Unit 4 Aos 1 Flashcards
What Is consciousness
Consciousness is Our awareness of our internal and external environments at any given time
What is the consciousness stream
William James described consciousness as the flow of thoughts in our conscious mind
Consciousness as a Psychological construct
Consciousness is a psychological construct because we believe that it exists but we can’t measure its effects
What is a state of consciousness
A state of consciousness is the level of awareness an organism has at any given moment.
What is Normal waking consciousness
Normal waking consciousness is the state of consciousness that we are in most of the day it is a state characterised by clear and organised alertness of internal and external stimuli
What is attention and what are the different types of attention
Attention is the concentration of mental activity that focuses on specific stimuli while ignoring others. The two different types of attention are selective attention (focusing on one stimuli) and divided attention usually used during normal waking consciousness (focuses on multiple stimuli
What are Altered states of consciousness and what are the different types
Altered states of consciousness are any state of consciousness other then normal waking consciousness. you can have naturally occurring ASC’s that happen naturally with no conscious effort such as day dreaming or induce ASC’s any state of consciousness that were intentionally produced
What are the different types of tests used to study consciousness
Consciousness is measured using three different types of tests, measurements of physiological responses, measurement of performance on cognitive tasks and subjective reporting of consciousness.
What is the EEG?
The EEG or electroencephalograph (is an objective measure of consciousness and physiological response) is a device that measure physiological responses, it amplifies and records general patterns of the electrical activity in the brain particularly in the cerebral cortex. This device sits on the scalp of the patient with electrodes on varying places covering the head
What are the advantages and limitations of the EEG?
Advantages of the EEG are, it’s a non invasive, objective measuring tool that is great at detecting abnormalities in the brain or the time of changes in consciousness, som limitations of the EEG are, it only detects electrical activity in the surface of the brain.
What are Beta waves
beta waves have high frequency and low amplitude and are irregular. Beta wave are commonly associated with normal waking consciousness and focus attention
What are alpha wave.
Alpha have a high frequency (but slower then beta) and low amplitude (but larger then Beta). these waves are associated with a calm or relaxed state of mind.
What are Theta Waves
Theta waves have a medium frequency and a mixture of high and low amplitude waves. they are associated with drowsiness, falling, waking up, excitement and deep meditation.
What are delta waves
Delta have the lowest frequency but the highest amplitude and are associated with deepest stages of sleep including REM.
what effect do stimulant drugs have on your brain waves
stimulants cause an increase in central nervous system active and an elevated state of consciousness. the increase of high frequency brainwaves and a decrease in in frequency brain waves, specifically when a stimulant is taken beta waves increase while delta, alpha and theta waves all decrease
what effect do depressants drugs have on your brain waves
Depressants are drugs that decrease the central nervous system activity and results in a calm or relaxed state. depressants also cause an decrease in high frequency brain wave such as beta and an increase in low frequency brainwave such as delta, alpha and theta
What do speed and accuracy mean in terms of cognitive abilities
speed means your response or reaction time to specific stimuli. while accuracy means the number of correct to incorrect responses with no time limit.
What is the Electromyograph (EMG)
the EMG (is an objective measure of consciousness and physiological response) is use to detect amplify and recorded the electrical activity of muscles as well as the strength of the electrical signal. these machines are placed on the skin above the relevant muscles.
What is the Electro-oculography (EOG)
The EOG (is an objective measure of consciousness and physiological response) detects amplifies and recorded the electrical activity of the muscles around the eye. this is done by placing the electrodes on the areas of the face around the eye
What are measures to record consciousness
You have two different ways of measuring consciousness, objective measure like the EEG or EOG objective measures or subjective like that of sleep diaries and video monitoring.
What are sleep diaries
Sleep diaries are a subjective measure of consciousness and involves self reporting sleep wake times over an extended period of time.
What is video monitoring
Video monitoring is an subjective measure of consciousness that is often used to observer sleep disorders or disturbances, this involves setting up a camera to observe sleep.
What are the seven phycological characteristics of consciousness
Attention, controlled and automatic processes, content limitations, Perceptual and cognitive distortions, emotional awareness, self-control and time orientation.
what is attention
attention is a concentration of mental activity on specific stimuli, attention can be split up into two different types, selective attention is focusing on one stimuli while ignoring others (focus attention) or divided attention focusing your attention to two or more stimuli (normal waking consciousness)