The document discusses various aspects of consciousness, sleep, and dreams. It begins by defining consciousness and describing different levels of consciousness such as waking, subconscious, and unconscious states. It then discusses sleep stages and brain wave patterns associated with each stage. REM sleep is specifically called out as the stage where most vivid dreams occur. The document also covers sleep disorders, the effects of sleep deprivation, and theories about the purpose and meaning of dreams.

1. Consciousness
Sleep and Dreams

2. Consciousness
 Consciousness
 our awareness
of ourselves
and our
environments

3. Consciousness
 Waking
Consciousness
 What you are currently
aware of and attending
to
 Linear (serial)
processing
 The result of cognitive
processing

4. Integrated Information Theory of
Consciousness
 Consciousness can exist to varying
degrees depending on the person, time of
day, distractions, amount of sleep or food,
mental and physical illness, medicine, etc.
 In order to be conscious the brain
integrates a complex web of information
from sensory systems and cognitive
processes. Cerebrum, somatosensory,
frontal lobe…what other areas?

5. Consciousness
 Subconsciousness
 That which lies just
below your waking
consciousness
 Easily accessible
 Parallel processing

6. Consciousness
 Unconsciousness
 Reactions and
processing outside our
awareness

7. Introspection
• The only direct way to study consciousness
is to have people look within themselves, or
introspect.
• Introspection is a powerful research tool—
but it is limited.
• People often lack words for
experiences.
• Different individuals may use the same
words to describe different
experiences.

8. Mistaken Introspections
• Introspections are also sometimes mistaken.
• People don’t realize what factor
influenced their thoughts or behavior.
• Or they insist a factor influenced them
even though it didn’t.
• These cases suggest introspection
often is people’s best after-the-fact
estimation of why they acted or felt the
way they did.

9. Brain Areas
 The amygdala regulates emotions and fight or
flight type responses. It also helps in the
formation of emotional memories.
 The hippocampus helps store (consolidate)
episodic memories meaning your autobiography,
perceptions, and the emotions associated with
these memories.
 The exact content of consciousness depends on
diverse brain sites and what a person is
conscious of.

11. Varieties of Consciousness
• Our conscious state changes when we’re
asleep.
• EE`G data allows us to distinguish distinct
stages of sleep.
• People seem to need an adequate amount of
sleep as well as the right amount of both
slow-wave and REM sleep.

12. Sleep
 Why do we need to sleep?
 Sleep helps our brain consolidate learning and
memories. Our bodies also need to sleep to
rejuvenate, grow muscle, repair, and to pay
attention.
 https://www.ted.com/talks/russell_foster_w
hy_do_we_sleep?language=en

13. Figure 4.2
 This chart illustrates the circadian change in body temperature over 28 hours in a
group of eight young men. Body temperature rises throughout the waking day,
peaking in the afternoon, and falls during sleep with the lowest point occurring
during the very early morning hours.

14. Figure 4.3
 The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) serves as the brain’s clock mechanism. The
clock sets itself with light information received through projections from the retina.

15. Sleep Deprivation and
Consciousness
 Sleep deprivation occurs when an individual fails
to get enough sleep. The amount of sleep that a
person needs varies from one person to
another, but on average most adults need about
seven to eight hours of sleep each night to feel
alert and well rested.
 https://youtu.be/JWKDgs9bMws

16. Figure 4.4
 Devices like this are designed to provide exposure to bright light to help people
maintain a regular circadian cycle. They can be helpful for people working night
shifts or for people affected by seasonal variations in light.

17. Figure 4.5
 This figure illustrates some of the negative consequences of sleep deprivation.
While cognitive deficits may be the most obvious, many body systems are
negatively impacted by lack of sleep. (credit: modification of work by Mikael
Häggström)

18. Figure 4.6
 This is a segment of a polysonograph (PSG), a recording of several physical variables during
sleep. The x-axis shows passage of time in seconds; this record includes 30 seconds of data.
The location of the sets of electrode that produced each signal is labeled on the y-axis. The red
box encompasses EEG output, and the waveforms are characteristic of a specific stage of
sleep. Other curves show other sleep-related data, such as body temperature, muscle activity,
and heartbeat.

19. Figure 4.7
 The pineal and pituitary glands secrete a number of hormones during sleep.

20. Figure 4.8
 Brainwave activity changes dramatically across the different stages of sleep. (credit
“sleeping”: modification of work by Ryan Vaarsi)

21. Figure 4.9
 Brainwave activity changes dramatically across the different stages of sleep.

22. Figure 4.10
 Stage 2 sleep is characterized by the appearance of both sleep spindles and K-
complexes.

23. Sleep Disorders
 Nightmares are dreams with vivid and disturbing
content. They are most common
inchildren during REM sleep, but they can
happen to adults as well. They usually involve
and immediate awakening and good recall of the
dream. Sleep terrors, also common in children,
are often described as extreme nightmares that
take place during non-REM sleep.

