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PSYC1020 - Final > Ch. 5: Consciousness > Flashcards

Ch. 5: Consciousness Flashcards

1
Q

Define consciousness

A

a person’s subjective experience of the world and the mind; the defining feature of consciousness is experience, not necessarily “being awake”

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2
Q

What is phenomenology?

A

The study of how things seem to the conscious person

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3
Q

What is the Problem of Other Minds?

A

the fundamental difficulty we have in perceiving the consciousness of others; there is no way to tell if another person’s experience is anything like yours and no one but you knows what it is like to be you

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4
Q

What are the two dimensions of the perception of minds?

A

Experience: ability to feel pain, pleasure, hunger, consciousness, anger, fear, etc.

Agency: the ability for self-control, planning, memory, or thought

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5
Q

What does “perception of minds” mean?

A

The way people rank different beings based on the beings’ mind activities, with some having more/less experience and others having more/less agency

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6
Q

What is the mind-body problem, and how do we explain it today?

A

the issue of how the mind is related to the brain and body; the mind is what the brain does

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7
Q

What is the Turing test?

A

a method of demonstrating that a machine is able to act in ways that are indistinguishable from humans; a machine/computer is said to have passed the test if an observer is unable to accurately determine which party in an interaction is a machine and which is human

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8
Q

What are the 4 basic properties of consciousness?

A
  1. Intentionality
  2. Unity
  3. Selectivity
  4. Transience
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9
Q

What is intentionality when it comes to consciousness?

A

the quality of being directed towards an object; we perceive many details of the world around us, but our consciousness is focused on just one small part of that at any given time

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10
Q

What is unity when it comes to consciousness?

A

the ability to integrate information from all of the body’s senses into one coherent whole

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11
Q

What is selectivity when it comes to consciousness?

A

the capacity to include some objects but not others

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12
Q

What is dichotic listening?

A

a task in which people wearing headphones hear different messages in each ear; participants are able to filter out the irrelevant information and do not notice changes to it in an effort to tune in to the desired message; an example of the property of selectivity of consciousness

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13
Q

What is the cocktail party phenomenon?

A

a phenomenon in which people tune into one message even while they filter out others nearby; the consciousness system is most inclined to select information of special interest to the listener (ex. Their own name); an example of the property of selectivity of consciousness

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14
Q

What is transience?

A

streams of consciousness wander and can be whirling or chaotic; our consciousness may flow in this way partly because of the limited capacity of the conscious mind (when we select more information, some of what is currently there must disappear, and so our focus keeps changing)

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15
Q

What is minimal consciousness?

A

a low-level kind of sensory awareness and responsiveness that occurs when the mind inputs sensations and may output behaviour (ex. Rolling over if someone touches you while you’re asleep); something seems to register in out mind, at least in the sense that you experience it, but you may not think at all about having had the experience

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16
Q

What is full consciousness?

A

having an experiences and simultaneously being aware that you are having the experience; a level of consciousness in which you know and are able to report your mental state; involves a certain consciousness of oneself (the person notices the self in a particular mental state; “I am reading my textbook right now”)

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17
Q

What is self-consciousness?

A

a distinct level of consciousness in which the person’s attention is drawn to the self as an object; happens to most people when they are embarrassed, the focus of attention in a group, are being photographed, or are deeply introspective about their thoughts/feelings/personal qualities

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18
Q

What is a coma?

A

patients appear to be completely unaware, or deeply asleep; their eyes are closed, they do not communicate, and they do not respond when someone shouts their name or pinches their toe

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19
Q

What is a vegetative state?

A

patients alternate between an eyes-open and eyes-closed state and there are regular periods of time where they appear to be “awake”; they may move their limbs and eyes, smile, swallow, moan, or scream, but none of these behaviours are produced reliably in response to external stimulation

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20
Q

What is a minimally conscious state?

A

patients can respond reliably but somewhat inconsistently to sensory stimulation

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21
Q

What is locked-in syndrome?

A

patients are fully awake but cannot demonstrate it because they cannot move any voluntary muscles; some are able to move their eyes and use this ability to communicate

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22
Q

What is Experience Sampling, or Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), and what does it show us?

A

people are asked to report their conscious experiences at particular times (ex. With survey apps loaded onto their smartphone which prompt them to record their thoughts at random times throughout the day); shows that consciousness is dominated by the immediate environment (what we see, feel, hear, taste, and smell)

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23
Q

What is daydreaming, and why is it significant?

A

a state of consciousness in which a seemingly purposeless flow of thoughts comes to mind; demonstrates that the brain is active even when it has no specific task at hand

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24
Q

What are default networks?

A

areas of the brain that are involved in thinking about social life, the self, and the past/future; active in daydreaming and tasks that one is able to do while daydreaming

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25
Q

What is mental control?

