SLEEP AND DREAMS… Chapter 5 Huffman/Ch 6 Nairne States of Consciousness.
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Transcript of SLEEP AND DREAMS… Chapter 5 Huffman/Ch 6 Nairne States of Consciousness.
SLEEP AND DREAMS…
Chapter 5 Huffman/Ch 6 NairneChapter 5 Huffman/Ch 6 NairneStates ofStates of ConsciousnessConsciousness
• Consciousness: an organism’s subjective awareness of internal and external events in its environment
• Attention: internal processes that set priorities for mental functioning
• Levels of awareness:
–HIGH: Controlled processes that require attention (and interfere with other functions)
–MIDDLE: Automatic processes requiring minimal attention (such as riding your bike)
–LOWEST: Minimal or no awareness of the environment
• Levels of awareness:
–HIGH: Controlled processes that require attention (and interfere with other functions)
–MIDDLE: Automatic processes requiring minimal attention (such as riding your bike)• Automaticity – fast and effortless processing that requires little or no focused attention
• Levels of awareness:
–HIGH: Controlled processes that require attention (and interfere with other functions)
–MIDDLE: Automatic processes requiring minimal attention (such as riding your bike)
–LOWEST: Minimal or no awareness of the environment
Sleep• Sleep is a behavior
AND an altered state of consciousness
• We spend about a third of our lives in sleep.
EEG Changes During Sleep
• Summated brain wave activity (EEG)– Wakefulness: beta activity
(13-30 Hz) – Eyes closed: alpha activity
(8-12 Hz)
EEG Changes During SleepStage 1: Light Sleep – Alpha Waves
Stage 2: Eye movements & brain waves slow; sleep spindles
EEG Changes During Sleep
• Stage 3: very slow waves - delta waves appear
• Stage 4: almost all delta waves– Very hard to wake during this
stage
EEG Changes During Sleep
• REM stage: rapid, irregular and shallow breathing, eyes jerk rapidly, both wake and sleep waves (sawtooth pattern)
Theories of Sleep• Repair/Restoration
–Sleep allows for recuperation from physical, emotional, and intellectual fatigue
• Survival Value–Sleep evolved to conserve energy
and protect our ancestors from predators
“Sometimes,a cigar is just a cigar.”
- Freud, on themeaning of dreams
A.K.A. Psychoanalytic theory: Dreams represent disguised symbols of repressed desires and anxieties Manifest Content: symbols used to disguise true meaning of dreamLatent Content: true unconscious meaning of a dream
Wish Fulfillment –
Freud’s DreamTheory…
WHY DO WE DREAM!?
• Activation-synthesis hypothesis:–Dreams represent random activation
of brain cells during REM sleep
• Problem Solving–Dreams focus on the problems we
have in an attempt to find a solution
• Threat simulation–Dreams evolved to help us practice
skills we need to avoid threats.
Dyssomnias
• Insomnia - difficulty in getting to sleep or remaining asleep–Situational: related to anxiety or
excitement–Drug-induced: sleeping pills
(tolerance)
Dyssomnias• Sleep apnea: person stops
breathing and is awakened when blood levels of carbon dioxide stimulate breathing
• Narcolepsy: Sleep appears at odd times–Sleep attack: urge to sleep during the
day–Cataplexy: REM paralysis occurs,
person is still conscious
Myths of Sleep• Everyone needs 8 hrs of sleep per night to
maintain good health• Learning of complicated subjects such as
calculus can be done during sleep• Some people never dream• Dreams last only a few seconds• Genital arousal during sleep reflects dream
content• It is unrelated to sexual content• May be a useful index of physical versus
psychological causes of impotence in males