M14 consciousness and free will

Cognitive impenetrability

basic neural processing operation cannot be explained through introspection (hear whole words but don’t know what its like to process it)

Post-dictive illusion

we anticipate events that havent enter awareness but are encoded subconsciously (knowing the consequence unconsciously before emitting the behavior and thats why we engaged in th behavior in the first place)

Agency / volition

Agency: action or intervention that produces a particular effect

Volition:Also used to describe the study of voluntary actions. This is the power of using one’s will.

Qualia

purely subjective experiences of perception

Determinism / compatibilism

Anger / hatred

Anger: strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure or hostility

Hatred: intense feeling of dislike or ill will

Easy / hard problem of consciousness

Easy: understand how particular patterns of neural activity create specific conscious experiences

Hard: understanding brain processes that produce people subjective experiences of conscious perception

Dualist-Compatibilist debate

Dualist: prponent of belief that a part of our decisions are somehow outside of neurobiology

Compatibilists: proponents of belief that free will is possible despite that fact that brain activity is determined by neurobiology

Reactive / instrumental aggression

reactive: response to an aggravating event with no goal in mind, expression only (road rage)

Instrumental: occurs when their is a clear goal (revenge, sports)

Syndrome E

seeks to explain how ordinary people can become capable of committing or participating in large-scale atrocities—such as genocide, torture, or terrorism—without being clinically insane or overtly sadistic

Free will

feeling that our conscious self is the author of out actions and decisions

What do we mean when we say "consciousness lags behind reality"?

Post-dictive illusions

we anticipate events that havent enter awareness but are encoded subconsciously (knowing the consequence unconsciously before emitting the behavior and thats why we engaged in th behavior in the first place)

What areas of the brain are active in the deliberation and decisions to act through 'free will'?

Decision to act: Somatosensory region of the parietal lobe and the interparietal sulcus

Deliberation: frontal cortex and basal ganglia

What happens in our brains during intense hatred?

Insula, premotor cortex, frontomedial gyrus

increase activation in medial frontal gyrus

goal driven behavior activates orbito frontal cortex; unconscious activated PFC

What two parts of our brain should put on the "moral brakes" when we are faced with committing a criminal action?

amygdala and higher functioning neural cortex

In Syndrome E, what neuropsychological symptoms are often present when evil acts are committed?

amygdala and higher functioning cortex determine contemplation of action and nonaction

What happens to our sense of responsibility when we are coerced into action

self reflection decrease and justify actions