Lecture 1: Intro & Consciousness Flashcards
What is consciousness?
The state or quality of awareness of our thoughts, perceptions, memories, and feelings
How do psychologists research consciousness?
Asking people with brain damage about how they perceive the world
How does brain damage impact consciousness?
Brain damage can significantly disrupt consciousness without people even noticing
What is a frontal lobotomy?
The nerve pathways in the frontal lobe are surgically severed from those in other areas
When were frontal lobotomies popular?
1940s
What do frontal lobotomies treat?
Psychosis, depression, and anxiety
Result of frontal lobotomy
people become more calm, apathetic, and child-like
Problem with frontal lobotomies
caregivers of people with mental illnesses requested this procedure on the behalf of the person with the mental illness
How are split-brain operations performed?
Cutting the corpus callosum to separate the left and right sides of the brain
What is the corpus callosum?
The bundle of nerve fibres that connect the left and right sides of the cerebral cortex. Allows the two hemispheres of the brain to share information so that
What are split-brain operations designed to treat?
seizure disorder (epilepsy)
Functions of the cerebral cortex
- processing sensory information
- ability to consciously move our body in space
Function of the left cerebral hemisphere
movement of the right side of the body
Function of the right cerebral hemisphere
movement of the left side of the body
functions of lower brain areas
coordinating body movements
History of split-brain patients
- 26 patients received split-brain surgery in NY around 1940 and the doctor claimed it helped with seizures
- an independent group of scientists reexamined and found that patients’ improvements were short-lived and cutting the corpus callosum didn’t do much
- Sperry at Caltech found cognitive peculiarities in split-brain patients in the 1960s
Result of split-brain surgeries
split-brain patients are unconsious of any stimuli directed exclusively to their right brain
language in the brain
located in the left cerebral hemisphere
When split-brain patients see an object with their right eye they…
can say what they saw
When split-brain patients see an object with their left eye they…
can’t remember what they saw
interpreter theory (Gazzaniga)
- Our behaviour is controlled by unconscious processes, and the consciousness of our left brain simply creates narratives to make sense of the world.
- Free will is an illusion and consciousness is just storytelling
determinism
everything is rooted in the laws of physics and humans cannot interfere with this
mind-body dualism
the mind and body are fundamentally different kinds of substances
cartesian doubt/ hyperbolic skepticism
questioning and doubting everything as a result of the scientific revolution
cartesian impasse
if the movement of all atoms can be well explained by physical laws, how can our immaterial souls control our material bodies?
function of neural networks
controlling movement
how does the brain gain control over its dynamics
telling stories
