Chapter 8 - Consciousness and Attention

Question 1

consciousness

Answer 1

is a person’s subjective experience of the world and the mind

explaining how these subjective experiences even arise is called the hard problem of consciousness

Question 2

anthropomorphism

Answer 2

the tendency to attribute human qualities to non-human things

Question 3

what are the properties of consciousness?

Answer 3

intentionality, unity, selectivity and transiency

Question 4

intentionality

Answer 4

consciousness is about something that requires attention

Question 5

unity

Answer 5

only one object can be attended at the time

Question 6

selectivity

Answer 6

attention selects information at the expense of other information
- stroop color-naming task
- dichotic listening task

Question 7

transiency

Answer 7

the content of consciousness changes all the time, even if the object is constant

Question 8

what are the 4 levels of consciousness

Answer 8

minimal consciousness, full consciousness, self-consciousness and visual self-consciousness

Question 9

minimal consciousness

Answer 9

a low level of awareness when sensation enter your mind which may (not) result in behavior.

Question 10

full consciousness

Answer 10

you know your mental state and are able to report it

Question 11

self-consciousness

Answer 11

attention is drawn towards the self as an object

Question 12

visual self-consciousness (when looking in the mirror)

Answer 12

may be a special case of being conscious of oneself. it goes along with pride, shame, and shyness, but may also trigger cooperation, being less aggressive, and less greedy

Question 13

attention (William James)

Answer 13

taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought

Question 14

selective attention

Answer 14

attention focuses on one/limited range of aspect(s)

Question 15

early selection theory

Answer 15

only the target information is perceptually encoded

Question 16

late selection theory

Answer 16

all information is perceptually encoded

Question 17

perceptual load theory (Lavie)

Answer 17

attempted to reconcile early and late (response) selection by suggesting that early selection occurs when the perceptual load of target selection is high, and late selection occurs when the perceptual load of target selection is low

Question 18

shifting attention

Answer 18

attention can be shifted in 2 ways
endogenous cues and exogenous cues

Question 19

endogenous cueing

Answer 19

an arrow points towards the probable location of the target

Question 20

exogenous cueing

Answer 20

a sudden flash or sound from a location out of fovea can attract attention in an exogenous way

Question 21

attention as ‘glue’

Answer 21

focused attention is required to bind separate features of an object like color, form, or motion together. attention then acts as the glue that binds the features

Question 22

unilateral visual neglect

Answer 22

patients fail to report, respond or orient to meaningful stimuli presented on the affected side

Question 23

extinction

Answer 23

a milder variant of neglect

Question 24

Balint’s syndrome

Answer 24

a rare disease (bilateral posterior parietal lesion at the same [mirrored] locations) revealed by triad described by Balint:
- simultanagnosia: patient can only ‘see’ one object at a time in a particular location
- optic ataxia: patient can only see and identify object, but cannot accurately reach for it
- psychic paralysis of gaze: patient cannot remain fixation on an object, fixation wanders involuntarily

Question 25

stages of sleep

Answer 25

REM sleep: starts 90 mins to 2 hours after falling asleep

Question 26

list 5 sleep disorders

Answer 26

insomnia, apnea, narcolepsy, sleepwalking and arythmical sleeplessness

Question 27

insomnia

Answer 27

person experiences trouble falling asleep

Question 28

apnea

Answer 28

paused breathing: the person suddenly awakes to breathe

Question 29

narcolepsy

Answer 29

person suddenly falls asleep (REM) during waking activities

Question 30

sleepwalking

Answer 30

happens during phase 4 of sleeping. waking up someone sleepwalking is not harmful

Question 31

arthythmical sleeplesness

Answer 31

due to nightshifts or jet-lag

Question 32

why do we dream? (Freud and Hobson)

Answer 32

Freud: a dream is a symbolized expression of repressed sexual and aggressive desires

Hobson:
- dream consciousness: emotions are intensely experiences, thought is illogical but sensations are meaningful and fully formed
- activation-synthesis theory: dreams are an attempt of the brain to distill a story from signals from lower brain centers that replay the day

Question 33

hypnosis

Answer 33

essentially a form of behavioral compliance; a willingness to conform and believe that you are not in control and not responsible to your actions

Question 34

meditation

Answer 34

the practice of intentional contemplation - has a relaxing effect