Chapter 4 – States of Consciousness

What is Consciousness?
 Consciousness - Personal awareness of mental activities, internal sensations, and the external environment.
o Allows us to integrate the past, present, and future behavior, guide future actions, maintain a stable sense of self, the ability to plan and execute
long-term, complex goals and communicate with others.
 Focused concentration on your instructor’s words and gestures
 Drifting from one fleeting thought, memory, or image to another
 Awareness of physical sensations, such as the beginnings of a headache or the lingering sting of a paper cut
 Replaying an emotionally charged conversation and thinking about what you wish you had said
 Romantic or sexual fantasies
 Mentally rehearsing what you’ll say and how you’ll act when you meet a friend later in the day
 Wishful, grandiose daydreams about yourself in the future
o Consciousness, then, does not appear to itself chopped up in bits. . . . It is nothing jointed; it flows. A “river” or a “stream” are the metaphors by which
it is most naturally described. In talking of it hereafter, let us call it the stream of thought, or consciousness, of subjective life. -WILLIAM JAMES
(1892)
o Psychologists rejected the study of the consciousness and introspection because of the great shift to behaviorism; focusing on overt behavior.
o Today, the scientific study of consciousness is incredibly diverse. Working from a variety of perspectives, psychologists and other neuroscientists are
piecing together a picture of consciousness that takes into account the role of psychological, physiological, social, and cultural influences.

 Attention – The capacity to selectively focus awareness on particular stimuli in your external environment or your own internal thoughts
 Psychologist have found these characteristics of attention:
o Attention is limited in capacity
 At any given moment we face more information than we can effectively process, but we usually focus on information relevant to our
immediate and long-term goals
o Attention is Selective
 Often compared to a spotlight, we focus on certain areas of our experience while ignoring others (cocktail party effect: listening to one
person at a loud party)
o Attention can be “blind”
 Given the limited, selective structure of attention, we often completely miss what seem to be obvious stimuli in our field of vision or
hearing
 Misdirection – used by magicians, pick pockets (manipulation of attention)
 Inattentional blindness – not noticing some significant object in our field of vision
 Inattentional deafness – not noticing some significant noise in our field of hearing
 Change blindness – not noticing when something changes

 Multi-tasking – paying attention to two or more sources of stimuli at once

o Doing homework and watching TV
 This involves the division of attention
o Division of attention – when division of attention is divided among different tasks, each task receives less attention than it would normally
o There are different thresholds of multi-tasking for different people
o NO ONE has an infinite quantity of attention
 Tasks that are very different are less likely to interfere with each other
o Driving a car (visual) and listening to a radio (audio)
 Once one of these requires more attention, the other does become a distraction
 Turning the volume down when you are in a new city or trying to parallel park
o Absorption in a visual task = inattentional deafness
o Absorption in a auditory task = inattentional blindness

Biological and Environmental “Clocks” That Regulate Consciousness

Researchers have identified more than 100 other physical and psychological processes that rhythmically peak and dip at consistent times each day, including blood
pressure, the secretion of different hormones, mental alertness, and pain sensitivity.

 circadian rhythm (ser-KADE-ee-en) - A cycle or rhythm that is roughly 24 hours long; the cyclical daily fluctuations in biological and psychological processes.
 suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) (soup-rah-kye-az-MAT-ick) - A cluster of neurons in the hypothalamus in the brain that governs the timing of circadian rhythms.
 Melatonin (mel-ah-TONE-in) - A hormone manufactured by the pineal gland that produces sleepiness

Our intrinsic circadian rhythm is about 24.2 hours, or slightly longer than a day.

For example, your sleep–wake, body temperature, and melatonin cycles are usually very closely coordinated. At about 3:00 A.M., your body temperature dips to its
lowest point just as melatonin is reaching its highest level and you are at your sleepiest.
When deprived of all environmental time cues, the sleep–wake, body temperature, and melatonin circadian rhythms become desynchronized so that they are no
longer properly coordinated with one another.

