Lecture 11: Consciousness II

Question 1

Research: when do we become aware of our intention of action?

Answer 1

Libert (1983); Haggard (2008) p connected to EEG and had to do an intentional action w rotating hand on a clock - eeg activity showed activity before our action - preparation for voluntary action precedes conscious awareness intention

Question 2

conscious vs unconscious processes

Answer 2

con=can reported and acted upon, verifiable etc
uncon - knowledge of presence can be verified and cannot be voluntarily reported
(baars 2003)

Question 3

Neural correlates of unconscious perception (dechaene et al 2001)

Answer 3

Used fMRI - see extra activity in the conscious condition, more fMRI responses in the parietal and prefrontal regions of the brain tiny change in the visual stimulus making it consciousness leading to an increase response in the brain

Question 4

Neural correlates of change blindness

Answer 4

Beck et al 2001 - - When they became conscious, there was an increase in fMRI responses in the parietal and prefrontal cortex

Question 5

neural correlates of binocular rivalry

Answer 5

tong et al 1998
Present faces and houses:
- Fusiform face area (FFA) – face perception
- Para hippocampal place are (PPA) – responsive to places

Despite the facial stimuli staying the same, it shows that when you brain thinks you are looking at a face, the associated brain increases and vice versa

Question 6

global workspace theroy - a cog account of consciousness

Answer 6

• Most information processing happens below level of conscious awareness
• Once a representation is under the conscious spotlight, it is accessible to other cognitive processes