Consciousness and Sleep Notes PDF

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Summary

Notes on the complete consciousness and sleep AOS...

Description

Consciousness: Consciousness the awareness of our external environment and of internal processes at any given moment. - Includes awareness of sensation, perception, thoughts, feelings and memories. - Can be easily manipulated by triggering memories and drawing them into conscious awareness

- referred to as a psychological (hypothetical) construct: • A concept used to describe something that is believed to exist, because we can measure it’s effects, but we cannot directly observe it. Studying consciousness is a difficult thing because it cannot be directly observed

Types of Consciousness: -

Personal: Is your subjective understanding, Personal to you. Selective: Attend to some things whilst ignoring others Continuous: There are no beginning or end to consciousness. Consciousness is never ‘empty’ Changing: Thoughts change from topic to topic as new information comes into your awareness.

William James (1842-1910) - Studied consciousness - Stream of Consciousness as an ever-changing series of thoughts that can shift effortlessly between each moment, like water in a stream

- Conscious experience is continuous, ever-changing, personal, selective, active.

Different states of consciousness: - consciousness varies momentarily, state of consciousness is your level of awareness within a -

particular period that indicates towards the amount of awareness of our internal state and external environment No distinct boundaries where a state of consciousness ends and begins, but in order to describe different states they can be placed on a continuum from total awareness to total lack of awareness

Normal Waking conciseness: (NWC): A state of consciousness that is characterised by clear and organised alertness to internal and external stimuli. Characterised by: - Mod/High levels of consciousness - Good memory and cognitive abilities - Focused attention on specific tasks - Accurate perception of reality - Appropriate emotions - Degree of self control - Accurate perception of time and sensations - Control over the content of thoughts

Altered State of consciousness: (ASC) A state of consciousness that is characteristically different from waking consciousness in terms of awareness, sensation and perception. Characterised by: - Low levels of awareness - Memory difficulties and reduce cognitive abilities - Difficulty paying attention to specific tasks - Distorted perception of reality (delusions or Hallucinations) - Inappropriate or uncharacteristic emotions - Lack of self control - Difficulty in accurately perceiving time and sensations - Reduced ability to control the content of thoughts

Types of ASC: Naturally Occurring ASC

Induced ASC

Involves physiological and psychological changes to occur automatically and are produced spontaneously beyond our concise control

An induced ASC involves physiological and psychological changes that have been intentionally produced

- Includes: sleeping, daydreaming, psychosis

- Includes: Alcohol, drugs, hypnosis, meditation and anaesthesia.

Onset can be due to occurrences such as sleep deprivation, fever, trauma, sensory derivation or overload, neurochemical imbalance

Physiological changes include: Lack of self control, slower reaction time and inability to perceive and judge the world. When practising meditation you may experience lower awareness of external stimuli. Within hypnosis you may experiences distortion in perception and cognition and reduce experience of pain.

Factors of NWC and ASC: Factor

Notes

Normal Waking conciousness

Altered State of consciousness

Awareness

Activities that require individual to be in NWC are called controlled processes. Actions that require high levels of awareness and attention in order to achieve particular goal

We have high levels of awareness to internal and external stimuli

Have Low levels of awareness to internal and external stimuli.

Attention

Focused Attention:! Attending a particular stimulus while ignoring others, requires high level of awareness.!

We have high levels of attention to internal and external stimuli!

We have reduced attention to internal and external stimuli!

- In order to

- Finding it very

complete controlled processes we must be in NWS! - Must have focused attention

difficult to complete controlled process.! - Cannot focus attention well.

