views of contemporary
psychologists concerning the
nature of dreams differ from those
of Freud?
 Dreams satisfy unconscious sexual and
aggressive desires
 These wishes are unacceptable to the
dreamer and must be disguised in symbolic
forms
– Manifest content
 The content of a dream as recalled by the dreamer
– Latent content
 The underlying meaning of a dream


How do the views of contemporary
psychologists concerning the
nature of dreams differ from those
of Freud?
 Activation-synthesis theory of
dreaming
– Dreams are the brain’s attempt to make sense of
random firing of brain cells during REM sleep
 Evolutionary theory of dreaming
– Vivid REM dreams enable people to rehearse
skills needed to deal with threatening events


Meditation and Hypnosis

 Other forms of altered
consciousness that we may
experience only if we choose to
do so


What are the benefits of
meditation?

 Techniques used to block out distractions
and achieve an altered state of
consciousness by focusing attention on an
object, word, one’s breathing, or body
movements
 Can be helpful for a variety of physical and
psychological problems
– Controlling emotions
– Lowering blood pressure


What are the effects of hypnosis
and how do theorists explain them?

 Procedure through which a hypnotist uses
power of suggestion to change thoughts,
feelings, sensations, perceptions, or
behavior in the subject
 Has been used successfully to control pain


What are the effects of hypnosis
and how do theorists explain them?

 Sociocognitive theory
– Behavior of a hypnotized person depends on that
person’s expectations about how subjects behave
under hypnosis
 Neodissociation theory
– Hypnosis induces a dissociation between two
aspects of the control of consciousness
 Planning function
 Monitoring function
 Theory of dissociated control
– Hypnosis weakens control of the executive function
over other parts of consciousness

Psychoactive Drugs

 Any substance that alters mood,
perception, or thought
– Controlled substances are approved
for medical use
– Illicit substances are illegal


How do drugs affect the brain’s
neurotransmitter system?

 Psychoactive drugs create a sense of pleasure
by increasing availability of dopamine in the
nucleus accumbens, a part of the brain’s
limbic system
 How drugs affect neurotransmission
– Opiates mimic the effects of endorphins
– Depressants act on GABA receptors
– Stimulants mimic the effects of epinephrine


What is the difference between
physical and psychological drug
dependence?
 Substance abuse
– Continued use of a substance after several episodes in
which use has negatively affected an individual's work,
education, and social relationships
 Physical drug dependence
– Compulsive pattern of drug use in which the user develops
drug tolerance coupled with unpleasant withdrawal
symptoms when the drug use is discontinued
 Psychological drug dependence
– A craving or irresistible urge for the drug’s pleasurable
effects


How do stimulants affect behavior?

 Speed up activity in the central nervous
system
– Suppress appetite
– Make people feel more awake, alert, and
energetic
 Stimulants include
– Caffeine
– Nicotine
– Amphetamines
– Cocaine


What are the behavioral effects of
depressants?

 Decrease activity in the central nervous
system
– Slow down bodily functions
– Reduce sensitivity to outside stimulation
 Sedative-hypnotics
– Alcohol
– Barbiturates
– Minor tranquilizers (benzodiazepines)
 Narcotics (opiates)
– Morphine, heroin
– Oxycontin, Vicodin

In what way do hallucinogens
influence behavior?

 Drugs that can alter and distort perceptions
of time and space, alter mood, cause
hallucinations
– Also called psychedelics
 Hallucinogens include
– Marijuana
– LSD
– Designer drugs (e.g., MDMA or Ecstasy)


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