What is consciousness?

Includes everything of which we are aware at any

given time, our thoughts, feelings, mental processes,
and events outside ourselves.

Our awareness of ourselves and our environment.

Waking from a troubling dream, wrenched by its
emotions, who among us has not wondered about this
weird state of consciousness?

How does our brain so creatively, colorfully, and
completely construct this alternative conscious world?

Is The Brain Ahead of the Mind? Consciousness sometimes arrives late to the decision-
making party. A person watches a clock that sweeps a revolution every 2.56 seconds, and
notes the time at which she decides to move her wrist. About one-third of a second before
the person decides to move, brain wave activity jumps, indicating a “readiness
potential” to move (Libet, 2004). Thus, watching a slow motion replay, the researchers can
predict when the person is about to decide to move (following which the wrist does move).

How much sleep do we need?

Most of us need about 7-10 hours.

Newborns need about 16 hrs over the day.

Stage 1: Lasts about 10 minutes.

Often we are unaware that we’ve been sleeping.

Theta waves. Hypnagogic imagery may include bizarre
dream-like images.

May have sensation of falling (hypnic myoclonia) or experience
sudden jerks (myoclonic jerks) of limbs.

Stage 2: Lasts about 30 minutes.

Bursts of electrical activity called sleep spindles
and K-complexes appear. Heart rate and body
temp lower, and muscles relax. We spend as
much as 65% of our sleep in stage 2.

Stage 3 & 4: Lasts about 30 minutes.

Slow wave sleep. Appearance of slow delta
waves. Difficult to awaken. Non-REM sleep.
Most people pass through the five-stage sleep cycle
43% dream reports. (a) several times a night – with the periods of Stage
4 sleep and then Stage 3 sleep diminishing and

Stage 5: Lasts about 20 minutes. REM sleep periods increasing in duration (b).

REM sleep. 20-25% of our night’s sleep.
Vivid dreaming occurs. 80-90% report dreams.

Rats deprived of REM or total sleep typically die
within a few weeks (Rechtschaffen, 1998).

Function of eye movements (darting) is unknown. Blind
individuals also show this pattern (Gross et al., 1965).

Our brains are active during REM. Individuals with REM
Behaviour Disorder act out their dreams because brain stem
structures responsible for the paralysis that normally occurs
during REM (e.g., locus coeruleus) aren’t functioning correctly.

REM dreams can be emotional, illogical, and show sudden
“plot” shifts, while non-REM dreams are often shorter, more
thought-like and repetitive, and of topics like homework,
shopping lists, or taxes (Hobson, 2002).

Blind people dream with visual imagery if blind after age 7.

Lucid dreaming occurs when you realize you are dreaming
while asleep. 20% of people report lucid dreams once per month
(Snyder et al., 1988).

When lucid dreamers adopt a conciliatory approach toward
hostile characters in their dreams, the characters become less
frightening and often act in a friendlier manner (Tholey, 1988).

Somnambulism: (sleepwalking) occurs during stage 3 & 4
sleep. Hint: Sleepwalking is Deep (sleep) walking….

Somniloquy: (sleeptalking) occurs during any sleep stage
and is more frequent among children.

Narcolepsy: a sleep disorder characterized by excessive
daytime sleepiness and uncontrollable REM sleep.

Sleep apnea: consists of periods during sleep when
breathing stops, and the individual must awaken briefly in
order to breathe. 2-20% of population.

Insomnia: is a sleep disorder characterized by difficulty
falling and staying asleep; by waking too early; or by sleep
that is light, restless, or of poor quality. Sleeping pills?

9-15% of people report severe to long-standing insomnia issues.

Factors related to insomnia:
Night terrors occur within two

Depression, stress. or three hours of falling asleep,
during Stage 3 and 4 sleep.

Caffeine, napping Nightmares occur toward

Should sleep in a cool morning, during REM sleep.
They are frightening dreams
room, get up at regular occurring during REM sleep.
times, avoiding caffeine. Hint: Vivid nightmares….

Freud: Dreams represent wish fulfillment. Really?!?

While most of us have occasional dreams of flying or
winning the lottery, these themes are less frequent than
dreams of misfortune (McNamara et al., 2005).

Freud also believed that many or most dreams are sexual
in nature. But sexual themes account for as little as
10% of the dreams we remember (Domhoff, 2003).

Also, many dreams don’t appear to be disguised, as Freud
contended. As much as 90% of dream reports are regular
descriptions of everyday activities and problems, like
talking to friends (Domhoff, 2003; Dorus et al., 1971).

