Chapter 5: Consciousness Flashcards
Consciousness
A person’s subjective experience of the world and the mind.
Phenomenology
The study of how thing seem to the conscious person.
The Problem of Other Minds
The fundamental difficulty we have in perceiving the consciousness of others.
Experience
Ability to feel pain, pleasure, hunger, anger)
Agency
Ability for self-control, planning, memory.
Behaviourism
Rejects the idea of consciousness since it is unobservable.
The Mind-Body Problem
The issue of how the mind is related to the brain and body.
Rene Descartes
Proposed that the human body is a machine made of physical matter but that the human mind or soul is a separate entity made of “thinking substance”.
What comes first the thinking or the doing?
Neither, the brain starts before either occur.
Turing Test
Observing a conversation between a computer and a human and not being able to tell the difference.
Four Basic Properties of Consciousness
Intentionality, Unity, Selectivity, and Transience
Intentionality
The quality of being directed towards an object.
Unity
The ability to integrate information from all the body’s senses into one coherent whole.
Selectivity
The capacity to include some objects but not others.
Dichotic Listening
A task in which people wearing headphones hear different messages in each ear.
Cocktail-Party Phenomemon
A phenomenon in which people tune in one message even while they filter out others nearby.
Transience
The tendency to change.
Stream of Consciousness
Natural flow of human thought. We can only hold so much information at once.
Minimal Consciousness
A low-level kind of sensory awareness and responsiveness that occurs when the mind inputs sensations and may output behaviour.
Full Consciousness
Know and are able to report your mental status.
Self-Consciousness
Distinct level of consciousness in which the person’s attentions is drawn to the self as an object.
Mirrors
Increase honesty
Disorders of Consciousness
Patient is not able to demonstrate full-consciousness or self-consciousness.
Coma
Look asleep, unable to communicate, completely unaware.
Vegetative State
Alternate between closed and opened eyes, exhibit awake behaviour. None of these behaviours are produced reliably in response to external stimuli.
Minimally Consciousness State
Can respond reliably, but some what inconsistent.
Locked-In Syndrome
Patient has full awareness but cannot demonstrate it.
Experience Sampling/Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA)
Which people are asked to report their conscious experiences at particular times. Shows that consciousness is dominated by the immediate environment.
Daydreaming
A state of consciousness in which a seemingly purposeless flow of thoughts comes to mind.
Mental Control
The attempt to change conscious states of mind.
Thought Suppression
The conscious avoidance of a thought.
Rebound Effect of Thought Suppression
The tendency of a thought to return to consciousness with greater frequency following suppression.
Ironic Processes of Mental Control
Ironic errors occur because the mental process that monitors errors can itself produce them.
Dynamic Unconscious
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.
Repression
A mental process that removes unacceptable thoughts and memories from consciousness and keeps them in the unconscious.
Cognitive Unconscious
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.
Dual Process Theories
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.
System 1
Automatic
System 2
Intentional actions.
Altered State of Consciousness
A form of experience that departs significantly from the normal subjective experience of the world and the mind.
Hypnagogic State
The pre-sleep consciousness.
Hypnic Jerk
A sudden quiver or sensation of dropping.
Hypnopompic State
Foggy and imprecise form as you enter post-sleep consciousness.
Circadian Rhythm
A naturally occurring 24-hour cycle.
Frequency Waves During Sleep
Alternate between beta waves (high freq) and alpha waves (low freq).
REM Sleep (Fifth Stage)
A stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movement and a high level of brain activity.
Glymphatic System
Eliminates potentially neurotoxic waste products and distributes necessary compounds through the brain. Operates during sleep.
Electrooculograph
An instrument that measures eye movement during sleep.
Insomnia
Difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep.
Are sleeping pills a solution?
Not effective long-term.S
Sleep Apnea
A disorder in which the person stops breathing for brief periods while asleep.
Sleepwalking
Occurs when a person arises and walks around while asleep.
Narcolepsy
A disorder in which sudden sleep attacks occur in the middle of waking activities.
Sleep Paralysis
The experience of waking up unable to move.
Sleep Terrors
Abrupt awakenings with panic and intense emotional arousal.
5 Differences in Dreams to waking State?
- Intense emotions
- Illogical thought
- Full sensation
- Uncritical acceptance
- Difficulty remembering
Manifest Content
Its apparent topic or superficial meaning
Latent Content
A dream’s true underlying meaning.
Activation-Synthesis Model
The theory that dreams are produced when the brain attempts to make sense of random neural activity that occurs during sleep.
Stage 1 of Sleep
Theta waves, Myoclonic Jerks.
Stage 2 of Sleep
Short bursts of neural activity
Stage 3 & 4
Delta Waves
Out of Body Experiences (OBE)
The sensation of our consciousness leaving our body. Often in conjunction with near-death experiences.
Deja Vu
Feeling of reliving an experience that’s new. May be due to excess levels of dopamine.
Hypnosis
Set of techniques that provide people with suggestions for alterations in their perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. People choose to be hypnotized
Regression Therapy
People are hypnotized to remember events from childhood.
Past-Life Regression Therapy
People are regressed to remember events from a past life.
Psychoactive Drugs
Substance that contains chemicals similar to those found naturally in our brains that alter consciousness by changing processes in neurons.
Blood Brain Barrier
A physiological mechanism that alters the permeability of brain capillaries, so that some substances, such as certain drugs, are prevented from entering brain tissue, while other substances are allowed to enter freely.
Diagnosis of Substance Use Disorder (SUD)
User has signifigant an recurring impairments in their life as a result of the drugs.
Tolerance
Reduction in the effect of a drug as a result of repeated use, requiring users to consume greater quantities to achieve the same effect.
Withdrawal
Unpleasant effects of reducing or stopping consumption of a drug that users had consumed habitually.
Depressants
Drugs that create a decrease in nervous system activities.
Alcohol
Increased GABA, Decreased Glutamate Depressant.
Alcohol Myopia
A “short-sightedness” in thinking caused by inability to pay attention to as much information as a sober person.
Barbiturates and Tranquilizers
Sleeping pills, Increased GABA, very addictive.
Stimulants
Drugs that create an increase in nervous system activity.
Amphetamines
Reduce sleep, fatigue, appetite, and depression. Increase dopamine, and norepinephrine.
Amphetamines Psychosis
Schizophrenia-like hallucinations that occur when the brain’s dopamine activity is artificially increased far beyond normal levels.
Methamphetamine
Stimulant, meth, can cause aggression, paranoia, and meth mouth.
MDMA
Ecstasy.
Cocaine
Injected, snorted, stimulant, creates excitement and euphoria. Blocks the re uptake of dopamine.
Opiates/Narcotics
Drugs that bind to endorphin receptors and create euphoria. Highly addictive. Relieve pain.
Hallucinogens/Psychedelics
Drugs which cause dramatic alterations of perception, mood, and though.
Cannabis
Usually smoked, comes from leaves.
Expectancy Theory
Idea that alcohol effects can be produce by people’s expectations of how alcohol will influence them in particular situations.