A

the attempt to change conscious states of mind (ex. Trying not to think about a recurring worry about the future)

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26
Q

What is thought suppression?

A

the conscious avoidance of a thought

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27
Q

What is the rebound effect of thought suppression?

A

the tendency of a thought to return to consciousness with greater frequency following suppression

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28
Q

What is the ironic process of mental control, and when is it most likely to occur?

A

a process of the mind that works outside of consciousness, making us sensitive to all the things we do not want to think, feel, or do so that we can notice and consciously take steps to regain control if these things come back to mind; ironic errors occur because the mental process that monitors errors can itself produce them; most likely to occur when a person is distracted or under stress

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29
Q

What is dynamic unconsciousness, and who is it attributed to?

A

an active system encompassing a lifetime of hidden memories, the person’s deepest instincts and desires, and the person’s inner struggle to control these forces; Freud

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30
Q

What is repression, and who is it attributed to?

A

a mental process that removes unacceptable thoughts and memories from consciousness and keeps them in the unconscious; Freud

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31
Q

What are Freudian slips?

A

supposed evidence of the unconscious mind in speech errors and lapses of consciousness; these errors are not random and have some meaning that appears to have been created by an intelligent unconscious mind, even though the person consciously disavows them

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32
Q

What is the cognitive unconscious?

A

includes all the mental processes that give rise to a person’s thoughts, choices, emotions, and behaviour even though they are not experienced by the person

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33
Q

What are dual process theories?

A

suggest that we have two different systems in our brains for processing information: one dedicated to fast, automatic, and unconscious processing and the other dedicated to slow, effortful, and conscious processing

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34
Q

In dual process theory, when is system 1 used?

A

when you effortlessly engage in activities (reading familiar words, solving problems like 2+2, walking down the street, etc.); helps you efficiently navigate your daily life

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35
Q

In dual process theory, when is system 2 used?

A

when you rationally and intentionally work to complete a task, such as answering quiz questions, solving problems like 245x32, placing an order at a restaurant, etc.; becomes engaged when more serious mental effort is involved

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36
Q

What is the unconscious mind better at than the conscious mind when it comes to decision-making?

A

the unconscious mind seems to be better able to sort out complex information and arrive at the best choice when faced with complicated decisions

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37
Q

What is an altered state of consciousness? When does it happen?

A

a form of experience that departs significantly from the normal subjective experience of the world and the mind; accompanied by changes in thinking, disturbances in the sense of time, feelings of loss of control, changes in emotional expression, alterations in body image and senes of self, perceptual distortions, and changes in meaning/significance; what happens in dreams

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38
Q

What is a hypnagotic state?

A

pre-sleep consciousness; task-oriented thoughts of the waking mind are replaced by wandering thoughts and images, almost dreamlike

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39
Q

What is a hypnopompic state?

A

post-sleep consciousness; a foggy and imprecise form of consciousness

40
Q

What types of brain waves are present during awake periods?

A

Beta waves (high-frequency) during alertness and alpha waves (low frequency) during relaxation

41
Q

What type of brain wave is present during the first stage of sleep?

A

Theta waves (lower than alpha)

42
Q

What type of brain wave is present in the second stage of sleep?

A

Theta waves interrupted by sleep spindles or K complexes (short bursts of activity)

43
Q

What is the deepest stage of sleep?

A

Stage 3/4

44
Q

What type of brain wave is present in stage 3/4 of sleep?

A

Delta waves (aka slow-wave sleep)

45
Q

What is REM sleep characterized by?

A
  • Rapid eye movements
  • High frequency sawtooth waves (similar to beta waves)
  • Higher likelihood of dreaming
  • Higher heart rate and blood pressure
  • Paralysis of large muscles
46
Q

Describe a typical night’s sleep

A
  • Fall from stage 1 to 4
  • Rise back from 4 to 2
  • REM
  • Repeated alternation between REM and deeper sleep stages, with the time between REM stages decreasing as the night goes on
  • Stage 1, awake
47
Q

How many hours do newborns typically sleep in a day?

A

Over 16 hours, spaced out between 6-8 naps

48
Q

When do babies start sleeping through the night?

A

Between 9 and 18 months of age

49
Q

How many hours of sleep does a 6 year old need?

A

11-12 hours

50
Q

How many hours of sleep do adults need?

A

About 7 hours

51
Q

What are some effects of sleep deprivation in general?

A
  • Memory deterioriation/loss of learning
  • Reduced mental acuity/reaction time
  • Increased irritability and depression
  • Increased risk of accidents
52
Q

What can a lack of REM sleep cause?

A
  • Memory problems
  • Excessive aggrivation
  • A rebound of more REM sleep the next night
53
Q

What can deprivation of slow-wave sleep (stage 3/4) cause?

A

-Physical effects like fatigue and hypersensitivity to pain

54
Q

What is insomnia, and what can cause it?

