1 Consciousnesses PSYC1004

Phenomenal Awareness is one's perception of the outside world.

'My red is different to your red' - theory about cones and rods in our eyes.

Self-Consciousness is the ability to be aware of one's own consciousness.

Self-Consciousness is Self-Reflective.

Access Consciousness is the awareness of our internal thoughts and feelings.

Access Consciousness is INTEROCEPTIVE.

The Contents of consciousness are thoughts and feelings.

Subjective Consciousness is the idea that no one can directly know how you feel.

Zombies.
NPCs.
Robots.

Freud's theory of Conscious Awareness is the awareness in the moment.

Freud's theory of Conscious Awareness is the ability to understand sensory input.

'Repression.'

Freud's theory of Unconscious Awareness is the suppression of traumative memories.

The Unconscious mind also suppresses inappropriate urges.

Freud's Superego is the ethical component of the personality and moral standards by which the Ego operates.

Freud's theory of the Id is the unconscious pleasure principle of the mind. This works in conflict with the Ego by striving for instant gratification.

Freud's Ego is the function of the personality that processes reality. This function understands and weighs up benefits and consequences.

Freud's Ego tries to satisfy the Id's desires in a socially acceptable way.

Freud's Ego attempts to suppress the Id's desires.

Behaviourism is the theory that there is no consciousness and that all actions are conditioned by one's experiences and environment.

Behaviourist techniques involve observation of Behaviour and diminutisation of consciousness.

A Prime is a stimulus that begets another urge or action. It can influence the way you think or react.

Priming begets Unconscious Conditioning to react in a certain way.

E.g. Asking a subject to complete the Word-Stem HO___ right after subliminally showing them a garden hose Primes the subject to suggest HOSE.

NCC is the Neural Correlates of Consciousness. Neural Correlates of Consciousness are the smallest components of brain activity.

Neural Correlates of Consciousness can be observed via EEG.

Levels of consciousness can be observed via the EEG (encephalographic) findings by compressing them (like a .zip file) until one can see the level of consciousness.

The more compressed the .zip file, the lower the level of consciousness.

In terms of conscious awareness, the term VS stands for Vegetative State.

A Vegetative State is when the subject shows no signs of conscious awareness at all.

In terms of conscious awareness, UWS stands of Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome.

Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome is when the subject shows very minor signs of consciousness.

The subject may blink their eyes - 'the lights are off but nobody is home.'

In terms of conscious awareness, EMCS stands for Emerging Minimally Conscious Syndrome.

In an Emerging Minimally Conscious State, the subject may show small signs of awareness such as looking around the room. 'The lights are on but nobody is home.'

In terms of levels of consciousness, LIS stands for Locked In Syndrome.

The subject is fully aware of their surroundings but cannot move or show outward signs of consciousness.

Controlled Processing is direct attention to a task

When accessing Controlled Processing, the subject will perform tasks according to instructions. The subject is aware of every strep when Controllably Processing a task.

Automatic Processing involves the ability to perform actions on autopilot.

The unconscious performance of tasks is called Automatic Processing.

Examples of Automatic Processing involve walking, typing on a keyboard, riding a bicycle.

Selective Attention is the act of processing multiple stimuli at once. For example, walking and talking, or reading and typing.

A negative effect of Selective Attention is that one will direct focus to one task and, as a result, suppress Attention to another task, performing that second task less effectively.

One example of Selective Attentionb is the 'stare at the dots then look at the wall' effect.

The Vision-for-Action Pathway leads from the Primary Visual Cortex, through the Occipital Lobe and the Somatosensory Processing Area, to the Parietal Lobe.

The Vision-for Action pathway is a brain route, starting at the Primary Visual Cortex and moving through the Sensorimotor Processing Area into the Parietal Lobe, that supports dextrous mobility, such as reading for an apple, or tying a knot.

The Vision-for-Perception Pathway provides information starting at the Primary Visual Cortex onto to the Temporal Lobe to allow recollection and perception of objects. This pathway works in conjunction with the Vision-for-Action.

Masked Stimuli is stimuli that is subliminally or unconsciously processed by the subject.

Subjects who consciously perceive Emotionally Threatening Stimuli process the information through the Prefrontal Cortex, and include many areas that are bypassed during unconscious processing.

Integrated Information Theory is the idea that the brain processes stimuli in two separate ways:
1. INFORMATION (differentiated, discrete data).
2. INTEGRATED (the next step that resolves the discrete data into continuous data).

The INFORMATIVE process collects data points, such as seeing the colour red and an apple.

The INTEGRATION stage process collates the data into a cohesive picture, resolving the 'red' and 'apple' dilemma into a 'red apple.

Φ Phi is a Greek letter translated into a mathematical symbol. Used in Information/Integration theory.

For the Greek letter Φ, the I stands for Integraton (integrated content, an overall view).

This view is a cohesive summary of the Informative data that has been received.

The O stands for Information (an informative description of differentiated conscious content).

This is information that exists separately in discrete parts.

Visual agnosia is a condition where a person strugglea to perceive shape, size, orientation, etc., of objects.

Contrarily, people with this condition do not struggle to navigate objects, nor do they struggle with fine motor tasks such as pouring a glass of milk.

Proposagnosia is also known as Face Blindness.

Blindsight is a condition where people cannot perceive part of their visual field, depsite their responses to optical showing that they do.

Hemispatial Neglect prevents some people with a traumatic brain condition on one side of their brains from from perceiving stimuli in the field of vision opposite the side of the trauma.

- Schizophrenia.
- Drugs.
- Some forms of dementia.
- Parkinson's disease.

Coma is usually a short-term ('transitory') state in which the patient will either wake up from, or move into a more permanent state.

PET stands for Positron Emission Topography.

