Two Notions of consciousness related to sleep, dream and psychotic drugs

1. Defining consciousness:
Two notions of consciousness
 1. General state of arousal (sleep vs. wakefulness)
 2. Attentional focus or current awareness (watching
football game or listening to wife)

2. Defining consciousness:
Levels of Awareness
Higher-Level Consciousness
controlled processing
actively focus efforts toward a goal
requires attention

3. Defining consciousness:
Levels of Awareness
Lower-Level Consciousness
Automatic processes
 require little attention/conscious effort
 do not interfere with other ongoing activities
Daydreaming
 wandering thoughts
 fantasy, imagination, rumination
 potentially useful (reminding, solving)

4. Defining consciousness:
Altered states
Altered States of Consciousness
drug states
fatigue, illness, trauma, deprivation
meditation, hypnosis
mental disorders

5. Cognitive Studies of
Consciousness: Generally deal
with 2nd notion
 1. Consciousness as attentional focus: Cocktail party
effect (selective attention)
 2. Automatic vs. Controlled processing (effects of
practice on conscious awareness)
 3. Implicit vs. Explicit memory
 Recall test vs. Perceptual Identification test
 Effects of priming

6. Cognitive Studies of
consciousness: Priming test
 Word or non-word RT measure
 FORK = word; DXMZ = non-word
 SIGN – FORK
 DXMZ – FORK
 SPOON – FORK (sig reduction in rt)
 Unconscious priming? -- yes

7. Cognitive studies of
consciousness: Exclusion task in
priming
 Coconut…palm (tree or wrist?) cons: only tree/uncon:
either
 Hand…palm (tree or wrist?) cons: only wrist/uncon:
either
 Stem completion task: complete BUT_ _ _ (could be
butter or butler). What happens when one is presented
earlier either consciously or unconsciously?) But can
only be excluded consciously
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)

8. Cognitive studies of
consciousness: Brain Damaged
Subjects
 1. Blindsight: loss of visual consciousness due to damage
to primary visual cortex
 2. Prosopagnosia: loss of face recognition due to
damage to temporal lobe visual pathway.

9. Sleep and Dreams: Stages
of Sleep NREM (Non-Rapid-Eye-Movement) Sleep:
Stage 1 (lightest sleep)
Stage 2 (deeper sleep)
Stages 3 and 4 (deepest sleep)
 REM (Rapid-Eye-Movement) Sleep:
Light sleep (also called paradoxical
sleep)

10. Sleep and Dreams: Stages of
Sleep (Continued)
 NREM (non-REM) sleep:
includes Stages 1 through 4
involves lower-frequency brain waves,
decreased pulse and breathing,and
occasional, simple dreams
serves a biological need (NREM needs
met before REM needs)

11. Sleep and Dreams:
Stages of Sleep (Continued)
 REM (Rapid-Eye-Movement) sleep:
also known as paradoxical sleep.
involves high-frequency brain waves,
increased pulse and breathing, large
muscle .
serves a biological need.
may play a role in learning and
consolidating new memories.

12. Sleep and Dreams:
Stages of Sleep in a Typical Night

13. Sleep and Dreams:
Research
 The EEG,
EOG, and
EMG are
common
tools for
sleep
research.

14. Sleep and Dreams:
Stages of Sleep & Brain Waves

15. Sleep and Dreams: Over the Life
Span

16. Sleep and Dreams: Average Daily
Hours of Sleep for Different
Mammals

17. Why Do We Need Sleep?
Adaptive Evolutionary Function
 safety
 energy conservation/ efficiency
Restorative Function
 body rejuvenation & growth
Brain Plasticity
 enhances synaptic connections
 memory consolidation

18. Theories of Dreaming
Historical and Religious Significance
Freud’s Psychodynamic Approach
 manifest and latent content
Cognitive Theory
 information processing and memory
Activation-Synthesis Theory
 brain makes “sense” out of random brain activity

19. Sleep Disorders
 insomnia
 sleep walking, talking, and eating
 nightmares and night terrors
 narcolepsy
 sleep apnea

20. Sleep Disorders
 Insomnia: persistent problems
in falling asleep,
staying asleep, or
awakening too early
 Sleep Apnea: repeated interruption of
breathing during sleep
 Narcolepsy: sudden and irresistible onsets of
sleep during normal waking hours

21. Sleep disorders
 Nightmares: anxiety-arousing dreams
occurring near the end of sleep, during REM
sleep
 Night Terrors: abrupt awakenings from
NREM sleep accompanied by intense
physiological arousal and feelings of panic

22. Psychoactive Drugs
 Psychoactive
Drugs:
chemicals that
change conscious
awareness, mood,
or perception

23. Psychoactive Drugs:
Important Terms
 Drug Abuse: drug taking
that causes emotional or
physical harm to the
individual or others
 Addiction: compulsion to
use a specific drug or to
engage in a certain
activity

24. Psychoactive Drugs:
Important Terms Psychological
Dependence: desire or
craving to achieve effects
produced by drug
 Physical Dependence:
bodily processes have
been so modified by
repeated drug use that
continued use is required
to prevent withdrawal
symptoms

25. Psychoactive Drugs:
Important Terms (Continued)
 Withdrawal: discomfort
and distress experienced
after stopping the use of
addictive drugs
 Tolerance: decreased
sensitivity to a drug
brought about by its
continuous use

26. Reward Pathway for
Psychoactive Drugs

27. Psychoactive Drugs: Four
Categories
1. Depressants:
act on the CNS
to suppress
bodily
processes
(e.g., alcohol,
valium)

28. Psychoactive Drugs: Depressants
(Continued)

30. Psychoactive Drugs: Stimulants
2. Stimulants:
act on the CNS
to increase
bodily
processes
(e.g., caffeine,
nicotine,
cocaine)

31. Psychoactive Drugs: Opiates
3. Opiates:
act as an
analgesic or pain
reliever (e.g.,
morphine, heroin)

32. Psychoactive Drugs: Hallucinogens
4. Hallucinogens:
produce sensory
or perceptual
distortions called
hallucinations
(e.g., LSD,
marijuana)

34. Applying Psychology to
Everyday Life:
Club Drug Alert!
 Popular “Club Drugs”:
Date Rape Drug (Rohypnol)
MDMA (Ecstasy)
GHB (Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate)
Special K (Ketamine)
Crystal Meth (Methamphetamine)
LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide)

35. Psychoactive Drugs: How They Work
 Step 1). Alter the production or synthesis of
neurotransmitters.
 Step 2). Change the storage or release of
neurotransmitters.
 Step 3). Alter the reception of neurotransmitters.
 Step 4). Change the deactivation (block the
reuptake or break-down) of excess
neurotransmitters.

36. How Psychoactive Drugs Work
(Step 3: Agonists vs. Antagonists)

38. Healthier Ways to Alter
Consciousness
 Meditation: group of
techniques designed to
refocus attention,
block out all
distractions, and
produce an ASC

39. Healthier Ways to Alter
Consciousness
 Hypnosis:
trancelike state
of heightened
suggestibility,
deep relaxation,
and intense
focus

40. Healthier Ways to Alter
Consciousness
 Hypnosis is
used to treat
chronic pain,
severe burns,
dentistry,
childbirth,
psychotherapy.

41. Upper Paleolithic Cave Art:
Indications of rituals to achieve
ASC?

42. Traditional ceremonies
 Mandan Indiana sun-dance: altered state as pain endurance
©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)

43. Ritual Use of Altered State
Intoxicants
 As far back as we can trace, humans have used
consciousness altering rituals and intoxicants, but
always together and always under supervision or
regulation. The ritual regulated the drug use.