A

The most common sleep disorder, which causes difficulty falling or staying asleep; caused by lifestyle factors (ex. working night shifts), another medical condition (ex. depression, anxiety, chronic illness; called secondary insomnia), or no obvious reason (primary insomnia)

55
Q

Why is long term use of sedative medications not effective?

A
  • Can become addictive
  • People can develop a tolerance
  • Interfere with the normal sleep cycle
  • Reduce the proportion of time spent in REM and slow wave sleep
  • Stopping can result in worsened insomnia than before
56
Q

What is sleep apnea, and how is it treated?

A

a disorder in which the person stops breathing for brief periods while asleep; the person usually snores because apnea involves an involuntary obstruction of the breathing passage

Treated with weight loss, drugs, CPAP/BIPAP masks, and surgery

57
Q

What is somnambulism, and when does it most often happen?

A

when a person arises and walks around while asleep; most common in children between 5 and 8 and tends to happen early in the night during slow-wave sleep

58
Q

What is narcolepsy?

A

a disorder in which sudden sleep attacks occur in the middle of waking activities; involves an intrusion of a dreaming state of sleep and is often accompanied by excessive sleepiness and uncontrollable sleep attacks

59
Q

What is sleep paralysis, and what is it associated with?

A

the experience of waking up unable to move, and can be accompanied by hypnopompic (when awakening) or hypnagogic (when falling asleep) hallucinations where dreams appear to be happening in the real world

Associated with narcolepsy and awakening from REM sleep

60
Q

What are night terrors, and when are they most common?

A

abrupt awakenings with panic and intense emotional arousal

most common in children and usually happen in non-REM sleep early in the sleep cycle

61
Q

What 5 characteristics of dreaming distinguish it from a waking state?

A
  1. We intensely feel emotion
  2. Dream thought is illogical (continuities of time, place, and person do not apply)
  3. Sensation is fully formed and meaningful (although pain is uncommon)
  4. Dreaming occurs with uncritical acceptance
  5. We have difficulty remembering the dream after it is over (often only remembered if a person is awakened during the dream, and even then the dream is forgotten within a few minutes)
62
Q

What is day residue?

A

dreams about mundane topics that reflect prior waking experiences; tend to single out sensory experiences or objects rather than simply being a replay of that event

63
Q

Who is more likely to experience nightmares more often?

A

Children and those who have experienced traumatic events

64
Q

What is the wish fulfillment theory of dreaming?

A

Freud’s proposed theory of dreams that stated dream are confusing/obscure because the dynamic unconscious creates them that way; dreams represent wishes, and some of these wishes are so unacceptable that the mind can express them only in a disguised form

65
Q

What is manifest content when it comes to dreams?

A

In the wish fulfillment theory of dreaming, a dream’s apparent topic or superficial meaning; a smokescreen for its latent content

66
Q

What is latent content when it comes to dreams?

A

In the wish fulfillment theory of dreaming, a dream’s true underlying meaning

67
Q

What is the activation-synthesis theory of dreaming?

A

the theory that dreams are produced when the brain attempts to make sense of random neural activity that occurs during sleep; the context clues we get from the outside world are not present, which is why the regular ‘rules’ of life don’t apply (time, space, people morphing into different people, etc.)

68
Q

Which brain areas are especially active during dreaming, and what suggests/confirms this?

A
  • areas responsible for fear and emotion
  • suggested by the emotional/fear-based nature of many dreams
  • confirmed by fMRI scans showing the amygdala being very active
69
Q

Which senses appear most in dreams, and which the least?

A

Most to least:

  1. seeing
  2. hearing
  3. feeling
  4. tasting and smelling
70
Q

Are visual perception areas active during dreaming? Why or why not?

A

No, but visual ASSOCIATION areas are; the brain is smart enough to realize it is not really seeing the bizarre images of dreams, but is instead acting as thought it’s imagining the bizarre things

71
Q

Why do dreams appear unplanned and rambling?

A

The prefrontal cortex shows less arousal during REM sleep than during waking consciousness

72
Q

What is lucid dreaming, and what causes it?

A

a state in which a person becomes aware they are dreaming while still in a sleep and dream state; people who experience them show greater connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and the association areas of the brain that are typically deactivated during sleep

73
Q

Describe how positive and negative reinforcement create addiction

A

Positive reinforcement: repeating the use of a drug because the person was rewarded with a positive psychoactive state

Negative enforcement: when a drug has become less rewarding over time, people may continue to use it in order to avoid/relieve withdrawal symptoms

74
Q

What are the 3 primary factors in the addiction process?