Sleep and Dreaming appear to be important for:

1) Processing emotional memories (Maquet & Franck, 1997).

2) Integrating new experiences to make sense of the world (Stickgold, 2002).

3) Learning new strategies and ways of doing things (Walker et al., 2002).

4) Simulating threatening events to help us better cope (Revonsuo, 2000).

5) Reorganizing and consolidating memories (Crick & Mitchison, 1986).

Do dreams involve the cortical interpretation of random
brainstem neural activity? (Activation synthesis model).

Acetylcholine ↑ during REM. But serotonin & norepinephrine are
shut down↓ during REM. The pons sends incomplete signals to
the lateral geniculate (thalamus) and the forebrain interprets
these signals. The amygdala is active.

Studies indicate that the prefrontal cortex is especially active
when a person is engaged in tasks that require planning, or
careful analysis. Yet this area is less active when someone
is dreaming. Plausibly, this latter pattern reflects the lack of
careful analysis of the dream material, which in turn helps us
understand why dreams are often illogical or bizarre.

Yet……people with damage to the deep frontal white cortical
matter (connects to lower parts of brain and the parietal
lobes) can lead to a complete loss of dreaming. So even if
the brain stem is working properly – dreaming can be halted.

Although dreams are sometimes bizarre, they’re more
consistent over time than we’d expect if they reflected
only random neural impulses generated by the brainstem
(Domhoff, 2001).

Out-of-body-experience: a sense of our consciousness leaving our body.

About 25% of post secondary students and 10% of the general population
report having experienced one or more OBEs (Alvarado, 2000).

When subjects have reported seeing or hearing what’s occurring at a
faraway place, their reports are typically inaccurate or, a “good guess”
when accurate. Positive results have rarely been replicated (Alvarado, 2000).

Scientists suggest that cases of OBEs occur when people become
absorbed in experiences and lose bodily awareness (Irwin, 1985).

Near Death Experiences: out of body experiences reported
by people who’ve nearly died. Roughly 12 to 33% of people who’ve
been close to death report NDEs (Greyson, 2000).

15% are described as “hellish” and can include scenes of being
tortured by demons, giants, and elves (Blackmore, 2004).

NDEs differ across cultures, suggesting they don’t provide a genuine sign of
the afterlife (Ehrenwald, 1974). People from Christian and Buddhist cultures
often report the sensation of moving through a tunnel, but native people in
North America, the Pacific Islands, and Australia rarely do (Kellehear, 1993).

Endorphin release or oxygen starvation in a dying brain? (Blackmore, 1993).

Deja Vu: a feeling of reliving an experience
that is new. Jamais vu?

More than 2/3rds of people report experiencing at
least one episode of deja vu.

Occurs more in people who remember their dreams,
travel frequently, are young, and have liberal political
and religious beliefs, a post-secondary education, and
a high income (Brown, 2003).

1) People who experience seizures will often report
deja vu just before the seizure.

2) When input from two separate neural pathways that
process sensory information goes out-of-sync. This
short delay might trick the brain into interpreting the
data as separate copies of the same experience
(Brown, 2003).

3) Can be triggered by a present experience that
resembles, in whole or in part, an earlier
experience. For instance, it may be due to implicit
memories of a place or event that the individual is not
aware of.

A set of techniques that provides people with suggestions
for alterations in their perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.

Hypnosis is a unique altered state? No.

Subjects can experience many hypnotic phenomena, such as
hallucinations and pain insensitivity, when they receive suggestions
alone, without hypnosis (Sarbin & Coe,1979; Spanos, 1991).

Hypnosis is a sleep-like state? EEG? No.
Actually, unhypnotized people can also

People hypnotized don’t show brain waves similar to perform this feat. In experiments – the
strength, stamina, learning, and perceptual
those of sleep. What’s more, people are just as abilities of those under hypnosis are like
responsive to hypnotic suggestions administered while those of motivated unhypnotized people
(Druckman & Bjork, 1994).
exercising on a stationary bicycle as they are following hypnotic
suggestions for sleep and relaxation (Bányai & Hilgard, 1976; Wark, 2006).

Hypnosis makes one unaware of their surroundings? No.

Most hypnotized people are fully aware of their immediate surroundings, and can
even recall the details of a telephone conversation they overheard during
hypnosis (Lynn, Weekes, & Milano, 1989).

Hypnotized people forget what occurred during hypnosis? No.

Spontaneous amnesia for what happens during hypnosis is rare and limited to
those who expect to be amnesic following hypnosis (Simon & Salzberg,1985).