Entrained – to stay precisely synchronized via environmental time signals

Sleep

 People like Aristoltle, Shakespeare, and Freud have been fascinated by sleep and dreams.
 Until now, there has been no way to objectively study sleep
o Electroencephalograph (e-lec-tro-en-SEFF-uh-low-graph) - An instrument that uses electrodes placed on the scalp to measure and record the brain’s
electrical activity.
 German psychiatrist Hans Berger in the 1920s gave sleep researchers an important tool for measuring the rhythmic electrical activity of
the brain
 Brain waves - rhythmical patterns of electrical activity
o EEG (electroencephalogram) - The graphic record of brain activity produced by an electroencephalograph.
 By studying EEGs, sleep researchers firmly established that brain-wave activity systematically changes throughout sleep

Two Basic Types of Sleep

 REM sleep - Type of sleep during which rapid eye movements (REM) and dreaming usually occur and voluntary muscle activity is suppressed; also called
active sleep or paradoxical sleep.
 NREM sleep - Quiet, typically dreamless sleep in which rapid eye movements are absent; divided into four stages; also called quiet sleep.

The Onset of Sleep and Hypnagogic Hallucinations

 Awake and reasonably alert as you prepare for bed, your brain generates small, fast brain waves, called beta brain waves.
o beta brain waves - Brain-wave pattern associated with alert wakefulness.
 After your head hits the pillow and you close your eyes, your muscles relax. Your brain’s electrical activity gradually gears down, generating slightly larger and
slower alpha brain waves. As drowsiness sets in, your thoughts may wander and become less logical.
o alpha brain waves - Brain-wave pattern associated with relaxed wakefulness and drowsiness
 hypnagogic hallucinations (hip-na-GAH-jick) - Vivid sensory phenomena that occur during the onset of sleep
o You may hear your name called or a loud crash, feel as if you’re falling, floating, or flying, or see kaleidoscopic patterns or an unfolding landscape.
o myoclonic jerk—an involuntary muscle spasm of the whole body that jolts the person completely awake

Stages Of Sleep

 Stage 1 NREM
o Theta waves are produced by the brain, replacing the alpha waves
o Transitional stage where you gradually disengage from the sensations of the surroundings of the surrounding world
o You can quickly regain conscious awareness
o Hypnogogic experiences can occur, however, less vivid imagery is common
 Stage 2 NREM
o This is the onset of true sleep
o Two phenomena happen during stage 2
 Sleep Spindles - Short bursts of brain activity that characterize stage 2 NREM sleep.
 K complex - Single but large high-voltage spike of brain activity that characterizes stage 2 NREM sleep.
o Brain activity continues to slow down
o Breathing becomes rhythmical
o Muscle twitches may occur
o Theta waves are common in stage 2, but larger slower, brain waves called delta waves begin to emerge
 Stage 3 NREM
o In combination, Stage 3 & 4 are known as slow-wave sleep (SWS)
o When the sleeper is experiencing at least 20% of their brain activity as delta waves, he/she is in Stage 3
 Stage 4 NREM
o When the delta waves are at 50% of the brains activity, the sleeper is known to be in Stage 4
o During the 20 to 40 minutes spent in the night’s first episode of stage 4 NREM, delta waves eventually come to represent 100 % of brain activity
o heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate drop to their lowest levels
o Noises as loud as 90 decibels may fail to wake
o Muscles are still capable (sleepwalking occurs in this stage)
o At this point, the sequence reverses.
 In a matter of minutes, the sleeper cycles back from stage 4 to stage 3 to stage 2 and enters a dramatic new phase: the night’s first
episode of REM sleep.
 REM
o Rapid Eye Movement
 o More active brain (smaller and faster brain waves)
o Visual and motor neurons activate repeatedly
o Dreams occur
o Voluntary muscle movement is suppressed, preventing the dreamer from acting out his/her dreams
o Physiological arousal (eyes dart back and forth; heart rate, blood pressure, and respirations can fluctuate up and down)
o Sexual arousal may occur (might not be related to dream content)
o First REM is 5-15 minutes (from the beginning of Stage 1 to REM is about 90 minutes long)

Beyond the first 90 minutes

 Throughout the rest of the night, the sleeper cycles between NREM and REM sleep.
 Each sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes on average, but the duration of cycles may vary from 70 to 120 minutes.
 Usually, four more 90-minute cycles of NREM and REM sleep occur during the night. Just before and after REM periods, the sleeper typically shifts position.
 As the night progresses, REM sleep episodes become increasingly longer and less time is spent in NREM. During the last two 90-minute sleep cycles before
awakening, NREM sleep is composed primarily of stage 2 sleep and periods of REM sleep that can last as long as 40 minutes.

