Consciousness Flashcards
What is the definition of consciousness?
Awareness of one’s surroundings and what’s in one’s mind at a given time
- filtered to direct focus on relevant stimuli
- guided by past experiences and current desires
What is wakefulness?
Degree of alertness
What is awareness?
Monitoring of information
What are the kinds of minimal consciousness?
Coma - Glasgow coma scale used to be used
Vegetative state - eyes open, otherwise unresponsive
some level of awareness but not
necessarily wakefulness
Locked-in syndrome- tested with fMRI to show where function happens
Types of full consciousness?
Bored: awake but understimulated from enviro
Drowsy: feel the need to sleep
flow: very alert and present, may lose the sense of time
mindfulness: heightened awareness of present moment
(environment or own mind)
Definition of attention
The limited capacity to process info under conscious control
What is selective attention?
The ability to focus awareness on specific features in environment while ignoring others
Name of experiments used to back up selective attention?
Dichotic listening task - headphones
Cocktail party effect
Inattentional blindness- gorilla video
perceptual overload - the primary task is very demanding consumes all attention
What is sustained attention?
The ability to maintain focused awareness
ex of job: air traffic controller
What is vigilance?
a state of maximum physiological and psychological readiness to react - super ready to receive and process info
What are the vigilance decrement theories?
Studied in officers during the war
boredom theory
resource theory of attention
How does Ritalin effect people?
ADHD- helps by increases part of brain that helps with regulating attention
Reg ppl- mostly placebo
can you train consciousness?
yes with meditation
evidence this physically changes in the brain- certain areas of awareness in the brain can become thicker after practicing meditation over time
What is a Circadian rhythm?
- The variation in physiological processes that cycle within about a 24h period including the sleep-wake cycle
- body cools down going to sleep
- melotonin increases as we go to sleep
- each have our own
What are free-running rhythms?
- after a while of using circadian rhythms in a time cue free environment we develop these
- ex of hamsters
- cycles generated without time cues
What are ultradian rhythyms?
- The sleep cycle
- Repeats in less than 24 h
- about 90 minutes
- 4 stages and REM sleep
Brain waves when you’re awake?
Beta waves
Waves when drowsy?
alpha waves
Stage 1 waves ?
Theta waves
Stage 2 waves ?
Theta waves with sleep spindles and k complexes
Stage 3 waves?
theta waves and some delta waves
Stage 4 waves?
delta waves
REM sleep waves?
alpha and beta like activity
When does sleepwalking occur?
Non REM sleep because we are not paralyzed then
What is continuity hypothesis?
Dreams are made of your brain thinking about what happened during the day
What is the phychoanalytic theory by sigmund freud ?
- Dreams express our surpressed desires
- Two levels
- manifest level- what we remember
- latent level- what we don’t remember, where the true meaning of the dream lies
What si the memory consilation theory?
Dreams allow us to consolidate, organize, analyze info from during the day
What are the theories for the function of sleep?
- restoration theory
- memory consolidation theory
What is the restoration theory?
The body needs to be repaired after it wears out during the day
- oxygen metabolosim produces harmful radicles enzymes during sleep take care of
- sleep deprivation - breakdown of tissue
- marathon runners
What is the memory consolidation theory for the function of sleep?
We go through and process information that we find during the day
- brain reheares new tasks while we sleep
- same brain activity as when we rehearse activity during day as when we sleep
What happens if you have chronic sleep restriction?
Cognitive impairments
dont function well
lack of sleep builds up
Why are cell phones bad for sleep?
- in back of mind
- notifications
- bright screen
What is hypnosis?
A state of mind that occurs in compliance with instructions characterized by - lack f voluntary control - focused attention - suggestibility - suspension of critical falculties
What is hypnotherapy used by freud?
Clinical tool for any kind of pain (childbirth, anxiety, chronic pain ect)
- can give better truthful responses to questions as it acesss unconcsiousness mind
How does hypnotherapy work?
Hidden observer effect
- dissosciated state of consicoueness, able to observe
themselves and their pain without any negative
feelings about themselves
Role playing- in study
Amir raz study of the stroop effect?
Tests visual selective attention
words say one colour while they are coloured in a different colour
- regular people had a delayed reaction time
- hypnotized people had faster time after the suggestion that they see the word meaning as gibberish was made
Pain rating study?
Real pain #1
hypnotized pain #2
imagined pain #3
backed with brain imaging
Sleep disorders : insomnia ?
taking more than 20 minutes to fall asleep
trouble staying asleep
not feeling well rested
Sleep disorders : sleep apnea?
temporary blockage of air passage
can lead to sleep deprivation as not enough deep sleep happens
Sleep disorders: sleepwalking ?
- happens during non- REM sleep
- not acting out dreams as dreams occur during REM sleep
narcolespy?
falling asleep randomly dogs no warning excessive daytime sleepiness appears to have genetic bases
hypersomnia
- sleeping more than 10 h a night for 2 or more consecutive weeks
- involves strong napping urges
- can be caused by other sleep disorders
What is the function of the Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the thalamus?
This regulates the physiological activity on daily cycles
- light cue- info to brain - hypothalamus - SCN signals pineal gland to decrease amount of melatonin produced- sun goes away- melatonin picks up
What neurotransmitter is produced in the basal forebrain contain?
- neurons produce acetylcholine
- produces the rapid pattern of EEG activation observed in waking and REM sleep
What is the preoptic area
contains neurons that produce GAVA
What is the posterior hypothalamus
Where neurons produce orexin ( arousal, wakefulness and appetite )
