Book introduction

Question 1

René Descartes

Answer 1

dualism → conscious mind (nonmaterial substance) + material body, pineal gland connecting the two, animal spirit pressure on pineal gland caused either wakefulness (high pressure) or sleepiness (low pressure)

Question 2

Why Descartes was convcinced about immaterial soul?

Answer 2

• mechanical model failed to provide a materialist solution for the higher-level abilities of the human mind
  1. capacity to report thoughts using speech
  2. flexible reasoning (example: how can machine produce infinite number of thoughts)

Question 3

What are 3 concepts relevant for consciousness?

Answer 3

vigilance, attention, conscious access

Question 4

vigilance

Answer 4

state of wakefulness (sleep - wake up)

Question 5

attention

Answer 5

focusing of mental resources

Question 6

conscious access

Answer 6

some attended information eventually enters our awareness and becomes reportable to others (genuine consciousness according to book’s author)

Question 7

How does conscious access differs from attention/vigilance?

Answer 7

When we are fully awake and attentive, sometimes we can see an object and describe our perception to others, but sometimes we cannot— perhaps the object was too faint (conscious access), or it was flashed too briefly to be visible (unconscious processing)

Question 8

How should introspection be treated?

Answer 8

As raw data -> mental events that need to be explained. NOT as research method

Question 9

What transformed study of consciousness into experimental science?

Answer 9

• focus on conscious access
• manipulating conscious perception (visual illusions etc.)
• recording introspection

Question 10

Global workspace theory (GWST)

Answer 10

consciousness as global information broadcasting within the cortex → arises from neuronal network, focus on information sharing

it is not in input-output manner, as brain is full of spontaneous activity

Question 11

what neuronal circuit is the ‘‘broadcaster’’? (GWST)

Answer 11

special set of neurons diffuses conscious messages throughout the brain: giant cells whose long axons criss-cross the cortex, interconnecting it into an integrated whole

Question 12

What is ‘‘stream of consciousness’’? (GWST)

Answer 12

uninterrupted flow of loosely connected thoughts, primarily shaped by our current goals and only occasionally seeking information in the senses