Psychology Chapter 7: State of Consciousness

consciousness

our awareness of ourselves and environment; began as sole topic of psychology

Biological Rythms

periodic phsyiological fluctuations including annual cycles, 28 day cycle, 90 minute cycle and 24 hour cycle

Annual cycles

migration, hibernation and Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D)

28 day cycle

female menstral cycle

24 hour cycle

varying body temperature, growth hormone secretion and alertness

90 minute cycle

sleep cycle

cicadian rythm

biological clock; regular body rythms of temperature and wakefullness during 24 hour cycle

suprachiasmatic nucleus

cluster of 20,000 cells that control cicadian clock that effects the pineal gland

melatonin

sleep-inducing hormone produced by pineal gland

light

helps reset cicadian clock

body temperature

rises in the AM, peaks during the day, dips slightly mid afternoon, starts to decrease right before bed

adenosine

inhibits certain neurons, making us sleepy; declines during sleep, accumulates during the day

5 sleep stages

Stage 1, 2, 3, 4, and REM sleep

REM sleep

rapid eye movement; when vivid dreams occur, muscles are relaxed but other systems are active; gets progressively longer through out night; can be easily awakened from

alpha waves

relatively slow brain waves of relaxed, aware state

sleep

periodic, natural and reversible loss of consciousness

Stage 1

stage of sleep characterized by slowed breathing, irregular brain waves, unremembered, and where hallucinations occur

hallucinations

false sensory experience

Stage 2

stage of sleep characterized by periodic appearance of sleep spindles and when sleep talking occurs; lasts about 20 minutes

sleep spindles

bursts of rapid rythimic brain activity

Stage 3

stage of sleep characterized by few minutes in duration, transition to next stage, delta waves begin to occur

Stage 4

sleep stage characterized by deep sleep, lasts about 30 minutes and gets progressively shorter through out the night, bedwetting and sleep walking occurs, certain stimuli is processed delta waves occur much more frequently

Sleep cycle

goes from stage 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 back to 3 to 2 to REM

sleep theories

sleep protects, helps recuperation, helps lay down memories, allows us to grow

insomnia

a sleep disorder characterized by recurring problems with falling or staying asleep

narcolepsy

sleep disorder characterized by experiencing periodic, overwhelming sleepiness

hypocretin

alerting neurotransmitter

sleep apnea

sleep disorder characterized temporary cessations of breathing during sleep causing repeated momentary awakenings; can be fatal

night terrors

high arousal and appearance of being terrified; usually occur during stage 4 of sleep; seldom remembered and target mostly children; different from nightmares

dreams

sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person's mind that are hard to remember if woken during stage 4 but more easily recalled if woken during REM; often accpeted by dreamer and typically occur during REM sleep

lucid dreams

awareness during a dream in which some people can test their consciousness

manifest content

concept proposed by Freud; the remembered storyline of a dream

latent content

a concept proposed by Freud; the underlying meaning of a dream that functions as a safty valve

Why we dream

wish-fulfillment, information processing, develop and preserve neural pathways, activation synthesis, cognitive development

activation synthesis theory

random neural activity that the brain makes sense of by dreaming

REM rebound

tendancy for REM to increase following REM deprivation that is created by repeated awakenings

Hypnosis

socail interaction in which 1 person suggests certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts and behaviors to another that they will spontaneously occur

hypnotic ability

ability to carry out any task while hypnotized

age regression

the supposed ability to relive childhood experiences during hypnosis

posthypnotic suggestions

a suggestion made during a hypnotic session to be carried out after subjects is no longer hypnotized; used by some to help control undesired symptoms and behaviors

dissociation

a split in consciousness which allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others; believed to cause pain alleviation in hypnosis

psychoactive drugs

a chemical that alters perception and mood

tolerance

diminishing effect with regular use of same dose of a drug requiring the user to take a larger and larger doeses to get the same effect

neuroadaptation

brain adapts its chemistry to offset the drug effect

withdrawl

the discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing the use of addictive drug

physical dependence

a physiological need for a drug marked by withdrawl symptoms when drug is stopped

psychological dependence

a psychological need to use a drug such as to relieve negative emotions

addition

craving for a supstance despite the adverse consequences

depressant

drugs that reduce neural activity and slow body functions such as alcohol, barbituates, and opiates.

barbituate

drug that supresses the activity of the CNS reducing anxiety but imparing memory and judgement

opiates

depress neural activity, temporarily lessen pain and anxiety such as morphine and heroin

stimulant

drugs that excite neural activity and speed body functions such as ecstacy, cocaine and nicotine

amphetamines

stimulate neural activity; associated with energy and mood changes

methamphetamine

over time can reduce baseline dopamine levels; powerful and addictive stimulant

ecstacy

synthetic stimulant and mild hallucinogen; produces a euphoria and social intimacy; does harm to seratonin producing neurons and to modd and cognition

hallucinogens

distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absense of sensory input such as LSD

LSD

hallucinogenic drug; also known as acid

THC

major active ingredient in marijuana; can cause hallucinogen

near death experience

altered state of consciousness reported after a close brush with death

dualism

presumption that mind and body are two distinct entities that interact

monism

presumption that mind and body are different aspects of the same thing