Sleepwalking Essay -- Research Psychology Essays

noctambulationSomnambulism, or sleepwalking, belongs to a group of parasomnias. This disorder of arousal is characterized by obscure motor behaviors initiated during stages 3 and 4 of non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep (slow-wave sleep) (3). Behaviors during sleepwalking episodes can commute greatly. Some episodes ar limited to sitting up, fumbling and getting dressed, eon others include more complex behaviors such as walking, driving a car, or preparing a meal (2). After awakening, the sleepwalker usually has no recollection of what has happened and may appear confused and disoriented. The behaviors performed while sleepwalking are said to be autonomous automatisms. These are nonrelfex actions performed without conscious volition and cultured independently from the I-function (3). This insinuates that everything done while sleepwalking is involuntary because the exhibited behavior is not a result of the I-functions output. indeed if the I-function is not involved what cause s people to sleepwalk? What happens to the I-function during sleepwalking? What does this imply about brain and behavior?Sleep is a succession of five recurring stages four non-REM stages and the REM stage. Researchers have classified ad these stages of sleep by monitoring muscle tone, eye movements, and the electrical action at law of the brain using an electroencephalogram (EEG) (4). EEG readings measure brain waves and clear up them according to speed. Alertness lives of desynchronized beta activity whereas relaxation and drowsiness consist of of import activity (4). Stage 1 sleep includes alternating patterns of alpha activity, irregular fast activity and the presence of some theta activity. This stage is a transition between sleep and wakefulness (4... ...it can function independently from it. Despite my greater understanding of somnambulism I was unable to catch why the nervous system causes people to sleepwalk. It has been shown that no dreaming occurs during these stag es of sleep. Therefore I do not understand what sleepwalkers are acting out. This point still remains open for investigation.Works Cited1)Bassetti, C., Vella, S., Donati, F., Wielepp, P. Weder, B. SPECT during sleepwalking. Lancet 2000 Aug 5 356(9228)484-852)3)Masand, P., Popli, A., Weilburg, J. Sleepwalking. American Family Physician 1995. v5 n3 p649.4)Carlson, N. Physiology of Behavior. 7th ed. Allyn and Bacon. USA, 20015)McCarley, R.W. and Hobson, J. A. The form of dreams and the biology of sleep. In the Handbook of dreams Research, Theory, and Applications, modify by B. Wolman. New York Can Nostrand Reinhold, 1979.