depressants: alcohol depresses the sympathetic nervous system. alcohol tends to magnify all our...
TRANSCRIPT
Depressants: Alcohol
• depresses the sympathetic nervous system.
• Alcohol tends to magnify all our tendencies.– Helpful people become more helpful, aggressive
more aggressive, sexual or sexual wannabes, more sexual.
• People become more self-disclosing.
Alcohol addicts
• Alcohol addicted people experience debilitating withdrawal symptoms– diarrhea, vomiting and hallucinations.
• Children of alcoholics can hold more liquor in their first experience than non COAs – suggests a genetic link.
Addiction correlates
• Risk taking boys more likely than others.• Mice have been bred to prefer alcohol to water.• Children of alcoholics have a 4X higher rates (about
60%)– Adopted Children of alcoholics still have 4x greater
rate.
• Age of first use correlates:– Under 15, 60% chance of alcohol problems– Over 21, drops to 7%.
Rat Studies: Duke University
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWRMOKvb_xU
Depressants: Barbiturates or Downers• Quaaludes, tranquilizers, valium sleeping
pills.
• All act to suppress the sympathetic nervous system– Taken with alcohol = coma
Depressants: Opiates
• Heroin, morphine, opium.• Depress the entire neural system.• Give feeling of “blissful pleasure”
– some first time users report having orgasms from use.
• Highly physically addictive. – Tolerance builds quickly. Withdrawal creates awful
symptoms.
• Brain stops producing endorphins.
Psychoactive Drugs: Stimulants
• Nicotine, Methamphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy.
• Increase heart rate, respiration, breathing,pupils dilate, appetite diminishes, creates energy boost.
• Feelings of euphoria, confidence, well-being followed by a corresponding crash.
Stimulants: Speed/Coke
• high doses can deplete natural stores of neurotransmitters. (serotonin, dopamine).
• Acts on pleasure system by blocking the reuptake of Serotonin and Dopamine.
• Chronic users, heavy doses creates extreme paranoia.
Stimulants: Cocaine and Speed
• The most highly psychologically addictive.
• Rats will hit a lever 1000s of times to get cocaine to the exclusion of food.
Ecstasy: MDMA
• Ecstasy: amphetamine with mild hallucinogenic effects– can cause dehydration. – Repeated use = brain damage in serotonin
system.
• Associated with extreme sociability: hugging, touching, etc.
• Extreme Euphoria.
Hallucinogens
• LSD, ecstasy, peyote, mescaline, psilocybin, Marijuana.
• Virtual high: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHwwdUOQL8Q
• Common to see visual distortion of things that are there.
• Heavily influenced by emotional state, and personality: explaining bad trips.
Marijuana
• 2nd most used drug, about 20% of high schoolers.
• Active Ingredient is THC. Can be ingested by eating or smoking.
• Mild hallucinogen: distorts time perception, makes it particularly dangerous for driving.
Drugs and Consciousness Cheat Sheet
• Stimulants – speed up the activity of the CNS – Amphetamines– they increase the release and decrease the
removal of norepinephrine and dopamine at synapses causing increased activity at the receptors. They also reduce the activity of GABA
– Cocaine – like amphetamines– Caffeine – Nicotine – enhances the action of acetylcholine, increases
the release of glutamate, the brain’s primary excitatory neurotransmitter
– MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine) or Ecstasy – similar to amphetamines
Drugs and Consciousness Cheat Sheet
• Depressants – reduce the activity of the CNS – they increase the availability of GABA , which reduces the activity of many neural circuits.– Alcohol– Tranquilizers– Barbiturates
• Opiates/narcotics – agonists for endorphins, HIGHLY addictive because they stimulate glutamate receptors and physically change the neuron structure – neuron comes to require the drug to function properly– Morphine - (an ingredient of opium which is derived from the poppy
plant)- Percodan, Demoral– Heroin – derived from morphine but 3x more powerful– Tylenol 3, codeine, percoset, vicodan, oxycotin, Advil
Drugs and Consciousness Cheat Sheet
• Hallucinogens/psychedelics– LSD – lysergic acid diethylamide 1938 Swiss chemist Albert
Hofmann synthesized it from a rye fungus• Hallucinations – time is distorted, sounds cause visual
sensations, leave the body• Stimulate serotonin and dopamine receptors in the brain• Flashbacks, trips, not addictive
– PCP (Angel Dust)– MDMA (Ecstasy) - hallucinations– Mescaline (mushrooms)– Ketamine – “Special K” an anesthetic used by veterinarians,
produces hallucinogenic effects, dissociative experiences. Can also cause enduring amnesia and memory loss.
