What is consciousness?
Consciousness is the level of awareness an individual has over their thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and existence. Consciousness is a psychological construct.
What is a psychological construct?
A psychological construct is an agreed upon description or understanding of a psychological phenomena that cannot be overtly measured or observed.
How is consciousness a psychological construct?
Consciousness is a psychological construct, as it cannot be directly measured, but rather has to be inferred from other measures, such as brain waves.
What are the two types of consciousness?
- Normal waking consciousness.
- Altered state of consciousness.
What is normal waking consciousness?
Normal waking consciousness is a state of consciousness in which an individual is awake and aware.
What is altered state of consciousness?
Altered state of consciousness is distinctly different from normal waking consciousness, in terms of quality of experience and levels of awareness.
What can altered state of consciousness further be divided into?
- Naturally occurring altered state of consciousness.
- Induced altered state of consciousness.
Outline that naturally occurring altered state of consciousness is + example.
A type of altered state of consciousness that occurs without intervention (sleeping, daydreaming).
Outline what induced altered state of consciousness is + example.
A type of altered state of consciousness that occurs due to purposeful action or aid (medication, alcohol or drugs).
Outline what sleep is.
Sleep is a regular and naturally occurring altered state of consciousness that involves a loss of awareness and disengagement with internal and external stimuli.
Why can sleep be classified as a psychological construct?
This is because the subjective experience of sleep cannot be overtly measured, yet we still have a general understanding of what sleep is and that it exists.
List some characteristics of sleep.
- A reduced ability to control behaviour.
- A reduced control over our thoughts.
- Behavioural and cognitive distortions.
What can sleep be divided into?
- Rapid eye movement (REM sleep)
- Non- rapid eye movement (NREM sleep)
Outline what REM sleep is.
REM sleep is a type of sleep characterised by rapid eye movement, high levels of brain activity and low levels of physical activity. Specifically, REM involves low levels of somatic nervous system activity, meaning there are low levels of movement in this stage.
Outline what NREM sleep is.
NREM is characterised by a lack of rapid eye movement, and is divided into three substages.
Outline what a sleep episode is.
Sleep episode is the full duration of time spent asleep. A sleep episode is made up of multiple repeated cycles of REM and NREM sleep, called sleep cycles.
Outline what a sleep cycle is.
A sleep cycle is an approximately 90 min period that repeats during a sleep episode, in which an individual progresses through stages of REM and NREM sleep.
List some characteristics of REM sleep.
(6 points)
- Sleeper is considered to have a highly active brain.
- Low levels of somatic nervous system activity, due to lower levels of movement.
- Rapid eye movement.
- Sleeper frequently recalls dream when woken during REM sleep.
- REM sleep takes up approximately 20%-25% of a sleep episode, for most age groups.
- REM sleep increases as the sleep episode progresses, with the largest amount of REM sleep in the sleep cycle occurring immediately before waking,
Characteristics of NREM sleep.
(4 points)
- Low levels of brain activity.
- Physical movement is possible in NREM. However, tends to decrease as NREM stages progress.
- NREM sleep takes up approximately 75-80% of an individuals sleep episode.
- NREM sleep tends to become shorter with each sleep cycle.
Outline what NREM stage 1 is.
when transitioning into NREM stage 1, the sleeper transitions from being awake into light sleep. In this stage, the sleeper looses awareness of themselves and their environment, but is still aware of faint noises in their environment.
Outline what NREM stage 2 is.
Sleeper is still in relatively light sleep. Individuals spend majority of their time spent asleep in NREM 2. In this stage, the sleeper is considered ‘truly’ asleep, due to the types of brain occurring.
Outline what NREM stage 3 is.
In NREM stage 3, the sleeper is in a deep stage of sleep. It is difficult to wake the sleeper up in this stage. If sleep is woken up, they may feel disorientated.
