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Week 4
Consciousness - Psychology 1A
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Consciousness | the subjective awareness of mental events |
| Functions of consciousness | - monitoring the self and the environment - regulating thought and behaviour |
| States of consciousness | different ways of orienting to internal and external events, such as awake states and sleep states |
| Measurement of consciousness | - self-reporting measures - brain imaging techniques - behavioural observation |
| Attention | refers to the process of focusing conscious awareness on a limited range of experience |
| Selective inattention | -diverting attention from information that may be relevant but emotionally upsetting - can be adaptive and/or maladaptive |
| Cocktail party phenomenon | suggests that we implicitly process much more information than reaches consciousness |
| Mind wandering | occurs when our conscious thoughts do not remain on topic, and our brain processes additional, unrelated sensory information |
| Components of attention | - orienting to sensory stimuli - controlling behaviour and the contents of consciousness - maintaining alertness |
| Divided attention | the process by which attention is split between two or more sets of stimuli |
| Dichotic listening | a procedure in which different information is presented to the left and right ears simultaneously |
| Automisation | actions previously performed with deliberate conscious effort are eventually processed automatically |
| Inattention blindness | refers to the failure to notice an unexpected stimulus occurring in one's visual field when focusing on another task |
| Daydreaming | turning attention away from external stimuli to internal thoughts and imagined scenarios |
| Beeper studies | an experience-sampling technique that has provided a more natural window to the flow of consciousness in everyday life |
| Experience sampling | a research technique whereby participants report on the contents of consciousness at specified times |
| Flow | a mental state of consciousness in which a person performing an activity is fully absorbed in a feeling of energised focus, complete involvement and intrinsic enjoyment of the activity |
| Psychodynamic unconscious | Freud defined consciousness as one of three mental systems: conscious mental processes, preconscious mental processes, and unconscious mental processes |
| Conscious mental processes | involve subjective awareness of stimuli, feelings or ideas |
| Preconscious mental processes | not presently conscious but could be brought to consciousness if the need arose |
| Unconscious mental processes | inaccessible to consciousness because they would be too anxiety provoking to acknowledge and thus have been repressed |
| Subliminal perception | perception of stimuli below the threshold of consciousness |
| Cognitive unconscious | focuses on information-processing mechanisms that operate outside of awareness, such as procedural knowledge and implicit memory |
| Circadian rhythm | - biological rhythm that evolved around the daily cycles of light and dark - controlled by hypothalamus but influenced by light and dark |
| Stage 1 sleep | - NREM sleep - slower theta waves - eye movements slow, muscles relax, blood pressure drops |
| Stage 2 sleep | - slightly larger waves - sleep spindles and K-complexes - sleep deepens and alpha activity disappears |
| Stage 3 sleep | - Delta sleep - large, slow, rhythmic delta waves |
| Stage 4 sleep | - Delta sleep - mostly delta waves - deep sleep - relaxed muscles, decreased respiration, slightly lower body temperature |
| REM sleep | the period of sleep during which darting eye movements occur, autonomic activity increases, and patterns of brain activity resembles those observed in waking states |
| Psychodynamic view of dreaming | - Freud - dreams have meaning but must be deciphered by someone skilled in dream interpretation - dreams are a window to the language of unconscious associative thoughts, feeling, and wishes |
| Manifest content | obvious storyline of a dream |
| Latent content | according to Freud's dream theory, the meaning that underlies the symbolism in a dream |
| Cognitive view of dreaming | suggests that dreams are cognitive constructions that reflect concerns and metaphors people express in their waking thought |
| Biological view of dreaming | - dreams are biological phenomena with no meaning at all - hippocampus and cortex work together to consolidate memories, and then 'wipe the slate clean' in the hippocampus |
| Altered states of consciousness | the usual conscious ways of perceiving, thinking, and feeling are modified or disrupted |
| Meditation | - meditator develops a deep state of tranquility by altering the normal flow of conscious thoughts - shuts down the normal flow of self-conscious inner dialogue |
| Mindfulness | a state of focused awareness of all senses - thoughts, feelings, and behaviours - without judgement and without reaction |
| Hypnosis | an altered state of consciousness characterised by deep relaxation and suggestibility, which a person voluntarily enters through the efforts of a hypnotist |
| Hypnotic susceptibility | the capacity to enter deep hypnotic states |
| Psychoactive substances | any drug that operates on the nervous system to alter patterns of mental activity |
| Depressants | substances that depress, or slow down, the nervous system |
| Barbiturates | - provide a sedative or calming effect - can be used as sleeping pills in high doses |
| Benzodiazepines | serve as tranquilisers |
| Heroin | slows down the activity of the central nervous system |
| Alcohol | - enhances activity of neurotransmitter GABA - can reduce anxiety - enhances activity of dopamine and endorphins |
| Stimulants | drugs that increase alertness, energy and autonomic reactivity |
| Nicotine | increases heart rate and blood presser, and decreases emotional reactivity |
| Caffeine | moderate amounts can help with staying awake, and high doses can produce symptoms indistinguishable from anxiety disorders |
| Amphetamines | - lead to hyperarousal and a feeling of 'speeding' - stimulation of norephinephrine produces alertness - stimulation of dopamine produces euphoria and increased motor activity |
| Cocaine | - causes hyperarousal, leading to a 'rush' that can last a few minutes to several hours - increases activity of dopamine and norephinephrine - achieves its effects by inhibiting reuptake |
| Hallucinogens | alter sensory data to produce bizarre or unusual perceptions |
| Ecstasy | - often perceived as a 'party' drug - interferes with concentration and action of serotonin - is not physically or psychologically addictive |
| Marijuana | - most widely used recreational drug - produces a state of being high, or 'stoned' |
| Disorders of consciousness | - unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS - previously known as 'vegetative state') - minimally conscious state (MCS) |
| Religious experiences | subjective experiences of being in contact with the divine or spiritual |
Created by:
KathrynT
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