States of Consciousness

What is Consciousness? According to the psychology textbook, Consciousness is the process by which the brain creates a model of internal and external experience. The most common or ordinary consciousness occur during wakefulness, although there are can be altered states of consciousness. Furthermore, consciousness restricts our attention, provides a “mental meeting place” and provides a mental model of the world. It’s a process that links to other processes such as memory, learning, sensation, and perception.
There are three levels of consciousness which is the preconscious, the unconscious and priming. Preconscious is information that can be cued or purposely retrieved. For example your birthday party from last year and facts like the capital of California. It’s like information that lies in the background of the mind until needed. The unconscious, is the absence of conscious as is one have fainted or in coma, the cognition without awareness. Finally, priming is a substance that prepares something for use or action, in particular. For example, if a person reads a list of words including the word define, and is later asked to complete a word starting with def, the probability that he or she will answer define is greater than if they are not primed.
Consciousness changes in cycles that correspond to our biological rhythms and to the patterns of stimulation in our environment. Daydreaming is one of the variations of consciousness. While we daydream we shift out attention to memories, expectations, desires, or fantasies and away from the immediate situation. Daydreaming occurs often when people are alone, relaxed or engaged in a boring routine task. Daydreaming is said that helps us make plans and solve problems and is totally normal to do so. According to textbook about 30 percent of our waking hour is spent daydreaming, with young adults reporting the most frequent and vivid daydreams.