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Introduction to Biological and Cognitive Psychology > Lecture 5: Consciousness > Flashcards

Lecture 5: Consciousness Flashcards

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1
Q

What are three main problems of studying consciousness?

A

1) The Zombie Problem
2) The Locked-in Problem
3) Double Dissociation

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2
Q

What is the Zombie Problem?

A

Just because someone is behaving in a certain way, they are not necessarily feeling a certain way.
-How can it be validated?

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3
Q

What is the Locked-in Problem?

A

Does not behaving in a certain way mean you are not feeling a certain thing?

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4
Q

What is Double Dissociation?

A

One could behave cold and not feel cold and the other could no behave cold but feel cold (as an example).

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5
Q

What might the recording of neural activity (ERP) offer and how?

A

Direct communication between brain and machine.

-This system takes advantage of a large electrical response to moving visual stimuli (visual evoked potential; VEP).

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6
Q

How can VEP help people with severe communication problems?

A

They can communicate through the eyes alone.

-by focusing on the box of interest, the VEP acts as a way of confirming your selection.

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7
Q

What does the differential fMRI brain activity produced by a person in a vegetive state when asked to imagine walking round the house and asked to imagine playing tennis show?

A

Different areas of the brain were activated.
-Normal controls’ brain activity was “indistinguishable” from the activity of the locked-in patient, perhaps providing us with evidence of conscious awareness in an unconscious individual.

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8
Q

What is the mind-body problem?

A

Descartes thought that the pineal gland was responsible for the conversion of mental “stuff” into brain “stuff”, questioning whether the brain causes the mind.

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9
Q

What is Libet’s Delay?

A

A theory which suggests the brain knows before the mind does and so starts preparing for an action before you have a conscious awareness of action.

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10
Q

What does it mean to perceive the mind of others?

A

Mental capacity can be judged on two dimensions:

-agency and experience.

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11
Q

What is agency?

A

planning of a task/a planning system.

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12
Q

What is experience?

A

a reaction whether emotional or physical.

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13
Q

What is Naive Realism?

A

The idea that common statements regarding human behaviour are often wrong.
-We do not experience the world as it actually is.

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14
Q

What is a definition of consciousness?

A

“Subjective awareness of internal and external events”.

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15
Q

What are four features of consciousness to consider?

A

1) Intentionality
2) Unity
3) Selectivity
4) Transcience

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16
Q

What is Intentionality?

A

Your consciousness is about something, and is directed towards objects for a finite amount of time.

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17
Q

What is Unity?

A

Consciousness is resistant to division. It is hard two perceive different interpretations of the same information at the same time (e.g. the duck and the rabbit).

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18
Q

What is Selectivity?

A

Conscious object-based attention ultimately means ignoring (or selecting out) other objects or things.

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19
Q

What is Transience?

A

The mind moves on. The contents of your consciousness aren’t the same as they were a moment ago.

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20
Q

What is the Dual-task Decrement?

A

To what extent can I attend to more than one ting at once/things outside of consciousness?
-involved in driving and mobile phone use.

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21
Q

What is Early Selection?

A

Cherry’s theory (otherwise known as the cocktail party effect): considers how we tune into certain conversations and what we sacrifice in unattended channels.
-forces us to consider how selective is selective attention?

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22
Q

What happened within an experiment involving shadowing one ear?

A

After shadowing unattended ear, participants were asked about the content of the unattended ear.

  • Only gross physical properties of the unattended message were remembered (male or female).
  • content disappears.
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23
Q

What factors are important to consider when considering where we direct our attention to?

A

1) intensity of sound
2) location of sound
3) where we choose to direct our attention

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24
Q

What is selective attention?

A

Describes our attempts to withdraw from certain aspects of our sensory environment with the aim of focusing on other aspects of our environment.

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25
Q

What is divided attention?

A

Describes our attempts to do more than one thing at once.

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26
Q

What does scientific research suggest about subliminal messages?

A

-It does not establish that subliminal stimuli, even if perceived, may precipitate conduct of this magnitude. There exist other factors which explain the conduct of the deceased independent of the subliminal stimuli.

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27
Q

What is a flaw of subliminal self-help tapes?

A

May be successful based on the motivation of the buyer.

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28
Q

How many neurones oversee your Circadian rhythm?

A

20,000 neurones in the hypothalamus.

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29
Q

What are some of the biological and psychological functions that operate on a rough 24 hour clock?

A

Hormone production
Brain activity
Temperature

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30
Q

What relationship does melatonin have to feelings of drowsiness?

A

It has a positive correlation.

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31
Q

What is an indication that someone is awake?

A

-Being AWAKE reliably generates brain oscillations of a certain frequency.
-Beta waves (12-30Hz)
-Alpha waves (8-12Hz)
(these waves index levels of alertness).

