PSYC 1001 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Theta Wave, Delta Wave, Alpha Wave
16 Jun 2018
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Psychology Chapter 5 Notes
- Narcolepsy: a sleep disorder in which someone will fall asleep uncontrollably during their
everyday routine
- Ken parks drove to his in-la’s house and killed them, while he was asleep
- Men tend to get less sleep than women
- Higher incomes sleep less; married adults sleep less than unmarried; Canadians with
children get less sleep than non-children
Variations in awareness and control
- Consciousness: the awareness of internal and external stimuli
o Aareess of…
▪ External events
▪ Internal events
▪ Awareness of yourself
▪ Awareness of your thoughts about events
o Continuously changes due to time of day, sleep, meditation, hypnosis, attention,
drugs
- William James and the stream of consciousness: consciousness is dynamic and is in
constant flux (influenced by attention)
- Freud (1900): behavior driven by unconscious & conscious thoughts, emotions
- Skinner (1950): consciousness cannot be observed therefore ignore.
- 96’s: widespread awareness of consciousness-altering drugs, behaviour.
- Mind wandering: refers to peoples experience of task unrelated thoughts
- The difference between controlled and automatic processes: the distinction between
what we control about our mental processes and what just seem to happen
Unconscious thought effects
- Theory of unconscious thought: under some circumstances the quality of decisions made
under conditions when individual do not have the opportunity to engage in conscious
thought may sometimes be more accurate
- Conscious thought arises from activity in distributed networks of neural pathways
- EEG (electroencephalograph): a device that monitors the electrical activity of the brain
over time by means of recording electrodes attached to the surface of the scalp
o Amplitude (height)
o Frequency (cycles per second)
o Brain waves
o Usually divided into 4 principal bands
▪ Beta (13-24 cps): normal waking thought, alert problem solving
▪ Alpha (8-12 cps): deep relaxation, blank mind, meditation
▪ Theta (4-7 cps) : light sleep
▪ Delta (under 4 cps): deep sleep
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Case study: merits of unconscious thought
- Dijksterhuis’ ethod
- Each participant was presented with 12 pieces of information about each of three
roommates
- Roommate A was the most attractive (8+, 4-), Roommate B (6+, 6-) was of medium
attractiveness and roommate C (4+, 8-) was the least attractive
- Three experimental conditions:
o Immediate decision
o Conscious thought (4 min to decide)
o Unconscious thought (demanding task for 4 min/ distracted)
- Operational definition: biggest difference between most/least liked represents best
decision
- Rating of most attractive minus least attractive
- Thoughts and due consideration generally leads to best decision but in some
circumstances unconscious consideration may lead to better decision
- You make a decision that is based on more global information when you make an
unconscious decision
Decision type
Score
Decide immediately
2.08
Think 4 minutes
2.72
Distraction then decide
3.15
The role of circadian rhythms
- Biological rhythms: periodic fluctuations in physiological functioning
- Circadian rhythms: 24-hour biological cycles found in humans and many other species
o Controlled by suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in hypothalamus.
o light retina SCN pineal gland secretes hormone melatonin
o Regulates sleep & other body functions
o (Melatonin supplements a regulated substance, dosage timing critical)
- People generally fall asleep as their body temperature begins to drop and awaken as it
begins to rise again
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- When exposed to light some receptors in the retina send direct inputs to the
suprachiasmatic nucleus and sends a signal to the pineal gland which will secret melatonin
and adjust the biological clock
o Bright light, especially sunlight
o Pineal gland secretes melatonin in darkness
o No sunlight? natural 24.2-25-hour cycle
o Daily fluctuations of body temp
o Best sleep when body temp lowest (36.1° C)
- Getting out of sync with your circadian rhythm causes jet lag
- Readjustment is easier when you fly westward and lengthen your day than it is when you
fly eastward and shorten your day
o i.e. less jet lag when you fly west
- Melatonin can reduce the effects of jet lag by helping you readjust your biological clock,
but the results are a little inconsistent
o Melatonin is used to ameliorate jet lag; the timing of the dose is very important
(hard to time)
- Other treatments of realignment include: exposure to bright light & rotating shifts
o Not realistic for many jobs
- Delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS)
o Difficulty falling asleep, caused by hormonal changes, late hours
o Adolescents, young adults
- Advanced sleep phase syndrome (ASPS)
o Fall asleep at very early time
o Treatment opposite of DSPS
- 30% of Canadians work shifts.
o Biological clock— go to sleep.
o Energy, efficiency, reaction time poorest.
o Daylight savings time in spring: 6.5% increase in accidental deaths
o Move work schedules forward from days to evenings to nights makes adjustment
easier.
o Rotate shifts every 3 weeks lessens effect.
The sleep and waking cycle
- EMG (electromyograph): records muscular activity and tensions
- EOG (electrooculography): record eye movements
Sleep cycle stages
- There are 5 sleep stages
Stage
What Occurs
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Document Summary
Narcolepsy: a sleep disorder in which someone will fall asleep uncontrollably during their everyday routine. Ken parks drove to his in-la(cid:449)"s house and killed them, while he was asleep. Men tend to get less sleep than women. Higher incomes sleep less; married adults sleep less than unmarried; canadians with children get less sleep than non-children. Consciousness: the awareness of internal and external stimuli: a(cid:449)are(cid:374)ess of , external events. Internal events: awareness of yourself, awareness of your thoughts about events, continuously changes due to time of day, sleep, meditation, hypnosis, attention, drugs. William james and the stream of consciousness: consciousness is dynamic and is in constant flux (influenced by attention) Freud (1900): behavior driven by unconscious & conscious thoughts, emotions. Skinner (1950): consciousness cannot be observed therefore ignore. (cid:1005)96(cid:1004)"s: widespread awareness of consciousness-altering drugs, behaviour. Mind wandering: refers to peoples experience of task unrelated thoughts.
