Chapter 4: The Aware Mind [Exam 2]

Question 1

Consciousness

Answer 1

A state of awareness, knowing, being aware of ongoing experiences, content of awareness.

Question 2

Unconsciousness

Answer 2

Unaware of what is happening around us.

Question 3

Self-awareness

Answer 3

A special type of consciousness when we focus on ourselves as individuals

Question 4

Consciousness as Variations in Alertness

Answer 4

Varying states of awareness might allow animals to repair their bodies and conserve energy.
Varying states of awareness maximizes safety.
Controlled by the reticular formation.

Question 5

Consciousness as an Awareness of Ongoing Sensation

Answer 5

Being consciously aware of ongoing sensations is the ability to choose responses rather than to respond instinctively.
The thalamus relays the sensory information and integrates it.

Question 6

Consciousness as Self-Awareness

Answer 6

Self-awareness aspect of consciousness could heighten an animal’s drive to survive.
Understanding that you’re alive leads to a heightened meaningfulness of death.
Recognizing oneself in the mirror; Rogue test.

Question 7

Recapitulation

Answer 7

The idea that as we develop, we go through the stages from most basic levels of consciousness and awareness to the most sophisticated levels of consciousness and awareness.

Question 8

Circadian Rhythms

Answer 8

The patterns of wakefulness and sleep.

Influenced by internal and external factors; biological clock and zeitgebers.

Question 9

Beta waves

Answer 9

Alert wakefulness, irregular, and low amplitude.

Question 10

Alpha waves

Answer 10

Relaxed wakefulness, slower, larger, and more regular.

Question 11

Daydreaming/Mind-wandering

Answer 11

Refers to spontaneous, subjective experiences in a no-task, no-stimulus, no-response situation.
fMRI detects these active parts of the brain during this. They form a “default network.” When we are working on a hard task we engage in “executive network.”

Question 12

N-REM Sleep

Answer 12

Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3&4.

Question 13

Stage 1

Answer 13

When we first go to sleep, theta waves occur which are larger and slower.
Light sleep.

Question 14

Stage 2

Answer 14

Further reductions in heart rate and muscle tension.
Theta waves with sleep spindles and k-complexes; this activity reflects the brain’s efforts to keep us asleep while monitoring the external environment.

Question 15

Stage 3&4

Answer 15

Delta waves occur which are the largest and slowest.

In a very deep sleep.

Question 16

REM Sleep

Answer 16

Paradoxical sleep.
Autonomic nervous system is very active, heart rate, blood pressure and breathing become rapid and irregular.
Major postural muscles are completely inactive - small muscles might twitch; technically paralyzed.
Beta waves.

Question 17

Fatal Familial Insomnia

Answer 17

Middle-aged people lose the ability to sleep > death.

Damage to the thalamus.

Question 18

Nightmare

Answer 18

When the content of an REM dream is upsetting.

Question 19

Lucid Dreaming

Answer 19

Dreamer becomes aware of the fact that they’re dreaming and can use the awareness to direct the content of the dream.
It is a treatment for reoccurring nightmares.

Question 20

Nightterrors

Answer 20

Occur during N-REM sleep.
No memory of it the next day.
Genetic predisposition.

Question 21

Insomnia

Answer 21

A person has difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep.

Question 22

Onset Insomnia

Answer 22

Person lies in been for what seems to be a very long period but are unable to sleep.
Stress and anxiety are causes.

Question 23

Maintenance Insomnia

Answer 23

Occurs when sleep is frequently interrupted or early walking occurs.
Results from stress, substance use, or psychological disorders.

Question 24

Narcolepsy

Answer 24

Sleep attacks.
REM sleep occurs during wakefulness.
Attacks come on by strong emotions.

Question 25

Cataplexy

Answer 25

When the muscle paralysis normally associated with REM sleep occurs during wakefulness without any loss of consciousness.
Sex is a common emotional trigger.

Question 26

Sleep Apnea

Answer 26

A person stops breathing while sleeping.

Most people with this are obese or snore.

Question 27

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Answer 27

When a health infant dies while asleep.
Suffocation from blankets and stuffed animals.
Biological vulnerabilities in serotonin function.
Exposure to tobacco.

Question 28

Restless Leg Syndrome

Answer 28

Involuntary movement/tingling of an extremity - usually leg.

High rate among children and adults with ADD.

Question 29

Prosopagnosia

Answer 29

Condition that impacts a person’s ability to recognize faces.

Question 30

Capgras Syndrome

Answer 30

People are convinced that imposters have taken place of familiar people.
Opposite of prosopagnosia; the sense of emotion is only distorted.
Assumed to involve connections between visual areas of the brain and the amygdala.

Question 31

Coma

Answer 31

An abnormal state of consciousness.
Person doesn’t have sleep-waking cycles, doesn’t respond to pain or light, and incapable of voluntary behavior.
Results from a wide variety of conditions that impact the nervous system.
Patients show alpha patterns.

Question 32

Persistent Vegetative State

Answer 32

Brain death, an abnormal state following brain injury featuring wakefulness without consciousness.
Follows a coma.
Behaviors are normal but spontaneous.

Question 33

Brain Death

Answer 33

A complete irreversible lack of measurable brain activity.

No responses to external stimuli.

Question 34

Near-death Experiences

Answer 34

An altered state of consciousness reported by people who were close to death due to cardiac or other medical problems that features out-of-body experiences, light at the end of the tunnel perceptions, and a state of calmness.

Question 35

Seizures

Answer 35

Uncontrolled electrical disturbances in the brain that can be correlated with changes in consciousness.
Occurs as a result of brain injury or infection.
Disturbances in the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA may cause them.

Question 36

Partial Seizures

Answer 36

Originate in the focal area and are accompanied by an aura (premonition that a seizure is going to happen).

Question 37

Generalized seizures

Answer 37

Characterized by the abnormal activation of circuits connecting the cortex and the thalamus.

Question 38

Tonic-clonic seizures

Answer 38

Generalized seizure.
Begin with a loss of consciousness, cessation of breathing, and intense muscular contraction (violent and rhythmic). Followed by a period of coma.

Question 39

Absence seizure

Answer 39

Generalize seizure.
Person loses consciousness and awareness of his/her surroundings, and motor movements are limited to blinking, head turns, and eye movements.