Sleep/consciosuness Flashcards
(33 cards)
State of consciousness
Our level of awareness of our internal state and external surroundings.
Normal waking consciousness (NWC)
Refers to the states of consciousness associated with being awake and aware of our thoughts, memories, feelings and the sensations we are experiencing from the outside world.
Attention
A concentration of mental activity that involves focusing on a specific stimulus while ignoring other stimuli.
Selective attention
Involves choosing and attending to a specific stimulus to the exclusion of others.
Divided attention
Refers to the ability to distribute our attention and undertake two or more activities simultaneously.
Controlled process
Involves conscious, alert awareness and mental effort in which the individual actively focuses their attention on achieving a particular goal.
Automatic process
Requires little conscious awareness and mental effort, minimal attention and does not interfere with the performance of other activities.
Altered state of consciousness (ASC)
Describes any state on consciousness that is distinctly different from NWC, in terms of level of awareness and experience, and the quality or intensity of sensations, perceptions, thoughts, feelings and memories that are experienced.
Daydreaming
An altered state of consciousness in which we shift our attention from external stimuli to internal thoughts, feelings and imagined scenarios.
EEG - electroencephalograph
A device that detects, amplifies and records general patterns of electrical activity of the brain.
ECG/EKG - electrocardiograph
A device that detects, amplifies and records the electrical activity generated by the heart.
Galvanic skin response
A physiological response that indicates the change in the resistance of the skin’s surface to the passage of an electrical current - it measures the electrical conductivity of the skin.
Sleep
Can be described as a regularly occurring ASC that typically occurs naturally and is primarily characterised by a loss of conscious awareness.
Polysomnography
An intensive study of a sleeping person involving simultaneous monitoring and recording of various physiological responses of the sleeper during the course of the night.
EMG-Electromyograph
A device used to detect, amplify and record the electrical activity of muscles
EOG-electro-oculargraph
Measures eye movements or eye positions by detecting, amplifying and recording electrical activity in eye muscles that control eye movements.
Sleep diary
A self-reported record of an individual’s sleep and waking time activities, usually over a period of several weeks.
Frequency
Describes the number of brain waves.
Amplitude
Describes the intensity of the brain waves and is estimated by the size of brain waves.
Hypnic jerk
A jerking sensation whereby our body, or a part of our body, seems to go into a spasm.
Sleep spindles
Brief bursts of higher frequency brain wave activity.
REM sleep
A period of rapid eye movement sleep during which the eyeballs rapidly move beneath the closed eyelids, darting back and forth and up and down in jerky movements
Sleep-wake cycle shift
During adolescence, there is hormonally induced shift of the body clock forward by about 1- 2 hours, making the adolescent sleepier 1 - 2 hours later.
Sleep debt
Sleep that is owed and needs to be made up.
