Chapter 5: Consciousness Flashcards
Consciousness
person’s subjective (and limited) experience of the world and the mind
Phenomenology
how things seem to the conscious person in their understanding of mind and behavior
Problem of other minds
fundamental difficulty we have in perceiving the consciousness of others
Two dimensions for mind perception
Capacity for experience (ability to feel pain, pleasure, hunger, consciousness, anger, or fear) and capacity for agency or control (ability for self-control, planning, memory, or thought)
Mind-body problem
issue of how the mind is related to the brain and body
What did René Descartes believe to be the center of the soul and consciousness?
Pineal gland
Does brain activity or conscious thinking come first (Libet test)?
Brain activity (EEG) > Conscious decision to act (clock reading) > Action occurs (EMG)
Four basic properties of consciousness
intentionality, unity, selectivity, transience
Intentionality
quality of being directed or focused towards an object
Unity
resistance to division or the ability to integrate information from all the body’s senses in one coherent whole
Selectivity
capacity to include some objects but not others; either filter out or tune in some information e.g. cocktail party effect and binocular rivalry
Dichotic listening
people wearing headphones hear different messages in each ear
Transience
tendency to change; “stream of consciousness”
Minimal consciousness
low-level kind of sensory awareness and responsiveness that occurs when the mind inputs sensations and may output behavior
Full consciousness
you know and are able to report your mental state; awareness of experience
Self-consciousness
distinct level of consciousness in which the person’s attention is drawn to the self as an object
Unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (COMA)
when people emerge from a COMA, eyes open, have sleep/wake cycles, do not respond to external stimuli for more than a month, still activity in regions of the brain stem
Vegetative state
alternate between eyes-open and eyes-closed state, periods of time where they appear to be awake but none of the behaviors are produced reliably in response to external stimulation
Minimally conscious state (COMA)
when people emerge from a COMA, can respond reliably e.g. following an object with eyes but somewhat inconsistently to sensory stimulation
Locked-in syndrome
rare condition where patients are fully aware but cannot demonstrate it because they cannot move any voluntary muscles; not a disorder of consciousness
Experience sampling or ecological momentary assessment (EMA)
people are asked to report their conscious experiences at particular times
Daydreaming or wandering mind
state of consciousness in which a seemingly purposeless flow of thoughts comes to mind, brain is active
Mental control
attempt to change conscious states of mind
Thought suppression
conscious avoidance of a thought
Rebound of thought suppression
tendency of a thought to return to consciousness with greater frequency following active suppression
Theory of ironic processes of mental control
Such ironic errors occur because the mental process that monitors errors can itself produce them; ironic monitor works outside of consciousness
Dynamic unconscious - Freud
an active system encompassing a lifetime of hidden memories, person’s deepest instincts and desires, and inner struggle to control these forces
Repression
a mental process that removes unacceptable thoughts and memories from consciousness and keeps them in the unconscious
Cognitive unconscious
includes all mental processes that give rise to a person’s thoughts, choices, emotions, and behavior even though they are not experienced by the person
Dual process theories
we have two different systems in our brains for processing information: System 1 and System 2
System 1
dedicated to fast, automatic, unconscious processing
System 2
dedicated to slow, effortful, and conscious processing
Sleep, an altered state of consciousness
form of experience that departs significantly from the normal subjective experience of the world and mind
Hypnagogic state
pre-sleep consciousness wherein you experience wandering thoughts and images
Hypnic jerk
sudden quiver or sensation of dropping
Hypnopompic state
post-sleep consciousness; waking consciousness returns in a foggy and imprecise form
Circadian rhythm
a naturally occurring 24-hour cycle accompanied by a regular pattern of changes in electrical activity in the brain (recorded by EEG)
Beta waves
high frequency activity during alertness
Alpha waves
lower-frequency activity during relaxation
Five stages of sleep - temporal changes in EEG recordings