Hypnosis enhances recall of forgotten events? No.

Scientific studies generally reveal that hypnosis doesn’t improve memory
(Erdelyi, 1994; Mazzoni, Heap & Scoboria, 2010).
Mike Moland, Ph.D.

Psyc 1100YB
 Pharmacokinetics: Refers to the ‘movement’ of
the drug through the body that involves absorption,
Introduction
distribution, metabolization, and excretion.
 Pharmacodynamics: Refers to the mechanism
of action of drugs.
 Psychoactive Drugs:

Induce psychological effects by altering normal
biochemical reactions in the nervous system. Really?!? Consideration must be
given to how much of the drug is
taken, what it is taken for, and in what

Have their site of action on the CNS. context it is taken.

Alter behaviour, cognitive functioning, and emotions.

Do not cause cells to assume new functions, they change,
interrupt, replace, or intensify ongoing processes.

Alter the normal biological functions of the body and
should not be viewed as simply bad or good.
 7 of the 10 leading causes of disability in the U.S. either
involve disorders that drugs are commonly used to treat
disorders (e.g., depression, schizophrenia, bipolar
disorder, OCD, dementia), or involve alcohol or other
drug use disorders (Hyman, 2000). Implication for
clinical psychology?
 Blood-Brain Barrier
Absorption
 Many drugs have sites of action in the brain. But because
the brain is such a complex and delicate organ, it is
protected from the fluctuations of the general circulation
and sealed off as a separate body compartment by a
structure called the blood-brain barrier.
 Part of the blood-brain barrier is composed of astrocytes.
Along with other cells and structures, they make glue-like
supporting tissues around the brain cells.
 These cells send out filaments ending in foot-like processes that pack tightly
together around the capillaries, sealing off their surface and forming a very
tight sheath. About 85% of brain capillaries are covered.
 The combination of glial tissue, tight junctions of the brain capillary
walls, and the lack of pores – constitute the blood-brain barrier.
 Because of it, drugs cannot enter the brain to have an effect
unless they are lipid-soluble enough to diffuse through the
capillary walls and the glia.
 The BBB provides structure, and is a watchdog, keeping out
poisons. It also prevents chemicals required by the brain for its functions
(e.g., neurotransmitters), from leaking into general circulation and being lost.
The BBB is not found in the pituitary and the hypothalamus. Why?
 Solubility
Absorption
 Refers to its ability to dissolve in a medium.
 The two types of solubility that are most significant for drugs
is their ability to dissolve in water and their ability to dissolve
in lipids (fats and fatty tissues).
 Drugs that do not dissolve at all, for the most part, will not
cross membranes, and they will be eliminated from the gastrointestinal
tract. Injected into the bloodstream, they can remain and cause blockages.
 Lipid solubility is of critical importance to drugs. Because
membranes have a lipid structure, lipid-soluble molecules are able
to pass through them and diffuse to the other side.
 Anyone who has mixed water and salad dressing knows that
oil and water do not, in fact mix. Chemically – oil is said to be
hydrophobic – afraid of water – and, as we have seen, this
applies to lipid membranes.
 Imagine camping in a canvas tent that has been well-treated with
oil. When it rains, the rain runs off like water from a duck’s back.
This is like water soluble molecules trying to pass the cell membrane.
 Now picture it raining oil. The oil is going to come through the canvas
eventually – just like lipid-soluble materials pass through the membrane.
 Ionization Absorption
 An ion is an atom that has lost one or more electrons to
another atom or has stolen them from another atom.
 Sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) are initially attracted to each other.
When they meet they form an ionic bond (table salt).
 When table salt is placed in water, the attraction of the water
molecules pulls the Cl and Na apart. When they separate, they
dissociate into Cl- and Na+ ions and form new bonds with the
water molecules around them. Thus, table salt ionizes.
 When drugs enter the extracellular fluid, the blood, gastric juice, or
any other body fluid, they may ionize somewhat as they dissolve, yielding
a solution that contains both ionized and un-ionized portions of the drug.
 Since the ionized portion of the drug carries an electrical charge, like the Cl-
and the Na+ ions, it generally has difficulty crossing membranes, due to
the equilibrium of charges already established across the membrane.
