1. Consciousness
and the
Two-Track
Mind
Chapter 3

2. Chapter Topics
This chapter is concerned with:
 the quality our mental experience.
 the way that experience is affected by
the two tracks of mental experience.
 the way that experience is altered by
 sleep.
 hypnosis.
 psychoactive drugs.

3. Brain States and Consciousness
Topics to be aware of:
 Defining
Consciousness
 Having a “Dual-Track”
Mind
 Selective
Attention/Inattention

4. Many psychologists define
Consciousness as:
“our awareness of
ourselves and our
environment.”
Aren’t animals aware of their
environment?
If so, is our awareness different?
Possibly, because we have
(uniquely?) a narrative experience
of that awareness.
Consciousness is…
 alertness; being awake
vs. being unconscious
 self-awareness; the
ability to think about
self
 having free will; being
able to make a
“conscious” decision
 a person’s mental
content, thoughts, and
imaginings
To explore the nature of
consciousness, it helps to
first choose a definition.

5. Altered States and Forms of
Consciousness

6. Psychology’s Relationship to this Topic
Psychology was once defined
as “the description and
explanation of states of
consciousness.”
Now, consciousness is just
one topic among many for
psychologists.
Cognitive
neuroscience
allows us to
revisit this topic
and see how the
brain is involved.

7. Conscious vs. Unconscious Activity:
The Dual-Track Mind
Conscious “high” track:
our minds take deliberate
actions we know we are
doing
Examples: problem solving,
naming an object, defining a
word
Unconscious “low” track:
our minds perform automatic
actions, often without being
aware of them
Examples: walking, acquiring
phobias, processing sensory
details into perceptions and
memories
Automatic processing:
Conscious “high” track
says, “I saw a bird!”
Unconsciously, we see
color, motion, form,
and depth.
Example of Dual Processing: Sensation and Perception

8. Consequences of a Dual-Track
Conscious/Unconscious Mind
Blindsight
Selective
Attention
Selective
Inattention
 Inattentional
blindness
 Change blindness
 Choice blindness

9. Case Study
A woman with brain
damage, but NO eye
damage, was unable to
use her eyes to report
what was in front of her.
BUT, she was able to use
her eyes to help her take
actions such as putting
mail in slots.
What are the two
mental “tracks” in this
case?
Blindsight: two tracks of parallel processing
Judging size and distance
well enough to put the
mail in the slot:
the “low road,” or
unconscious, automatic
track, in this case known
as the visual action track
Describing the mail and
the slot:
the “high road,” or
conscious track, in this
case known as the
visual perception track

10.  There are millions of bits
of information coming at
our senses every second.
 So, we have the skill of
selective attention; our
brain is able to choose a
focus and select what to
notice.
Selective Attention
Selective Attention and
Conversation
 The good news: we can focus
our mental spotlight on a
conversation even when other
conversations are going on
around us. This is known as
the cocktail party effect.
 The bad news: we can
hyperfocus on a conversation
while driving a car, putting the
driver and passengers at risk.

11. Selective inattention refers to our
failure to notice part of our
environment when our attention is
directed elsewhere.
Selective Inattention:
 inattentional blindness
 change blindness
Selective Inattention:
what we are not focused
on, what we do not notice
Selective Attention:
what we focus on,
what we notice

12. Inattentional Blindness
 Various experiments show that when our attention is
focused, we miss seeing what others may think is
obvious to see (such as a gorilla, or a unicyclist).
 Some “magic” tricks take advantage of this
phenomenon.

13. Change Blindness
Two-thirds of people didn’t notice
when the person they were giving
directions to was replaced by a
similar-looking person.
The Switch
By the way, did you notice
whether the replacement
person was in the same
clothes or different clothes?

