Chapter 2

Question 1

The functions of consciousness are to

Answer 1

Consciousness as a monitor is analogous to a continuously moving video camera, surveying potentially significant perceptions, thoughts, emotions, goals and problem-solving strategies. The regulatory or control function allows us to initiate and terminate thought and behaviour in order to obtain goals.

Question 2

The alertness component of consciousness appears to be regulated by

Answer 2

Alertness is the capacity to maintain focus in, for example, anxiety-providing situations over long periods of time. A whole network of neurons from the reticular formation (involved in regulating states of alertness) through the frontal lobes appear to be involved in alertness.

Question 3

The idea that consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings and perceptions is associated with

Answer 3

William James viewed consciousness as a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings and perceptions.

Question 4

Qualitatively different patterns of subjective experience are called

Answer 4

States of consciousness are qualitatively different patterns of subjective experience and include ways of experiencing both internal and external events.

Question 5

Two functions of consciousness are

Answer 5

Consciousness monitors the self and the environment by surveying potentially significant perceptions, thoughts, emotions, goals and problem-solving strategies. It also regulates thought and behaviour, allowing people to initiate and terminate thought and behaviour in order to attain goals.

Question 6

The cognitive unconscious primarily includes

Answer 6

The cognitive unconscious of cognitive research refers to information-processing mechanisms that operate outside of awareness rather than information the person is motivated to keep from awareness.

Question 7

One of the strengths of unconscious cognitive processes is the ability to

Answer 7

Information processing is said to occur simultaneously in multiple, relatively separate neural networks, most of which are unconscious. The brain synthesises a unitary conscious experience from the various activated unconscious networks, ‘highlighting’ those that best fit the data.

Question 8

Consciousness in the sense of subjective awareness may be found

Answer 8

The reticular formation extends throughout much of the hindbrain and sends axons through the midbrain. These fibres synapse with nuclei in the thalamus, which then synapse with parts of the cortex.

Question 9

A consulting physician in the intensive care unit of a hospital is informed that the patient being seen has suffered trauma to her reticular formation. The doctor can infer that the patient is

Answer 9

Damage to the reticular formation in humans through head injury can lead to a loss of consciousness or coma.

Question 10

In addition to the influence of light and dark, human circadian rhythms are controlled by

Answer 10

Human circadian rhythms
are controlled largely by the hypothalamus but are influence by light and dark. A special neural tract that projects from the retina to the hypothalamus responds only to relatively intense light, such as sunlight.

Question 11

Which of the following mental processes are NOT parts of the Psychodynamic view of cognition? Mental processes that

Answer 11

Freud identified three levels of consciousness: conscious mental processes (subjective awareness of stimuli, feelings, and ideas); preconscious mental processes (those that are not presently conscious but could be readily brought into consciousness); and unconsciousness mental processes (those that are inaccessible to consciousness because they are too anxiety provoking).

Question 12

According to what was stated in the textbook, I could lose _____ and still remain conscious.

Answer 12

A person would experience coma or loss of consciousness if they sustained damage to the reticular formation but in contrast, they could maintain consciousness even when losing an entire cerebral hemisphere.

Question 13

According to the biological perspective, dreams are nonsense because:

Answer 13

From the biological perspective, dreams have no meaning at all. They simply reflect cortical interpretations of random neural signals initiated by the midbrain during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.

Question 14

According to the biological view, during NREM sleep, I am:

Answer 14

During NREM (non- rapid eye movement) sleep, the hippocampus replays what it has learned during the day and activates relevant parts of the cortex to consolidate the memory.

Question 15

Drug effects:

Answer 15

Native Americans using peyote (derived from a cactus plant) in religious rituals, typically experience visions congruent with their religious beliefs, feelings of religious awe, and relief from physical ailments.

Question 16

As proposed by _______, dreams express current concerns of one sort or another, in a language with its own peculiar grammar. For example, the thought, ‘I am worried about my upcoming exam’, might be translated into a dream about falling off a cliff.

Answer 16

Foulkes
proposed that dreams simply express current concerns of one sort or
another, in a language with its own peculiar grammar.

Question 17

During REM sleep, I am:

Answer 17

Most dreaming occurs

in REM sleep and old memories are erased.

Question 18

Gareth is taking part in a study as a participant that requires him to carry an electronic pager with him for a week. When he is paged, he has to complete a series of questions concerning his activities at the time. The method being used in Gareth’s study is:

Answer 18

Experience-sampling
techniques are used to study the normal flow of consciousness as it happens and is used to get participants to report on the contents of their conscious experiences at specified times.

Question 19

A thought pops into my head and I suddenly get up and go get some Indian food for dinner. Based on what the authors of your textbook state about the functions of consciousness, the fact that I actively chose to behave in a certain way, and not as a result of reflex action, is likely to be attributed to the activation of the:

Answer 19

Neuroimaging studies suggest the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is involved in working memory and conscious decision-making, is activated when people exercise conscious control.

Question 20

Malcolm has lesions to the primary visual cortex of the occipital lobe. Malcolm is shown an object; which one of the following statements is not true?

Answer 20

Malcolm may have some recognition of the object, however this knowledge cannot be consciously accessed.

Question 21

Olivia is participating in a study that is researching the stages of sleep. The researchers are probably using:

Answer 21

To study the stages of sleep, researchers use EEG.

Question 22

Your boss sends you from Sydney to London to finalise an important business deal. You arrive but find yourself tired, easily annoyed, and short- tempered. You attribute this to jet lag due to a disruption in:

Answer 22

A circadian rhythm is a cyclical biological process that evolved around the daily cycles of light and dark. Crossing time zones disrupts this rhythm by interfering with the production of melatonin.

Question 23

I wake up from a dream gasping for air. My wife asks what my dream was about. She is asking for its:

Answer 23

The psychodynamic view of dreams assumes that they have a meaning that must be deciphered in a process which translates the manifest content (what the dream appears to be about) and latent content (what the dream is symbolically about).

Question 24

A friend, knowing that I am a psychologist, asks me to explain a dream she had and considers to be very strange. She hopes to get at the dream’s:

Answer 24

The psychodynamic view of dreams assumes that they have a meaning that must be deciphered in a process which translates the manifest content (what the dream appears to be about) and latent content (what the dream is symbolically about).

Question 25

Professor Black believes that dreams are essentially the cortex trying to interpret the random neural signals from the midbrain. It is most likely that Dr Black is a _________ researcher.

Answer 25

One biological theory of dreaming is that the cortex produces dreams as interpretations of random midbrain activity during REM sleep.

Question 26

A group of friends and I went to a show with a famous hypnotist. My friend went on stage and was deeply hypnotised in no time. She displays:

Answer 26

Not everyone can be
hypnotised. The capacity of an individual to enter deep hypnotic states
depends on their hypnotic susceptibility.

Question 27

I lie down on my bed and find that I am intent on focusing on the feelings that exist at the point where my fingertips touch each other and on my heart rate. I feel very relaxed. I must be:

Answer 27

Meditation involves
focusing attention on a simple stimulus (such as the feelings of your fingers touching) or concentrating on stimuli that are usually in the background of awareness, such as one’s breathing.