Changing Sleep Patterns over the Lifespan

 During the last trimester of prenatal development, active (REM) and quiet (NREM) sleep cycles emerge. In the final weeks, REM and NREM sleep are clearly
distinguishable in the fetus
 The newborn sleeps about 16 hours a day, though not all at once. Up to 8 hours—or 50 percent—of the newborn’s sleep time is spent in REM sleep. The rest is
spent in Stages 1 and 2.
 Third month of life that the deep, slow-wave sleep of NREM stages 3 and 4 appears
 Infants have 60 min sleep cycles/Toddlers have 75 min sleep cycles
 The typical 90-minute sleep cycles gradually emerge over the first few years of life and becomes rather concrete at age 5

Why do we sleep?

 Researchers aren’t really sure why we sleep!

o Clearly, sleep promotes physiological processes that restore and rejuvenate the body and mind
 Provides muscles with rest, maintains immune system functioning, enhances learning and consolidation of memory, helps improve brain
function, and helps regulate moods and emotion
 This approach to explaining sleep doesn’t account for the enormous variability in sleep patterns across species
 Some say that it is a result of evolutionary adaptation
o For conserving energy and preventing a species from interacting with the environment when the environment is most hazards for survival
 Gorillas and Lions = 15 hours a day (Predators)
 Cattle and Horses = bursts that total 4 hours a day (Prey)

Effects of Sleep Deprivation

 Sleep Deprivation Studies - After being deprived of sleep for just one night, research subjects develop microsleeps
o Microsleeps are episodes of sleep lasting only a few seconds that occur during wakefulness.
o People who go without sleep for a day or more also experience disruptions in mood, mental abilities, reaction time, perceptual skills, and complex
motor skills
 Sleep Restriction Studies – reducing the amount of sleep per night to as little as 4 hours
o Produces a number of impairments and changes
 an increased urge to sleep
 Concentration, vigilance, reaction time, memory skills, and the ability to gauge risks are diminished.
 Motor skills—including driving skills—decrease, producing a greater risk of accidents.
 Metabolic and hormonal disruptions occur, including harmful changes in levels of stress hormones
 The immune system’s effectiveness is diminished, making the person more susceptible to colds and infections.
o People are usually unaware of the changes (cognitive dissonance)

REM Rebound

 REM Deprivation Studies - researchers wake sleepers whenever the monitoring instruments indicate that they are entering REM sleep.
o After several nights of being selectively deprived of REM sleep, the subjects are allowed to sleep uninterrupted.
 They experience REM rebound
o REM Rebound - the amount of time spent in REM sleep increases by as much as 50 percent.
 Similarly, when people are selectively deprived of NREM stages 3 and 4, they experience NREM rebound, spending more time in NREM sleep.

What we really want to know about sleep

 Why do we yawn?
o Researchers aren’t certain but they say it might be increasing your level of arousal; its typically followed by an increase in brain activity level (trying
to stay awake/waking up in the morning)
 Is yawning contagious?
o Some believe that it is related to feel empathy for others
o From an evolutionary perspective it could have signaled the group to be alert or rest
 Paralyzed in the morning?
o sleep paralysis - A temporary condition in which a person is unable to move upon awakening in the morning or during the night.
o the paralysis of REM sleep carries over to the waking state for up to 10 minutes. If preceded by an unpleasant dream or hypnagogic experience, this
sensation can be frightening.
 Deaf people use sign language instead of “sleep talking”
 Sleep talking and Sleepwalking typically happen in Stages 3 & 4
o It’s hard to wake someone from deep sleep

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Dreams and Mental Activity During Sleep

 Although dreams may be the most interesting brain productions during sleep, they are not the most common.
o Sleep thinking - Vague, bland, thought like reflections about real-life events that typically occur during NREM sleep; also called sleep mentation.
o Sleep thinking probably contributes to those times when you wake up with a solution to some vexing problem. But at other times, the ruminating
thoughts of sleep thinking can interfere with your sleep.
 For example, on the night before an important exam, anxious students will sometimes toss and turn their way through the night as they
mentally review terms and concepts during NREM sleep thinking.

