Summary Perception to Consciousness
Part 2
Marissa Verbokkem – 11335882
March 2023
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Lecture 9 & 10: Attention ............................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Attention ................................................................................................................................. 4
1.2 Different types of attention ..................................................................................................... 5
1.3 Effect of attention on processing ............................................................................................ 7
1.3.1 Synchrony and contextual modulation .......................................................................... 10
1.3.2 Biased Competition Model ........................................................................................... 11
1.4 Horse race model .................................................................................................................. 12
1.5 Attention causes: ................................................................................................................... 12
1.6 What happens to unattended stimuli? ................................................................................... 12
1.6.1 Early and late selection ................................................................................................. 13
1.6.2 How to study unattended stimuli? ................................................................................. 13
1.7 What controls attention? ....................................................................................................... 15
1.7.1 Colliculus ...................................................................................................................... 15
1.7.2 Parietal Cortex............................................................................................................... 15
1.7.3 Pulvinar ......................................................................................................................... 15
1.7.4 Frontal eye fields........................................................................................................... 16
1.8 Brain regions controlling attention ....................................................................................... 17
1.9 Disorders of attention ............................................................................................................ 18
1.9.1 Neglect or extinction ..................................................................................................... 18
1.9.2 Balint Syndrome ........................................................................................................... 20
1.10 Neural correlates of attention ................................................................................................ 21
1.11 Attention causes .................................................................................................................... 21
2 Lecture 11: States of Consciousness ............................................................................................. 21
2.1 Consciousness ....................................................................................................................... 21
2.2 Measuring consciousness with EEG ..................................................................................... 22
2.3 Sleep...................................................................................................................................... 22
2.3.1 Neural mechanisms of arousal and sleep ...................................................................... 23
2.3.2 Effect of sleep on the cortex ......................................................................................... 24
2.4 Disorders of consciousness ................................................................................................... 25
2.4.1 Brain death .................................................................................................................... 25
, 2.4.2 Coma ............................................................................................................................. 26
2.4.3 Vegetative state ............................................................................................................. 27
2.4.4 Minimally conscious state ............................................................................................. 27
2.4.5 Locked-in syndrome ..................................................................................................... 27
2.5 Super Summary Disorders of Consciousness! ...................................................................... 28
2.5.1 Connectivity index in disorders of consciousness ........................................................ 29
2.6 Sleep walking ........................................................................................................................ 29
2.7 Claustrum .............................................................................................................................. 29
2.8 Hypnosis ............................................................................................................................... 29
3 Lecture 12: Conscious control ..................................................................................................... 30
3.1 Prefrontal cortex.................................................................................................................... 31
3.2 How does PFC enable flexible responses?............................................................................ 31
3.2.1 Working memory .......................................................................................................... 32
3.2.2 inhibition of direct responses ........................................................................................ 35
3.2.3 Adding value to choice options ..................................................................................... 35
3.2.4 Where do valuating systems get their values from? ...................................................... 38
3.3 How does prefrontal cortex mediate flexible control? .......................................................... 39
4 Lecture 13: Free Will .................................................................................................................... 40
4.1 Major life choices in frogs .................................................................................................... 41
4.2 inhibition systems in humans ................................................................................................ 41
4.3 Approach and avoidance systems in the brain ...................................................................... 43
4.4 Mirror Neurons ..................................................................................................................... 43
4.5 Free will ................................................................................................................................ 44
4.5.1 Replications of clock experiment .................................................................................. 45
4.5.2 Critiques on Libet.......................................................................................................... 48
4.6 Racism................................................................................................................................... 49
4.7 Fear conditioning .................................................................................................................. 50
4.8 Post-hoc rationalization......................................................................................................... 50
4.8.1 Where do post-hoc rationalizations come from?........................................................... 51
4.9 Sense of agency..................................................................................................................... 51
