Consciousness Lecture Flashcards
What is consciousness?
Our awareness of both external and internal world - the events taking place around us - and the internal world, including awareness of ourselves and our own thoughts and behaviors
What are the properties of consciousness?
Limited and selective: We do not have the capacity to focus on everything external and internally, we select what is most relevant to our goals
Dynamic: Changes very quickly and dramatically, can focus on past or future
What are the components of consciousness?
Involves both arousal & awareness: Wakefulness or alertness, ability to recognize something
What are the hard and easy questions that the science of consciousness needs to answer? How can these be studied?
Consciousness is a private experience.
First person data (the “hard” problem - hard to analyze); subjective experience
Third person data (the “easy” problem - brain technologies); behavioral and brain processes
How can researchers measure the consciousness of an individual in a vegetative state? What are the results of Owen (2006)?
Used magnetic resonance imaging to examine the presence of awareness of individuals
Asked her to imagine she was playing tennis and walking around in her room - the brain reaction was compared to a healthy control and the scans were identical. Brain was aware of stimuli, but could not show they were aware.
What is blindsight?
Person is blind for their whole life, but their behavior suggests they have sight such that they can navigate the world around them.
What is meant by a split brain? What are some of the effects of a split-brain patient? An object seen in the left visual field will be processed on which side of the brain? How about something seen in the right visual field?
Patients whose corpus callosum has been severed during a brain surgery in order to manage their epilepsy
Left visual field - processed on right hemisphere; right visual field - left hemisphere = info flows due to corpus callosum
Split brain - Right visual can tell you; draw what they saw on left visual
What is the circadian rhythm?
A natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats each day
How do stages of sleep vary?
Level of consciousness varies - completely to partial suspension
Short bursts of irregular waves to large slow brain waves during deep restful sleep
What is REM sleep?
Rapid Eye Movement sleep; Dream phase of sleep, similar to being awake in terms of brain activity
What are the different drug types (depressants, stimulants, psychedelics) and what physical effect does each have?
Depressants - Decrease central nervous system; lower levels of arousal making them feel sleepy or calm - Alcohol
Stimulants - Excite neural activity, feel energetic and alert / euphoric; coffee and nicotine
Psychedelics - Change contents of awareness; sensory experience in the absence of sensory input; marijuana
What does research suggest about mediation, flow, and multitasking?
Meditation: Research is mixed - it’s more helpful for mood than it is for changing your attention; mental health benefits
