Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

PSYC*2650 > PSYC*2650 Chapter 15: Conscious and Unconscious Thought > Flashcards

PSYC*2650 Chapter 15: Conscious and Unconscious Thought Flashcards

1
Q

What is consciousness?

A

A state of awareness of sensations or ideas

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What does it mean to be aware of sensations or ideas?

A
  • The person can reflect on them
  • The person knows what it “feels like” to experience them
  • The person can report their awareness of them to others
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What is the cognitive unconscious?

A

The broad set of mental activities of which people are completely unaware

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What are some examples of things made possible by the cognitive unconscious?

A

Things like thinking, remembering, reasoning, etc.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

T of F: The processes that unfold in the cognitive unconscious are sophisticated and powerful.

A

True

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What are mental products?

A

The beliefs and conclusions an individual has formed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What are mental processes?

A

The mental work (conscious or unconscious) that leads to mental products

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

As a general rule, are people aware or unaware of mental products?

A

Aware

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

As a general rule, are people aware or unaware of mental processes?

A

Unaware

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

T or F: A person’s memory of an event is a mental process and is something they are unaware of.

A

False. A person’s memory of an event is a mental product and is something they are aware of.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What is the main reason for which people are unable to reject influences or avoid the assumptions that create memory errors?

A

Because the process of recalling a memory is unconscious

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Why are people seeking to introspect on the way they behaved unable to do so accurately?

A

Because the processes leading to that behaviour were unconscious

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

When introspecting on their behaviour, what do people rely on?

A

An after-the-fact reconstruction

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

How do people create after-the-fact reconstructions about their behaviour?

A

They draw on broad knowledge about why people generally act in certain ways and make plausible inferences about the reasoning for their own behaviour

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is blind-sight?

A

A pattern observed in people who are unable to see in parts/all of their field of vision, but can often correctly respond to visual inputs when required to do so

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Does blind-sight rely on the dorsal or ventral brain pathway?

A

Dorsal

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Patients with blind-sight often have damage to which brain area?

A

The visual cortex

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What are two potential explanations for blind-sight?

A
  • There are “islands” of intact tissue within the damaged brain area
  • Alternate visual pathways enables patients to use visual information but not consciously see it
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Information flow through which brain area is thought to be the reason blind-sighted patients can use the visual information they can’t consciously see?

A

The superior colliculus in the midbrain

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What is visual agnosia?

A

A condition in which the person has little to no conscious awareness of form/shape, despite having intact vision

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Why can a patient with visual agnosia slide a card through the slot of a mailbox, but when asked to simply rotate their hand to line up the card with the slot, they are unable to do so?

A

Because lining up the card with the slot requires conscious awareness of shape and orientation and “mailing it” relies on procedural memory and motor skills

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What is subliminal perception?

A

A pattern in which people perceive and are potentially influenced by inputs they didn’t consciously notice

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

If the subliminal presentation of words preceding a consciously perceived word caused a violation in expectations, what was observed in the brain?

A

An N400

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What governs unconscious processing?

A

Habit or setting

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

Is unconscious processing guided by current plans and desires?

A

No

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

What are action slips?

A

Errors in which a person performs an action that is different from the action they intended to perform

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

What type of behaviours are usually performed unintentionally during an action slip?

A

Habitual behaviours

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

What guides mental reflexes?

A

Circumstance

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

Are mental reflexes flexible or inflexible?

A

Inflexible

30
Q

What are the two main factors that allow unconscious processing to take place?

A
  • The structure of the nervous system (biology)
  • Practice
31
Q

During a verb-generation task, where was the most brain activity seen when participants were first confronted with the task?

A

Areas of the left frontal region, such as the prefrontal cortex

32
Q

As a verb-generation task was practised, how did brain activation change?

A

Activity in the prefrontal cortex decreased and activity in the insula increased

33
Q

During a motor-learning maze task, where was the most brain activity seen when participants were first confronted with the task?

A

The premotor and parietal areas

34
Q

As a motor-learning maze task was practised, how did brain activation change?

A

Activation in the premotor and parietal areas decreased and activity in the primary and supplementary motor areas increased

35
Q

What is needed to explicitly direct mental processes, rise above habit, or avoid responding to prominent cues in surroundings?

