consciousness

Question 1

define consciousness

Answer 1

“something it is like” to be in state of subjective or 1st-person point of view; subject experience of mind and world around us; state of being aware of and responsive to surroundings

Question 2

3 elements of consciousness

Answer 2

level (alertness: asleep to awake), content (subjective: nothing to highly rich experience), self (experience and certainty of being us)

Question 3

awareness-vigilence graph

Answer 3

awareness (level of consciousness) vs vigilance (awake behaviour, eyes open)

Question 4

diagram of awareness-vigilence graph

Answer 4

Question 5

brain region for consciousness

Answer 5

no single region, but collection of thalamo-cortical region and gating by reticular activating region; also impacts occipital and many other regions

Question 6

what does mechanism of consciousness depend on

Answer 6

no consciousness in cerebellum so no impact on number of neurones, or location; more associated with dynamics of collective neuronal activity with mixture of integration (brain activity over time correlated) and differentiation (doing different things over time), as otherwise would be like seizure as no diversity and too integrated

Question 7

mechanisms of consciousness: how is brain complexity quantified

Answer 7

transcranial magnetic stimulation and EEG to measure complexity of brain activity (pertubational complexity index); brain activity complexity increases as level of consciousness increases

Question 8

slide 52

Answer 8

slide 52

Question 9

what are neural correlates of consciousness (NCC)

Answer 9

minimum neuronal mechanisms jointly sufficient for any one specific conscious experience

Question 10

where are neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) primarily localised to

Answer 10

posterior cortical hot zone, including sensory areas