4.10 Free will in society ................................................................................................................ 52
5 Lecture 14: To see or not to see… ................................................................................................ 52
5.1 Split brain .............................................................................................................................. 52
5.2 Results of split brain stimuli ................................................................................................. 53
5.3 Right vs Left hemisphere ...................................................................................................... 54
5.4 Blindsight .............................................................................................................................. 55
5.4.1 Blindsight vs degraded normal vision ........................................................................... 56
, 5.4.2 Blindsight in monkeys .................................................................................................. 58
5.4.3 Blindsight abilities ........................................................................................................ 59
5.5 dorsal vs ventral stream......................................................................................................... 59
5.6 Masking................................................................................................................................. 59
5.6.1 Objective vs subjective invisibility ............................................................................... 61
5.7 Bistable stimuli ..................................................................................................................... 61
5.8 Motion induced blindness ..................................................................................................... 63
5.9 Conscious theories ................................................................................................................ 64
6 Lecture 15: Theories of Seeing ..................................................................................................... 64
6.1 Theories of consciousness ..................................................................................................... 65
6.2 Global Neuronal Workspace Theory .................................................................................... 65
6.2.1 Research on GNWS ...................................................................................................... 66
6.3 Higher Order Thought Theory .............................................................................................. 67
6.3.1 Research on Higher Order Thought Theory.................................................................. 67
6.4 Integrated Information Theory .............................................................................................. 68
6.4.1 Research on integration information theory .................................................................. 70
6.5 Recurrent Processing Theory ................................................................................................ 71
6.5.1 Research on recurrent processing theory ...................................................................... 72
6.5.2 Differences with GNWS theory .................................................................................... 74
6.6 Feedforward and feedback processing .................................................................................. 75
6.7 Studying conscious experience ............................................................................................. 76
6.7.1 Attentional manipulations ............................................................................................. 76
6.8 Attention ............................................................................................................................... 77
6.8.1 Iconic and working memory ......................................................................................... 79
6.9 Neural correlate of consciousness ......................................................................................... 80
6.10 Pros and cons theories of consciousness ............................................................................... 80
7 Lecture 16: What is it like to be a fly? .......................................................................................... 81
7.1 Philosophy of mind theories ................................................................................................. 81
7.1.1 Materialism ................................................................................................................... 81
7.2 Easy problem of consciousness............................................................................................. 82
7.2.1 Thought experiences about Qualia ................................................................................ 82
7.2.2 Hard problem of consciousness .................................................................................... 82
7.3 Machine consciousness ......................................................................................................... 83
7.4 Feedforward vs recurrent processing .................................................................................... 83
7.5 Animal consciousness ........................................................................................................... 83
7.6 Plant consciousness ............................................................................................................... 84
7.7 Human vs animal consciousness ........................................................................................... 85
, 7.8 Studying consciousness in a behavioral way ........................................................................ 85
7.9 Studying the theories of consciousness ................................................................................. 86
8 Disorders ....................................................................................................................................... 87
1 LECTURE 9 & 10: ATTENTION
- Change blindness: not noticing changes happening in front of you, because
attention is not directed at the change
o You can only process so much
- You cannot translate every visual input into a motor output
- Perception action cycle: cycle from sensory cortex → higher level sensory cortex →
premotor cortex → primary motor cortex
o Your behavior changes your environment, which then influence your
perception again
- Limited capacity: you can only process so many sensory inputs
o Dichotic listening experiment: in one ear one input, and another in the
other ear
▪ Very hard to attend to both inputs
▪ Shadowing: repeat what one of them is saying
• If you do this for one input, you do not notice the other input
anymore
o You cannot memorize or reproduce it anymore
o Limited capacity for higher level analysis, and responses
o Executive functions play a role
▪ They somehow do the selection of the capacity
1.1 ATTENTION
- Overt attention:
o Something happens in your surround and you have the tendency to look at it
o You foveate a stimulus to process it in more detail
o Function: process things more sharply/more in center of vision
- Covert attention:
o Shifting attention towards something, while maintaining fixation somewhere
else
▪ No actual external signs that show you’re focusing attention
somewhere else
o Often in social animals, because direction of gaze has a strong meaning
o Cocktail party effect: pretending to listen to a conversation in front of you,
but actually listening in on another conversation
▪ Covert attention in auditory domain
▪ Thus not restricted to visual domain
- Attentional capture: your attention is suddenly captured by something
o E.g. someone mentioning your name
o Can cause you to focus overt or covert attention on this
