EXAM 3: CHAPTER 6 Flashcards
2 components of consciousness
- State of consciousness: Level of awareness of our external surroundings and internal states
- Contents of consciousness: Specific thoughts we are aware of about our internal states or external surroundings
Is attention and consciousness always related
No, they are closely related but can have one without the other (eg. mind wandering)
Different forms of consciousness (9):
- Daydreaming
- Drowsiness
- Dreaming
- Hallucination
- Orgasm
- Food/oxygen starvation
- Sensory deprivation
- Hypnosis
- Meditation
Damage to the reticular formation results in..
Loss of consciousness
Damage to the hypothalamus results in..
Disturbances of wakefulness
Damage to the thalamus results in..
Lack of conscious awareness
Damage to the cerebral cortex results in..
Lack of awareness
3 levels of consciousness:
- Full consciousness
- Self consciousness
- Minimal consciousness
Full consciousness
Consciousness in which you know and are able to report your mental state
Self-consciousness
Distinct level of consciousness in which you’re aware of one’s self, actions and image (eg. Recognition of self in mirrors by humans and animals)
Minimal consciousness
A person who shows clear but minimal or inconsistent awareness is classified as being in a minimally conscious state
Preconsciousness
Level of awareness in which information can become readily available to consciousness if necessary (eg. What did you do last weekend?)
Automatic behaviors
Type of behavior that is performed without conscious self-control and with partial or total loss of memory (eg. Putting objects elsewhere where it doesn’t occur)
Unconscious state
State in which information is not easily accessible to conscious awareness (eg. What did you eat last weekend?)
Freud’s 3 levels of the unconscious:
- Conscious
- Preconscious
- Unconscious
Freud’s theory on unconsciousness
Unconsciousness is a repository for socially unacceptable ideas, wishes, desires, traumatic memories, or painful emotions put out of mind by the mechanism of psychological repression
2 main types of memory:
- Explicit memory: Involves pieces of knowledge that we are fully aware of
- Implicit memory: Knowledge that we have stored in memory that we are not typically aware of or able to recall it with
Lethargy
Brain fog, cannot think clearly and feel tired
Stupor
Unresponsive but can be aroused briefly by pain
Coma
Unconscious, unresponsive, unarousable
Vegetative state
Unresponsive to psychological and physical stimuli, have a sleep/wake cycle, often eyes open
PVS
Awareness of self and environment is absent
Locked in syndrome
Awakens from coma and is completely conscious but paralyzed and can only blink
Brain dead
No brain function so no consciousness. Basically dead
Adaptive theory of sleep
Theory that organisms sleep for the purpose of self-preservation to keep away from predators
Restoration theory
Idea that sleep restores our brains and bodies
Circadian rhythm (biological clock)
Pattern of sleep-wake cycles that in human beings roughly corresponds to periods of daylight and night
Physiological pathway of the biological clock:
Light levels —> retina —-> suprachiasmatic nucleus of hypothalamus —> pineal gland —> secretion of melatonin
How we learn about sleep/dreams (3):
- Monitor EEG/brain waves and muscle movements during sleep
- Expose the sleeping person to noise and words, then examine the effects on the brain and mind
- Wake people and see which mental state (eg. Dreaming) goes with which brain/body state
Stages of sleep (5):
- Stage 1: Bridge between wakefulness and sleep - alpha waves change to slower theta waves
- Stage 2: More relaxed and rhythmic breathing - sleep spindles
- Stage 3: Deep sleep - 20-50% delta waves
- Stage 4: Heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rates at lowest level and muscles relax
- Stage 5: Rapid eye movement
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep
Stage of sleep associated with rapid and jagged brain wave patterns, increased heart rate, rapid and irregular breathing, rapid eye movements and dreaming
Average of a 15-20 year old’s sleep
8.5 hours a day
Average of an elderly’s sleep
Under 6 hours
Why do we sleep? (7):
- Protective role in human evolution
- Brain restoration and repair of damaged neurons
- Store and rebuild memories of day’s experiences
- Encourages growth through pituitary gland secretion of growth hormone
- Memory consolidation
- Enhance problem-solving abilities
- Brain removes waste
Poor sleep is linked to ___:
Dementia and TBI. And the dysfunction of the waste removal system
Nightmares
Dreams filled with intense anxiety
Dream disorder anxiety
Frequent or distressing nightmares
Lucid dreams
Sleeper being able to fully recognize that they are dreaming and occasionally actively guides outcome of dream
Daydreams
Fantasies that occur while one is awake and aware of external reality but is not fully conscious
Effects of sleep deprivation (5):
- Fatigue
- Impairment of concentration, creativity, communication
- Obesity, hypertension, suppressed immune system
- Irritability and slowed performance
