Psychology
Theories of Sleep
Theories of sleep in psychology encompass various perspectives on the functions and mechanisms of sleep. These theories include the evolutionary, restorative, and cognitive theories, each offering different explanations for why we sleep and the processes involved. Evolutionary theories suggest that sleep evolved as a protective mechanism, while restorative theories propose that sleep is necessary for physical and mental rejuvenation. Cognitive theories focus on the role of sleep in memory consolidation and learning.
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5 Key excerpts on "Theories of Sleep"
eBook - PDF- Rene Drucker-Colin(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
THE FUNCTIONS OF SLEEP Theories of Sleep FUNCTIONS AND SOME CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS WILSE B. WEBB Department of Psychology University of Florida Gainesville, Florida According to the French philosopher, physicist and historian, Pierre Duhem (1954), Plato in his Republic argued that there were three kinds of truths - observational, geometrical and philoso-phical. The first is given by our sense percep-tions, the second our reasoning, and the third by pure intellect. Relative to sleep research the first is referent to our descriptive observations -stages do exist, biochemical changes are present, animals sleep differently. The second level refers to our finding systematic interrelationships and organizing them into rubrics REM rebounds under deprivation. Stage 4 diminishes with age, sleep varies relative to serotonin levels the erratic patterns of the stars seen by the eye take on simple and consistent orbits. The third level is concerned with why or to what ends. The facts about sleep have burgeoned in the past two decades in the modern era of Sleep Research which began in the late 1950's (Webb, 1973; Williams, et al, 1973). In 1968 this re-search was described as almost exclusively a-theoretical in its general approach and diligently devoted to the collection of empirical facts (Webb, 1968, p. 56). While the accepting caveat that theorizing without basic data is (a) futile enter-prise, concern was expressed about our failure to approach the problems propounded by Samuel Johnson more than 300 years ago: No searcher has yet found either the efficient or final cause...or what benefits the animal receives from this alter-nate suspension of its active powers. Recently several distinct positions have emerged about the function of sleep or, more specifically, why sleep is present in the behavior of animals.
eBook - PDF- George Spilich(Author)
- 2023(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
In this chapter, we will begin by defining sleep, consider why sleep is universal through- out the animal kingdom, and then explore the various stages of sleep and consider the benefits of sleep. With this background in hand, we will turn our attention to clinical aspects of sleep disorders. No discussion of sleep would be complete without a consideration of dreaming, so we will take a moment to consider that fascinating topic. We will also step back to see sleep as part of a larger system that alters our behavior to be in sync with daily and seasonal changes. By the end of this discussion, one explanation for the tragic train accident that occurred that day may become apparent. 13.1 The Mystery of Sleep LO 13.1 Describe sleep, its evolution, and its purpose. A general definition for sleep is a regular period of significantly decreased muscle activity and a lessened awareness of the environment coupled with a heightened threshold to rouse the individual back to their more typical alert state. Being asleep differs from being unconscious in that a sleeping person can be aroused, whereas an unconscious individual does not respond to external stimuli. Mysteries remain about the purpose of sleep, but in this first section, we will begin to explore the evolutionary basis for sleep and some theories about the purpose of sleep. Evolutionary Patterns of Sleep MCAT Consider for a moment this puzzle: the typical human closes their eyes and becomes senseless and defenseless for a good portion of every day. There must be a very good reason why you and I spend as much as a third of our lives asleep, so we turn our attention to understanding the evolutionary basis for this phenomenon. Sleep appears to be a universal phenomenon; mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and even insects all appear to sleep or at least regularly enter a sleeplike state. Given that every member
- Jon Roeckelein(Author)
- 1998(Publication Date)
- Greenwood(Publisher)
Washington Square, NY: New York University Press. Reber, A. (1995). The Penguin dictionary of psychology. New York: Penguin Books. Sutherland, S. (1996). The international dictionary of psychology. New York: Crossroad. SLEEP, THEORIES OF. The experience of sleep is characterized by a particular loss of consciousness accompanied by a variety of behavioral and neurophysiological effects. In modern psychology, sleep and the various stages of sleep are defined and characterized typically by particular physiological events, specifically by distinctive brainwave patterns as recorded by an electroencephalograph, metabolic processes, muscle tone (cf: Isakower phenomenon—strange hallucinations usually felt in the mouth, hands, or skin; they include the feelings of an object pulsating or approaching/receding, and they occur mainly when falling asleep; Sutherland, 1996), heart and respiration rates, and the presence/ absence of rapid eye movements (REMs). Periods of REM sleep (see REM sleep theories; Atkinson, Atkinson, Smith, & Hilgard, 1987) are evident by its primary defining feature, the rapid eye movements, and several less detectable factors, including a lack of delta waves (slow, largeamplitude brain waves), flaccid musculature, fluctuating heartbeat, erratic respiration, genital changes, and dreaming (80–85% reliability of dreaming during REM sleep). NonREM sleep (NREM), on the other hand, is usually divided into four separate stages based on the proportion of delta waves observed: stage 1 is 0% of total brain activity, delta; stage 2 is up to 20% delta waves; stage 3 is between 20–50% delta waves; Page 437 and stage 4 is over 50% delta waves. Stages 3 and 4 are often referred to collectively as slowwave sleep; in all the stages there is a progressively deeper and deeper sleep and all are characterized by a lack of REM, a regular heartbeat, rhythmic respiration, low levels of metabolic activity, and moderatetohigh muscle tone (Reber, 1995; cf: Wolman, 1973).
