body as light midterm

Mindfulness (Kabat-Zinn definition)

Paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally.

What does "on purpose" mean in mindfulness?

Attention is intentional rather than entirely automatic.

What does "in the present moment" mean?

Attention is directed to what is happening now.

What does "non-judgementally" mean?

Notice experience without immediately evaluating it or condemning yourself for it.

What four possibilities does the lecture raise about mindfulness?

A meditative practice, a state of mind, a personality trait, and/or the opposite of mindlessness.

What are the seven attitudinal factors of mindfulness?

Non-judging, patience, beginner's mind, trust, non-striving, acceptance, and letting go.

Non-judging

Observe clearly without automatically evaluating experience; change your relationship to it rather than shutting it out.

Patience (mindfulness factor)

Allow experiences and processes to unfold without demanding immediate results.

Beginner's mind

Approach the present experience with openness, as if seeing it freshly.

Trust (mindfulness factor)

Bring a trusting attitude to your own experience and observation.

Non-striving

Do not force a particular internal state; practise noticing rather than chasing an ideal.

Acceptance (mindfulness factor)

Acknowledge experience as it is occurring rather than denying it.

Which three ideas are listed under acceptance?

Forgiveness, love, and compassion.

Letting go

Allow thoughts and feelings to come and go without clinging to or controlling them.

What does the lecture associate with concentration?

Samadhi.

What is awareness in the mindfulness slides?

Observing thoughts from a distance rather than being completely caught up in them.

Meta-awareness

Awareness of one's own thoughts or mental activity; recognizing a thought as a thought.

What does "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf" suggest?

Thoughts arise, but we can learn how to relate to them.

According to Kabat-Zinn, what is meditation NOT?

It is not shutting things out or off.

According to Kabat-Zinn, what is meditation?

Seeing clearly and deliberately positioning yourself differently in relation to experience.

What is the main idea of the Lao-Tzu quotation?

See things as they are without trying to control them; let them go their own way.

What is the main idea of the Emerson quotation?

Value who people are rather than what they possess; peace must come from oneself.

Which mindfulness practices are listed beyond sitting?

Walking, standing, the raisin, and not practicing.

What does the lecture say about walking and standing mindfulness?

Mindfulness can be practised in postures or activities other than sitting.

What detail about "The Raisin" is supplied in the slide?

Only its name is listed; the slide does not describe the procedure.

State mindfulness

Mindfulness as a current or momentary experience—what someone experiences now.

Trait mindfulness

Mindfulness as a more general characteristic or tendency.

Which measures are listed under state mindfulness?

Mindful Attention Awareness Scale; Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory; Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale; Southampton Mindfulness Questionnaire.

Mindful Attention Awareness Scale: citation in slides

Brown and Ryan, 2003; listed under state mindfulness.

Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory: citation in slides

Buchheld et al., 2001; listed under state mindfulness.

Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale: citation in slides

Kumar et al., 2008; listed under state mindfulness.

Southampton Mindfulness Questionnaire: citation in slides

Chadwick et al.; listed as unpublished and under state mindfulness.

Which measures are listed under trait mindfulness?

Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills; Five Factors Mindfulness Questionnaire; Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale.

Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills: citation

Baer et al., 2004; listed under trait mindfulness.

Five Factors Mindfulness Questionnaire: citation

Baer et al., 2006; listed under trait mindfulness.

Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale: citation

Cardaciotto et al., 2008; listed under trait mindfulness.

Which scale is listed under both state and trait?

Toronto Mindfulness Scale (Lau et al., 2006).

What time frame does the Toronto Mindfulness Scale ask about?

What the participant experienced just now.

What are the five Toronto Mindfulness Scale response options?

Not at all (0), a little (1), moderately (2), quite a bit (3), very much (4).

Toronto scale item: separate from changing thoughts and feelings

Recognizing oneself as separate from changing thoughts and feelings.

Toronto scale item: openness vs. control

Being more concerned with openness to experience than controlling or changing it.

Toronto scale item: curiosity

Curiously noticing reactions to thoughts, feelings, or sensations to learn about oneself.

Toronto scale item: thoughts as mental events

Seeing thoughts as events in the mind, not necessarily accurate reflections of reality.

Self-report bias

Bias that can affect people's reports of their own experiences or responses.

Social desirability bias

Answering in a way you believe is expected of you.

Cognitive dissonance bias (lecture wording)

Discomfort when holding two or more contradictory beliefs, values, or ideas.

Who is associated with flow in the lecture?

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Flow

Full immersion in an activity, with energized focus, full involvement, and a sense of success in the process.

Everyday phrases for flow

On the ball, in the zone, or in the groove.

What is the Experience Sampling Method (ESM)?

Participants used pagers; when signalled, they recorded what they were doing and their mental state.

What did participants record in ESM?

Their activity and mental state at the moment the pager went off.

How does the lecture describe flow's research timeline?

Research over 20 years, with 1976 referenced on the slides.

What quotation accompanies the happy/unhappy flow question?

People who learn to control inner experience can determine the quality of their lives.

Optimal experience

Flow; described as the opposite of psychic entropy.

Psychic entropy

Named as the opposite of optimal experience/flow; no fuller definition is supplied on the slide.

