Consciousness and Altered States PDF

CONSCIOUSNESS AND ALTERED STATES CONSCIOUSNESS: the moment to moment subjective experience of the world, bodies, and mental sensations (Subjective, Dynamic, Self-Reflective) INTERDISCIPLINARY: Physics, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, computer science, etc HOW IS CONSCIOUSNESS (supposedly) M...

CONSCIOUSNESS AND ALTERED STATES CONSCIOUSNESS: the moment to moment subjective experience of the world, bodies, and mental sensations (Subjective, Dynamic, Self-Reflective) INTERDISCIPLINARY: Physics, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, computer science, etc HOW IS CONSCIOUSNESS (supposedly) MEASURED: - Self reports - Physiological measures (ex: eeg) - Behavioral measures COGNITIVE VIEW OF CONSCIOUSNESS COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY (Analogy): Humans are “information processors”. The “mind” is the computers software and the brain is the computers hardware (This is an oversimplification and not all cognitive psychologists agree with thus)(vary greatly) - Controlled (effortful) Processing: Mental processing that requires some degree of volitional control/attentiveness - Automatic Processing: Mental activities that occur automatically and require no/minimal conscious control/awareness (things done just automatically) Divided Attention: The ability to perform more then one activity at the same time Difficult if tasks require similar cognitive resources (Ex: texting while driving) THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS: Cyclical changes that occur on a roughly 24 hour period in many biological processes - Regulated by suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) Located in hypothalamus Brains “biological clock” Pineal gland releases hormone melatonin JET LAG(EX: pineal gland gets used to releasing melatonin at certain times) How much sleep do we need? Between 7-10 dependent on: - Age - Health - Quality of sleep - Genetics - Species STAGES OF SLEEP 1) Awake and Alert (Beta Waves: approx greater than 13 waves per second)(‘just resting my eyes’)(hypnagogic imagery; dreamlike hallucinations you see) Calm Wakefulness (Alpha Waves: approx 8-12 waves per second) 2) Sleep Spindles (short bursts of neural activity) K-Complexes (large waveform that occurs intermittently) 3) Delta waves LESS than 50% of the time (delta waves crucial for good sleep) 4) Delta waves MORE than 50% of the time (hardest stage to wake people up from) 5) REM Sleep (Rapid Eye Movement)(period where brain is most active, and when most dreaming occurs) SLEEP DISORDERS - INSOMNIA: Difficulty falling and staying asleep Treatment(Behavioral): consistent wake schedule, only go to bed when tired Treatment(Pharmacological): addictive, adverse side effects, rebound insomnia - NARCOLEPSY: Irregular control of sleep/wake cycles Symptoms: “sleep attack” (sudden sleep), Cataplexy(losing voluntary control of muscles), Sleep Paralysis Causes: insufficient hypocretin producing neurons in hypothalamus Treatment: Stimulants - SLEEP APNEA: Blockage of airway during sleep, resulting in daytime fatigue Symptoms: night sweats, weight gain, hearing loss, irregular heartbeat, death Treatment: weight loss, CPAP air mask - NIGHT TERRORS: Sudden waking episodes of screaming, sweating, and confusion; followed by a return to deep sleep Lasts few minutes, during stages 3 and 4 of sleep (not REM) - SLEEP WALKING: Walking while fully asleep, occurs during deep sleep Usually harmless, occurs more in children; safe to wake up sleepwalker DREAMS: Most people dream, but a large number of people typically cant recall their dreams - Only 0.38% of people have been found to never experience dreams - CROSS CULTURAL SIMILARITIES: Dreams are typically more negative then positive - Men dream of other men more often than women - Freud's Dream Protection Theory: while dreaming, primitive sexual urges are expressed symbolically, called “wish fulfillment”(what you dream are your true desires) PROBLEMS: Some people can't dream, not wish fulfilling because most dreams are negative, most dreams not sexual in nature ACTIVATION SYNTHESIS THEORY: Dreams simply reflect brain activation while sleeping ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS: - HALLUCINATIONS - OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCES(OBE) Sensation of our consciousness leaving our body occurs in approx 10% of population Usually occur in conjunction with near death experiences Can be simulated by centrifuge (what they put astronauts in) and the GOD HELMET (not real though, did not yield results in double blind experiments) - DEJA VU Feeling of reliving an experience that's new May be due to excess levels of dopamine in temporal lobe Resemblance of past events poorly remembered - HYPNOSIS Set of techniques that provides people with suggestions for alterations in their perceptions/thoughts/feelings and behaviors People are chosen to be hypnotized on the basis of their suggestibility REGRESSION THERAPY: people are hypnotized to remember events from childhood to find where psych problems originated (WRONG however, individuals present at time of age regression cannot corroborate) DRUGS PSYCHOACTIVE DRUG: Substance that contains chemicals similar to those found naturally in the brain, that alter consciousness by changing chemical processes in neurons - Alter how we think/act/feel - Effects of drug depend on: Type and Dose - Categorized into 4 groups: Depressants Stimulants Opiates Psychedelics Different routes of administration for drugs, however to reach brain all drugs must go through bloodstream BLOOD BRAIN BARRIER: protective lining of cells around brain capillaries that prevent certain substances from leaving bloodstream and entering nervous system SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER: User has significant recurring impairments in their life as a result of the drug TOLERANCE: Reduction in the effect of a drug as a result of repeated use, requiring greater quantities of consumption for same effects WITHDRAWAL: Unpleasant effects of reducing/stopping consumption of a drug that has been consumed habitually Depressants: Drugs that decrease nervous system activity - ALCOHOL: Increases GABA, Decreases Glutamate Alcohol myopia: ‘short sightedness’ in thinking caused by inability to pay attention to as much information as sober person - BARBITURATES & TRANQUILIZERS: Aka sleeping pills and anti anxiety pills Usually overly prescribed, extremely addictive Stimulants: Drugs that increase nervous system activity - EX: Nicotine and Caffeine; increase heart rate - AMPHETAMINES: Used to reduce sleep, fatigue, appetite, depression. Increases dopamine and norepinephrine When injected, can lead to high blood pressure/strokes - METHAMPHETAMINES: Inhaled via smoking, more potent than amphetamines - MDMA (ECSTASY) - COCAINE: Was a common curative in the 1800s Inhaled or injected, causes extremely excitement and euphoria Blocks reuptake of dopamine/norepinephrine Surprisingly withdrawals not that bad comparatively Opiates: Derived from poppy, bind to endorphin receptors and produce euphoric effects - EX: Morphine, Heroine, Fentanyl Hallucinogens: Drugs that cause dramatic alterations of perception, mood, and thought - EX: Cannabis LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR Watson believed study of ‘consciousness’ is futile, and makes more sense to study behavior in a verifiable way. BEHAVIORISM: Assumes behavior can be studied for its own sake - Assumes causes of behavior only include natural phenomena (behavior is a function of evolved genetics and environmental forces; can't explain behavior with things that cannot be quantified or measured) - Behavior = f(Organism, Environment) PHYLOGENETIC (EVOLVED) BEHAVIOR: - Reflexes (PRIMARY LAWS OF THE REFLEX) Law of Threshold: point which below no response is elicited, and above response always occurs Law of Intensity Magnitude: increase in stimulus intensity increases intensity of response Law of Latency: more intense a stimulus is, the faster the response is elicited HABITUATION: Decrease in intensity of probability of a reflex response resulting from repeated exposure - Fixed Action Patterns Series of related acts found in (nearly) all members of a species ‘Instinctual behaviors’ Occurs when appropriate releaser stimulus is present - Phylogenetic (evolved) Behavior General Behavior Traits: any general behavioral tendency that is strongly influenced by genes EX: introversion, general anxiety, activity level, aggressiveness MORE VARIABLE then fixed action patterns; differs person by person LIMITS OF NATURAL SELECTION: Too slow, adaptations can become useless as the environment changes. Thats why theres LEARNING LEARNING: A change in behavior due to environment - Behavior has numerous measurable dimensions which could change Frequency Intensity Speed Form/Topography TYPES OF LEARNING: Habituation Respondent Conditioning (pavlovian/classical conditioning) Operant Conditioning  