Consciousness Flashcards
Consciousness
Subjective experience of the world and the mind (awareness of sensations, thoughts, feelings we experience at a given moment)
Basic properties of consciousness
Intentionality (aim toward an object), unity (resistance to division), selectivity, transience
Selectivity
Capacity to include certain objects and exclude others (cocktail party phenomenon)
Cocktail-party effect
Tuning in one message while filtering out others nearby
Selective attention
Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus
Inattentional blindness
Failure to see visible objects when attention is directed elsewhere
Change blindness
failure to notice change in environment
Transcience
Has tendency to change.
Phenomenology
How things seem to the conscious person
Problem of other minds
Fundamental difficulty we have in perceiving the consciousness of others
People judge minds according to
Capacity for experience (hunger, pain, emotion) and capacity for agency (self control, planning, memory, thought)
Mind-body problem
The issue of how the mind is related to the brain and body
Minimal consciousness
Low-level sensory awareness and responsiveness that occurs when the mind inputs sensations and may output behavior
Full consciousness
Level of consciousness in which you know and are able to report your mental state
Self-consciousness
Level of consciousness in which the person’s attention is drawn to the self as an object
Daydreaming
State of consciousness in which a seemingly purposeless flow of thoughts comes to mind
Default mode network (DMN)
Network of interacting brain regions active when a person is not focused on outside world
Mental control
Attempt to change conscious states of mind
Thought suppression
Conscious avoidance of thought (often backfires)
Cognitive unconscious
Mental processes that give rise to a person’s thoughts, choices, emotions, and behavior even though they are not experienced by the person
Dual process theories
Theories that suggest we have two different systems in our brains for processing information: systems 1 and 2
System 1
Dedicated to fast, automatic and unconscious processing (walking, 1+1)
System 2
Dedicated to slow, effortful and conscious processing (245*32, placing orders)
Dynamic unconsciousness
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
Mental process that removes unacceptable thoughts and memories from consciousness and keeps them in the unconscious (yes, Freud said this)
Biological rhythms
Periodic fluctuations in biological system, often with physiological implications (bird migration, menstrual cycle)
Circadian rhythm
Biological rhythm of about 24 hours.
Sleep
Characterized by changes in brain wave activity, breathing, heart rate, body temperature, other physiological functions
Blindsight awareness
Conditions in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it
Eugene Aserinsky
First to observe rapid eye movements during sleep
NREM-1
Brief (5-10 mins), hypnagogic (pre-sleep) sensations, hallucinations may occur
NREM-2
20mins, large bursts of brain activity called sleep spindles
NREM-3
30mins, big waves of brain activity called delta waves
REM
High heart rate, rapid breathing, rapid eye movement (dreams), paradoxical sleep
Paradoxical sleep
Muscles immobilized and brain is active
Sleepwalking (somnambulism)
Sleep disorder that occurs in slow wave sleep
Insomnia
Sleep disorder involving persistent problems in falling or staying asleep (ANS activity)
Sleep apnea
Sleep disorder involving inability to breathe during sleep
Night terrors
Sleep disorder during NREM-3 where one has intense autonomic arousal and feelings of panic
Narcolepsy
Sleep disorder involving sudden, brief attacks of sleep (absence of orexin)
Psychoactive drugs
Chemical substances that alter perceptions, mood, and behavior
Neuroadaptation
The user’s brain chemically adapts to offset drug effect (homeostasis is thrown off)
Psychadelics
Scientific renaissance of mind-altering drugs
Addiction
Compulsive behavior despite consequences
Alcohol
Slows brain activity that controls judgment and inhibitions, disrupts memory information, teen binge drinking causes nerve cell death
Opiates
Temporary lessen pain and anxiety, continued use terminates endorphins production
Barbiturates
Depress CNS activity, reduce anxiety, prescribed for sleep, lethal with alcohol
Stimulant
Excites neural activity and speeds up body functions
Hallucinogens
Distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input
Examples of stimulants
Caffeine, nicotine, amphetamine, cocaine, ecstasy
Examples of depressant
Alcohol, heroin
Examples of opiates
Heroin, morphine
Examples of hallucinogens
LSD, marijuana
