brain basis of consciousness Flashcards
what is the easy problem of consciousness?
- concerns “MAPPING consciousness onto the brain”
- the goal is to identify the MAPPING / CORRELATION between brain activity and the presence vs absence of conscious experience (whether the person is conscious) as well as the contents of conscious experience (what the person is experiencing)
how do researchers get to study the localisation of consciousness?
- research participants are asked to introspect and report their conscious experience, with their brain activity recorded
- tells them which brain regions are essential and sufficient for consciousness
can a “virtual-reality” brain, on its own, without the “real” brain, GENERATE consciousness?
NO
can we be certain that our own brain is not such a “virtual-reality” version of some “real”, “invisible” consciousness generator?
NO
what is the hard problem of consciousness?
- the hard problem of consciousness concerns “building a brain that can GENERATE consciousness”
- goal is to understand the nature of conscious experience (e.g., HOW our pain experience feels different from our visual experience) and what is structurally, functionally unique about the brain that allows it to GENERATE consciousness (structural basis of consciousness) (functional basis of consciousness)
conscious experience comes in … ?
fundamentally distinct forms, including spatial experience, time experience, emotional experience etc.
do different neurons possess the same form of activation?
YES
the anterior cortex is evolutionarily ___ and related to … ?
- young
- related to behaviour and intelligence
the posterior cortex is evolutionarily … ?
old
what does the older view say about the anterior cortex and consciousness?
- AC responsible for consciousness
- consciousness is “advanced” brain function, preserved for limited species
what does the newer view say about the posterior cortex and consciousness?
- PC is responsible for consciousness
- consciousness is widespread, as the feeling of life
how do we measure dream consciousness?
during sleep
why do we need to keep the sensory input the brain receives from the environment and the behavioural output the brain sends to the environment unchanged?
so we can disentangle neural correlates of consciousness from neural correlates of sensory processing or behaviour
what happens to the brain during sleep?
- during the entire period of sleep, the brain is disconnected from the environment, on the sensory-input side; the brain receives no sensory input from the environment
what happens to the brain within NREM sleep?
the brain is disconnected from the environment, on the behavioural-output side; the brain gives no behaviour output to the environment