14. Another state of consciousness:
Sleep and Dreams
Topics to Dream About
 Biological rhythms and
sleep
 Theories of why we need
sleep
 Sleep deprivation and
sleep disorders
 Why and what we dream

15. Daily Rhythms and Sleep
The circadian (“about a
day”) rhythm refers to the
body’s natural 24-hour cycle,
roughly matched to the
day/night cycle of light and
dark.
What changes during the 24
hours?
Over the 24 hour cycle, the
following factors vary, rising
and falling over the course of
the day and night:
 body temperature
 arousal/energy
 mental sharpness
“Larks” and “Owls”
Daily rhythms vary from
person to person and with
age.
General peaks in alertness:
 evening peak—20-year
old “owls”
 morning peak—50-year
old “larks”

16. How Do We Learn About
Sleep and Dreams?
 We can monitor EEG/brain
waves and muscle
movements during sleep.
 We can expose the
sleeping person to noise
and words, and then
examine the effects on the
brain (waves) and mind
(memory).
 We can wake people and
see which mental state
(e.g. dreaming) goes with
which brain/body state.
Sleep as a State of Consciousness
Consider that:
 we move around, but how do
we stop ourselves from falling
out of bed?
 we sometimes incorporate
real-world noises into our
dreams.
 some noises (our own baby’s
cry) wake us more easily than
others.
When sleeping, are we fully
unconscious and “dead to
the world”?
Or is the window to
consciousness open?

17. Sleep Stages and Sleep Cycles:
What is Measured?

18. Stages and Cycles of Sleep
Sleep stages refer to distinct patterns
of brain waves and muscle activity that
are associated with different types of
consciousness and sleep.
There
are
four
types
of
sleep.
Sleep cycles refer to
the patterns of shifting
through all the sleep
stages over the course
of the night. We
“cycle” through all the
sleep stages in about
90 minutes on
average.

19. Not yet asleep: Beta and Alpha waves
Alpha waves are the relatively slow brain waves
of a relaxed, awake state.

20. Falling asleep
 Yawning creates a brief boost in
alertness as your brain metabolism is
slowing down.
 Your breathing slows down.
 Brain waves become slower and
irregular.
 You may have hypnagogic (while
falling asleep) hallucinations.
 Your brain waves change from alpha
waves to NREM-1.

21. Non-REM Sleep Stages
Getting deeper into sleep…but not dreaming yet
NREM-1
NREM-2
NREM-3

22. REM Sleep
Eugene
Aserinsky’s
discovery
(1953):
dreams
occurred
during
periods of
wild brain
activity and
rapid eye
movements
[REM sleep].
 Heart rate rises and
breathing becomes rapid.
 “Sleep paralysis” occurs
when the brainstem blocks
the motor cortex’s
messages and the muscles
don’t move. This is
sometimes known as
“paradoxical sleep”; the
brain is active but the body
is immobile.
 Genitals are aroused (not
caused by dream content)
What happens during
REM sleep?

23. Stages of Sleep:
90 Minute Cycles During 8 Hours of Sleep
Duration of REM sleep increases the longer you remain asleep.
With age, there are more awakenings and less deep sleep.

24. Why do we sleep?
What determines the quantity and rhythm of sleep?
The amount and
pattern of sleep
is affected by
biology, age,
culture, and
individual
variation.
 Age: in general, newborns need 16 hours of
sleep, while adults need 8 hours or less
 Individual (genetic) variation: some people
function best with 6 hours of sleep, others with
9 hours or more
 Culture: North Americans sleep less than
others, and less than they used to, perhaps
because of the use of light bulbs
Light and the
brain regulate
sleep, thanks to
the action of the
suprachiasmatic
nucleus,
decreasing
melatonin levels
when we see
light.
 The circadian rhythm is hard to shift (jet lag).
 This rhythm can be affected by light, which
suppresses the relaxing hormone melatonin.

25. 1. Sleep protected our ancestors from
predators.
2. Sleep restores and repairs the brain and
body.
3. Sleep builds and strengthens memories.
4. Sleep facilitates creative problem
solving.
5. Sleep is the time when growth
hormones are active.
Why do we sleep?
What does sleep do for us?

26. Effects of
Sleep Loss/
Deprivation
Research shows that
inadequate sleep can
make you more likely
to:
 lose brainpower.
 gain weight.
 get sick.
 be irritable.
 feel old.

