Lecture 11 - Control of Cognition and Consciousness Flashcards
What are executive control mechanisms responsible for in the brain?
Selecting, activating, organizing, linking, and tuning processing modules to accomplish tasks.
What is a “task-set”?
An appropriate organization of perceptual, cognitive, and motor resources to carry out a specific task.
What are some functions attributed to executive control?
Inhibiting inappropriate actions, updating working memory, managing long-term memory search, performance monitoring, multitasking coordination, sequencing/planning non-habitual tasks.
What is the “control homunculus” fallacy?
The mistaken idea of attributing control to a single, inner agent or central executive.
How can control processes be investigated?
Through action errors, pathological failures (brain damage), behavioral experiments (Stroop, task-switching, stop-signal), and neuroimaging.
What are “capture errors”?
When habitual or recent actions override intended behavior.
What are “cross-talk errors”?
Failing to keep elements of different tasks separate, e.g., interference between writing and speaking.
What are “lost intentions”?
Failing to initiate intended actions when trigger conditions occur.
Which famous case highlighted the effects of PFC damage on personality and control?
Phineas Gage.
What is “utilisation behaviour”?
The inability to suppress habitual actions toward familiar objects.
What test can reveal perseveration linked to PFC damage?
Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.
What is “strategy application disorder”?
Disorganised task performance despite having intact standard executive function test results (e.g., in a shopping task).
What does a response congruence effect in task-switching suggest?
That the other task-set is still active and not fully disabled.
What happens to task switch cost with more preparation time?
It reduces.
Which brain area detects conflict (e.g., in Stroop tasks)?
Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC).
What is the role of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L.DLPFC)?
Maintaining task sets and suppressing stronger, irrelevant sets.
What is phenomenal awareness?
The subjective experience or “what it is like” to perceive or feel.
What is self-consciousness?
Awareness of the self as the subject and owner of experiences and actions.
Why is consciousness hard to study?
It involves subjective experience, and many mental processes occur without conscious awareness.
What is anosognosia?
A condition where a person does not acknowledge a disability (e.g., blindness).
What is “alien hand syndrome”?
A lack of awareness of ownership over actions performed by a limb.
What does the mirror test attempt to measure in animals?
Bodily self-awareness (though its validity is debated).
Can unconscious stimuli influence responses?
Yes, through subliminal or masked priming (e.g., Marcel, 1983).
What is blindsight?
The ability to respond to visual stimuli without conscious awareness due to V1 damage.
What did Libet’s experiment reveal about intention?
Awareness of intention (W) occurs after unconscious brain activity has already initiated the action.
What does Global Workspace Theory propose?
Consciousness arises when information is broadcast across a brain-wide network linking distant regions like prefrontal and parietal cortex.
What is the quantum theory of consciousness (Penrose & Hameroff)?
A hypothesis that consciousness originates at the quantum level in neuronal microtubules.