Dreams

 Dream - An unfolding sequence of thoughts, perceptions, and emotions that typically occurs during REM sleep and is experienced as a series of real-life
events.
o Granted, the storyline and details of those dream events may be illogical, even bizarre. But in the unique mental landscape of our own internally
generated reality, the bizarre and illogical are readily accepted as disbelief is suspended.
o They can occur in NREM sleep, but not often
o When awakened during REM, 95% of people report having a dream
o 4 to 5 dreams a night, with the early morning dreams being the most memorable
o Your brain looks like it is awake when you are dreaming

Sleep and Memory Formation

 Sleep plays a critical role in strengthening new memories and integrating new memories with existing memories
 NREM Sleep is important in forming new episodic memories
o Memories of personal experienced events
 REM sleep is important in forming new procedural memories
o Memories involving learning new skills and tasks
 Memories formed during the day are reactivated during the 90 minute sleep cycles

Nightmares

 Nightmare - A vivid and frightening or unpleasant anxiety dream that occurs during REM sleep.
o The frequency of nightmares is closely related to age. Nightmares occur most commonly during middle and late childhood, then decrease in
frequency during adolescence and young adulthood. Although estimates vary, approximately 25 percent of kids in the 5–11 age group report having
at least one nightmare per week.
o Among adults, nightmares are much more common than generally believed. Approximately 5 percent to 10 percent of adults experience nightmares
on a weekly basis. Family and twin studies strongly suggest that some people may be genetically predisposed to regular nightmares.
o Gender also plays a role in nightmare frequency. Compared to men, women at all ages report more frequent nightmares.
o Daytime stress, anxiety, and emotional difficulties are often associated with nightmares

The Significance of Dreams

 Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis (driven by unconscious conflicts) believed that these repressed urges and wishes could surface in dream
imagery.
o In his landmark work, The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), Freud wrote that dreams are the “disguised fulfillments of repressed wishes” and provide
“the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious mind.” In fact, he contended that “wish fulfillment is the meaning of each and every dream.”
According to Freud, then, dreams function as a sort of psychological “safety valve” for the release of unconscious and unacceptable urges.
 Manifest content - In Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, the elements of a dream that are consciously experienced and remembered by the dreamer.
 o Actual dream
 Latent content - In Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, the unconscious wishes, thoughts, and urges that are concealed in the manifest content of a dream.
o Underlying meaning of the dream

The Activation–Synthesis Model of Dreaming

 Researchers J. Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley first proposed a new model of dreaming in 1977.
 activation–synthesis model of dreaming - The theory that brain activity during sleep produces dream images (activation), which are combined by the brain into
a dream story (synthesis).

Neurocognitive Theory of Dreaming

 Neurocognitive Theory of Dreaming – a model of dreaming that emphasizes the continuity of waking and dreaming cognition, and states that dreaming is like
thinking under conditions of reduced sensory input and the absence of voluntary control
o Dreams aren’t activated by the brainstem
o Dreams are reflecting our interests, personality, and individual worries

Sleep Disorders

 Sleep disorders - Serious and consistent sleep disturbances that interfere with daytime functioning and cause subjective distress.
 Dyssomnias (dis-SOM-nee-uz) - A category of sleep disorders involving disruptions in the amount, quality, or timing of sleep; includes insomnia, obstructive
sleep apnea, and narcolepsy.
 Parasomnias (pare-uh-SOM-nee-uz) - A category of sleep disorders characterized by arousal or activation during sleep or sleep transitions; includes
sleepwalking, sleep terrors, sleepsex, sleep-related eating disorder, and REM sleep behavior disorder.

