Chapter 6: Consciousness and Sleep

Question 1

Consciousness

Answer 1

• Consciousness is an individual’s awareness of oneself and the environment.
• Throughout the day, mood, alertness, efficiency, and consciousness itself are in perpetual flux.
• Changing states of consciousness are often associated with biological rhythms.

Question 2

Biological Rhythms

Answer 2

• A periodic, more or less, regular fluctuation in a biological system.
• Rhythms can be synchronized with external Ientrainment) or internal cues (endogenous).
• Biological rhythms influence effectiveness of medication, alertness, job performance.

Question 3

Circadian Rhythms

Answer 3

• Occur approximately every 24 hours (e.g., sleep-wake cycle)
  
  • Commonly entrained to external time cues.
  • Endogenous rhythm averages 24.3 hours.
  • Controlled by biological clock in suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)
  • Regulates levels of melatonin secreted by pineal gland.

Question 4

Internal Desynchronization

Answer 4

• A state in which biological rhythms are not in phase (synchronized) with one another.
• Change in your normal routines can cause desynchronization
• May also occur in response to jet lag, rotating shift work, daylight savings time.

Question 5

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Answer 5

A disorder in which a person experiences depression during the winter and an improvement of mood in the spring.

• Treatments may involve phototherapy or exposure to fluorescent light.
• Inconsistent findings with respect to prevalence (2-20%) and effectiveness of treatments.

Question 6

How often do we cycle between periods of REM and non-REM sleep?

Answer 6

~90 minutes. REM lengthens through the night.

Question 7

Rapid eye movement (REM)

Answer 7

characterized by eye movement, loss of muscle tone, and dreaming.

• Active brain but inactive muscles

Question 8

Non-REM (NREM) sleep

Answer 8

Characterized by fewer eye movements than in REM.

• Divided into 4 stages with different brain waves.
• Relaxed brain associated with alpha waves.

Question 9

Alpha waves

Answer 9

Brain activity during a state of relaxed wakefulness

Question 10

NREM-1

Answer 10

Period when the sleep is on the edge of consciousness, in a light sleep

Question 11

NREM-2

Answer 11

Sleep stage characterized by short bursts of rapid waves

Question 12

NREM-3

Answer 12

Sleep stage characterized by very slow waves with high peaks

Question 13

What certain processes does sleep allow to occur?

Answer 13

• Body eliminates waste products from muscles
• Repairs cells
• Conserves and replenishes energy stores.
• Strengthens immune system
• Recovers abilities lost during the day
• Necessary for normal mental functioning

Question 14

Chronic sleep deprivation

Answer 14

increases cortisol levels which can impair neurons involved in learning and memory. Higher risk for disease, illness and death.

Question 15

Chronic insomnia

Answer 15

Difficulty falling or staying asleep; about 3.3 million Canadian adults experience this. May be a modest corellation between lack or amount of exercise and ability to falling asleep. If you excerise it becomes easier to fall asleep.

Question 16

How much sleep do we need?

Answer 16

Most adults need more than 6 hours for optimal performance, and many adolescents need 10.

Daytime sleepiness linked to inadequate sleep during night, associated with decreased mental performance.

Question 17

Memory Consultation

Answer 17

Process by which synapse changes associated with recently stored memories become durable and stable, causing memory to become more reliable. (may not remember things right away but will remember after a good sleep)

• Linked to REM and slow-wave sleep.
• May also enhance problem-solving abilities. (you could figure out a problem during sleep and wake up with the answer)

Question 18

Lucid Dreams

Answer 18

Dream in which the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming, may be able to exert some control over dream.

Question 19

What 4 theories have been proposed to explain the purpose of dreams?

Answer 19

Psychoanalytic, problem-focused, cognitive, activation-synthesis

Question 20

Psychoanalytic approach to dreaming

Answer 20

• Freud was interested in imagery and symbolism
• Dreams provide insight into unconscious wishes and desires - “a royal road to the unconscious.”
• Manifest content: aspects of dreams that are conciously experienced; may involve “day residue.”
• Latent content: aspects of dream that are unconscious wishes being expressed symbolically.