- Affects attention, memory, reaction time, decision making, motor coordination, immune system, emotional regulation
Insomnia
Most common sleep disorder. Difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep
Sleep apnea
Second most common sleep disorder. Person stops breathing for brief periods while asleep
Somnambulism
Occurs when the person arises and walks around during sleep
Narcolepsy
Falling asleep uncontrollably. Loss of unconsciousness that can last up to 15 minutes. Can sometimes lose muscle tone which is extremely dangerous if you are driving
Sleep paralysis
Experience of waking up unable to move
Nightmares
Anxiety arousing dreams - REM
Night terrors
Abrupt awakenings with panic and intense emotional arousal - NREM
Delayed sleep phase syndrome
Long delay in ability to fall asleep
Advanced sleep phase syndrome
Fall asleep between 6pm-9pm and wake up between 2am-5am
Restless leg syndrome
Strong urge to move legs before sleep
Periodic limb movement of sleep
Strong urge to move legs during sleep
REM sleep behavior disorder
Acting out the dream while in bed and sleeping
T/F sleep walkers tend to walk normally with eyes open
True
Turning test
Developed by Alan Turning to determine when an artificial intelligence program had reached the point where it appeared to have human-like consciousness
How is turning test conducted
Conducted through interactions between real humans and program (not told which). If the machine could fool 30% of the people thinking It was human, then it was a success
Turning Olympics
Assessing broader definition of intelligence (Eg. Allen AI Science Challenge) that assessed ability of AI program to solve grade 8 multiple choice science questions
Consciousness
Immediate awareness of our internal and external states
Stream of consciousness
Term founded by William James to signify how we experience our conscious life because consciousness, like a running stream, keeps flowing with time
Altered states of consciousness
Change in one’s normal mental state as a result of trauma or accident or induced through meditation, drugs, some foods, etc
Is multitasking a myth?
Yes. less than 2% of people can multitask
How has conscious awareness helped in survival
It has contributed to evolutionary progresses. (eg. To be conscious of our thirst, we already understand that water is necessary and we plan to get water before we are thirsty)
Significance of the reticular formation:
- Electrical stimulation of the reticular formation could bring an animal out of a state of sleep into a state of alert arousal. If damaged, the animal cannot maintain a state of wakefulness
- Damage to the reticular formation for humans results in loss of consciousness
Significance of the hypothalamus and thalamus:
- Receives input from the reticular formation and the hindbrain
- Damage to the neurotransmitter systems of the hypothalamus can lead to disturbances of wakefulness such as narcolepsy
- Damage directly to the hypothalamus and the thalamus results in all consciousness and a deep coma
Cerebral cortex
In charge of one’s awareness of the information the cortex receives from subcortical structures
Weiskrantz study (4):
- Study observed people whose primary visual areas in the cerebral cortex had been destroyed, leaving them blind
- Weiskrantz presented people with a spot of light and told the, to point to it
- Individuals were unaware of the light but when he told them to point anywhere, they typically pointed at the light
- Concluded that the areas of the brain that helps us attend to visual stimuli are different from the visual areas in the cerebral cortex that help us to be aware that we are attending to such stimuli
Severed corpus collosum effects
If objects or words were shown in the left hemisphere, then they were able to say/write it. But if the word was shown to the right, the individual could not name or write it
Left cerebral cortex
Responsible for verbal awareness
Right cerebral cortex
Responsible for non-verbal forms of conscious awareness
Rouge test
Experiment of secretly putting a red dot on a babies noise. When the babies were placed in front of a mirror, they would either touch or ignore their nose indicating their level of sense of self
When do children develop a stable concept of self
18 months of age
Animals that passed the rouge test (4):
- Apes
- Chimpanzees
- Dolphins
- Elephants
Freud beliefs (5):
- Vast majority of our personal knowledge is located in our unconsciousness
- Unconscious materials can enter conscious awareness
- Unconscious thoughts can work against us and that people store too many emotionally-charged memories resulting to psychological disorders
- If we repress too much, we may experience distortions in how we feel or relate to others
Freudian slip
Moment when the mind inadvertently allows a repressed idea into consciousness (eg. Saying things when you didn’t mean to)
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy
Form of in-depth talk therapy that aims to bring unconscious or deeply buried thoughts and feelings to the conscious mind so that repressed experiences and emotions, often from childhood, can be brought to the surface and examined.
