Unit 4 AOS 1

Question 1

What is consciousness?

Answer 1

The awareness of your own internal mental processes, including your thoughts feelings, sensations and perceptions.

Question 2

What is Normal Waking Consciousness (NWC)?

Answer 2

• where we spend most of our lives
• state associated with being aware of our internal and external environments
• where we perceive events/time/places etc. as real and meaningful

Question 3

Characteristics of NWC

Answer 3

• Moderate to high levels of awareness
• Decent memory and cognitive abilities
• Accurate perceptions of reality, time, sensations, etc
• Appropriate emotions
• Ability to focus attention on specific tasks
• Ability to switch attention between tasks
• A level of self control

Question 4

What are Altered States of Consciousness (ASC)?

Answer 4

• Where people experience a reduced awareness of internal and external stimuli
• any state that differs in awareness from NWC
• perceptions of events/time/places/ emotions can be distinctly different from NWC
• Can occur naturally (dream/sleep) or induced (alcohol)

Question 5

Characteristics of ASC

Answer 5

• Lower or higher levels of awareness
• Memory difficulties and reduced cognitive abilities
• Difficulty paying attention to tasks
• Distorted perceptions of reality, time, sensations (delusions)
• Inappropriate/uncharacteristic emotions
• Changes to self-control

Question 6

What is sleep?

Answer 6

A naturally occurring and reversible altered state of consciousness, characterised by a reduction in awareness and responsiveness to external surroundings

Question 7

What are the types of sleep and their proportions in a typical episode for an adult

Answer 7

55% light sleep
20% deep sleep
20% REM sleep
5% Awake

Question 8

NREM sleep

Answer 8

• Progressive decline is physiological activity
• three stages and takes up 80% of sleep episode

Question 9

NREM Stage 1

Answer 9

• transition between wake and sleep
• light sleep
• physiological responses begin to slow down
• “dozing off”, and may most easily be woken up
• if not disturbed for a couple of minutes in N1, a person quickly moves into N2

Question 10

NREM Stage 2

Answer 10

• also considered light sleep
• physiological responses continue to slow down
• still woken up relatively easily
• bursts of brain activity help resist being woken up by environmental stimuli
• N2 is experienced most throughout a episode

Question 11

NREM Stage 3

Answer 11

• Deep sleep
• slowest physiological responses
• most difficult to wakeup
• brain activity is the lowest
• experienced more in the first half of the night
• people of different ages spend different amounts of time in N3
• body is repairing itself

Question 12

REM Sleep

Answer 12

• period of rem occurs at end of sleep cycle and they get longer and closer together as episode progresses
• more in second half of sleep episode
• differs across different ages (20% of sleep in people 5+)
• if you have less sleep than normal, you may experience MORE REM sleep next time
• mind repairs itself

Question 13

How does the body act during REM sleep?

Answer 13

• eyes make quick darting movements
• physiological activity increases
• brain activity resembles wakefulness
• voluntary muscles are seemingly paralysed and twitch
• most vivid and memorable dreams occur during REM sleep

Question 14

What does DARE stand for?

Answer 14

Non- invasive device that Detects, Amplifies and Records electrical activity in the brain

Question 15

Electroencephalograph (EEG)

Answer 15

• Electrical activity in the brain
• uses electrodes placed on the scalp
• during sleep or wakefulness
• measures brainwaves, understood by looking at frequency and amplitude
• can indicate different stages of sleep

Question 16

Electro-oculograph (EOG)

Answer 16

• Electrical activity of the muscles around the eyes
• electrodes places around the eye socket/eyebrows
• during sleep or wakefulness
• measures muscle movement
• different speeds/amount of movement indicate different sleep stages (REM involve significant eye movement)

Question 17

Electromyograph (EMG)

Answer 17

• Electrical activity in the skeletal muscles
• electrodes places on skin around larger muscle groups
• during sleep of wakefulness
• measures muscle tension
• different amount of tension indicate stages of sleep (NREM stage 3 features low levels of muscle tension)

Question 18

Self Diaries

Answer 18

• self report used to collect info that EEG/EOG/EMG cant collect
• can gather qualitative and quantitative data
• insight into thought/emotions
• need to be used in conjunction with objective / scientific measures for accuracy
• fallible if people forget things