On this page you’ll find a number of resources for understanding states of consciousness, including consciousness and attention, the circadian rhythm and sleep cycles, drugs, hypnosis, and meditation. If I’ve missed a good resource, please share it in the comments section!

General Resources

States of Consciousness Key Terms

States of Consciousness Pinterest Page

OpenStax States of Consciousness Chapter

States of Consciousness Unit – Boundless.com

Master Introductory Psychology Volume 2 (Amazon link)

General Video Resources

Specific Concepts

• Relationship between the body and brain
  • Where Am I? (Radiolab)
• Antonio Damasio on consciousness
• What is it like to be a bat? – Thomas Nagel essay – The Philosophical Review
  • Wikipedia page
  • Thomas Nagel – Wikipedia page
• The mind-body problem – Wikipedia page
  • The Cartesian theater – Wikipedia page
• Problem of other minds – Wikipedia page
  • Other Minds – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Theory of mind – Wikipedia page
• The Libet Experiment
  • Benjamin Libet – Wikipedia page
• Dichotic listening task – Wikipedia page
• Change blindness – Wikipedia page
• Go Cognitive – Change Blindness demonstrations with adjustable flicker rate
• Examples of Change Blindness with “Mudsplashes” – O’Regan and Rensink
• Inattentional blindness – Wikipedia page
  • Basketball passes awareness test
  • Original Simons & Chabris video
  • The Invisible Gorilla – Christopher Chabris & Daniel Simons (Amazon link)
  • Whodunnit? Test
  • Magic, Misdirection and Inattentional Blindness
• The Illusion of Conscious Will – Daniel Wegner (Amazon link)
  • Ironic Processes of Mental Control – Wikipedia page
  • The Unbearable Automaticity of Being (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999)
• Dual process theory – Wikipedia page
  • Mere-Exposure Effect – Wikipedia page
• Sleep – Wikipedia page
• Circadian rhythm – Wikipedia page
  • Zeitgeber – Wikipedia page
  • REM cycle (note: Stages 3 & 4 are no longer differentiated as they are in this image and are considered a single stage)
• 
• REM Sleep – Wikipedia page
• Biological clock
  • Michael Siffre spent 2 years living in a cave without clocks: interview
  • Medicine in the Fourth Dimension – the circadian rhythm (The Atlantic)
• Falling Sensations and Sleep (BBC)
• What a Year of Tracking Taught Me About My Sleep (PBS)
• Sleep Disorders
  • Insomnia and other disorders – Wikipedia page
  • Dogs with Narcolepsy
  • Video of REM Behavior Disorder patients
• Sleep Deprivation – Wikipedia page
  • Do We Really Need to Sleep 7 Hours a Night? (NYT)
  • Thomas Edison and the Cult of Sleep Deprivation (The Atlantic)
  • How Sleep Deprivation Decays the Body and Mind (The Atlantic)
  • How Sleep Deprivation Can Feed Obesity (Scientific American)
  • Sleep Deficit – The Performance Killer (Harvard Business Review)
  • Pockets of the Brain Can Fall Asleep During the Day (Mental Floss)
• Dreaming
  • The Activation-Synthesis Model – Hobson & McCarley – Wikipedia page
  • Dreaming; A Very Short Introduction – J. Allan Hobson (Amazon link)
  • Brains Sweep Themselves of Toxins During Sleep (NPR)
• Sleep, Memory, and Dreaming
  • Robert Stickgold on Sleep and Memory Consolidation
  • Nicholas Humphrey

• Drugs and Consciousness
  • Drugs and Neurotransmitters Chart (MIT)
  • Stimulant – Wikipedia page
  • Depressant – Wikipedia page
  • Hallucinogen – Wikipedia page
  • Hallucinations – Oliver Sacks (Amazon link)
    • My review here.
• Hypnosis – Wikipedia page
• Meditation – Wikipedia page
  • The Relaxation Response – Herbert Benson (Amazon link)
  • Wherever You Go, There You Are – Jon Kabat-Zinn (Amazon link)

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