Chapter 4 - Consciousness Flashcards
What is consciousness?
A concept with many meanings including sensory awareness of the world outside, the direct inner awareness of one’s thoughts and feelings, personal unity, and the waking state.
What is selective attention?
The focus of one’s consciousness is on a particular stimulus.
What is direct inner awareness?
It is knowledge of one’s thoughts, feelings, and memories without using sensory organs.
What is pre-conscious?
Preconscious material is not currently in awareness but is readily available. For example, trying to remember a friend’s phone number allows you to use your preconscious.
What is nonconscious?
Nonconscious is descriptive of bodily processes, such as growing hair, of which we cannot become conscious; we may “recognize” that our hair is growing, but we cannot directly experience the biological process.
What is suppression?
Suppression is the deliberate, or conscious placing of specific ideas, impulses, or images out of awareness. Suppression and our nonconscious are linked in this process.
What is your circadian rhythm?
A cycle is connected with the 24-hour period of the earth’s rotation.
What is the suprachiasmatic nucleus?
The proteins in the retinas of the eys signal tiny structures in the hypothalamus called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). The SCN stimulates the pineal gland to decrease or increase its output of the hormone melatonin.
What does the EEG do with sleep?
The EEG or electroencephalograph shows patterns that reflect the frequency and strength of brain waves during the waking state and the various stages of sleep.
What are the brain waves called when we are awake?
Beta waves.
What are the brain waves called when we are drowsy?
Alpha waves.
What is included in Stage 1 of NREM?
It includes low frequency and low amplitude. It is made of theta waves.
What is included in Stage 2 of NREM?
It includes sleep spindles and the K complex.
What is included in Stage 3 of NREM?
It includes low frequencies and high amplitude. It is the beginning of the delta waves.
What is included in Stage 4 of NREM?
It includes delta waves that continue to increase in amplitude.
What is REM?
REM is a stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movements, which have been linked to dreaming. The brain waves are similar to those in NREM stage 1. It occurs when we re-enter Stage 1, about 90 after falling asleep, often called paradoxical sleep.
The functions of sleep?
It rejuvenates the body, helps us recover from stress, helps us consolidate learning, and may promote the development of infants’ brains.
Effects of sleep deprivation?
Under deprivation of REM sleep, people learn more slowly and forget what they have learned more quickly. The tend to show REM rebound, meaning that they spend more time in REM sleep during subsequent sleep periods.
What are dreams?
Dreams produce imagery in the absence of external stimulation and can see real.
What are some dream theories?
Sigmund Freud theorized that dreams reflect unconscious wishes and urges. But, according to the continuity hypothesis, if we are preoccupied with illness or death, sexual or aggressive urges, or moral dilemmas, we are likely to dream about them.
When are dreams more vivid?
Dreams are most likely to be vivid during REM sleep, whereas images are vaguer and more fleeting during NREM sleep.
What is the activation-synthesis model?
It is the view that dreams reflect the activation of cognitive activity by the reticular formation and synthesis of this activity into a pattern.
What are sleep disorders?
The term sleep disorder is reserved for other problems that can seriously interfere with our functioning.
What is insomnia?
Insomnia is the inability to sleep. Trying to get to sleep can compound sleep problems by creating autonomic activity and muscle tension.