(1) Theta waves- lower than alpha waves (2) Short bursts of activity called sleep spindles, and K complexes, more difficult to awaken (3 & 4) Slow-wave sleep with lowest frequency delta waves, deepest stages (5) REM sleep- rapid eye movements and high level of brain activity, high-frequency sawtooth waves like beta
Electrooculograph (EOG)
instrument that measures eye movements
REM sleep
frequent (real time) dreams when wakened during this stage, pulse quickens, blood pressure rises, sexual arousal, still except rapid side-to-side movement of eyes
Cycles of sleep stages
From waking to the fourth and deepest stage, delta waves with synchronized neural firing, to lighter sleep stages, then REM sleep (lighter than others but deep enough that you are difficult to awaken); REM gets longer while slow-wave sleep eventually disappears
Effects of sleep deprivation
Detrimental effect on memory, mental acuity, reaction time, increases irritability and depression, risk of accidents and injury
Insomnia
difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep; desire to sleep increases sensitivity to signs of sleeplessness, which interfere with sleep
Sleep apnea
disorder in which the person stops breathing for brief periods while asleep, usually snores due to involuntary obstruction of the breathing passage
Somnambulism or sleepwalking
when a person arises and walks around usually during slow-wave sleep early in the night, with eyes open and a glassy look; more common in children (4-8)
Narcolepsy
chronic sleep disorder where sudden sleep attacks occur in the middle of waking activities, intrusion of a dreaming state of sleep (REM) into waking, genetic
Sleep paralysis
experience of waking up unable to move usually as you are awakening from REM but before regaining motor control, sometimes associated with narcolepsy, can be accompanied by hypnopompic (when awakening) or hypnagogic (when falling asleep) hallucinations
Night terrors or sleep terrors
abrupt awakenings with panic and intense emotional arousal often in non-REM sleep early in the cycle with no dream content, sometimes paired with somnambulism
5 major characteristics of dream consciousness that distinguish it from the waking state
(1) Feeling intense emotion (2) Dream thought is illogical (3) Sensation is fully formed and meaningful- visual is predominant (4) Occurs with uncritical acceptance as if it’s normal (5) Difficulty remembering the dream
Freud’s theory of dreams
Manifest content, the apparent topic or superficial meaning, obscures its latent content, the dream’s underlying meaning (unwanted thoughts); Dreams begin with meaning
Activation-synthesis model
dreams are produced when the brain attempts to make sense of random neural activity during sleep, involves emotion and visual imagery but not planning (prefrontal cortex); Dreams begin randomly then meaning is added
Brain areas activated while dreaming (fMRI)
Amygdala (responses to threatening or stressful events), Visual association areas in the occipital lobe responsible for visual imagery (not perception), the motor cortex (but movement is inhibited), and the brainstem
Brain area deactivated while dreaming
Prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for planning and executing actions
Lucid dreaming
state in which a person becomes aware that he or she is dreaming while still in a sleep and dream state; greater connectivity between prefrontal cortex and association areas that are typically deactivated
Psychoactive drugs
chemicals that influence consciousness or behavior by altering the brain’s chemical message system (functioning of neurotransmitters)
Positive reinforcement of drugs
increase in the likelihood of a behavior after being rewarded; repeating the use of psychoactive drugs because they induce a positive psychological state
Negative reinforcement of drugs
increase in the likelihood of a behavior following the removal of an aversive state; people continue using psychoactive drugs to alleviate withdrawal symptoms from after the drug leaves their system
Three primary factors that are influential in drug addiction (positive to negative reinforcement)
drug tolerance, physical dependence, psychological dependence
Drug tolerance
tendency for larger drug doses to be required over time to achieve the same effect i.e. greater doses of drugs to dampen the same pain which can lead to drug overdose
Physical dependence
to prevent pain, convulsions, hallucinations, or other unpleasant symptoms that accompany withdrawal from drug use
Psychological dependence
strong desire to return to the drug even when physical withdrawal symptoms are gone
Types of psychoactive drugs
depressants, stimulants, narcotics, hallucinogens
Depressants
substances that reduce the activity of the CNS, have a sedative/calming effect, produce both physical and psychological dependence
