Chapter 3 - Consciousness and the Two-Track Mind

Question 1

What is consciousness?

Answer 1

An awareness of ourselves and our environment, can be spontaneous, physiologically induced, or psychologically induced

Question 2

What is conscious awareness?

Answer 2

We think we are processing more than we actually do, unconscious processing of our environments reflects our moods

Question 3

What is selective attention?

Answer 3

Our conscious awareness processes only a small part of all that we experience

Question 4

What is inattention blindness?

Answer 4

Refers to the inability to see an object or a person in our midst

Question 5

What is change blindness?

Answer 5

A form of inattention blindness where people fail to notice large changes to visual scenes

Question 6

Why does change blindness happen?

Answer 6

Attention is diverted from the changed object, if the change is not central or meaningful to the scene, it is likely to go unnoticed

Question 7

What is a circadian rhythm?

Answer 7

Occurs on a 24-hour cycle and includes sleep and wakefulness (our biological clock)

Question 8

When do sleep stages happen?

Answer 8

About every 90 minutes, we pass through a cycle of five distinct sleep stages

Question 9

Sleep Stages

What happens in the awake but relaxed stage?

Answer 9

Brain actiivty slows to a large amplitude and slow, regular alpha waves (9-14 cps)

ex. meditating

Question 10

Sleep Stages

What happens during Sleep Stage 1?

Answer 10

Light sleep, enters theta waves (5-8 cps), may have hallucinations, feel like falling

Question 11

Sleep Stages

What happens during Sleep Stage 2?

Answer 11

Approx. 20 minutes, deep sleep, enters delta waves, may sleep talk and be awakened without too much difficulty

Question 12

Sleep Stages

What happens during Sleep Stages 3 and 4?

Answer 12

Stage 3 is transitional moving into Stage 4 (deepest sleep), lasts approx. 30 mins for each stages, beta waves, hardest to awaken, wetting the bed or sleep walking can happen

Question 13

Sleep Stages

What happens during Sleep Stage 5/REM Sleep?

Answer 13

As you move backwards towards stages 4, 3 and 2, for 10 min, your brain waves are rapid like you are nearly awake, heart rate rises, breathing is rapid and your eyes move: dream stage

ex. aroused genitals, paralyzed muscles, emotional

Question 14

What happens during each 90-min cycle?

Answer 14

With each 90-min cycle, stage 4 sleep decreases and the duration of REM sleep increases

Question 15

How much sleep are we supposed to get?

Answer 15

• Adults: 6-8 hrs/day
• Newborns: 16 hrs
• Teenagers: 8-10 hrs/day

A 15 min nap during the day = an hour of sleep at night

Question 16

What can sleep deprivation cause?

Answer 16

• Fatigue and subsequent death
• Cognitive: impaired concentration, critical thinking skills, creativity, vocabulary, and memory
• Emotional irritability, bad mood and poor communication
• Depressed immune system, 3x more likely to get sick
• Greater vulnerability to accidents, clumsy

Question 17

What are the sleep theories?

Answer 17

1. Sleep protects
2. Sleep helps us recover
3. Sleep helps us remember
4. Sleep may play a role in the growth process

Question 18

What is insomnia?

Answer 18

A persistent inability to fall asleep

Question 19

What is narcolepsy?

Answer 19

Overpowering urge to fall asleep that may occur while talking or standing up

Question 20

What is Klein Levin Syndrome?

Answer 20

Causes people to sleep for days or weeks

Question 21

What is hypnophobia?

Answer 21

Fear of falling asleep because people feel physical or psychological pain during sleep

Question 22

What is sleep apnea?

Answer 22

The central nervous system ceases to function during sleep

Question 23

What sleep disorders are children most prone to?

Answer 23

• Night terrors
• Sleepwalking
• Sleeptalking

Question 24

What is manifest content?

Answer 24

A Freudian term meaning the storyline of dreams

Question 25

What do most people dream about?

Answer 25

1. Negative emotional content
2. Failure dreams
3. Sexual dreams

Question 26

Why do we dream?

Answer 26

1. Wish fulfillment
2. Information processing
3. Activation synthesis
4. Cognitive development

Question 27

What is hypnosis?

Answer 27

A social interaction in which one person (the hypnotist) suggests to another (the subject) that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur

Question 28

Hypnosis

What is the social influence theory?

Answer 28

Hypnotic subjects may be simply be imaginative actors playing a social role

Question 29

Hypnosis

What is the divided consciousness theory?

Answer 29

Hypnosis is a special state of dissociated (divided) consciousness

Question 30

What is a psychoactive drug?

Answer 30

A chemical substance that alters perceptions and mood (affects consciousness)

Question 31

What is tolerance?

Answer 31

Continued use of a psychoactive drug, and lessens the drug’s effect

Question 32

What is withdrawal?

Answer 32

Upon stopping the use of a drug, users may experience the undesirable effects

Question 33

What is dependence?

Answer 33

Absence of a drug may lead to a feeling of physical pain, intense cravinds (physical), and negative emotions (psychological)

Question 34

What is addiction?

Answer 34

Craving for a chemical substance, despite its adverse consequences

Question 35

What are depressants?

Answer 35

Reduce neural activity and slow body functions

ex. alcohol, opiates

Question 36

What are stimulants?

Answer 36

Excite neural activity and speed up body functions

Ex. caffeine, nicotine, cocaine

Question 37

What are hallucinogens?

Answer 37

Psychedelic drugs that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input

ex. LSD, THC (found in weed)

Question 38

What is a near death experience/NDE?

Answer 38

After having a close brush with death or those suffering from long term illness, many report an experience of moving through a dark tunnel with a light at the end