Whats an important biological theory with sleep
Pituitary gland releases growth hormones during sleep
Restorative theory of sleep
Theory that sleep allows the brain and body to restore certain depleted chemical resources while eliminating chemical wastes
Young vs old people in circadian rhythm
Younger people tend to peak later in the day, while order people peak earlier
2 prime examples of circadian rhythms
Cycles of alertness and shifts in body temperature
Circadian rhythm sleep disorder
eople with this disorder experience excessive sleepiness or insomnia as a result of a mismatch between their own sleep-wake pattern
What did the study in Japan find?
Over 64,000 Japanese adolescents found that those who slept better were subjectively happier, and those who slept quicker had a deeper sleep
Factors influencing an individuals sleep-wake rhythm (3):
- Gender
- Age
- Health factor
Suprachiasmatic nucleus
The master control centre of neurons in the hypothalamus that controls body’s internal clock and own sleep-wake rhythm
Steps that contribute to our sleep clock (3):
- The suprachiasmatic nucleus notices the change as daylight fades into night
- Pineal gland secretes hormone called melatonin
- Melatonin travels through blood to organs and triggers sleepiness
Steps that contribute to our wake clock (2):
- During the day, photoreceptors of the retina communicate presence of sunlight to the suprachiasmatic nucleus
- Alters dopamine and melatonin signalling
Low melatonin levels during the day is because
Of complex signalling system in the SCN that controls our sleep-wake patterns
Alpha waves
Brainwaves that signify a relaxed yet still wakeful state (when we first go to bed and still awake)
Hypnagogic state
A pre-sleep period often characterized by vivid sensory phenomena. We may feel as if we are floating, or we hear our name being called
Myoclonic jerk
Sharp muscular spasm that generally accompanies the hypnagogic hallucination of falling
Theta waves
Slower waves that usually replace alpha waves when stage 1 of sleep is entered
Sleep spindles
Burst of brain activity lasting a second or two that occur during stage 2 sleep
Delta waves
The slowest recorded brain waves typically showing during the end of stage 2 sleep. In stage 3, between 20-50% of our EEG waves are delta waves
Non-REM sleep (NREM)
Stages 1 through 4 of normal sleep patterns
Why is REM sleep also called paradoxical sleep
Because even though the body remains deeply relaxed on the surface, it experiences considerable activity internally
Significance of REM sleep
- Consolidation of memories of newly learned material
Information processing theory
Hypothesis that dreams are the mind’s attempt to sort out and organize the day’s experiences and to fix them in memory
Activation synthesis model
Biological theory that dreams result from the brain’s attempts to synthesize or organize random internally generated signals and give them meaning.
Freudian Dream Theory:
- Dreams represent the expression of unconscious wishes or desires
- Dreams allow us to discharge internal energy associated with unacceptable feelings
Latent content
The unconscious elements of dreams
Manifest content of the dream
Dream images that people are able to recall
Day dream
Fantasies that occur while one is awake and mindful of external reality but not fully conscious
How many hours do babies sleep the first four months of life
14-17 hours each day
How many hours do babies spend in REM sleep
8 hours per day
How many hours do adults spend in REM sleep
2 hours
Affects of poor sleep patterns on adolescence
- Poorer physical
- Psychological health
- School performance
- Increased risk-taking behavior
What do repeated episodes of sleep apnea lead to
Cardiac arrest
Excessive daytime sleepiness
Feeling drowsy or chronically tired even after having a good nights sleep
Delayed sleep phase syndrome
Long delay in a person’s ability to fall asleep often hours past the time they wish to fall asleep - contributing factor to insomnia?
Advanced sleep phase syndrome
People that fall asleep early in the evening between 6pm-9pm, prior to their desired time to fall asleep and wake up between 2am-5am before their desired time to wake up
Restless leg syndrome (3)
- Individuals have strong urge to move their legs just prior to falling asleep
- Considered a sleep disorder because it typically gets worse when you are still and makes it difficult to fall asleep
- Sensation of pins and needles
Night terrors
Individuals who suffer from this usually awakens suddenly, sit in bed and scream in extreme fear with heighted heart and breathing rates, but are still asleep
REM sleep behavior disorder
Moving vigorously during sleep, caused by vivid dreams and high levels of electrical activity in the cortex
Hypnosis
A seemingly altered state of consciousness during which individuals can be directed to act or experience the world in unusual ways