A

Executive control

36
Q

When is the anterior cingulate cortex particularly active?

A

When cognitive conflict is detected

37
Q

What role does the anterior cingulate cortex play in consciousness?

A

It decides when automatic unconscious behaviour is insufficient and when conscious control from the executive is needed

38
Q

Where does the executive control process occur?

A

The prefrontal cortex

39
Q

What four things are needed for executive control to function?

A
  • An output
  • A way to represent goals
  • An input
  • Knowledge of how current processes are infolding
40
Q

What is meant by the executive control’s “output”?

A

The means of launching desired actions and overriding unwanted actions

41
Q

What is meant by the executive control’s “input”?

A

Knowledge of the situation

42
Q

What are metacognitive skills?

A

Skills that allow people to monitor and control their own mental processes

43
Q

Which domain of cognition are metacognitive skills especially important?

A

Memory

44
Q

What it metamemory?

A

An individual’s knowledge about, awareness of, and control over their own memory

45
Q

What are neural correlates of consciousness?

A

Events in the nervous system that occur at the same time as, and may be the biological basis of, a specific mental event or state

46
Q

Which three brain areas showed increased activity during changes in awareness (ex. binocular vision tasks)?

A
  • The prefrontal cortex
  • The parietal cortex
  • The ventral surface of the temporal lobe
47
Q

T or F: There is no group of neurons or some place in the brain that is the “consciousness centre”

A

True

48
Q

What are the two broad categories that correspond to two aspects of consciousness?

A
  • Degree of awareness
  • Content of consciousness
49
Q

What is meant by an individual’s degree of awareness?

A

The range of being sleepy and dimly aware of a stimulus/idea/memory to being fully awake, highly alert and totally focused on a stimulus/idea/memory

50
Q

An individual’s degree of awareness is compromised when they suffer damage to either of which two brain areas?

A
  • The thalamus
  • The reticular activating system in the brain stem
51
Q

What does the reticular activating system control?

A

The overall arousal level in the forebrain and the cycling between sleep and wakefulness

52
Q

T or F: Various contents of consciousness rely on different brain areas.

A

True

53
Q

What is the neuronal workspace?

A

A specific claim about how the brain makes conscious experience possible

54
Q

What is the proposal surrounding the neuronal workspace?

A

“Workspace neurons” link together the activity of various specialized brain areas

55
Q

What makes the integration and comparison of different types of information possible?

A

The neuronal workspace

56
Q

T or F: The process of carrying information back and forth via the workspace neurons is nonselective.

A

False. The process is selective.

57
Q

How do workspace neurons select which brain process gets communicated to other brain areas?

A

They communicate the most active process

58
Q

What can amplify the activity in a brain area, and shape how competition between processes plays out in the neuronal workspace?

A

Attention

59
Q

What provides the biological basis for consciousness?

A

The integrated activity made possible by workspace neurons

60
Q

T or F: Workspace neurons carry the content of consciousness.

A

False. They combine the content of consciousness to create a unified experience.

61
Q

When asleep and not dreaming, what happens to communication among different parts of the cortex?

A

Communication breaks down and the brain’s activities aren’t coordinated with one another

62
Q

How does the neuronal workspace allow the executive to shift processing by adjusting the focus of attention?

A

The workspace makes it possible to detect conflict between different brain areas

63
Q

What supports the sustained neural activity that enables the executive to keep its goals and plans in view while working through a problem?

A

The neuronal workspace

64
Q

What are qualia?

A

The subjective conscious experiences/ “raw feelings” of awareness

65
Q

Why are qualia so hard to study?

A

Because they are undetectable to anyone other than the person who experiences them

66
Q

What is phenomenal consciousness?

A

Consciousness centered around what it feels like to have certain experiences

67
Q

What is access consciousness?

A

An individual’s sensitivity to certain types of information and therefore their access to manipulate and utilize it

68
Q

Research on what topic may provide important insights about how and when people are affected by qualia?

A

Processing fluency

69
Q

What is the mind-body problem?

A

The difficulty in understanding how the mind (a non-physical state) and the body (a physical entity) can influence one another

70
Q

What may serve as justification for action?

A

Consciousness

71
Q

T or F: Motor signals become active before a person is consciously aware of their desire to move.

A

True

PSYC*2650 (14 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions