States of Consciousness

07-A: Self-Awareness


What does it mean to be conscious? Generally, it means you are aware of the sensations, thoughts, motivations, and emotions that are occurring. Beyond that, what does it mean to say that you are conscious of yourself as an individual? We have already talked about metacognition, but we will take a step back and see what it means to be self-aware.

To be self-aware is, in a sense, to understand that you exist as a separate entity from the rest of the world. One creative way of assessing self-awareness is through a self-recognition test.

From this video, you should be able to define self-recognition and how we can test for a sense of self-awareness it with children and chimpanzees. Be sure to note the age at which self-recognition develops in children.

Watch: Self-Recognition in Ape

WATCH: Is Elephant Self Aware and Conscious?  (don't worry about the stages)

07-B: Theory of Mind


So self-recognition is the first step and developing theory of mind is an even higher level of self-awareness. Watch this video about theory of mind: 

WATCH: Theory of Mind - Robert Seyfarth, RDF TV 

07-C: Basic Emotions

WATCH: Ekman's Studies on Facial Expression of Emotion 

Ekman’s research showed that these basic emotions were expressed the same way and understood by people all over the world.  Thus, it makes sense to suggest that the facial expressions are universal communication mechanisms that evolved to help others understand our own emotions (rather than something we have learned).  An emotion such as jealousy is not considered "basic," because there isn't one unique facial expression that is universally recognized as jealousy.  Jealousy can manifest in a way that is facially similar to sadness, anger, disgust, or others. 

Initially Ekman found six universally recognized emotions: anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise.  Later he added a seventh: contempt.  For a nice visual guide to the facial expressions that indicate these emotions visit http://bit.ly/2elwXaX. 

07-D: Two Factor Theory of Emotion

There have been several theories of how emotions are produced and experienced, but for this class, I would like to focus on just one. Two psychologists, Schachter and Singer, theorized that emotions come from a two-stage process. Read about their theory and some of the classic research that demonstrates the concept here: 

READ: Fear Goggles 

From this article, you should be able to explain the process of experiencing an emotion in terms of two distinct stages: the arousal and the interpretation. You should also be able to explain how the second stage can lead to experiencing the ‘wrong’ emotion and describe the bridge study as a good example of this. Mistaking one emotion for another is known as the misattribution of arousal. 

07-E: Stress

We tend to think about stress as a bad thing, but that's not necessarily the case.  A change in our mental state, in reaction to some perceived risk or danger, helps prepare our bodies to respond.  It is true that these changes in our body can have some negative effects, but research also suggests that changing the way you think about stress can also change the impact of stress on your body.


READ: Stress: Constant Stress Puts Your Health at Risk 

WATCH: How to Make Stress Your Friend

07-F: Sleep

We can all relate to needing sleep, and most of us know all too well what it feels like when we have not gotten enough of it. First, read about our circadian rhythm and what influences it. 

Circadian Rhythm

It is clear that sleep is necessary for replenishing our resources. This includes our cognitive resources. Bodenhausen (1990) found that we use stereotypes more when we are not in the optimal time of our circadian rhythm. Bodenhausen's study asked participants to make judgments about other people. People who identified themselves as a "morning person" used more stereotypes when asked to make these judgments at night. "Night people" used more stereotypes when they were judging people in the morning. This fits with what we know about heuristics. We use shortcuts in judgment to preserve cognitive resources. We have fewer resources when we are not in an optimal time of our circadian rhythm.

READ: Circadian Rhythm Fact Sheet

WATCH: 5 Stages of Sleep 

WATCH: How Caffeine Alcohol Affects Your Sleep 

What is poly-phasic sleep?

Contrary to popular belief, there is not one "healthiest" way to sleep throughout the day/night. Some people sleep better by not lumping all of their sleep into one 8-hour block overnight, but rather, sleeping in smaller chunks of time (sometimes during the day).


READ:  Nightly 8-Hour Sleep Isn't a Rule. It's a Myth. 

07-G: Dreams


READ: Dreams: Night School 

Next, look at one example of the evidence that animals have meaningful dreams. From the two-page article, you should be able to explain exactly how the researchers could demonstrate with confidence that the rats were dreaming about real life:

READ: Rats dream about their tasks during slow wave sleep

Finally, watch this video on lucid dreaming. It is interesting, and all I want you to take away from it is the definition of lucid dreaming and how researchers developed a way to induce lucid dreaming. Then take a minute to imagine how incredible it would be to dream like this any time you wanted. 

WATCH: Lucid Dreams

07-H: How do drugs affect us?

Depressants – Alcohol, benzodiazepine, barbiturates, ketamine

Depressants decrease central nervous system (CNS) arousal and excitability levels, giving off a feeling of sedation. Depressants bind to GABA receptors. GABA is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. Depressants also block AMPA receptors, which are responsible for excitatory responses. Through these mechanisms, depressants both increase inhibitory effects and suppress excitatory effects, which is why their effects are so strong. Depressants also cause impaired judgment, coordination loss, and amnesia. Depressants are often prescribed as painkillers, such as Valium, or as anti-anxiety drugs, like Xanax. Depressants are also used to treat seizures and insomnia and are used as anesthetics. 