Selective Attention:! The ability to redirect our focus to a specific or limited range of stimuli, while ignoring others! Actions that require little conscious awareness or mental effort don't interfere with the performance on other actives that are automatic! - When behaviour becomes an automatic process, we are able to divide our attention.! Divided Attention: occurs when an individual simultaneously focuses on two or more stimuli or undertakes two or more tasks. Must be automatic processes and dissimilar.! Controlled Process: An action that requires a high level of conscious awareness, attention and mental effort. (Completing SAC)! Automatic Process: An action that requires little conscious awareness or mental effort. (Brushing your teeth) Content Limitation (thoughts)

Content limitations refers to the control that we We have high have over our thoughts degree of control over the content of our thoughts,! - content on thoughts are limited due to our desire to avoid thoughts that evoke feeling of fear, embarrassment and distress

Content limitation are reduced during an altered state of consciousness! - The degree of control we have ever our thought is reduced! - Unwanted or distressing thoughts can be brought into conscious awareness, unintentionally.

Factor

Notes

Normal Waking conciousness

Sensation and Perception

Sensations refers to how our senses receive information form the external environment and perception refers to how we interpret this information

We can accurately perceive senses in the environment around us.!

Altered State of consciousness

Experience of sensation and perception can be dulled or sharpened! - (Feeling pain - (Sensations of when hurt, seeing taste are or hearing things reduced when that exist) experiencing a fever.)! Being in a drug induced state can lead to a heightened or distorted sense of reality, including hallucination and delusions.

Cognitive Disorders

Emotional Awareness

Cognition is a proud term that relates to mental Cognitive activities such as thinking, problem solving, processes such as language, analysis and reasoning. memory, thinking, reasoning and problem-solving are organised, logical and more effective! - Cognitive distortion is not common in NWC

Cognitive processes are illogical and disorganised! - Memory is often affected as less information is stored and it is more difficult to retrieve previously stored information.

Way we experience emotion in NWC is considered appropriate! - We generally aware of our feelings and show a range of emotions that are normal and appropriate for the situation.

Emotions can be dulled or heightened. If dulled a person may feel emotionally numb, if heightened emotions become more intense. ! - Emotions may be considered inappropriate as there can be a lack of understanding of the emotional reality of a situation.

Factor

Notes

Normal Waking conciousness

Altered State of consciousness

Self-Control

Self Control refers to good judgement of physical responses, restraint and coordination

We are able to coordinate complex movements and make good judgements.! - We tend to be quite reserved and avoid anything that we may think is risky or embarrassing.

Self control can become compromised. Inhibitions are lowered and we might do things we wouldn’t normally do.! - We might be more open to suggestion, follow instructions with litter resistance and may not consider consequences.

Time Orientation

Time orientation refers to our perception of time.

Perception of time is usually accurate. ! - We understand where we are in time (night/day/ hour) and are able to focus on the past present and future.

Time orientation is often distorted! - Time feels like its passing more quickly or slowly.

Objective Measures of NWC and ASC: Objective data involves measuring physiological changes under controlled conditions - minimises bias and represents a more scientific, accurate and reliable method of data collection that allows experiments to be replicated independently Objective measures that can indicate levels of alertness and therefore an altered state of consciousness using EOG, EEG and EMG The use of Plysomnogram when data is collected simultaneously from EEG, EOG and EMG that is displayed on continuous moving chart Type

Defintion

Electrooculograph (EOG)

Detects, amplifies and records electrical activity in muscles around the eyes! - Activity is detected via electrodes that are places on the face around the eyes! Indicates that stance of sleep a person is in and therefore their state of consciousness! REM sleep: EOG will detect high amount of activity due to eyes moving rapidly! NREM Sleep: EOG will detect low activity because muscle surrounding the eyes will display little to no movement.