A
  1. Drug tolerance
  2. Physical dependence
  3. Psychological dependence
75
Q

What are depressants? Provide some examples

A 
substances that reduce the activity of the central nervous system; have a sedative/calming effect, can induce sleep and respiratory arrest in high doses, and can produce both physical and psychological dependence
	• Alcohol
	• Barbituates
	• Benzos
	• Toxic inhalants (glue, gasoline)
76
Q

What two theories explain why people have different reactions to alcohol?

A

Expectancy Theory and Alcohol Myopia

77
Q

What is Expectancy Theory when it comes to alcohol use?

A

suggests that alcohol effects can be produced by people’s expectations of how alcohol will influence them in particular situations (ex. If you have seen friends and family drink at a wedding and have a lot of fun, you are more likely to experience this with alcohol has well)

78
Q

What is Alcohol Myopia when it comes to alcohol use?

A

proposes that alcohol hampers attention, leading people to respond in simple ways to complex situations; alcohol makes it hard to appreciate the subtlety of different options, resulting in an inappropriate response to veer full tilt one way or the other

79
Q

What are stimulants? Provide some examples

A 
substances that excite the central nervous system, heightening arousal and activity levels; increase the levels of dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain, inducing higher levels of activity in the brain circuits that depend on these neurotransmitters; produce increased energy/alertness, euphoria, confidence, and an agitated motivation to get things done; produce physical and psychological dependence and have withdrawal symptoms involving depressive effects (fatigue, negative emotions, etc.)
	• Caffeine
	• Modafinil
	• Ecstasy
	• Amphetamines
80
Q

What are narcotics (opiates)? Provide some examples

A 
highly addictive drugs derived from opium that relieve pain; induce a sense of wellbeing and relaxation, and potentially stupor or lethargy; addictive and long term use can result in tolerance and dependence; usually injected; withdrawal likely
	• Opium
	• Heroin
	• Morphine
	• Methadone
	• Codeine
	• Oxy
81
Q

What created the opioid crisis?

A
  • Faulty reporting of research in the 1980s and 90s suggested that the risk of addiction to prescription opioids was low
  • Pharmaceutical companies pushed this message and prescribing of these medications increased sharply in the 90s
  • The drugs were misused and many people with prescriptions became addicted, and easy access to the drugs made it easy to feed the addiction
82
Q

What are hallucinogens? Provide some examples

A 
alter sensation and perception and often cause visual and auditory hallucinations; sensations may seem unusually intense, stationary objects may appear to move or change, patterns or colours may appear, and emotions may be exaggerated; unlikely to be addictive, do not produce significant tolerance/dependence, and overdose is rare
	• LSD
	• Mescaline
	• Shrooms
	• PCP
	• Ketamine
83
Q

Which receptors does cannabis act on?

A

Anandamide receptors: regulate mood, memory, appetite, and pain perception

84
Q

What is hypnosis?

A

a social interaction in which one person (the hypnotist) makes suggestions that lead to a change in another person’s (the participant’s) subjective experience of the world; leading people to expect that certain things will happen to them that are outside their conscious will

85
Q

What is the best indicator of someone’s hypnotic susceptibility?

A

The person’s own judgement; if they think they are susceptible then they likely will be

86
Q

What is posthypnotic amnesia?

A

the failure to retrieve memories following hypnotic suggestions to forget; can be reversed in subsequent hypnosis (only memories lost while under hypnosis can be retrieved through hypnosis)

87
Q

What is hypnotic analgesia?

A

the reduction of pain through hypnosis in people who are susceptible to hypnosis; studies has shown it may be more effective than drugs, acupuncture, or placebo

88
Q

What acronym can help you list the stage of sleep in order from lightest to deepest?

A

B - beta
A - alpha
T - theta
D - delta

89
Q

What are zeitgebers?

A

external cues that synchronize out internal clock to external time (ex. light, social activity)

90
Q

What are clock genes and how are they expressed?

A

expressed in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN, “master clock”) in the hypothalamus; registers light, controls hormone secretion (cortisol and melatonin - wake/sleep), and dictates our chronotype

91
Q

What is an EEG and what does it measure?

A

Electroencephalograph - brain activity

92
Q

What is an EOG and what does it measure?

A

Electrooculograph - eye movement

93
Q

What is an EMG and what does it measure?

A

Electromyograph - muscle tension

94
Q

Describe the characteristics of NREM-2 sleep

A
  • Sleep spindles
  • Lower heart rate
  • Relaxed muscles
  • Consolidation of new skills
95
Q

What brain processes happen in NREM-3/4?

A
  • body housekeeping and repair

- neuroplasticity

96
Q

What are the 3 functions of sleep?

A
  • to preserve energy/resources and protect the body from harm
  • to restore depleated energy and repair wear and tear on the body
  • to solidify memories and learning
97
Q

What 3 manipulations are used when studying sleep deprivation?

A
  • total deprivation
  • partial deprivation
  • selective deprivation

PSYC1020 - Final (3 decks)

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