On 21 Feb 2007 at 23:14, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I think that the stages of sleep are differing states of consciousness, > but what about the following, which came up in class today? <snip> > > alpha (awake, relaxed) > when taking Benadryl or some other drugs with side effects of > drowsiness > and a change in alertness and > reaction time > daydreaming > hypnosis > meditation > jet lag > persistent vegetative state > coma > traumatic brain injury > > Also,do all of these produce changes in consciousness?narcotics, > barbiturates, depressants, stimulants?
Lemme have a go at winging it. As others have said or hinted, "consciousness" is a fuzzy concept which defies definition. We generally accept two kinds as uncontroversial: either we're conscious or we're not. And we know someone is conscious when they're aware of their surroundings. How do we know they're aware? When they tell us, preferably verbally, but also by other means, such as eye blinking to questions, as in the tragic locked-in case of Jean-Dominique Bauby in his remarkable book "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death". In other cases (animals, fetuses) all bets are off. Even in the case of a verbal adult, as above, there can be problems. My wife typically protests she wasn't even asleep (i.e. unconscious) when I poke her to stop snoring. Am I right, or is she? I doubt that anyone claims that all four of the stages of sleep are different states of consciousness, as it's generally recognized that the distinction between one stage and the next is purely arbitrary and has no particular physiological significance. REM sleep is different, and its importance has been hyped by claiming it represents a different "third kind" of consciousness. Mostly, this was back in the days when dreaming was thought to occur exclusively in REM sleep, a notion we now know is untrue. There are other physiological changes which make REM sleep qualitatively distinct from the other stages, but dces this mean it rates a new form of consciousness? I think not. However, if we are willing to tolerate a bit of fuzzy thinking, we can talk about degrees of consciousness (even though we don't know what consciousness is). This seems to be mostly tied to alertness. I'd think that the items on Riki's list could be classified as different degrees of consciousness, with more impairment the greater the interference with brain function (through, e.g., sleepiness, drugs, and physical trauma to the brain). But we might be better off just referring to them as "alertness". Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Department of Psychology Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 0C8 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
