Chapter 6: Consciousness Key Terms Flashcards
Consciousness:
An awareness of one’s surroundings and of what is in one’s mind at a given moment; includes aspects of being awake and aware.
Three different cognitive perspectives
- GLOBAL WORKSPACE THEORY - consciousness is a place where we temporarily attend to information that is at hand or deemed important.
- SYNCHRONIZATION - Conscious awareness occurs when neurons from nay distinct brain regions work together.
- RADICAL PLASTICITY THEORY - Consciousness is a learned process (an acquired skill)
Wakefulness:
The degree of alertness reflecting whether a person is awake or asleep.
Awareness:
Monitoring of information from the environment and from one’s own thoughts.
Coma:
A state of consciousness in which the eyes are closed and the person is unresponsive and unarousable.
Reticular activating system:
A bundle of nerves in the brain stem that are involved in wakefulness and the transition between wakefulness and sleep.
Vegetative state:
A state of minimal consciousness in which the eyes might be open, but the person is otherwise unresponsive.
Minimally conscious:
State in which a patient shows signs of intentional behavior (such as visually tracking a person), but cannot communicate.
Disorders of consciousness:
A diagnostic category that encompasses the variety of ways in which wakefulness and awareness might be compromised.
Mindfulness:
A heightened awareness of the present moment, whether of events in one’s environment or in one’s own mind.
Attention:
The limited capacity to process information that is under conscious control.
Selective attention:
The ability to focus awareness on specific features in the environment while ignoring others.
Perceptual load theory:
A theory of attention: the ability to attend to information is determined by both the DEMANDS of the situation and the attentional RESOURCES one has available at a particular moment
Sustained attention:
The ability to maintain focused awareness on a target or an idea.
Compromised during multitasking.
Meditation:
Practices that people use to calm the mind, stabilize concentration, focus attention, and enhance awareness of the present moment.
Circadian rhythms:
The variations in physiological processes that cycle within approximately a 24-hour period, including the sleep–wake cycle.
Rapid eye movements (REM):
Quick movements of the eye that occur during sleep, thought to mark phases of dreaming.
Beta waves:
The pattern of brain activity when one is awake; rapid, low-energy waves.
Alpha waves:
The pattern of brain activity when one is relaxed and drowsy; slower, higher-energy waves than beta waves.
Non-REM:
The form of sleep with few eye movements, which are slow rather than fast.
Three stages of N sleep:
- N1: Theta waves; sensory curtain drops and we are no longer responsive to outside world
- N2: Sleep spindles = short, extremely fast and somewhat higher-energy theta wave projections; K-complexes
- N3: Delta waves; no K-complexes; deepest sleep
Theta waves:
A pattern of brain activity during N1 sleep; slower, lower-energy waves than alpha waves.
Delta waves:
Type of brain activity that dominates N3 sleep; higher energy than theta waves.
Insomnia:
A sleep difficulty characterized by difficulty falling and staying asleep, as well as not feeling rested.
Sleepwalking:
A sleep difficulty characterized by activities occurring during non-REM sleep that usually occur when one is awake, such as walking and eating.
Narcolepsy:
A sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and weakness in facial and limb muscles.
Sleep apnea:
A chronic disorder in which there are pauses in breathing during sleep, which shifts sleep from deep to light, often resulting in poor sleep quality and daytime sleepiness.
Night terrors:
A state that occurs when a person walks around, speaks incoherently, and ultimately awakens, terrified, from sleep.
Dreams:
Images, thoughts, and feelings experienced during sleep.
Manifest level:
Freud’s surface level of dreams, what we consciously recall after waking up.
Latent level:
Freud’s deeper, unconscious level of dreams; their meaning is found at this level.
AIM:
Three biologically based dimensions of consciousness—activation, input, and mode.
Activation - amount of neural activation and ranges from low to high activation
Input - whether stimulation is internal or external
Mode - mental state - from logical (wakeful) to loose-illogical (dreaming)
Hypnosis:
A state characterized by focused attention, suggestibility, absorption, lack of voluntary control over behavior, and suspension of critical faculties; occurs when instructed by someone trained in hypnosis; may be therapeutic.
Stroop effect:
A delay in reaction time when the colors of words on a test and their meaning differ.
Psychoactive drugs:
Naturally occurring or synthesized substances that, when ingested or otherwise taken into the body, reliably produce qualitative changes in conscious experience.
Tolerance:
The need to consume increasing amounts of a drug to get the desired effect.
Withdrawal symptoms:
The adverse effects people with physical dependence experience if they stop using a drug.
Hallucinations:
Convincing sensory experiences that occur in the absence of an external stimulus.
Addiction:
A condition that results from habitual use or physical and psychological dependence on a substance.
Depressants:
Substances that decrease or slow down central nervous system activity.
Alcohol, sedatives, opioids
Stimulants:
Substances that activate the nervous system.
Caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, amphetamines, ecstacy (MDMA)
Hallucinogens:
Substances that create distorted perceptions of reality ranging from mild to extreme.
Marijuana, LSD, psilocybin
Endocannabinoids:
Natural, marijuana-like substances produced by the body.
