Body Rhythms and Mental States

Chapter 5
Body Rhythms and Mental States
 Biological rhythms: The tides of experience
 The rhythms of sleep
 Exploring the dream world
 Consciousness-altering drugs
 The riddle of hypnosis
Biological Rhythms: Tides of Experience
 Understanding biological rhythms.
 Endogenous biological rhythms.
 Circadian rhythms.
 When internal clocks are out of sync.
 Moods and long-term rhythms.
 Menstrual cycles and moods.
Understanding Biological Rhythms
 Consciousness.
 Awareness of oneself and the environment.
 Biological rhythms.
 A periodic, more or less regular fluctuation in a biological
system; may or may not have psychological implications.
 Entrainment.
 Biological rhythms are synchronized with external events
such as changes in clock time, temperature, and daylight.
 Endogenous Biological Rhythms
 Circadian Rhythms
 Occur about every 24 hours.
 Example:The sleep-wake cycle.
 Infradian Rhythms
 Occur less often than once a day.
 Examples include birds migrating, bears hibernating.
 Ultradian Rhythms
 Occur more frequently than once a day, about every 90min.
 Examples include stomach contractions and hormone levels.
Circadian Rhythms
 Occur in plants, animals, and people.
 To study endogenous circadian rhythms,
scientists isolate volunteers from time cues..
 Supraciasmatic nucleus (SCN).
 Located in the hypothalamus, responsible for
circadian rhythms by regulating melatonin, a
hormone secreted by the pineal gland.
When Internal Clocks are Out of Sync
 Internal desynchronization
 A state when biological rhythms are not in
phase with one another.
 Circadian rhythms are influenced by changes
in routine. Examples include:
 Airplane flights across time zones.
 Adjusting to new work shifts.
 Also, illness, stress, fatigue, excitement, drugs,
and mealtimes.
Moods and Long-term Rhythms.
 Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
 A controversial disorder in which person
experiences depression during the winter and
an improvement of mood in the spring.
 Treatment involves phototherapy or exposure
to fluorescent light.
 Evaluating frequency of and treatment for
SAD is difficult.
Menstrual Cycles and Mood.
 Physical symptoms are common.
 Cramps, breast tenderness and water retention.
 Emotional symptoms are rare.
 Irritability and depression.
 Fewer than 5% of women have symptoms
predictably.
Why women overestimate “PMS”
 They notice depression or irritability when these
moods occur premenstrually but overlook times
when moods are absent premenstrually.
 The attribute irritability before menstruation to
PMS and attribute irritability at other times to
other reasons.
 They are influenced by cultural attitudes and
myths about menstruation.
Research conclusions about “PMS.”
 No gender differences exist in
mood.
 There is no relation between stage
of menstrual cycle and emotional
symptoms.
 No consistent “PMS” pattern
exists across menstrual cycles.
 No connection exists between
“PMS” and behavior.
The Rhythms of Sleep
 Why we sleep.
 When we don’t get enough sleep.
 The realms of sleep.
Why We Sleep
 The exact function of sleep is uncertain but
sleep appears to provide time for:
 the body to eliminate waste products from
muscles,
 repair cells,
 strengthen the immune system, or
 recover abilities lost during the day.
Sleep Disorders
 Sleep deprivation leads to decreases in physical and
mental functioning.
 Sleep apnea.
 Breathing briefly stops during sleep, causing the person to
choke and gasp and momentarily waken.
 Narcolepsy.
 A sleep disorder involving sudden and unpredictable daytime
attacks of sleepiness or lapses into REM sleep.
 Staying up late and not allowing oneself enough sleep.
 2/3 of Americans get fewer than recommended 8 hours
 Realms of Sleep
 Stage 1. Feel self drifting on the
edge of consciousness.
 Stage 2. Minor noises won’t
disturb you.
 Stage 3. Breathing and pulse
have slowed down.
 Stage 4. Deep sleep.
 REM. Increased eye movement,
loss of muscle tone and
dreaming.
A typical night’s sleep for a young adult
Exploring the Dream World
 Dreams as unconscious wishes.
 Dreams as reflections of current concerns.
 Dreams as a by-product of mental
housekeeping.
