Consciousness
persons subjective experience of the world and the mind
Phenomenology
how things seem to the conscious person
Problems of other minds
-Fundamental difficulty in perceiving the consciousness of others
(you are the only one that will ever know what it’s like to be you)
-Judge minds based on; Experience/Agency
Mind-Body problem
how the mind is related to brain and body
4 properties of consciousness
- Intentionally: quality of being directed toward on object, working towards something, having intentions
- Unity: ability to integrate info from all of the body’s senses into one coherent whole, one smooth experience, what your touching/feeling/tasting etc. all bundled into one experience
- Selectivity: capacity to include some objects but not others
- Transience: tendency for consciousness to change
Lvls of consciousness
- Minimal: low-level king of sensory awareness/ responsiveness that occurs when mind inputs sensations and makes behaviour
- Full: able to report your mental state, aware of the state while having the state
- Self: focuses on the self to the exclusion of everything else
Disorder of consciousness
unable to demonstrate full consciousness or self-consciousness
Experience-sampling technique
people report on conscious experiences at certain times
Daydreaming
brain active when no task at hand, show activation in default network
Anxious thoughts
- Mental control: attempt to change conscious states of mind
- Thought suppression: conscious avoidance of a thought
- Rebound Effect of Thought suppression: tendency of a thought to return to consciousness w/ greater frequency following suppression
- Ironic processes of mental control: brain needs to know what it’s trying to think about so you then think about it
Unconscious mind
- Dynamic Unconscious: active system encompassing a lifetime of hidden memories, instincts, and desires; struggle to control these forces
- Repression: mental process of removing unacceptable thoughts/memories from consciousness to keep unconscious
- Freudian Slips: evidence of unconscious mind
ex. saying wrong name at wedding
More modern view of unconscious mind
-Cognitive: all the mental processes that influence thoughts, choices, emotions, and behaviour; not experienced by person
-Dual process theory: two systems for processing info; System 1= fast, automatic, unconscious processing
ex. Subliminal Perception–>reminder of aging causes person to walk slower
System 2= slow, effortful, conscious processing
Altered state of consciousness
a form of experience different than subjective experience of the world and mind
Hypnagogic state
pre sleep consciousness; hypnic jerk (sensation of dropping
Hypnopompic state
post sleep consciousness
Stages of sleep
- Theta waves; low-frequency patterns
- Sleep spindles/k complexes; bursts of activity
- Delta waves; slow-wave sleep
- REM sleep; rapid eye movements, body very still, mind active, high frequency sawtooth waves
cycle btwn REM and slow-wave sleep stages every…
90 min
Sleep is important for….
memory consolidation
Consequences of sleep deprivation
- reduced mental acuity and reaction time
- increased irritability and depression
- increased risk of injury or accidents
Sleep disorders
- Insomnia: difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
- Sleep Apnea: person stops breathing for brief periods while asleep
- Sleep walking (somnambulism): person arises and walks around while asleep
- Narcolepsy: sudden sleep attacks in the middle of waking activities
- Sleep paralysis: waking up unable to move
- Night terrors: abrupt awakenings with panic and emotional arousal
Dream Characteristics
- intensely feeling emotion
- illogical thoughts
- visual sensations
- uncritical acceptance of dream
Dream theories
- manifest and latent content (burning tree)
- activation synthesis (dreams are produced when brain tries to make sense of random neural activity during sleep)
- key difference (dreams begin w/ meaning vs. mind adds in meaning you interpret)
Dreams and senses
- visual perception of the brains= not active
- association areas in occipital lobe for visual imagery = active
Light vs. deep sleeper
- genetic variant on the ADA gene which produces the enzyme adenosine
- adenosine influences how deep people sleep
