Module 7 Flashcards
Basic Consciousness Concepts
What is consciousness
our subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment
what does this awareness allow us to do
this awareness allows us to assemble information from many sources as we reflect on our past, adapt to our present, and plan for our future
what does consciousness do with our attention when learning
consciousness focuses our attention when we learn a complex concept or behaviour, eventually becoming semiautomatic as we learn
spontaneous altered states of consciousness
daydreaming, drowsiness, dreaming
physiologically induced altered states of consciousness
hallucinations, orgasms, food or oxygen starvation
psychologically induced altered states of consciousness
sensory deprivation, hypnosis, meditation
how can consciousness promote our survival
by anticipating how we seem to others and helping us read their minds
cognitive neuroscience
the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with our mental processes - relating specific brain states to conscious experiences
what is selective attention
selective attention is when our attention focuses on one stimulant in an environment where their are multiple that could grab our attention.
ex. using your phone in a class, your attention is only on your phone even though you think you can pay attention to both
by estimate, how much information do our five senses take in per second, and how much is consciously processed
our five senses take in 11,000,000 bits of information per second and we consciously process about 40
what is the cocktail party effect
your ability to attend to one voice among a sea of other voices
what happens when someone else calls your name while you are having a conversation
your cognitive radar, operating in your right frontal cortex, brings that other voice into consciousness
what did Ulric Neisser (1979), Robert Becklen and Daniel Cervone (1983) demonstrate
they demonstrated inattentional blindness by showing people a one minute video of basketball players, three in black shirts and three in white shirts tossing a ball and told viewers to press a key when a black shirted player tossed the ball
what were the results of this inattentional blindness research
most viewers did not see the young women carrying an umbrella across the screen because they were focusing on the basketball players throwing the ball
inattentional blindness
failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere
what is dual processing
dual processing is also known as the two track mind, we are aware of whats on our consciousness while unconscious information is processing simultaneously on parallel tracks
what does parallel processing do
parallel processing enables your mind to take care of routine business
what is sequential processing best for
sequential processing is best for solving new problems, which requires our focused attention on one thing at a time