RESPONDENT CONDITIONING - UNCONDITIONAL STIMULUS (US): An antecedent that elicits the behavior called the unconditioned response without the need of any prior history of learning (EX: Food) - UNCONDITIONAL RESPONSE (UR): The behavior elicited by the antecedent stimulus called the unconditioned stimulus without the need of any prior learning (EX: Drooling) (NOT LEARNING) - CONDITIONED STIMULUS (CS): A previously neutral stimulus that acquires the ability to elicit a conditioned response when it is contingently paired with unconditioned stimulus. CS function is ‘conditional’ on its relationship with US (EX: The bell) - CONDITIONAL RESPONSE (CR): The behavior elicited by the antecedent stimulus called the conditioned stimulus (EX: Drooling) PROBE TRIAL: Present the CS alone (with no US); called the test trial - In general, more exposure = greater conditional responding - Early exposure produces more learning then later exposure - Conditional responding is ‘Asymptotic’ - Conditioning/Learning can occur at different rates: Taste aversion can occur after only 1 exposure Salivation requires numerous exposures VARIABLES IMPACTING RESPONDENT CONDITIONING - TEMPORAL RELATIONSHIPS CS and US overlap partially CS begins first Most effective method when CS-US interval is short (0.4-1 sec) - TRACE CONDITIONING CS begins and end before US Generally, longer intervals between CS and US produces weaker responses - SIMULTANEOUS CONDITIONING CS and US begin and end at the same time - BACKWARDS CONDITIONING US occurs first followed by CS Not as effective RESPONDENT EXTINCTION: Presenting the conditioned stimulus in absence of the unconditional stimulus SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY: An increase in the magnitude of the conditional response after respondent extinction has occurred and time has passed RESPONDENT/STIMULUS GENERALIZATION: When an organism shows a conditioned response to values of the CS that were not trained during acquisition (but similar) RESPONDENT/STIMULUS DISCRIMINATION: When values of the CS, other than what was originally trained, elicit little to no conditioned response (ONLY react to exact learnt stimuli) Aversion Therapy: A therapy in which a stimulus is contingently paired with a noxious (aversive) stimulus. (EX: clockwork orange; Disulfiram makes you sick to stop alcoholism) OPERANT CONDITIONING - Operant Conditioning: Study of how environmental consequences affect behavior Consequences could either REINFORCE behavior (Increased behavior) PUNISH behavior (Decreased behavior) EFFECT OF REINFORCING CONSEQUENCES - Increase frequency - Increase duration - Increase intensity - Increase in quickness (decrease in latency) - Increase in variability TWO WAYS OF REINFORCING: - Add a stimulus(ex: food) + Positive Reinforcement - Remove a stimulus(ex: electric shock) - Negative Reinforcement REWARD =/= REINFORCEMENT (only reinforcement if the behavior is later repeated) TWO WAYS OF PUNISHING - Add a stimulus(ex: getting beat up) + Positive Punishment - Remove a stimulus (ex: taking away phone) - Negative Punishment Punishment: - Punishers defined by their effect on behavior(punishment must decrease the behavior) - Can be highly effective and work over long term when used properly - DRAWBACKS OF PUNISHMENT: Only decreases behavior, does not teach new acceptable behavior Usually fosters undesirable emotional responses (aggression, fear, apathy) Can foster subversive practices to escape punishment (lying, cheating, etc) Imitation of the punisher DISCRIMINATIVE STIMULUS: Stimulus that signals that a behavior will be reinforced OPERANT/STIMULUS GENERALIZATION: When an organism responds to values of the discriminative stimulus that are different than the originally trained values (produces generalization gradient) OPERANT EXTINCTION: Process of withholding reinforcers that maintain a behavior (stop rewarding behavior, and behavior will stop) EXTINCTION BURST: Short lived rapid burst in responding following initial exposure to extinction (ex: ur computer doesent work when you click, so you start clicking rapidly) SCHEDULE OF REINFORCEMENT: When a behavior isn't rewarded EVERY TIME its done (can sometimes work better than rewarding each time) (discrimination is precise control, generalization is less precise control) Shaping: Differential reinforcement of successive approximations of a target behavior (ex: training a rat to level press) - Reinforce approaches to lever - Reinforce sniffing te lever - Reinforce touching with