 A major factor in absorption is how much of the drug is in ionized form.
 In general, water-soluble drugs are harder to absorb, because they ionize in
bodily fluids and then cannot readily cross membranes, Lipid-soluble drugs
normally cross through membranes, but if they ionize, the ionized portion
loses its lipid-solubility. Lipid-soluble, unionized, and small, absorbs best!
 pH
Absorption
 A solution’s pH is a number that describes the degree to
which it is either an acid or a base.
 The measurement scale for pH runs from 0 to 14. The lower the number,
the more acidic the solution. Water, found at 7 on the scale, is neutral.
Bases fall at the higher pH, the alkaline end of the scale. Most drugs
form weak acids or basic solutions, with a pH ranging from about 5 to 9.
 pH is important. Acidic drugs tend to ionize
in an alkaline medium and vice versa.
 The amount of ionization depends on how far
apart the drug and the medium are on the pH
scale; as difference , the ionization .
 Thus, the ability of a lipid-soluble molecule to cross a
membrane may be reduced greatly if it is placed in a medium
with a different enough pH (
or  the scale) to make it ionize.
 An alkaline drug like heroin for example, ionizes when it hits the
stomach acids after being swallowed. Acidic drugs ionize if they
are injected into the alkaline environment of the blood. As we have seen,
this reduces lipid-solubility and absorption and leads to weaker effects.
 The pH values of the different body compartments vary. The gastric juice is
very acidic (pH of 1.2), whereas the blood is slightly alkaline at 7.4.
 Oral Administration
 Refers to giving of drugs through mouth (per os; P.O.)
 Drug usually swallowed and absorbed through GI tract.
 Drugs on the oral route face a long journey to the site of
action - crossing many body compartments & membranes
 Advantages
 Economical, convenient, easy.
 Safe in case of emergencies (e.g., drug can be vomited).
 Disadvantages
 Not good in emergencies (Why?).
 Require proper drug pH (Why?) .
 Food in stomach delays gastric emptying (re: alcohol).
 First pass metabolism (re: dosages of oral drugs?).
 Individual differences in pharmacokinetics make it difficult
to predict and control drug effects.
 Consent and cooperation of patient required.
 Patient must be conscious or they may choke to death; taste?
 Drug absorption is variable - changing conditions of the G.I. Tract
 I.V. Administration
 Involves depositing the drug directly into a vein.
 Advantages
 Most accurate means of controlling dosage levels.
 Results in very rapid onset of drug action and relatively intense
effects (e.g., heroin use).
 Short delay of effect an advantage in emergencies - the
time it takes a drug to circulate between the vein of the forearm
and the brain is less than 15 seconds.
 Can be used when patient is unconscious. Taste not an issue.
 Disadvantages
 Frequent use of vein may lead to irritation or collapse.
 Drug cannot be recalled unless an antagonist for the drug is available.
 A drug (e.g., heroin) that may exert minimal effects when
administered P.O. may be extremely toxic when given I.V.
 Pain of injection; sterility of needles; cost.
 Drugs must be in aqueous solution and have an aqueous
vehicle (e.g. cocaine diluted with talc can clog blood vessels).
 Due to high concentration levels, any adverse reaction is likely to be severe.
 Inhaling drugs in some form of gaseous or Inhalation
vaporous state.
 Advantages
 The alveoli within the lungs provide a huge surface area with
blood vessels lying immediately behind it.
 Our bodies are so dependent on the oxygen in the air we
breathe that we have evolved an extremely efficient system
for getting oxygen to its destinations.
 The psychoactive effect of an inhaled drug is comparable to a
drug delivered through I.V. Traveling from the lungs to the
brain takes only five to eight seconds.
 Disadvantages
 Long-term hazards of breathing particles in the air that contain
not only the active drug, but tars and other substances
produced by the burning processes.
 Emphysema, asthma, and lung cancer can result from
smoking in general.
 There is also the possibility in any form of drug inhalation that
the linings leading from the throat to the lungs will be severely
irritated over time.
 Effective Dosage: Is the dosage of a drug Dosage & Drug Effects
that produces a select effect in a given % of people.
(eg. ED50 is the dosage of a drug that
produces the effect in 50% of a test group).
 Lethal Dosage: The dosage that causes death (eg.
LD50 is the dosage that kills 50% of test subjects).
 Therapeutic Index: A measure of a ED50 of a drug.

