UNIT 1:

Biological
Bases of
Behavior
 UNIT 1:
BIOLOGICAL BASES OF
BEHAVIOR

MODULE 1.5ABC
SLEEP AND
CONSCIOUSNESS
 Who were two major figures in
consciousness research?
William James Sigmund Freud

Freud
William James
believed the unconscious was a
discussed a continuous
hiding place for our most anxiety-
“stream of consciousness,”
provoking ideas and emotions, and
with each moment flowing into
that uncovering those hidden
the next.
thoughts could lead to healing.
 What is the place of consciousness in
psychology’s history?

In the early half of the twentieth century, the study of consciousness was
abandoned for behaviorism. Psychologists wanted to talk about what
could be seen.

After 1960, the study of mental process rebounded.

Neuroscience linked brain activity to consciousness.
The study of cognition and how it is altered is now a large field of study.
What is consciousness and what are some aspects of it?

Consciousness
is our subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment.

Our conscious awareness is one part of the

dual processing of our two-track minds.
Although much of our information processing is conscious,
more is unconscious and automatic — outside our awareness.
 Altered states of consciousness

In addition to normal, waking awareness, consciousness comes to us in

altered states of consciousness
temporary, noticeable changes in one’s typical awareness, perception,
emotion and cognition, these states include:
daydreaming, sleeping, drug-induced hallucinating, and meditating.
 Cognitive Neuroscience
and the study consciousness?
If consciousness is the study of our subjective awareness of ourselves and
our environment, then it helps individuals cope with novelty and act in
our best interests.
How can this be studied scientifically?

cognitive neuroscience
the interdisciplinary study of brain activity with cognition
(how we learn, think, remember and perceive.

Ex. Researchers explore and map the conscious functions of the cortex.
 What is dual processing?
Dual Processing
The principle that information is often simultaneously processed on
separate conscious and unconscious tracks. The two-track mind.

Perception, memory, thinking, language, and attitudes

all operate on two levels:
a conscious, deliberate “high road” and
an unconscious, automatic “low road.”
The high road is reflective, the low road intuitive.
 What is blindsight?

Blindsight
Is a condition in which a person can
respond to a visual stimulus without
consciously experiencing it.
 What is the difference between parallel and
sequential processing?

parallel processing
sequential processing
subconscious processing of
conscious processing of one
many aspects of a problem
aspect of a problem at a time;
simultaneously;
generally used
generally used to
to process new information or to
process well-learned information
solve difficult problems
or to solve easy problems
 What is sleep?

Sleep
a periodic, natural loss of consciousness

What is not sleep?

unconsciousness resulting from a coma, general anesthesia, or hibernation
(Adapted from Dement, 1999.)
 What is the circadian rhythm?

circadian rhythm
Our internal biological clock that helps regulate our bodily rhythms to
synchronize with the 24-hour cycle of day and night
(from the Latin circa, “about,” and diem, “day”).

Circadian rhythms impact our sleep-wake cycles, temperature,

hormonal and digestive cycles as well.
 How does the circadian rhythm affect
our daily functioning?
Body temperature rises as dawn nears, peaks during the day, dips in the
afternoon then drops again in the evening.

Thinking and memory improve as we approach our daily peak

in circadian arousal.

Age and experience may alter our circadian rhythm.

 What affects the sleep-wake cycle?
Sleep-Wake Cycle is the natural pattern of alternating between periods
of wakefulness and sleep, regulated by the body's internal circadian
rhythm, which typically follows a 24-hour cycle and is influenced by
environmental cues like light and darkness

Jet Lag Shift Work

Refers
refers to the fatigue and disorientation to a workafter
experienced schedule where
traveling across multip
employees work different time periods
throughout the day or night, (including
night shifts), outside of the traditional
daytime hours, disrupting their circadian
rhythm and potentially impacting their
sleep and overall health
 How do psychologists research biological
rhythms that occur during sleep?
EEG records brain wave activity Varying wave patterns occur
while sleeping. during sleep.
 What are alpha
waves?

When you are in bed with

your eyes closed, the
researcher in the next
room sees on the
EEG the relatively slow
Beta waves
alpha waves of your
Brain wave pattern of an alert, awake state
awake but relaxed state.
Then you slowly enter
Alpha waves
sleep.
brain wave pattern of a relaxed, awake state
 Moving into sleep.

