Consciousness Quiz 3

Phantom Limb

People who have lost an arm or a leg of ten perceive the limb as though it were still there

Neuromatrix

A network of neurons, that, in addition to responding to sensory stimulation, continuously generates a characteristic pattern of impulses indicating that the body is intact and unequivocally one’s own

3 Components of Neuromatrix

One of them is the classical sensory pathway passing through the thalamus to the somatosensory cortex.

A second system is the pathways leading through the reticular formation of the brain stem to the limbic system, which is critical for emotion and motivation.

A final system consists of cortical regions important to recognition of the self and to the evaluation of sensory signals.

Formalin Test and how it is evidence for the role of the brain in the experience of pain.

They injected a dilute solution of formalin under the skin of a rat’s paw, it produces pain that rapidly rises and falls in intensity during the first five minutes after the injection. This "early" response is followed by "late" pain, which begins about 15 minutes after the injection and persists for about an hour. They found that an anesthetic block of the paw completely obliterates the late pain.

A & P Consciousness 

access and phenomenal consciousness

How do change blindness, dreaming and blindsight relate to A & P consciousness

Change blindness, dreaming, and blindsight are significant for understanding the distinction between phenomenal consciousness the subjective, qualitative experience—and access consciousness the availability of information for verbal report, reasoning, and deliberate action

Spinal Cord role in pain

Nerve impulses travel to the spinal cord where theyre influenced by other nerve cells, that act like gates, they gates block pain signals or send the signals to the brain. The signals are then sent back down to spinals cord to determine what kind of pain.

Neural Correlates of Consciousness

The neurobiological mechanisms necessary and sufficient to generate a conscious

experience

Implicit Memory

The unconscious recall of facts and information.

Explicit Memory

The conscious recall of fact and information.

Damasio’s three levels of self

Proto self: a coherent collection of neural patterns which map, moment by moment, the state of the physical structure of the organism in its many dimensions

Core self: This kind of self is condemned to endless and fruitless transiency

Autobiographical self: I use the term autobiographical memory to denote the organized record of the main aspects of an organism’s biography.

Summarize the cause and symptoms of neglect.

Causes include stroke. Patients can see but vision on one side becomes irrelevant to them.

Summarize the cause and symptoms of blindsight

The ability to detect things but not be aware of them. Causes can include stroke and accidents.

Why is blindsight an interesting disorder to study with respect to consciousness? Why is it controversial?

It demonstrates the difference between awareness and behavior. People can react to visual stimuli without being aware of it. It is controversial because the extent to the unconsciousness if debated.

What is the difference between the low road and the high road to emotion processing?

Preparedness Model

Panksepp's FEAR system

Describe the IAT and what it is supposed to measure

What is the difference between the low road and the high road to emotion processing?

What are the three early explanations of phantom limbs? Why don’t they work?

1.         The oldest explanation for phantom limbs and their associated pain is that the remaining nerves in the stump, which grow at the cut end into nodules called neuromas, continue to generate impulses.

2.         Phantoms arise from excessive, spontaneous firing of spinal cord neurons that have lost their normal sensory input from the body

What is the difference between implicit and explicit memory and how do they apply to patients with amnesia?

Amnesia selectively impairs explicit memory, which is conscious recall of facts and events, while leaving implicit memory, which influences behavior without conscious awareness, largely intact.

Low Road Processing 

Direct pathway from the thalamus to the amygdala that triggers an immediate, instinctive emotional response.

High Road Processing

While the high road is a slower pathway that goes from the thalamus to the cortex  before reaching the amygdala.

Preparedness Model

We are biologically prepared to learn fear responses to potentially life-
threatening objects/situations

Panksepp's FEAR system

An innate, subcortical emotional command system that triggers defensive behaviors in response to environmental threats

IAT

A series of online tests designed to measure unconscious biases by measuring the speed of association between concepts and words

ERP

Collected data from EEG. It focuses on brain response that occurs due to a stimuli or event.  Different components of an ERP can tell us how the brain processes pain

EEG

Measures the brains electrical activity through electrodes on the scalp. It records neuron firing. EEG can detect patterns in somatosensory cortex that is linked to a phantom limb.