Cartesian theatre
A mental scene or stage on which things occur that can be viewed by the mind’s eye.
Blindsight
Damage to the primary visual cortex produces an apparent blindness in the contra-lateral visual field.
- Patients can make correct guesses.
Homunculus problem
Who is in control?
We have the illusion that there is an internal ‘self’ that sees, feels and controls our behaviour. But who is in change of that entity?
Problem of other minds
We cannot really perceive the consciousness of others, so how do we know they have one?
Mind-body problem
How is the mind related to the brain and body?
- Descartes’ ‘thinking matter’.
Readiness Potentional (RP)
The increase in electrical activity before a conscious decision is made.
4 basic properties of consciousness
- Intentionality
- Unity
- Selectivity
- Transiency
Intentionality (consciousness)
Consciousness is about something that requires attention.
- Has content that needs attention.
- Many significant events can go unnoticed if unattended (i.e., change blindness).
Unity (consciousness)
Only one object can be attended at a time.
- Dividing attention is difficult.
Selectivity (consciousness)
Comes at the expense of other things that could enter the mind.
- Dichotic listening task
Transiency (consciousness)
The content (focus of) our consciousness changes constantly.
Minimal consciousness
A low level of awareness when sensations enter the mind which may (not) result in behaviour.
Full consciousness
Mental state
You know your mental state and are able to report it (involves thinking about the fact you are thinking).
Self-consciousness
Attention is drawn towards self as an object.
Visual self-recognition
- When looking in a mirror
- May be a special case of being conscious of oneself.
Selective attention
Attention is focused on one/a limited range of aspects.
Perceptual load theory
Early selection occurs when the perceptual load of target selection is high
Late selection occurs when the perceptual load of target selection is low.
Shifting attention
Attention has a spatial component that allows for better/faster processing of stimuli at the attended location.
Endogenous cues
Spatial attention shifted by an ‘instruction’.
- An arrow points towards the probable location of a target.
- Slow shift
Exogenous cues
Spatial attention shifted by automatically drawing attention.
- Sudden flash or sound from a location of our the fovea.
- Fast shift.
Feature integration theory of attention
‘Glue’
Focused attention is required to bind separate features of an object like colour, form, or motion together.
Attention then acts as the glue that binds the features.
Unilateral visual neglect
Stimuli that appear on the opposite side of space relative to the site of hemispheric lesions are not attended/noticed.
- Patients often have right parietal damage
Extinction (attention)
The patient receives a single object in the left and right side of the brain, but if these occur simultaneously, only one is perceived.
Balint’s syndrome + three issues
Bilateral posterior parietal lesions at the same [mirrored] locations.
- Simultanagnosia
- Optic ataxia
- Psychic paralysis of gaze
