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Quizlet on terms from this lecture

Dreams

  • Two categories:
    • Non-REM dreams: shorter, relatively dull (e.g., what sweater should I wear?)
    • REM dreams: More likely to be bizarre and include intense emotions, visual and auditory hallucinations, and uncritical acceptance of illogical events 
  • Explanation:
    • Non-REM: General de-activation of many brain regions
    • REM: Brain structures associated with motivation, emotion, reward, vision are active; pre-frontal cortex is not

Lucid Dreams

Audio 0:05:00

  • Dreams in which the dreamer is aware of dreaming
    • In some cases, the dreamer may be able to control the action in their dreams, much like a scriptwriter in a movie
  • Dr. Berit Brogaard
    • Knowing that you are dreaming
    • Being able to control your own dream actions in a wake-like fashion
    • Being able to manipulate your dream surroundings
    • Being able to manipulate the dream actions of other people in your dreams

Meaning

  • Psychoanalytic theory (Freud): Dreams contain hidden content that represents unconscious conflicts
    • Manifest content: The plot of a dream; the way the dream is remembered
      • Audio 0:09:17
    • Latent content: What a dream symbolizes; the material that is disguised in a dream to protect the dreams from confronting direct reality
    • No scientific evidence that dreams represent hidden conflicts or for the special symbolic meaning of dream images
      • joke

Problem-Focused Theory

  • Question:
    • Why do people often dream about threatening events?
  • Answer:
    • Audio 0:13:00
    • Perhaps dreams help us prepare to cope with real waking events
    • Dreams sometimes simulate threatening events so that people can rehearse strategies for coping
    • Dreams may have adaptive value if rehearsal helps us survive and reproduce

Cognitive Theory

Audio 0:15:25

  • Dreaming is similar to the activity we engage in when we are awake
    • Construct simulations of the real world
    • Draw on memories, knowledge, metaphors, and assumptions
  • The difference is that the cerebral cortex is cut off from external stimulation
  • Predicts that if we were awake, but cut off from external stimulation, our thoughts would have the same hallucinatory quality we experience in dreams

Activation-Synthesis Theory

  • The brain tries to make sense of random brain activity that occurs during sleep by synthesizing the activity with stored memories
    • Emotion centers (limbic system) in the brain are active, which explains the intense emotions
    • Frontal cortices are not active, which explains the uncritical acceptance of illogical events
  • Critiques:
    • Dreams are not as chaotic as the activation-synthesis theory suggests
    • Often similar to “everyday life” waking experience

ICA 12

  • Think of a dream you had recently
  • Rate level of oddness & threat (1-10)
  • Consider which theory applies best
    • Which do you think is most accurate? Why?
  • Do you think dreams have meaning?

Chapter 5 (Part 2): Body Rhythms & Mental States

Drugs

Many People Use Drugs

  • Audio 0:32:00
  • Drugs have been used throughout history to create altered states
  • Around 250 million people use illicit drugs each year
    • U.S. is 3rd largest country at around 320 million, Indonesia is 4th at 252 million
  • Other widely-used drugs include alcohol, prescription medications, caffeine, and nicotine
    • drugs
  • Double-edged sword of drug use:
    • Drugs are useful in the treatment of many medical conditions
    • Recreational drug use can have negative consequences
  • Psychoactive drugs:
    • Mind altering substances that change the brain’s neurochemistry (marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, MDMA, opiates)
  • Drug effects
    • The effects of a particular drug depends on which neurotransmitter system it activates (e.g., methamphetamine acts on the dopamine system)

  • Commonly used drugs:

    • Cocaine
    • Amphetamines Stimulants

    • MDMA

    • Opium
    • Heroin Opiates

    • Morphine

    • Alcohol Depressants

    • Tranquilizers

    • LSD
    • Psilocybin Psychedelics
    • Marijuana

What are their effects?

  • Stimulants
    • Speed up activity in the central nervous system
  • Depressants
    • Slow down activity in the central nervous system
  • Opiates
    • Relieve pain
  • Psychedelics
    • Disrupt normal thought process (e.g., time, space)

Vocab

Term Definition
dream Products of an altered state of consciousness in which images and fantasies are confused with reality
non-REM dreams Dreams which are More likely to be bizarre and include intense emotions, visual and auditory hallucinations, and uncritical acceptance of illogical events 
non-REM Type of sleep in which many regions of the breain are de-activated
REM Brain structures associated with motivation, emotion, reward, vision are active, but pre-frontal cortex is not
lucid dream Dream in which you are aware that you are dreaming
psychoanalytic theory (Freud) Theory which says dreams contain hidden content that represents unconscious conflicts
manifest content The plot of a dream (the way it is remembered)
latent content What a dream symbolizes (disguised in a dream to to protect dreams from confronting reality)
problem-focused theory Theory that says our dreams are sometimes threatening in order to cope with real life problems
cognitive theory Theory that says that dreams are similar to activities we engage in when we are awake
activation-synthesis theory Theory that says dreams are the brain making sense of random activity in the brain from storing memories
recreational drug use this activity can have negative consequences even though it can be useful to treat medical conditions
psychoactive drugs mind altering substances that change the brain’s neurochemistry
drug effects determined by the neurotransmitter it activates