Consciousness Flashcards
What is consciousness?
Consciousness is one’s moment-to-moment subjective experience of the world, including sensory perceptions and thoughts.
What is qualia in the context of consciousness?
Qualia refers to the qualitative experiences of your conscious state, such as the subjective experience of sensations.
Why is consciousness considered limited?
Consciousness is limited because you can only fully process a small amount of the information available to you at any given time.
How does the limited nature of consciousness contribute to change blindness?
Because consciousness is limited, you often miss things, even large changes, because your attention is focused elsewhere and you never fully process the information.
How might change blindness affect a person’s ability to notice details in a conversation?
During a conversation, a person might focus so much on the dialogue that they fail to notice changes in the other person’s clothing or surroundings due to change blindness.
What role does attention play in consciousness?
Attention selects what enters your consciousness, determining which information gets fully processed.
What is the technique of shadowing in attention studies?
Shadowing is a technique where participants hear a message and immediately say out loud what they have heard.
What is endogenous attention?
Endogenous attention is the intentional direction of focus.
What is exogenous attention?
Exogenous attention is involuntarily directed by external stimuli.
How does exogenous attention differ from endogenous attention?
Endogenous attention is under voluntary control, where you intentionally focus on something, while exogenous attention is triggered by external stimuli without your conscious decision.
What is priming, and how does it influence response to stimuli?
Priming is a facilitation in response to a stimulus due to recent experience with that stimulus or a related stimulus.
How might subliminal perception affect behavior without conscious awareness?
Subliminal perception can influence behavior because sensory systems process information without it reaching conscious awareness, potentially affecting decisions or reactions unconsciously.
What is controlled processing?
Controlled processing occurs when a difficult or unfamiliar task requires attention, such as driving in a rainstorm.
Why is controlled processing slower than automatic processing?
Controlled processing is slower because it is more mentally straining and requires focused attention, unlike automatic processing, which happens effortlessly.
When would automatic processing be beneficial?
Automatic processing would be beneficial during routine tasks, such as walking or driving on a familiar route, allowing you to focus on other things without thinking about the task itself.
