Consciusness 2 Flashcards
Unconsciously learning a specific rule or pattern, is known as what?
Implicit Learning.
What is the artificial grammar test to do with?
Implicit Learning.
Reber 1967, created the ____ grammar test and it what did this demonstrate?
Artificial, performance was better after previous exposure to similar strings of letters/ grammatical examples.
The artificial grammar test was also performed on _____, to what accuracy did they do it to?
Amnesics, 50 % accuracy. (to get 100% would have to use conscious)
In the artificial grammar test, could the participants identify what the rules were?
No they couldn’t say what the underlying rules were= Unconscious, this shows implicit learning.
In the artificial grammar test, knowledge transferred across letter sets, therefore the _____ _____ was _________.
Deep Structure, Learned.
What was a criticism of the artificial grammar test?
That people are not learning rule structure, they are just memorizing whole exemplars and matching them on similarity.
A problem with the artificial grammar test is that people could be learning bits of the ________ and just deciding based on if any part of the novel (new) string seems _________.
Exemplar, Familiar.
What type of processing only requires short term store (conscious)?
Controlled Processing.
What is automatic processing?
The repeated use in long term store means connections become relatively permanent- automatic, so don’t rely on awareness (unconscious).
At first learning to drive a car requires _____ processing but over time it soon turns into _______ processing.
Controlled, Automatic.
Schneider & Shiffrin 1977, either asked participants to search for both letters and numbers (varied) or just numbers (consistent), what were the types of processing used?
- In Varied- it took participants longer as it required a slow serial search using conscious resources.
- This used controlled processing
- In consistent- it could be performed quickly as we are used to picking out numbers from letters
- This used automatic processing
In controlled processing, we tend to _____ actions in order to learn them, however if it turns into automatic processing these actions become ____ and come ______ to us.
Chunk, one/fluent, naturally.
It is hard to break down this automatic processing. What is a Yip?
When we stop and think too much about an automatic action, we overthink how to do it and become unable to do it.
What are the necessary brain areas for consciousness known as collectively?
Neural Correlates of Consciousness.
What brain areas are responsible for generally being “conscious”?
-Thalamus and the reticular activating system.
What varies dependant on what the content is?
The contents of consciousness.
When does the thalamus stop?
When we sleep, we don’t take anything in from the outside world etc.
Tong et al (1988) put different pictures in front of each eye, what did this test and monitor?
This tested the concept of Binocular Rivalry- we can only be aware of one picture at a time, so awareness flips between them.
Tong monitored brain activity for this experiment.
Faces and Houses activate _______ ______ areas of the brain.
Different, localized.
In tong’s experiment what happened?
Although both pictures were constantly in view, only one of the localized areas would be activated at any one time.
In Tong’s experiment, different areas of the brain ere activated when people’s ______ of house or face changed, even though both were constantly in ______.
Awareness, View.
Tong’s binocular rivalry displayed that this was a ______- experience rather than a ______ experience.
Conscious, Perceptual.
Baars said we had lots of _____, very ______ and ______ _________. What do they all do?
Different, specialised, unconscious modules.
The modules communicate with one another.
How did baar think we solved a problem?
That each module manipulates data and offers the solution to others in a “global workspace”,this is consciousness.
What did Baar call consciousness?
A Global Workspace.
There at lots of ______ modules working together but only one _____ reaches _______.
Background, Module, consciousness.
Whichever group of modules “shout” the most, reach what?
Reach consciousness.
What do workspace neurons do?
- They connect brain areas together (connect modules)
- Transmit information about activity such that two different areas of activation achieve synchronicity.
What does synchronicity give rise to?
Conscious Awareness of more complex representations.
Attention can modulate the _____, so we can be aware of different ________ of a stimulus at _______ ____.
Synchronicity, aspects, Different Times.
Synchronicity may break down under certain conditions. Name a condition where this happens.
Sleep :)
Why do we need consciousness?
It is flexible- it helps us to adapt to a situation.
