Social interaction (predicting/understanding others).
Information exchange.
Global control.
Decisions: Some are preconsciously prepared before conscious awareness.
Measuring Conscious Experience
Assessment: Typically uses behavioral measures (e.g., verbal reports).
Problem: Failure to report may be due to attention, memory, or inner speech issues.
Lamme's Argument: Focus on neural correlates of consciousness.
Conscious experience is associated with recurrent processing, not the feedforward sweep.
Recurrent processing isn't always linked to conscious experience.
Brain Areas Associated with Consciousness
Stimuli Processing Processing of not consciously perceived stimuli shows modest brain activation in most areas of the visual cortex.
*Areas in the prefrontal and parietal cortex are typically activated during the processing of stimuli that are consciously perceived.
*Functional roles of these brain regions in visual awareness are still unclear, but they may be involved in integrating information from various brain areas.
Theories of Consciousness
Global Workspace Theories: Selective attention determines awareness.
Conscious awareness involves integrated brain activity, especially in the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, and parietal cortex.
Support exists for the major assumptions of these theories.
Selective attention may follow rather than precede conscious awareness.
Theories do not yet explain if key brain areas produce or are a consequence of conscious awareness.
Is Consciousness Unitary?
Split-Brain Patients: Behavior can be controlled by each hemisphere.
The left hemisphere is dominant, acting as an interpreter.
The right hemisphere engages in low-level processing and may lack consciousness or have limited self-awareness.
The left hemisphere can overrule the right, preventing dialogue between them.
The right hemisphere may play a role in self-recognition and awareness.