Consciousness

What is Consciousness?

• It is the awareness of things inside and outside ourselves

• It cannot be seen, touched, or looked at directly

• There are different ways of looking at consciousness

• There are different levels of consciousness

Meanings of Consciousness• Sensory awareness – you

are aware of the sights, sounds, noises, and smells around you

• Selective attention – being able to screen out some stimuli to focus on a particular stimulus (paying attention in class)

• Direct inner awareness – you are aware of thoughts, emotions, images, and memories without using your senses – they are inside of you

• Sense of self – you are aware of yourself and your existence as a unique individual

Levels of Consciousness

• Conscious

• Preconscious

• Unconscious

• Non-conscious

Conscious

• People are aware of themselves, their thoughts, and perceptions

• You are conscious when you are aware of your awareness

Preconscious

• Your preconscious is where all of the information goes that you can recall if necessary

• This is where you store memories, experiences, random bits of information, etc.

• They are not always in your awareness, but you can become aware of them by focusing your attention on them

Unconscious

• Sometimes called the subconscious

• This is where information gets stored that you are not able to become aware of

• You may repress painful memories here, or socially unacceptable urges and impulses

• Freud believed your actions were heavily influenced by the information you store in your unconscious

Non-Conscious

• Most of your biological functions happen at this level – you do not have to think about them for your body to continue doing them

• You may not even be aware they are happening

• Heartbeat, pupils dilating, your fingernails growing, breathing

Altered States of Consciousness

• Occurs when a person’s sense of self or sense of the world changes

• You may no longer be aware of what is going on around you• Sleep, hypnosis, drug-induced state

Sleep and Dreams

Some Background Information

• Humans spend about 1/3 of their lives asleep

• The amount of time we spend asleep depends on our circadian rhythms, or biological clocks

• Body temperature, brain activity, and blood pressure change significantly when we are sleeping

The Stages of Sleep

• Every stage of sleep has a different brain wave pattern

• When we are alert, the brain emits beta waves (short and quick)

• When we are relaxed, the brain emits alpha waves (a little longer and slower)

• Stage 1 (light sleep) – brain waves slow down more to theta waves– People might see vivid images

that they can recall if they are awakened

– Lasts about 30-40 minutes

The Stages of Sleep (cont.)• Stage 2 (moderate sleep) – brain

waves continue to slow more, becomes harder to wake people up

• Stage 3 (deep sleep) – brain waves slow down to delta waves, pretty hard to wake someone up

• Stage 4 (deepest sleep) – brain waves are at their slowest, it is very hard to wake someone up at this level

• After about 30 minutes at stage 4, people begin to move back up the stages to 3, then 2 and 1

• People will return to stage 1 about 90 minutes after they fall asleep

REM Sleep

• REM – Rapid Eye Movement• Occurs after people complete a

sleep stage cycle, brain produces waves similar to those made in stage 1

• Blood pressure goes up, breathing becomes irregular, heart beats faster, and eyes move quickly from side to side

• People complete about 5 sleep cycles when they sleep for 8 hours – REM sleep becomes longer with each cycle

Why Do We Sleep?

• Sleep helps the body recover physically by reviving tired muscles and organs as well as boosting resistance to infection

• Sleep also helps people deal with psychological health, like stress

• People sleep more when they are under more stress

Randy Gardner

• 17 year old who stayed up for almost 11 days without any sleep

• Became very irritable• Could not focus his eyes

and had difficulty speaking• Had memory lapses,

hallucinations, and delusions

• Took Gardner several days to return to normal circadian rhythm

Dreams

• EVERYONE dreams, but some people have more difficulty remembering their dreams than others

• We have the most vivid dreams during REM sleep

• People can dream in black & white or in color

• Many dreams have plots and vivid images and often involve people we know

• Scientists and psychologists are not sure why we dream and they disagree about the meaning of dreams

What Do Dreams Mean?

