Chapter 6 - Consciousness Flashcards
the study of individual consciousness that addresses subjective experience
phenomenology
a person’s awareness of herself and her surroundings
consciousness
because the nature of consciousness is internal, a person can’t tell how similar another person’s perceptions are to his own
problem of the minds
state characterized by bizarre, disorganized, and dreamlike thought patterns; state in which a person is not fully alert to his mental processes
altered state of consciousness
relatively fragmented connection between self and environment in which a person might respond to a stimulus without being aware of it at a more thoughtful level
minimal consciousness
state in which person is aware of environment, his mental state, and can provide information about it
full consciousness
most self-aware state of consciousness; allows person to focus on himself
self-consciousness
state of consciousness experienced while we sleep but can still respond to a nudge by rolling over
minimal consciousness
state of consciousness when we examine ourselves in a mirror
self-consciousness
state of consciousness that involves metacognition (thinking about thoughts)
full consciousness
process that occurs in the body that people do not have to consciously monitor or regulate
nonconscious process (heart beat, breathing)
information usually outside a person’s awareness, but that’s able to be brought into consciousness on demand
preconscious information (memories)
experiences, ideas, and motives that are so threatening or unacceptable that a person has permanently removed them from consciousness
unconscious information
collection of mental processes that affect the way a person feels or behaves, even though she is not consciously aware of them
cognitive unconscious
aspect of consciousness that allows people to selectively analyze, interpret, and act on stimuli
selective storage function
aspect of consciousness that allows people to exercise selective attention or consciously focus on one stimulus or perception at a given time
restrictive function
aspect of consciousness that helps inhibit unethical, immoral or impractical urges
planning function
natural loss of consciousness
sleep
biological clock that regulates body function on a 24 hour cycle
circadian rythm
part of hypothalamus that controls circadian clock; acts on pineal gland; signaled by light hitting retina
suprachiasmatic nucleus
sleep inducing hormone secreted by pineal glad
melatonin
sleep inducing hormone, activity can be blocked by caffeine
adenosine
Recurring stage of sleep with vivid dreams
REM sleep
wave that characterizes active wakefulness
Beta wave
brain wave that characterizes relaxed wakefulness
alpha wave
wave that characterizes stage 1 sleep
theta wave
biphasic wave that occurs spontaneously during sleep; first appears in stage 2
k-complex
things that happen during stage 1 sleep
hypnagogia, exploding head syndrome, feeling of floating, alien abductions
burst of fast, sharply pointed brain waves; first appear in stage 2
sleep spindles
4 theories of sleep
preservation & protection, body restoration, memory, growth
brain wave with high amplitude that characterizes stage 3
delta waves
learning while asleep; behavioral learning (like not biting fingernails), but probably not cognitive learning
hypnopaedia
a person who requires much less that 8 hours of sleep a day
nonsomniac
sleep disorder characterized by recurring difficulty falling or staying asleep
insomnia
sleep disorder characterized by periodic, uncontrollable sleep attacks
narcolepsy
sleep disorder in which people intermittently stop breathing
sleep apnea
benign sleep disorder common in children, characterized by episodes of high arousal and terrified appearance
night terror
sequence of images, feeling, ideas, and impressions that pass through the mind during sleep
dream
what a person explicity remembers about a dream–storyline, characters, details
manifest content
phenomenon in which a person achieves awareness of a dream while he is dreaming
lucid dreaming
describes the unconscious meaning of a dream
latent content
dreams are a result of brain’s attempt to make sense of neural random neural activity during sleep
activation-synthesis theory
excercise in suggesting perceptions, feeling, thoughts,or behaviors that a subject can expect to experience
hypnosis
susceptibility to hypnotism
hypnotic ability
suggestion made during hypnosis that is executed by participant when she is no longer hypnotized
posthypnotic suggestion
4 theories of purpose of dreams
fulfill wishes and express unacceptable feelings; information processing (sort and stabalize memories); activation-synthesis; development
pain relief through hypnosis, may work by causing dissociation
hypnotic analgesia
split in cosciousness that allows simultaneous thoughts and behaviors to occur apart from each other
dissociation
may happen during hypnosis
4 levels of consciousness
altered state of consciousness, minimal consciousness, full consciousness, self-consciousness
types of information that we aren’t aware of
nonconscious (autonomic activities), preconscious (on demand), and unconscious (burried)
survival advantages of consciousness
restrictive function (cocktail-party phenomenon), selective storage function, the planning function
parts of the brain involved with sleep
hypothalamus, suprachiasmatic nucleus, pineal gland
purpose of hypnosis
recall, therapy (posthypnotic suggestion), pain relief (hypnotic analgesia)