27. Sleep Loss/Deprivation=Accident Risk
Sleep loss results
in more accidents,
probably caused
by impaired
attention and
slower reaction
time.
Accident
Frequency

28. Sleep Loss Effects
by Body System

29. Sleep Disorders
• Insomnia: persistent inability
to fall asleep or stay asleep
• Narcolepsy (“numb seizure”):
sleep attacks, even a collapse
into REM/paralyzed sleep, at
inopportune times
• Sleep apnea (“with no
breath”): repeated awakening
after breathing stops; time in
bed is not restorative sleep
 Night terrors refer to
sudden scared-looking
behavior, with rapid
heartbeat and
breathing.
 Sleepwalking and
sleeptalking run in
families, so there is a
possible genetic basis.
Are these people
dreaming?
These behaviors,
mostly affect
children, and occur in
NONREM-3 sleep.
They are not
considered dreaming.

30. Sleep Hygiene: How to Sleep Well
1. Turn the lights low and
turn all screens off.
2. Eat earlier, and drink less
alcohol and caffeine.
3. Get up at the same time
every day, avoid naps.
4. Exercise regularly, but not
in the late evening.
5. Don’t check the clock; just
let sleep happen.
6. Manage stress and anxiety.

31. Dreams the stream of images, actions, and
feelings, experienced while in REM sleep
What We Dream About: the “hallucinations
of the sleeping mind”
 Dreams often include some negative event or
emotion, especially failure dreams (being
pursued, attacked, rejected, or having bad luck).
 Dreams do NOT often include sexuality.
 We may incorporate real-world sounds and other
stimuli into dreams.
 Dreams also include images from recent,
traumatic, or frequent experiences.

32. Theory Explanation
Wish fulfillment
(Freud’s psycho-
analytic theory)
Information-
processing
Physiological
function
Activation-
synthesis
Cognitive-
developmental
theory
Theories about Functions of Dreams
Dreams provide a “psychic safety
valve”; they often express otherwise
unacceptable feelings, and contain
both manifest (remembered) content
and a latent content (hidden meaning).
Dreams help us sort out the day’s
events and consolidate our
memories.
Regular brain stimulation from REM
sleep may help develop and
preserve neural pathways.
REM sleep triggers impulses that
evoke random visual memories,
which our sleeping brain weaves
into stories.
Dream content reflects the
dreamers’ cognitive
development—his or her
knowledge and understanding.
Lacks any
scientific
support;
dreams may be
interpreted in
many different
ways.But why do we
sometimes
dream about
things we have
not
experienced?
This may be
true, but it
does not
explain why we
experience
meaningful
dreams.
The
individual’s
brain is
weaving the
stories, which
still tells us
something
about the
dreamer.
Does not
address the
neuroscience of
dreams.

33. Hypnosis
What we need you to focus
your attention on
 Defining Hypnosis
 What are some of the
powers and limits of
hypnosis?
 Hypnosis as socially
influenced behavior
 Hypnosis as divided
consciousness

34. A Possible State of Consciousness:
HYPNOSIS
Text definition: Hypnosis is a social
interaction in which one person (the
hypnotist) suggests to another (the
subject) that certain perceptions,
feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will
spontaneously occur.
“Your arm
may soon
feel so
light that it
rises…”
Alternate definition: Hypnosis is
a cooperative social action in
which one person is in a state of
being likely to respond to
suggestions from another person.
 This state has been called
heightened suggestibility as
well as a trance.
 Controversy: does this social
interaction really require an
altered state of consciousness?

35. The Highly
Hypnotizable
20 Percent
How do some people get so
hypnotized that they can have
no reaction to ammonia under
their noses?
• These people seem to be
more easily absorbed in
imaginative activities.
• They are able to focus and to
lose themselves in fantasy.
• The hypnotic induction
method may happen to work
just right.
Induction Into Hypnosis
A swinging watch
and recitation of
the words “you are
getting sleepy” are
not necessary.
Hypnotic induction, the
inducing of a hypnotic state,
is the process by which a
hypnotist leads someone
into the state of heightened
suggestibility.

