States of Consciousness Flashcards
What is consciousness?
Our awareness of objects and events in the external world, and our sensations, mental experiences and own existence at any given moment.
what are the characteristics of consciousness? (4)
Personal: subjective understanding of internal and external world- individual.
Selective: choose to attend to some things and ignore others. Can voluntary shift attention.
Continuous: never a time without consciousness.
Changing: new information coming into awareness.
what is a psychological construct?
A concept that is ‘constructed’. Believed to occur. Cannot directly observe it. An abstract concept. can’t see but know it exists.
what are the categories of consciousness?
ASC and NWC
what is NWC?
Being awake and aware in the world and one’s sensations, mental experiences and existence.
what is ASC? what are two types?
Distinctly different from normal in awareness and experience.
Natural: day dreaming and sleep.
Induced: meditation, hypnosis, alcohol and drugs.
what is attention?
Is a concentration of mental activity that involves focusing on a specific stimulus while ignoring and excluding others.
attention is NWC and ASC?
Focused or selective attention: high levels of awareness and in NWC. True for some ASC (drug-induced).
In NWC we can also divide attention.
define selective attention?
the ability to redirect our attention focus to a specific or limited range of stimuli while ignoring others.
what is divided attention?
simultaneously forces on two or more stimuli, or simultaneously takes on two or more tasks.
compare cognitive content of NWC and ASC
the content or type of information held in NWC is more restricted or limited than when in ASC. Can exercise control over thoughts. Can use selective attention to block unpleasant or embarrassing thoughts.
Content in NWC is more organised and logical.
Content in ASC is more illogical, irrational, scrambled and bizarre.
what are controlled processes?
ones that use higher levels of attention, awareness and concentration eg. Computer games, maths, learning to drive. Use high mental effort, individual actively focuses attention. Usually used to complete new or difficult activities.
what are automatic processes?
low levels of concentration, awareness or mental effort. Do not interferer with performance on other tasks.
compare processes in ASC and NWC
NWC: awareness is higher, controlled processes are more likely.
ASC: lower awareness of internal or external environment. Controlled processes are more difficult to achieve.
compare memory in ASC and NWC?
Selective attention is used to manage the amount of info we determine as relevant.
Memory is efficient and effective during NWC.
During ASC it is poorer.
compare time limitations of ASC and NWC
Perception of time is usually more accurate in NWC. Time may go fast or quick in ASC.
compare perceptions in NWC and ASC
Distortions of perceptions:
ASC: dulled or blunted or sharpened, can lose sense of identity, may feel “outside” themselves- psychotic state, pain is usually dulled compared to NWC.
compare emotions in ASC and NWC
Changes in emotional feeling:
Emotions are often distorted in ASC.
May be intensified, blunted or inappropriate.
compare control in NWC and ASC
Risk taking and control of inhibitions.
Control of physical coordination and control.
All control is lessened in ASC.
what are examples of ASC?
meditative state, daydreaming, hypnotic state and alcohol induced state
what is the meditative state? what is it used for?
Deliberate.
Characterised by deep physical and mental relaxation.
Used for pain control- reduces physiological arousal.
what is daydreaming? when are people more likely to do it?
Voluntary shifting of attention from external stimuli to internal thoughts and feelings. More likely to when: not moving Alone Doing routine, boring activities Waiting to fall asleep Travelling on public transport
what is hypnotic state? what is it for?
Alleviate pain.
Brings about an ASC.
Deep relaxation, and sleep-like state.
Very susceptible to suggestions made by hypnotist.
what is an alcohol induced state?
Enters gastrointestinal tract without digestion, entering blood quickly.
Alcohol is a psychoactive drug- chemicals that change awareness, perceptions and moods.
A depressant- slows down NS.
how do alcohol intoxication and sleep deprivation compare?
Performance on a variety of cognitive tasks after 17 hours (sustained wakefulness) was as bad as having 0.05% BAC (legal driving limit).
Performance after 24 hours was like 0.1% BAC.
what was the aim of the SD/A experiment?
effects of moderate sleep deprivation on a range of cognitive tasks.
why was alcohol used to compare?
Alcohol is a good standard for other tests too- easily understood index.
what activities are most vulnerable to fatigue?
Activities that are complex, high in work load, relatively monotonous and need continuous attention are most vulnerable to fatigue.
how many participants? what ages? how sources? how were they chosen?
60 participants
19-26
Advertisements around local universities.
Volunteers had to do a general health questionnaire and a sleep/wake diary.
Participants with current health problems and a history of psychiatric of sleep disorders were excluded.
Smokers and people with medication that reacted with alcohol were excluded.
Participants were social drinkers who did not regularly have more than 6 standard drinks a week.
who did the Comparing the effects of neurobehavioral performance: sustained wakefulness verses alcohol intoxication- Study
Nicole Campbell and Drew Cunningham, Journal of Sleep, Volume 69, pages 100-105
what were the five tasks?
