Chapter 5 - Consciousness and Sleep Flashcards
Consciousness
being aware of our environment and ourselves
Brain Mental States:
- Sleeping,
- Dreaming
- Awake
Types of Consciousness: Selective Attention:
focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus
Types of Consciousness: Inattentional Blindness
the failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere
Types of Consciousness: Day dreaming:
apart of our waking consciousness even though our awareness of the environment around us declines
Purpose of Daydreams:
- Substitutes for impulsive behavior
- Escapes from reality
Helps us to prepare for future events
Types of Consciousness: Change Blindness
failing to notice a change in an environment
Sleep
a cycle of 90 mins which repeats throughout the night with each NREM cycle getting shorter and each REM cycle getting longer
- brain is equally as active but in different areas when compared to waking consciousness
Factors which are good for sleep
Factors Influencing good sleep:
- 8 hours a night
- Circadian rhythms(melatonin is produced in the evening to induce sleepiness and removed at the sight of light)
Types of Sleep
REM: Rapid eye movement sleep which includes dreams
- Lasts for about 10 mins
- Characterised by irregular breathing, occasional sexual arousal and darting eyes
NREM: non rapid eye movement sleep which is dreamless and has 4 stages
- lasts 50-70 mins
Stages of NREM Sleep:
- Stage 1: the transitional stage from wake to sleep where you are aware of falling asleep
○ Characterised by a sensation of falling, sleep jerking,
○ Lasts a few minutes- Stage 2: the most prominent stage which lasts the longest begins when you are first asleep,
○ Characterized by sleep talking, and being easily awoken
○ Lasts 15-20 mins - Stage 3: A deep sleep where you are hard to wake
○ Characterised by bedwetting and sleep walking
Lasts for about 30 mins initially and decreases over a night
- Stage 2: the most prominent stage which lasts the longest begins when you are first asleep,
Dreams
a sequence of images, emotions and thoughts that pass through a persons mind when they sleep
- Emotion based as our limbic system is much more active during sleep whereas our Frontal lobe is silent
why we dream
- to satisfy our own wishes
- To Shift, sort and secure memories(transfers memory from STM to LTM)
- To develop and preserve neural pathways(REM sleep develops the brain)
- To reflect cognitive development(dreams show reflections of brain maturation and development)
- To make sense of neural static/activity(the brain is attempting to make sense of all that is around it)
Major Sleep Disorders: Insomnia
impacts 1/10 people which is characterized by a difficulty in falling asleep, staying asleep and getting back to sleep.
Major Sleep Disorders: Narcolepsy
impacts 1/2000 adults which is characterized by a sudden attack of overwhelming sleepiness or need to sleep which lasts for less than 5 mins.
○ Supposedly caused by a lack of Hypocretin, a brain chemical which regulates sleep as result of an autoimmune disease
Major Sleep Disorders: Sleep Apnea
impacts 1/20 adults which is characterized by repeated stopping of breathing during sleep
- Thought to be caused by excessive weight associated with soft tissues in the throat and mouth such as the tongue which when relaxed blocks air pathways.
Major Sleep Disorders: NightTerrors
impacts 1/30 children which is characterized by sleep talking and sleep walking during NREM stage 3
Differences between NightTerrors and NightMares
- Terrors occur 1-3 hours after falling asleep while Mares are after 3 hours
- Terrors start by a sudden cry of fear while Mares begins in a build up of crying
- Terrors show no response to comfort while Mares have positive responses
- Terrors are not remembered in the morning while Mares are remembered
Psychoactive drugs
a chemical that changes our state of consciousness and particularly alters our perceptions and mood
- Can be prescribed as sleeping pills, tranquilizers and anxiety medication - Impact mood by influencing how neurotransmitters operate at the synapses of the CNS
Types of Psychoactive Drugs: Stimulants:
drugs which excite neural activity and speed up bodily functions by promoting Glutamate increasing mood and energy
○ E.g. caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, ecstasy, amphetamines, methamphetamines
Types of Psychoactive Drugs: Depressants:
suppress the nervous system and reduce neural activity by inhibiting GABA making you relaxed and calm
E.g. Alcohol, Barbiturates, opiates(painkillers)
Types of Depressants:
- alcohol
- barbiturates
- Opiates
Types of Psychoactive Drugs: Hallucinogens
disrupt or alter consciousness by affecting perception of time and by creating visions that are not real
E.g. LSD, mushrooms, Ketamine
Signs of an alcohol Disorder
- Frequent uses
- Hides uses
- Uses despite interferences with work and relationships
- Cannot stop or cutdown
Barbiturates
depress the activity of the CNS, reducing anxiety but impairing memory and judgement
- Classed as sedative hypnotics - E.g. Nembutal, Seconal, Amytal
Opiates
opium and its derivatives depress neural activity, temporarily lessening pain and anxiety
Factors upsetting our Circadian Rhythms
- The use of caffeine
- Use of stimulant drugs
- Shift work
International travel and jetlag
Freuds Views on dreams
Freuds view on dreams
- Safety valves for our mind; our minds way of relieving stress
- portray unconscious motivations
Freud suggests that dreams have two parts
○ The manifest content: the storyline
The latent content: the symbolic meaning
Major Sleep Disorders: Sleep Walking
involves getting up and walking around while in a state of sleep.
○ More common in children and is usually outgrown in their late teen years ○ Isolated incidents don’t signal serious issues ○ Recurrent sleepwalking may suggest underlying physiological or psychological issues
Factors Leading to Sleep Walking
- Sleep deprivation
- Stress
- Fever
- Sleep schedule disruptions
- Sleep disordered breathing(sleep apnea)
Certain medications
Why do we Sleep
Why do we Sleep:
- To rest
- To recover and restore body tissues
- Growth: pituitary releases growth hormones during sleep