 Dyssomnias
o Insomnia - A condition in which a person regularly experiences an inability to fall asleep, to stay asleep, or to feel adequately rested by sleep.
 Transient insomnia - lasting from one or two nights to a couple of weeks.
 1 out of 3 people experience this at some point in their life
 Chronic Insomnia - with symptoms at least three nights each week that persist for a month or longer
 1 out of 10 people experience this at some point in their life
 Hyperarousal - the person’s level of arousal interferes with his or her ability to go to sleep or stay asleep.
 Anticipating an event, physical pain or discomfort, distress/depression, medications
 stimulus control therapy - Insomnia treatment involving specific guidelines to create a strict association between the bedroom and rapid
sleep onset.
 Monitor your intake of stimulants
 Establish a quiet bedroom routine
 Create conditions for restful sleep
 Establish a consistent sleep-wake schedule
o obstructive sleep apnea (APP-nee-uh) – (OSA) A sleep disorder in which the person repeatedly stops breathing during sleep.
 300 or more sleep apnea episodes can occur
 Each time breathing stops the brain triggers a waking signal
 Might not be noticed by the sleeper
 CPAP, which stands for continuous positive airway pressure. The sleeping person wears a mask that covers the nose and sometimes the
mouth. A flexible tube connects the mask to the CPAP machine, which gently blows air through the airway passage at a pressure that is
high enough to keep the airway open.
o Narcolepsy (NAR-ko-lep-see) - A sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and brief lapses into sleep throughout the day.
 These involuntary sleep episodes, called sleep attacks or microsleeps, typically last from a few seconds to several minutes. After the brief
sleep episode, the person usually feels refreshed. And, for the next hour or two, grogginess and drowsiness diminish.
 Most people with narcolepsy, about 70 percent, experience regular episodes of cataplexy.
 Cataplexy - A sudden loss of voluntary muscle strength and control that is usually triggered by an intense emotion.
 Hypocretins - A special class of neurotransmitters produced during the daytime to maintain a steady state of wakefulness. (narcoleptics
have very little)
 Parasomnias
o sleep terrors - A sleep disturbance characterized by an episode of increased physiological arousal, intense fear and panic, frightening hallucinations,
and no recall of the episode the next morning; typically occurs during stage 3 or stage 4 NREM sleep; also called night terrors.
o Sleepsex - A sleep disorder involving abnormal sexual behaviors and experiences during sleep; also called sexsomnia.
o Sleepwalking - A sleep disturbance characterized by an episode of walking or performing other actions during stage 3 or stage 4 NREM sleep; also
called somnambulism.
o sleep-related eating disorder (SRED) - A sleep disorder in which the sleeper will sleepwalk and eat compulsively
o REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) - A sleep disorder characterized by the brain’s failure to suppress voluntary actions during REM sleep resulting
in the sleeper verbally and physically responding to the dream story.
Hypnosis

 Hypnosis - (hip-NO-sis) A cooperative social interaction in which the hypnotized person responds to the hypnotist’s suggestions with changes in perception,
memory, and behavior.
o Characterized by highly focused attention, increased responsiveness to suggestions, vivid images and fantasies, and a willingness to accept
distortions of logic or reality. During hypnosis, the person temporarily suspends her sense of initiative and voluntarily accepts and follows the
hypnotist’s instructions
 About 15 percent of adults are highly susceptible to hypnosis, and 10 percent are difficult or impossible to hypnotize. Children tend to be more responsive to
hypnosis than are adults, and children as young as 5 years old can be hypnotized
 The best candidates for hypnosis are individuals who approach the experience with positive, receptive attitudes. The expectation that you will be responsive to
hypnosis also plays an important role
 People who are highly susceptible to hypnosis have the ability to become deeply absorbed in fantasy and imaginary experience. For instance, they easily
become absorbed in reading fiction, watching movies, and listening to music

Effects of Hypnosis

 Deeply hypnotized subjects sometimes experience profound changes in their subjective experience of consciousness.
 They may report feelings of detachment from their bodies, profound relaxation, or sensations of timelessness. More commonly, hypnotized people converse
normally and remain fully aware of their surroundings.
 later report that carrying out the hypnotist’s suggestions seemed to happen by itself, taking place outside of the person’s will
 Sensory and Perceptual Changes
o Temporary blindness, deafness, loss of sensation in some part of the body, hallucinations
 Posthypnotic suggestion - A suggestion made during hypnosis that the person should carry out a specific instruction following the hypnotic session.

Hypnosis and Memory

 Posthypnotic amnesia - The inability to recall specific information because of a hypnotic suggestion.
o Effects are usually temporary. When the signal is given, the information floods back into the subject’s mind
 Hypermnesia (high-perm-NEE-zha) - The supposed enhancement of a person’s memory for past events through a hypnotic suggestion.
o False memories, also called pseudomemories, can be inadvertently created when hypnosis is used to aid recall

Explaining Hypnosis

 Psychologist Ernest R. Hilgard believed that a person experiences dissociation

o Dissociation - The splitting of consciousness into two or more simultaneous streams of mental activity.
o Neodissociation theory of hypnosis - Theory proposed by Ernest Hilgard that explains hypnotic effects as being due to the splitting of consciousness
into two simultaneous streams of mental activity, only one of which the hypnotic participant is consciously aware of during hypnosis.
o hidden observer - Hilgard’s term for the hidden, or dissociated, stream of mental activity that continues during hypnosis.
 Does not mean that the person being hypnotized has multiple personalities

