Generic placeholder image

Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1568-0266
ISSN (Online): 1873-4294

State Dissociation, Human Behavior, and Consciousness

Author(s): Mark W. Mahowald, Michel A. Cramer Bornemann and Carlos H. Schenck

Volume 11, Issue 19, 2011

Page: [2392 - 2402] Pages: 11

DOI: 10.2174/156802611797470277

Price: $65

conference banner
Abstract

Sleep is clearly not only a whole-brain or global phenomenon, but can also be a local phenomenon. This accounts for the fact that the primary states of being (wakefulness, NREM sleep, and REM sleep) are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and components of these states may appear in various combinations, with fascinating clinical consequences. Examples include: sleep inertia, narcolepsy, sleep paralysis, lucid dreaming, REM sleep behavior disorder, sleepwalking, sleep terrors, out-of-body experiences, and reports of alien abduction. The incomplete declaration of state likewise has implications for consciousness - which also has fluid boundaries. Fluctuations in the degree of consciousness are likely explained by abnormalities of a “spatial and temporal binding rhythm” which normally results in a unified conscious experience. Dysfunctional binding may play a role in anesthetic states, autism, schizophrenia, and neurodegenerative disorders. Further study of the broad spectrum of dissociated states of sleep and wakefulness that are closely linked with states of consciousness and unconsciousness by basic neuroscientists, clinicians, and members of the legal profession will provide scientific, clinical and therapeutic insights, with forensic implications.

Keywords: State dissociation, disorders of arousal, REM sleep behavior disorder, sleep inertia, narcolepsy, lucid dreaming, central pattern generators, hallucinations, forensic implications, physiologic variables, diverse naturalistic, sleep paralysis, prevailing parent state, venlafaxine, olivopontocerebellar degeneration


Rights & Permissions Print Cite
© 2024 Bentham Science Publishers | Privacy Policy