UNIT V States of Consciousness

A photo shows a young man sleeping in a classroom. The chapter title reads “Consciousness and the Two-Track Mind.”

MODULES

  1. 22 Understanding Consciousness and Hypnosis
  2. 23 Sleep Patterns and Sleep Theories
  3. 24 Sleep Deprivation, Sleep Disorders, and Dreams
  4. 25 Psychoactive Drugs

Consciousness can be a funny thing. It offers us weird experiences, as when entering sleep or leaving a dream, and sometimes it leaves us wondering who is really in control. After zoning me [DM] out with nitrous oxide, my dentist tells me to turn my head to the left. My conscious mind resists: “No way,” I silently say. “You can’t boss me around!” Whereupon my robotic head, ignoring my conscious mind, turns obligingly under the dentist’s control.

During my noontime pickup basketball games, I am sometimes mildly irritated as my body passes the ball while my conscious mind says, “No, stop! Sarah is going to intercept!” Alas, my body completes the pass. Other times, as psychologist Daniel Wegner (2002) noted in The Illusion of Conscious Will, people believe their conscious mind is controlling their actions when it isn’t. In one experiment, two people jointly controlled a computer mouse. Even when their partner (who was actually the experimenter’s accomplice) caused the mouse to stop on a predetermined square, the participants perceived that they had caused it to stop there.

Then there are those times when consciousness seems to split. Sometimes, my [ND’s] mind wanders while giving a well-practiced speech. Reading Green Eggs and Ham to one of my [DM’s] preschoolers for the umpteenth time, my obliging mouth could say the words while my mind flitted in and out of the story. And if someone interrupts you mid-text to ask what you’re doing for lunch, it’s not a problem. Your fingers complete the message as you suggest getting tacos.

What do such experiences reveal? Is a drug-induced dental experience akin to people’s experiences with other psychoactive drugs (mood- and perception-altering substances)? Does the mind’s wandering while speaking or texting reveal a split in consciousness? And during sleep, when do those weird dream experiences occur, and why? Before considering these questions and more, let’s ask a fundamental question: What is consciousness?

Unit V Overview Video