PSYC 2000 Chapter : 2ND EXAM Psychology
Document Summary
Awareness of everything around you and inside of your own head at any given moment. Used to organize your behavior, thoughts, sensations, and feelings. Generated from a set of action potentials. Waking consciousness: thoughts, feelings, sensations clear and organized. Altered states of consciousness: shifts in the quality or pattern of mental activity. Key players: suprachiasamatic nucleus (scn) of the hypothalamus, pineal gland, and melatonin. When it gets dark: the scn triggers the secretion of melatonin from the pineal gland, making us feel sleepy. When it gets light: the scn stops the secretion of the melatonin, allowing the body to waken. The higher the body temperature, the more we are; the lowers the body temperature, the sleepier we are. Microsleeps: brief periods of sleep that last only a few seconds. Problems with concentration and simple task performance. Trembling hands, inattention, staring off into space, droopy eye lids, general discomfort psychological systems (i. e. , irritability depression, mania, hallucinations)
