Chapter 8 - Consciousness and Attention Flashcards
7 questions
consciousness
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
anthropomorphism
the tendency to attribute human qualities to non-human things
what are the properties of consciousness?
intentionality, unity, selectivity and transiency
intentionality
consciousness is about something that requires attention
unity
only one object can be attended at the time
selectivity
attention selects information at the expense of other information
- stroop color-naming task
- dichotic listening task
transiency
the content of consciousness changes all the time, even if the object is constant
what are the 4 levels of consciousness
minimal consciousness, full consciousness, self-consciousness and visual self-consciousness
minimal consciousness
a low level of awareness when sensation enter your mind which may (not) result in behavior.
full consciousness
you know your mental state and are able to report it
self-consciousness
attention is drawn towards the self as an object
visual self-consciousness (when looking in the mirror)
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
attention (William James)
taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought
selective attention
attention focuses on one/limited range of aspect(s)
early selection theory
only the target information is perceptually encoded
late selection theory
all information is perceptually encoded
perceptual load theory (Lavie)
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
shifting attention
attention can be shifted in 2 ways
endogenous cues and exogenous cues
endogenous cueing
an arrow points towards the probable location of the target
exogenous cueing
a sudden flash or sound from a location out of fovea can attract attention in an exogenous way
attention as ‘glue’
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
unilateral visual neglect
patients fail to report, respond or orient to meaningful stimuli presented on the affected side
extinction
a milder variant of neglect
Balint’s syndrome
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
