Chapter 4: Consciousness

Qualia

Subjective experience of conscious states; we may never know if two people's subjective states are equivalent.

Conscious awareness

The process by which certain information enters our awareness; influenced by various states.

Endogenous attention

Intentionally focused attention (top-down), such as reading or listening.

Exogenous attention

Attention that is drawn by stimuli demanding focus (bottom-up), like loud noises or hearing your name.

Priming

A phenomenon where the response to a stimulus is influenced by recent experience with that stimulus or a related one.

Subliminal perception

Processing of stimuli by sensory systems that do not reach conscious awareness.

Controlled processing

slow, deliberate mode of thought that dedicates significant attention to novel processes

Automatic processing

well-learned tasks can be done without entering consciousness

Stroop task

automatic reading process interferes with naming colors

Flow state

when high skill meets with high challenge and attention is focused entirely on the task, and not the body

Hypnosis

A social interaction during which a person, responding to suggestions, experiences changes in memory, perception, and voluntary action

Sociocognitive theory

Hypnosis theory suggesting that people behave as they expect hypnotized individuals to behave.

Neodissociation theory

Hypnosis theory positing that hypnosis is a social phenomenon that results in an altered state.

Hypnotic analgesia

A phenomenon where hypnotized individuals are more resistant to pain.

activation-synthesis hypothesis

a theory that explains how dreams are created when the brain tries to make sense of random neural activity during REM sleep

change blindness

a failure to notice large changes in one’s environment (ex: did you see the gorilla?)

dreams

Products of an altered state of consciousness in which images and fantasies are confused with reality

insomnia

disorder characterized by an inability to sleep that causes significant problems in daily living

meditation

a mental procedure that focuses attention on an external object, and internal event, or a sense of awareness

narcolepsy

sleep disorder in which people experience excessive sleepiness during normal waking hours, sometimes going limp and collapsing

obstructive sleep apnea

disorder in which people, while asleep, stop breathing because their throat closes; the condition results in frequent awakenings during the night

traumatic brain injury (TBI)

impairments in mental functioning caused by a blow to or very sharp movement of the head