 Dreams as interpreted brain activity.
Dreams as Unconscious Wishes
 Freud concluded that dreams provide insight into
our unconscious.
 Manifest content includes aspects of the dream
we consciously experience and latent content
includes unconscious wishes and thoughts
symbolized in the dream.
 To understand a dream we must distinguish
manifest content from latent content.
 Not everything in dream is symbolic.
Dreams as Reflections of Current
Concerns
 Dreams may reflect ongoing conscious issues
such as concerns over relationships, work, sex or
health.
 Dreams are more likely to contain material related
to a person’s current concerns than chance would
predict.
 Example: college students and testing
 Males and females appear to dream about similar
issues now that lives and concerns of two sexes
have become more similar.
Dreams as By-product of Mental
Housekeeping
 Unnecessary neural connections
in the brain are eliminated and
important ones are strengthened.
 The brain divides new
information into “wanted” and
“unwanted.”
 What we recall as dreams are only
brief snippets from scanning and
sorting that occurs during REM
sleep.
Dreams as Interpreted Brain Activity
 Activation-synthesis theory.
 Dreaming results from the cortical synthesis
and interpretation of neural signals triggered
by activity in the lower part of the brain.
 At same time, brain regions that handle
logical thought and sensation from the
external world shut down.
Conscious-altering Drugs
 Classifying drugs.
 The physiology of drug effects.
 The psychology of drug effects.
Classifying Drugs
 Psychoactive drug.
 Substance capable of influencing perception, mood,
cognition, or behavior.
 Types.
 Stimulants
 speed up activity in the CNS.
 Depressants
 slow down activity in the CNS.
 Opiates
 relieve pain.
 Psychedelic drugs
 disrupt normal thought processes.
The Physiology of Drug Effects
 Psychoactive drugs work by acting on brain
neurotransmitters. These drugs can:
 increase or decrease the release of
neurotransmitters,
 prevent reabsorption of excess neurotransmitters by
the cells that have released them,
 block the effects of neurotransmitters on receiving
cells, or
 bind to receptors that would ordinarily be triggered
by a neurotransmitter or a neuromodulator.
Cocaine’s Effect on the Brain
 Cocaine blocks the brain’s
reabsorption (“reuptake”) of the
neurotransmitters dopamine and
norepinephrine, so levels of these
substances rise.
 The result is an overstimulation of
certain brain circuits and a brief
euphoric high.
 When drug wears off, depletion of
dopamine may cause user to
“crash.”
The Psychology of Drug Effects.
 Reactions to psychoactive drugs depend on:
 Physical factors such as body weight, metabolism,
initial state of emotional arousal and physical
tolerance.
 Experience or the number of times a person has used a
drug.
 Environmental factors such as where and with whom
one is drinking.
 Mental set or expectations for drug’s effects.
The Riddle of Hypnosis
 Defining hypnosis.
 The nature of hypnosis.
 Theories of hypnosis.
Defining hypnosis
 A procedure in which the practitioner suggests
changes in the sensations, perceptions, thoughts,
feelings or behavior of the subject.
The Nature of Hypnosis
 The hypnotic state is not sleep.
 Hypnotic responsiveness depends more on the
person being hypnotized than on the skill of the
hypnotist.
 Hypnotized people can’t be forced to do things
against their will.
 Feats performed under hypnosis can be performed
by motivated people without hypnosis.
The Nature of Hypnosis
 Hypnosis doesn’t increase accuracy of memory.
 Hypnosis doesn’t produce a literal reexperiencing of
long-ago events.
 Hypnotic suggestions have been used effectively for
medical and psychological purposes.
Theories of Hypnosis
 Dissociation theories.
 Hypnosis is a split in consciousness in which one part of
the mind operates independently of the rest of the
consciousness, or
 During hypnosis, dissociation occurs between an executive
control system in the brain (probably frontal lobes) and
other brain systems involved in thinking and acting.
Theories of Hypnosis
 Sociocognitive theories
 Effects of hypnosis result from interaction between
social influence of the hypnotist (socio) and the
abilities, beliefs and expectations of the subject
(cognitive).
 Can explain “alien abduction” and “past-life
regression.