States of Consciousness Flashcards
1
Q
What is Consciousness?
A
- awareness of your own thoughts, feelings and perceptions (internal events) and our surroundings (external stimuli) at any given moment.
- It creates our reality and is central to our sense of self.
2
Q
What are Day dreams
A
- private thoughts, feelings and imagined scenarios
- that occur when we shift our attention to internally while ignoring the external environment.
- tend to be visualized thoughts that are usually positive and pleasurable.
- occur naturally and often
3
Q
What is awareness?
A
- Awareness is how conscious (aware) you are of internal and/or external event(s).
- level of awareness can vary in normal waking consciousness.
- level of awareness influences the other characteristics of consciousness.
4
Q
What are alcohol induced States of consciousness?
A
An altered state of consciousness due to the consumption of alcohol, a depressant drug.
5
Q
What is altered state of consciousness
A
- Any state of consciousness that deviates from your ‘normal’ sense of reality
- in terms of marked differences in level of
awareness
memory
perceptions
emotions
thinking
behaviours
sense of times and place
self control - both deliberately or naturally induced.
6
Q
What is automatic processing
A
- Are processes that very require little mental effort or awareness to be performed well
- generally don’t interfere with other automatic or controlled processes.
- two or more can be performed at once
7
Q
What is Meditation ?
A
- deliberately induced altered state of consciousness
- a person uses mental exercises to become highly focussed on a single thought
- to the exclusion of others.
8
Q
What is normal waking consciousness?
A
- the states of consciousness we experience when we are awake and aware of our thoughts, feelings, and perceptions from internal events and the surrounding environment.
- Our experience during NWC creates our reality and a baseline to judge all other states of consciousness.
9
Q
What are states of consciousness?
A
- an individual’s level of awareness of internal events (thoughts, feelings and perceptions). And external surroundings.
- a range of states experienced throughout the day.
10
Q
Streams of consciousness
A
- An analogy, termed by William James,
- that explained consciousness as an ever-changing stream of thoughts
- that can shift smoothly and effortlessly form one moment to the next.
11
Q
What are content limitations?
A
- How much control you have over your thoughts
- and what comes in and out of your consciousness.
- The content of NWC is therefore more restricted then in an ASC.
12
Q
What is attention?
A
- relates to the information that you are actively processing, either consciously or even outside your conscious awareness.
- Attention overlaps with consciousness, as what you are consciously aware of is often also the focus of attention.
13
Q
What is selective inattention?
A
- Selective inattention is avoiding information that may be relevant but emotionally upsetting.
- both helpful and unhelpful effects.
14
Q
What is divided attention
A
- refers to the capacity to attend to and perform two or more activities at the one time.
- harder to perform two or more tasks simultaneously when they require similar mental skills
- and more than one is a controlled process.
15
Q
What is selective attention?
A
- refers to the limitations placed on how much we can focus at any given moment on one stimulus or event to the exclusion of others.
- difficult to attend to more than one stimulus or event at one time.
16
Q
What is the Cocktail party phenomenon?
A
- the active processing of information that takes place outside our conscious awareness.
- Revealing that more information is processed in our consciousness than that which is initially attended.
17
Q
What is Change Blindness?
A
- a failure to notice a large change that takes place in full view in a visual scene.
18
Q
What are controlled processes?
A
- require full awareness and mental effort to focus attention on the required task.
- The person must be consciously aware of what they are doing and think about doing the task.
- require selective attention.
19
Q
What is the Continuum of Awareness?
A
- reveals the different levels of awareness on a scale
- ranging from deep unconsciousness to heightened awareness.
20
Q
What is time orientation?
A
- The degree of accuracy our perception of time is during different states of consciousness.
- Time is perceived as moving at the real time.
- We are able to understand where we are in time and are able to focus on the past, present and future.
21
Q
What is perception?
A
- Perception is the process of organizing sensory input and giving it meaning.
- During normal waking consciousness, our perceptions are usually clear and rational
- able to make sense of sensory input and have a real awareness of our internal state and external stimuli.
22
Q
What is emotional awareness?
A
- General awareness of feelings
- capable of showing a range of emotions that are normal and appropriate for the situation.
