Sleep and Dreaming

Question 1

How many stages of sleep are there and how long for?

Answer 1

5 stages

each cycle of sleep is 90 mins

Question 2

What happens in stage 1 of sleep?

Answer 2

light sleep
can be easily woken
muscles are less active
eye movements slow
twitch suddenly
go through alpha and theta brainwaves

Question 3

What happens in stage 2 of sleep

Answer 3

brainwaves are slower
eye movement stops
bursts of brain activity
body temperature drops
heart rate slows

Question 4

What happens in stage 3 of sleep

Answer 4

deep sleep
slow delta waves
also some fast waves
this stage is in between light and deep

Question 5

What happens in stage 4 of sleep?

Answer 5

deep sleep
all waves are slow delta waves
hard to wake you
no eye movement
can feel disorientated
can experience night terrors or sleepwalking

Question 6

What happens in REM sleep/what is it?

Answer 6

20% of sleep is REM
for infants 50% is REM
REM = rapid eye movement
eyelids flicker quickly
dreaming occurs
sensory blockade
neurons are shot off = movement inhibition
rapid, shallow and irregular breathing
eyes jerking
muscles paralysed
heart rate
blood pressure rises
stimulates increase of proteins
some people report dreaming in NREM sleep, not always accurate

Question 7

How long people need sleep for

Answer 7

adults = 7 or 8 hrs
teenagers = 9 hrs
age 65< = sleep stops, very sleep deprived so can’t perform functions well

Question 8

What are circadian rhythms

Answer 8

human bodily rhythms

sleep-wake cycle

Question 9

What are ultradian rhythms

Answer 9

rhythms that occur in <24 hrs

just sleep

Question 10

Factors affecting the sleep-wake cycle

Answer 10

Jet lag = sleep-wake is triggered by light and time cues, different can cause irritability and poor concentration and tiredness
Shift work = different time cues affect biological rhythms

Question 11

Internal influences on sleep

Answer 11

Hormones = sleep resets hormones
= can affect sleep because of stress, under stress ACTH releases cortisol, causing alertness -> hard to fall asleep
= people with insomnia produce too much cortisol/at wrong time
= melatonin signals need for sleep
= triggered by darkness
= synchronises circadian rhythms
=affects time of sleep

Question 12

External influences on sleep

Answer 12

exogenous, environmental features: light, time cues, stress, eat and drink, medication
zeitgebers:
- regulate body’s circadian rhythm
- 12 month cycle
- mood and performance
- jet lag, shift work, light
- light lets internal body clock know whether its day or night = when to sleep
- body clock reset over 24 hr period
- entrainment =bodily rhythms matches to their environmental triggers -> light you are awake

Question 13

Strengths and weaknesses of internal influences

Answer 13

+ hamster study = removed SCN from hamsters and sleep-wake patterns became random
+ human study of blind man = found his bodily rhythms are closer to 24hrs, circadian rhythms are governed by internal influences
+ Li-You Chen et al (2015) = melatonin controls sleep found in rats, sleep deprivation reduces melatonin levels -> melatonin reduces sleep
- animal studies cannot be generalised
- individual differences to being blind, hard to generalise to people who aren’t blind and without that specific blindness

Question 14

Strengths and weaknesses of external influences

Answer 14

+ practical applications for understanding body clocks in humans = zeitgebers
+ Ralph and Skene agree that light synchronises bodily rhythms
- Siffre found the sleep-wake cycle could be 48 hours, studies differ
- situation of sleep-deprivation studies are not natural, lack validity

Question 15

Name some sleep disorders of depression

Answer 15

Insomnia

Narcolepsy

Question 16

Symptoms of insomnia

Answer 16

difficulty falling asleep
waking up a lot during the night
frequently lying awake during night
not feeling refreshed on waking
finding it hard to sleep in day when tired
feelings irritable and unable to conentrate

Question 17

How can insomnia be caused?

Answer 17

Lifestyles = jet lag or working shifts
Health conditions = mental-> depression physical -> heart problems
Medication, food and drink = neurotransmitters and hormones, caffeine and diet pills, smoking cigarettes, alcohol keeps people in the light, antidepressants can stop REM sleep

Question 18

What is narcolepsy?

Answer 18

person has no control over their sleep-wake cycle
fall asleep suddenly
1/2000 people

Question 19

Symptoms of narcolepsy

Answer 19

EDS (excessive daytime sleepiness) = feel extreme sleepiness, fall into an uncontrollable daytime sleep anytime
Hallucinations
Cataplexy = loss of muscle power, 70% of people with narcolepsy
Sleep paralysis = abnormal REM sleep

Question 20

Explaining narcolepsy

Answer 20

Brain chemicals = hypocretin -> keeps us awake
=cells in hypothalamus produce hypocretin that damaged or missing, so cannot control when awake
Genes = 10% of people with narcolepsy have other family members with disorder
Stress or trauma = Barker made link between then
Evolution = might be advantageous for animal to stay still to stay alive -> survival characteristic

Question 20

Explaining narcolepsy

Answer 20

Brain chemicals = hypocretin -> keeps us awake
=cells in hypothalamus produce hypocretin that damaged or missing, so cannot control when awake
Genes = 10% of people with narcolepsy have other family members with disorder
Stress or trauma = Barker made link between then
Evolution = might be advantageous for animal to stay still to stay alive -> survival characteristic

Question 21

What is the id, superego and ego

Answer 21

id = "I want"
superego = "you cannot have"
ego = balance inbetween

Question 22

What is manifest and latent content?