Unconscious processes are ______, _________ but _______________.
Fast, Efficient, Inflexible.
What is needed to override habits?
Consciousness is needed to override habits.
Consciousness allows us to _____ from our _________.
Learn, mistakes.
What may consciousness allow?
Consciousness may allow information to be exchanges between different brain modules.
______ learned material often doesn’t transfer well to new situations.
Implicitly.
Consciousness may also involve monitoring and controlling our ________- and maintaining what boundary?
Behaviour, Maintaining perceptual and sensory boundaries :)
Under what kind of circumstances does the maintenance of this perceptual and sensory boundary start to disappear? and what does it cause?
- Drugs
- Hypnosis
- Fatigue
- Can cause hallucinations or makes us do actions we wouldn’t normally do.
In what way are psychopaths the same as the normal population?
They have the same mental health as the average person.
Name some characteristics of a psychopath.
- more creative,
- suspicious
- lonely
What is there evidence for “abductees” being?
Being fantasy prone, aka. they find it difficult to distinguish from what’s real life and what is fantasy.
Hypnotic regression to investigate these so called “alien abductions” can actually do what?
It cam create false abduction memories.
What did 18% of “abductees” report?
“waking up paralysed with a sense of a strange person/presence/or something else in the room.”
What is this known as? :
“waking up paralysed with a sense of a strange person/presence/or something else in the room.”
Sleep Paralysis.
When does sleep paralysis occur?
On the border between sleep and wakefulness.
Why doe people think they were abducted by aliens in particular?
Hallucinations in sleep paralysis along with the knowledge of cultural norms regarding UFO’s may cause false memories.
When we are dreaming, what prevents us from kicking etc.?
A chemical switch off :)
When we sleep, what states do we move between?
We move between conscious and unconscious states.
What can the sleep/wake cycle be referred to as?
Circadian Rhythm.
Sleep is mediated by _______ in the _________ and controlled by the hormone _______, plus ________ influences (________, meals).
Neurons, hypothalamus, melatonin, external, daylight.
________ level is also mediated by the cortex.
Arousal.
Name the 2 types of influences that can cause arousal(activate the rest of the brain.).
- Internal (eg. worry)
- External (eg. someone saying name)
EEG is used to monitor sleep. What does EEG measure?
It measures the electro-activity of the cortex.
What graph shows the different patterns of electro-activity?
Electroencephalogram.
What does Beta electro-activity show?
You are alert (eg. awake).
When we are relaxed, the cycles per second slow down a bit, name this type of electro activity.
Alpha.
When we have theta electro activity (4 to 8 cycles per sec) what does this mean?
We will be drowsy.
Describe the electro-activity when we are asleep.
- Slowest electro-activity
- less than 4 cycles per sec
- Known as Delta.
Describe Stage 1 Sleep.
- Last minutes of Theta Waves
- Drowsy, dozing type sleep
- Easily awakened.
In Stage 1 Sleep, what are we likely to experience?
Vivid imagery/ hallucinations.
Name this stage of sleep:
“High amplitude k-complexes and 1-2 second bursts of rapid activity, sleep spindles.”
Stage 2.
In stages 3 and 4 of sleep what waves become more prominent?
Delta Waves.
As we progress through the sleep stages, name two things that happen.
- Heart rate and breathing slow down
- It becomes more difficult to wake the person.
Name the sleep:
Physiologically (heart rate, breathing and eye movements active), the person should be awake, but they are in the soundest of sleeps and their muscles are paralysed.
REM sleep.
We have an average of 4-5 ____ sleep periods during a nights rest, with activity moving through the stages to ______ sleep each time.
REM, Deeper.
Name the two types of sleeps needed to be healthy.
Both slow wave and REM.
What happens without sleep?
- Alertness decreases
- People don’t feel well
- Mood is poor
- Mental and physical ability suffers
- Immune system compromised.
Amount if sleep needed varies with _____ and with _______ differences.
Age, Individual.
