Understanding Consciousness, Attention, and Sleep: A Psychological Perspective

Attention: the internal processes used to set priorities for mental functioning

Dichotic listening: different auditory messages are presented separately and simultaneously to each ear. The person’s task is to repeat aloud one message while ignoring the other

Cocktail party effect: the ability to focus on one auditory message and ignore others;

Cocktail party phenomenon: refers to the tendency to notice when your name (or highly salient stimuli) suddenly appears in a message that you’ve been actively ignoring

Automaticity: fast and effortless processing that requires little or no focused attention

Visual neglect: a complex disorder of attention characterized by a tendency to ignore things that appear on one side of the body (usually the left side).

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a psychological disorder marked by difficulties in concentrating or in sustaining attention for extended periods; can be associated with hyperactivity

Circadian rhythms: biological activation that rise and fall in accordance with a 24-hour cycle

Biological clocks: brain structures that schedule rhythms; variations in bodily functions by triggering them at the appropriate times

REM sleep: a stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movements and low amplitude, irregular EEG patterns resembling those found in the waking brain. REM is typically associated with dreaming

Dreaming theories:

Wish fulfillment: psychological mechanism for fulfillment of wishes

Manifest content: according to Freud, the actual symbols and events experienced in a dream

Latent content: according to Freud, the true psychological meaning of dream symbols

Activation-synthesis hypothesis: the idea that dreams represent the brain’s attempt to make sense of random patterns of neural activity generated during sleep

Problem solving: dreams help us focus on current problems to find solutions

Threat simulation: dreams evolved to help us practice skills needed to avoid threats

Dyssomnias: problems connected with the amount, timing and quality of sleep

Parasomnias: abnormal disturbances that occur during sleep

Insomnia: a chronic condition marked by difficulties in initiating or maintaining sleep, lasting for a period of at least one month.

Hypersomnia (or hypersomnolence): a chronic condition marked by excessive sleepiness

Narcolepsy: a rare sleep disorder characterized by sudden extreme sleepiness

Nightmares: frightening and anxiety-arousing dreams that occur primarily during the REM stage of sleep

Night terrors: terrifying experiences, which occur mainly in children, in which the sleeper awakens suddenly in an extreme state of panic

Sleepwalking: the sleeper arises during sleep and wanders about

Psychoactive drug: drugs that affect behavior and mental processes through alterations of conscious awareness

Depressants: a class of drugs that slow or depress the ongoing activity of the central nervous system

Opiates: drugs that reduce anxiety, lower sensitivity to pain, and elevate mood; opiates often act to depress nervous system activity

Stimulants: a class of drugs that increase central nervous system activity, enhancing neural transmission

Hallucinogens: a class of drugs that tends to disrupt normal mental and emotional functioning, including distorting perception and altering reality

Synesthesia: blending of sensory experiences

Consequences on long term use

Drug tolerance: an adaptation made by the body to compensate for the continued use of a drug, such that increasing amounts of the drug are needed to produce the same physical and behavioral effects

Drug dependency: a condition in which one experiences a physical or a psychological need for continued use of a drug

Withdrawal: physical reactions, such as sweating, vomiting, changes in heart rate, or tremors, that occur when a person stops taking certain drugs after continued use

Franz Anton Mesmer, Paris, 1783

German born physician restoring his patients’ ”balance of universal fluids” by stirring their “innate animal magnetism”

Hypnosis: a form of social interaction that produces a heightened state of suggestibility in a willing participant

Hypnotic hypermnesia: the supposed enhancement in memory that occurs under hypnosis; there is little if any evidence to support the existence of this effect

Explaining hypnosis:

Hypnotic dissociations: a hypnotically induced splitting of consciousness during which multiple forms of awareness exist

Meditation: a technique for self-induced manipulation of awareness, often used for the purpose of relaxation and self-reflection