Chapter 7 Flashcards
What is the filter thoery?
Who came up with this theory?
Donald Broadbent
According to this theory, attentional system acts as a filter - filters out sensory experiences that are not immediately important and allow us to focus on the task at hand.
Based on his research, Broadbent came to the conclusion that we are not aware of much of these unattended stimuli, but we are not totally oblivious either.
According to Broadbent, will we be aware of anything meaningful from unattended stimuli?
No - nothing meaningful
What is the cocktail party effect?
Can it be explained by the filter theory?
can’t be explained by filter theory
- Scenario is to image being at party with different group conversations occurring, but from nearby in another conversation you hear your name being said
○ Should not happen according to filter theory - because should not be able to detect meaningful information
What is the attenuation theory?
Who developed this theory?
- variation of the filter theory
- different in that attenuation theory says that meaningful aspects of an unattended message are not totally blocked, but weakened (attenuated)
- can explain cocktail party effect
- developed by Ann Treisman
What is subliminal advertising?
Hidden messages
Subliminal advertising plays on the idea that we can be focusing on something and then hidden messages are allowed to exist and get through our attentional system and affect our thoughts and emotions, and change our behaviour.
Is subliminal advertising effective?
Meta-analysis concluded that subliminal advertising on changing people’s choices or directing consumer choices was very small
- little influence
What is implicit priming?
What was the example used in class?
Influence of unconscious mind influencing conscious decisions can be seen in tasks of implicit priming
Words that people have previously seen (ex. clamp) will then show up in the word-stem completion task. Later if you ask them if they have had prior exposure to that word in a previous task, they will more than likely say no.
What is inattentional blindness?
- Think we are taking in the entire experience, but often only conscious of a few things
- A lot of our experiences involve filling in the blanks with things we expect to see
ex. photo with shrub vs. without
What is divided attention?
When allocating attentional resources to one task, and another task at the same time
Does talking on the phone impact driving ability and reaction time?
Yes - most on cell phone, less on hands-free, least in control
Why is it most distracting to listen to music with lyrics while reading?
- Because when reading something, you are processing language
- And music with lyrics also contains language to process
○ Processing both sources can cause interference
What is cerebral lateralization?
- Some tasks are more highly dependent on processing in one hemisphere as opposed to the other
○ Language production and comprehension is heavily lateralized to left hemisphere in most people
2 language-related tasks at once - can interfere with each other because they are processed in the same part of the brain
What is split-brain surgery?
What is the purpose?
- involves the complete severing of the corpus callosum
- purpose is to relieve people suffering from severe epilepsy; can eliminate severe seizures
- surgery ends up separating the left hemisphere from right hemisphere, so they operate on an individual level
What is spatial attention?
how we process the space around us
What does the line bisection task demonstrate?
Shows that there is a left-side bias for our attention to space
What part of the brain controls spatial attention?
parietal lobe
What is spatial neglect?
How might we see this in someone who has suffered a stroke?
ex. stroke to right side of parietal lobe
- may only be consciously aware of the right side (bias to right side)
ex. seen in drawing tasks and line cancellation task
What are the 2 pathways that are used to respond to visual signals?
dorsal pathway: travels to parietal lobe
- pathway that allows us to do the action we want to do
- the WHERE/HOW pathway
- occurs at unconscious level
ventral pathway: travels to temporal lobe
- pathway that allows us to identify what it is we are seeing
- the WHAT pathway
Do variations in consciousness occur naturally?
yes, naturally (like in sleep) or manipulated (through brain injury or psychoactive drugs)
What is the Global Workplace Model?
What are the areas responsible for?
the idea that multiple areas of the brain allow for full conscious awareness
Frontal lobe - allows us to plan and think, initiate motor movement
Parietal lobe - allows us to be aware of the space around us and the space within our own body
Occipital lobe - allows us to process visual signals
Temporal lobe - allows us to hear what is going on around us, language, form long-term memories
What is a TBI?
traumatic brain injury
altered state of consciousness
depending on severity of injury, the symptoms can vary (mild to severe)
What does the determination of consciousness depend on?
depends on level of arousal and awareness
Describe the different levels of consciousness.
normal - high arousal and awareness
coma - no arousal, no awareness
unresponsive wakefulness syndrome: full arousal, no awareness
minimally conscious state: full arousal, very low awareness
locked-in syndrome: full arousal, full awareness (but trapped in body because they have almost no movement in their body and ability to communicate is extremely restricted)
What is hypnosis?
a state between sleep and wakefulness in which a person becomes highly suggestible
What are the 2 theories about how hypnosis works?
neodissociation theory:
- According to this theory, a person would not do or say things that were completely out of character for them
- Follows that hypnosis is a legitimate state of consciousness that a person can be induced to enter
sociocognitive theory:
- Believes hypnosis is not real
- A person in this state is actually fully aware and fully conscious of what is going on, but they are behaving in a way that they think a hypnotized person should behave in
□ Conforming to social expectations about what they feel a hypnotized person should behave like
How can you alter your state of consciousness through meditation or mindfulness?
Concentrative medication:
○ Person getting into a very relaxed state and focus their attention on one thing (ex. their breathing, a mental image, or repeat a simple phrase or mantra)
○ Person shuts out many things in environment around them and what is going on with their body
Mindfulness:
- Person lets their thoughts flow freely
- Think about many different things and pay attention to them, but do not react to them
