Consciousness

Question 1

What is consciousness?

Answer 1

The subjective awareness of mental events

Question 2

What is consciousness often defined by?

Answer 2

Contrasts

Question 3

What are the two main functions of consciousness?

Answer 3

Monitoring of the self and the environment and regulating thought and behaviour

Question 4

Recent evidence suggests what are of the brain is activated when conscious control is exercised?

Answer 4

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Question 5

What is the Stroop task?

Answer 5

Participants are presented a word (name of a colour) printed in colour and have to name the colour quickly while ignoring the word

Question 6

What are states of consciousness?

Answer 6

Different patterns of subjective experience, including ways of experiencing internal and external events

Question 7

What is attention?

Answer 7

The process of focusing conscious awareness, providing heightened sensitivity to an experience

Question 8

What has attention been likened to by scientists and what phenomenon is associated?

Answer 8

A filtering process; cocktail party phenomenon

Question 9

When does mind wandering occur?

Answer 9

When conscious thoughts do not remain on topic and the brain processes additional, unrelated sensory information

Question 10

What is selective inattention?

Answer 10

The process of diverting attention from information that may be relevant but emotionally upsetting

Question 11

What are the three functions attention consists of?

Answer 11

• Orienting to sensory stimuli
• Controlling behaviour and the contents of consciousness
• Maintaining alertness

Question 12

What does orienting involve?

Answer 12

Turning sensory organs towards a stimulus

Question 13

What is divided attention?

Answer 13

Splitting attention between two complex tasks

Question 14

What are dichotic listening tasks?

Answer 14

Participants are fitted with earphones, different information is simultaneously presented to both ears

Question 15

What is shadowing?

Answer 15

The process of attend to only the information from one ear

Question 16

What is daydreaming?

Answer 16

Turning attention away from external stimuli to internal thoughts and imagined scenarios

Question 17

Freud defined consciousness as one of what three mental systems?

Answer 17

The conscious (subjective awareness), preconscious (not presently conscious but readily available) and unconscious (inaccessible to consciousness)

Question 18

What is subliminal perception?

Answer 18

Perception of stimuli below the threshold of consciousness

Question 19

What does cognitive unconsciousness focus on?

Answer 19

Information-processing mechanisms that operate outside awareness

Question 20

What are circadian rhythms?

Answer 20

Cyclical biological clocks that evolved around the daily cycles of light and dark

Question 21

What does sleep appear to be involved in?

Answer 21

• Conservation of energy
• Restoration
• Growth & muscle development
• Consolidation of memory
• Creative thinking

Question 22

What do circadian rhythms produce?

Answer 22

Periodic variations in alertness, body temperature and hormonal secretion

Question 23

What do alpha waves indicate?

Answer 23

Slowing of mental activity and a transition into sleep

Question 24

How many stages of NREM sleep are there?

Answer 24

Four

Question 25

What appears during stage 1 of NREM sleep?

Answer 25

Slower theta waves

Question 26

What occurs during stage 2 of NREM sleep?

Answer 26

EEG pattern of slightly larger waves interrupted by sleep spindles and K-complexes

Question 27

What appears during stage 3 of NREM sleep?

Answer 27

Large, slow, rhythmic delta waves

Question 28

What is delta sleep characterised by?

Answer 28

Relaxed muscles, decreased respiration rate and lower body temperature

Question 29

What is REM sleep?

Answer 29

Rapid eye movement sleep

Question 30

When does most dreaming occur?

Answer 30

During REM sleep

Question 31

How often do the cyclical stages of REM sleep repeat?

Answer 31

About every 90 minutes

Question 32

What are the three perspectives of dreaming?

Answer 32

Psychodynamic (Freud), cognitive and biological

Question 33

What are some of the costs of sleep deprivation?

Answer 33

Impaired attention, reaction time, cognitive speed/accuracy, motor coordination and decision-making

Question 34

What is insomnia?

Answer 34

Chronic inability to sleep

Question 35

What is narcolepsy?

Answer 35

Irresistible compulsion to sleep

Question 36

What is the difference between nightmares and night terrors?

Answer 36

Nightmares occur during REM sleep, making an individual feel helpless; night terrors are abrupt partial wakenings from non-REM sleep characterised by extreme fright

Question 37

What is hypnosis?

Answer 37

An altered state of consciousness characterised by deep relaxation and suggestibility

Question 38

What is hypnosis used to produce?

Answer 38

Hallucinations, disinhibition, hypnotic analgesia

Question 39

What does the dissociation hypothesis of hypnosis suggest?

Answer 39

Hypnosis splits consciousness into two streams of awareness

Question 40

What does meditation create?

Answer 40

A deep state of tranquillity by altering the normal flow of conscious thoughts

Question 41

How does meditation work?

Answer 41

By focusing on a simple stimulus, an individual shuts down the normal flow of self-conscious inner dialogue

Question 42

What are the two styles of meditation?

Answer 42

Focused attention and open-monitoring (attention directed to the content of one's moment-to-moment experience)

Question 43

How do narcotics alter consciousness?

Answer 43

By creating an overwhelming sense of euphoria and relaxation

Question 44

How do depressants alter consciousness?

Answer 44

By decreasing CNS activation & behavioural activity

Question 45

How do stimulants alter consciousness?

Answer 45

By creating an alert state of euphoria

Question 46

How do hallucinogens alter consciousness?

Answer 46

By altering sensory perceptions

Question 47

How does marijuana/cannabis alter consciousness?

Answer 47

By creating a mild, relaxed euphoria & enhanced sensory awareness

Question 48

What are the two most dangerous types of drugs?

Answer 48

Narcotics and depressants

Question 49

How can recreational drug use affect health?

Answer 49

Triggering an overdose, producing physiological damage and causing health impairing behaviour

Question 50

What do the drug effects on consciousness depend on?

Answer 50

Biological actions of the drug and expectations of the drug effect