States of Consciousness Study Guide

Know for the test:

● Define circadian rhythms, identify factors that influence them, and describe the role of the SCN, pineal
gland, and melatonin in regulating them.
● Identify the five stages of sleep and what is happening at each stage (eg, sleep spindles, sleep walking,
etc)
● Identify the sleep stage given the EEG patterns.
● Describe at least one experiment performed that indicates the necessity of sleep.
● Describe the following sleep disorders, including risk factors for each: insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep
apnea, REM behavior disorder,and night terrors
● Explain, in Freudian terms, the purpose of dreams and the difference between manifest and latent
content.
● Understand different dream theories (specifically, activation synthesis, information processing, and
physiological functioning), and be able to discuss or analyze research related to each.
● Describe hypnosis and discuss what research suggests concerning what it can and cannot do.
● Explain why it is difficult to determine whether or not hypnosis can make on act against his or her will.
● Contrast the social construct theory of hypnosis with dissociation theory.
● Describe the physiological manifestation of tolerance and withdrawal.
● Describe the effects of stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogens.
● Given a psychoactive drug, be able to indicate if it is a stimulant, depressant, or hallucinogen
● Describe how at least one drug affects synaptic transmission, including the name(s) of the specific
neurotransmitter involved.

I. Circadian Rhythms
Your friend travels to Hong Kong one week out of every month for her job. She suffers from serious jet lag that
is disrupting both her personal and professional life. She is considering taking melatonin purchased from a
local health store to help adjust her sleep cycles more quickly.
a) Describe the relationship between the SCN, pineal gland, and melatonin in the regulation of circadian
rhythms.

b) What are the advantages and disadvantages of taking melatonin to help her adjust?

II. Sleep Stages

During which of the stages of sleep that we discussed in class do each of the following occur:
a) sleep spindles ____________________________
b) most dreams involving vivid imagery ____________________________
c) hypnogogic hallucinations of floating or falling ____________________________
d) rapid heart rate and breathing ____________________________
e) sleepwalking ____________________________
f) motor paralysis ____________________________
g) Follows stage 4 _________________________
h) sleeptalking ____________________________
i) ​“slowwave sleep” ____________________________
j) beginning of delta wave sleep____________________________
k) “paradoxical sleep” ____________________________
l) genital arousal ____________________________
m) type of sleep that gets longer as the night progresses ___________________________
n) Consists of regular delta waves ____________________________

I​ II. Sleep Disorders

Pick one of the sleep disorders that you read about in your textbook and determine if drug treatment for that
disorder would involve a stimulant or depressant drug. Briefly justify your response.

IV. Dreams
You are a psychologist and a patient comes to you with the following dream: My two friends and I were looking
for a place to eat. Every time we went into a restaurant, it turned out to be a church. At one church, we saw an
advertisement for a family style dinner costing $98. My friends were considering staying, but I refused
because I don’t like pot roast and mashed potatoes.
a) If you were a Freudian psychologist, how might you interpret the dream?

b) If you believed in the activation-synthesis theory of dreams, what might you tell your patient about the
dream?

c) If you believed in the information-processing theory of dreams, what might you tell your patient about
the dream?

V. True or False
1. People prone to delinquency and violence have fewer vivid dreams. ____
2. Nearly everyone dreams several times a night. ____
3. People who sleep eight hours a night tend to outlive those chronically sleep deprived. ____
4. The most common dreams are those with sexual imagery. ____
5. The majority of the characters in men’s dreams are female. ____

VI. Drugs
List the three general classifications of types of drugs that we discussed in class. For each classification, give
one specific drug as an example and explain how this particular drug typically affects an individual using it.

Classification Example Effects of the drug

a)

b)

c)