Chapter 6 Flashcards

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1
Q

What is consciousness?

A

moment-to-moment awareness of ourselves and our environment

subjective and private

dynamic

self-reflective/central to our sense of self

connected with selective attention

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2
Q

How is consciousness subjective and private?

A

same event experienced differently

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3
Q

How is consciousness dynamic?

A

changes through fluctuations in attention and awareness

daydreaming, focus, sleepy, etc.

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4
Q

How is consciousness self-reflective and central to our sense of self?

A

mind is aware of consciousness, so can reflect that you are the one who is conscious of it

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5
Q

What are the ways of measuring an individuals state of consciousness?

A

ways to operationalize consciousness

self report

physiological

behavioural

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6
Q

How do you measure consciousness through self report?

A

ask participants to describe inner experiences

not verifiable

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7
Q

How do you measure consciousness using a physiological method?

A

link between bodily states and mental processes

heart rate, sweating, EEG

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8
Q

How do you measure consciousness using a behavioral method?

A

task performance

more objective than self report but still have to infer mental state

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9
Q

What are Freud’s three levels of consciousness?

A

consciousness: current awareness
precociousness: outside awareness, can be easily recalled
nonconsciousness: cannot be brought to awareness

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10
Q

How can unconscious processes influence behaviour?

A

placebo effects

split-brain patients

subliminal perception

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11
Q

What is controlled processing?

A

voluntary, effortful

planning, studying, more flexible/open to change

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12
Q

What is autonomic processing?

A

little to no conscious effort

routine actions or well-learned tasks

type, drive

offers speed/autonomy of processes

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13
Q

What is divided attention?

A

ability to perform more than one activity at the same time

facilitated by autonomic processing

talk and walk

adaptive most of the time

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14
Q

What is the neural basis of consciousness?

A

disorders of conscious perception give clues to neural basis of consciousness

visual agnosia/prosopagnosia, blind sight, damage to primary or association sensory cortex

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15
Q

What are circadian rhythms?

A

cyclical changes that occur roughly every 24 hours

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16
Q

What is the brain’s biological clock?

A

feel drowsy in afternoon due to SCN inactivity

drowsy at night due to melatonin

regulates seasonal changes too

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17
Q

What is the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)?

A

in hypothalamus

active during day, quiet at night

controls level of alertness

no SCN = sleep/wake behavior, hormone schedules, and physiological parameters (body temp, etc.) are lost

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18
Q

What are some environmental disruptions of circadian rhythms?

A

seasonal affective disorder (SAD)

jetlag (easier to travel west)

shiftwork (drive home in day, harder to adjust internal clock)

daylight savings (increased accident risk)

disturbed sleep accumulates (errors on job, increased risk of injury)

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19
Q

What are the different brain waves awake and asleep?

A

beta waves: conscious

alpha waves: subconscious

theta waves: superconscious

delta waves: dream state

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20
Q

What is stage 1 of sleep?

A

light sleep (body jerks)

a few minutes

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21
Q

What is stage 2 of sleep?

A

sleep spindles

muscles relaxed

breathing/heart rate slowed

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22
Q

What is stage 3 of sleep?

A

slow waves

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23
Q

What is stage 4 of sleep?

A

20-30 minutes

delta waves

24
Q

What is REM sleep?

A

rapid eye movement sleep

HR increase, temp increase, breathing rapid, brain waves similar to awake

body is “paralyzed”

82% REM dreaming, 7% NREM dreaming

pathway through the night, stage 3 and 4 stops, REM gets longer

25
Q

What are REM dreams?

A

vivid, perception of reality, bizarre activity

26
Q

What are NREM dreams?

A

much less vivid, lacks a story, often still, “sleep thoughts”

27
Q

What are the brain structures involved in falling asleep?

A

basal forebrain and regions of the brainstem

28
Q

What are the brain structures involved in REM sleep?

A

brainstem (reticular formation)

increased limbic system activity

association areas near visual cortex

decreased PFC

29
Q

What much sleep is needed?

A

newborns: 16 hrs/day
adults: 7 hrs

individual variation

30
Q

What is sleep deprivation?

A

look at mood/irritability, mental tasks, and physical tasks in: short term total sleep deprivation, long term total sleep deprivation, partial deprivation

mood worst, then mental tasks, then physical tasks

Randy Gardner: awake 11 days, slept for 15 hours, normal sleep within a week

31
Q

Why do we sleep?

A

restoration model: recharges body, recover from physical/mental fatigue, if true then activities that increase daily wear on body should increase sleep (some support)

evolutionary/circadian model: increase chance of survival

energy conservation

32
Q

What is insomnia?

A

chronic difficulty in falling asleep (young), staying asleep (older), or experiencing restless sleep

10-40% of the population

has biological, psychological, and environmental causes

33
Q

What is narcolepsy?

A

uncontrollably falling asleep, last between a minute to an hour

not related to sleep at night

cataplexy (loss of motor control) and go directly to REM sleep

genetic predisposition: insensitivity to hypocretin (regulates arousal, wakefulness, and appetite)

34
Q

What is sleepwalking?

