MODULE 5: INTRO and lesson 1
July 6
TODAY'S MESSAGE
We just finished Module 4 and are now moving into Module 5, in which we cover topics like sleep, dreams, and altered states of mind. If you have not finished Module 4 assignments, please make sure you get those in.
If you are at any beaches this summer, let us know where you are staying. I know we have some students at Myrtle Beach for the 4th of July week.
TODAY'S ASSIGNMENTS:
#1. Complete the Module 5 Pre-Test. Take the pre-assessment quiz to establish how much about our topic you already know. You are required to take this pre-assessment, but don't worry. It does not impact your grade!
#2. Review the glossary and any vocabulary practice. You will be required to know the terms included for the post assessment at the end of the module.
#3. Begin lesson 1 by reviewing the notes to learn about the Study of Consciousness.
#4. Complete the Study of Consciousness/Sleep practice quiz.
#5. Complete the Sleep Habits Promotional Flyer assignment. In this assignment you will design a flyer that professionals could give to teenagers in order to promote healthy sleep patterns and habits. Feel free to use sites like canva.com or postermywall.com to make your poster and submit it.
TEACHER TALK 1
Consciousness refers to your awareness of the outside world and yourself. It includes your thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations and perceptions. Consciousness is selective and unique to each individual. Your conscious experiences are constantly shifting and changing. American psychologist William James compared consciousness to a stream; unbroken and continuous despite constant shifts and changes. (adapted from:http://psychology.about.com/od/statesofconsciousness/f/consciousness.htm
What aspects of consciousness do researchers study today? Topics such as sleep, dreams, hypnosis, and the effects of psychoactive drugs are just a few of the major topics studied by psychologists. For example, the APA publishes articles regarding theories of consciousness in their quarterly journal, Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice. Below are a list of topics covered that fall under the consciousness “umbrella.”
Research areas of interest include but are not limited to:
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Attention, awareness, and automaticity
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Information processing, memory, perception, and sensation
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The neuroscience and psychobiology of consciousness
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Hypnosis, suggestion, and suggestibility
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Meditation, mindfulness, and interventions for modifying consciousness
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Placebo effects
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Sociocultural effects on consciousness
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Fantasy, daydreaming, and mind-wandering
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Hallucinations and delusions
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Individual differences
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Consciousness states associated with psychopathology
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Phenomenology and measurement of conscious states
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Unusual/anomalous experiences (e.g., mystical and near-death experiences, effects of hallucinogenic drugs, déjà vu)
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Lucid dreaming, narcolepsy, sleep paralysis, effects of sleep deprivation on consciousness, minimally conscious states
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Dissociation (e.g., depersonalization, derealization, out-of-body experiences)
One of my favorite topics and probably yours too -- Sleep! It's what we learned about in Lesson 1 today. Sleep is food for the brain. During sleep, important body functions and brain activity occur. Skipping sleep can be harmful — even deadly, particularly if you are behind the wheel. You can look bad, you may feel moody, and you perform poorly. Sleepiness can make it hard to get along with your family and friends and hurt your scores on school exams, on the court or on the field. Remember: A brain that is hungry for sleep will get it, even when you don’t expect it.
The sleep cycle: A sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes and during that time we move through five stages of sleep. The first four stages make up our non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and the fifth stage is when rapid eye movement (REM) sleep occurs.
NREM sleep: Across these four stages we move from very light sleep during Stage 1 down to very deep sleep in Stage 4. It is very difficult to wake someone who is in Stage 4 sleep. Across NREM sleep, we have little muscle activity and our eyes do not typically move, but all of our muscles retain their ability to function.
REM sleep: As the name would imply – during this final stage of sleep, we have bursts of rapid eye movements. This is the stage of sleep in which most dreaming occurs. Our eyes are not constantly moving, but they do dart back and forth, up and down. These eye movements may be related to visual images of dreams, but that is not confirmed, and in general, the reason for these eye movements is still a mystery. Although our eyes are moving rapidly, the muscles that move our bodies are paralyzed (other important muscles, such as our heart and diaphragm continue to function normally).
So what happens over the course of a night of typical sleep?
It turns out it is not as simple as putting together 4 to 6 of the 90 minute sleep cycles. Over the course of the night, the amount of time we spend in a particular stage of sleep begins to shift. During the first 2-3 sleep cycles, we spend most of our time in deep NREM sleep (stages 3-4), whereas during the final 2-3 sleep cycles, we spend much more time in REM sleep accompanied by lighter NREM sleep. Apparently how much NREM and REM sleep we get is not just based on where we are in our nightly sleep, but it also depends on what time of day (or night) it is. Regardless of when you fall asleep, people tend to experience more NREM sleep in the earlier hours of the night (e.g., 11p – 3a) and more REM sleep in the later hours of the night (e.g., 3a – 7 a).
The typical adult sleeps about 8 hours per night while teenagers like you tend to need 9 or more hours of sleep a night to be optimally alert the next day and sleep needs continue to increase as you move backwards towards infancy.
What does all of this mean for napping? Giving yourself a full sleep cycle (90 minutes) can help you retain certain skill you’ve just learned, but for recovering from fatigue a 15-20 minute nap is ideal (and some research suggests a nap as short as 5 minutes could be beneficial!), since the farther along you are in your sleep cycle, the harder it is to get over that grogginess you sometimes feel when you first wake up
The first resource below, from Crash Course, will give you an overview of the idea of consciousness. The second reviews some of the terms you learned today about sleeping. The third is an app that will show you the best time to go to bed to match up with the known sleep cycle.
TEACHER TALK 2
Lesson 1 touches on the circadian rhythm. This refers to the cycle of physiological and biological processes in your that fluctuate on a roughly 24-hour timetable. You have probably noticed these tendencies yourself, feeling more energetic and alert during peak periods of the day and more lethargic and run-down at other times of the day.
While many people refer to circadian rhythms as a single process, there are actually a number of body clocks that oscillate throughout the day. For example, mental alertness tends to peak twice in a day at 9AM and 9PM, while physical strength tends to crest at 11AM and 7PM.
A tiny cluster of approximately 20,000 neurons in the hypothalamus controls your body’s many circadian rhythms. This master control center is responsible for acting as your body’s internal pacemaker.
So how does sunlight affect your circadian rhythms? As the sunlight decreases at the close of the day, the visual system sends signals to the hypothalamus. A signal then gets sent to the pineal gland to increase the production of the hormone melatonin.
This hormone increase helps reduced activity and makes you feel increasingly sleepy.
A Few Key Points to Remember
- Your circadian rhythms are tied to sunlight cues.
- Disrupting these patterns can lead to poor or difficult sleep.
- Without light signals, people tend to operate on a 25-hour schedule.
- Circadian rhythms also impact body temperature, pain sensitivity, mental alertness, physical strength, and the senses.
A. Intro to Sleep from John Green
B. The amazing effects of sleep
C. A quiz on the terms from this lesson
SHOUT OUT
CONTACT ME
E-mail: christopher.watson@ncpublicschools.gov
Text anytime between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.
NCVPS Psychology
CITATIONS
Today's Assignments (Book Icon Orange, David Peters, Wikpedia Education Program Case Studies.pdf, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
Teacher Talk (Red Silhouette - Teacher, Ben from Openclipart, Openclipart, Creative Commons CCO 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication license)
Shout Out (callout-quote-bull-speaking-bubble, Pixabay, Pixabay, CCO Public Domain license)
Important Dates This Week (Blank Calendar Page Icon, Jackaranga, Jackaranga, GNU Free Documentation License)
Contact Me (Smart phone mobile phone, Pixabay, Pizabay, CCO Public Domain)