PET measures:
- Blood flow
- Metabolism (glucose usage)
- Neurotransmitters
- Radiolabelled drugs

Because the subject cannot process speech,
PET and EEG readings used to determine consciousness can be unreliable if language processing centres
(such as the Posterior Speech Area) have been damaged.

The EEG stats of Beta state is 15-30 cps.

The amplitude in Beta state EEGs are very small and tight.

High cycles, low amplitude.

Beta waves are associated with a waking state.

Early theta waves on EEG imaging are stage 1 of sleep.

This stage is characterised by:
- Easily awakened.
- Low-ish crs.
- Low amplitude (alpha-levels).
- Both amplitude and crs are more eratic.

Hypnagogic jerks occur during stage 1 of sleep, the Theta stage.

Alpha waves are associated with a drowsy state.

The crs of Alpha sleep is 8-12 cps

The cps of Theta sleep is generally 3.5-7.5 cps (slower than Delta sleep).

Stage 2, Deeper Theta sleep is associated with Sleep Spindles.

Delta (stage 3) and Deep Delta (stage 4) sleep stages are considered to be Slow-Wave.

The cps of Delta Sleep is around 0.5-2.0 cps.

The amplitude of Delta sleep is very high.

The symbol for Deep Theta sleep is degree °

The amplitude for Deep Delta sleep is the highest of all sleep stages.

Theta sleep is considered stage 1 of the sleep cycle.

Stage 2 sleep is Deep Theta.

In stage 3 sleep, delta waves are found on EEG.

Presynaptic neurons SEND neurotransmitter data.

GABA is the brains main inhibitory neurotransmitter and binds to proteins to calm things down.

GABA stands for Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid.

Glutamate is the brains main excitatory neurotransmitter.

A drug that makes a neurotransmitter work better is known as an Agonist medication.

A drug that inhibits the abilities of a neurotransmitter is known as an Antagonist.

Barbiturates are a type of sleep medication, also known as Hypnotics.

Consistent motion is superior to inconsistent motion for balance.

One can practice to refine senses, as in the case of piano tuners and professional wine tasters.

Muscles.
Electromyography tests nerve impulses
or
Electrical activity in response to nerve stimulation.

Electro-oculography measures eye movements

K-complex waves are short bursts of low crs/high amplitude (slow, deep) waves. As opposed to Sleep Spindles, which are low amplitude/high crs (slow delta-like waves).

The body's temperature lowers during sleep.

Trick question - we don't know why body temperature drops when we are sleep.

Cycles per second (cps) refers to the amount of electrical waves occurring per second under EEG.

Top-Down Processing is also known as Constructivism.

Bottom-Up Processing is also Ecological Processing.

Constructivism is associated with Top-Down Processing.

Ecological Processing is also known as Top-Down Processing.

Field independent learning is when one focuses on the small details.

Field independent learners can separate the forest from the trees. They are better with individual working.

The inability to see a problem from different perspectives is known as Fixation

(One 'fixates' on one facet).

Smallest meaningful unit of language.

UN-DESIRE-ABLE
DIS-TRACT-ION-S

The smallest meaningful unit of language is known as a Morpheme.

RE-SOURCE-FUL-NESS

A phoneme is the smallest unit of language.

Potato: PO-TAY-TO
Taxidermy: TAX-I-DER-MY

The smallest unit of language is called a Phoneme.

Keyboard: KEY-BOAR-D
Constructive: CON-S-TRUC-TIVE

Syntax is the way words and phrases are arranged to form meaningful language.

Operand Conditioning is a conditioning method where one introduces a reward to promote behaviour, or a punishment to curb behaviour.

For example, being given $20 for doing well on an exam.

Anchoring is when one relies on the first piece of information offered when trying to solve a problem.

For example, when patients presented to ED with congestive heart failure, it took longer for their shortness of breath to be investigated.

Incubation is when one 'levels up.'

When one cannot solve a problem, they may take a break. When they return to the problem, or during the break, the idea comes more freely.

Decomposition is breaking a problem down into smaller elements.

Recipes, especially things like:
When one wants to make a jelly slice, one should break it down into learning how to make the base, the cheesecake, and the jelly.

The subjects have trouble discerning the perceptual experiences they were denied. Examples in order:
- Cannot differentiate colour.
- Cannot fully understand visuals of far distances.
- Cannot perceive vertical lines.
- Issues with spacial awareness.

There are 44 Phonemes in the English language.

There are over 800 Phonemes worldwide.

A Phoneme is the smallest unit of speech possible.

THE .. P .. L .. AY .. ER .. S .. T .. AL .. K .. TU .. THE .. F .. A .. N .. S
(The players talked to the fans)

The smallest meaningful unit of language is known as a Morpheme.

Cat
Re-
Under-
Down .. scale
Bottle .. S (pural)
Matt .. 's item (posessive)

A contrastive is a state statement of fact.

E.g. The door is open. My pen is over there. My phone is broken.

An Interrogative or Imperative (question, rrquest) is known as a Directive.

E.g. Shut the door. Please get my water. Can you please pass the potatoes?

A Generative language means infinitely different sentences can be produced with it.

The (usually left) Temporal Lobe is linked to Pure Word Deafness.

One has the tendancy to hone in on certain phonemes that are present in their native language, and more slowly comprehend those that are not.

Speech Segmentation is the process of attaining a clear organisation of Phonemes into understandable language.

The tendancy to comprehend a complete word faster than a word one understands all the Morphemes of but has not heard before is called Word Frenquency Effect.

The process of understanding a word one knows faster than a word one doesn't know (but understands all the Morphemes of is known as Word Frenquency Effect.

Comprehending speech and recognising words activates WERNICKE'S AREA.

Wernicke's Aphasia is a disorder that severely affects speech comprehension.

It is hardest to wake up from Delta sleep / stage 4