modules 8-10 - sleep, drugs, and consciousness

Question 1

What states of consciousness occur spontaneously?

Answer 1

Daydreaming, drowsiness, and dreaming

Question 2

What states of consciousness are physiologically induced?

Answer 2

Hallucinations, orgasms, and food or oxygen starvation

Question 3

What states of consciousness are psychologically induced?

Answer 3

Sensory deprivation, hypnosis, and meditation

Question 4

What is the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity associated with mental processes of thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating?

Answer 4

Cognitive neuroscience

Question 5

What are the limits of selective attention?

Answer 5

Selective attention allows us to focus on only a limited portion of our surroundings. Inattentional blindness explains why we don’t perceive some things when we are distracted. Change blindness, for example, happens when we fail to notice a relatively unimportant change in our environment.

Question 6

What are the mind’s two tracks, and what is dual processing?

Answer 6

Our mind simultaneously processes information on a conscious track and an unconscious track, and through this dual processing we organize and interpret information.

Question 7

What is the place of consciousness in psychology’s history?

Answer 7

After initially claiming consciousness as their area of study in the 19th century, psychologists abandoned it, turning instead to the study of observable behaviour in the early twentieth century because it was too difficult to study scientifically. Since the 1960, it has reclaimed its place as an important area of research, such as in cognitive neuroscience.

Question 8

How does selective attention direct our perceptions?

Answer 8

We selectively attend to and process a very limited portion of incoming information, blocking out much and often shifting the spotlight of our attention from one thing to another. Focused intently on one task, we often display inattentional blindness to other events, including change blindness.

Question 9

What is dual processing according to today’s cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 9

The mind processes information on both a conscious level (sequential processing) and an unconscious level (parallel processing). The first is best for solving new problems that require our attention, while the second takes case of the routine business. Together, this dual processing affects our perception, memory, attitude, and other cognitions.

Question 10

What are the sleep stages?

Answer 10

REM, N1, N2, N3; normally we move through N1, then N2, then N3, then back up through N2 before we experience REM sleep.

Question 11

The __________ nucleus helps monitor the brain’s release of __________, which affects our __________ rhythm.

Answer 11

suprachiasmatic; melatonin; circadian.

Question 12

What are the five possible reasons psychologists offer for the need to sleep?

Answer 12

1. Sleep has survival value;
2. Sleep helps us recuperate and restore our immune system;
3. Sleep helps restore and rebuild our fading memories of they day’s experiences;
4. Sleep feeds creative thinking;
5. Sleep enhances the growth process.

Question 13

Disorder characterized by ongoing difficulty falling or staying asleep

Answer 13

Insomnia

Question 14

Disorder characterized by sudden attacks of overwhelming sleepiness

Answer 14

Narcolepsy

Question 15

Disorder characterized by breathing stopping repeatedly while sleeping

Answer 15

Sleep apnea

Question 16

Disorders characterized by doing normal waking activities while asleep.

Answer 16

Sleepwalking and sleeptalking: Sleepwalking happens in N3 sleep and sleeptalking can occur during any stage.

Question 17

Disorder characterized by appearing terrified, talking nonsense, sitting up, or walking around during N3 sleep; different from nightmares.

Answer 17

Night terrors

Question 18

Which insomnia treatments typically aggravate the problem by reducing REM sleep?

Answer 18

Sleeping pills and alcohol

Question 19

Which dream theory states that dreams provide a “psychic safety valve” expressing otherwise unacceptable feelings; dreams contain manifest (remembered) content a deeper layer of latent (hidden meaning) content?

Answer 19

Freud’s wish-fulfillment dream theory, but it lacks any scientific support and dreams can have multiple interpretations.

Question 20

Which dream theory states that dreams help us sort out the day’s events and consolidate our memories?

Answer 20

Information-processing dream theory, but dreams can be about past events or things outside of personal experience.

Question 21

Which dream theory states that regular brain stimulation from REM sleep may help develop and preserve neural pathways?

Answer 21

Physiological function dream theory, but this does not explain the experience of meaningful dreams.

Question 22

Which dream theory states that REM sleep triggers neural activity that evokes random visual memories, which our sleeping brain weaves into stories?

Answer 22

Activation synthesis dream theory; but the individual’s brain is weaving the stories, which still tells us something about the dreamer.

Question 23

Which dream theory states that dream content reflects dreamers’ level of cognitive development, their knowledge, and their understanding; dreams stimulate our lives, including worst-case scenarios?

Answer 23

Cognitive development dream theory, but it does not propose an adaptive function of dreams.

Question 24

What is sleep?

Answer 24

The periodic, natural loss of normal consciousness, as distinct from unconsciousness resulting from a coma, general anesthesia, or hibernation.

Question 25

How do our biological rhythms influence our daily functioning?

Answer 25

Our bodies have an internal biological clock, roughly synchronized with the 24-hour cycle of night and day. This circadian rhythm appears in our daily patterns of body temperature, arousal, sleeping, and waking. Age and experience can alter these patterns, resetting our biological clock.

Question 26

What is the biological rhythm of our sleeping and dreaming stages?

Answer 26

Younger adults cycle through the four stages about every 90 minutes. In the brain, there are alpha waves when someone is awake, and irregular brain waves during N1 sleep which may be recognized thanks to its hypnagogic sensations. N2 sleep follows for about 20 minutes, characterized with sleep spindles. N3 sleep (30 minutes) has slow delta waves. REM sleep includes most dreaming and is described as a paradoxical sleep because of internal arousal but external calm.

Question 27

How do biology and environment interact in our sleep patterns?

Answer 27

Biology: Our circadian rhythm, age, and production of melatonin by the suprachiasmatic nucleus
Environment: Social, cultural, and economic influences and individual behaviours
Light may disrupt our 24-hour biological clock, delaying sleep and affecting its quality; night-shift workers may experience desynchronization.

Question 28

How does sleep loss affect us?

Answer 28

Sleep deprivation causes fatigue and irritability. It impairs concentration and memory consolidation. It can also lead to depression, obesity, joint inflammation, a suppressed immune system, and slowed performance.

Question 29

What do we usually dream of?

Answer 29

Ordinary events and everyday experiences, most involving some anxiety or misfortune. Few have any sexual content. Most sleep theorists agree that REM sleep and its associated dreams serve an important function, as shown by the REM rebound that occurs following REM deprivation in humans and other mammals.

Question 30

What are indicators of substance use disorder?

Answer 30

Diminished control (struggles to regulate use, cravings); diminished social functioning; hazardous use; and drug action (withdrawal, increased tolerance).
Those with substance use disorder experience continued substance use despite significant life disruption.

Question 31

What are depressants?

Answer 31

Drugs such as alcohol, barbiturates (tranquilizers such as Nembutal, Seconal or Amytal), and opioids (heroin; methadone; and narcotics such as codeine, OxyContin, Vicodin, fentanyl, and morphine) that calm neural activity and slow body functions

Question 32

What are stimulants?

Answer 32

Drugs such as caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, amphetamines, methamphetamines/speed, and Ecstasy which excite neural activity and speeds up body functions.

Question 33

What are hallucinogens?

Answer 33

Drugs such as LSD, Ecstasy, psilocybin, ayahuasca, and marijuana that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input.

Question 34

Why do some people become regular users of consciousness-altering drugs?

Answer 34

Some may be biologically vulnerable to particular drugs. Psychological factors (such as stress, depression, and anxiety) and social factors (such as peer pressure and cultural influences) combine to lead many to experiment with drugs.