Syllabus%20Consciousness

Chapter Learning Objectives

At the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

1. Describe four characteristics of consciousness and some of the major problems of studying it.

2. Explain the relevance of key notions including the Cartesian theatre, the homunculus, the philosopher's zombie, and animal consciousness.

3. Briefly evaluate the evidence for unconscious processes.

4. Describe different models of attention with supporting experimental evidence.

5. Compare and contrast different states of consciousness including sleep, dreaming, drug intoxication, and hypnosis.

Case Study: Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a rare brain disorder affecting approximately 0.5% of the population, characterized by sudden sleep attacks at inappropriate times. Chloe Glasson, a 15-year-old girl, exemplifies this condition, stating she falls asleep frequently throughout the day, experiencing an overwhelming wave of tiredness followed by a loss of consciousness. Narcolepsy can also involve 'automatic behavior,' rendering affected individuals unable to be responsible for their actions.

Cataplexy and Sleep Paralysis

Around two-thirds of narcoleptic patients also experience cataplexy, which triggers sudden muscle weakness in response to emotions like laughter or anger. This can lead to complete collapse. Some individuals also report sleep paralysis, a condition where one is conscious but cannot move upon waking or drifting asleep, often accompanied by terrifying dreams or hallucinations, historically attributed to demonic presences.

Understanding Consciousness

Consciousness can be defined as a person’s subjective experience of the world and mind. It encompasses a private world unique to each individual, and while it can be reported, it remains fundamentally inaccessible to others. Studying consciousness directly poses many challenges due to its private nature. Thus, researchers attempt to examine it through various methods.

The Cartesian Theatre

The Cartesian theatre concept, proposed by René Descartes, suggests a mental stage where experiences occur. Consciousness is thought to exist here, allowing individuals to view their thoughts and experiences. However, this model raises critical issues, including the difficulty of explaining how this inner viewer interacts with the processes of the mind without falling into infinite regression (the homunculus problem).

Characteristics of Consciousness

Consciousness has four essential properties: intentionality, unity, selectivity, and transience.

1. Intentionality

This refers to the directedness of consciousness, or aboutness, where consciousness focuses on objects or experiences.

2. Unity

Consciousness resists division; when attempting to multitask, performance often suffers due to the inability to focus on more than one thing at a time.

3. Selectivity

Consciousness includes some objects while filtering out others. This selectivity means we can miss significant changes in our environment (change blindness) when we focus too intently on one aspect.

4. Transience

Consciousness is transient, constantly changing and flowing, resembling a river of thoughts and experiences, often making concentration challenging.

Unconscious vs. Conscious Processes

Modern psychologists recognize a rich landscape of unconscious mental processes that can influence conscious thought and behavior. This includes mechanisms like subliminal perception—where stimuli affect thoughts without conscious awareness. The cognitive unconscious involves mental processes that occur below the level of conscious awareness, shaping our decisions and behaviors based on inadequately monitored influences.

Attention

Attention is crucial for filtering information, allowing individuals to focus on important events while disregarding irrelevant stimuli. Different models of attention propose varying mechanisms for how we selectively focus on inputs:

Early Filter Model

This model posits that information is discarded early in processing to prevent overload.

Attenuation Model

This model proposes that while most information is not fully discarded, it is attenuated or dampened based on the relevance of the information.

Load Model

This flexible model suggests that task difficulty influences whether selection is early or late in processing.

Sleep and the Sleep Cycle

Sleep is characterized by various stages, including non-REM and REM sleep, each serving unique functions for cognitive and physical health. Sleep cycles through five distinct stages throughout the night, transitioning from lighter to deeper sleep.

Sleep Disorders

Common disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, somnambulism, and narcolepsy significantly affect quality and patterns of sleep, influencing overall consciousness.

Dreaming

Dreaming occurs primarily during REM sleep, involving altered consciousness where logical flow and sensory experiences differ vastly from waking experiences.

Dream Theories

Freud's theory posits that dreams represent repressed desires, while the activation-synthesis model views dreams as brain attempts to make sense of random neural activity.

Psychoactive Drugs

Psychoactive drugs are known to alter consciousness through their effects on brain neurotransmitters, resulting in varied and profound changes to perception and mood. Different classifications of drugs include stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogens.

Hypnosis

Hypnosis is often misunderstood and is defined as a state where an individual is highly responsive to suggestions. Hypnotic phenomena include analgesia, amnesia, and behavioral compliance.

Meditation and Spiritual Experiences

Meditation can produce states of altered consciousness without external aids while various ecstatic experiences have been documented within spiritual contexts, often revealing unique brain activation patterns.

In summary, exploration of consciousness reveals its complexities, encompassing active, altered, and unconscious states that hold substantial significance for psychological study and understanding of human behavior.