PSYC 1101 Lecture Notes - Ecological Niche, Reuptake, Caffeine
6 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Emily Melsky
AP Psych - D Block
Darling
21 October, 2016
Notes On Consciousness and the Two-Track Mind
Brain States and Consciousness
● Consciousness is a fundamental concept
Defining Consciousness
● Behaviorism → direct observations of behavior
● Cognition → mental processes
● Consciousness → our awareness of ourselves and our environment
● States of consciousness
○ Waking
○ Sleeping
○ Other altered states
● Reproductive advantage
● Spontaneous:
○ Daydreaming, drowsiness, dreaming
● Physiologically induced:
○ Hallucinations, food or oxygen starvation
● Psychologically induced:
○ Sensory deprivation, hypnosis, meditation
Cognitive Neuroscience
● Cognitive neuroscience → interdisciplinary study of brain activity linked with
mental processes
● Even if not conscious, that area of the brain can still be active
● Strong enough stimuli cross a threshold for consciousness
Dual Processing: The Two-Track Mind
● Deliberate processing and subconscious processing → dual processing
● “The human brain is a device for converting conscious into unconscious memory” (94)
● Blindsight → acting like one can see
● Visual perception track → to recognize things and plan future actions
● Visual action track → guides moment to moment movements
● “In everyday life, we mostly function like an automatic camera, but with manual
(conscious) override.” (95)
Selective Attention
● Parallel processing → enables mind to take care of routine business
● Selective attention → focuses awareness
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
● Cocktail party effect → ability to pick one voice out of many → if your name is called,
it will automatically be brought to your consciousness
Selective Attention and Accidents
● Multitasking means attention is shifting back and forth, not on both at the same time
● 28% of accidents from texting or talking on the phone
● Cell phone users more likely to get in crashes than drunk drivers
● Distraction cognitive rather than visual
Selective Inattention
● Inattentional Blindness → focus on one thing can make people blind to another
● Change blindness → after a brief visual interruption, people didn’t notice big changes
in a setting
● Change deafness → people failed to notice change in someone speaking
● Popout → some stimuli draw the eye
Sleep and Dreams
Biological Rhythms and Sleep
● 24 hour biological clock and 90 minute sleep cycle
Circadian Rhythm
● Circadian rhythm → internal biological clock
● Morning: body temp rises, dips in early afternoon, and drops in evening
● Circadian rhythm can change with age
Sleep Stages
● 90 minutes, 4 distinct sleep stages
● REM sleep → rapid eye movement
● Yawning stretches muscles which increases alertness
● Alpha waves → awake but relaxed state
● Don’t remember falling asleep
● First stage of sleep = NREM-1
● Hallucinations → sensory experiences without a sensory stimulus
● Hypnagogic sensations (like falling)
● NREM-2 is second stage
● Sleep spindles → periodic bursts of rhythmic brain activity
● NREM-3
● Brain emits Delta waves → hard to awaken
REM Sleep
● REM Sleep
● Brain waves become rapid
● Motor cortex active during REM, but blocked by brain stem
● Sleep paralysis
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Consciousness our awareness of ourselves and our environment. Cognitive neuroscience interdisciplinary study of brain activity linked with mental processes. Even if not conscious, that area of the brain can still be active. Strong enough stimuli cross a threshold for consciousness. Deliberate processing and subconscious processing dual processing. The human brain is a device for converting conscious into unconscious memory (94) Blindsight acting like one can see. Visual perception track to recognize things and plan future actions. Visual action track guides moment to moment movements. In everyday life, we mostly function like an automatic camera, but with manual (conscious) override. (95) Parallel processing enables mind to take care of routine business. Cocktail party effect ability to pick one voice out of many if your name is called, it will automatically be brought to your consciousness. Multitasking means attention is shifting back and forth, not on both at the same time. 28% of accidents from texting or talking on the phone.
