negotiation assigment

STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Professor. Nelly E. Conde, MA

Sleep and Dreams
What are the different states of consciousness? What happens when we sleep, and what are the meaning and function of dreams?

Sleep and Dreams
What are the major sleep disorders, and how can they be treated?
How much do we daydream?

Consciousness
Awareness of the sensations, thoughts, and feelings we experience at a given moment.
Waking consciousness – we are awake and aware of our thoughts, emotions, and perceptions.
Altered states of consciousness are all other states of consciousness, such as sleeping and dreaming.

The Stages of Sleep
Stage 1
Characterized by rapid, low-amplitude brain waves
Stage 2
Slower, more regular wave pattern, Sleep spindles
Stage 3
Higher peaks and lower valleys of waves
Stage 4
Slower and more regular, least responsive to outside stimulation

The Four Stages of Sleep EEG
Stages 2, 3, and 4 together are often referred to as slow-wave sleep.
 Stages 3 and 4 together are often referred to as delta sleep.
 The progression of EEG stages changes during a typical night’s sleep: each cycle is about 90 minutes long.
 As the night progresses less time is spent in stages
3 and 4 and more is spent in REM sleep; and there are brief periods of wakefulness, which are normally forgotten in the morning.
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REM Sleep and Dreaming
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In the years since this discovery, a number of common beliefs about dreaming have been objectively tested by using EEG, EMG, and
EOG indices of dreaming:
◦ Are external stimuli incorporated into dreams?
 Yes, dripping water onto subjects was in 14 out of 33 dream cases.

◦ Do dreams run on ―real time‖?
 Yes, subjects awakened 5 or 15 minutes after the beginning of a dream could guess the correct interval on the basis of the contents of their dreams.
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REM Sleep and Dreaming
◦ Does everybody dream?
 Yes, even people who claimed that they did not dream had normal amounts of REM, and they reported dreams if they were awakened during REM—although less frequently.

◦ Are penile erections indicative of dreams with sexual content?  No, penile and clitoral tumescence occurs during all dreams, regardless of sexual content.

◦ Are somnambulism and sleep talking the acting out of dreams?
 no, they usually occur during stage 4.

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REM Sleep: The Paradox of
Sleep
Rapid Eye Movement

Back-and-forth movement of one’s eyes
Accompanied by dreams
Muscles appear to be paralyzed
Rebound effect

Why Do We Sleep, and How
Much Sleep Is Necessary?
Exact reason for sleep is unknown
Several theories exist
Most people sleep between seven and eight hours per night Varies among individuals

The Function and Meaning of
Dreams
Unconscious Wish Fulfillment Theory
Sigmund Freud
Latent content of dreams
Manifest content of dreams

The Function and Meaning of
Dreams
Dreams-for-Survival Theory

Permit one to reconsider and reprocess during sleep information that is critical for one’s daily survival The Function and Meaning of
Dreams
Activation-Synthesis Theory

Brain produces random electrical energy during REM sleep, possibly as a result of changes in the production of particular neurotransmitters, which in turn stimulates random memories that are turned into a storyline Theories of Dreaming

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Comparative Analyses of Sleep
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All mammals and birds sleep in a fashion similar to humans.
◦ Fish, reptiles, amphibians and insects also go through periods of inactivity similar to sleep.
The fact that all animals sleep suggests that sleep is not uniquely human, but has evolved for some sort of important physiologic reason. Differences in sleep duration suggest that it is needed in large amounts; many animals sleep only 2-3 hours per night.
Sleep duration seems to be correlated with how vulnerable a species is when it sleeps.
◦ Predators tend to sleep longer
◦ Prey species sleep for shorter periods of time.