Alcohol as the “king” of depressants
increases activity of the neurotransmitter GABA like other depressants yet people react very differently
Expectancy Theory
alcohol effects can be produced by people’s expectations of how alcohol will influence them in particular situations
Alcohol Myopia
alcohol hampers attention, leading people to respond in simple ways to complex situations
Stimulants e.g. caffeine, amphetamines, nicotine, and cocaine
substances that excite the CNS, heightening arousal and activity levels by increasing levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, and promote physical and psychological dependence, elicits euphoria and confidence/motivation
Ecstacy
a stimulant known for making users feel empathic and close to those around them but has unpleasant side effects, can lead to some dependence
Cocaine
Produces exhilaration and euphoria and are seriously addictive, causes dependence and potentially lethal side effects
Narcotics or opiates e.g. heroin, morphine, and codeine
highly addictive drugs derived from opium that relive pain by inducing a feeling of well-being and relaxation, but also stupor and lethargy, creates both tolerance and dependence, drug properties closely related to endorphins
Hallucinogens e.g. LSD and ketamine
produce the most extreme alterations of consciousness, alters sensation and perception and often cause visual and auditory hallucinations, unlikely to be addictive, do not induce significant tolerance or dependence
Gateway drug
drug (e.g. marijuana, alcohol. and tobacco) whose use increases risk of the subsequent use of more harmful drugs
Hypnosis
social interaction in which one person (hypnotist) makes suggestions that lead to a change in another person’s (participant) subjective experience of the world
Posthypnotic amnesia
people susceptible to hypnosis experience the failure to retrieve memories following hypnotic suggestions to forget
Hypnotic analgesia
reduction of pain through hypnosis in people who are susceptible to it
Selective visual attention
consciously perceiving only a part of the stimulus
Philosophical zombie problem
How challenging it is to study consciousness of others: a zombie is programmed to say “Ouch!” despite not feeling pain when it is poked
Chinese room problem
A philosopher is faced with random Chinese characters he doesn’t know anything about and given a book with instructions. He is able to construct meaningful sentences, leading a Chinese speaker outside the room to think they are speaking to another Chinese speaker.
Turing test
A thought experiment where an observer has to determine which is the person and which is the computer (artificial intelligence) when in conversation; computer passes if the observer is unable to determine accurately which is which
Libet test
A participant is asked to move their fingers at their own will while reporting the time they move, an EEG measures their brain activity and an EMG measures muscle movement
Attentional blink
Focusing on the first target depletes the observer’s limited attention, making them blind to the second target
Hemispatial neglect
neuropsychological disorder caused by damage to one hemisphere where there is deficit in attention to and awareness of one side of the visual field, occurs across modalities (visual and tactile)
Blindsight
some people who have lost their vision find a “second sight” and somehow their unconscious mind guide their behavior correctly
Subliminal perception
stimulus below an individual’s threshold for conscious perception is registered and processed without our awareness, and guides our behavior
Interocular suppression
invisible stimulus can attract attention, an image presented to one eye suppressed another image presented to the other eye
Freudian slip
an unconscious error that reveals unconscious feelings
Stroop task
Facilitation: color of the text and name of the color (automated), Interference: control condition with random words assigned different colors, or color of the text is mismatched with the name of the color
Brain death
irreversible loss of brain function, no brain activity, placed on artificial life support machine
When is the default mode network activated?
when people daydream while engaging in a familiar mental task, also when someone has schizophrenia (overactivation), ADHD or depression (increased)
When is the default mode network suppressed?
when people are actively focused on a task, also when someone has alzheimer’s disease (reduced activation)
What happens to the brain when asleep?
Superchiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus receives information about the amount of light in the environment and sends a signal to the pineal gland, which secretes melatonin to the bloodstream