Question 21

Problem-solving approach to dreaming

Answer 21

Explanation in which the symbols and metaphors in a dream do not disguise its true meaning; they convey it. Dreams are symbols and they have to be interpreted.

• Dreams often contain material related to our current concerns (e.g., relationships, work, sex, health)
• May provide opportunities ro resolve problems.

Question 22

Cognitive approach to dreaming

Answer 22

• Dreams reflect modifications of cognitive activity that goes on when we are awake.
• Most likely to dream about topics that occupy our waking thoughts.

Question 23

Activation-synthesis theory of sleeping

Answer 23

Dreams as brain activity

• Dreaming results from cortical synthesis and interpretation of neural signals triggered by activity in the lower part of the brain.

Question 24

Hypnosis

Answer 24

Procedure in which the practitioner suggests changes in the sensations, perceptions, thoughts, feelings, or behaviour of the participant.

Question 25

6 parts of the nature of hypnosis

Answer 25

1. Hypnotic responsiveness depends more on the efforts and qualities of the person being hypnotized than on the skills of the hypnotist.
2. Hypnotized people cannot be forced to do things against their will.
3. Feats performed while under hypnosis can be perofmred by motivated people without hypnosis.
4. Hypnosis does not increase the accuracy of memory. It is just a state you are in.
5. Hypnosis does not produce a literal re-experiencing of long-ago events. You cannot go back to the mindset of a four-year-old.
6. Hypnotic suggestions have been used effectively for many medical and psychological problems.

Question 26

Dissociation Theories of Hypnosis

Answer 26

• Split in consciousness (hidden observer)
• Control of executive function (frontal lobes) weakened to altered (not dissociated) state of consciousness.

Question 27

Sociocognitive Theories of Hypnosis

Answer 27

• The social influence of the hypnotist.
• The abilities beliefs, and expectations of the subject.
• The hypnotized person plays a role and submits to hypnotist.

Question 28

Psychoactive drugs

Answer 28

alter cognition and emotion by acting on neurotransmitters in the brain to impact: mood, thinking, memory, and behaviour.

Reactions to psychoactive drugs depend on idividual factors such as weight, metabolism, level of emotional arousal, personality, physical tolerance.

Question 29

Stimulants

Answer 29

Drugs that speed up activity in the CNS
E.g., nicotine, caffeine, cocaine, amphetamines, methamphetamines.

Question 30

Depressants

Answer 30

Drugs that slow the activity in the CNS.
E.g., alcohol, tranquillizaers, bartbiturates, inhalants.

Question 31

Opiates

Answer 31

Drugs, derived from opium poppy, that relieve pain and commonly produce euphoria.
E.g., opium heroin, mophine, methadone, fentanyl.

Question 32

Psychedelic Drugs

Answer 32

Drugs that produce hallucinations, change thought processes, or disrupt the normal perception of the time and space.
E.g., LSD, mescaline, salvia divinorum, psilocybin

Question 33

How do psychoactive drugs produce their effects?

Answer 33

Acting on brain neurotransmitters (NTs).

• Increase/decrease release of NTs.
• Prevents reabsorption of excess NTs.
• Block effects of NTs on receiving cells.
• Bind to receptors that would ordinarily be triggered by NTs.

Question 34

What does cocaine do?

Answer 34

• Blocks reabsorption of dopamine and norepinephrine.
• Results in over-stimulation of brain circuits to produce euphoric “high.”
• Later depletion of dopamine results in “crash.”

Question 35

Tolerance

Answer 35

Increased resistance to a drug’s effects accompanying continued use.

Question 36

Withdrawal Symptoms

Answer 36

Physical and psychological symptoms that occur when someone addicted to a drug stops taking it.

Question 37

Use vs. Abuse

Answer 37

Distunguish based on how much a drug interferes with functioning and relationships.

• Many “legal” drugs are commonly consumed (e.g., coffee, tobacco, alcohol, marijuana).
• Many “illegal” drugs may have positive or medicinal uses (e.g., psychedelics)