Lesson 1: Consciousness Flashcards
What is consciousness?
The state or quality of awareness, thoughts, perceptions, and feelings
Why was the frontal lobotomy practiced worldwide and what were its effects?
Used to cure mental illnesses
- effects: docile, apathetic, no strong opinions or emotions, childlike, etc.
What is a split-brain operation?
An outdated surgical approach for treating seizure disorder (epilepsy) that involves cutting the corpus callosum
What is the corpus callosum?
The bundle of nerve fibers that connect the left and right sides of the cerebral cortex
What happens when we cut the corpus callosum in half?
Our body is really good at coordinating limbs so there are no obvious side effects
- most people still had epilepsy
What happens if we cut the corpus callosum from front to back?
Patients reported that the left hand seemed to have a mind of its own
- the left hand was controlled by processes outside of the conscious awareness, but over a year or two, the left hand stopped doing weird things
Why are the cerebral hemispheres of the brain important?
For the sensorial experiences of the world
What is the left hemisphere of the brain responsible for? The right hemisphere?
Left hemisphere is repsonsible for the right side of the body
- and language!
Right hemisphere is responsible for the left side of the body
What happened to touch and vision on split brain patients?
Touch: when the patient closes their eyes and touches a familiar but unidentified object with their left hand, they cannot identify the object out loud
Vision: when the patient sees an image only in their left peripheral vision (which is processed by the right side of the brain), they cannot verbalize what they see
How do split-brain patients deal with the consequences of their surgery?
Finding ways to compensate for their deficits in perception
- often one hemisphere seemed to take the lead in controlling behavior in a situation dependent manner, and well-practiced bimanual skills could be coordinated by subcortical structures
What is interpreter theory?
The construction of explanations by the left brain hemisphere in order to make sense of the world by reconciling new information with what was known before
T/F: Behavior is fully controlled by unconscious processes
True. Consciousness doesn’t directly influence behavior - it weaves disparate points of information into a story that has meaning
- thus, behavior is controlled by unconscious processes
What is Cartesian doubt or hyperbolic skepticism?
Questioning everything, doubting everything
- Rene Descartes
What is the Cartesian Impasse?
While the body may be a mechanical device and the world deterministic, the mind (or soul) is something else, something immaterial that exists outside the body
- challenges or difficulties in reconciling Descartes’ dualistic philosophy with various aspects of our understanding of the mind and the physical world
What are misconceptions people have about the brain?
It is not an input/output device
- most of the brain activity is always going around
- the brain has a perception that it has the control of sensory information
- from its perspective, it thinks the environment is an input/output device