Evidence

Type

Defintion

Evidence

Electromyograph (EMG)

EMG detects, amplifies and record electrical activity in the muscles! - Electrodes are placed on the skin near corresponding muscles and EMG determines whether a muscles become active! Give indication to what stage of sleep a person is in and therefore determine state of consciousness! REM Sleep:Persons muscles will not move at all (muscle atonia)! When in a light sleep muscles may twitch

Electroenceephalo graph (EEG)

EEG is a machine used to detect amplify and record electrical activity of the brain measured in form of brain waves.! - Can determine levels of awareness! - Recoding shows the frequency and amplitude of brain activity

Frequency and Amplitude of Brainwaves: Frequency: the number of brainwaves per second - High frequency: greater the brain activity - Low frequency: less brain activity Amplitude: the size of the peaks and troughs (intensity of brain waves) from a baseline in zero activity - High amplitude: Larger peaks and troughs - Low amplitudes: small peaks and troughs

Brainwaves: Brainwave

EEG recording

Amplitude on EEG Frequency on EEG

When it occurs

Beta

Low

High

NWC - Betawaves can be experienced in REM sleep which is an alert state of consciousness

Alpha

Low - medium (higher than beta)!

Medium - High (lower then beta)

Deeply relaxed State

Theta

Medium - High (higher than alpha)!

Low - Medium (lower then alpha)

Early or light sleep

Brainwave

EEG recording

Delta

Amplitude on EEG Frequency on EEG

When it occurs

High ( highest of all waves)!

Deep Sleep

Low (lowest of all waves)

Its indication on a state of consciousness: - Beta-waves indicate high levels of awareness and NWC - Alpha, theta and delta waves indicate ATC - Alpha waves may indicate a meditative or deeply relaxed state

Other measurements of NWC and ACS: Use behavioural and cognitive measures in order to study consciousness such as performance on tasks. These measures are more objective than other measures as they are more likely to find similar findings and an unbiased interpretation of data.

Speed and Accuracy Test: - Objective measures - Involve the completion of one or multiple cognitive tasks across a number of trials (thinking, -

problem solving, language and reasoning). That are done at different periods of day/ different states of consciousness in order to analysis the characteristics of NWC and ASC. Measurement of speed records one’s reaction time to stimulus Measurement of Accuracy records the number of correct responses

Subjective Measures of Consciousness: - Not as accurate as objective measures but provide insight to experiences of consciousness Type

Notes

Self reports

Statements and answers made by the participant themselves concerning their psychological experience (thoughts feelings and emotions)! - Questionnaires, diary entries, interviews

Sleep Diaries

A self reported record of an individuals sleep and waking time activities, over a period of several weeks! Sleep Activities: Time went to bed, how long it took to fall asleep, how many times u woke up in night and how long for.! Awake activities: caffeine consumptions, medication and alcohol use, meals (content and time), physical activity, occurrence of significant events.! Strengths: used to determine if sleep pattern is uncharacteristic for the individual. Interpretation of how individuals daily functioning is affected. Suggests what psychological behaviours have contributed to onset sleep disorder! Limitations: Subjective, open to bias, Participants may forget to complete, may not be able to accurately describe experiences or not be honest

Type

Notes

Video Monitoring

Observational data that involves the recording of an individuals behaviour during sleep cycle.! - cameras record audio/movement, made in real time, sped up for the purpose of analysis, individual may be attached to objective measure of consciousness! Strengths:Record observable behavioural changes over extend time, identify sleep related behaviours (sleep walking/talking, night terrors), records are permanent and can be viewed number of times. Data can be recorded alongside physiological measurements at the same time.! Limitations: Data is open to interpretation, no clear definition to behaviour, opens the potential for bias, participants behaviour may be blocked from camera view, when used alone there is no physiological data.

Changes in consciousness: - sleep deprivation refers to going without enough sleep to function efficiently.

Partial Sleep Deprivation: Occurs when a person does not get the recommended hours of sleep each night for their age range, within a 24 hour period but not enough to be able to function properly.

Total Sleep Deprivation: Occurs when a person goes without sleep at all. A person with total sleep deprivation does not sleep at all in a 24hour period.

Case Study: Peter Trip (1959) - To raise money for charity he agreed to forgo sleep for 201 hours. - After 100 hours, he began to have hallucinations (thought his dressing table was on fire) - After 170 hours he was in agony, struggled to comprehend simple thoughts and reasoning, Had memory problems

- Brainwaves showed the same as one who was asleep and was no longer sure who he was. - By the end of the 201 hours he was unable to distinguish the difference of hallucinations and reality.

