Consciousness I Flashcards
Briefly, define consciousness?
- 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
Who was the first to use the modern meaning of consciousness?
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”
Describe the levels of consciousness?
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
t/f: consciousness consists of more than what we’re currently aware of
true
Why do we have consciousness?
- Evolutionary advantage - more accurate representation of world, refine behavioral responses to environment, augment’s ability for planning and problem solving
- 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)
Define attention?
- 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”
how may attention be controlled?
- voluntary (top-down) - cognitively, actively focusing attention in accordance with beliefs, motivations or expectations
- involuntary (bottom-up) - reactively shifting attention to loud noises, change of light or color, movement
t/f: limits to attention depend on task at hand
true
Attention allows enhanced perception of a particular task of thing. What is a potential downfall of this?
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.
t/f: we do not perceive the majority of our environment
true
what is the “cocktail party phenomenon”?
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.
Conscious (sensation/ perception) requires attention, but in order to allocate attention, a lot of implicit processing is occurring outside of awareness (preconsciously/ subconsciously)
Conscious perception requires attention, but in order
to allocate attention, a lot of implicit processing is
occurring outside of awareness subconsciously
t/f: we do not sense the majority of our environment
false - we do sense it, however due to focusing of attention we may not perceive it
well learned tasks are referred to as ______
automatic
reconstruction of memory typically occurs (consciously/ subconsciously)
subconsciously
first impressions are (conscious/ reactive)
reactive
Briefly, why is it so much processing occurs outside of awareness?
not possible to consciously process every bit of information
Describe how those under general anaesthetic have been studied to provide evidence for processing out of awareness?
- 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
what’re subliminal stimuli? provide example?
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
t/f: effects of subliminal persuasion proven to be consistent and effective
false -inconsistent
describe how fMRI provides evidence for subliminal perception?
fMRI studies show that subliminal stimuli activate specific cortical regions despite participants being unaware
how may subliminal perception be used clinically?
using subliminal stimulation to test arousal states of psychiatric populations - potentially evoke non-voluntary brain mechanisms which may underlie these disorders
t/f: hallucinations are the same as delusions
false
define hallucinations?
creation of realistic perceptual experiences in the absence of external stimuli
visual, audio, olfactory, tactile
most hallucinations are audio or visual?
audio
t/f: visual hallucinations may not be an image, but a flash or notion
true
t/f: hallucinations invoke activation of brain areas normally involved in perception
true
hallucinations more common in depressive/ anxiety disorders
anxiety
t/f: hallucinations fairly common in general population
true
define deja vu?
sense you have experienced something previously and/ or predicted what was going to happen
how many people experience deja vu (%)?
60%, high income, uni educated liberals mostly
explain the neuropsychology behind deja vu?
small seizures in right temporal lobe invoke feeling of familiarity
what is capgras syndrome?
disorder wherein person believes family member or friend has been replaced by imposter - most common in shizophrenia, also seen in brain injury, dementia
capgras syndrome neuropsychology?
disconnection between temporal lobe (facial recognition) and limbic system (emotion)
cocaine neurophysiology?
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)
cocaine is a ____
stimulant
alcohol is a ____
depressant
Depressant effects of alcohol occur at higher doses such as ____ BAC
0.05-0.1% BAC
t/f: alcohol can have serious withdrawal symptoms which may be fatal
true
alcohol can have serious withdrawal symptoms which may be fatal. What’s an example of this?
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.
“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
d
how do we know that auditory hallucinations involve one’s own internal voice being perceived as something or someone else?
when auditory hallucination is occurring - the auditory area of brain involved in production of speech (including internal speech) becomes activated
contrast delusion and hallucination?
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)