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32
Q

What happens in stage 1 of sleep?

A

-begins with production of theta waves (4-7Hz).
-less regular
-lower frequency
(in comparison to alpha waves).

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33
Q

What happens in stage 2 of sleep?

A

-continues further descent into sleep.
-characterised by sleep spindles and K complexes.
-Loud noises will trigger K complexes but you will not be consciously aware of them.
(response to sound without being awake: the brain is responding but the mind is not).

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34
Q

What happens in stages 3 and 4 of sleep?

A
  • characterised by delta waves.
  • slow waves
  • large in amplitude
  • more synchronized.
  • If awoken during delta production, you will feel groggy and disorientated.
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35
Q

What happens in stage 5 of sleep?

A

(Known as R.E.M sleep).

  • paradoxical sleep: brain activity is similar to being awake.
  • slowing heart rate and blood pressure across stages 1-4 not observed at this last level.
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36
Q

What does the sleep cycle involve?

A

Going in and out of lighter and deeper sleep.
-During the first cycles, more time is spent in stages 3 and 4.
During the latter cycles, more time is spent in stage 5.

37
Q

When is dreaming more likely?

A

At stage 5.

38
Q

What are non- Stage 5 dreams like?

A

More mundane.

39
Q

What is the role of the brain stem during dreaming?

A

It is responsible for switching off motor activity during dreaming.

40
Q

What is R.E.M accompanied by?

A

M.E.M.A: middle ear muscle activity.

-It may appear like we are ‘looking’ and ‘listening’ but such activity also occurs in the absence of dreaming.

41
Q

What is highest during REM sleep?

A

Acetylcholine.

42
Q

What is present in wakefulness?

A

GABA, Norepinephrine and Dopamine.

43
Q

What are 6 common sleep problems?

A 
Insomnia
Narcolepsy
Sleep Apnea
Night Terrors
Nightmares
Sleepwalking (Somnambulism)
44
Q

What is insomnia?

A

When you can’t go to sleep or wake up early.

-Advised to avoid stimulants, make sure the bedroom is for sleeping and to get up if you cannot sleep.

45
Q

What is Narcolepsy?

A

Involves immediately entering REM sleep.

-Associated with cataplexy (loss of muscle tone).

46
Q

What is Sleep Apnea?

A

Breathing problems experienced during sleep.

  • Can then lead to insomnia.
  • Often associated with weight.
47
Q

What are night terrors?

A

Associated with deep non-REM sleep.

-Involves awakening in a state of panic and being temporarily unresponsive.

48
Q

What are nightmares?

A

Distressing imagery associated with the product of REM sleep.

49
Q

What is sleepwalking?

A

(Somnambulism)

Associated with non-REM sleep.

50
Q

What are the three theories that attempt to explain dreams?

A

Psychodynamic account
Activation-Synthesis account
Consolidation and Reorganising account

51
Q

What is the Psychodynamic account?

A
  • Freud distinguished between the manifest and latent content of dreams.
  • Dream content is symbolic: We are expressing hidden desires through coded messages to ourselves.

Problems?:

  • Turtles have REM sleep: questions wish fulfillments
  • We have regular and boring dreams as well as repeatedly dreaming of traumatic events.
52
Q

What is the Activation-Synthesis account?

A
  • During REM sleep, the pons (via the thalamus) appears to send random signals to higher brain areas.
  • Our dreams are an attempt to synthesise random brain activation.
  • need to establish pattern/find meaning.
53
Q

What is the Consolidation and Reorganising account?

A

-Sleep more generally seems to be important for helping us consolidate new memories and discover new strategies to problems.

54
Q

How can you establish if someone is sleep deprived?

A
  • People often overestimate the amount of effort needed to complete a task when sleep-deprived.
  • stimulants can correct this.
55
Q

What happens in the face of stress or injury?

A

We release endorphines (or brains very own painkiller).

-Our brain has its own personal addictions.

56
Q

What do natural or synthetic drugs external to the body do?

A

They serve to mimic, encourage or discourage our own neurotransmitters.

57
Q

How do sleeping pills work?

A

They serve to reduce the production of norepinephrine and dopamine, therefore aiding transition to sleep.

58
Q

How does Fluoxetine (aka Prozac) work?

A
  • Used to treat depression.

- Slowing down the reabsorption of serotonin.

59
Q

What are the four categories of drugs?

A

Depressants
Stimulants
Opiates/Narcotics
Hallucinogens

60
Q

What are depressants?

A

-ethyl alcohol, barbiturates, tranquillizers

Biological effects:
-Increased GABA

Psychological effects:

  • Decreased inhibition
  • Decreased anxiety
  • Decreased muscle strength
61
Q

Why do people act differently when drunk?

A

Expectancy effects: What you think alcohol does it will do.