Case Study: Randy Gardner (1964): - Randy Gardener holds the world record for the longest period of time without sleep - At the age 17 he went 264 hours/11 days without sleep - Experienced irritability, memory lapses, difficulty concentrating and difficulty naming common objects.

- Only needed 14 hours to recover

Effects on sleep Deprivation on: Cognition: - A full night sleep deprivation can effect ones cognitive ability - Some cognitive capabilities that can be adversely affected during sleep deprivation includes: Memory, attention, planning, decision making and problem solving. Concentration: - Generally deteriorates the more sleep deprived we are, Starts to occur after just one night of sleep deprivation in which simple and routine tasks seem to be more difficult as people find it much more difficult to concentrate. Mood: - Full night of sleep deprivation can lead to changes in mood in which one becomes more irritable, short tempered or impatient. A persons positive mood decreases, while their negative mood increases making one more prone to be angry, hostile and argumentative. Sleep deprivation also affects emotional reactivity and interpretation (something that is usually funny isn’t amusing or something small upsets you).

Legal Blood Alcohol: Concentration and Alertness - Driving a car safely is task that requires high levels of conscious awareness. - When behind the wheel you need to make important decisions on the road that requires total

-

concentration, rapid reflexes, good coordination and ability to make good judgements. However, when under the influence of alcohol their levels of consciousness are impaired as alcohol is a depressant and therefore leads to an induced ASC They may experiences a lack of self control, disturbed sense of time, distorted perceptions and cognition and emotionally instability. Police need to determine whether a drivers consciousness has been impaired by alcohol through measurement of the amount of alcohol present in bloodstream by determining their blood alcohol concentration Breathalyser, saliva and urine samples can provide a BAC Legal BAC within Vic is under 0.05 for a full license divers and 0.00 for drivers on probationary license. A BAC of 0.05 indicates that within every 100mil of blood their is 0.05 grams of alcohol.

Effects of Alcohol on cognition, concentration and mood - When over the BAC of 0.05 consciousness becomes impaired - Cognition: inability to make decisions impaired logic and memory. Not knowing when to give way of basic road rules and difficulty judging distances.

- Concentration: a person may not be able to concentrate on all aspects of driving such as -

maintaining speed limit or noticing the changing of traffic lights Mood:when a person is under influence emotions and mood may be exaggerated and intensified. A person my be overly emotional and display inappropriate emotions or lack of emotions. Thus may lead to reckless behaviour on the road

Sleep Deprivation and Legal BAC: -

Both show severe impairment to ones ability to safely drive. According to TAC approx. 20% of road accidents are due to fatigue Going without sleep for 17-19 hours = BAC of 0.05 Going without Sleep for 24-28 hours = BAC or 0.10

BAC

Effect on consciousness and behaviou 0.05 Low alertness and judgement, lowered inhibitions, minor impairments of memory and reasoning. Emotions may be intensified or exaggerated. 0.10 Impairment in motor coordination and reaction times 0.15 Action times further deteriorate and speech may become slurred, balance and vision declines and anxiety and restlessness is common 0.20 Feeling dazed, disorientated, confused, depressed and may not be able to feel pain, nausea and vomiting 0.25 All mental physical and sensory functions are severely impaired. Increased risk of suffocation and excessive vomitting 0.30 Stupor, no awareness or comprehension of external environment 0.35 Unconsciousness or coma is likely. This is the equivalent level of surgical anaestesia, a lethal dose from some adults 0.40 Lethal dose of alcohol for approx. 50% of adults

Sleep: Sleep is a naturally occurring altered state of consciousness that is experienced consistently. Spend approx. one third of our lives asleep - Sleep involves a loss of awareness or our external environment and it accompanied by a number of physiological changes Characterised by: - Reduced awareness of the external environment - Reduced control over the content...