PSYC 1150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: A Secret, Experimental Psychology, Deep Brain Stimulation
26 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Introduction to Psychology
Lecture 03: Consciousness
Biology of Sleep
-Consciousness: our subjective experience of the world, our bodies, and our mental
perspectives.
-Circadian Rhythm: cyclical changes that occur on a roughly 24-hour basis in many
biological processes (ie. hormone release, body temperature).
-Biological Clock: the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus, triggers our
sense of fatigue (via increasing melatonin).
Disruptions: Jet lag and night shifts.
Stages of Sleep and Dreaming:
- Falling asleep is triggered by an increase in melatonin.
- Measuring sleep can be done via EEG, EOG, EMG.
- Stages (cycle through every 90 minutes):
- Non-REM: (no eye movements, less dreaming)
- Stage 1: 5-10 minutes, theta waves, light sleep, may contain hypnagogic
imagery, hypnic myoclonia.
- Stage 2: 20-30 minutes, theta waves, 65% of total, sleep spindles (spikes
in brain waves), K-complexes.
- Stage 3 and 4: 10-30 minutes, delta waves, deeper sleep, crucial for rest.
Suppressed by alcohol.
- REM (paradoxical sleep)
- Stage 5; 10-20 minutes, eye movements and vivid dreaming.
- REM rebound.
- Muscle paralysis (lack = REM behaviour disorder)
EEG Waves During Different Sleep Stages
-How much Sleep?
- Newborns: 16 hours
- College and University Students: 9 hours
- Most People: 7-10 hours
- People (<1% with DEC2 mutation): 6 hours of less
-Sleep Deprivation
- Weight gain
- Depression
- Increased risk for cardiovascular problems
- Decreased immune system
Stages of Sleep and Dreaming
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REM Dreams Non-REM Dreams
- More dreams occur than in non-REM
- Emotional, illogical
- Prone to plot shifts
- Biologically crucial
- Shorter dreams
- More thought-like
- Repetitive
- Concerned with daily tasks
Lucid Dreaming
- Experience of becoming aware that one is dreaming.
- Sleep and wake may not be as distinct as one thought.
- Some report being able to control dreams
- May help with nightmares, but not other problems.
Disorder of Sleep
-Insomnia
- Affects 0-15% of people.
- It causes difficulty falling and staying asleep.
- Higher rates in those with depression, pain, medical conditions.
- Restless leg symptom; urge to move one’s legs or other body parts while
attempting to sleep.
- Sleeping pills and rebound insomnia. → sleeping pills don’t really help.
-Narcolepsy
- Rapid and unexpected onset of sleep.
- Catplexy (when they go limp)
- Lack of hormone orexin production.
-Sleep Apnea
- Fatigue next day.
-Night Terrors
- Occurs during stages 3 and 4 of sleep.
- Sudden waking episodes characterized by screaming, perspiring, and confusion,
followed by a return to a deep sleep.
- Most common in children.
-Sleepwalking
- Occurs in 14-30% of children and in 3-5% of adults.
- Usually occurs during non-REM sleep.
- May include complex behaviours (ie. climbing out windows, driving).
- Most common in children.
- The neurotransmitter dopamine is involved
Theory and Psychology of Dreams
- Freud’s wish fulfillment and dream protection theory
- Dreams transform our sexual and aggressive instincts into symbols that
represent wish fulfillment and require interpretation.
- Ego, dream-work disguises: manifest content (e.g., a cigar) , latent
content (e.g., well, you know)
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- Evidence against this:
- Most dreams have negative content (not wish fulfillment)
- Sexual dreams are rare (<10%)
- Many are straightforward details of everyday activities (not
disguised)
- Post-trauma nightmares
- –Evidence for this:
- Your personal experience:
- Have you not had even one dream where this didn’t seem
obvious?
- Matter of degree?
- Multiple reasons?
Theory and Psychology of Dreams
Activation-Synthesis Theory:
- Dreams reflect brain activation originating in the pons, followed by efforts of the
forebrain to weave these inputs into a story.
- +Acetylcholine (pons), amygdala.
- -Serotonin, norepinephrine, prefrontal cortex
- However, damage to the forebrain can eliminate dreaming, even when
the pons is intact.
- Dreams are fairly consistent over time (not random).
Neurocognitive Theory
- Dreams are a meaningful product of our cognitive capacities, which shape what
we dream about.
- “Cognitive Achievements”
- Children's dreams are complex, lacking movement; while adult
dreams are bizarre and complex
Why do we dream? We still don’t know; memories?
1. Dreams are often concerned with everyday preoccupations and they recur.
2. Acetylcholine turns on REM sleep.
3. The forebrain plays an important role in dreaming.
Alterations in Consciousness
-Hallucinations are realistic perceptual experiences in the absence of external stimuli.
- Brain activates in the same way for hallucinations as for “real” sensory
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Consciousness: our subjective experience of the world, our bodies, and our mental perspectives. Circadian rhythm: cyclical changes that occur on a roughly 24-hour basis in many biological processes (ie. hormone release, body temperature). Biological clock: the suprachiasmatic nucleus (scn) of the hypothalamus, triggers our sense of fatigue (via increasing melatonin). Falling asleep is triggered by an increase in melatonin. Measuring sleep can be done via eeg, eog, emg. Stage 1: 5-10 minutes, theta waves, light sleep, may contain hypnagogic imagery, hypnic myoclonia. Stage 2: 20-30 minutes, theta waves, 65% of total, sleep spindles (spikes in brain waves), k-complexes. Stage 3 and 4: 10-30 minutes, delta waves, deeper sleep, crucial for rest. Stage 5; 10-20 minutes, eye movements and vivid dreaming. Muscle paralysis (lack = rem behaviour disorder) People (<1% with dec2 mutation): 6 hours of less. Experience of becoming aware that one is dreaming. Sleep and wake may not be as distinct as one thought.