24. Sleep Disorders
 Sleep terrors have common
characteristics. They usually include
arousal, agitation, large pupils, sweating,
and increase blood pressure. Usually the
child screams and appears terrified for
several minutes until they eventually relax
and return to sleep. Sleep terrors usually
take place early in the night and may be
combined with sleepwalking. The child
typically does not remember or only has a
vague memory of their dream.

25. Sleep Disorders
 https://youtu.be/NP3aEx2QWgY
 Sleep Disorders in Children
 How do these issues affect emotional
health? School? Work?
Relationships?

28. Quiz 4
 What are three types of brain waves?
 Why do we need REM sleep?

29. Dreams
• Dreams are associated with REM sleep.
• Dream showcase a range of ordinary preoccupations,
but they also include weird elements like being naked
in public.
• Many people propose that dreams have hidden
meaning.
• Most researchers say they are just a hodgepodge
of activated images made into a narrative by the
sleeping brain or the person recalling the dream.

30. Altered States of Consciousness
 Sleep and Dreams
 Hypnosis
 Chemically altered states

31. Sleep and Dreams
 Sleep
 periodic, natural, reversible loss of
consciousness
 Circadian Rhythm
 the biological clock
 regular bodily rhythms that occur on
a 24-hour cycle, such as of
wakefulness and body temperature

32. Sleep and Dreams
 Stage 1
Lasts up to 5 minutes
Hallucinations
Hypnogogic experience
 Stage 2
20 minutes
Sleep spindles
Sleep talking may occur

33. Sleep and Dreams
 Stage 3
Transitional stage
Lasts only a few minutes
 Stage 4
Brain emits delta waves
Lasts 30 minutes
Sleep walking, bed wetting may occur
You can still process the outside world

34. Brain Waves and Sleep
Stages
 Alpha Waves
 slow waves of a
relaxed, awake
brain
 Delta Waves
 large, slow waves
of deep sleep

35. Stages in a Typical Night’s
Sleep
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4
3
2
1
Sleep
stages
Awake
Hours of sleep
REM

36. Stages in a Typical Night’s
Sleep
Hours of sleep
Minutes
of
Stage 4
and
REM
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
0
10
15
20
25
5
Decreasing
Stage 4
Increasing
REM

37. Sleep and Dreams
 REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep
 recurring sleep stage
 vivid dreams
 “paradoxical sleep”
 muscles are generally relaxed, but other
body systems are active

38. Sleep Deprivation
 Effects of Sleep
Loss
 fatigue
 impaired
concentration
 depressed immune
system
 greater vulnerability
to accidents

39. Sleep Disorders
 Insomnia
 persistent problems in falling or staying
asleep
 Narcolepsy
 uncontrollable sleep attacks
 Sleep Apnea
 temporary cessation of breathing
 momentary reawakenings

40. Night Terrors and
Nightmares
 Night Terrors
 occur within 2 or
3 hours of falling
asleep, usually
during Stage 4
 high arousal--
appearance of
being terrified
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4
3
2
1
Sleep
stages
Awake
Hours of sleep
REM

41. Dreams
 What are dreams
made of?

42. Dreams: Freud
 Sigmund Freud--The Interpretation of
Dreams (1900)
 wish fulfillment
 discharge otherwise unacceptable
feelings
 Manifest Content
 remembered story line
 Latent Content
 underlying meaning

43. Dreams: Freud
 Dreams
 Dream is a safe outlet for the mind
 Deals with unacceptable thoughts and
emotions
 Manifest content is the “dressed up”
symbolic version of the unconscious
 Most adult dreams have strong sexual
undertones
 Dream interpenetration is the “royal road
to the unconscious”

44. Dreams: Information
processing
 As Information Processing
 Dreams serve to sift and sort
memories of our daily experiences
 Helps us to better process and store
memories and learning from the
previous day

45. Dreams: Information
processing
 Support for theory
REM sleep increases following a stressful
experience and intense learning experiences
People will perform worse on a memory test if
kept from dreaming the night before

46. Dreams: Activation-synthesis
 Neural activity is random and dreams are
your brain’s attempt to make sense of it
 Your brain tries to impose meaning on
meaningless stimuli

47. Dreams: Activation-synthesis
 Support
Eye movement of REM sleep coincides with
bursts of neural activity in the visual cortex
Would account for random and bizarre
occurrences in dreams

48. Dreams: Physiological Function
 Dreams serve to provide neural
stimulation for a sleeping brain
 Stimulation of the neural pathways
strengthens connections and makes
processing faster and more efficient

49. Dreams: Physiological Function
 Support
Infants and children experience longer
periods of REM sleep than adults.
REM sleep periods decrease as we age

50. Sleep Across the Lifespan

51. Dreams
 So which is the best theory?