altered state of conscienceness
forms of experience that depart from the normal subjective experience of the world and mind.
= dreaming
hypnagogic state
presleep conscienceness
hypnic jerk
a sudden quiver or sensation of dropping, as thouhg missing a step on the stairs
hypnopompic state
groggy, foggy postsleep consciousness
circadian rhythm
a naturally occuring 24-hour cycle
REM sleep
a stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movements and a high level of brain activity
electrooculograph (EOG)
an instrument that measures eye movements
insomnia
difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
sleep apnea
a disorder in which the person stops breathing for brief periods while asleep
somnambulism (sleepwalking)
occurrs when the person arises and walks around while sleeping
narcolepsy
a disorder in which sudden sleep attacks occur in the middle of waking activities
sleep paralysis
the experience of waking up unable to move
night terrors (sleep terrors)
abrupt awakenings with panic and intense emotional arousal
Five major characteristics of of dream consciousness:
manifest content
a dream’s apparent topic or superficial meaning
latent content
a dream’s true underlying meaning
Freud’s dream theory
dreams represent wishes and some of these wishes are unnacceptable so the mind expresses them in a disguised form
-many interpretations to dreams
activation-synthesis model
the theory that dreams are produced when the brain attempts to make sense of activations that occur randomly during sleep
our brain during dreams
psychoactive drug
a chemical that influences consciousness or behavior by altering the brain’s chemical message system
most common neurotransmitters:
serotonin, dopamine, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and acetylcholine (ach)
drug tolerance
the tendency for alrger doses of a drug to be required over time to acheive the same effect
Types of psychoactive drugs:
depressants
substances that reduce the activity of the central nervous system