Altered States of Consciousness

Chapter 7 in your text

You are reading these words

Everything you think and feel is part of your conscious experience

Consciousness: A state of awareness, including a person’s feelings, sensations, ideas, and perceptions.

Consciousness

Venn Diagram: REM: EEG similar to waking Most dreams happen here Rapid eye movement Irregular breathing& heart

rate Limb muscles paralyzed Takes 90 to hit 1st cycle In common: stages of sleep, we all

experience both

NREM:Stages 1-4No rapid eye movementNight terrorsSleep walking/talkingBed wettingEnter as soon as you fall asleep

Rem vs NREM

Venn Diagram: Night terror: Stage 4 Usually affect child Developmental No memory of it In common:

unpleasant, occur during sleep

Nightmare: REM stage We all have these Occur at all times

throughout life We retain memory of

them

Night Terror vs. Nightmare

The subject that has had a great deal of

research in recent years is the study of altered states of consciousness.

Altered state of consciousness involves a change in mental processes, not just feeling more or less alert.

Introduction

Since at least the 1960’s,

psychologists have been studying altered states of consciousness by having people sleep, meditate, undergo hypnosis, take drugs during laboratory, researchers can observe changes in behavior and measure changes in breathing, pulse rate, body temperature, and brain activity.

Introduction

Sleep is a state of altered

consciousness, characterized by certain patterns of brain activity.

There are distinct characteristics that define the multiple stages of sleep

Sleep zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sleep is a major part of human and animal behavior It is difficult to study because a researcher cannot ask a

sleeping person to report on the experience without first waking the person.

Electroencephalogram (EEG)- Machine that records the electrical activity of the brain

By recording brain and body responses, researchers have discovered 2 different types of sleep patterns: Non- REM, no rapid eye movement REM, rapid eye movement

Sleep zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

As you begin to fall asleep, your

body temperature declines, your pulse rate drops, and your breathing grows slow and even.

Stages of sleep

Turn to page 159

Stages of sleep

1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, REM 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, REM…

At no point does your brain ever become inactive during sleep, it actually works quite hard cleaning & organizing.

Your brain prepares for the next day’s activities and challenges.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JWLfB-il_Y

How Sleep Cycles Progress

Stage 1 – quick sleep stage, hypnagogic

state Your pulse rate slows more Muscles relax, but breathing becomes

uneven and your brain waves grow irregular

If awakened during stage 1, you would report that your were “just drifting.”

Lasts 10 minutes Theta waves

Stages of sleep

Stage 2

Brain waves - high frequency bursts or spindles occur called K complexes

Eyes roll slowly from side to side

Stages of sleep

Stage 3

30 minutes after entering stage 2 Deeper stage of sleep EEG shows high amplitude, low frequency

waves and some delta waves begin

Stages of sleep

Stage 4

Deepest sleep of all EEG shows deep DELTA WAVES Difficult to awaken in this stage State of oblivion, you feel disoriented if alarm

sounds while in this stage Talking out loud, sleepwalking, night

terrors, and bed-wetting occur in this stage, leave no trace of memory

Slowed heart & respiration, lowered body temperature, lower blood flow, growth hormone secreted

Stages of sleep

Night Terrors Intense screaming and panic NREM, stage 4 Usually during 1st few hours of sleep Drastic body movements Associated with panic Most likely to occur in children, child is

inconsolable

Stage 4: Sleep disorder

Sleep walking/ talking- random electrical

impulses hit parts of the brain that controls bad movement and speech, occurs during stage 4

Stage 4: Sleep Disorder

Insomnia Narcolepsy http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myaonferplk Sleep apnea http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6lxO6W2-m8

Other Sleep Disorders

On average, a person spends 75- 80% of sleep time

in Stages 1-4 ( known as NREM or non-REM)

You spend on average 20-25 % of sleep time in final stage called REM = “Rapid Eye Movement”

REM sleep: The period of sleep during which the eyes dart back and forth (rapid eye movement) and dreams and nightmares occurs, limb muscles are temporarily paralyzed

takes about 90 minutes before you hit this stage for 1st time during night

Stages of sleep

Pulse rate and breathing become

irregular Levels of adrenal and sexual hormones

in your blood rise, as if you were in the middle of an intensely emotional or physically demanding activity

Face and fingers twitch Brain sends out waves that closely

resemble those of a person who is fully awake = EEG similar to wakefulness

REM

Called “active sleep” Lasts for about 10 minutes 1st time in it Throughout the night, time in REM sleep

increase Usually enter REM 5 to 6 times per night Essential stage of sleep, your body keeps track

of time in REM like the bank If you are REM deprived for the week, your

body will force you into REM stage sooner and for longer amounts of time – REM Rebound

REM

REM often referred to as Paradoxical

Sleep

Why? What is a contradictory about REM sleep? Eye move about rapidly, BUT

skeletal muscles paralyzed Deep, essential stage of sleep,

BUT EEG readings resemble Alpha (awake) waves not deep(delta) sleep waves

REM Sleep

If you are dreaming, you are likely in

REM sleep Nightmares are simply unpleasant

dreams, that happen in REM

Dreams

Small portions of our dreams REM Usually occur in second half of night’s sleep Frightening quality, vivid images common to awaken in the middle of them Have more if in REM Rebound Intensity of brain activity

