Dream Experiment Is it possible to successfully plan your dreams All students will keep a record of their dreams Half of the students will write the following in their journal A brief account of their day 1 paragraph ID: 693897
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Slide1
Altered States of ConsciousnessSlide2
Dream Experiment
Is it possible to successfully plan your dreams?
All students will keep a record of their dreams
Half of the students will write the following in their journal
A brief account of their day (1 paragraph)
What they want to dream about
In the morning record what you dreamed
The other half of the class
Only record what you dreamed about in the morningSlide3
Questions
Why do we sleep? What purpose does it serve?
What is consciousness?
What are some ways it can be altered?Slide4
Sleep Deprivation Article
Read the sleep deprivation article
How long did Peter Tripp stay awake?
What effects did long term sleep deprivation have on him?
What long term effects did the sleep deprivation cause?Slide5
Sleep and Dreams
Altered States of ConsciousnessSlide6
Sleep and Consciousness
Consciousness is a state of awareness
While awake there are varying degrees of awareness
Scientists are unsure exactly why people, and all animals, need to sleep
Theories
Time for the brain to recover from exhaustion
Primitive time for hibernation and energy conservation
Sleep kept early humans safe in the dark at night
Clear our minds of useless info
To problem solveSlide7
Stages of Sleep
Stage I
Lightest level of sleep
Easy to awaken
Uneven breathing
Lasts up to ten minutes
Stage 2
Shift to high amplitude and low frequency brainwaves
Stage 3
Large amplitude Delta waves
Stage 4
Deep sleep
Talking out loud, bedwetting, sleepwalking can occurSlide8Slide9
REM Sleep
The fifth stage of sleep is REM or Rapid Eye Movement
Fingers twitch
Large muscles are paralyzed
Brainwaves match those of being awake
Dreaming occursSlide10
Sleep
Humans spend around 1/3 of their lives sleeping
Newborns spend around 16 hrs. a day sleeping
Teenagers 8-11
Adults - ~8
Over 70 - ~5
Circadian Rhythm
Internal biological clock which dictates your sleep/wake hours
For humans it is 24.18 hoursSlide11
Sleep Disorders
Insomnia – Inability to obtain adequate sleep
Sleep apnea – Interruption of breathing during sleep
Narcolepsy – Overwhelming sleepiness during the day. Sometimes causing sudden falling asleep
Nightmares – Bad dreams during REM sleep
Night Terrors – During stage IV
Cause sweating, thrashing, rapid heart rate
Generally cause a person to awaken with no memory Slide12
Crash Course Psychology
To Sleep
: Perchance to DreamSlide13
Other States of ConsciousnessSlide14
Hypnosis
A state of altered consciousness where a person becomes highly susceptible to changes in behavior and thought
Very controversial among psychologists
Some argue that people who are hypnotized are just very enthusiastic and suggestible
Others believe it is an actual form of altered consciousness
All agree that people can not be compelled to do things they would not do while awakeSlide15
Biofeedback
Learning how to control your physiological processes through feedback
Ex. A light turns on when your heart rate drops below 80
Learning to control your heart rate
in relation
to the lightSlide16
Drugs and Their Effects
Psychoactive Drugs – Chemicals that effect the nervous system and alter states of consciousness
Drugs are absorbed into the blood and then act as neurotransmitters
This will cause neurons to either fire more frequently, less frequently, or more erraticallySlide17
Drug Category
Effects on Behavior
Depressants (Alcohol)
Relaxants,
relieve inhibitions, impair memory
Tranquilizers (Barbiturates, Valium, Xanax)
Relieve anxiety,
relax muscles, induce sleep
Opiates (Morphine, Heroin)
Decrease pain, decrease attention to real world, unpleasant withdrawal effects
Stimulants (Caffeine,
Amphetamines, Cocaine)
Increase energy, alertness
Mixed
Stimulant-Depressants (Nicotine)
Stimulate brain activity
Distortion of Experience (Marijuana)
Intensify sensory experience, distort perception
of time, can impair memory and learning
Hallucinogens (LSD,
Mescaline)
Cause
hallucinations, sensory distortionsSlide18
Sensation and PerceptionSlide19
Sense of Touch Experiment
Find a partner
Find two fine tip pens or sharp pencils
Begin by touching both pens about three inches apart on the person’s neck
Can the person being touched tell there are two distinct objects touching them?
Decrease the distance by about half an inch and test again
Continue until the person can only feel one
object
Experiment again on the elbow or shinSlide20
Sensation – A stimulus activating your senses
Perception – Organization of sensory info into meaningful experiences Slide21
Selective Attention
Your senses take in about 11,000,000 bits of information per second
You process about 40
Your brain focuses and ignore other information
Your nose in front of your face
Your shoes constricting your feet
Etc..
Cocktail Party Effect – Ability to speak to one person in a crowded space
Hearing your name stands out Slide22
Selective Attention
Watch Video on Selective Attention
What accounts for this?Slide23
Threshold
Absolute Threshold – The smallest amount of a stimulus for a human to detect it
Vision: Seeing a candle at 30 miles on a clear night
Hearing: Hearing a watch ticking 20
ft
away
Taste: Tasting one teaspoon of sugar in 2 gallons of water
Smell: One drop of perfume in a 3 bedroom house
Touch: Feeling a bee’s wing falling 1 cm onto your
cheeck
Slide24
Signal Detection Theory
Summary of people’s tendencies to make correct judgments in detecting the presence of stimuli
There is not true absolute threshold
Stroop
Effect: Sometimes stimuli interfere with your ability to perform a task Slide25
Stroop Effect
Time yourself while reading the following textSlide26
Now time yourself while you state the colors of the following wordsSlide27
VisionSlide28
Rods – Low light vision
Cones – Color vision and detailSlide29
Binocular Fusion
Your eyes receive different images
Your brain processes the images and creates one vision in your mind
This provides depth perception
What are the advantages and
disadvantages of the location
of this gazelle’s eyes?Slide30
Color Deficiency
When some or all cones do not work correctly color deficiency can occur
Most often people are red green color deficient
Some people though
are totally color
blind and only use
rods to see
What would their
vision look like?Slide31
Hearing
Sounds waves enter your ear and vibrate small hairs
These then change the vibration into
neuro
-signalsSlide32
Chemical Senses
Taste and smell are closely linked
Most of what we perceive as taste is actually smellSlide33
Balance, Skin, and Body Senses
Vestibular system – regulates balance Slide34
Skin Senses
Skin sensors detect
Warmth
Cold
Pressure
PainSlide35
Perception
Gestalt – Organizing bits and pieces of information into meaningful wholes
What do you
see in each
of the images?Slide36Slide37
Perceiving is generally something people learn to do
If people gain sight late in life it takes them time to learn how to interpret sensationsSlide38
Constancy
Tendency to perceive certain objects in the same way regardless of changing angle, distance or lightingSlide39
Which Square is Darker?Slide40
They are the same colorSlide41
Which line is longer?Slide42Slide43