Consciousness

Question 1

Levels of consciousness

Answer 1

Conscious,
Pre-conscious,
Non-conscious,
Sub-conscious/unconscious

Question 2

Why do we have consciousness?

Answer 2

Construct of the sensory world more accurate
Behavioural responses are enhance and more appropriate
Consciousness allows us to plan/regulate thoughts

Question 3

What is attention?

Answer 3

“Process of focusing conscious awareness, providing heightened sensitivity to a limited range of experience requiring more extensive information processing”.

Question 4

Is attention voluntary or involuntary?

Answer 4

Both. Attention can be voluntarily controlled (top-down processing) or involuntary (bottom-up processing).

Question 5

How are attention and perception linked?

Answer 5

Conscious perception requires attention, but in order to allocate attention, a lot of implicit processing is occurring outside of awareness

Question 6

What information is processed out of conscious awareness?

Answer 6

Shift in attention
Automatic tasks
Priming
Subliminal perception
Reconstruction of memory
First impressions

Question 7

Cork, Kihlstrom and Hameroff 1992 study

Answer 7

People under general anaesthetic presented with 15 word pairs repeatedly
Afterwards couldn’t remember being presented with any words but if they were given first word, they could complete the pair.

Question 8

What are subliminal stimuli?

Answer 8

Sensory stimuli below the threshold for conscious perception. They are attended to by the brain, but not consciously perceived

Question 9

How do subliminal stimuli affect the brain?

Answer 9

fMRI studies show that subliminal studies activate specific cortical regions despite participants being unaware.

Question 10

What are different states of consciousness?

Answer 10

Awake
Hypnosis
Daydreaming
Sensory deprivation
Orgasm
Food/oxygen starvation
Dreaming
Asleep
Hallucinating
Meditation

Question 11

What are hallucinations?

Answer 11

Realistic perceptual experiences created in the absence of external stimuli.
Usually visual but can be in any form (olfactory, gustatory, tactile)

Question 12

What is déjà-vu?

Answer 12

Sense that you have experienced something previously and/or predict what is going to happen
Neuropsychology suggests it is caused by small seizures in right temporal lobe associated with feelings of familiarity

Question 13

What is capgras syndrome?

Answer 13

Disorder in which a person believes that a friend/family member replaced by imposter. Can by caused by schizophrenia, dementia, brain injury, etc.
Origin is a disconnection between temporal lobe (facial recognition) and the limbic system (emotions)

Question 14

What is sleep?

Answer 14

A heightened anabolic state which build and accentuates the development of the immune system, nervous system and muscular and skeletal systems

Question 15

What is the circadian rhythm?

Answer 15

An inner time-keeper, temperate regular, enzyme-release controller that works alongside neurotransmitters.
It determines optimal timing of a correctly structured and potentially restorative sleep.

Question 16

What is the function of sleep?

Answer 16

Many functions unknown but:
immune system maintenance
growth
neuronal maintenance
cognitive functioning
motor control

Question 17

What are some symptoms of sleep deprivation?

Answer 17

Cognitive impairment
Memory lapses
Impaired moral judgment
Hallucinations
ADHD symptoms
Impaired immune system
Increase reaction time and decrease accuracy
Growth suppression
Psychological disorders

Question 18

How many stages of sleep are there?

Answer 18

Four non-REM stages and one final stage being REM

Question 19

Describe stage 1

Answer 19

Transition stage from wake to sleep
Very brief
Fantastical images reported - hallucinations
Falling or floating sensations
No memory of this stage

Question 20

Describe stage 2

Answer 20

Occupies about 45-55% of total sleep
Characterised by bursts of brain activity following a muscle twitch
Characterised by k-complexes - a brief negative high voltage peak of activity
Lasts about 20 minutes
Reflects deeper relaxation, but still a light sleep

Question 21

Describe stage 3

Answer 21

Transition to deep sleep
Characterised by the presence of delta brain waves
Stage in which parasomnias occur - night terrors, sleep walking, bedwetting, sleep talking
Lasts a few minutes

Question 22

Describe stage 4

Answer 22

Deep sleep - hard to awaken
Likely involved in muscle/body restoration
Similar to stage 3, but more delta waves
As you age, the amount of stage 4 sleep decreases
At the end of stage 4, don’t go straight to REM - we ascend back up to stages 3 and 2 then jump to REM

Question 23

Describe REM sleep (stage 5)

Answer 23

Final stage
20-25% of total sleep time
Characterised by rapid eye movements and rapid low voltage EEG
Most memorable dreaming occurs
Descending muscular atonia - paralysis that protects from self harm

Question 24

Which stage is considered to be the most important?

Answer 24

REM. REM deprivation can caused anxiety, irritability, increased appetite.

Question 25

What is dreaming?

Answer 25

Sequence of images, emotions and thoughts in which dreamer is usually a participant and not an observer
Stimulated by the pons
Can incorporate external sleep environment

Question 26

What is Freud’s theory on why we dream?

Answer 26

Wish fulfilment

• unacceptable feelings
• erotic wishes/violent urges
• safe environment to deal with socially unacceptable desires
• manifest content
• latent content (expert required to uncover meaning in latent content)

Question 27

What is the activation-synthesis hypothesis?

Answer 27

Dreams are a meaningless by-product of a neurobiological process
The same structures that induce REM sleep also generate sensory information
Solms suggests that dreams are generated in the forebrain, not the brainstem
Suggests REM sleep and dreaming are not directly related
Dreaming is similar to wakeful consciousness & we construct images to make sense of neuronal firing