Chapter 10: Consciousness Flashcards
What is “phenomenology”?
Study of individual consciousness (subjective experiences).
What is the problem of our minds referring to?
Can’t determine similarity or difference between ours and other’s consciousness.
What are the six conscious processes?
Non-conscious, preconscious, unconscious, minimal, full, self.
What is a non-conscious process?
Bodily activities like breathing, blood work, pressure, body temp etc.
What is a preconscious process?
Accessible only after attention brought to it. Stay in preconscious until needed.
What is an unconscious process?
Processing occurs below level of awareness. Freud and repression, subliminal messages.
What is a minimal process?
Fragmented connection between self and environment.
What is full consciousness?
Aware of both self and environment and able to provide information about it.
What is self-consciousness?
Focus on our individual selves.
What is a biological rhythm?
Periodic fluctuations in bodily functions.
What is circadian rhythm?
24 hour biological cycle. Plays a role in sleep/wakefulness, works through body temp and alertness.
What is the suprachiasmatic nucleus?
Located in the hypothalamus. Synchronizes own rhythm with daily cycle of light and dark input from retina. Blind individuals may experience sleeping problems.
What is the lightest sleep cycle?
Stage 1 of NREM (non-rapid eye movement).
How many levels of NREM are there?
4 stages. 90 minutes to cycle through all.
What are some characteristics of REM?
Constitutes 20-25% of adult sleep. Intense brain activity. Most dreaming occurs during REM.
What is stage 1 in sleep?
Light sleep that lasts a few minutes.
What is stage 2 in sleep?
50% of sleep occurs here, which is somewhat deeper than stage 1.
What is stage 3 in sleep?
The beginning of deep sleep.
What is stage 4 in sleep?
Deepest sleep.
What is consciousness?
Awareness of ourselves and our environment.
What are some theories about why we sleep?
Sleep is necessary for rest/recuperation. Required to recover from day’s stress/impact. Preservation/protection theory of hunting during the day when it was safe and food was available.
What is somnambulism?
Sleepwalking, occurs during parietal arousal from stage 4 sleep.
What is a sleep terror?
Also happens during transition from stage 3 and 4, and usually begins with piercing scream.
What are nightmares?
Frightening dreams that happen during REM.
What is narcolepsy?
Incurable sleep disorder characterized by excessive dartime sleepiness and uncontrollable attacks of REM sleep.
Vivid dreams, story-like, emotional and bizarre. What kind of dreams are these?
REM dreams.
Thought like quality dreams are what?
NREM dreams.
What is manifest content?
Details, what you can remember from the dreams.
What did Freud think of dreams?
Dreams are a symbolic representation of repressed wishes.
What is latent content?
Underlying meaning of the dream.
What is activation synthesis?
Visual processing area and limbic system are both active during REM sleep, frontal lobe isn’t active.
What is information processing in relation to dreams?
Dreams help us sort/place the day’s experiences into our memories. Slow wave-REM sleep converts experiences into memories and long term learning.