Nightmares

Large percentage of dreams are negative

or unpleasant Anxiety, anger, sadness

We incorporate everyday activities into our dreams Can manipulate the content of a person’s

dreams Light water spray 42% Light 23% Tone 9%

Content of Dreams

Everyone dreams although most people only recall only a few, if any of their dreams

As night wears on, dreams become longer and more vivid and dramatic, especially during REM because we spend more time in REM

Last dream is likely to be the longest and the one people remember when they wake up

Dreams

Newborns

16-18 hours Half of it in REM

16 year olds 10-11 hours of sleep, signs of sleep deprivation: http://

www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/10-results-sleep-loss?page=2

Grad school 8 hours

Men & Women 70 years and older May need only 5 hours of sleep

Amount of sleep a person needs may vary, it does appear that everyone sleeps and that both types of sleep are important to normal functioning.

How much sleep?

Sleeping, where…?

Peter Trip’s Story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSNRdvusmQs

Sigmund Freud 1st to argue that dreams are an

important part of our emotional lives & a window into our unconscious mind (Id)

dreams are a psychological process

Dreams contain clues of desires the dreamer is afraid to acknowledge or express in waking hours

All dreams have two layers: 1) hidden underlying meaning called latent

content 2) the storyline you remember is called the

manifest content Dream of hats lately? = represented genitalia

Freud & Dream Interpretation

Nathaniel Kleitman

Pioneer of REM sleep

“Dreaming may serve no function”

Unimportant bi-product of stimulating certain brain cells during sleep

Dream Interpretation

Activation-Synthesis Theory Hobson & McCarley, 1977 This theory suggests that the physiological

processes of the brain cause dreams. Circuits in the brain stem are activated during

REM sleep = the pons generates bursts of action potentials to the forebrain

Our brain uses stored memories, experiences, concerns, emotions and expectations to create stories to make sense of the electrical impulses discharged in the brain

Feeling paralyzed in a dream simply means that brain cells that inhibit muscle activity were randomly stimulated

McCarley & Hobson (Cognitive Theorists)

Cognitive Information-Processing

Theory- People sleep in order to process information that

has been acquired during the day. Physiological triggers occur and our imagination

creates a story line of recent stored memories Sleep allows the brain to prepare for the next day Some research also suggests that sleep helps

cement the things we have learned during the day into long-term memory.

Babies need more REM than adults = they have lots more new information to process

Dream Theory

Evolutionary Theory of Sleep (Adaptive

Theory of Sleep) Periods of activity and inactivity evolved as a

means of conserving energy. Unique waking-sleep cycle maximize our

chances of survival (for all animals including humans)

Species sleep during periods of time when wakefulness would be the most hazardous.

More Dream Theory

Evolutionary Theory Evidence: Animals that have few natural predators, such

as bears and lions, often sleep between 12 to 15 hours each day. On the other hand, animals that have many natural predators have only short periods of sleep, usually getting no more than 4 or 5 hours of sleep each day.

Dream Theory

Dream dictionary

Dreams

Focus concentration away from thoughts and

feelings in order to create calmness, tranquility and inner peace

Various methods of meditation Various proven health benefits Classwork, READ article about meditation.

Write a 1 paragraph summary, include methods and health benefits

Write 2nd paragraph your personal reaction to article We are meditating next: bring yoga mat, towel or

blanket to lie on

Meditation

Hypnosis: Is a form of altered consciousness

in which people become highly suggestible and do not use their critical thinking skills.

Subjects may recall in vivid detail incidents they had forgotten or feel no pain when pricked with a needle

Subjects are not asleep http://www.hypnotherapyacademy.com/?gclid=

CMGck6im8boCFe1FMgodXRsAzg http://www.hypnosis.edu/training/

Hypnosis

Trace like state

Highly receptive and responsive to certain internal and external stimuli

Able to focus on 1 tiny aspect of reality and ignore the rest

Hypnotist Induces a trance by slowly persuading a subject

to relax and to lose interest in external distractions

Hypnosis

Hallucinations: Perceptions that have no

direct external cause, seeing, smelling, tasting, or feeling things that do not exist

Can produce hallucinations: Hypnosis, meditation, drugs, withdraw from

drugs

People hallucinate while dreaming and when deprived of sleep

Hallucinations

Covered in your AP Textbook assignment. Need to know the 4 categories of psychoactive drugs, what

they do to the body and examples of each 1. Depressants – barbiturates, valium, alcohol

2. Narcotics /Opioids– opium, heroin, morphine, Demerol, methadone

3. Stimulants -Ritalin, cocaine, caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines (yes, for ADD & ADHD, you prescribe a hyper child a stimulant, but

it mellows out the child/ very counterintuitive but true)

4. Hallucinogens – LSD, marijuana

Drugs and Their Effects

Drugs and Their Effects

Psychological effects – person had intense desire to use despite adverse effects

versus Physiological dependence – blood

chemistry changes from taking the drug, need to take drug repeatedly to avoid withdraw symptoms