Consciousness & Attention Flashcards
Consciousness
Awareness of mental events - awake, aware and attentive
Top-down attention
selective attention - affcted by intentions and expectations
Bottom-up attention
automatic
Inattentional blindness (perceptual blindness)
Failure to notice things in plain sight as attention is placed elsewhere (money tree experiment)
Change blindness
Failing to detect changes in the environment
Divided attention
Mental attention focused on mutiple things - this can overload the system as attention is a limited capacity resource
Slow wave sleep
Non-REM sleep that has 4 stages.
High aplitude and low frequency when seen on EEG - cortical activity is synchronized
REM sleep
Rapid eye movement - low amplitute and high frequency - resembles waking activity on EEG. Most dreams occur in this stage.
Circadian Rhythm
The body’s “biological clock” - regulates body’s sleep wake cycle which is 24 - 25 hours
Zeitgeiber
An external or environmental cue that resets biological clock
Psychological fatigue and it’s 3 stages
Main effect is progressive involuntary withdrawal from task demands.
- switching attention to inner thoughts
- empty field myopia
- micro sleeps and nodding off
Hypnosis
Body is released from conscious control and becomes more suggestible
Sedative-hypotic drugs (depressants)
Slow down the nervous system. Some drugs include alcohol, barbituates, benzodiazepines and opioids
Stimulant drugs
Increase energy, alertness and autonomic re-activity. some include amphetamines, caffiene, nicotine, cocaine and ecstasy
Hallucinogens
Distort perceptions, cause visual and auditory hallucinations. Some include LSD, psilocybin and peyote
