AP Psychology: States of Consciousness (Modules 7-10)

Our awareness of ourselves and our environment

The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory and language)

The principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Failing to notice changes in the environment

Electroencephalograph

The biological clock; regular bodily rhythms (for example, of temperature and wakefulness) that occur on a 24-hour cycle

Sleep and light

90 minutes

4

Rapid eye movement sleep; a recurring sleep stage during which vivd dreams commonly occur. AKA paradoxical sleep because muscles are relaxes but body systems are active.

The relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state

Periodic, natural, reversible loss of consciousness – as distinct from unconsciousness resulting from a coma, general anesthesia or hibernation

Sensation of falling or floating, brief. May include hallucinations, false sensory experiences such as seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus.

Relax more deeply, about 20 minutes. Sleep spindles, bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain-wave activity, occur here.

Lasts about 30 minutes. Delta waves, large and slow brain waves associated with deep sleep, occur here.

Heart rate rises, rapid and irregular breathing, darting eyes behind closed eyelids

Dream formation

30-45 minutes

2/3 of their day

Less than 1/3 of their day

Difficulty studying, diminished productivity, tendency to make mistakes, irritability, fatigue, weight gain, stress

1. Sleep protects.

2. Sleep helps us recuperate (restore and repair brain tissue).

3. Sleep is for making memories.

4. Sleep feeds creative thinking.

5. Sleep may play a role in the growth process.

Persistent problems in falling or staying asleep

When drugs are discontinued

Sleeping pills and alcohol; no, they aggravate the problem.

A sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks, sufferers lapse directly into REM sleep at inopportune times

Absence of a hypothalamic neural center that produces orexin, a neurotransmitter linked to alertness

A sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings

Snoring at night, feeling tired during the day, high blood pressure

A sleep disorder characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified; distinct from nightmares

Children

Stage 3

"Hallucinations of the sleeping mind"

Daydreams tend to involve familiar details of our life, but dreams can be vivid, emotional and bizarre.

A similar sensory experience can happen in the dream

• To satisfy our own wishes (Freud)

• To file away memories

• Information-processing perspective: To develop and preserve neural pathways, to make sense of neural static, and to reflect cognitive development

Sigmund Freud

Dreams are our unconscious selves revealing our own deep desires.

The remembered story line of a dream

The underlying meaning of a dream

There is no reason to believe that Freud's theory are true.

REM sleep increases; people return more and more quickly to the REM stage after falling asleep

A chemical substance that alters perception

Physical and psychological dependence

The diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug requiring larger intakes to achieve an effect

The discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing the use of an addictive drug

A physiological need for a drug, marked by unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the drug is discontinued

A psychological need to use a drug, such as to relieve negative emotions

Compulsive drug craving and use, despite adverse consequences

1) Addictive drugs quickly corrupt.
2) Addictions cannot be overcome voluntarily.
3) Addictions cover not just drug dependencies but many pleasure-seeking behaviors.

Drugs that reduce neural activity and slow body functions

No

Alcohol leaves you feeling invincible; drinkers may become hyper-aggressive or leave extravagant tips.

Alcohol slows sympathetic nervous system activity.

Alcohol disrupts processing of recent experiences into long-term memories.

Self-control is reduced because alcohol reduced self-awareness.

When people believe that alcohol affects social behavior in certain ways, and they believe that they have consumed alcohol, they act accordingly.

Drugs that depress the activity of the central nervous system reducing anxiety and impairing memory and judgment

Induce sleep and reduce anxiety

Impaired memory and judgment, death

Opium and its derivatives, such as morphine and heroin; they depress neural activity, temporarily lessening pain and anxiety

Depression of neural functioning

Endorphins

Opium, morphine, heroin

Drugs that excite neural activity and speed up body functions

Stimulant. Drugs that stimulate neural activity, causing speeded-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes

Stay awake, lose weigh, boost mood or athletic performance

Powerfully addictive drug that stimulates the central nervous system and speeds up bodily functions, reduces baseline dopamine levles

Dopamine

Caffeine

Addictive, mood-altering, reinforcing drug found in cigarettes, releases epinephrine and norepinephrine which diminishes appetite and boosts awareness

Addictive drug that enters the blood stream quickly and leads to emotional disturbance, suspiciousness and cardiac arrest

Dopamine, serotonin, and nonepinephrine

Stimulant and mild hallucinogen, amphetamine derivative, triggers dopamine release

Drugs that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input

A powerful hallucinogenic drug; also known as acid

THC is a major active ingredient in marijuana; triggers a variety of effects including mild hallucinations

Relaxation, disinhibits, produces a euphoric high, amplified sensitivity to colors, sounds, tastes and smells

Cancer, chronic pain disease, eating disorders, anxiety, depression and cramps