Week one Flashcards
Define Consciousness
The awareness of the self and the environment.
The mental events that you are aware of.
This includes focusing (concentration), reflect and planning.
What are the various levels of consciousness, and what is the key point of consciousness based on these levels?
Conscious Pre- conscious Non-conscious Sub-conscious / Unconscious Consciousness consists of more than we’re currently aware of
Define Pre conscious
That which we are not aware of but can be
brought to mind (memory)
Define Non-conscious
Outside awareness (blood pressure) Not in our control
Define Subc onscious / Unconscious
Not aware of but influences
conscious thought
like stereotypes, schemas, core beliefs, priming, etc.
What are some reasons why we have consciousness?
- 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.
What does it mean by conscious processing is a limited resource?
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.
Define attention
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.
What is the process of attention?
- allocating mental energy
- enhanced processing of the stimuli we’re focusing on
- reducing the processing and perception of other stimuli around
What is attentional control vital?
It prevents us from being overwhelmed.
Direct attention where we think its most needed.
Attentional gaze overtly and covertly
What is overt and covert attention
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.
How is attention voluntarily controlled?
Top-down processing.
-Guided by expectations, motivation, beliefs, etc.
What is top-down processing?
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.
How is attention control involuntary?
Bottom-up process
-E.g., loud noises, light/colour change, movement etc.
What is bottom-up processing?
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
What are the limitations of attention?
- takes effort.
- limits depend on the type of task/s
- 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)
Explain the cocktail party phenomenon.
the ability of people to focus on a single talker or conversation in a noisy environment.
Examples of processing outside of awareness
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
Define subliminal stimuli
sensory stimuli below the threshold for conscious perception
attended to by the brain, but not consciously perceived.
Define visual stimuli
flashed before an individual is able to process them, or flashed then masked which interrupts processing.
Define audio stimuli
may be played below audible volumes / masked.
Which scan shows the results of subliminal stimuli?
fMRI’S show subliminal stimuli activate specific cortical regions despite participants being unaware
What can subliminal perception possibly help with?
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.
What are hallucinations? What ways can they occur?
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)
Define Deja Vu. How is it explained in neuropsychology?
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.
What is the Capgras Syndrome? Where is it seen?
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.
How is Capgras Syndome explained in neuropsychology?
Its a disconnection between the temporal lobe (where faces are usually recognised) and the limbic system (involved in emotion).
What does the stimulant cocain do?
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.
What are the effects of alcohol?
CNS depressant
Cortical activity is lowered, thinking impaired, movement and coordination difficult, and affect changes.