We seem unaware of the moment we fall into sleep, but someone

watching our brain waves could tell.

(Dement, 1999)
 What are the two divisions of sleep stages?

REM sleep
NREM sleep rapid eye movement
non-rapid eye movement sleep; sleep; a recurring sleep stage
encompasses all sleep stages during which vivid dreams
except for REM sleep commonly occur

Has 3 distinct stages AKA Paradoxical Sleep

(N1, N2, and N3) Muscles are relaxed but other
systems are very active
 What is NREM stage 1
(N1) sleep?

During this brief NREM-1 sleep you may

experience fantastic images resembling
hallucinations- false sensory experiences

Called hypnagogic sensations

They are bizarre experiences of falling or
floating, sometimes a leg or arm may jerk.

These hypnagogic sensations may later be

incorporated into your memories!
 What is NREM stage 2
(N2) sleep?

You then relax more deeply and begin about

20 minutes of NREM-2 sleep, with its
periodic sleep spindles — bursts of rapid,
rhythmic brain-wave activity that aid
memory processing.

Although you could still

be awakened without too much difficulty,
you are now clearly asleep.
 What is NREM stage 3
(N3) sleep?
During this slow-wave sleep, which lasts for about
30 minutes, your brain emits delta waves, and you
are hard to awaken.

Delta Waves
Large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep.

Have you ever said, “That thunder was so loud last

night!” only to have a friend respond, “What
thunder?” Those who missed the storm may have
been in deep sleep.
 How do we move through
the stages of sleep in a night?

Cycling through sleep stages is like being

on a roller coaster.
 What is REM sleep?

REM Sleep
(rapid eye movement sleep)
a recurring sleep stage during which
vivid dreams commonly occur

REM is known as paradoxical sleep,

because the muscles are relaxed
(except for minor twitches) but other
body systems are active.
 How do researchers study REM?

Using an EEG, researchers were able to see that

the sleeper’s eyes moved rapidly from left to right
while emitting rapid, saw-toothed brain waves.
What physiological events occur during REM?

Heart rate rises; breathing becomes rapid and irregular.

Muscle paralysis occurs, except for an occasional twitch.

How does sleep change as we age?

As people age, sleep

becomes more fragile,
with awakenings
common among older
adults.

(Kamel & Gammack, 2006;

Neubauer, 1999).
How do biology and environment interact in our
sleep patterns?

Sleep patterns are genetically influenced, but they are also culturally
influenced.

In Britain, Canada, Germany, Japan, and the United States, adults average
7 hours of sleep a night on work days, 7-8 hours on other days.

(NSF, 2013)
Why do American students get less sleep than
their Australian counterparts?

earlier school start times

increased extracurricular activities

lack of parent-set (and enforced) bedtimes

What three environmental factors play a role in
our biological ability to sleep?

modern electric lighting

shift work

social-media diversions
 What is the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)?

Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)

a pair of cell clusters in the hypothalamus that controls circadian rhythm

In response to light, the SCN causes the brain’s pineal gland to

decrease its production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin in the
morning and to increase it in the evening thus modifying our feelings of
sleepiness.
.
 How does the
SCN react during
the day?

Light striking the retina

signals the
suprachiasmatic nucleus
(SCN) to suppress the
pineal gland’s production
of the sleep hormone
melatonin.
 How does the
SCN react at
night?

At night, the SCN quiets

down, allowing the
pineal gland to release
melatonin into the
bloodstream.
Would you rather be a brown bat or a giraffe?
 Why do we sleep?

At the end of the day, hunter-gathers were better off asleep,

protection safely out of harm’s way. Those who didn’t wander around were
safer and likely to leave descendants (natural selection!)

Sleep helps restore the immune system and repair brain tissue.
restoration Sleep gives resting neurons time to repair themselves, pruning
unused connections

memory Sleep consolidates our memories by replaying recent learning

building and strengthening neural connections.
 Why do we sleep?

Creative Dreams can inspire artistic and scientific achievements and

thinking sleep boosts our thinking and learning

During slow-wave sleep, which occurs mostly in the first

half of a night’s sleep, the pituitary gland releases human
growth growth hormone, which is necessary for muscle
development.

