states of consciousness Flashcards
consciousness
the individual awareness of your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations, and environments
non conscious level
any mental process that goes on in which the individual is unaware (driving to school and not thinking about it)
preconscious level
latent parts of the brain that are readily available to the conscious mind, although not currently in use
someone may forget to buy apples during a grocery trip until they see a sign for half off apples
preconscious level
subconscious level
part of our consciousness that we are unaware of, information that we are not actively aware of in the moment / reactions and actions we realized when we think of it
unconscious level
consists of deeper mental processes not readily available to the conscious mind
cognitive neuroscience
the scientific field that is concerned with the study of the biological processes and aspects that underlie cognition
dual processing
when making decisions we use two different systems of thinking, our gut instincts and deliberate logical thinking
selective attention
focusing on something in particular while simultaneously ignoring distractions
cocktail party effect
the ability to focus one’s attention on a particular stimuli while filtering out a range of other stimuli
inattentional blindness
the failure to notice a fully visible but unexpected object because attention was engaged on another task
change blindness
a perceptual phenomenon that occurs when a change in a visual stimulus is introduced and the overseer doesn’t notice it
observers often fail to notice major differences introduced into an image while it flickers on and off again
change blindness
choice blindness
the failure to recall a choice immediately after we have made that choice
if you go to an ice cream store, order a chocolate cone, and then accept a strawberry cone without noticing
choice blindness
suprachiasmatic nucleus
a small region of the hypothalamus in the brain, it function as a master circadian pacemaker controlling the timing of the sleep-wake cycle
melatonin
a hormone that your brain produces in response to darkness, it helps with circadian rhythms (internal clock) and with sleep
REM sleep
the phase of sleep in which most dreams occur, during this sleep a person’s brain activity, breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure increases
during this sleeping phase is where vivid dreaming occurs
REM sleep
alpha waves
a medium frequency pattern of brain activity associated with restful and mediative states
hypnagogic hallucinations
vivid visual, auditory perceptions like sleep paralysis occur during the transitions between wakefulness and REM sleep
this occurs during the transitions between wakefulness and REM sleep
hypnagogic hallucinations
sleep spindles
a specific pattern of brainwaves that occurs during sleep
delta waves
the slowest recorded brainwaves in human beings. We increase delta waves in order to decrease our awareness of the physical world
paradoxical sleep
involves seemingly contradictory states of an active mind and a sleeping body (irregular and rapid breathing, rapid heart rate, muscular atonia)
insomnia
a sleep disorder in which you have trouble falling / and or staying asleep
narcolepsy
a chronic neurological disorder that affects the brain’s activity to control sleep-wake cycles
this sleeping disorder make people feel very drowsy during the day, they find it hard to stay awake for long periods of time, and suddenly fall asleep
narcolepsy
sleep apnea
a common disorder that causes your breathing to stop or get very shallow during sleep
night terrors
a sleep disorder in which a person quickly awakens from sleep in a terrified state
somnambulism
involves getting up and waling around while in a state of sleep
manifest content
the dream that the conscious individual remembers experiencing
latent content
the symbolic meaning of a dream that lies behind the literal content of the dream
physiological function theory
suggests that dreams are pretty much meaningless and that we dream to preserve neural pathways
activation synthesis theory
a neurobiological approach to explain why humans have dreams
“a dream is the cerebral cortex processing nerve impulses being sent from the body to the brainstem into something that makes sense”
activation synthesis theory
REM rebound
a phenomenon in which a person temporarily receives more REM sleep than they normally would
lucid dreaming
the experience of achieving conscious awareness of dreaming while still asleep
hypnotic suggestibility
the degree to which a participant responds to hypnotic suggestions
every day you walk 30 minutes and after you feel energized and proud of yourself
hypnotic suggestibility
posthypnotic suggestion
a suggestion made to a person during hypnosis that they act out after the hypnotic trance
posthypnotic amnesia
subject’s difficulty in remembering after hypnosis, the events and experiences that happened while they were hypnotized
hypnotic analgesia
reduced sensitivity to pain under hypnotic suggestion
social influence / role theory
how people are more likely to do whatever they see as being the norm
“people have a tendency to change their behavior according to those around them, and those nearby have a stronger effect”
social influence / role theory
divided consciousness theory
a psychological state in which one’s consciousness is split into distinct components, possibly during hypnosis
state theory
through the actions of the hypnotist the inducing of a “trance” the unconscious mind responds to suggestion