Meditation

 Meditation - Any one of a number of sustained concentration techniques that focus attention and heighten awareness.
o Virtually every major religion—Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—has a rich tradition of meditative practices
o Many people practice meditation independently of any religious tradition or spiritual context.
o Some forms of psychotherapy also include meditative practice as a component of the overall therapy
o Common to all forms of meditation is the goal of controlling or retraining attention.
 Focused Attention Techniques (or concentration techniques) - involve focusing awareness on a visual image, your breathing, a word, or a phrase. When a
sound is used, it is typically a short word or a religious phrase, called a mantra, that is repeated mentally
 Open Monitoring techniques (or open-up techniques) - involve a present-centered awareness of the passing moment, without mental judgment. Rather than
concentrating on a word, the meditator focuses on the “here and now”
o Mindfulness, used in therapy, is an open monitoring technique

Effects of Meditation

 Much of the early research on meditation focused on its use as a relaxation technique that relieved stress and improved cardiovascular health, often
using transcendental meditation
 transcendental meditation or TM – a focused attention technique that involves mentally repeating a mantra
o Research shows a drop in blood pressure, heart rate, physical arousal, and changes in brain waves associated with relaxation
 A difficulty of studying meditation is the vast number of different meditation techniques out there
o Controlled research has found
 Improves concentration, perceptual discrimination, and attention
 Increases working memory in American marines during basic training
  Improve emotional control and well-being
 Reduce stress and minimize its physical effects
 fMRI scans of meditator’s brains showed a steep reduction of activity in the primary somatosensory cortex, which process sensation of pain, pressure, and
touch

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Psychoactive Drugs

 psychoactive drug - A drug that alters consciousness, perception, mood, and behavior.
o Depressants—drugs that depress, or inhibit, brain activity
o Opiates—drugs that are chemically similar to morphine and that relieve pain and produce euphoria
o Stimulants—drugs that stimulate, or excite, brain activity
o Psychedelic drugs—drugs that distort sensory perceptions

Common Effects of Psychoactive Drugs

 Addiction is a broad term that refers to a condition in which a person feels psychologically and physically compelled to take a specific drug
 physical dependence - A condition in which a person has physically adapted to a drug so that he or she must take the drug regularly in order to avoid
withdrawal symptoms.
 drug tolerance - A condition in which increasing amounts of a physically addictive drug are needed to produce the original, desired effect.
 withdrawal symptoms - Unpleasant physical reactions, combined with intense drug cravings, that occur when a person abstains from a drug on which he or she
is physically dependent.
 drug rebound effect - Withdrawal symptoms that are the opposite of a physically addictive drug’s action.
 drug abuse - Recurrent drug use that results in disruptions in academic, social, or occupational functioning or in legal or psychological problems.

Depressants - A category of psychoactive drugs that depress or inhibit brain activity.

