CONSCIOUSNESS
WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS?
A subjective experience, awareness, wakefulness, the executive control system of the mind
A variety of mental phenomena
An awareness of one’s surroundings and of what is in one’s mind at a given moment
Studies have been used to examine the processes: sleeping, dreaming, wakefulness, perception, sensation, responsiveness, awareness
Studies can not be used to examine subjective consciousness: what is feels like to be in love, seeing different colors, when a person has a thought
ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
The altered states of consciousness occur during sleep, dream, psychoactive drug use, hypnosis, etc
These alternate states can exist on many levels including drug induced states (LSD), sensory deprivation, or even sleep deprivation
Sleep Deprivation???
Researchers have learned that, like disrupted circadian cycles, sleep deprivation poses several hazards including cognitive and motor performance, irritability, decreased self-esteem, and increased cortisol levels (a sign of stress)
TWO DIMENSIONS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Wakefulness – specifically refers to a person’s alertness, whether awake or asleep
Awareness – Refers to the monitoring of information from the environment and from one’s own thoughts
Can a person be awake but not aware?
THREE TYPES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Minimal Consciousness
Coma – Occurs when a person cannot be roused due to illness or brain injury
Vegetative State – A person may appear awake, but is unresponsive
“wakefulness without awareness”
Moderate Consciousness
Freud – preconscious
When material available but not at the current awareness state
Full Consciousness – Alert and Aware
Just because a person is awake, does not make him/her fully present
A person who is understimulated by their environment = bored
A person who is awake but has the need to sleep = drowsy
Other times a person may be stimulated and excited about their environment; or even become so involved that we lose sense of time
Flow State = exists when we thrive in our ability to rise to the occasion of challenging tasks
FOUR LEVELS OF AWARENESS
Controlled processes – high levels of awareness, focused attention required (i.e. studying for an exam, learning to drive a car
Automatic processes – require awareness, but minimal attention is necessary (i.e. walking to class talking on a cell phone, listening to your boss while daydreaming about that dream vacation)
Daydreaming – somewhere between active conscious and dreaming while asleep
Subconscious – a Freudian concept described as thoughts or motives that lie beyond a person’s normal awareness that can be made available through psychoanalysis
Freud believed in the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious
He believed that psychological disorders originated from repressed memories and instincts that are hidden in the unconscious
No awareness – becomes the lowest level of awareness
Freud’s idea of the unconscious mind – these were ideas consisting of unacceptable thoughts, feelings, and memories too painful and anxiety provoking to be admitted to consciousness
No awareness is identified as brain injuries, comas, amnesia)
SLEEPING AND DREAMING
Sleeping is one of mankind’s most fundamental needs; our physical survival and mental wellbeing depends upon regular periods of rest
This mysterious state of unconsciousness and its accompaniment – dreaming – has exercised fascination for scientists, philosophers, artists and writers alike for millennia
Sleeping and dreaming have historically been perceived as a dark, often disturbing, even supernatural sphere of human experience
STAGES OF SLEEP
Non-Rem
Lasts from 90 to 120 minutes, each stage lasting anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. Surprisingly, however, Stages 2 and 3 repeat backwards before REM sleep is attained. So, a normal sleep cycle has this pattern: waking, stage 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, REM. Usually, REM sleep occurs 90 minutes after sleep onset.
Waking
is referred to as relaxed wakefulness, because this is the stage in which the body prepares for sleep.
All people fall asleep with tense muscles, their eyes moving erratically.
Then, as a person becomes sleepier, the body begins to slow down.
Muscles begin to relax, and eye movement slows to a roll.
Stage 1
Drowsiness, is often described as first in the sequence, especially in models where waking is not included.
The eyes are closed during Stage 1 sleep, but if aroused from it, a person may feel as if he or she has not slept.
Stage 1 may last for five to 10 minutes
Stage 2
A period of light sleep during which polysomnographic readings show intermittent peaks and valleys, or positive and negative waves.
These waves indicate spontaneous periods of muscle tone mixed with periods of muscle relaxation.
Muscle tone of this kind can be seen in other stages of sleep as a reaction to auditory stimuli.
The heart rate slows, and body temperature decreases.
At this point, the body prepares to enter deep sleep.
Stage 3 & 4
Deep sleep stages, with Stage 4 being more intense than Stage 3.
These stages are known as slow-wave, or delta, sleep.
During slow-wave sleep, especially during Stage 4, the electromyogram records slow waves of high amplitude, indicating a pattern of deep sleep and rhythmic continuity.
fREM or Stage 5
is distinguishable from NREM sleep by changes in physiological states, including its characteristic rapid eye movements.
In normal sleep heart rate and respiration speed up and become erratic, while the face, fingers, and legs may twitch.
Intense dreaming occurs during REM sleep as a result of heightened cerebral activity, but paralysis occurs simultaneously in the major voluntary muscle groups, including the sub mental muscles (muscles of the chin and neck).