drug’s safety (LD50 ÷ ED50). Drugs drthat

marketed? Ideally a LD1 ÷ ED99!!!
 TI for alcohol? 6.
 TI for marijuana?
 900 joints smoked at once!
ED and LD curves
 Potency: If drug A produces a given Potency differences.
effect at a lower dose than drug B,
then drug A is more potent.
 Maximum Efficacy: The dosage
Half-Lives
needed to produce an effect fully.
 LSD? Unknown, but very high TI.
 Half-life: the time it takes for the blood concentration of a
drug to drop to half (e.g. Prozac half-life of 1-3 days).
First-order kinetics vs. Zero-
 Multiply the half-life by 6 to get an approximate duration of effect! order kinetics?
 Biotransformation is the process whereby enzymes
modify a molecules chemical properties. How is this done?
Metabolism
 Drug effects are terminated by liver enzymes (re: ase) that
act by ionizing the drugs to help prevent reabsorption.
 Drugs administered orally must initially pass through portions
of the GI tract, where metabolization occurs. Due to first-pass Alcohol induces P450.
metabolism, circulating levels of orally administered drugs Suppose an alcoholic
man has had an accident
are generally lower than those of drugs administered through andsurgery.requires immediately
He has been
other routes. For instance, blood ethanol levels are about 60% the operation, so that,
drinking the morning of

lower following oral administration than following intravenous despite a liver sopping
with P450, the enzyme is
administration if ethanol is given after a meal, and about 20% busy on the alcohol. The
anesthetic then will have
lower if given after overnight fasting (DiPadova et al., 1987). an exaggerated effect or
will kill the patient
because the liver has no
 Cytochrome P-450, a microsomal liver enzyme, is available P450 to cope
with it.
rather nonspecific in nature. It breaks down alcohol,
However, if our patient,
hormones, leads, and virtually all clinical medications. because of his injury,
refrained from drinking
 Increased exposure to any substance broken down before the operation, all
the P450 normally used
by P-450, results in an increased production of P-450. for alcohol, a much
higher amount than in an
This is called inducibility. It is one form of tolerance. average person, will be
ravenous and ready to go
 This is an important factor in many cases of drug tolerance. to work on the anesthetic.
As a result, the
For example, long-term exposure to alcohol can induce a 30% anesthesiologist will have
a surprisingly difficult
elevation in the amount of some P450 enzymes of the liver. time keeping the patient
unconscious.
 Tolerance & Dependence
 Tolerance occurs when repeated doses of a given drug
produce less and less of an effect
 Metabolic Tolerance involves liver enzyme induction.
 enzyme = more drug needed to achieve effect (re: alcoholic surgery).
 Cellular Tolerance involves the adaptation of individual nerve
cells to the presence of a drug (eg. rebound effects).
 Cross Tolerance: when the use of one drug produces
Tachyphylaxis
tolerance for another (eg. same drug classes involved?). refers to rapid
tolerance within
 Dependence refers to a state where the removal of a minutes or hours,
often between first
drug leads to withdrawal symptoms. two doses

 Physical Dependence: body requires the drug to continue functioning

normally. Discontinuation of drug produces withdrawal.
 Psychological Dependence: continued use of a drug is
motivated by intense cravings (eg. Internet; gambling).
 Withdrawal refers to a set of symptoms that occur when a
drug is discontinued.
 The kidneys are our main excretory organs. The kidneys
strain the blood and remove used or useless material. Excretion
 Excretion begins when blood from the renal arteries enters
the Bowman’s capsule, at the end of the nephron tubule.
 Blood pressure doubles inside the glomerulus, and about 20% of the plasma
is forced through pores in the capsule walls into the tubule.
 Drugs filter through the pores of the glomerulus and enter the
tubule. As the filtrate winds its way, reabsorption occurs, with
water being reabsorbed more quickly than anything else.
 Reabsorption from the tubules back into the capillaries occurs
through active transport and passive diffusion. One of alcohol’s effects is
dehydration. Another is that
it inhibits ADH (antidiuretic
 Draining water this way is equal to raising the concentration hormone) that signals the
kidneys to retain fluid. This
of drug in the tubule. This causes a concentration gradient. increases urination, causing
a further dehydration from
 Now if a drug is unionized and lipid-soluble, it follows the fluid loss. Drinking water
helps eliminate alcohol by
reducing reabsorption and
gradients (and water) and diffuses through the tubule wall back increasing urination. The pH
of urine may be altered to
into the capillaries, rejoining circulation and remaining active. substances
speed up the elimination of
eg. Baking soda
(base) or Vitamin C (acidic).
 However, if the drugs are ionized, they will be ion-trapped in
the tubule and excreted, unless active transport rescues them.
 Thus, in order to eliminate lipid-soluble, unionized drug molecules, the liver
must first ionize them, so that when they arrive in the nephron tubule, they
can be ion-trapped and prevented from returning to the circulation.