sensation, perception and consciousness

Question 1

sensation

Answer 1

the physical stimulation of the sensory apparatus (effect of light on the retina, vibrations on ear drum, surface pressure on the skin etc.)

Question 2

perception

Answer 2

“The process of referring external objects and their causes, from their sensory input, by the mind

“the faculty of perceiving” … “ the ability of the mind to refer sensory information to an external object and its cause”.

the experiential (consciousness) component (what you see, hear, feel, taste, smell) of sensation- “qualia” the distinct sense datum

Question 3

consciousness

Answer 3

the state of awareness of our own existence, of sensations, of our own thoughts and surroundings
It is a state that is in contrast to being unconscious

Question 4

vision

Answer 4

LIGHT RECEPTIVE GANGILON CELLS IN THE RETINA

LIGHT is converted to ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE FORMS

Question 5

audition

Answer 5

TIMPANIC MEMBRANE (EAR DRUM), ORGAN OF CORTI, HAIR CELLS

CHANGES IN AIR PRESSURE (REVEBERATION/ VIBRATIONS)

Question 6

somatory sensory/ haptics

Answer 6

(touch)
SKIN – VARIOUS MECHANORECEPTORS

MECHNAICAL PRESSURE/DEFORMATIONS OF THE SKIN, CHANGES ON TEMPERATURE

Question 7

gaustation

Answer 7

taste
TOUNG – TASTE BUDS IN THE PAPILLAE

CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES DISOLVED IN SALIVA

Question 8

olfaction

Answer 8

NOSE – CILIA IN THE MUCUS LAYER OF THE EPITHELIUM SITUATATED AT THE TOP OF THE NOSE AND BACK OF THROAT

AIRBOURNE SUBSTANCES DISOLVED IN THE MUCUS LINING

Question 9

perception is adequate not accurate

Answer 9

– Visual illusions
– Television: Ventriloquist effect
– Also see the McGurk effect
– We don’t sense or process everything we sense, and not everything we process is explicit/conscious even if we respond to it.

Question 10

why does perception match reality

Answer 10

– Perception is adequate because

1. Physical stimuli are rich in information (lots of information out there)
2. The human sensory system is really good at gathering information
3. Concepts (higher level processes) shape our perception

Question 11

sensation - detecting

Answer 11

– Information is captured by the sensory systems and converted to neuronal activity
– Information broken down, extracted, analysed and put back together…
– Perception – experiencing
– How we get from sensation to perception is unclear but it seems to be a combination of top down (concepts/expectations) and bottom up processes (structures in the visual pathways)
– Not all of it is explicit and some of it is lost

Question 12

consciousness level

Answer 12

scale of awareness from zero contents to fully aware

Question 13

consciousness content

Answer 13

moment to moment here and now experience

Question 14

low consciousness content

Answer 14

– Low-level: basic here and now (all animals) awareness

Question 15

high consciousness content

Answer 15

reasoning, self reflecting, ‘I am X’, ‘When I’m older I wan to be Y’ (humans only)

Question 16

problems with consciousness

Answer 16

where does it come from?
• Consciousness comes from brain activity
• Activity in the brain for stimuli that we process both with and without awareness, and can respond to, is different but present

• How does brain activity actually become conscious awareness? Where does the experience come from?
• Why are we conscious at all?

Question 17

subjective - measuring when we are conscious?

Answer 17

• Point at which individuals can/can’t report awareness of a stimulus
– e.g. increased brightness of light or sound

Question 18

objective - measuring when we are conscious?

Answer 18

• Point at which individuals can/can’t make accurate forced-choice decisions about a stimulus or adjust a stimulus (turn up the brightness)
• It’s what we as psychologists measure - Is this awareness or consciousness?

Question 19

the binding problem

Answer 19

• Consciousness is not unitary it just feels that way
• The binding problem: if incoming information is extracted and broken down to be processed in multiple locations, but how is it then put back together?

Question 20

Feldman (2013): multiple difficulties.

Answer 20

– If the information has been broken down, and then how is that we see a cohesive whole? How is it put back together?
– How does it remain contiguous (connected) over time?
1. Answer? Some of it isn’t broken down and maybe it doesn’t matter at an unconscious level (see global work space model)

Question 21

precise synchrony

Answer 21

use timing of single cell firing to time stamp information (problem – computationally expensive)

Question 22

general synchrony

Answer 22

general pattern of cell firing is used to bind (problem – loss of detail)

Question 23

weak structural functionalism

Answer 23

Some ‘cells’ do multiple tasks
– The same region of the brain might do more than one job
e.g. pitch/frequency (hi, lo) and timbre (subjective quality)

Question 24

selective attention

Answer 24

– attentional clusters (grouping)

• We attend (process) things/events together, so they are bound together in the brain

Question 25

perceptual

Answer 25

– perceiving your environment may help you better interact with it (it might not)

Question 26

social communication

Answer 26

– understanding and interacting with others (theory of mind)

– What about other animals?

Question 27

information integration

Answer 27

– Just organised “information”
– Reflect on your own experience
– Allows you to integrate experiences as you have them (but we don’t know why).

Question 28

the hard problem

Answer 28

How do we become conscious and where does the experience it come from? Are we conscious at all?

Question 29

soft problem

Answer 29

where does consciousness come from