It is generally thought that REM-associated muscle paralysis is meant to keep the body from acting out the dreams that occur during this intensely cerebral stage.
The first period of REM typically lasts 10 minutes, with each recurring REM stage lengthening, and the final one lasting an hour.
FACTORS THAT AFFECT SLEEP
Slow-wave, deep sleep is longest early in a night’s sleep. Generally, sleep disorders affect the quality, duration, and onset of sleep.
Sleep deprivation, frequently changing sleep schedule, stress, and environment all affect the progression of the sleep cycle. Rapid eye movement latency (the time it takes a person to achieve REM sleep) may be affected by a sleep disorder like narcolepsy.
Psychological conditions like depression shorten the duration of rapid eye movement.
Treatment for psychiatric conditions often affects sleep, typically inducing a change in sleep habits. For example, antidepressants like Prozac® may cause trouble sleeping and insomnia and can inhibit REM sleep stages.
AGE AND SLEEP
The percentage of REM sleep is highest during infancy and early childhood, drops off during adolescence and young adulthood, and decreases further in older age.
Of course, infants require the greatest amount of sleep. As parents know, total sleep time typically becomes shorter during childhood and may become longer again in adolescence.
The stage-respective dimensions of sleep change relative to age. Stages 3 and 4 in the first sleep cycle shorten even more dramatically in older people than they do during a typical night for everyone else, so older people get less total deep sleep than younger people do.
Also with age comes the lengthening of the first REM stage. Older people commonly enter REM sleep quicker and stay there longer.
WHO NEEDS HOW MUCH SLEEP?
Horses – 2
Sheep – 3
Humans – 8
Gorilla – 12
Cat – 14
Opossum – 19
Lions – 22
WHY DO WE NEED SLEEP?
Evolutionary/Circadian theory
Theorizes that sleep occurs in both humans and non-humans to conserve energy for foraging for foods or seeking out mates
To protect from predators
i.e. opossums sleep many hours because they feel safe in their environment and can easily find food and shelter when needed
Horses and sheep sleep less because their diets consist of a constant foraging for food; as well as their defense from predators is through vigilance
Repair/restoration theory
Suggests that sleep is utilized to recuperate from daily activities
Exercise and physical activity – muscle recovery
In turn, we recover from physical fatigue as well as emotional and intellectual demands
DREAMS (WHERE DO DREAMS COME FROM?)
Dreams tend to come from the acting out of daily activities, processing stressful situations, to subconscious and unconscious processes occurring in the brain.
The earliest recorded dreams are derived from materials dating back approximately 5000 years, in Mesopotamia. The Sumerians, the first cultural group to reside in Mesopotamia, left dream records dating back to 3100 BC.
Ancient Hebrews believed dreams were connections with God. The biblical figures Solomon, Jacob, and Joseph were all visited in their dreams by God or prophets, who helped guide their decisions. It was recognized and accepted that the dreams of kings could influence whole nations and the futures of their peoples.
Ancient Egyptians also gave the dreams of their royal leaders’ special attention since gods were more likely to appear in them. Serapis, the Egyptian god of dreams, had temples in which dream incubation occurred. Before going to these temples, dreamers would fast, pray and draw to help ensure enlightening dreams.
Chinese considered the dreamer’s soul to be the guiding factor of dream production. The hun, or spiritual soul, was thought to leave the body and communicate with the land of the dead. They also practiced incubation in dream temples. These temples served a political purpose through the 16th century. Any high official visiting a city reported to a temple the first night to receive dream guidance for his mission. Judges and government officials were also required to visit dream temples for insight and wisdom
The earliest Greek view of dreams was that the gods physically visited dreamers, entering through a keyhole, and exiting the same way after the divine message was delivered. The 5th century BC marks the first known Greek book on dreams. During this century, the Greeks developed the belief (through contact with other cultures) that souls left the sleeping body.
Hippocrates (469-399 BC), the father of medicine and Socrates’ contemporary, wrote On Dreams. His theory was simple: during the day, the soul receives images; during the night, it produces images. Therefore, we dream.
Aristotle (384-322 BC) thought that dreams could be indicators of conditions within the body. He did not believe they were divinely inspired. He hypothesized that external stimuli are absent during sleep, so dreams are manifestations of a profound awareness of internal sensations which are expressed as dream imagery.
Galen, a Greek physician born in 129 AD, emphasized the need to observe dreams carefully for clues to healing. He was so trusting of dream messages that he carried out operations on the basis of his dream interpretations.
THEORIES ON DREAMS
Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic view
Freud believed that every dream represents a wish fulfillment. Dreams are representative of the imaginary fulfillment of a wish or impulse in early childhood, before such wishes have been repressed
Jung claimed that dream analysis is the primary way to gain knowledge of the unconscious mind. He says that the dream is a natural phenomenon which we can study, thereby gaining knowledge of the hidden part of our mind. The images are symbolic of conscious and unconscious mental processes
Dreams originate in the unconscious. They are naturally occurring phenomena, arising spontaneously and autonomously into the conscious mind.