paw - Reinforce full depression of lever NOTE: extinction of earlier steps can help shaping because of the increased variability in behavior extinction produces MEMORY MEMORY ILLUSION: False but subjectively compelling memory FORGETTING: Deterioration in learning behavior following a Retention Interval - Retention Interval: A period during which the learning or practice of a behavior does not occur SENSORY MEMORY: Brief storage (1s) of perceptual information from sensory receptors before it's passed to short term memory - Iconic Store: Visual sensory information that lasts for a second - Echoic Store: Auditory sensory memory that lasts for 5 - 10 seconds SHORT TERM MEMORY: Memory system that retains information for limited duration (15s) Encompasses information currently being attended to/thought about. Short term memory is short because: - DECAY: Fading information from memory over time - INTERFERENCE: Loss of information from memory due to competition from additional incoming information (bigger player) Retroactive Interference: Interference with retention of old information due to acquisition of new information (ex: forgetting old language after learning new one) Proactive interference: Interference with acquisition of new information due to previous learning information Short term memory has a limited capacity of give or take 7 Chunking: Organizing information into meaningful groups to make them easier to remember Rehearsal: Repeating information to extend the duration of retention in short term memory - Maintenance Rehearsal: Repeating stimuli in their original form to retain them in short term memory - Elaborative Rehearsal: Linking stimuli in a meaningful way to improve retention of information in short term memory LONG TERM MEMORY: Relatively enduring (minutes to years) retention of information stored regarding our facts, experiences and skills - Has large capacity (unlike STM)  -Lasts for hours to years (PERMASTORE: Long term memory that appears to be permanent PRIMACY AND RECENCY EFFECTS: - PRIMACY EFFECT: Tendency to remember words at beginning of a list especially well Traditionally thought to reflect LTM - RECENCY EFFECT: Tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well Traditionally thought to reflect STM REPEATED RETRIEVAL: Repeatedly trying to recall/use the material over time (ex: quizzing) TYPES OF LONG TERM MEMORY: - Semantic Memory: knowledge of facts about the world, referred to as declarative memory - Episodic Memory: recollection of events in our lives - Explicit Memory: memories we recall intentionally and of which we have conscious awareness - Implicit Memory: memories we don't deliberately remember or reflect on consciously - Procedural Memory: memory of how to do things like motor skills/habits (ride a bike) - Priming: semantically related words will result in faster reaction times (ex: first words ‘doctor’, will react faster to word understanding if next word is ‘nurse’) THE NEURAL BASIS OF MEMORY STORAGE ENGRAM: A, hypothesized, physical trace of a memory within the brain - Karl Lashly: trained rats in maze, lesioned brain areas to try to find ‘engram’ (never did) - Donald Hebb: memory is an assembly of firing neurons; when one neuron is near another neuron and excites the second (neurons that fire together wire together) LONG TERM POTENTIATION: Long lasting relationship in signal transmission between 2 neurons that results in one neuron having increased efficiency in making the other neuron fire (unfair democracy) AMNESIA: - Retrograde Amnesia: loss of memories from our past - Anterograde Amnesia: inability to form new memories from our experiences Consolidation: A hypothetical process involving the gradual conversion of information into durable memory codes stored in long term memory ALZHEIMERS: A degenerative brain disease that results in dementia - Language ability deteriorates along with other bodily processes, risk increase with age INFANTILE AMNESIA: Inability of adults to remember experiences that took place before 3 FALSE MEMORIES (CRYPTOMNESIA): Failure to recognize that our ideas originated with someone else (could be result of source monitoring confusion; lack of clarity about origin of memory) MISINFORMATION EFFECT: Creation of fictitious memories by providing misleading information(FALSE MEMORIES) MOTIVATION: A process that influences the type of behavior that gets expressed and its persistence (there has to be a reason FOR motivation (no cyclical logic)) DRIVE REDUCTION THEORY: