State of Consciousness

• Consciousness, refers to our subjective awareness of ourselves, our bodily sensations, thoughts and our environment
• Awareness is the consciousness of what is going on around us, including subtle influences that can become conscious as a result of cues
• Mindfulness is the state of heightened awareness, focus, and evaluation of our thoughts that includes awareness of thoughts passing through one’s head
• Attention is the mental resource that can be vigilant and sustained or divided and selective
• Unconsciousness is the lack of awareness, senselessness, or a barrier to awareness
• Sigmund Freud introduced the concept of Subconscious and Preconscious
• Subconscious - even while awake, many things are still outside the realm of our consciousness
• Preconscious - information that we could pay attention to if we wanted. Where memories are stored for easy retrieval
• Low.Awareness, the brain still processes the information it receives even at low awareness levels
• Cues is a stimulus of significant meaning that can automatically elicit a response
• High.Awareness, the consciousness of what is going on around us
• Flexible.Correction.Model suggests that humans have the ability to correct or change beliefs and evaluators that have been influenced or biased by an undue outside source
• State of Consciousness 

  • Hypnosis
  • Sleep
  • Psychoactive.Drugs
  • Hallucinogens
  • Depressants
  • Stimulants
• Types of Attention:

  • Selective Attention
  • Divided Attention
• Selective.Attention is the ability to select a certain stimuli in the environment to process, while ignoring distracting information
• Dichotic.Listening.Study - the situation when two messages are presented simultaneously to an individual, with one message in each ear.
• Models of Selective Attention - proposed processes of information selection and what happens to ignored information

  • Broadbent's..Filter..Model
  • Treisman's..Attentional..Model
  • Late..Selection..Model
• Broadbent’s Filter Model - select information on the basis of physical features. Occurs very early, with no additional processing for the unselected information.
• Treisman’s Attentional Model - selection starts at perceptual level and unattended information is only weakened.
• Late Selection Model - all information in the unattended ear is processed on the basis of meaning, but only the information that is relevant for the task response gets into conscious awareness
• Multimode Model - the stage at which selection occurs can change depending on the task. We can select what to attend to on the basis of the meaning of the messages.
• Multitasking is the ability to do several things at once in spite of limited capacity.
• Sleep is a unique state of consciousness; it lacks full awareness but the brain is still active
• Biological Rhythms

  • Circadian..Rhythms - guides the daily waking and sleeping cycle in many animals
  • Seasonal..Affective..Disorder (SAD) - we are more likely to experience during the dark winter months than during the lighter summer months
• Process of producing melatonin during the night for induction of sleep.

  Ganglion..Cells → Suprachiasmatic..Nucleus → Pineal..Gland → Melatonin
• Rapid.Eye.Movement (REM) sleep is a sleep stage characterized by the presence of quick eye movements and dreaming.
• Non-Rapid.Eye.Movement (non-REM) sleep is a deep sleep, characterized by very slow brainwaves.
• Awake - fast beta waves

  Relax - the waves get longer (alpha waves)
• Stage..N1 - experience of drowsiness, the brains begins to produce even slower theta waves 

  Stage..N2 - theta waves interspersed with burst of rapid brain activity  known as sleep spindles

  Stage..N3 - slow waves dominated by very slow delta waves
• REM.Stage - begins about 90 minutes after falling asleep, increased heart rate, facial twitches, and rapid eye movements. Dreams are more vivid and frequent
• Insomnia -  a persistent difficulty falling or staying asleep
• Sleep..Apnea - pauses in breathing that last at least 10 seconds during sleep
• Narcolepsy - a disorder characterized by extreme daytime sleepiness with frequent episodes of nodding off
• Somnambulism or Sleepwalking, in which the person leaves the bed and moves around while still asleep
• Sleep..Terrors - a disruptive sleep disorder, most frequently experienced in childhood, that may involve loud screams and intense panic
• Bruxism - the sufferer grinds his teeth during sleep
• Restless..Legs..Syndrome - the sufferer reports an itching, burning, or otherwise uncomfortable feeling in his legs, usually exacerbated when resting o
• Periodic..Limb..Movement..Disorder - sudden involuntary movement of limbs
• REM..Sleep..Behavior..Disorder - a condition in which people engage in vigorous and bizarre physical activities during REM sleep in response to intense, violent dreams
• Dreams are the succession of images, thought, sounds, and emotions that passes through our minds while sleeping