Consciousness & Altered States of Consciousness

1. Consciousness &Altered States of Consciousness Consciousness Sleep Hypnosis Drugs

2. Definitions of Consciousness Allow Its Empirical Study • Subjectivity and “qualia” • How do we know that your idea of red and my idea of red are the same idea? • Access to Information • We have access to some information in our minds (i.e., our consciousness), but we don’t have access to other information in our minds (i.e., our unconscious) • Unitary Experience • The outputs of our sensory systems are unified into a phenomenal experience that is continuous over time

3. Manipulating objects with the mind • Implant small electrodes in the frontal and parietal lobe of a monkey • Record electrical activity in those areas while the monkey is using a joystick to manipulate a robotic arm • Create an “index” for the robotic arm, such that certain patterns of brain activity indicate certain movements • Unplug the joystick and make movement of the robotic arm completely dependent on brain activity • Within days, the monkey was able to control the robotic arm with only it’s thoughts

4. Variations in conscious experience • Automatic vs. controlled processing • Typically, automatic processing is fast and is done without much conscious effort (e.g., driving on a dry highway without much traffic) • Typically, controlled processing is slower and is done with conscious effort (e.g., driving on a wet highway with a lot of traffic) • Comas: vegetative to minimally conscious • Brain imaging can help determine the nature of the coma • Thalamic stimulation

5. The Corpus Callosum • Millions of myelinated axons connecting the brain’s hemispheres • Provides a pathway for communication between the hemispheres • If surgically severed for treatment of epilepsy, hemispheres cannot communicate directly

6. Visual Processing • Both eyes send information to both hemispheres • Right half of the visual field goes to the left hemisphere • Left half of the visual field goes to the right hemisphere

7. Sperry’s Split-Brain Experiment • Split-brain subjects could not name objects shown only to the right hemisphere • If asked to select these objects with their left hand, they succeeded but they could not say why • The right side of the brain doesn’t control speech

8. The interpreter • The left hemisphere likes to construct a world that makes sense. • It may even seek patterns that might not exist.

9. Unconscious Processing Influences Awareness • The case for unconscious influence: • Subliminal perception (see next slide) • Freudian slips • Priming • The smart unconscious • Incubation effects • Verbal overshadowing • Blindsight • Global workspace model of consciousness

10. Subliminal Perception • Priming is quicker retrieval of words related to previous stimuli • Priming works even if previous words are presented subliminally • That is, the words are presented in such a way that the subject claims not to have perceived them. • This is more evidence for the influence unconscious processing on awareness.

11. Sleep and Dreams Measuring Sleep Stages of Sleep Why Do We Sleep? Dreams Sleep Disturbances

12. Measuring Sleep • Electrodes measure • eye movements • EMG • Electromyogram • EEG • Electroencephalogram • A camera may also record body movements

13. Stages of Sleep

14. A Typical Night’s Sleep • Typically 4-5 episodes of REM sleep per night • Later episodes are longer and farther apart • Most “deep sleep” (stages 3 & 4) occurs early

15. Sleep disorders • Insomnia • Pseudoinsomnia • Worrying • Cognitive-behavioral therapy can help • Sleep apnea • Narcolepsy • Sleepwalking (somnambulism)

16. Why do we sleep: • Restoration • Sleep allows the body to repair itself. • Sleep deprivation • Microsleeps • Can cause problems with mood and cognitive performance • Circadian Rhythms • Keep animals quiet and inactive during the most dangerous part of the day (night for humans) • Consolidation • Neuronal connections that serve as the basis for new learning is strengthened during sleep.

17. Who Sleeps How Much?

18. Dreams • Recalling dreams is rare, but dreaming isn’t • A normal person may dream 150,000 times in their lifetime • People report dreams 80% of the time during REM sleep, but less than 50% of the time during other stages • REM dreams are more bizarre; non-REM dreams are often boring • People have less REM sleep with age • In newborns, 50% of sleep is REM • In the elderly, about 20% of sleep is REM

19. What Do We Dream About? • 64% of dreams associated with sadness, fear, or anger • Aggressive acts outnumbered friendly acts by 2:1 • 18% of dreams were happy or exciting • 29% of dreams were in color

20. Dream Theories • Sigmund Freud believed that dreams expressed wishes, often disguised • Manifest Content • Conscious dream content that is remembered after awakening • Latent Content • The unconscious, uncensored meaning of a dream • Alan Hobson activation-synthesis theory • Random activation from the pons and the amygdala activate visual systems and memory systems and the mind attempts to interpret these random patterns

21. Sleep Disturbances • Insomnia • Inability to fall asleep, stay asleep, or get enough sleep to function during the day • Hypersomnia (Narcolepsy) • A type of; irresistible, sudden attacks of drowsiness during the day • Parasomnia (Sleep disturbance) • Apnea: Repeated cessation of breathing during sleep

22. Hypnosis

23. Hypnosis • Hypnotic induction • Attention-focusing procedures in which changes in a person’s behavior or mental state are suggested • Hypnotic Susceptibility • The extent to which an individual is characteristically responsive to hypnosis • Posthypnotic suggestion • A suggestion made to a subject in hypnosis to be carried out after the induction session is over

24. Can Hypnosis Enhance Eyewitness Testimony? • Participants saw videotape of a staged bank robbery • Half were then hypnotized • Re-intervivew mentioned robber wore a mask • There was no mask • In highly hypnotizable subjects, 63% had false memories

25. The Hidden Observer • Subjects held a hand in ice water and reported pain • Hypnotized subjects reported lower pain • Hypnotized subjects reported a “hidden observer” that was aware of the pain

26. How Do Drugs Affect Consciousness? • People Use—and Abuse—Many Psychoactive Drugs • Alcohol Is the Most Widely Abused Drug • Addiction Has Psychological and Physical Aspects

27. People Use—and Abuse—Many Psychoactive Drugs • Marijuana • most widely used illegal drug • Stimulants • Cocaine and amphetamines (speed, meth, etc.) • improve mood • cause restlessness and disrupt sleep • MDMA (“ecstasy”) • similar effects as stimulants, with slight hallucinations • Opiates • Heroin, morphine, codeine • Highly addictive due to dual activation of dopamine and opiate receptors

28. Alcohol Is the Most Widely Abused Drug • Alcoholism is the third largest health problem, following heart disease and cancer • Currently 5% of all Americans are active alcoholics • Another 3% are addicted to other drugs • Lifetime prevalence is 10-20% • Americans have a love/hate relationship with alcohol • On the one hand, moderate drinking is an accepted aspect of normal social interaction and may even be good for health. • On the other hand, alcohol is a major contributor to many of our societal problems, such as spousal abuse and other forms of violence.

29. Alcohol Is the Most Widely Abused Drug • Expectations • alcohol reduces anxiety • alcohol increases social skills, sexual pleasure, confidence, and power • Reality • large doses of alcohol result in negative moods and focus on problems and anxieties • Alcohol impairs motor processes, information processing, mood, sexual performance • Learned beliefs about intoxication influence behavior

30. Addiction Has Psychological and Physical Aspects • Addiction • a physiological state in which failing to ingest a substance leads to symptoms of withdrawal, a state characterized by anxiety, tension, and craving • Physical dependence • associated with tolerance, so that a person needs to consume more of the substance to achieve the same subjective effect • Psychological dependence • habitual and compulsive engagement despite the consequences • people can be psychologically dependent without showing tolerance or withdrawal • individuals can be psychologically dependent on behaviors like gambling, shopping, exercising, or internet use