What do Larks (early rides, goes to bed early) and Owls ( stays up late, can’t get up in morning) differ in?
Differ in-
- Body Temperature
- Blood Pressure
- Digestion Rhythms
We sleep longer when fatigued, this is because sleep id __________.
Restorative.
Describe the “binman” idea of why sleep is needed.
Sleep is needed to clean out cellular waste, or produce more repair hormones.
It is often questioned whether when we sleep the brain is ______ or if it’s __________.
Exercising, Resting.
When we sleep, what is believed to be being stored?
We are consolidating memories- storing memories.
What type of sleep is dreaming most associated with?
REM sleeps.
During REM sleep, what are our dreams like?
Vivid and Bizarre.
What do dreams involve?
- Aspects of our recent past
- Also weird elements which only seem bizarre once awake.
What re-occur in dreams?
Themes.
What is a common theme for dreams?
Bad outcomes prevail :)
Dreams have _____ content, so _____’s basic premise was correct.
Emotional, Freud’s.
What may dreams be a by-product of?
Other activity.
Why do dreams have such vivid visual images?
Brain areas involved in vision become active during REM sleep.
Where does dream content come from?
Representations that have been “primed” (recently active, eg. experience during day).
Representations that have been primed make dream content fairly ______.
Random.
Why is it difficult for the brain to make sense of this random content in dreams?
Dreams are weird because the brain has no control (control is inactive) to make sense of these representations as we would when alert.
When we dream _____ and _______ centres are also quite active, whereas the ______ cortex is less active (how we control these other areas/planning).
Emotion, Motor, Pre-Frontal
Name the hypothesis:
- Content comes from representations that have been “primed”
- This content is fairly random
- The brain tries to make sense of this but it is difficult to do when the pre-frontal cortex is less active than other areas eg. emotion and motor centres.
Activation-Synthesis Hypothesis.
What is a very relaxed state, that some say alters the state of consciousness?
Hypnosis.
There are some wild claims about what ______ can achieve.
Hypnosis.
Most hypnosis effects can be replicated by asking someone to do what?
-To pretend they are young
or
-Pretend they are hypnotised
In order to be hypnotised a person must be _____.
Willing.
Why does hypnosis not aid memory in an eyewitness testimony for example?
This leads to a higher chance of the memory being altered- the memory can be reconstructed (aka. false!).
What isn’t a way to get “lost memories”?
Hypnosis.
Hypnosis can make someone more _______ in a memory regardless of whether it is true or false.
Confident.
What can posthypnotic instruction affect?
Behaviour after hypnosis.
Posthypnotic amnesia can cause people to ________ ______.
Forget things.
Hypnotic analgesia can help to reduce what?
Reduces pain.
The ability to experience hypnosis varies with __________ and their ___________.
Individuals, Willingness.
There could be a more _____ ________ explanation for hypnosis, in that people don’t want to disappoint, so they just pretend they are being hypnotised.
Social Psychological.
Name this state-
“Awareness splits into awareness of what is going on and this is retained but the awareness of control is given over to the hypnotist.”
Dissociative State.
Apart from hypnosis, what other state can produce altered states of consciousness?
Religious States.
What parallels with hypnosis, in that there is immense relaxation, openness to ideas and own feelings?
Meditation.
In meditation what is there an increase in?
Increase I alpha waves (relaxed state).
What is a possible explanation for experienced meditators to feel at “oneness with the world”?
Disparate brain areas firing in synchrony.
Drugs have an affect on our ________.
Consciousness.
Alcohol can have obvious effects on our consciousness, but what can it be moderated by?
It can be moderated by our expectations (eg. people will act drunk if you give them apple juice pretending its alcohol).
What do depressants and stimulants change?
They change behaviour and our perceptions of behaviour/sensations.
What are drugs called that give us hallucinations?
Hallucinogens.
What can hallucinogens cause?
Synaesthesia (cross over of areas eg. numbers as colours) and time perception can be altered etc.