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Sleep Disturbances: Slumbering
Problems
Insomnia
Sleep Apnea

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
Night Terrors
Narcolepsy
Sleep Talking
Sleep Walking

Circadian Rhythms: Life Cycles
Biological processes that occur regularly on approximately a twenty-four-hour cycle

Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)
Controls circadian rhythms

Seasonal affective disorder

Daydreams: Dreams Without
Sleep
Fantasies that people construct while awake

Typical part of waking consciousness
Time spent in daydreaming varies from individual to individual

Sleeping Better
Exercise during the day
Choose a regular bedtime and stick to it
Avoid drinks with caffeine after lunch
Drink a glass of warm milk at bedtime
Avoid sleeping pills
Try not to sleep

Sleep Disorders
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Insomnia
◦ Problems with initiating and maintaining sleep.
◦ Is often iatrogenic (physician-created), due to prescription of hypnotic drugs like Valium.
◦ Sleep apnea is another common form of insomnia;
 The patient stops breathing while they sleep, many times each night.
 Each time, they awake, begin to breathe again, then fall asleep…only to stop breathing again.

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Sleep Disorders
◦ Nocturnal myoclonus and restless legs are two other causes of insomnia.
◦ In one study, people seeking help for insomnia claimed that they slept an average of 4.5 hours per night, but they actually slept about 6.5 hours per night.

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Sleep Disorders
◦ Sleep restriction is an effective treatment for many forms of insomnia;
 A patient’s sleep is greatly restricted, and then slowly increased in duration.

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Hypersomnia
◦ Problems of excessive or inappropriate sleep;
 Sleep promoting conditions are called soporific.
◦ The most studied disorder of hypersomnia is narcolepsy;  Narcoleptics tend to fall asleep in totally inappropriate situations (while having conversations, eating, or scuba diving), they usually sleep for 10 or 15 minutes and then they awake.

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Sleep Disorders
◦ Cataplexy is another symptom of narcolepsy.
 Patients lose muscle tone during wakefulness, often falling to the ground as though they were shot.

◦ Narcoleptics also often display sleep paralysis
(inability to move when falling asleep) and hypnagogic hallucinations (dreamlike experiences during wakefulness).
◦ May be due to inappropriate activity in the nucleus magnocellularis in the caudal reticular formation;
 Normally neurons here are active only during REM sleep

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Sleep Disorders
 In narcoleptic dogs, these neurons are also active during their narcoleptic attacks. ◦ Research in narcoleptic dogs has also revealed a gene that causes the disorder;  the gene codes for a receptor that binds a protein called orexin.

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Disorders of Sleep

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Hypnosis and Meditation
What is hypnosis, and are hypnotized people in a different state of consciousness?
What are the effects of meditation?

Hypnosis: A Trance-Forming
Experience
Trancelike state of heightened susceptibility to the suggestions of others

Susceptibility to hypnosis varies greatly

Hypnosis: A Trance-Forming
Experience
A Different State of Consciousness?

Uses
Controlling pain
Reducing smoking
Treating psychological disorders
Assisting in law enforcement
Improving athletic performance

Meditation: Regulating Our Own
State of Consciousness
Learned technique for refocusing attention that brings about an altered state of consciousness
Repetition of a mantra

Drug Use: The Highs and Lows of
Consciousness
What are the major classifications of drugs, and what are their effects?

Drug Use: The Highs and Lows of
Consciousness
Psychoactive Drugs
Influence a person’s emotions, perceptions, and behavior

Addictive Drugs
Produce a biological or psychological dependence in the user

Stimulants: Drug Highs
Drugs whose effect on the central nervous system causes a rise in heart rate, blood pressure, and muscular tension
Caffeine
Nicotine
Amphetamines
Methamphetamine

Cocaine

Depressants: Drug Lows
Impedes the nervous system by causing neurons to fire more slowly Alcohol
Intoxication
Binge drinking

Barbiturates
Form of Depressant

Prescribed by physicians to induce sleep or reduce stress
Rohypnol
―Date rape drug‖

Narcotics: Relieving Pain and
Anxiety
Morphine
Heroin

Methadone
Synthetic chemical that satisfies a heroin user’s physiological cravings for the drug without providing the ―high‖ that accompanies heroin

Hallucinogens: Psychedelic
Drugs
Produces hallucinations, or changes in the perceptual process Marijuana
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)

MDMA (Ecstasy)
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)

Questions and Answers
How can I learn all this for the test, I think I need to rest…

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