Often abuse begins with a legitimate prescription or social use, but escalates because of the addictive quality of the drugs. When taking depressants, users tend to feel sedated and sleepy and sometimes experience dissociative feelings, like they are outside of their own body. Withdrawal lasts several days and the withdrawal itself can often lead to serious medical problems. Depressing the CNS reduces the experience of anxiety, which makes depressants a common substance of choice for those seeking an “escape” from their own stress. Thus, the drugs are both chemically and psychologically addictive. 


Stimulants - Cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, ephedrine, MDMA/ecstasy (also a hallucinogen), PCP (also a hallucinogen), caffeine, nicotine, etc.

Stimulants increase CNS activity. Stimulants prevent certain chemicals from being reabsorbed, so the synaptic space becomes overloaded with neurotransmitters, particularly dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. Stimulants are often used to increase alertness and productivity (caffeine, Ritalin) or induce a euphoric state (cocaine, MDMA). 

Because stimulants increase neural activity and cause physiological arousal, they can also cause paranoia and anxiety. Withdrawal from stimulants typically lasts several days. They are highly addictive because the body quickly builds tolerance to stimulants, so the user needs to take more to get the same high or avoid withdrawal. The reinforcing effects are strong, but often leave damage to the stress-response system and emotional regulation, even if use is short-lived. 


Hallucinogens - LSD, MDMA/ecstasy, PCP, ketamine, mescaline, mushrooms

Effects of these drugs can range from visual or, more rarely, auditory hallucinations, to euphoric and dissociative sensations. People often report experiencing some altered state of consciousness that can range from euphoric to terrifying. Research shows that hallucinogens primarily affect serotonin neurotransmitters, but not much more is known about how hallucinations are produced. Hallucinogens do not have any current medical uses, though ketamine was formerly used as an anesthetic. These drugs are used recreationally, generally in group settings or as part of some cultural ritual. Hallucinogens are generally synthetically made, though some types occur naturally (mushrooms). While certain hallucinogens do not have reinforcing effects (LSD, MDMA), others do seem to have addictive properties (PCP, ketamine) because of a stimulant or depressant being mixed in. Most hallucinogens have relatively long effect (4-12 hours), but also often require a much longer recovery period than other classes of drugs, sometimes up to a full day. Use may lead to undesired hallucinations long after the drug use.


Narcotics/Opioids - Opium, heroin, methadone, etc.

Opioids and Morphine derivatives are highly addictive. These drugs work on the dopaminergic system, giving a strong pleasure response. Narcotics are one of the most addictive classes of drugs because people quickly build tolerance to the substance and have strong withdrawal effects. Withdrawal lasts several days or longer. Like other drugs of abuse, narcotic use can lead to long-term damage to stress-response and emotion-regulation systems. These drugs typically produce sedative effects and euphoric states. Some opioids are used as painkillers, like Oxycontin. 


Cannabinoids (hallucinogen according to the CSA) - Marijuana, hashish

Cannabinoids include marijuana, hashish, and other cannabis derivatives. Marijuana binds to cannabinoid receptors in the brain. THC, the active component of marijuana creates a “high” that is generally sedated, but not immobilizing as many depressants and opioids. Immediate effects of marijuana include impairments of coordination, perception, mental focus, learning, and memory. Some people also experience extreme anxiety attacks, which may occur even when there is no history of such a response to the drug use. Evidence suggests that long-term use of marijuana leads to an increased stress-response and may have lasting effects on cognition and memory. This drug class typically does not lead to a chemical addiction like depressants and stimulants, but may be psychologically addicting for those that abuse the drug regularly. Cannabinoids are currently used in a wide variety of medical contexts, including pain management and offsetting the negative effects of chemotherapy for cancer patients. 

How do Drugs affect the synapse?

Different drugs work differently in the synapse. No one drug does exactly the same thing in the same way. To find out how each drug affects humans in the synapse, go to Mouse Party. Push play, and then find out how each drug affects the synapse by dragging the mouse to the chair. You need to know how the following drugs work in the synapse:

VISIT: Mouse Party to learn even more about the different drugs and their effects on humans.

This website from McGill University has the same information, but shown in a slightly different way. Note that LSD is not mentioned on this website. 


What should we do about dangerous drugs? How should we treat addiction? 

Traditionally, taking illicit drugs (e.g., cocaine) and improperly taking prescription drugs has been treated as a criminal act. Societies treat addictive tendencies as behaviors that can be curbed with harsh penalties and law enforcement. But new perspectives suggest that this may be the wrong approach. Watch this TED talk by Johann Hari: 

WATCH: Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong