3.1-3.4
3.1- Consciousness is Your Subjective Experience
Consciousness is your moment-by-moment awareness of your experiences, both of the world around you and of your thoughts, feelin
and actions.
● Our personal awareness of and responding to the world around us
The combination of a person's subjective experience of the external world and the person's internal mental activity
● Because of the very nature of consciousness, conscious experiences differ from person to person
Conscious Thought- the thoughts and stimuli that you are ware of
Unconscious Thought- the thoughts and stimuli that you are less aware or unaware of (autonomic nervous system)
At any moment, you are conscious and unconscious of things around you.
Normal Waking State of Consciousness- clear awareness of the external world and inner mental activity.
Altered State of Consciousness- anything besides a normal waking state of consciousness; you could be more vividly aware of your
surroundings and inner mental activity or less aware.
3.2- Consciousness Results from Brain Activity
The Mind/Body Problem:
● Are the mind and body separate and distinct? Or is the mind simply a person's personal experience of the physical brain's
activity?
● Dualism says that they are two different systems
● Materialism says they are connected; the activity of neurons in the brain produces consciousness
Methods to Study Consciousness:
● Brain activity studies
● Traumatic brain injuries
● coma
Global Workspace Model- a psychological theory suggesting that consciousness depends on which brain circuits are active; no single
area of the brain is responsible for general "awareness"
Losing Consciousness:
● A strong blow to the head can cause a person to momentarily lose consciousness
● The loss of consciousness due to a hit to the head is called a concussion
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)- TBI's occur when an external trauma causes changes in consciousness as well as physical damage to the
brain
Concussion- used to be thought of as a mild TBI; however long term effects of concussions like increased risks neurological disorders
,Repeated concussions cause massive brain damage, leading to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)
● In CTE, the neurons continue to die even if no more concussions occur
● This is a serious issue for athletes in contact sports
Coma- people in comas have sleep/wake cycles- they open their eyes and appear to be awake- but generally do not respond to their
surroundings
● Those who are in a coma appear unconscious and unresponsive
● They seem unaware of their surroundings and do not respond to questions or commands
Without behavioral responses it is hard to know level of consciousness of an individual in a coma
● However, brain imaging has shown that some people in comas are aware but unable to respond
● Brain imaging has shown that some people in comas are in a minimally conscious state- able to understand language and
mental activity, but cannot make their body respond
When comas last more than a month, it is unlikely that they will ever regain consciousness because too much brain damage has
occurred
● This is called unresponsive wakefulness syndrome
3.3- Consciousness Involves Attention
Attention is the focusing of mental resources on specific information to become consciously aware of it.
● Attention is required to be conscious of something
Change Blindness:
● If the person you were talking to suddenly changed into another person, would you notice?
● Simons and Levin (1998) demonstrated the phenomenon known as change blindness- a failure to be aware of visual informati
when
Attention increases the brain's awareness of a stimulus
● When we attend to one stimulus, the brain's activity for that stimulus increases
● This increases our conscious awareness of the stimulus
Controlled Processing- requires more attention, resulting in…
● Greater conscious awareness of external stimuli
● Increased inner mental activity- takes a lot of mental resources to engage in controlled processes
Automatic Processing- requires less attention, resulting in…
● Less conscious awareness of external stimuli
● Decreased inner mental activity- resources can be devoted to other tasks
3.4- Unconscious Processing Sometimes Affects Behavior
Automatic processes allow for some behaviors to be performed below conscious awareness
3.1- Consciousness is Your Subjective Experience
Consciousness is your moment-by-moment awareness of your experiences, both of the world around you and of your thoughts, feelin
and actions.
● Our personal awareness of and responding to the world around us
The combination of a person's subjective experience of the external world and the person's internal mental activity
● Because of the very nature of consciousness, conscious experiences differ from person to person
Conscious Thought- the thoughts and stimuli that you are ware of
Unconscious Thought- the thoughts and stimuli that you are less aware or unaware of (autonomic nervous system)
At any moment, you are conscious and unconscious of things around you.
Normal Waking State of Consciousness- clear awareness of the external world and inner mental activity.
Altered State of Consciousness- anything besides a normal waking state of consciousness; you could be more vividly aware of your
surroundings and inner mental activity or less aware.
3.2- Consciousness Results from Brain Activity
The Mind/Body Problem:
● Are the mind and body separate and distinct? Or is the mind simply a person's personal experience of the physical brain's
activity?
● Dualism says that they are two different systems
● Materialism says they are connected; the activity of neurons in the brain produces consciousness
Methods to Study Consciousness:
● Brain activity studies
● Traumatic brain injuries
● coma
Global Workspace Model- a psychological theory suggesting that consciousness depends on which brain circuits are active; no single
area of the brain is responsible for general "awareness"
Losing Consciousness:
● A strong blow to the head can cause a person to momentarily lose consciousness
● The loss of consciousness due to a hit to the head is called a concussion
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)- TBI's occur when an external trauma causes changes in consciousness as well as physical damage to the
brain
Concussion- used to be thought of as a mild TBI; however long term effects of concussions like increased risks neurological disorders
,Repeated concussions cause massive brain damage, leading to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)
● In CTE, the neurons continue to die even if no more concussions occur
● This is a serious issue for athletes in contact sports
Coma- people in comas have sleep/wake cycles- they open their eyes and appear to be awake- but generally do not respond to their
surroundings
● Those who are in a coma appear unconscious and unresponsive
● They seem unaware of their surroundings and do not respond to questions or commands
Without behavioral responses it is hard to know level of consciousness of an individual in a coma
● However, brain imaging has shown that some people in comas are aware but unable to respond
● Brain imaging has shown that some people in comas are in a minimally conscious state- able to understand language and
mental activity, but cannot make their body respond
When comas last more than a month, it is unlikely that they will ever regain consciousness because too much brain damage has
occurred
● This is called unresponsive wakefulness syndrome
3.3- Consciousness Involves Attention
Attention is the focusing of mental resources on specific information to become consciously aware of it.
● Attention is required to be conscious of something
Change Blindness:
● If the person you were talking to suddenly changed into another person, would you notice?
● Simons and Levin (1998) demonstrated the phenomenon known as change blindness- a failure to be aware of visual informati
when
Attention increases the brain's awareness of a stimulus
● When we attend to one stimulus, the brain's activity for that stimulus increases
● This increases our conscious awareness of the stimulus
Controlled Processing- requires more attention, resulting in…
● Greater conscious awareness of external stimuli
● Increased inner mental activity- takes a lot of mental resources to engage in controlled processes
Automatic Processing- requires less attention, resulting in…
● Less conscious awareness of external stimuli
● Decreased inner mental activity- resources can be devoted to other tasks
3.4- Unconscious Processing Sometimes Affects Behavior
Automatic processes allow for some behaviors to be performed below conscious awareness