Task 1: response speed. Had to watch a computer screen and left click when the colour went from white to red. Was measured in milliseconds and tested 25 times.
task 2: hand-eye coordination/accuracy of response. Watched a computer and preformed a tracking task using joy stick by entering the cursor on a constantly moving target. Percentage of time on the target was measured. 25 trials.
Task 3: decision making. Given 10 logical problems ranging from easy to hard. Measured in correct and incorrect.
Task 4 and 5: measuring memory (short and long term). Placed in front of a computer and words were presented at a rate of 1 were per 3 seconds. There were 25 words. They had to recall after 20 seconds (STM) and 20 minutes (LTM). Accuracy for time 1 and 2 were measured.
what was the procedure?
Participants were randomly assigned to groups- alcohol intoxication, placebo condition and sustained wakefulness.
Reported to lab at 8pm the night prior.
Prior to going to bed at 11, they completed additional practice trials on each task.
Woken at 7am and at 8am they had to start baseline testing.
what happened in the alcohol intoxication condition?
Completed a performance session hourly.
Following 9am testing session, each had to have an alcoholic beverage consisting of 40% vodka and a non-caffeinated soft drink at half hourly intervals.
After 20 minutes BAC was tested using a breath test.
When BAC reached 0.10%, no more alcohol was given.
Participants were not told of their BAC
what happened in the placebo condition?
Identical to alcohol condition.
Had rim of glasses dripped with ethanol to give the impression of alcohol.
To ensure blindness remained, approximately equal numbers in every lab session had alcohol and the placebo.
what happened in the sustained wakefulness condition?
Derived of sleep fro one night.
Completed performance testing every hour.
In between sessions they could read, write, watch TV or talk.
They could not exercise, shower or bath.
Caffeine was not allowed the night before or during experimental conditions.
what were the statistical analysis?
Evaluation of systematic changes in each performance parameter across time (hours of wakefulness) or BAC were assessed separately by repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA).
what is a conscious response?
A reaction to sensory stimuli that involves awareness.
Voluntary- walking, waling etc.
Involve the brain and somatic NS.
what is an unconscious response?
A reaction to sensory stimuli that does not involve awareness.
Involuntary- secretion of hormones etc.
Involve the autonomic NS.
Do not require direct command from the brain.
what is a reflex?
An automatic involuntary behaviour that does not require prior experience and occurs in the same way each time.
what is a spinal reflex?
An unconscious, involuntary and automatically occurring response to a certain without any involvement of the brain.
Spinal reflex and other reflexes are called the reflex arc.
what are the steps of the spinal reflex?
Sensory neurones detect the stimuli and send the information to the spinal cord.
The interneurones in the spinal cord receive the sensory information and connect with the motor neurones to initiate a response.
The motor neurones carry the response back to the body part.
The reflex action occurs.
While the reflex is occurring, the sensory information has travelled from the spinal cord to the brain for processing.
The brain processes the sensory information for the sensation to be ‘felt’.
what are precautions of measuring consciousness?
Can only measure physiological changes not psychological so just a guide.
how should consciousness be measured? (6)
EEG, EMG, EOG, speed and accuracy on cognitive tasks and subjective reporting including sleep diaries and video monitoring.
what is an EEG?
Electroencephalograph.
Detects, amplifies and records the electrical activity of the brain in the form of brainwaves.
what are beta waves? when do they occur?
low amplitude and high frequency.
During alertness and intensive mental activity during NWC.
During tension, anxiety, threat and fear.
Beta during REM are irregular.
what are alpha brain waves? when do they occur?
High frequency.
Slightly larger than beta.
During a deeply relaxed state such as meditating.
what are theta waves? when do they occur?
Medium frequency.
High amplitude and low amplitude.
States 1 and 2 and when drowsy.
what are delta brain waves? when do they occur?
Low frequency.
High altitude.
Deepest stages of sleep (3 and 4).
define frequency
number of brain waves per second. High when the brain is active.
define amplitude
describes intensity (height) of brainwaves.
what are advantages of an EEG?
Provides overall information about brain activity.
real time.
non-invasive.
Used to diagnose and study brain-related medical conditions- damage, neurological disorders, epilepsy (uncontrollable bursts of brain activity).
what are limitations of EEGs?
Poorly measures neural activity that occurs below the outer layer of the brain (the cortex).
Does not provide detailed knowledge about what brain areas are activated especially under the cortex.
Multiple electrodes are put over a large area of the brain so it is hard to pinpoint where the activity is from.
The strength of the electrical activity is reduced after travelling through the skull.
Only provides a summary of the neurones firing in different areas fo the brain.
what are drugs and what can they do?
Drug: substance that changes physical and or mental functioning.
Stimulate or depress the NS.
They exert their effects by influencing specific neurotransmitter, receptors or by chemically altering neural functions in other ways.
how are the effects of drugs changed?
Type
Dose and potency
Personal characteristics- weight, physiology, sex, age, health and wellbeing, prior use, personality, mood, expectations.
Method of admin
When administrated- day or night
Whether others were taken
Context eg. Alone or with others, social or medical.
what do stimulants do to CNS functioning?
increased
what do stimulants do to arousal?
increased
