PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Rapid Eye Movement Sleep, Circadian Clock, Sleep Spindle

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jens C Pruessner

Document Summary

Circadian rhythm: biological clock, regular bodily rhythms (temperature and wakefulness) that happens in 24 hour cycle. Syprachiasmatic nucleus (scn): pair of 20,000 cells the cluster in hypothalamus, circadian clock sends signals here. Causes pineal gland to lower production of sleep- induced melatonin in morning. Rem (rapid eye movement): recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. Also known as paradoxical sleep because muscles are relaxed, except for minor twitches. Alpha waves: through eeg, relatively slow brain waves in relaxed but awake state. Sleep: periodic natural loss of consciousness, distinct from unconscious resulting from coma, anaesthesia, hibernations. Marked by slow breathing and irregular brain waves. Hallucinations: false sensory experiences, seeing something in absence of an external visual stimulus. Sleep spindles: bursts of rapid rhythmic brain wave activity. Delta waves: large slow brain waves associated with deep sleep. Nrem sleep: non-rapid eye movement sleep, encompasses all sleep stages except for.