- We can monitor our emotions and hide them for others.
23
Q
What is Self-control?
A
- when the consciousness directs our thinking and monitors impulses and behaviours.
- Our ability to maintain self-control during normal waking consciousness is high.
- So that we can monitor our movements and verbal expression to avoid risk and embarrassment.
24
Q
Psychoactive drugs
A
- chemical substances that affect the nervous system and brain activity.
- Impacting consciousness by altering thoughts, feeling and perceptions
25
What is Cognition?
- a broad term that relates to the mental activities such as thinking, problem-solving, language and reasoning.
- During normal waking consciousness, we have a real sense of reality, thoughts usually rational, clear and meaningful, making us capable of cognition.
26
What is Inattentional blindness ?
- when entire objects or events go unnoticed without a visual disruption or significant change from scene to the next.
27
Characteristics of NWC: Level of awareness
- Awake and generally aware of internal and external events.
| - Has a good sense of time, place and reality.
28
Characteristics of NWC: Content limitations
- More constrained and controlled
| - can selectively process different parts of what is in consciousness
29
Characteristics of NWC: Controlled & automatic processes
- Able to performe C & A processes within normal limits
| - attention is focused or highly selective and can be divided between tasks
30
Characteristics of NWC: Perceptual and cognitive distortions
- Perceptions (including pain) are realistic and normal
- Effective control of memory processes: storage and retrieval
- thought processes organised and logical
31
Characteristics of NWC: Emotional awareness
- Greater awareness of emotions
| - greater control of emotional awareness
32
Characteristics of NWC: Self-control
- more control over actions an movements
33
Characteristics of NWC: Time orientation
- Clear sense of time
| - passage of time, including past, present and future
34
Characteristics of an ASC: Level of awareness
- May be increased or decreased
- often lowered during an ASC
- can be increased when heightened awareness is experienced
35
Characteristics of an ASC: Content limitations
- May be more or less than NWC
- Usually less less constrained or controlled
- reduced ability to process info
- fewer limitations on content
36
Characteristics of an ASC: Controlled and Automatic processes
- Usually less able to perform C and A processes
- Sometimes more
- Less control over attention, may be highly selective, but lessen ability to divide between tasks
37
Characteristics of an ASC: Perceptual and Cognitive distortions
- Perception (including pain) may be altered
- Memory processes may be disrupted or distorted: storage and recall my be more fragmented or less accurate
- Thought processes disorganised and less logical
38
Characteristics of an ASC: Emotional awareness
- Less ( sometimes more) control over emotions
39
Characteristics of an ASC: Self-control
- Usually less control over actions and movements
- Less control over emotions and thoughts
- greater susceptability to suggestion (decreases control)
40
Characteristics of an ASC: Time orientation
- Distorted 'sense' of time
| - can appear to speed up or slowdown
41
Characteristics of Daydreaming as an ASC
- Lowered awareness level: especially of external environment
- Fewer content limitations: We have buzzer, uncommon and unrealistic thoughts that don't need to be bounded by reality. We are able to focus on one line of thought but amount of control over what you attend to is decreased
- Difficulty performing controlled processes
- Likely perceptual and cognitive distortions: Decreased awareness of surroundings and perceptions also distorted
- Changes in emotional awareness: flattened response to emotional situations. Daydreams can heighten or depress the mood
- Changes in self-controll: thoughts become internal rather than focussed externally Monitoring behaviour is unlikely
- Diminishing time orientation
42
Characteristics of Alcohol induced state as an ASC
- Lowered level of awareness: Depresses nervous system. less awareness of internal and external events. likely to attend to one thing at a time and be easily distracted
- More or less content limitations: Content less restricted than in NWC. Type of information that enters may be broaderUnrelated, obscure, irrational, illogical and even lateral thoughts not uncommon.
- difficulty performing controlled processes: alcohol impairs functioning of the brain, including cerebellum that controls balance and coordination. affecting reaction time, thinking and perception, making controlled and automatic process more difficult
- Likely perceptual and cognitive distortions
- changes in emotional awareness: alcohol affects expression of emotions and behaviour.
- decrease in self-control
- time orientation distortions
