Lecture 10

Question 1

the binding problem

Answer 1

the challenge of understanding how the brain integrates various sensory inputs, such as sight, sound, and touch, into a unified conscious experience

Question 2

binding

Answer 2

could be seen as either:
- one sense modality - when only one sense plays a role
- multi-sensory binding - binding of stimuli happens across different sense modalities such as visual and auditory stimuli

Question 3

the binding theory of attention

Answer 3

defines attention as the mechanism through which we combine, integrate, or bind the various features of objects that are relevant for subsequent processes

Question 4

the binding problem and the self

Answer 4

• the binding problem is also linked to the self
• think about how you experience yourself as one continous person
• upon introspection, you realize that there are many things that make up this self

Question 5

super-unity and disunity

Answer 5

although this is how we experience consciousness, there are cases in which experience is more or less unified

Question 6

disunity

Answer 6

split brain patients are an example of disunity because their hemispheres act independently from each other
- could argue that these patients have double consciousness, however, only appears in experimental conditions

Question 7

the mereological fallacy

Answer 7

considers the assumption that consciousness could be attributed to a part of the brain as a misconception because such capacity is attributed to a person, not to part of the brain

Question 8

confabulations

Answer 8

narratives we come up with in order to explain why we did something
- shows us the conscious mind is not the commander in chief

Question 9

synesthesia (super-unity)

Answer 9

when a stimulation of one sense (e.g. audition) triggers a perception in a second sensation (e.g. vision)
- have a materialistic explanation, but do now know what it is like

Question 10

mis-binding

Answer 10

experiencing unity and continuity where there is none

Question 11

solutions to the binding problem

Answer 11

• dualism
• materialism
• unity as an illusion

Question 12

dualism

Answer 12

unity is because of the immaterial mind which selects and integrates neural activity, however, this view is problematic becasue it raises the question of how the body and mind interact

Question 13

materialism

Answer 13

investigates the neural correlates of binding (scientific explanation)
- binding by synchrony
- integration information theory
- enactivism

Question 14

binding by synchrony

Answer 14

states that binding happens whenever neurons fire synchronously
- this theory addresses an easy problem of consciousness, so it could not serve as an explanation for hard problem of consciousness and unity of consciousness

Question 15

integration information theory (IIT)

Answer 15

states that binding occurs when information is integrated or in other words, information is not located in one particular part of the brain, but it is rather distributed throughout the system as a whole
- consciousness is the integration of information
- still does not solve the hard problem

Question 16

enactivism

Answer 16

tells us that consciousness arises because of the interaction between the brain-body and the environment
- could relate it to the skill theory of perception
- the qualia of our experiences arise from the fact that experience is exercise of sensorimotor skills
- 2 dimensions of the what-it-is-likeness: richness or the information available, and bodiliness or how bodily movements cause sensory changes
- for enactivism, unity arises because our experiences are part of embodied actions, they are part of one sensorimotor project

Question 17

unity as an illusion

Answer 17

consciousness might only seem unified. ideas supporting that notion are:
- confabulations because we provide the narrative unconsciously or unjustifiably; we also saw that confabulation was part of disunity
- the metaphor of the fridge states that there is no way to know whether there is unity because every time we check for it, it is there

Question 18

amnesia

Answer 18

people with Korsakoff’s syndrome first lose their ability to form new long-term memories (anterograde amnesia) and then begin to lose their previous long-term memory (retrograde amnesia)
- are people with amnesia conscious? yes, they are awake, responsive, and able to converse and show emotions

Question 19

neglect

Answer 19

some people who have had a stroke causing damage to the right side of the brain lose their knowledge of the left side of the world
- can be explained as a deficit of attention, or as having their attention drawn to one side of the world