1. Chapter 8: Consciousness
Slides prepared by
Randall E. Osborne, Texas State University-San Marcos, adapted by Dr Mark Forshaw, Staffordshire University, UK 1

2. Conscious and Unconscious: The Mind’s Eye, Open and Closed2

3. Conscious and Unconscious
Consciousness
Not just ‘being awake’ but maybe ‘being aware’
Cartesian theatre
‘Mind’s eye’ or a ‘mental screen’
Phenomenology
The study of how things seem and are experienced
Problem of other minds
You can’t get inside someone else’s mind 3

4. Mind/Body Problem Examines how mind related to brain and body
Descartes
Research suggests brain activity precedes activities of conscious mind 4

5. Nature of Consciousness
Four basic properties:
intentionality
unity
selectivity
dichotic listening
cocktail party phenomenon
transience
Necker cube 5

6. Levels of Consciousness
Minimal consciousness
Sensory awareness
Full consciousness
You know and can report your mental state
Self-consciousness
mirror image
You recognise a ‘self’ that is you and refer to ‘I’ 6

7. Contents of Consciousness
What’s on your mind?
Think aloud
Experience sampling technique 7

8. Contents of Consciousness8

9. Contents of Consciousness
Mental control
Ironic processes of mental control
Thought suppression
Rebound effect of thought suppression
Dynamic unconscious
Repression 9

10. The Unconscious Mind Many mental processes are unconscious
Freudian unconscious
dynamic unconscious
repression
“Freudian” slips 10

11. Cognitive Unconscious
Subliminal perception
Passing exposure (like priming) 11

12. Attention Selective attention
Early versus late selection: do you select early in the process, or later on?
Information bottleneck
Early filter model
Attenuation model
Response selection model
Load model 12

13. Disorders of Attention
Unilateral visual neglect
Missing objects from the opposite visual field from the lesion
Balint’s syndrome
Cannot shift attention to new locations
Blindsight
Helen the monkey 13

14. Sleep and Dreaming: Good Night, Mind14

15. Sleep and Dreaming Hypnagogic state Hypnic jerk Sleep cycle EEG EOG
REM increases throughout night 15

16. Sleep Sleep needs and deprivation How much sleep do people need?
Why do we need sleep?
NREM and REM sleep may give us hints 16

17. Sleep Disorders Insomnia Sleep apnea Somnambulism Narcolepsy
people overestimate their insomnia
Sleep apnea
Somnambulism
more common in children
tends to happen early in night (usually in slow wave sleep)
Narcolepsy
Sleep paralysis
Night terrors (happen most in NREM sleep) 17

18. Dreams Dream consciousness Nightmares Intense emotion
Illogical thought
Full sensation
Uncritical acceptance
Difficulty remembering on wakening
Nightmares
average undergrad has 24 nightmares per year 18

19. Dream Theories Freud’s theory — dream work
manifest content
latent content
Wegner, Wenzlaff, & Kozak (2004) dream suppression study
Activation-synthesis model
dreams produced when mind tries to make sense of neural activity during sleep 19

20. Drugs and Consciousness: Artificial Inspiration20

21. Drugs and Consciousness
Psychoactive drugs
Influence brain chemistry and alter consciousness
Drug use and abuse
Hallucinogens
Alter sensation and perception
Cannabis
Affects co-ordination, addiction potential low 21

22. Hypnosis: Open to Suggestion22

23. Hypnosis Induction Susceptibility Hypnotic effects
Mesmer—“animal magentism”
Susceptibility
Hypnotic effects
hypnotized versus those told to fake it 23

24. Hypnosis Posthypnotic amnesia Hypnotic analgesia
Brain activity during hypnosis
right anterior cingulate cortex 24

25. Meditation and Religious Experiences: Higher Consciousness25

26. Meditation and Religious Experiences
alpha waves
low levels of activation on posterior superior parietal lobe
Ecstatic religious experiences
40% of Americans report at least one such experience
right anterior temporal lobe 26