Lecture 5 Flashcards
What is consciousness?
Awareness of ourselves (internal stimuli) and our environment (external stimuli)
Is self-awareness uniquely human?
Potentially not. Some animals can recognize themselves in a mirror (Dolphins, elephants)
Given the high volume of sensory input, we have ___
selective attention
Different states of consciousness
Awake / Day-dreaming (mind-wandering) / Meditation (Hypnosis) / altered states (drugs) / Asleep / Coma
Brain activity during sleep?
Still active!
Sleep researchers track ____ by attaching ___
Sleep researchers track electrical signals by attaching electrodes
2 types of brain waves when awake
Awake & Alert - Beta Waves
Awake & Sleepy - Alpha Waves
3 Stages of non-REM sleep
Stage 1 : Theta waves
Stage 2 : Theta waves & sleep spindles (rapid burst of brain activity)
Stage 3 : Delta waves (very hard to wake up out of)
REM Sleep
Rapid Eye Movement sleep.
Vivid, realistic dreams.
Brain activity is alert (similar to being awake)
Sleep Paralysis (unable to move around in sleep)
REM periods lengthen during the night.
Why do we dream?
+ name 3 Theories
Body craves REM sleep
1) Information Processing
2) Activation Synthesis
3) Neural Pathway Development
Information Processing
(Theory of why we need sleep)
REM sleep helps us move info into long-term memory
Interrupted REM = info poor retention
Intense learning = more REM
Activation Synthesis
(Theory of why we need sleep)
Cerebral cortex attempts to make sense of random neural signals sent by brain stem
By-product of REM activity
Neural Pathway Development
(Theory of why we need sleep)
Stimulation preserves and expands connections in our brains
Effects of Sleep Deprivation
Sleep debt leads to depression, weight gain, weakened immune response, lower muscle tone, reduced concentration, and focus, poorer recall
