Week one

Question 1

Define Consciousness

Answer 1

The awareness of the self and the environment.
The mental events that you are aware of.
This includes focusing (concentration), reflect and planning.

Question 2

What are the various levels of consciousness, and what is the key point of consciousness based on these levels?

Answer 2

Conscious
Pre- conscious 
Non-conscious 
Sub-conscious / Unconscious
Consciousness consists of more than we’re
currently aware of

Question 3

Define Pre conscious

Answer 3

That which we are not aware of but can be

brought to mind (memory)

Question 4

Define Non-conscious

Answer 4

Outside awareness (blood pressure) Not in our control

Question 5

Define Subc onscious / Unconscious

Answer 5

Not aware of but influences
conscious thought
like stereotypes, schemas, core beliefs, priming, etc.

Question 6

What are some reasons why we have consciousness?

Answer 6

• Evolutionary advantages.
• Monitors self and environment allowing the construct of the sensory world to be more accurate.
• Behavioural responses are enhanced and more appropriate.
• Problem-solving.
• Essential to process complex information and learn new behaviours and concepts.

Question 7

What does it mean by conscious processing is a limited resource?

Answer 7

Once a behaviour is processed enough times, it results in mastering a behaviour. Once this happens, the behaviour becomes automatic which then frees up the consciousness. e.g.driving.

Question 8

Define attention

Answer 8

Consciously perceiving our environment.
The practice of focusing on conscious awareness.
Process of focusing conscious awareness provides heightened sensitivity to a limited range of experiences.

Question 9

What is the process of attention?

Answer 9

• allocating mental energy
• enhanced processing of the stimuli we’re focusing on
• reducing the processing and perception of other stimuli around

Question 10

What is attentional control vital?

Answer 10

It prevents us from being overwhelmed.
Direct attention where we think its most needed.
Attentional gaze overtly and covertly

Question 11

What is overt and covert attention

Answer 11

overt attention involves directed eye movement to consciously focus on a target stimulus.
covert attention involves mental focus or attention to an object without significant eye movement.

Question 12

How is attention voluntarily controlled?

Answer 12

Top-down processing.

-Guided by expectations, motivation, beliefs, etc.

Question 13

What is top-down processing?

Answer 13

Top-down processing is the process of using context or general knowledge to understand what we perceive.
We use top-down processing to quickly understand the sensory input we take in when we interact with different environments.

Question 14

How is attention control involuntary?

Answer 14

Bottom-up process

-E.g., loud noises, light/colour change, movement etc.

Question 15

What is bottom-up processing?

Answer 15

Bottom-up processing is when the brain processes sensory information and uses clues to understand stimuli.
example.
They can probably guess that they are eating food or have other clues about what they are going to put in their mouth. But they must use bottom-up processing to assess what they are eating. taste buds help the brain with this – they send sensory information to the brain with little or no context

Question 16

What are the limitations of attention?

Answer 16

1. takes effort.
2. limits depend on the type of task/s
3. when attending to a particular thing, perceptual system can be ‘blind’ to other aspects of the environment. Can sense but not perceive.
   (inattentional / change blindness)

Question 17

Explain the cocktail party phenomenon.

Answer 17

the ability of people to focus on a single talker or conversation in a noisy environment.

Question 18

Examples of processing outside of awareness

Answer 18

shift attention - not aware of shifts
automatic tasks - well-learned tasks
priming-occurs whenever exposure to one thing can later alter behaviour or thoughts.
sublminal perception - too fast for conscious
reconstruct memory
first impressions

Question 19

Define subliminal stimuli

Answer 19

sensory stimuli below the threshold for conscious perception

attended to by the brain, but not consciously perceived.

Question 20

Define visual stimuli

Answer 20

flashed before an individual is able to process them, or flashed then masked which interrupts processing.

Question 21

Define audio stimuli

Answer 21

may be played below audible volumes / masked.

Question 22

Which scan shows the results of subliminal stimuli?

Answer 22

fMRI’S show subliminal stimuli activate specific cortical regions despite participants being unaware

Question 23

What can subliminal perception possibly help with?

Answer 23

can test the arousal responses in psychiatric populations e.g., those suffering from anxiety, depression and schizophrenia.

method can be used to evoke non-voluntary brain mechanisms that may underlie such disorders.

Question 24

What are hallucinations? What ways can they occur?

Answer 24

They are an altered state of consciousness.
Hallucinations create realistic perceptual experiences in the absence of external stimuli.
Most will be auditory (voices) (schizophrenia)
Visual - image, notion or flash
Olfactory (smell), Gustatory (taste), Tactile (feel) (substance use)

Question 25

Define Deja Vu. How is it explained in neuropsychology?

Answer 25

It is a sense that you have experienced something and/or predict what is going to happen,

Neuropsychology- small seizures in the right temporal lobe associated with feelings of familiarity.

Question 26

What is the Capgras Syndrome? Where is it seen?

Answer 26

It is a disorder in which an individual believes that a friend or family member has been replaced by an imposter.
Most commonly seen in schizophrenia, but also seen in brain injury and dementia.
In addition to that, also reported in some neurodegenerative diseases.

Question 27

How is Capgras Syndome explained in neuropsychology?

Answer 27

Its a disconnection between the temporal lobe (where faces are usually recognised) and the limbic system (involved in emotion).

Question 28

What does the stimulant cocain do?

Answer 28

Increases levels of dopamine.
Prevents dopamine reuptake so that it can flood the synapse resulting in addiciton and too much uptake by dopamine receptors by the postsynaptic membrane.
dopamine receptors reduce resulting in long-term changes to the cortical reward system.
Causes difficulty to respond to ‘normal’ rewards.

Question 29

What are the effects of alcohol?

Answer 29

CNS depressant

Cortical activity is lowered, thinking impaired, movement and coordination difficult, and affect changes.