Psychology Chp. 4

moment to moment awareness of ourselves and our environment

introspection to determine structure of consciousness

any stimuli we're aware of at any given moment

mental activity that's outside of awareness, but can easily be brought into current awareness

mental events that can't be brought into conscious awareness under normal circumstances

selecting a particular stimulus to attend to

selective attention that takes much effort

selective attention that takes little effort

dividing attention among several stimuli

• sloppy, careless, uncritical
• change perception of ourselves, others environment
• self control weakens

• daydreaming
• sleep

• focus in on internal events -
• provides escape
• prepares for future events

• restorative function
• adaptive function

helps body restore body tissues, aids in growth/memory consolidation

pass the time until daylight which allowed for hunting/gathering

electroencephalogram - measures brain wave activity

small fast waves

progressively larger and slower waves (slower brain activity, deeper sleep)

• lightest
• alpha waves

• muscles more relaxed
• breathing/ heart rate slower
• harder to awaken
• theta waves

• transitional stage from light to deep sleep
• delta waves

• deepest sleep
• almost pure delta waves

30 to 40 minutes

• relatively light sleep
• alpha waves
• eyes moving rapidly
• long dreams occur
• increase in heart rate/blood pressure

• 4 to 6 cycles of
• 1-2-3-4-3-2-REM
• REM gets longer with each cycle
• each cycle 90min

difficulty sleeping/remaining asleep

occurs during day-falling asleep w/o warning for brief periods of time

• person stops breathing for 10sec to 2min
• obstruction in upper airway by sagging tissue

frightening dreams during REM sleep

horrific dream images (stage 4)

• visual images predominant
• symbolization
• high emotional quality

awareness that you are dreaming despite fact you're asleep

dreams disguised form of wish fulfillment

• brainstem bombards cerebral cortex w/ random neural activity (not matching external sensory events)
• cerebral cortex attempts to interpret activity by creating dream that "best fits" pattern of activation

dreams help us find solutions to problems/conflicts b/c they aren't constrained by reality

ability to withstand higher doses of drug than could be tolerated earlier (body trying to maintain homeostasis)

body's reaction to absence of drug

physiological reaction opposite to those created by the drug after discontinued drug use

maladaptive pattern of substance use causing significant distress and or impairment

depress CNS

increases activity of GABA (inhibitory neurotransmitter- decreases neuro firing)

• consists of leaves and flowers of the hemp plant
• active ingredient -THC