3.1 - Basic Consciousness Concepts

Consciousness

our subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment

Hypnosis

a social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts or behaviors will spontaneously occur

Cognitive Neuroscience

the study of the brain activity linked with cognition

Selective Attention

focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus 

Inattentional Blindness

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Dual Processing

the principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks

Blindsight

A condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it

Parallel Processing

processing many aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously

Sequential processing

processing one aspect of a stimulus or problem at a time; generally used to process new information or to solve difficult problems