Theory proposing that certain drives (hunger, thirst, sexual frustration) motivates us to act in ways that minimize aversize states - DRIVE: A hypothetical internal state of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities that should reduce this tension - HOMEOSTASIS: Tendency of a biological system to maintain relatively constant conditions in internal environment while continuously interacting with/adjusting to changes originating within outside the system PROBLEM: Does not explain the presence of behaviors when drives are satisfied (why are people motivated to do things that don't satisfy drive?? Ex: hobbies) INCENTIVE AND EXPECTANCY THEORIES: - Theory proposing that were often motivated by positive goals - INCENTIVE: External goal that has capacity to motivate behavior - Incentive x Expectancy = Motivation INTRINSIC MOTIVATION: Motivation by internal goals (ex: reading) EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION: Motivation by external goals (ex: money) (MYTH: Extrinsic motivation undermines intrinsic motivation; not supported by research) MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS: Model developed proposing we must satisfy physiological needs (need for safety and security) before progressing to more complex needs - Humanistic Perspective - Alot of contradictions (starving artist, prisoners enduring torture, anorexic) - Penultimate goal is SELF ACTUALIZATION: Desire for self fulfillment SELF DETERMINATION THEORY: Autonomy, Competence, Relatedness THE PHYSIOLOGY OF HUNGER METABOLISM: The bodies rate of caloric utilization - Basal Metabolism: metabolic rate when body at rest - Set Point: Value that establishes range of body and muscle mass we tend to maintain Short Term Signals for Hunger: Hunger pangs = muscular contractions of the stomach - Corresponds to feelings of hunger/satiety, however correlation =/= causation - Glucose: simple sugar used for energy in the body - Glucostatic Theory: when our blood glucose levels drop, hunger creates drive to eat to restore proper levels of glucose Short Term Signals for Satiety: distention of stomach/intestines Long Term Signals Regulating Appetite and Weight: Leptin: Hormone that signals the hypothalamus and brainstem to reduce appetite/increase energy used PHYSIOLOGY OF HUNGER: - Lateral Hypothalamus: stimulation leads to increased eating - Ventromedial Hypothalamus: stimulation leads to decreased eating PSYCHOLOGY OF HUNGER: BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE: Respondent Conditioning - Food related stimuli function as CS eliciting food related CRs (hormone release, digestive processes)(ex: gold arches increase ghrelin secretion) COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE: Expectation that eating will be pleasurable/reduce hunger PALATABILITY: Better tasting food consumed in larger quantities QUANTITY AVAILABILITY: Greater amounts of food/portions lead to more consumption VARIETY: Different types of food lead to greater overall consumption of food Eating Disorders: Obesity = BMI over 30; 40%-70% contribution of genetic variation of BMI - Bulimia Nervosa: eating disorder associated with binging/purging to lose weight - Anorexia Nervosa: 1% of population, high body dissatisfaction and lack of eating EMOTION: 1) Cognitive Component: Subjective conscious experience (feeling scared, love) 2) Physiological Component: Autonomic responses (sweaty palms, goosebumps) 3) Behavioral Component: Overt behavioral expressions (screaming, blushing) - Primary Emotions: Small number of emotions believed by some to be cross culturally universal (happiness, sadness, surprise, anger, disgust, fear, contempt) - Display Rules: Cross cultural guidelines for how and when to express emotions (ex: women in japan covering mouth when laughing) - Facial Feedback Hypothesis: Facial expressions are capable of influencing emotions - Non-Verbal Leakage: Unconscious spillover of emotions into verbal behavior - Personal Space: Emotional distance often positively correlated with physical distance THEORIES OF EMOTION: Common Sense ‘I tremble because I feel afraid’ James Lange Theory: ‘I feel afraid because I tremble’ (your afraid because your heart is racing) Cannon Bard Theory: ‘Something makes me feel afraid and tremble’ (stimulus) Two Factor Theory: ‘I label my trembling as fear because I judge the situation as dangerous’ THE MERE EXPOSURE EFFECT: Phenomenon in which repeated exposure to a stimulus makes us more likely to feel favourably towards it