 Alcohol - lessens inhibitions by depressing the brain centers responsible for judgment and self-control.
o Initially, alcohol produces a mild euphoria, talkativeness, and feelings of good humor and friendliness, leading many people to think of alcohol as a
stimulant.
o As a general rule, it takes about one hour to metabolize the alcohol in one drink, which is defined as 1 ounce of 80-proof whiskey, 4 ounces of wine,
or 12 ounces of beer. All three drinks contain the same amount of alcohol; the alcohol is simply more diluted in beer than in hard liquor.
o body weight, gender, food consumption, and the rate of alcohol consumption also affect blood alcohol levels
o Binge drinking is defined as five or more drinks in a row for men, or four or more drinks in a row for women.
o Binge drinking 5 or more drinks in a row for men, or 4 or more drinks in a row for women.
o Addicted to alcohol? Withdrawal causes rebound hyper-excitability in the brain.
 With a low level of dependence, withdrawal may involve disrupted sleep, anxiety, and mild tremors (“the shakes”)
 At higher levels of physical dependence on alcohol, withdrawal may involve confusion, hallucinations, and severe tremors or seizures.
 extreme physical dependence, alcohol withdrawal can cause seizures, convulsions, and even death in the absence of medical
supervision
 Inhalants - Chemical substances that are inhaled to produce an alteration in consciousness.
o Paint solvents, model airplane glue, spray paint and paint thinner, gasoline, nitrous oxide, and aerosol sprays are just a few of the substances that
are abused in this way.
o Inhalant abuse is most prevalent among adolescent and young adult males.
o At low doses, they may cause relaxation, giddiness, and reduced inhibition.
o At higher doses, inhalants can lead to hallucinations and a loss of consciousness.
o Suffocation is one hazard, but many inhaled substances are also toxic to the liver and other organs. Chronic abuse also leads to neurological and
brain damage.
 Barbiturates (barb-ITCH-yer-ets) - A category of depressant drugs that reduce anxiety and produce sleepiness.
o sometimes called “downers.”
o Barbiturates depress activity in the brain centers that control arousal, wakefulness, and alertness. They also depress the brain’s respiratory centers.
o At low doses cause relaxation, mild euphoria, and reduced inhibitions.
o High doses can produce unconsciousness, coma, and death.
o Barbiturates produce a very deep but abnormal sleep in which REM sleep is greatly reduced.
o Common barbiturates include the prescription sedatives Seconal and Nembutal.
o The illegal drug methaqualone (street name Quaalude) is almost identical chemically to barbiturates and has similar effects
o Withdrawal from low doses of barbiturates produces irritability and REM rebound nightmares. Withdrawal from high doses of barbiturates can
produce hallucinations, disorientation, restlessness, and life-threatening convulsions.
 Tranquilizers - Depressant drugs that relieve anxiety.
o Commonly prescribed tranquilizers include Xanax, Valium, Librium, and Ativan.
o Chemically different from barbiturates, tranquilizers produce similar, although less powerful, effects.
 Opiates (OH-pee-ets) - A category of psychoactive drugs that are chemically similar to morphine and have strong pain-relieving properties.
 o Often called narcotics
o Natural opiates include opium, which is derived from the opium poppy; morphine, the active ingredient in opium; and codeine, which can be derived
from either opium or morphine.
o Synthetic and semisynthetic opiates include heroin, methadone, oxycodone, and the prescription painkillers OxyContin, Vicodin, Percodan, Demerol,
and Fentanyl.
o Opiates produce their powerful effects by mimicking the brain’s own natural painkillers, called endorphins.
 endorphin literally means “the morphine within.”
o Among the most dangerous opiates is heroin
 When injected into a vein, heroin reaches the brain in seconds, creating an intense rush of euphoria that is followed by feelings of
contentment, peacefulness, and warmth.
 Heroin is not the most commonly abused opiate
o OxyContin, the most abused opiate, which combines the synthetic opioid oxycodone with a time-release mechanism. Street users discovered that
crushing the OxyContin tablets easily destroyed the time-release mechanism. The resulting powder could be snorted, smoked, or diluted in water
and injected—resulting in a rapid, intense high.

Stimulants - A category of psychoactive drugs that increase brain activity, arouse behavior, and increase mental alertness. All stimulant drugs, however, are at least
mildly addicting, and all tend to increase brain activity.

 Caffeine (kaff-EEN) - A stimulant drug found in coffee, tea, cola drinks, chocolate, and many over-the-counter medications.
o Caffeine promotes wakefulness, mental alertness, vigilance, and faster thought processes by stimulating the release of dopamine in the brain’s
prefrontal cortex.
o Caffeine also produces its mentally stimulating effects by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain. Adenosine is a naturally occurring compound in
your body that influences the release of several neurotransmitters in the central nervous system. As noted earlier, adenosine levels gradually
increase the longer a person is awake. When adenosine levels reach a certain level in your body, the urge to sleep greatly intensifies.
o Caffeine’s adenosine-blocking ability has another effect—it stimulates indirect and mild dopamine release in the brain’s reward system.
o Taken to excess, caffeine can produce anxiety, restlessness, and increased heart rate and can disrupt normal sleep patterns. Excessive caffeine
use can also contribute to the incidence of sleep disorders, including the NREM parasomnias, like sleepwalking
 Nicotine - A stimulant drug found in tobacco products.
o Nicotine is found in all tobacco products, including pipe tobacco, cigars, cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco.
o About 25 percent of American adults are cigarette smokers, and another 5 percent use other tobacco products
o nicotine increases mental alertness and reduces fatigue or drowsiness.
o Brain-imaging studies show that nicotine increases neural activity in many brain areas, including the frontal lobes, thalamus, hippocampus, and
amygdala
o Nicotine is highly addictive, both physically and psychologically. People who start smoking for nicotine’s stimulating properties often continue
smoking to avoid the withdrawal symptoms. Along with an intense craving for cigarettes, withdrawal symptoms include jumpiness, irritability, tremors,
headaches, drowsiness, “brain fog,” and light-headedness.
 Amphetamines (am-FET-uh-meens) - A class of stimulant drugs that arouse the central nervous system and suppress appetite.
o Often called “speed” or “uppers.”
o Suppress appetite and used to be prescribed as diet pills
o “crashing”—withdrawal symptoms of fatigue, deep sleep, intense mental depression, and increased appetite. This is another example of a drug
rebound effect.
o Benzedrine and dexedrine are prescription amphetamines.
o Methamphetamine, also known as meth, is an illegal drug that can be easily manufactured in home or street laboratories.
 Cocaine - A stimulant drug derived from the coca tree.
o cocaine produces intense euphoria, mental alertness, and self-confidence.
o These psychological responses occur because cocaine blocks the reuptake of three different neurotransmitters— dopamine, serotonin, and
norepinephrine. Blocking reuptake potentiates or increases the effects of these neurotransmitters.
o Crack cocaine, a more concentrated form of cocaine, is smoked.
o stimulant-induced psychosis - Schizophrenia-like symptoms that can occur as the result of prolonged amphetamine or cocaine use; also called
amphetamine induced psychosis or cocaine-induced psychosis.