Alcohol Myopia: Problem of attention and simple responding to complexity.

62
Q

What are social-cultural influences?

A

Social: Lack of important relationships, social support.
Behavioural: Pleasurable activity decrease, social withdrawal.

63
Q

What are psychological influences?

A

Mental: Depressed thoughts, self-reported sadness.
Neurological: Structures of the brain associated with mood affected.

64
Q

What are biological influences?

A

Neurochemical: Different levels of chemicals within the brain.
Molecular: Genetic predisposition towards sadness.

65
Q

What are socio-cultural influences?

A

Cultures where drinking is prohibited has lower rates of alcohol dependency.

66
Q

What are personality influences?

A

While there might not be a single addictive personality, traits that correlate with abuse include:

  • Impulsivity
  • Sociability
  • Negative emotion
67
Q

What are genetic influences?

A

ALDH2 gene mutation leads to flushing, palpitations and nausea.

68
Q

What are stimulants?

A

-caffeine, amphetamines, cocaine, nicotine, ecstasy

Biological effects:

  • decreased dopamine reabsorption
  • decreased norepinephrine reabsorption

Psychological effects:

  • better mood
  • more attentive
  • greater risk of anxiety and death
69
Q

What are opiates/narcotics?

A

-opium, heroin, morphine

Biological effects:
-Increased release of endorphines

Psychological effects:

  • Decreased sensitivity to pain
  • Decreased anxiety
  • Better mood

Intake and withdrawal from opiates are particularly dangerous and long-lasting.
-Those addicted to heroin tend to have a life expectancy of 40.

70
Q

What are hallucinogens?

A

-mescaline, psilocybin, LSD, marijuana

Biological effects:

  • Decreased GABA production
  • Increased serotonin

Psychological effects:

  • less anxiety
  • Increased sensitivity
  • increased panic

Mescaline and psilocybin are found naturally and have wide-spread usage in religious rituals.

LSD (‘acid’) was synthetically made in 1938.
-Long-term effects may include memory impairment.

71
Q

Why is it difficult to validate out-of-body experiences?

A

Tests of OOBE are hard to replicate.

72
Q

Although appearing to be culturally specific, how can some of the phenomena of near-death experiences be explained?

A

Some of these phenomena can be attributed to the biology of the dying brain:

  • lack of oxygen
  • the excessive release of endorphines
73
Q

What may déja vu (already seen) be due to?

A

1) Conscious access to previously unconscious information about a place.
2) Glitch between neural pathways resulting in ‘separate copies’ of the same experience.
3) Present location triggers an earlier experience with strong sense of familiarity.

74
Q

What are some of the biological effects of meditation?

A
  • increased alpha wave activity
  • reduced blood pressure
  • reduced heart rate
75
Q

What is the key question presented about meditation?

A

Does meditation cause the brain wave patterns or do people with these brain wave patterns seek out meditation?

76
Q

What do hypnosis techniques tend to rely on?

A

Visual fixation which induces feelings of muscle fatigue and tiredness.

77
Q

What has been observed under hypnosis?

A
  • modest effects of analgesia

- catalepsy

78
Q

What is Hilgard’s 1992 experiment of hypnosis have to do with dissociation?

A

-participants press button to register pain during cold pressor but do not report awareness after experiment.

79
Q

What does Spanos 1996 theory behind hypnosis have to do with role-play?

A

-argues there is little difference between hypnotized individuals and individuals stimulating hypnosis.

80
Q

What is hypnosis NOT?

A
  • not special
  • not unique
  • not like sleep
  • do not lose sense of your surroundings
  • do not forget what happened after hypnosis
  • do not remember better with hypnosis
81
Q

What does it mean that hypnosis is not special?

A

Given the potential role of suggestibility, individuals might be under pressure to perform (expectancy effects).

82
Q

What does it mean that hypnotic phenomena are not unique?

A

Stage-like activities performed during hypnosis can be replicated without hypnosis.

83
Q

What does it mean that hypnosis is not like sleep?

A

Despite the unfortunate presence of ‘hypno’ (to sleep), brain activity is more like being awake.

84
Q

What does it mean that during hypnosis, you do not lose sense of your surroundings?

A

Most hypnotized individuals are very aware of their surroundings.

85
Q

What does it mean that you do not forget what happened after hypnosis?

A

If you expect to forget, you can make out like you forgot, but spontaneous amnesia is rare.

86
Q

What does it mean that you do not remember better with hypnosis?

A

You might feel more confidence after hypnosis but this is not the same as being more accurate.

87
Q

What do all types of drugs play roles in?

A

Influencing perception and performance.

88
Q

What do all natural altered states of consciousness have in common?

A

They all have some biological origin.

Introduction to Biological and Cognitive Psychology (8 decks)

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