Chapters 1, 2 and 3

Question 1

What are two of Descartes’ challenges to materialism?

Answer 1

• mind’s capacity to report thoughts through speech
• flexibility in reasoning

Machines should not be able to do these both

Question 2

What factors helped consciousness become something to be studied in the lab?

Answer 2

• better definition of consciousness
• experimental manipulation and minimal differences
• recognition of value of subjective experiences rather than only objective observations

Question 3

Problem of other minds

Answer 3

Only one mind is certain to exist for each individual, their own, and so it is difficult to understand others’ experiences

Question 4

Philosophers on dualism and materialism

Answer 4

Chalmers - dualism
“the hard problem of consciousness can’t be solved purely by neuroscience”

Dennett - materialism
“the factory is empty”

Question 5

Chalmers’ easy and hard problems of consciousness

Answer 5

Easy problem - how does the mind work physically?
- could be explained through mechanisms and science

Hard problem - how do physical mechanisms produce subjective experiences?
- neuroscience does not provide satisfactory explanations

Question 6

Cerebral planes

Answer 6

CAS - FAE
Coronal plane - looking at face
Axial plane - looking from above
Sagittal plane - looking at ears

Question 7

Types of brain injuries

Answer 7

• traumatic / intracranial injuries
• stroke
• tumour

Question 8

Types of stroke

Answer 8

haemorrhagic - rupture of blood vessel, leading to leakage
ischemic - blockage of blood vessels

Question 9

How did conscious perception become experimentable?

Answer 9

• conscious access is sufficient for consciousness
• many illusions are available to study with
• illusions are subjective but reproducible - these are trustworthy

Question 10

Brain mechanisms for consciousness

Answer 10

• conscious access: bringing information to thoughts
• selective attention: filter applied to avoid information overload
• vigilance: level of excitement to support conscious states
• wakefulness: sleep-wake cycle from subcortical mechanisms

Question 11

Conditions for conscious access

Answer 11

Vigilance and attention are enabling and necessary but not sufficient for conscious access

Question 12

Metacognition

Answer 12

Ability to think about your own thoughts and mind

Question 13

Minimal contrast

Answer 13

Pair of experimental conditions where only one can be perceived

Question 14

Binocular rivalry

Answer 14

Two distinct images will spontaneously oscillate but can never be perceived simultaneously
Stimuli are constant but reports of change

Question 15

Psychological refractory period

Answer 15

Delay between perceiving and being conscious while it is being processed
- no perception of delay as consciousness is focused on earlier item
- subjective timing of events constantly off

Question 16

Inattentional blindness

Answer 16

Mental isolation where we lose awareness of surroundings

Question 17

Change blindness

Answer 17

Inability to detect which part of an image has changed, with a delay in between each version of the image

Question 18

Subliminal images and masking

Answer 18

Image presented below threshold of consciousness, even with considerable effort

Usually when presented less than 50±5ms

Participants cannot usually name masked object

Question 19

Previous hypotheses of consciousness

Answer 19

• only left hemisphere can be conscious as it has language to report with
• only some cortical pathways are conscious
• only information that has reached cortex is conscious as it is the most evolved part of the brain