states of consciousness Flashcards
Metacognition
Thinking about thinking
Awareness
Subjective state of being conscious of what’s going on
SoC
Term used by William James to describe the mind as a continuous flow of sensations, images, thoughts, and feelings
Stream with fish comparison
Our mind is a stream with fish, specific thoughts are the fish, consciousness is the fish with water along with plants, rocks, ect
Theory of mind
An individual’s understanding that they and others think, feel, perceive, and have private expiriences (usually accepted around age 4)
Lower level consciousness
Auto processing requiring little attention (daydreaming)
Higher level consciousness
Controlled processing (most alert state of consciousness)
Reticular activating system
Network of structures including brain stem, medulla, and thalamus. Involved with the expirience of arousal and engagement with the environment
Process of the RAS
new sensory info stimulates RAS, which then relays the pressure of some kind of stimulation to various receiving areas of the cerebral cortex, the alerted cortex is then better able to deal with/process specific incoming info
Low/no awareness
Unconscious thoughts, response without realizing stimulus
Subconscious
Happens during sleep & wake, low awareness of stimulus
Altered state
Produced by drugs, trauma, fatigue, hypnosis, sensory deprivation
Controlled processing
Active focusing of attention & efforts towards a goal (involves prefrontal cortex and interrupts other mental activities. It’s slower than automatic processing)
Automatic processing
Little attention required, activities that seem to take no thought, doesn’t interfere with other ongoing activities
Executive function
Complex cognitive process including thinking, planning, and problem solving
What is sleep?
Reversible loss of consciousness
Circadian rhythms
Sleep/wake, body temp, blood sugar
SCN
Suprachiasmatic nucleus
Hypnic jerk
Muscles involuntarily twitching/spasms
Alpha waves
Awake
Stage 2 sleep/N2
Spindles (bursts of activity) not consciously aware of surroundings
Stage 4 sleep/N3
Delta waves > 50%, most difficult to wake, bedwetting, sleepwalking, sleeptalking
REM sleep
Eye movement phase
BATS Drink Blood
Beta- awake
Alpha- drowsy/stage 1
Theta- stage 2/N1
Sleep spindles- stage 2/n2
Delta- stages 3&4/deep sleep/ N2
Beta- REM/R
Stage 1 sleep/N1
Hypnic jerks, feeling of falling (around 10 mins)
Stage 3 sleep/N3
Delta waves < 50%
60% of sleeping
Light sleep
20% of sleeping
Deep sleep
stage 5 of sleeping
REM sleep: active stage, vivid dreams
REM sleep begins/ends with
begins in increase in ACH, ends with increase in serotonin & norepinephrine
Evolutionary considerations
Predators vs prey
energy conservation
don’t burn as many calories while sleeping
brain plasticity
brain changes as a result of experience
freuds theory on dreaming
manifest content (literal) vs latent content (symbolic)
restorative process/memory consolidation
slows the breakdown of proteins
Cognitive theory of dreaming
the structure of how we envision ourselves/our lives
activation synthesis theory
making sense of neurological activity during sleep
hobson 5 characteristics
Illogical content, intense emotions, acceptance of strange content, strange sensory experiences, difficulty remembering dream content
sleep apnea
Interrupted breathing when sleeping (causes- central: brain forgets to let you breathe, obstructive: throat muscles relax-air complex: both)
nightmares
disagreeable imagery with little emotional response from dreamer
night terror
first 3-4hrs during non-rem sleep (symptoms- kicking, sweating, tensing of muscles)
sleep paralysis
occurs in blended state when brain is awake, but body is not
synthesis theory
dreaming happens when cerebral cortex synthesizes neural signals generated from lower brain activity