Psychedelic Drugs - A category of psychoactive drugs that create sensory and perceptual distortions, alter mood, and affect thinking.

 Mescaline (MESS-kuh-lin) - A psychedelic drug derived from the peyote cactus.

 Psilocybin - is derived from Psilocybe mushrooms, which are sometimes referred to as “magic mushrooms” or “shrooms.” Psilocybin has been used since 500
B.C. in religious rites in Mexico and Central America.
 LSD - A synthetic psychedelic drug.
o synthesized in the late 1930s. LSD is far more potent than mescaline or psilocybin. Just 25 micrograms, or one-millionth of an ounce, of LSD can produce
profound psychological effects with relatively few physiological changes.
 LSD and psilocybin are very similar chemically to the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is involved in regulating moods and sensations. LSD and psilocybin
mimic serotonin in the brain, stimulating serotonin receptor sites in the somatosensory cortex.

Marijuana - A psychoactive drug derived from the hemp plant.

 Cannabis sativa, is used to make rope and cloth. But when its leaves, stems, flowers, and seeds are dried and crushed, the mixture is called marijuana, one of
the most widely used illegal drugs.
 Marijuana’s active ingredient is the chemical tetrahydrocannabinol, abbreviated THC.
 When marijuana is smoked, THC reaches the brain in less than 30 seconds.
 One potent form of marijuana, hashish, is made from the resin of the hemp plant. Hashish is sometimes eaten.
 At high doses, marijuana can sometimes produce sensory distortions that resemble a mild psychedelic experience. Lumping it into psychedelics, but that is
somewhat misleading.
 Low to moderate doses of THC typically produce a sense of well-being, mild euphoria, and a dreamy state of relaxation.
 Senses become more focused and sensations more vivid. Taste, touch, and smell may be enhanced; time perception may be altered.
 shown to be helpful in the treatment of pain, epilepsy, hypertension, nausea, glaucoma, and asthma
 In cancer patients, THC can prevent the nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy. However, the medical use of marijuana is limited and politically
controversial.

Designer Drugs - synthesized in a laboratory rather than derived from naturally occurring compounds. A loose collection of psychoactive drugs that are popular at
dance clubs, parties, and the all-night dance parties called “raves.”

 MDMA (ecstasy) - Synthetic club drug that combines stimulant and mild psychedelic effects.
o Ecstasy was developed by a German pharmaceutical company in 1912 for possible use as an appetite suppressant, but it was not tested on humans
until the 1970s.
o At low doses, MDMA acts as a stimulant, but at high doses it has mild psychedelic effects.
o People who have taken ecstasy also say that the drug makes them feel loving, open, and closer to others. Often called the “love drug.”
 Dissociative anesthetics - Class of drugs that reduce sensitivity to pain and produce feelings of detachment and dissociation; includes the club drugs
phencyclidine (PCP) and ketamine.
 PCP (angel dust)
 Ketamine (Special K)
o Originally developed as anesthetics for surgery in the late 1950s, both PCP and ketamine deaden pain and, at high doses, can induce a stupor or
coma. Because of their psychological effects, these drugs were largely abandoned for surgical use in humans.
o Rather than producing actual hallucinations, PCP and ketamine produce marked feelings of dissociation and depersonalization. Feelings of
detachment from reality— including distortions of space, time, and body image—are common.