Modules 7 Consciousness and Attention

1. Modules 7 Consciousness and Attention sleep/hypnosis

2. Consciousness Our awareness of ourselves and our environments. sleep/hypnosis

3. Dual Processing Our perceptual neural pathways have two routes. The newer cortex routes (i.e., to Primary Visual cortex) produce conscious “seeing”. An older brain stem route responds to reflex like the orienting reflex (directing your attention towards something important). sleep/hypnosis

4. Blindsight In the absence of a working visual cortex pathway (V1), a person’s dorsal pathway can identify some qualities (i.e., movement, emotion) in the absence of the conscious experience of seeing. sleep/hypnosis

5. Unconscious pathway is faster Conscious processing is more skilled sleep/hypnosis

6. Selective Attention The ability to select some aspects of our sensory input to attend to while tuning other aspects out. Cocktail Party Phenomenon sleep/hypnosis

7. Selective Attention and Multitasking Our attention can shift from one task to another and back (time sharing attentional recourses). If two tasks compete for attentional resources performance in one or both will be impaired. sleep/hypnosis

8. Driving and Conversing Brain activities in areas vial to driving decreased 37% while attending to a conversation. Cell phone users 4X higher risk of accidents. sleep/hypnosis

9. Selective Inattention Count the passes. Failure to notice some stimulus that is in plain sight. This stimulus is usually unexpected but fully visible. People can falsely believe that they do not experience inattentional blindness. This is due to the fact that they are unaware that they are missing things. sleep/hypnosis

10. Module 8 Sleep and Dreams sleep/hypnosis

11. Circadian Rhythms Alertness patterns over the day • governed by suprachiasmatic nucleus • body temperature fluctuations • clock reset by light (keeps it to 24 hours) No light cues  25 hour cycle Morning People and Night People sleep/hypnosis

12. Melatonin - hormone released by pineal gland. Sedative effect. Light suppresses melatonin release Darkness increases melatonin release Will Taking Melatonin help you sleep? sleep/hypnosis

13. Stages of Sleep Electroencephalograph (EEG) - measures electrical activity of brain areas. Beta Waves - Wakefulness - choppy short waves. Hypnagogic Hallucinations sleep/hypnosis

14. Slow Wave Stages (1, 2, 3, & 4 SWS) Alpha Waves Waves become larger and more rhythmic. Neurons fire in synchronized pattern. sleep/hypnosis

15. REM (Rapid Eye Movement Stage) • Beta waves return (like wakefulness) • Paradoxical Sleep  Visual cortex and frontal lobe activity • Brain Stem blocks Motor messages thus muscle activity suppressed. - Dreams occur. sleep/hypnosis

16. Over the sleep period - cycle through stages REM periods become longer. Stage 4 periods become shorter. sleep/hypnosis

17. What function does sleep serve? • Protective Function • Night Time is more • Dangerous! sleep/hypnosis

18. 2) Sleep Supports healing & growth Pituitary releases Growth Hormone Facilitates healing! sleep/hypnosis

19. Can we get by with less sleep? Yes, but reduce slowly (15 mins. less per week). What Happens when sleep reduced? Become more efficient sleeper - fall asleep faster. - Same amount of time in REM and Stage 4 as with 8 hours sleep. sleep/hypnosis

20. Sleep Deprivation - circadian rhythms govern alertness - sleep does not need to be fully replaced • REM rebound • NREM Rebound Peter Tripp – 200 hours of Sleep deprivation sleep/hypnosis

21. Cognitive functions - Loss of NREM has little effect - Loss of REM - impaired concentration - moodiness - health problems sleep/hypnosis

22. How can I increase Sleep? Getting up earlier is often difficult and trying to go to sleep when not tired is near impossible. Add sleep by going to bed about 15 minutes earlier for a week, then add another 15 mins. Etc. sleep/hypnosis

23. Benefits of Getting Enough Sleep • Lowered risk of depression • Decreased risk for Obesity - decreased ghrelin (hunger arousing hormone), and increased Leptin (hunger suppresser). - increased cortisol (stress hormone) leads to storage of fat. sleep/hypnosis

24. Lower risk of viral infections and cancer. • Longer life expectancy • Increased attention and vigilance sleep/hypnosis

25. Dreams (R.E.M.) Everyone dreams (some don’t remember) What Happens during dreaming. 1) Thoughts come into consciousness. 2) Try to make sense of them. sleep/hypnosis

26. Functions of REM SLEEP 3) Sleep helps restore and rebuild fading memories of the day’s experiences. - memory consolidation 4) Creative Problem Solving and Thinking sleep/hypnosis

27. Do Dreams have meaning? 3 views. 1) Activation-Synthesis Theory - random firing of neurons - produce random thoughts - we try to make sense of them Evidence: dreams can be bizarre! sleep/hypnosis

28. 2) Cognitive View Thoughts involve current experiences and concerns “day baggage” - evidence We can solve problems in our sleep. Content often related to our current experiences. sleep/hypnosis

29. 3) Psychoanalytic View. Symbolic messages from repressed areas of our minds. Dream Interpretation • Psychoanalytic symbols. Manifest content vs. latent content sleep/hypnosis

30. Common Dreams Scared and can’t move. Anxiety Dreams Dreams have personal meaning! sleep/hypnosis

31. Major Sleep Disorders Insomnia – inability to sleep or to stay asleep Hypersomnia – inability to stay awake Sleep Apnea – intermittent stoppage of breathing sleep/hypnosis

32. Somnambulism - (Sleep walking) - failure of the muscle suppression mechanism to fully activate. Narcolepsy - associated with upset or excitement. - may be inappropriate muscle suppression sleep/hypnosis

33. Module 9 Hypnosis When you're under hypnosis: •  increase in absorption. • focused attention. • disattention to extraneous stimuli. • reduction in spontaneous thought. sleep/hypnosis

34. Social-Influence Theory of Hypnosis • Theory that powerful social influences produce a state of hypnosis. • Physiological state does not change under hypnosis. • Is Hypnosis just a placebo effect? • Eich (1989) when subjects led to believe they were hypnotized when they were not they acted then same as when hypnotized. sleep/hypnosis

35. Divided Consciousness View Dissociation – a split between different levels of consciousness (i.e., blocking neural input from conscious awareness). sleep/hypnosis

36. Stroop Effect sleep/hypnosis

37. Raz (2005) selected highly hypnotizable subjects and a control group of 'resistant' subjects. They were given the post hypnotic suggestion that when they entered a brain scanner (fMRI) and heard his voice some days later, the words they saw before them would appear as nonsense and they were only to report on the colors of the words. sleep/hypnosis

38. Resistant showed Stroop, hypnotized did not. Hypnotized reported that the words did indeed appear to be gibberish. sleep/hypnosis

39. Comparing brain scans, Raz found that in the first group, the area of the brain responsible for decoding written words was suppressed as was the activity of the anterior cingulate cortex one of whose functions is conflict resolution. This did not occur in the “resistant” group. sleep/hypnosis

40. Hypnotic Pain Relief Pain Relief - Two components Physical (parietal) response –no change Emotional (frontal) response –decreased sleep/hypnosis