eBook - PDF- Bassant Puri, Ian Treasaden(Authors)
- 2009(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
This activation of the brain is consciously interpreted (synthesis) in the form of a dream. Psychological theo-ries of dreams, such as those of Freud, Jung and Hall, focus on the synthesis component, stressing their significance for the dreamer. ● According to Crick and Mitchison’s reverse learning theory, dreams are a way of ‘cleaning up’ the cortex’s neural networks and preparing them for new input – so, we need to forget our dreams. Psychological theories, on the other hand, stress the need to remember our dreams. ● Different theories of dreaming are not mutually exclusive. REM sleep may have evolved in order to help animals’ biological survival, but dreams continue to serve a vital function for individuals, helping them to survive psychologically. REFERENCES 1. Rubin Z, McNeil EB (1983) The Psychology of Being Human , 3rd edn. London: Harper & Row. 2. Greenfield S (1998) How might the brain generate con-sciousness? In S. Rose (ed.) From Brain to Conscious-ness?: Essays on the New Sciences of the Mind . Harmondsworth: Penguin. 3. Hobson JA (1995) Sleeping and dreaming. In D Kimble, AM Colman (eds) Biological Aspects of Behaviour . London: Longman. 4. Edelman G (1992) Bright Air, Brilliant Fire: On the Matter of the Mind . Harmondsworth: Penguin. 5. Singer W. (1998) Consciousness from a neurobiological perspective. In S Rose (ed.) From Brains to Conscious-ness? Essay on the New Sciences of the Mind . Harmondsworth: Penguin. 6. Hobson JA (2007) Normal and abnormal states of con-sciousness. In M Velmans, S Schneider (eds) The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness . Oxford: Blackwell. 7. Lloyd P, Mayes A, Manstead ASR, Meudell PR, Wagner HL (1984) Introduction to Psychology: An Integrated Approach . London: Fontana. 8. Allport DA (1980) Patterns and actions: cognitive mech-anisms are content specific. In G Claxton (ed.) Cognitive Psychology: New Directions .
eBook - PDF- Oleg V. Khlevniuk, Vadim A. Staklo(Authors)
- 1983(Publication Date)
- Yale University Press(Publisher)
In preparation for that inquiry, let us first summarize briefly the psychoanalytic clin-ical observations and inferred functional mental principles de-scribed in chapters 3, 4, and 5, and the experimental observations and inferred functional neurophysiological principles derived from the field of cognitive neuroscience, described in chapters 6 and 7. We will then review those aspects of the physiology of 130 THE SLEEPING BRAIN REM sleep that seem relevant to the functional mental and neuro-physiological principles and begin to interpret the theoretical im-plications of the data. This approach should provide a basis for comparing two sepa-rately derived sets of functional memory principles, one from the domain of mind and the other from the domain of brain, and assessing each set in relation to a single psychobiological state (REM sleep) and hence to each other. This assessment, in principle, will be required for the ultimate formulation of a satisfactory psy-chobiological model of dreams and dreaming. This particular phase of the study represents an effort to move in the direction of formulating such a model, but it is focused rather than general, concentrating mainly on one central aspect of dream process, namely the generation of dream imagery. The Functional Mental Principles Dream collages appear to be put together from parts of sensory percepts taken from different historical epochs of the dreamer's life. The perceptual residues are mainly visual, but they may also be in auditory, tactile, proprioceptive, and even occasionally olfac-tory and taste modalities. A person's dream images appear to be associatively connected with each other by virtue of shared emo-tional meanings and to be arranged accordingly in nodal memory networks.
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