Consciousness I

Question 1

Briefly, define consciousness?

Answer 1

• The subjective awareness of mental events, self (identity), environment, body position
• Integration of sensory input into a single, accessible representation, allowing one to make sense of his environment and thus focus, reflect and plan

Question 2

Who was the first to use the modern meaning of consciousness?

Answer 2

John Locke - his definition of it tied in w/ morality:
““I may be held morally responsible only for the act of which I am conscious of having achieved; and my personal identity –my self ‐ goes as far as my consciousness extends itself”

Question 3

Describe the levels of consciousness?

Answer 3

Conscious - what we’re aware of
Pre-conscious - that of which we are not aware but can be brought to mind (ie. memory)
Non-conscious - outside of our awareness (ie. blood pressure)
Sub-conscious/ Unconscious - that of which we are not aware but influences conscious thought (ie. stereotypes, schemas, core beliefs

Question 4

t/f: consciousness consists of more than what we’re currently aware of

Answer 4

true

Question 5

Why do we have consciousness?

Answer 5

1. Evolutionary advantage - more accurate representation of world, refine behavioral responses to environment, augment’s ability for planning and problem solving
2. Learning - essential for processing complex information and learning new complex behaviors. Such behaviors may be able to be mastered, allowing them to become automatic (ie. driving)

Question 6

Define attention?

Answer 6

• the process of enhancing processing of a particular stimuli which requires more comprehensive or complex processing, thereby increasing the mental energy dedicated to it and in doing so decreasing the processing of other unrelated stimuli
• “process of focusing conscious
  awareness, providing heightened sensitivity to a
  limited range of experience requiring more
  extensive information processing”

Question 7

how may attention be controlled?

Answer 7

1. voluntary (top-down) - cognitively, actively focusing attention in accordance with beliefs, motivations or expectations
2. involuntary (bottom-up) - reactively shifting attention to loud noises, change of light or color, movement

Question 8

t/f: limits to attention depend on task at hand

Answer 8

true

Question 9

Attention allows enhanced perception of a particular task of thing. What is a potential downfall of this?

Answer 9

Inattentional/ change blindness can occur - one’s sensory system is receiving information about the environment (or oneself) however due to attention being shifted to task at hand one is not aware of these changes. Consequently, we sense, but do not perceive our environment.

Question 10

t/f: we do not perceive the majority of our environment

Answer 10

true

Question 11

what is the “cocktail party phenomenon”?

Answer 11

The cocktail party effect is the phenomenon of the brain’s ability to focus one’s auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, such as when a partygoer can focus on a single conversation in a noisy room.

Question 12

Conscious (sensation/ perception) requires attention, but in order to allocate attention, a lot of implicit processing is occurring outside of awareness (preconsciously/ subconsciously)

Answer 12

Conscious perception requires attention, but in order
to allocate attention, a lot of implicit processing is
occurring outside of awareness subconsciously

Question 13

t/f: we do not sense the majority of our environment

Answer 13

false - we do sense it, however due to focusing of attention we may not perceive it

Question 14

well learned tasks are referred to as ______

Answer 14

automatic

Question 15

reconstruction of memory typically occurs (consciously/ subconsciously)

Answer 15

subconsciously

Question 16

first impressions are (conscious/ reactive)

Answer 16

reactive

Question 17

Briefly, why is it so much processing occurs outside of awareness?

Answer 17

not possible to consciously process every bit of information

Question 18

Describe how those under general anaesthetic have been studied to provide evidence for processing out of awareness?

Answer 18

• subjects presented with 15 word pairs repeatedly whilst under
• when asked about it, subjects unaware of being presented with words at all, let alone able to recall any words
• however when given a singular word, subjects were able to recall that words corresponding pair
• thus, some degree of processing was occurring outside of conscious awareness

Question 19

what’re subliminal stimuli? provide example?

Answer 19

sensory stimuli below the threshold for conscious perception - brain tends to it but not consciously perceived. Palmatier and Bornstein (1980) found that subliminal messaging improved the progress of subjects attempting to quit smoking compared to those participants not exposed to subliminal messages

Question 20

t/f: effects of subliminal persuasion proven to be consistent and effective

Answer 20

false -inconsistent

Question 21

describe how fMRI provides evidence for subliminal perception?

Answer 21

fMRI studies show that subliminal stimuli activate specific cortical regions despite participants being unaware

Question 22

how may subliminal perception be used clinically?

Answer 22

using subliminal stimulation to test arousal states of psychiatric populations - potentially evoke non-voluntary brain mechanisms which may underlie these disorders

Question 23

t/f: hallucinations are the same as delusions

Answer 23

false

Question 24

define hallucinations?

Answer 24

creation of realistic perceptual experiences in the absence of external stimuli

visual, audio, olfactory, tactile

Question 25

most hallucinations are audio or visual?

Answer 25

audio

Question 26

t/f: visual hallucinations may not be an image, but a flash or notion

Answer 26

true

Question 27

t/f: hallucinations invoke activation of brain areas normally involved in perception

Answer 27

true

Question 28

hallucinations more common in depressive/ anxiety disorders

Answer 28

anxiety

Question 29

t/f: hallucinations fairly common in general population

Answer 29

true

Question 30

define deja vu?

Answer 30

sense you have experienced something previously and/ or predicted what was going to happen

Question 31

how many people experience deja vu (%)?

Answer 31

60%, high income, uni educated liberals mostly

Question 32

explain the neuropsychology behind deja vu?

Answer 32

small seizures in right temporal lobe invoke feeling of familiarity

Question 33

what is capgras syndrome?

Answer 33

disorder wherein person believes family member or friend has been replaced by imposter - most common in shizophrenia, also seen in brain injury, dementia

Question 34

capgras syndrome neuropsychology?

Answer 34

disconnection between temporal lobe (facial recognition) and limbic system (emotion)

Question 35

cocaine neurophysiology?

Answer 35

strong CNS stimulant to release dopamine, invoking feeling of reward, euphoria, excitation. Also prevents neuronal reuptake of dopamine - sustaining high feeling. However, adaptation occurs wherein dopamine receptors reduce long term changes to cortical reward system, meaning larger doses needed, and difficulty in responding naturally to normal reward (ie. less euphoria from going for a run)

Question 36

cocaine is a ____

Answer 36

stimulant

Question 37

alcohol is a ____

Answer 37

depressant

Question 38

Depressant effects of alcohol occur at higher doses such as ____ BAC

Answer 38

0.05-0.1% BAC

Question 39

t/f: alcohol can have serious withdrawal symptoms which may be fatal

Answer 39

true

Question 40

alcohol can have serious withdrawal symptoms which may be fatal. What’s an example of this?

Answer 40

Delirium tremens (DTs) ‐ disorientation, confusion, visual hallucinations, memory deficits, tachycardia, hypertension, hyperthermia, diaphoresis, heart
attack, cardiac arrhythmia, stroke, paranoia

Treated using High doses of benzodiazepine.

Question 41

“things which we are not consciously aware of but influence of views and behaviors”, we are describing:

a. ) consciousness
b. ) pre-conscious
c. ) non-conscious
d. ) sub-conscious

Answer 41

d

Question 42

how do we know that auditory hallucinations involve one’s own internal voice being perceived as something or someone else?

Answer 42

when auditory hallucination is occurring - the auditory area of brain involved in production of speech (including internal speech) becomes activated

Question 43

contrast delusion and hallucination?

Answer 43

delusion - a falsehood an individual believes to be true (ie. a daughter says her mother is not her mother)

hallucination - creation of realistic perceptual experiences in the absence of external stimuli (perceiving that which is not there, in any sensory form)