Answer 22

Manifest content = story of the dream

Latent content = meaning of dream, uncovers unconscious thinking

Question 23

Dreamwork

Answer 23

The way the mind keeps unconscious thoughts hidden to protect mind = disguises by repressing thoughts and ideas
Condensation = many ideas appear as one idea in a dream
Displacement = something unimportant seems to be important, shifts attention away from important thing
Secondary elaboration = ideas from dreamwork to build a whole story

Question 24

Strengths and weaknesses of Freud’s theory of dreaming

Answer 24

+qualitative, detailed and focused on real individuals
+had validity
+he saw power of the unconscious which cannot be easily studied
+Guenole et al found that more people reported more dreaming if they heard noise, noise did not wake them because dreaming kept them asleep = sensory blockade
-cannot be easily tested
-the unconscious or dreamwork cannot be measured objectively = unscientific
-each analysis was unique to individual

Question 25

Hobson and McCarley vs Freud’s theory

Answer 25

Freud = dreams have meanings

Hobson and McCarley = dreams are random

Question 26

Activation synthesis

Answer 26

Hobson and McCarley = random thoughts are what we dream

Neurons randomly firing send thoughts makes brain generate “nonsense”

Question 27

Strengths and weaknesses of activation synthesis

Answer 27

+people observed in sleep lab
+study is still being used
+other studies supported, cat used to see which areas of brain light up
-unethical to use animals
-animal studies cannot be generalised to human functioning
-1977 theory (too long ago)

Question 28

Freud’s aim

Answer 28

look at how children develop

how Oedipus complex and psychosexual develops

Question 29

Procedure of Freud’s

Answer 29

gathered lots of detailed information directly from boys parents and some from Hans
looked at Hans’s phobia of horses
Hans was afraid to go out of house
Freud analysed what little Hans’s reported to find out Hans’s unconscious that was causing the phobia

Question 30

Hans’s phobia of horses

Answer 30

he see a horse fall down and die in the street
he is mainly scared of horses with black bits around mouth
black bits = Hans’s father’s moustache
Hans feared his father because his father would be angry with Hans for wanting his mother - Oedipus complex

Question 31

An early dream

Answer 31

had a dream that he thought his mother was gone and he had no mummy
anxiety his mother would leave - Oedipus complex
fear his father would take mother away

Question 32

The giraffe dream

Answer 32

had dream that there was a big giraffe in the room and a crumpled one
big giraffe = penis
Hans denied this so,
big giraffe = Hans’s father and crumpled = mother
Little Hans wanted to take his mother away from father

Question 33

Strengths and Weaknesses if Freud’s study

Answer 33

+Freud gathered a lot of in-depth and detailed information
+Little Hans was very carefully documented
+clear what information was given to him and what was Freud’s interpretation
-Freud’s parents knew about Freud’s theory so could have only passed on information that suited complex
-bias
-not generalisable = one person
-learning explanation = Hans saw horse die

Question 34

Siffre aim

Answer 34

wanted to see how astronauts would be affected in space
not having zeitgebers to set biological clock
wanted to see his “natural” sleep-wake cycle when deprived of external cues

Question 35

Siffre’s procedure

Answer 35

Texas
went >6 months without seeing daylight
has tent on wooden platform with bed, table and a chair
ate frozen food and drank water
undertook experiments while in cave
removed all zeitgebers
when Siffre woke up, he phoned team of researchers
did memory and physical tasks e.g. target practice
did exercise - riding bike
kept diary of his thoughts
when he felt tired he slept and researchers turned off lights

Question 36

Siffre’s results

Answer 36

became depressed and upset at lack of freedom
wanted to trap mouse - loneliness
thought about suicide
effects of dark and loneliness were severe
worse eyesight and psychological problems
short-term memory was affected
sleep-wake cycler was >24 hrs
varied from 18-52 hrs

Question 37

Siffre’s conclusions

Answer 37

lot of variation in sleep-wake cycle when cues to daylight and time were missing
astronauts would need companionship

Question 38

Strengths and weaknesses of Siffre

Answer 38

+qualitative and quantitative data
+done over long period of time
-lights came on when Siffre woke up and went off when asleep, could have affected internal body clock
-not being generalisable, one case study
-has external zeitgebers = noise of mice, damp, telephone connections to research team and other issues