36. Benefits of Hypnosis
for Some People:
With the help of posthypnotic
suggestions (carried out after
hypnosis session is complete),
people can:
 block awareness of pain,
even enough for surgery
without anesthesia
 reduce obesity, anxiety, and
hypertension
 improve concentration and
performance
What Hypnosis
Cannot Do:
 work when people
refuse to cooperate
 bestow
‘superhuman’
abilities or strength
 accurately boost
recall of forgotten
events (it is more
likely to implant
false recall)

37. Theories Explaining Hypnosis
Social Influence Theory
Hypnotic subjects may simply
be imaginative people who go
along with the “subject” role
they have agreed to play.
Divided Consciousness Theory
Hypnosis is a special state of
dissociated (divided)
consciousness of our dual-track
mind.

38. Drugs and Consciousness
Topics to digest, to expand
our consciousness
 When Drugs are a
problem: Criteria for
Tolerance, Dependence,
and Addiction
 Types of Psychoactive
Drugs:
 Depressants
 Stimulants
 Hallucinogens
 Biological, psychological,
and social-cultural
influences on drug use

39. Altering Consciousness
Drugs
Psychoactive drugs are
chemicals introduced
into the body which alter
perceptions, mood, and
other elements of
conscious experience.
Dependence/Addiction
 Many psychoactive
drugs can be harmful
to the body.
 Psychoactive drugs
are particularly
dangerous when a
person develops an
addiction or becomes
dependent on the
substance.
 Factors related to
addiction:
 tolerance
 withdrawal
 impact on daily life
of substance use
 physical and
psychological
dependence

40. Tolerance of a
drug refers to the
diminished
psychoactive
effects after
repeated use.
Tolerance feeds
addiction because
users take
increasing
amounts of a drug
to get the desired
effect.
Tolerance

41. Withdrawal
 After the benefits of a
substance wear off,
especially after tolerance
has developed, drug
users may experience
withdrawal (painful
symptoms of the body
readjusting to the
absence of the drug).
 Withdrawal worsens
addiction because users
want to resume taking
the drug to end
withdrawal symptoms.

42. Dependence
In physical
dependence,
the body has been
altered in ways
that create
cravings for the
drug (e.g. to end
withdrawal
symptoms).
In psychological
dependence,
a person’s resources
for coping with
daily life wither as
a drug becomes
“needed” to
relax, socialize,
or sleep.

43. Dependence
on a substance (or activity?)
 Tolerance: the need to use more to receive the desired
effect
 Withdrawal: the distress experienced when the “high”
subsides
 Using more than intended
 Persistent, failed attempts to regulate use
 Much time spent preoccupied with the substance,
obtaining it, and recovering
 Important activities reduced because of use
 Continued use despite aversive consequences

44. Depressants
Examples:
 alcohol
 barbiturates
 opiates
Depressants are chemicals
that reduce neural activity
and other body functions.

45. Effects of Alcohol Use
Impact on functioning
 Slow neural processing,
reduced sympathetic nervous
system activity, and slower
thought and physical reaction
 Reduced memory formation
caused by disrupted REM sleep
and reduced synapse formation
 Impaired self-control, impaired
judgment, self-monitoring, and
inhibition; increased accidents
and aggression
Chronic Use:
Brain damage

46. Barbiturates
Barbiturates are
tranquilizers--drugs that
depress central nervous
system activity.
 Examples: Nembutal,
Seconal, Amytal
 Effects: reducing
anxiety and inducing
sleep
 Problems: reducing
memory, judgment,
and concentration; can
lead to death if
combined with alcohol

47. Opiates:
Highly Addictive Depressants
 Opiates depress nervous
system activity; this
reduces anxiety, and
especially reduces pain.
 High doses of opiates
produce euphoria.
 Opiates work at receptor
sites for the body’s natural
pain reducers (endorphins).
Opiates are
chemicals such as
morphine and
heroin that are
made from the
opium poppy.

