Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly...

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Introduction to Psychology Consciousness

Transcript of Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly...

Page 1: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Introduction to Psychology

Consciousness

Page 2: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Consciousness• William James (1890):

– Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions

• Consciousness can be viewed as our subjective awareness of mental events

• Functions of consciousness:– Monitoring mental events– Control: consciousness allows us to formulate and reach goals

• Consciousness may have evolved to direct or control behavior in adaptive ways

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Page 3: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Cortex and Consciousness• The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is activated

during conscious control tasks– Subjects asked to name the ink color in the Stroop

task below have difficulty when the word name and color are different

– This color-naming task was associated with activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Page 4: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Attention

• Our conscious awareness is limited in capacity and we are aware of only a small amount of the stimuli around us at any one time

• Attention refers to the process by which we focus our awareness

• Three functions of attentional processes:– Orienting function toward the environment– Control of the content of consciousness

• I will think about this issue but not that one…

– Maintaining alertness

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Page 5: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Subliminal Perception• Notion that brief exposure to sub-threshold stimuli can influence awareness• Study: subjects are shown aggressive (A) or positive (B) stimuli

– and then rate a neutral stimulus (C)– Subjects shown panel A first subsequently rated the boy in panel C more negatively

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (Figure adapted from Eagle, 1959)

Page 6: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Unconscious Cognitive Processes • Information-processing view can be extended to

analyses of unconscious processes• Notion is that many brain mechanisms operate in

parallel– Some of these mechanisms operate outside of the level of

consciousness

• Functional significance of unconscious mechanisms:– Are efficient and rapid– Can operate simultaneously– Operate in the absence of consciousness?

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Page 7: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Neurology of Consciousness• Consciousness is distributed

throughout the brain– Hindbrain and midbrain are

important for arousal and for sleep– Damage to the reticular formation

can lead to coma– Prefrontal cortex is key for

conscious control of information processing

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Page 8: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Species Variation in Sleep

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

(Figure adapted from Kripke et al., 1979)

Page 9: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Sleep and Dreaming

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

• Behavioral characteristics of sleep– Minimal movement– Stereotyped prone posture– Require a high degree of stimulation to arouse

organism

• Physiological characteristics of sleep– Brain wave activity (seen in the EEG)– Paralysis of muscles (seen in the EMG)– Cardiovascular changes (alternating cycles of

arousal)

Page 10: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Function of Sleep

• Memory consolidation• Energy conservation • Preservation from predators• Restoring bodily functions

– Sleep deprivation can alter immune function and lead to early death

– Sleep deprivation can also lead to hallucinations and perceptual disorder

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Page 11: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

EEG Stages of Sleep

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

(Figure adapted from Cartwright, 1978)

Page 12: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

REM Sleep

• Characteristics of REM sleep– Presence of rapid-eye-movements– Presence of dreaming– Increased autonomic nervous system activity– EEG resembles that of awake state (beta wave)– Motor paralysis (except for diaphragm)

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Page 13: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Dreaming

• Psychoanalytic view: Dreams represent a window into the unconscious– The latent content (meaning) can be inferred from the

manifest content (the actual dream)

• Cognitive view: Dreams are constructed from the daily issues of the dreamer

• Biological view: Dreams represent the attempt of the cortex to interpret the random neural firing of the brain during sleep

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Page 14: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Dreaming

• Evolutionary view: on-line threat simulation and behavioral rehearsal system

• Virtual reality training center

• Problem solving Perspective

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Page 15: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Lucid Dreaming

1) Dream journaling – note dream signs

2) Reality testing

3) Relaxation techniques

4) Pre-sleep suggestions

5) Sleep in a different place or position

Page 16: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Lucid DreamingSuggested Readings

Garfield, P. (1974). Creative Dreaming. New York: Ballantine.LaBerge, S. (1985). Lucid Dreaming. Los Angeles: J. P.

Tarcher.LaBerge, S. & Rheingold, H. (1990). Exploring the World of

Lucid Dreaming. New York: Ballantine.Zadra, A.L., Donderi, D.C. & Pihl, R.O. (1992) Efficacy of

lucid dream induction for lucid and non-lucid dreamers. Dreaming, 2, 85-97.

Zadra, A.L., & Pihl, R.O. (1997). Lucid dreaming as a treatment for recurrent nightmares. Psychotherapy Psychosomatics, 66, 50-55.

Page 17: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Sleep Disorders• Insomnia is the inability to achieve or maintain sleep• Many causes for insomnia:

– Stress– Depression– Sleeping pills (iatrogenic means physician-caused)

• Some suggestions for treating insomnia– Only use your bed for sleeping– Avoid physical activity prior to sleep– Avoid consumption of caffeine and alcohol before bed– Keep a regular sleep schedule – Go to bed when you are ready(do not force sleep)– Do not sleep during the day if you have insomnia– Relaxation (PMR), meditation, self hypnosis

Page 18: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Other Sleep Disorders

• Nightmares are vivid fear-evoking dreams– Occur during REM sleep

• Night Terrors: are episodes of intense panic– Occur during delta sleep (early in night)

• Sleep apnea: refers to awakening brought on by cessation of breathing during sleep

• Narcolepsy: falling asleep during the day

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Page 19: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Altered States of Consciousness

• Changes in consciousness can be brought on by– Meditation– Hypnosis– Drug ingestion– Religious experiences

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Page 20: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Meditation

• Focused Breathing

• Physiological responses

• Cognitive responses

• Attentional Focus

• Quieting the mind (self-talk)

• Alpha waves (EEG)

Page 21: Introduction to Psychology Consciousness. William James (1890): –Consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and emotions Consciousness.

Hypnosis• Hypnosis is a state of consciousness characterized by

– Deep relaxation

– Suggestibility

• Effects observed during hypnotic state:– Age regression

– Change in pain perception

– Ability to recall memories into consciousness

• Dissociation?

© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.