States of Consciousness Definitions Flashcards
What is Consciousness?
Awareness of ourselves and our environment
Awareness
Perceiving, feeling, or behaving, or having knowledge of oneself.
Conscious Experience
Normal, waking consciousness: how you are functioning right now.
Levels of Awareness: High-Level Awareness (3 points)
-Most alert state.
-Highly focused on something.
-When making important decisions.
Levels of Awareness: Low-Level Awareness
-Non-conscious processing (Automatic behaviors)
-Daydreaming
-Sleep
-Coma
-Low awareness can save mental effort.
-Can also be influenced by subtle factors.
Layers of Consciousness: Dual Processing Model (3 points)
Information is simultaneously processed on separate conscious and non-conscious tracks.
-System 1: Implicit
-System 2: Explicit
When we get into the implicit association test
-Way to check for implicit biases.
-Check where your implicit bias is.
What role do you think attention plays in our consciousness and awareness?
-Attention plays a huge role.
-If you aren’t paying attention, you don’t know what the hell is going on.
-Selective Attention
-Attention is “shiftable.”
-Stimuli that is novel, large, vivid, colored, moving, etc.
Inattentional Blindness
-Failure to detect something when engaged in a task.
-Change Blindness
Cocktail Party Effect
The ability to listen to one person talking amongst a group of people talking.
Altered State of Consciousness
Deviation from normal awareness due to sleep, drugs, hypnosis, sleep deprivation, etc.
Sleep (4 points)
-People spend 1/3 of their life asleep.
-All birds and mammals sleep.
-Important restorative functions
-Need to sleep for cellular restorations.
Wakefulness: 2 patterns of activity
Alpha Activity & Beta Activity
Alpha Activity
Regular, medium-frequency waves (8-12Hz)
-Produced while resting quietly, eyes closed.
Beta Activity
-Irregular low-amplitude waves.
-Desynchronous activity.
-Occurs when alert.
Stages of Sleep
-Awake
-Stage 1: Light Sleep
-Stage 2: Moderately light, spindles, K-complexes
-Stage 3: Transitional
-REM: Dream sleep
Time of each sleep cycle
90 min
Stages of Sleep and Brain Waves
-Cycles ~ 90
-SWS most early on decreases through the night.
-REM sleep increases.
Sleep and Learning: REM Sleep Rebound
If we are deprived of REM sleep, we make it up the next time.
-Important during development
-Infants have more REM than adults.
SWS (Slow Wave Sleep) Essential For:
-Rest & Repair of brain
-Consolidation of declarative memory
Sleep Deprivation: Cognitive Deficits
Perceptual distortions, trouble concentrating, even hallucinations.
Sleep Deprivation: Microsleep
Brain shuts down, falling into a sleep state for up to half a minute.
Wish Fulfillment Theory
Sigmund Freud believed that dreams symbolize hidden desires.
-Info about your inner self
Manifest Content
-Story of the dream, what actually happened in the dream
Latent Content
-Deeper unconscious meaning.
-What store was I walking to? What was the significance of the store?
Sigmund Freud’s Theories
Went into hidden sexual desires.
Cognitive Theory (3 points)
-What we think about during the day shows up in our dreams.
-Aids in problem-solving, creativity.
-Inventor of the sewing machine came up with it in a dream.
Information-Process Theory
-Sensory overload during the day. Dreaming is a mental “time out.” Brain is scanning new info against old info/ Dreams are meant of strengthening memories most crucial to our survival.
Activation-Synthesis Theory
-The brain is very active during REM sleep! Dreams occur as a result of brain activity during sleep. The brain is making sense of random neural firing.
Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)
Our bodies’ clock is in the hypothalamus and plays a role in regulation of the Circadian Rhythm. Regulates and Responds to melatonin. Melatonin secreted by the Pineal gland.
Zeitgebers
-External clues that help set your internal clock.
-German for “time giver”
Melatonin (4 points)
Hormone Released by Pineal gland.
-Suppressed by light.
-Decreases with age.
-Delayed in adolescence
Adenosine (4 points)
-Inhibitory neurotransmitter; it binds to a neuron and makes it not active.
-Extracellular buildup while awake.
-Basal Forebrain
-Increases sleep drive / pressure
-Caffeine; blocks receptors for adenosine.
Drug-altered Consciousness: Psychoactive Drugs
Substances that alter behavior, mood, perception, and/or mental functioning.
Substances
Depressants, Stimulants, Hallucinogens
Neurotransmitter: Dopamine
“Feel good” reward mechanism of the brain; movement, learning, and attention.
Neurotransmitter: Acetylcholine
Stimulates muscles
Neurotransmitter: Serotonin
Emotion, mood, perception, hunger, sleep, arousal
Neurotransmitter: Glutamate
Major excitatory transmitter; memory
Neurotransmitter: GABA (Gamma Aminobutyric Acid)
Major inhibitory transmitter
-Most ubiquitous
Neurotransmitter: Endorphins
Pain reduction and pleasure
Depressants
-Alcohol, Barbiturates, Opiates
-Alcohol is most widely used.
Neurotransmitters involved in depressants:
GABA
Costs to society while using depressants:
Cancer: Breast, bowel, Blatter, liver, mouth…
-60% of traffic fatalities
-BACs of 0.3 can kill you
Depressants: Opiates
Neurotransmitters:
-Endorphin
Opioids
Opiates + Synthetic Opiates: Vicodin, Percocet, Oxycodone, Fentanyl
Stimulants
Cocaine, Nicotine, Caffeine, MDMA, Amphetamines
Neurotransmitters involved in stimulants:
Dopamine
Stimulants do what:
-Increases euphoria, energy, alertness, and wight loss.
-Vasoconstrictor & local anesthetic
Hallucinogens
-Changes of though or perception
-Addiction risk is minimal.
Natural Hallucinogens
-Mescaline
-Psilocybin
-Marijuana (not a hallucinogen but is classified as one)
Synthetic Hallucinogens
-Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD)
-MDMA (Ecstasy)
-Phencyclidine
Neurotransmitter involved in hallucinogens.
Serotonin