48. Stimulants
Examples of stimulants:
 Caffeine
 Nicotine
 Amphetamines,
Methamphetamine
 Cocaine
 Ecstasy
Stimulants are drugs which
intensify neural activity
and bodily functions.
Some physical effects of stimulants: dilated
pupils, increased breathing and heart rate, increased
blood sugar, decreased appetite

49. Caffeine
 adds energy
 disrupts sleep for 3-4
hours
 can lead to withdrawal
symptoms if used daily:
 headaches
 irritability
 fatigue
 difficulty
concentrating
 depression

50. Nicotine
The main
effect of
nicotine use is
ADDICTION.

51. Why do people smoke?
 Starting to smoke: invited
by peers, influenced by
culture and media
 Continuing: positively
reinforced by physically
stimulating effects
 Not stopping: after regular
use, smokers have difficulty
stopping because of
withdrawal symptoms such
as insomnia, anxiety,
distractibility, and irritability

52. Cocaine
 Cocaine blocks reuptake (and thus increases
levels at the synapse of:
 dopamine (feels rewarding).
 serotonin (lifts mood).
 norepinephrine (provides energy).
 Effect on consciousness: Euphoria!!! At
least for 45 minutes…
What happens next?
 Euphoria crashes
into a state worse
than before taking
the drug, with
agitation,
depression, and
pain.
 Users develop
tolerance; over
time, withdrawal
symptoms of
cocaine use get
worse, and users
take more just to
feel normal.
 Cycles of overdose
and withdrawal
can sometimes
bring convulsions,
violence, heart
attack, and death.

53. Methamphetamine
 Methamphetamine triggers the sustained release of
dopamine, sometimes leading to eight hours of euphoria and
energy.
 What happens next: irritability, insomnia, seizures,
hypertension, violence, depression
 “Meth” addiction can become all-consuming.
From 1998 to 2002: Extreme Makeover, Meth Edition

54. Ecstasy/MDMA
(MethyleneDioxyMethAmphetamine)
 Ecstasy is a synthetic stimulant that
increases dopamine and greatly
increases serotonin.
 Effects on consciousness: euphoria,
CNS stimulation, hallucinations, and
artificial feeling of social connectedness
and intimacy
What Happens Next?
 In the short run, regretted behavior, dehydration, overheating, and
high blood pressure.
 Make it past that, and you might have:
 damaged serotonin-producing neurons, causing permanently
depressed mood
 disrupted sleep and circadian rhythm
 impaired memory and slowed thinking
 suppressed immune system

55. Hallucinogens
LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide)
 LSD and similar drugs interfere with
serotonin transmission.
 This causes hallucinations--images
and other “sensations” that didn’t
come in through the senses.
Marijuana/THC (delta-9-
TetraHydroCannabinol)
 Marijuana binds with brain
cannabinoid receptors.
 Effect on consciousness:
 amplifies sensations
 disinhibits impulses
 euphoric mood
 lack of ability to sense satiety
Marijuana/THC:
What Happens Next?
 Impaired motor
coordination,
perceptual ability, and
reaction time
 THC accumulates in the
body, increasing the
effects of next use
 Over time, the brain
shrinks in areas
processing memory and
emotion
 Smoke inhalation
damage

56. Summary: Desired Effects of Drugs

57. Summary: Aversive Effects of Drugs

58. Prevalence of Drug Use in the
United States
Nicotine Use as of 2011:
26 percent of high school
dropouts smoke; 6 percent
of people with graduate
degrees smoke

59. • Smoking/nicotine use usually begins before college,
in people who have friends that smoke
• Adolescent substance abuse varies by country and
ethnic group (low among African-American teens)
• Adolescents tend to overestimate substance abuse
by their peers; getting more accurate information
reduces risk of alcohol abuse.
• Risk of substance abuse is reduced by
– Information on long-term costs to short-term
pleasures
– Finding a sense of personal worth and purpose
– Building skills in resisting perceived peer pressure
Adolescent substance use

60. What influences can lead to drug use?

61. What can turn drug use
into dependence?
 Biological factors: dependence in relatives,
thrill-seeking in childhood, genes related to
alcohol sensitivity and dependence, and
easily disrupted dopamine reward system
 Psychological factors: seeking gratification,
depression, problems forming identity,
problems assessing risks and costs
 Social influences: media glorification,
observing peers