Consciousness & the Two-Track Mind (Modules 7-9) Flashcards
Our subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment
Consciousness
A social interaction in which one person (the hypnotist) suggests to another (the subject) that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur
Hypnosis
The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language)
Cognitive Neuroscience
Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus
Selective Attention
Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere
Inattentional Blindness
Failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of inattentional blindness
Change Blindness
The principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks
Dual Processing
A condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it
Blindsight
Processing many aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously
Parallel Processing
Processing one aspect of a stimulus or problem at a time; generally used to process new information or to solve difficult problems
Sequential Processing
A periodic, natural loss of consciousness—as distinct from unconsciousness resulting from a coma, general anesthesia, or hibernation
Sleep
Our biological clock; regular bodily rhythms (for example, of temperature and wakefulness) that occur on a 24-hour cycle
Circadian Rhythm
Rapid eye movement sleep; a recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. Also known as paradoxical sleep, because the muscles are relaxed (except for minor twitches) but other body systems are active
REM Sleep
The relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state
Alpha Waves
False sensory experiences, such as seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus
Hallucinations
The large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep
Delta Waves
The first stage of non-REM (NREM) sleep; marked by the slowed breathing and irregular brain waves
N1 Sleep
During this stage of sleep, sleep spindles – bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain-wave activity that aid memory processing – occur periodically; you could still be awakened quite easily, but you are now clearly asleep
N2 Sleep