5. The role of attention + consciousness

Question 1

What findings may suggest that conscious access is epiphenomenon?

Answer 1

van Gaal -> demonstrated that conscious input is associated with widespread activity in the brain. It triggered the thought that consciousness may be the by-product of this widespread activation

Question 2

What states functionalist approach in philosophy of mind?

Answer 2

Mental states are idnetified by a functional role + consciousness is selected by evolution

Question 3

What are functions of consiousness?

Answer 3

• Bayesian inference/conscious sampling
• Lasting thoughts/working memory
• Multiple step algorithms (Turing machine)
• Social sharing of information

Question 4

What is Descartes opinion on perception?

Answer 4

Perception is kind of passive imprinting of the world on the senses and the brain -> so it works bottom-up/is stimulus driven

Question 5

What is the idea of predicitve brain? How does it contradict Descartes?

Answer 5

Perception works from top to bottom (main contradiction). The brain’s main job is to predict the sensory signal by
constructing it itself using stored knowledge about the world (the brain creates “generative models” of the outside world).

Question 6

What are 2 key foundational elements of the predictive brain idea?

Answer 6

• Perception and action depend on the learning and use of
  probabilistic generative models
• Perception and action depend on the attempt of predictive
  models to predict the current sensory signal prediction
  error/prediction errors

Question 7

How does Bayesian inference relate to predictive brain idea?

Answer 7

What we expect to see and hear affects what we actually see and hear. Number of factors is relevant for our perception:
- Prediction (or expectation, prior),
- Sensory evidence
- Prediction error (prediction error),
- The weighting (‘precision’) of the prediction error.

Question 8

What does conscious sampling state?

Answer 8

In unconscious, there are numerous probabilities relating to the signal - the massive parallel processing happens. Then, sampling occurs -> one of many options gets picked ! -> there is commitment to only one decision and only it can enter conscious access

Question 9

What does mathematics state about unconsious vs consious states?

Answer 9

Unconsious: allows for summary statistics and evidence accumulation, easy mathematical operations can be performed -> 6+2

Conscious: passing on one decision to the next stage, complex mathematical operations are performed (3+2) - 1