Mental causation Flashcards
Theoretically how are minds and bodies related?
> Interactive substance
> Psychophysical parallelism
What are the three kinds of mental causation?
> Physical to mental
Mental to mental
Mental to physical
Is there are psychological or philosophical basis in the concept of mental to physical causation?
No:
> Davidson (1963)
> Not possible unless we treat mental as a physical trait
> Violates the causal closure principle
What did Davidson (1963) propose?
anomalous monism
What is the causal closure principle?
No causal chain involving a physical event will ever cross over into the non-physical
What is the intention stance system?
> All activities are complex stimulus-response set ups
> Distinguishes the physical level from the design and intentional levels of description
What is intentionality?
> Intensions are action plans
> This is the basis for agency
According to intentionality, what is the difference between an intention and a desire?
> Intentions initiate actions, even if delayed, and persist until goal achievement
Desires can persist without the intent or need to initiate an action
What are the limitations of intentionality?
> No explanation for automatic actions
Causal basicness is a relative concept
Intentional basicness can be dissociated from causal basicness
What are the implications of the stance that there is no intentionality?
Agency (intentionality) is a requirement for consciousness
What do Libet (1985) and Soon et al (2008) both propose?
The representational content of an intention should include lower level components (eg, motor schemata, neuromuscular activity)
What did Libet (1979) demonstrate?
> EEG
Readiness potential
Showed readiness potential using perceived touch and neural stimulation
What is readiness potential, as defined by Libet?
Electrical signal in the brain 0.5s before physical movement was carried out
What are the implications of Libet (1979)
> Perception of external stimulus by the ‘conscious mind’ involves automatically subtracting 0.5s
Intentionally delay in perception
What did Libet demonstrate in the 90s?
> Clock face / hand movement study
> Readiness began 300 ms before the conscious desire to act
What are the implications of the Libet studies from the 90s?
> Voluntary acts are initiated unconsciously
Consciousness is unfaithful
Consciousness may be used to veto actions
What did Haggard, Clark and Kalogeras (2002) find?
> Compared perception of event timeline with the physical reality
If an event is causal linked to an intentional action it is judged to take place 46ms earlier (key press and following tone)
What is a possible explanation for the effect found by Haggard, Clark and Kalogeras (2002)?
> Temporal and spatial contiguity facilitate causality judgements
Intentional binding
What are explanations for re-ordering (reorganising events so causes are closely followed by effects)?
> Haggard et al (2002) - intentional binding
> Stetson et al (2006) - perceived timing of sensory events shifts wrt perceived timing of actions
What is intentional binding?
As probability of causality increases, perceived temporal and spatial contiguity decrease. This is to link the two events more strongly
