CAS PS 101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Melatonin, Oxycodone, Slow-Wave Sleep

• School: Boston University
• Department: Psychological & Brain Sciences
• Course: CAS PS 101
• Professor: All

Document Summary

Consciousness is defined as the awareness of internal and external stimuli. It includes: your awareness of external events, awareness of internal sensations, awareness of self as a unique being experiencing life, awareness of your thoughts about these experiences. Sigmund freud examined what went on beneath the surface of the stream of consciousness. Like all traits, consciousness must have evolved in order to keep humans surviving and reproducing: some believe that it was useful in planning how to obtain food, avoid predators, and find mates. There is no evidence to base this theory on. Consciousness arises from activity in distributed networks of neural pathways. The eeg (electroencephalograph) has been used to observe variations in consciousness. It measures the electrical activity in the brain over a period of time. It translates the rhythm of brain activity into brain waves, which vary in amplitude and frequency.