Chapter 4: The Aware Mind [Exam 2] Flashcards
Consciousness
A state of awareness, knowing, being aware of ongoing experiences, content of awareness.
Unconsciousness
Unaware of what is happening around us.
Self-awareness
A special type of consciousness when we focus on ourselves as individuals
Consciousness as Variations in Alertness
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.
Consciousness as an Awareness of Ongoing Sensation
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.
Consciousness as Self-Awareness
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.
Recapitulation
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.
Circadian Rhythms
The patterns of wakefulness and sleep.
Influenced by internal and external factors; biological clock and zeitgebers.
Beta waves
Alert wakefulness, irregular, and low amplitude.
Alpha waves
Relaxed wakefulness, slower, larger, and more regular.
Daydreaming/Mind-wandering
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.”
N-REM Sleep
Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3&4.
Stage 1
When we first go to sleep, theta waves occur which are larger and slower.
Light sleep.
Stage 2
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.
Stage 3&4
Delta waves occur which are the largest and slowest.
In a very deep sleep.
REM Sleep
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.
Fatal Familial Insomnia
Middle-aged people lose the ability to sleep > death.
Damage to the thalamus.
Nightmare
When the content of an REM dream is upsetting.
Lucid Dreaming
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.
Nightterrors
Occur during N-REM sleep.
No memory of it the next day.
Genetic predisposition.
Insomnia
A person has difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep.
Onset Insomnia
Person lies in been for what seems to be a very long period but are unable to sleep.
Stress and anxiety are causes.
Maintenance Insomnia
Occurs when sleep is frequently interrupted or early walking occurs.
Results from stress, substance use, or psychological disorders.
Narcolepsy
Sleep attacks.
REM sleep occurs during wakefulness.
Attacks come on by strong emotions.
Cataplexy
When the muscle paralysis normally associated with REM sleep occurs during wakefulness without any loss of consciousness.
Sex is a common emotional trigger.
Sleep Apnea
A person stops breathing while sleeping.
Most people with this are obese or snore.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
When a health infant dies while asleep.
Suffocation from blankets and stuffed animals.
Biological vulnerabilities in serotonin function.
Exposure to tobacco.
Restless Leg Syndrome
Involuntary movement/tingling of an extremity - usually leg.
High rate among children and adults with ADD.
Prosopagnosia
Condition that impacts a person’s ability to recognize faces.
Capgras Syndrome
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.
Coma
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.
Persistent Vegetative State
Brain death, an abnormal state following brain injury featuring wakefulness without consciousness.
Follows a coma.
Behaviors are normal but spontaneous.
Brain Death
A complete irreversible lack of measurable brain activity.
No responses to external stimuli.
Near-death Experiences
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.
Seizures
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.
Partial Seizures
Originate in the focal area and are accompanied by an aura (premonition that a seizure is going to happen).
Generalized seizures
Characterized by the abnormal activation of circuits connecting the cortex and the thalamus.
Tonic-clonic seizures
Generalized seizure.
Begin with a loss of consciousness, cessation of breathing, and intense muscular contraction (violent and rhythmic). Followed by a period of coma.
Absence seizure
Generalize seizure.
Person loses consciousness and awareness of his/her surroundings, and motor movements are limited to blinking, head turns, and eye movements.