– Marijuana, Mary Jane, weed, Reefer, grass, etc., etc., etc.• Main ingredient is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)
Sleep as a State of Consciousness
• Even when you are deeply asleep, your perceptual window is not completely shut
–What is our evidence of this?
Biological Rhythms and Sleep
• Circadian Rhythm– 24 hour cycle of day and night through our
biological clock• Body temp rises, peaks, dips, and drops• Thinking is sharpest at peak
• Why is pulling an all-nighter a TERRIBLE idea?
So what’s going on here…
• Let’s take a second to go back to the eye/brain relationship
1. Bright light tweaks circadian clock activating light sensitive retinal proteins SCN Pineal Gland Melatonin (increase/decrease by need)
2. suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) located in the ____________
Sleep Stages
• Considered different state of consciousness because different parts of brain’s cortex stop communicating
• Still-active sleeping brain has its own biological rhythm
• Which brain scan is used most in sleep studies?
Sleep
• Need for sleep varies with individuals– 20 hours for infants– 6 hours for adults in their
70’s
Stage 0: A person is relaxed with eyes closed
• EEG shows alpha waves
• “falling asleep” called hypnagogic state– Lucid dreaming
• “waking” period is called hypnopompic state– just ten more minutes…
Quiet Sleep: NREM sleep
• Stage 1 lasts from 30 secs to 10 min– Characterized by sensory images and slow
rolling eye movements– Appearance of theta waves on EEG (mixed
with alpha)– May experience hallucinations
• Sensation of falling• Most alien abductions happen here
Quiet Sleep
• Stage 2 lasts 20 minutes – theta waves, sleep
spindles, and K-complexes on EEG
– Sleep spindles: bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain wave activity
– Sleep talking occurs most here
– You are now full on asleep
Quiet Sleep
• Stage 4– Deep sleep– Lasts 30 min, recognized by 20-50% delta
waves in EEG
**AMOUNT OF TIME SPENT ON STAGES 3 AND 4 VARIES AS NIGHT PROGRESSES**
Active Sleep: REM
• Nearly all dreams occur in REM• Dreams are more vivid and story-like than in
earlier stages• REM increases during the night
– Less than a minute to over an hour– 25% of the night’s sleep
• Causes atonia which is temporary paralysis of the body
• Brain is active while body shows loss of muscle tone
During REM Sleep
• Heart rate rises• Breathing becomes rapid and irregular• Eyes dart around• Genitals become aroused
– Erections/vaginal lubrication and clitoral engorgement (not dependent on sexual nature of dream)
– Men’s erection upon waking stems from the night’s last REM
– Typical 25 year old male erections happen for half the night
How are you “active” yet not…
• Brain’s motor cortex is running…
• Brainstem blocks the messages– Muscles relaxed (essentially paralyzed)
• REM is called paradoxal sleep– Internally aroused, externally calm
• So, how is it that arousal happens when we sleep?
Sleep Cycle
• Repeats about every 90 minutes• Night progresses, deep stage 4 gets
briefer and disappears– REM and stage 2 get longer
• By morning, 20 to 25% has been REM– Everyone dreams, we don’t remember most of
what we dream– What are the dreams called that we most
remember?
Why do we sleep?
• Without sleep our bodies deteriorate– Functionality/productivity– Aging– Weight gain and metabolism– Suppress immune cells (infections/cancer)– Memory impairment
Wait… hold up… you said weight gain?
• Sleep deprivations increases hunger-arousing hormone – gherlin – and decreases hunger-suppressing hormone – leptin– Increases appetite and eating – Also increases stress hormone – cortisol
Sleep Disorders
• Insomnia• Narcolepsy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zVCYdrw-1o
• Apnea• Parasomnias
– SIDS– Jet lag– Sleepwalking (Somnambulism)– Bruxism
Freud’s wish-fulfillment
• Psychic safety valve– Safe place to express unacceptable feelings– Hidden meanings
– On The Interpretation of Dreams
Information-processing
• Dreams help sort the day’s events and consolidate our memories– That story about the place with the guy that
did the stuff… oh crap I lost it…
Activation-synthesis
• REM triggers neural activity to evoke random memories which our brain weaves into stories– Ever had a dream about the first house you
lived in or a childhood occurrence?
Cognitive development
• Dreams reflect individual’s knowledge and understanding of the world around them– Some take it WAY to seriously
Can hypnosis be theraputic?
• Maybe kinda sorta not really but in only in some cases…
– Posthypnotic suggestion has been found to alleviate headaches, asthma, stress-related disorders
• How about pain?– Hmmmm that’s up for debate.