A

typically occurs during stage 3/4

blank stares, no memory of event

10-30% of children, <5% of adults

more likely if stressed, ill, drinking/using meds

wait for kids to “grow out of it”

okay to wake them up

35
Q

What are nightmares?

A

frightening dreams

36
Q

What are night terrors?

A

screaming, thrashing, sweating, etc.

during stages 3/4

no recollection

6% of children, 1-2% of adults

wait for child to grow out of it

37
Q

What are dreams?

A

between 15-40% of sleepers report dreamlike activity within 6 minutes of falling asleep

dream most when brain is active (REM and last few hours before waking)

failure to recall dream isn’t failure to have a dream

most dreams take place in familiar settings with people we know

80% negative emotions, ~50% aggressive acts, 33% misfourtune

38
Q

How did Freud explain dreams?

A

main purpose of dreams: wish fulfillment (gratification of unconscious sexual and aggressive urges)

manifest content (“surface story”)

latent content: disguised psychological meaning

dream analysis: highly subjective

39
Q

How does activation-synthesis theory explain dreams?

A

brain is trying to “make sense” of random neural activity during REM sleep

no special purpose, dreams are a by-product of REM activity

critics: overestimates “bizarreness” of dreams, dreams can occur outside of REM sleep

40
Q

How do cognitive approaches explain dreams?

A

problem-solving dream model: dreams can help find creative solutions to problems/conflicts (not constrained by reality)

cognitive process dream theories: process of how we dream, dreams and wakefulness produced by same mental systems

41
Q

What is the integrating of dream persepectives?

A

Antrobus (1991)

REM reticular formation activates cortex

perception interpreted by cognitive modules

emotion may overlay a theme, signal perceptual model

limited external sensory input, brain does “best fit” of interpretation

42
Q

How do drugs alter consciousness?

A

modify brain chemistry, cross the blood-brain barrier

facilitate or inhibit synaptic transmission

43
Q

What are drugs?

A

substance that contains chemicals that alter consciousness by changing chemical processes in neurons

normally act through neurotransmitter systems

agonist or antagonist

44
Q

What is tolerance?

A

decreasing responsivity to a drug

require more drug to achieve same effects

body produces compensatory responses

depends on setting (classical conditioning)

45
Q

What is withdrawal?

A

compensatory responses after stopping drug use

true for both legal and illegal drugs

46
Q

What are misconceptions about substance dependence?

A

drug tolerance does not always lead to withdrawal

pleasurable effect of drugs play powerful role in drug dependence

many factors influences drug dependence: genetics, personality, religion, peers, cultural norms

47
Q

What are depressants?

A

decrease nervous system activity, increase GABA (inhibitory)

in moderate doses: reduce anxiety, produce euphoria

in high doses: slow vital life functions, can be fatal

alcohol, barbiturates, tranquilizers

48
Q

What are stimulants?

A

increase nervous system activity/neural firing, increase dopamine and norepinephrine

increase blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, etc.

boost mood, produce euphoria, heighten irritability

amphetamines, cocaine

49
Q

What are opiates?

A

opium: product of poppy plant, morphine, codeine, heroin, derived from opium

bind to receptors activated by endorphins: pain relief, mood changes, euphoria

highly addictive and traumatic withdrawal

50
Q

What are hallucinogens?

A

mind-altering drugs that produce hallucinations

mescaline, psilocybin, LSD, phencyclidine

distort sensory experience (synesthete-type “cross-talk”)

unpredicable

51
Q

What is marijuana?

A

roughly one third report using drug in Canada

THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is a major active ingredient, binds to receptors on neurons throughout the brain, increase dopamine and GABA

52
Q

What are some myths about marijuana?

A

unmotivated and apathetic: amotivational syndrome

start using more dangerous drugs

no significant damages with use: more cancer-causing substances than tobacco, in high doses may lead to negative mood, sensory distortion, panic and anxiety

53
Q

What are the determents of drug effect?

A

genes

physical and social setting

culture

beliefs and expectations

personality factors

effects depend on more than chemical structure

54
Q

What is hypnosis?

A

a therapeutic technique in which clinicians make suggestions to individuals who have undergone a procedure designed to relax them and focus their minds

individual differences in susceptibility to hypnosis

55
Q

What are some myths and misconceptions surrounding hypnosis?

A

involuntary control: even those who are told to “pretend they’re hypnotized” will do the actions

physiological effects/amazing feats: can experience these without being hypnotized

pain tolerance: partially a placebo effect, but other techniques such as visualization and distraction will also show reductions in pain

hypnosis is a dream like state: EEG during hypnosis does not look like sleep

memories are altered: either forget experiences or change memory when hypnotized, not more accurate at remembering, just more confident in false memories

56
Q

What are social cognitive theories regarding hypnosis?

A

response to hypnosis due to attitudes, beliefs, motivations, and expectations of hypnosis

will experience what you expect

immersing self in social role (not “faking”)

believe acts are involunatry

57
Q

What happens to your brain during hypnosis?

A

activity in pain areas decreased with reports of reduced pain

sensation, perception, memory, motor control, all studies under hypnosis, and brain activity matches self-report