• Freud thought that dreams reflected your unconscious urges and desires – because some of the things in our unconscious are painful or undesirable, we symbolize them in our dreams

• Biological psychologists believe we dream because our neurons fire at random during sleep and our brain tries to make sense of this jumble of messages

• There is no agreed-upon set of rules for interpreting dreams

Insomnia

• This is the inability to sleep, people tend to experience it when going through periods of anxiety or tension

• It can worsen if you try too hard to fall asleep

• Occasional insomnia is pretty common and usually goes away on its own

Nightmares and Night Terrors• Most people have had

nightmares, and certain themes in nightmares are fairly common

• People who are anxious or depressed tend to have more nightmares – they occur during REM sleep

• Night terrors are more severe than nightmares and occur during stage 3 & 4 sleep – people usually do not fully wake up during night terrors

• They usually occur in young children whose nervous system has not developed

Sleepwalking

• Many children walk during stages 3 and 4 of the sleep cycle

• They may hold conversations with people, but if awakened they will not remember what they said or did

• Most people outgrow sleepwalking

Sleep Apnea

• Occurs when people stop breathing temporarily during sleep because their air passages are blocked

• Causes the body to jolt out of deep sleep, though people may not wake up

• Can lead to tiredness throughout the day, high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes

Narcolepsy

• Is very rare, occurs when people fall asleep any time, anywhere

• Can be extremely dangerous and is usually treatable with drug therapy and frequent naps

Drugs and Consciousness

How Do Drugs Affect the Body?

• Different types of drugs affect the body in different ways

• All drugs cause the nervous system to function abnormally

• Some drugs are addictive, causing the body to crave them just to feel normal

• Some drugs are connected to the development and progression of serious diseases

Depressants - Alcohol

• Depressants slow the activity of the nervous system and generally make people feel relaxed

• Alcohol and narcotics are depressants

• Alcohol causes intoxication, which can include slurred speech, blurry vision, balance problems, and lack of concentration

• Causes a lack of judgment and impaired coordination

• Long-term alcohol addiction can lead to liver failure, cancer, and heart problems

Depressants - Narcotics

• Used to relieve pain and induce sleep – decrease the activity of the CNS while stimulating pleasure receptors, are very addictive

• Morphine, heroin, and codeine are narcotics• Withdrawal symptoms from narcotics often include, nausea,

chills, vomiting, tremors, rapid heartbeat, and physical pain

Stimulants - Nicotine• Stimulants speed up nervous

system activity• Nicotine is a very common

stimulant that reduces appetite and boosts metabolism

• Nicotine is as addictive as heroin but its effects and withdrawal symptoms are not as severe

• Cigarettes are responsible for more deaths per year in America than suicide, homicide, alcoholism, car accidents, drug overdoses, and AIDS combined

Stimulants - Amphetamines

• Amphetamines help people stay awake and cause a reduction in appetite by making the body produce more neurotransmitters and slowing their absorption

• High doses can have effects that last for several days, after which a person crashes both physically and psychologically

• Some people experience terrifying hallucinations and delusions while taking amphetamines

Stimulants - Cocaine• Cocaine produces feelings of pleasure and reduces hunger – it

deadens pain and makes people feel more self-confident• It also causes insomnia, headaches, body tremors, nausea,

hallucinations, convulsions, and delusions• Puts a major strain on the heart

Hallucinogens - Marijuana

• Hallucinogen is a drug that produces hallucinations

• Marijuana produces mild hallucinations and feelings of relaxation by slowing the CNS

• It also decreases coordination, impairs judgment and memory, and can cause anxiety and confusion

• Often raises blood pressure and heart rate greatly

Hallucinogens - LSD

• Much stronger than marijuana and produces more intense hallucinations – causes neurons in brain to send messages to the wrong destination, overloads the brain with messages

• Hard to predict the effects LSD will have when someone takes it

• Side effects include violent outbursts, self injury, panic attacks, and flashbacks that occur sometimes years after use

• Can permanently change the chemistry of the brain

Drug Abuse Treatments

• Detoxification – removal of the drug from the body, helps to wean addicts off of the drug while restoring health to the body

• Maintenance programs – people are given a less dangerous substance to substitute the more harmful drug (methadone clinics)

• Counseling – can be conducted individually or in a group setting

• Support groups – people meet in groups for emotional and moral support (AA, NA, etc.)