1. Consciousness: Some Basic Concepts
Module 7
Consciousness: Some Basic Concepts

2. Consciousness: Some Basic Concepts Defining Consciousness
7-1: WHAT IS THE PLACE OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN PSYCHOLOGY’S HISTORY?
1880s: Psychology at its beginning was defined as description and explanation of states of consciousness
First half of 20th century: Direct observation of behavior
By the 1960s: Consciousness nearly lost; behaviorism
But after 1960: Psychology began regaining consciousness. Study of how it is altered by hypnosis, drugs, and meditation; importance of cognition.
Today: Under the influence of cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive neuroscience, our consciousness has reclaimed its place as an important area of research.

3. Defining Consciousness
Awareness of self and environment
Altered states of consciousness
Examples include daydreaming, drug-induced hallucinating, meditating
Altered states spontaneous, physiologically induced, or psychologically induced
INSADCO Photography/Alamy
In addition to normal, waking awareness, consciousness comes to us in altered states, including daydreaming, drowsiness, dreaming, hallucinations, orgasm, food or oxygen starvation, sensory deprivation, hypnosis, and meditation.
ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

4. Altered States of Consciousness
Some states occur spontaneously
Some are physiologically induced
Some are psychologically induced
Daydreaming
Hallucinations
Sensory deprivation
Drowsiness
Orgasm
Hypnosis
Figure 7.1
Dreaming
Food or oxygen starvation
Meditation

5. Studying Consciousness
Cognitive neuroscientists
Interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with our mental processes
Some suggest consciousness arises from synchronized brain activity
EVIDENCE OF AWARENESS? When asked to imagine playing tennis or navigating her home, a noncommunicative patient’s brain (top) exhibited activity similar to a healthy person’s brain (bottom).
Cognitive neuroscience
Interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language)
Figure 7.2

6. Selective Attention
7-2: HOW DOES SELECTIVE ATTENTION DIRECT OUR PERCEPTIONS?
Selective attention
Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus
Estimates indicate that our five senses take in 11,000,000 bits of information per second
We consciously process about 40 bits of these
Our minds unconsciously process the rest
Cocktail party effect: our ability to attend to relevant bits of information and ignoring irrelevant bits
We selectively attend to, and process, a very limited portion of incoming information,
blocking out much and often shifting the spotlight of our attention from one thing to
another.

7. Selective Attention and Accidents
Rapid toggling between activities is common today.
Multitasking distracts brain resources allocated to driving; brain activity in areas vital to driving decreases average of 37 percent when conversation occurs.
Cell-phone use increases accident risk fourfold (even with hands-free use).
Teen crashes or near-crashes increase sevenfold when dialing or reaching for phone.

8. Selective Inattention
Inattentional blindness
Failure to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.
It is a by-product of focusing attention on some part of the environment.
Change blindness
Failing to notice changes in the environment.
We experience popout when our attention is unintentionally drawn to distinct stimuli in the environment; they draw our eye and demand our attention.

9. Dual Processing: The Two-Track Mind
7-3: WHAT IS THE DUAL PROCESSING BEING REVEALED BY TODAY’S COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE?
Dual processing
Principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks
Perceptions, memory, attitudes, and other cognitions all operate on two levels, a conscious, deliberate “high road” and an unconscious, automatic “low road”
Blindsight
Condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it

10. When the blind can “see”
In this compelling demonstration of blindsight and the two-track mind, researcher Lawrence Weiskrantz trailed a blindsight patient down a cluttered hallway. Although told the hallway was empty, the patient meandered around all the obstacles without any awareness of them.

11. Dual Processing: The Two-Track Mind
Parallel processing
Processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions
Unconscious parallel processing is faster than conscious sequential processing.
Both processes are essential. Parallel processing enables your mind to take care of routine business. Sequential processing is needed for solving new problems, which require your focused attention.