Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Consciousness Defined
-
Stream of Consciousness
-
Levels of Awareness
-
Higher-Level Awareness
Lower-Level Awareness
Altered States of Consciousness
Subconscious Awareness
No Awareness
1. Higher-Level Awareness
-
Controlled processes
Represent the most alert states of human consciousness, in which
individuals actively focus their efforts toward a goal;
Requires selective attention;
2. Lower-Level Awareness
-
Automatic processes
States of consciousness that require minimal attention and do not
interfere with other ongoing activities.
Daydreaming
Involves a low level of conscious effort;
4. Subconscious Awareness
-
When people are asleep they still remain aware of external stimuli
5. Unconscious
-
Biological rhythms
Periodic physiological fluctuations in the body;
Controlled by a biological clocks;
Annual or seasonal cycles
Twenty-eight-day cycles
Twenty-four-hour cycles
Circadian rhythms
Monitored by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN,
hypothalamus)
Pineal Gland > Melatonin increases = sleep
Pineal Gland > Melatonin decreases = awake
Serotonin (high = sleepy, low = awake)
Body temperature (high = awake, low = sleepy)
Desynchronizing the Biological Clock
Jet travel
Changing work shifts
Insomnia
Experiences of disasters
Microsleeps
Brief sidesteps into sleep lasting only seconds
Sleep deprivation
Loss of sleep is a serious problem
Study of Van Dongen, et. al., 2003
4 groups (4, 6, 8 hrs and no sleep group)
within
the
Restoration
Adaptation
Growth
Memory
Stages of Sleep
-
Correspond to a massive
throughout the brain.
electrophysiological
changes
that
occur
Stages of Sleep
-
Beta waves
Alert and awake;
Reflect wakefulness;
No pattern, desynchronized;
Alpha waves
Relaxed but awake;
Has pattern;
Stage 1 (NREM)
Theta waves;
Slow in frequency and greater in amplitude than alpha waves;
Hypnogogic images or hallucinations
Stage 2 (NREM)
Theta waves continue but are interspread with a defining
characteristic
Theta with spindles
Stage 3 and 4 (Deep non-REM)
Delta and Theta waves
Deep Sleep
REM sleep
Active stage of sleep
Often called the paradoxical sleep
Associated with dreaming (Shafton, 1995)
REM paralysis
Hypnopompic hallucinations
Physical fatigue
Recovered during NREM
Emotional stress (Horne and Staff, 1983)
Recovered during REM
Stroke and asthma attacks are common during the night and early
morning;
Neurons that control sleep interact closely with the immune system;
Sleep problems afflict most people who are mental disorders including
those with depression
Sleep Disorders
-
Insomnia
The inability to sleep
Somnambulism
Sleep walking occurring during the deepest stages of sleep.
REM Behavior Disorder
When a persons muscle movement fails making him/her thrash
around and act out nightmares.
Nightmare (REM)
A frightening dream that awakens a dreamer from REM sleep