Biological view – dreams are a byproduct of random stimulation of brain cells during REM sleep
Hobson & McCarley (1977) proposed that specific neurons in the brain stem are “turned on” during REM sleep
Hobson suggests that if dreams begin with essentially random brain activity, your individual personality, motivations, memories, and life experiences guide how your brain constructs the dream
J. A. Hadfield puts forward what he calls a Biological Theory of Dreams. He says the function of dreams is that by reproducing difficult or unsolved life situations or experiences, the dream aids towards a solving or resolution of the problems.
Dreams and Nightmares – “dreams stand in the place of experience. They make us relive areas of anxious or difficult experience. They thus help problem solving”
The Cognitive View – a dream is a pictorial representation of the dreamer’s conceptions
Just another type of information processing
Sift through every day events, process thoughts and experiences
Research shows that dream content relates to waking thoughts, fears, and concerns
REM has been found to increase during times of stress and intense learning periods
EX: dreaming of presenting in front of the class and you forgot to get dressed; anxiety surrounding a test leads you to dream of running out of time, not having a pen, etc.
STATISTICS ON SLEEP AND SLEEP DISORDERS
When does sleep become a problem? When it begins to effect the person’s daily activities.
2/3 Americans suffer from sleep problems
25% children under 5 have sleep disturbance
$98 million spent on sleep aids each year
$50 million spent of coffee to keep adults awake
Microsleep – when a person fall asleep for just a few seconds – 20% of drivers
2 Types of Sleep Disturbances:
1. Dyssomnias: A sleeping disorder that makes it difficult to get to sleep, or to stay asleep. Include insomnia, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, restless legs syndrome, hypersomnia, and delayed sleeping phase syndrome. There are actually over 30 recognized kinds of dissomnia categorized into three groups including:
Insomnia: More than 20 minutes to fall asleep; trouble staying asleep; never feeling rested (medical conditions, psychological disorders)
Sleep Apnea: Blockage of the airway; a person stops breathing for a period of time; these people seldom hit REM sleep (breathing device, surgery, weight loss)
Sleepwalking: Engages in activities that normally occur during wakefulness (4-15% of children, 1.5-2.5 of adults)
Narcolepsy: Excessive sleepiness; people fall alseep with little to no warning
Hypersomnia: 10hrs or more of sleep per day lasting more than 2 weeks; naps during the day, in the middle of conversations (adolescents who commit suidice have likely suffered from hyperinsomnia)
2. Parasomnias: Involve abnormal and unnatural movements, behaviors, emotions, perceptions, and dreams that occur while falling asleep, sleeping, between sleep stages, or during arousal from sleep. This category of sleep disturbance includes:
Nightmares – cause a strong unpleasant emotional response from the sleeper, typically fear or horror. The dream may contain a situation of extreme danger, or sensations of pain, bad events, falling, drowning, becoming disabled, losing loved ones, etc.
Eating before bed, which triggers an increase in the body’s metabolism and brain activity
high fever or being face-down on a pillow during sleep
Studies of dreams have found that about three quarters of dream content or emotions are negative.
This type of event occurs on average once per month. They are not common in children under 5, more common in young children (25% experiencing a nightmare at least once per week), most common in adolescents, and less common in adults (dropping in frequency about one-third from age 25 to 55).
Night Terrors – characterized by extreme terror and a temporary inability to regain full consciousness. It is often impossible to awaken the person fully, and after the episode the subject normally settles back to sleep without waking. A night terror can rarely be recalled by the subject. They typically occur during Non-REM.
common in children ages 2-6
usually occurs in the first hour of sleep
These night terrors can occur each night if the sufferer does not eat a proper diet, get the appropriate amount of sleep, is enduring stressful events in their life. Adult night terrors are much less common, often trauma-based.
Sleep walking – tends to accompany night terrors
Sleep talking – can usually engage in a limited conversation
Instructions for discussion boards:
Initial posts: a minimum of 1-2 paragraphs, Explanation of the discussion
A list of references is required at the end of your post. (APA format)
Students who only cite the book will not receive credit
Peer response posts: a minimum of 1 paragraph (3-4 sentences) Responses should be thought-provoking and pertain to the information discussed in the initial post
Students are encouraged to bring insight, personal experience, or additional research to the discussions, when responding to peers
A list of references is required for peer responses to encourage students to further their knowledge on the subject.
THESE WILL BE POSTED AFTER DISCUSSION
STUDENT 1:
STUDENT 2:
Discuss how a person’s circadian rhythm or psychoactive drugs affect consciousness. What does the current research report on sleep disorders or psychoactive drug use pertaining to its effects on conscious processing?