Conserve
Sleep preserves our energy
Energy
 Sleep loss

In a 2013 Gallup poll,

40 percent of
Americans reported
getting 6 hours or less
sleep a night.

(Jones, 2013).
 What are some consequences
of sleep loss?
For students, less sleep predicts more conflicts in friendships and
romantic relationships.
(Gordon & Chen, 2014; Tavernier & Willoughby, 2014)

Sleep loss is a predictor of depression.

(Baglioni et al., 2016)

Sleep deprivation increases appetite and eating; our tired brain finds fatty
foods more enticing.
(Fang et al., 2015; Hanlon et al., 2015).
 How does sleep loss impact
our physical health?
Sleep deprivation can suppress immune cells that battle viral infections
and cancer.
(Möller-Levet et al., 2013; Motivala & Irwin, 2007; Opp & Krueger, 2015)

Those who averaged less than 5 hours’ sleep a night were 4.5 times more
likely to develop a cold than those who slept more than 7 hours a night.
(Prather et al., 2015)

Older adults who have no difficulty falling or staying asleep tend to live
longer than sleep-deprived agemates.
(Dew et al., 2003; Parthasarathy et al., 2015; Scullin & Bliwise, 2015)
Are you sleep deprived?
 How did you do?

If you answered “true” to three or more items, you

probably are not getting enough sleep.

To determine your sleep needs, one researcher

recommends
“go to bed 15 minutes earlier than usual every night
for the next week — and continue this practice by
adding 15 more minutes each week — until you
wake without an alarm clock and feel alert all day.”
 Smartphones as sleep stealers:

“ You wake up in the middle of the night and grab your smartphone to
check the time — it’s 3 a.m. — and see an alert.
Before you know it, you fall down a rabbit hole of email and Twitter.
Sleep? Forget it.”

Nick Bilton, “Disruptions: For a

Restful Night, Make Your Smartphone
Sleep on the Couch,” 2014
 How sleep
deprivation
impacts us.
 Sleep loss and
car accidents

On the Monday after the spring time

change, when people lose one hour of
sleep, accidents
increased, as compared with the
Monday before.
 Sleep gain and
car accidents

In the fall, traffic

accidents normally increase
because of greater snow, ice, and
darkness, but they diminished
after the time change.

(Data from Coren, 1996.)

 What are
the most
common
sleep-wake
disorders?
 What is insomnia?
About 1 in 10 adults, and 1 in 4 older adults, complain of insomnia
(Irwin et al., 2006).

Insomnia
Recurring problems in either falling or staying asleep

The result of insomnia is tiredness and increased risk of depression.

From middle age on, awakening occasionally during the night becomes
the norm, not something to fret over or treat with medication.
(Vitiello, 2009)

Insomnia tends to becomes worse when we worry about it.

 How NOT to treat insomnia.

The most common quick fixes for true insomnia, like sleeping pills and
alcohol, can aggravate the problem, reduce REM sleep and leave the
person with next-day blahs.

Such drugs can also lead to tolerance, a state in which increasing doses
are needed to produce an effect.
 What is narcolepsy?

Narcolepsy
A sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks
(from the Greek narke, “numbness,” and lepsis, “seizure”)

People with narcolepsy, 1 in 2000 of us, have sudden attacks of

overwhelming sleepiness, usually lasting less than 5 minutes.

Narcolepsy attacks can occur at the most inopportune times, often triggered
by strong emotions. In severe cases, the person collapses directly into a brief
period of REM sleep, with loss of muscular tension.
 What is sleep apnea?
Sleep Apnea
A sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during
sleep and repeated momentary awakenings (apnea means “with no breath,”)

About 1 in 20 people have sleep apnea and intermittently stop breathing

during sleep.

After an airless minute or so, decreased blood oxygen arouses them enough
to snort in air for a few seconds, in a process that repeats hundreds of times
each night, depriving them of slow-wave sleep.

Sleep apnea sufferers don’t recall these episodes the next day.
 What is a possible treatment for sleep apnea?

For many with sleep

apnea, a continuous
positive airway pressure
(CPAP) machine applies
mild air pressure to keep
the airways open,
making for sounder
sleeping and better
quality of life.
 What are night terrors?

Night Terrors
A sleep disorder characterized by episodes of high arousal and intense fear that
occur during deep, non-REM (N3) sleep.

