Cognitive Theories and Measurements of Consciousness

Flashcards to review key vocabulary from lectures on cognitive theories of consciousness, measurements of awareness, implicit perception, implicit memory, implicit learning, and the cognitive unconscious.

Phenomenal Consciousness

The raw experience (what it's like to see red).

Access Consciousness

The part of consciousness that allows us to think about, use, and report information.

Global Workspace Theory (GWT)

The brain has many unconscious processes and when we pay attention to something, it enters the global workspace and becomes conscious, allowing the information to be shared across many parts of the brain.

Higher-Order Theories (HOT)

Consciousness arises when the brain not only processes information but also knows that it’s doing so.

Recurrent Processing Theory (RPT)

Conscious perception requires feedback loops between brain areas (not just one-way processing).

Information Integration Theory (IIT)

Consciousness happens when a system integrates a lot of information in a very specific, unified way.

Front of the brain theories (GNWT & HOT)

Focus on the prefrontal cortex in debates of consciousness.

Back of the brain theories (RPT & IIT)

Focus on sensory areas like vision in debates of consciousness.

Subjective Measures

Asking people what they experienced, such as verbal reports, rating scales, and confidence levels.

Objective Measures

Testing behavior, such as forced choice tasks.

Metacognition

Awareness about your own knowledge.

Thresholds

Trying to find a “line” between conscious and unconscious — but it's blurry, not clear-cut.

No task is process-pure

Every task mixes conscious and unconscious processes to some extent.

Implicit (Unconscious) Perception

When your brain processes things even though you're not consciously aware of them.

Subjective Reports

People often say they “didn’t see anything,” but still act like they did.

Blindsight

Some patients with damaged vision areas in the brain can’t see in part of their visual field — yet they can still detect motion or emotion in that area.

Visual Masking

A method where a stimulus is quickly hidden by another image, making it invisible.

Ventral Pathway

Recognizes objects — more involved in conscious perception.

Dorsal Pathway

Helps guide movements — can operate unconsciously.

Sperling’s Letters (1960)

People saw a grid of letters briefly — they could report a few but felt they saw more.

Stroop Tasks & Priming (Cheesman & Merikle, 1984)

Words flashed too fast to be seen still influenced responses.

Subliminal Ads (Karremans et al., 2006)

People exposed to a brand name like “Lipton Ice” chose it more often — but only if they were thirsty.

Subjective Threshold

When people say they didn’t see something, but their behavior shows they did.

Objective Threshold

When people’s behavior is truly at chance — no sign they saw anything.

Global Workspace Theory (GWT)

Information becomes conscious when it’s broadcast widely across the brain — especially with attention.

Masking

A target image is shown very quickly, then covered up (or “masked”) by another image, making it hard or impossible to consciously see.

Objective threshold

When people can't see the image at all.

Subjective threshold

When people say they didn’t see it, but behavior shows they might’ve processed it unconsciously.

Process Dissociation Procedure (Jacoby, 1991)

A method to separate conscious from unconscious influence by comparing two conditions.

Binocular Rivalry

Each eye sees a different image, so your brain can’t combine them, so it flips between which image you’re aware of.

Continuous Flash Suppression (CFS)

One eye sees a rapid, flashing pattern; the other sees a stable image.

Gaze-Contingent Crowding

When you fixate your gaze on something, nearby objects in your peripheral vision become harder to recognize if they’re cluttered.

Implicit Memory

Your past experiences affect how you behave or perform tasks—even though you’re not consciously trying to remember them.

Warrington & Weiskrantz (1974)

Even when they couldn’t consciously recognize words, they could still complete word stems using those words.

Mere Exposure Effect

People like things more when they've seen them before—even if they don't remember seeing them.

Illusion of Truth

If you hear a statement repeatedly, you’re more likely to believe it's true.

Sleeper Effect

You might ignore information from an unreliable source at first, but believe it later because it becomes familiar.

Priming

A stimulus (like a word or image) can subtly influence your response to a later, related task—without your awareness.

Recognition without identification

Something feels familiar even if you can’t say exactly what it is.

Familiarity

You just feel like you've seen or heard something before—even if you can't say where or when.

Recollection

You do remember the details.

Implicit learning

Learning that happens without trying or being aware of it.

Neural Network Models

Neural networks are made of connected units (like mini-calculators). Each unit receives inputs, applies weights (importance), and passes the result forward.

Simple Recurrent Network (SRN)

A special type of neural network used for sequences (like strings of letters).

Global Matching Models (Exemplar Models)

Every sequence (stimulus) is stored in memory with varying accuracy.

Cognitive Unconscious

Mental processes that happen automatically, don't require awareness, and still influence thoughts, decisions, and actions.