Goal congruence in flow

Information entering awareness is congruent with the person's goals.

What happens to worry and adequacy concerns in flow?

The slide says there is no worry and no questioning one's adequacy.

What practice reminder appears on the flow slide?

"Practice Makes Perfect."

How does the lecture define consciousness?

The ordering and reflection of the body's senses.

Consciousness as "intentionally ordered information"

Consciousness can be thought of as information that is intentionally ordered.

How does the slide describe dreaming?

It states "Dreaming = Unconscious" (Stewart, 1972).

What question appears under biological basis for life?

"Why do we get hungry?" The slide poses the question but does not answer it.

Who are the two people in the hard-problem wager?

Christof Koch, a neuroscientist, and David Chalmers, a philosopher.

When and where was the wager made?

In 1998 at the annual meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness.

What was the wager about?

Whether researchers would discover a clear neural pattern underlying consciousness by 2023.

Who lost the wager according to the lecture?

Christof Koch.

Why is consciousness not limitless according to the lecture?

Physical and mental limits restrict how much information can be processed at once.

What does passing hundreds of cars illustrate?

Attentional habit: we may pass cars without consciously noticing them.

Why might a driver turn down the radio while parking?

Parking requires attention, and reducing another input may help manage limited attention.

What driving safety warning appears in the slides?

Don't text while driving.

What are the four characteristics of people who control consciousness?

They focus at will, are oblivious to distraction, concentrate as long as needed to reach a goal, and not longer than necessary.

What everyday outcome is associated with controlling consciousness?

People who can do this usually enjoy the normal course of the day.

Mindfulness vs. flow

Mindfulness is present-moment, intentional, non-judgemental attention; flow is deep immersion and energized focus in an activity.

Concentration vs. meta-awareness

Concentration is associated with Samadhi; meta-awareness is noticing one's own thoughts as mental events.

State vs. trait mindfulness

State is momentary experience; trait is a more general tendency or characteristic.

Acceptance vs. controlling experience

Acceptance acknowledges what is happening; controlling tries to force or change the experience.

Why can mindfulness questionnaire answers be biased?

Self-report may be affected by social desirability or discomfort around contradictory beliefs.

What do the driving examples collectively demonstrate?

Attention and consciousness have limits; competing demands can affect what we notice and process.

[Neurophysiology] What is the main purpose of neurophysiological measurement in this lecture?

To study brain activity and its relationship to mental processes and behaviour.

[Neurophysiology] What does spatial resolution mean?

How precisely a method can identify where activity occurs in the brain.

[Neurophysiology] What does temporal resolution mean?

How precisely a method can identify when activity occurs.

[Neurophysiology] Why do spatial and temporal resolution matter when choosing a brain-measurement method?

Different methods trade off how well they locate activity against how well they track changes over time.

[Neurophysiology] What is EEG?

Electroencephalography; it measures electrical potential generated by brain activity, usually with electrodes on the scalp.

[Neurophysiology] What does EEG directly record?

Voltage differences at the scalp that reflect summed electrical activity, especially postsynaptic activity of populations of neurons.

[Neurophysiology] What is a major strength of EEG?

Very high temporal resolution; it can track rapid changes in brain activity.

[Neurophysiology] What is a major limitation of EEG?

Limited spatial resolution; it is difficult to pinpoint the precise source of a signal inside the brain.

[Neurophysiology] Does EEG directly show a picture of brain anatomy?

No. It records electrical signals over time rather than producing an anatomical image.

[Neurophysiology] What is TMS?

Transcranial magnetic stimulation, which uses magnetic pulses to stimulate or temporarily disrupt activity in targeted brain areas.

[Neurophysiology] How can TMS help researchers investigate brain function?

By changing activity in a target area and observing whether this changes performance or experience.

[Neurophysiology] What is an important distinction between TMS and brain-imaging methods?

TMS can perturb brain activity, whereas imaging methods primarily measure signals associated with activity.

[Neurophysiology] What is MRI?

Magnetic resonance imaging, a method that produces images of internal structure using magnetic fields and radiofrequency signals.

[Neurophysiology] What is fMRI?

Functional magnetic resonance imaging; it estimates changes in brain activity indirectly through changes in blood oxygenation.

[Neurophysiology] What is the difference between structural MRI and fMRI?

Structural MRI emphasizes anatomy; fMRI measures changes in a blood-oxygenation signal associated with neural activity.

[Neurophysiology] What does BOLD stand for?

Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent.

[Neurophysiology] What does the BOLD signal reflect?

Changes in blood oxygenation and blood flow associated with neural activity; it is an indirect measure.

[Neurophysiology] Why is the fMRI signal described as indirect?

It measures a vascular response related to neural activity rather than electrical activity of neurons itself.

[Neurophysiology] Why can the BOLD response lag behind neural activity?

Blood-flow and oxygenation responses take time to develop after neural activity changes.

[Neurophysiology] What is a voxel?

A three-dimensional unit of volume in an imaging dataset, analogous to a pixel in a 2D image.

[Neurophysiology] What is a pixel?

A two-dimensional picture element in an image.

[Neurophysiology] How do pixels and voxels differ?

A pixel represents a 2D image element; a voxel represents a 3D volume element.