Unlike nightmares, which are bad dreams occurring in REM, night terrors
usually occur during the first few hours of NREM-3. Night terrors target
mostly children, who may sit up or walk around, talk incoherently, experience
doubled heart and breathing rates, and appear terrified while asleep
(Hartmann, 1981).

They seldom wake up fully during an episode and recall little or nothing the
next morning — at most, a fleeting, frightening image.
 What about sleepwalking, sleeptalking, etc.?

REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

a sleep disorder where a person
Somnambulism (Sleepwalking)
physically acts out their dreams
is a sleep disorder characterized by
during REM sleep, due to a lack of
walking or performing other
the normal muscle paralysis that
complex behaviors while still
usually occurs during this stage,
asleep. It usually occurs during
potentially leading to violent
deep (N3) sleep
movements or vocalizations while
asleep
 What is a dream?

“Follow your dreams, except for

that one where you’re naked at
work.”
-Attributed to comedian
Henny Youngman

Dream
A sequence of images, emotions,
and thoughts passing through a
sleeping person’s mind
 What do we dream?

8 in 10 dreams are marked by at least one negative event or emotion.

(Domhoff, 2007)

Common themes include repeatedly failing in an attempt to do something;

being attacked, pursued, or rejected; or experiencing misfortune.
(Hall et al., 1982)

In one study, only 1 in 10 dreams among young men and 1 in 30 among

young women had sexual content.
(Domhoff, 1996)
 What is the Freudian theory of dreams?

Freud believed dreams existed to satisfy our own unconscious wishes. He

thought dreams provided a safe place to discharge feelings and urges that
would be unacceptable to express in society.

He viewed a dream’s manifest content (what we remember we dreamed) as

a censored, symbolic version of its latent content, the unconscious drives
and wishes (often erotic) that would be threatening if
expressed directly.

Thus, a gun might be a disguised representation of a penis.

 What is the information-processing
(consolidation) theory of dreams?

Suggests that dreaming is a process where the brain actively sorts through and
strengthens memories from the day, consolidating them into long-term storage

Process occurs by replaying and processing information during REM sleep

This means dreams are a byproduct of this memory consolidation process

rather than random neural firings.
 Sleep increases learning.

Researcher Robert Stickgold states “If you don’t get good sleep and
enough sleep after you learn new stuff, you won’t integrate it effectively
into your memories,” he warned. That helps explain why high school
students with high grades slept about 25 minutes longer each night than
their lower-achieving classmates.
What is the physiological function theory of dreams?

Perhaps dreams, or the brain activity associatedwith REM sleep, serve a

physiological function, providing the sleeping brain with periodic stimulation.

Stimulating experiences preserve and expand the brain’s neural pathways.

Infants, whose neural networks are fast developing, spend much of their
abundant sleep time in REM sleep.
 How does sleep and dreaming
change as we age?

During our first few

months, we spend
progressively less time in
REM sleep. During our
first 20 years, we spend
progressively less time
asleep.
(Data from Snyder & Scott,
1972.)
 What is the cognitive development
theory of dreams?
Some dream researchers prefer to see dreams as part of brain maturation and
cognitive development.
(Domhoff, 2010, 2011; Foulkes, 1999)

Dreams overlap with waking cognition and feature coherent speech. They
simulate reality by drawing on our concepts and knowledge.

Dreams engage brain networks that also are active during daydreaming —
and so may be viewed as intensified mind wandering, enhanced by visual
imagery.
(Fox et al., 2013)
 What is the activation synthesis
theory of dreams?

Dreams are the brain’s attempt to synthesize random neural activity.

It is a neurobiological explanation, proposing that dreams are the brain's

attempt to interpret random neural activity that occurs during REM sleep,

Dreams erupt from neural activation spreading upward from the brainstem,
our mind creates a narrative from these electrical impulses, but they lack
any significant underlying meaning
(Antrobus, 1991; Hobson, 2003, 2004, 2009)
 What is REM rebound?

REM rebound
is the tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep
deprivation.

Most other mammals also experience REM rebound, suggesting that the
causes and functions of REM sleep are deeply biological.

That REM sleep occurs in mammals — and not in animals such as fish,
whose behavior is less influenced by learning — fits the information-
processing theory of dreams.