Part 2
Marissa Verbokkem – 11335882
March 2023
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Lecture 9 & 10: Attention ............................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Attention ................................................................................................................................. 4
1.2 Different types of attention ..................................................................................................... 5
1.3 Effect of attention on processing ............................................................................................ 7
1.3.1 Synchrony and contextual modulation .......................................................................... 10
1.3.2 Biased Competition Model ........................................................................................... 11
1.4 Horse race model .................................................................................................................. 12
1.5 Attention causes: ................................................................................................................... 12
1.6 What happens to unattended stimuli? ................................................................................... 12
1.6.1 Early and late selection ................................................................................................. 13
1.6.2 How to study unattended stimuli? ................................................................................. 13
1.7 What controls attention? ....................................................................................................... 15
1.7.1 Colliculus ...................................................................................................................... 15
1.7.2 Parietal Cortex............................................................................................................... 15
1.7.3 Pulvinar ......................................................................................................................... 15
1.7.4 Frontal eye fields........................................................................................................... 16
1.8 Brain regions controlling attention ....................................................................................... 17
1.9 Disorders of attention ............................................................................................................ 18
1.9.1 Neglect or extinction ..................................................................................................... 18
1.9.2 Balint Syndrome ........................................................................................................... 20
1.10 Neural correlates of attention ................................................................................................ 21
1.11 Attention causes .................................................................................................................... 21
2 Lecture 11: States of Consciousness ............................................................................................. 21
2.1 Consciousness ....................................................................................................................... 21
2.2 Measuring consciousness with EEG ..................................................................................... 22
2.3 Sleep...................................................................................................................................... 22
2.3.1 Neural mechanisms of arousal and sleep ...................................................................... 23
2.3.2 Effect of sleep on the cortex ......................................................................................... 24
2.4 Disorders of consciousness ................................................................................................... 25
2.4.1 Brain death .................................................................................................................... 25
, 2.4.2 Coma ............................................................................................................................. 26
2.4.3 Vegetative state ............................................................................................................. 27
2.4.4 Minimally conscious state ............................................................................................. 27
2.4.5 Locked-in syndrome ..................................................................................................... 27
2.5 Super Summary Disorders of Consciousness! ...................................................................... 28
2.5.1 Connectivity index in disorders of consciousness ........................................................ 29
2.6 Sleep walking ........................................................................................................................ 29
2.7 Claustrum .............................................................................................................................. 29
2.8 Hypnosis ............................................................................................................................... 29
3 Lecture 12: Conscious control ..................................................................................................... 30
3.1 Prefrontal cortex.................................................................................................................... 31
3.2 How does PFC enable flexible responses?............................................................................ 31
3.2.1 Working memory .......................................................................................................... 32
3.2.2 inhibition of direct responses ........................................................................................ 35
3.2.3 Adding value to choice options ..................................................................................... 35
3.2.4 Where do valuating systems get their values from? ...................................................... 38
3.3 How does prefrontal cortex mediate flexible control? .......................................................... 39
4 Lecture 13: Free Will .................................................................................................................... 40
4.1 Major life choices in frogs .................................................................................................... 41
4.2 inhibition systems in humans ................................................................................................ 41
4.3 Approach and avoidance systems in the brain ...................................................................... 43
4.4 Mirror Neurons ..................................................................................................................... 43
4.5 Free will ................................................................................................................................ 44
4.5.1 Replications of clock experiment .................................................................................. 45
4.5.2 Critiques on Libet.......................................................................................................... 48
4.6 Racism................................................................................................................................... 49
4.7 Fear conditioning .................................................................................................................. 50
4.8 Post-hoc rationalization......................................................................................................... 50
4.8.1 Where do post-hoc rationalizations come from?........................................................... 51
4.9 Sense of agency..................................................................................................................... 51
4.10 Free will in society ................................................................................................................ 52
5 Lecture 14: To see or not to see… ................................................................................................ 52
5.1 Split brain .............................................................................................................................. 52
5.2 Results of split brain stimuli ................................................................................................. 53
5.3 Right vs Left hemisphere ...................................................................................................... 54
5.4 Blindsight .............................................................................................................................. 55
5.4.1 Blindsight vs degraded normal vision ........................................................................... 56
, 5.4.2 Blindsight in monkeys .................................................................................................. 58
5.4.3 Blindsight abilities ........................................................................................................ 59
5.5 dorsal vs ventral stream......................................................................................................... 59
5.6 Masking................................................................................................................................. 59
5.6.1 Objective vs subjective invisibility ............................................................................... 61
5.7 Bistable stimuli ..................................................................................................................... 61
5.8 Motion induced blindness ..................................................................................................... 63
5.9 Conscious theories ................................................................................................................ 64
6 Lecture 15: Theories of Seeing ..................................................................................................... 64
6.1 Theories of consciousness ..................................................................................................... 65
6.2 Global Neuronal Workspace Theory .................................................................................... 65
6.2.1 Research on GNWS ...................................................................................................... 66
6.3 Higher Order Thought Theory .............................................................................................. 67
6.3.1 Research on Higher Order Thought Theory.................................................................. 67
6.4 Integrated Information Theory .............................................................................................. 68
6.4.1 Research on integration information theory .................................................................. 70
6.5 Recurrent Processing Theory ................................................................................................ 71
6.5.1 Research on recurrent processing theory ...................................................................... 72
6.5.2 Differences with GNWS theory .................................................................................... 74
6.6 Feedforward and feedback processing .................................................................................. 75
6.7 Studying conscious experience ............................................................................................. 76
6.7.1 Attentional manipulations ............................................................................................. 76
6.8 Attention ............................................................................................................................... 77
6.8.1 Iconic and working memory ......................................................................................... 79
6.9 Neural correlate of consciousness ......................................................................................... 80
6.10 Pros and cons theories of consciousness ............................................................................... 80
7 Lecture 16: What is it like to be a fly? .......................................................................................... 81
7.1 Philosophy of mind theories ................................................................................................. 81
7.1.1 Materialism ................................................................................................................... 81
7.2 Easy problem of consciousness............................................................................................. 82
7.2.1 Thought experiences about Qualia ................................................................................ 82
7.2.2 Hard problem of consciousness .................................................................................... 82
7.3 Machine consciousness ......................................................................................................... 83
7.4 Feedforward vs recurrent processing .................................................................................... 83
7.5 Animal consciousness ........................................................................................................... 83
7.6 Plant consciousness ............................................................................................................... 84
7.7 Human vs animal consciousness ........................................................................................... 85
, 7.8 Studying consciousness in a behavioral way ........................................................................ 85
7.9 Studying the theories of consciousness ................................................................................. 86
8 Disorders ....................................................................................................................................... 87
1 LECTURE 9 & 10: ATTENTION
- Change blindness: not noticing changes happening in front of you, because
attention is not directed at the change
o You can only process so much
- You cannot translate every visual input into a motor output
- Perception action cycle: cycle from sensory cortex → higher level sensory cortex →
premotor cortex → primary motor cortex
o Your behavior changes your environment, which then influence your
perception again
- Limited capacity: you can only process so many sensory inputs
o Dichotic listening experiment: in one ear one input, and another in the
other ear
▪ Very hard to attend to both inputs
▪ Shadowing: repeat what one of them is saying
• If you do this for one input, you do not notice the other input
anymore
o You cannot memorize or reproduce it anymore
o Limited capacity for higher level analysis, and responses
o Executive functions play a role
▪ They somehow do the selection of the capacity
1.1 ATTENTION
- Overt attention:
o Something happens in your surround and you have the tendency to look at it
o You foveate a stimulus to process it in more detail
o Function: process things more sharply/more in center of vision
- Covert attention:
o Shifting attention towards something, while maintaining fixation somewhere
else
▪ No actual external signs that show you’re focusing attention
somewhere else
o Often in social animals, because direction of gaze has a strong meaning
o Cocktail party effect: pretending to listen to a conversation in front of you,
but actually listening in on another conversation
▪ Covert attention in auditory domain
▪ Thus not restricted to visual domain
- Attentional capture: your attention is suddenly captured by something
o E.g. someone mentioning your name
o Can cause you to focus overt or covert attention on this
