 Consciousness
Chapter 3
 Consciousness
What is consciousness?
 Consciousness
What is consciousness?
A slippery concept, which
psychologists have tried to define
for more than a century…
 Consciousness
What is consciousness?
Our awareness of ourselves and
our environment
States of Consciousness
 Consciousness
What is consciousness?
There is also some agreement on
what some of the key functions
consciousness serves…
 Consciousness
The Brain and Consciousness
Cognitive Neuroscience – the
interdisciplinary study of the brain
activity linked with our mental
processes, including
consciousness
Brain activity in a patient
showing no outward
signs of conscious
awareness after being
asked to imagine
playing tennis and
moving around her
home.
 Consciousness
The Brain and Consciousness
Dual Processing
Perception, memory, thinking,
language, and most all other
aspects of psychological
functioning operate on two
levels…
The “High Road” –
conscious, deliberate
processing, of which
we are aware
The “Low Road” –
unconscious, automatic
processing, of which we
are unaware
Credit: Max Halberstadt
One of the first psychologists to recognize this
was Sigmund Freud. Freud argued that much of
our behavior is driven by unconscious drives.
Did the object appear
to the left or right?
Patients with a condition called blindsight have no
awareness whatsoever of any stimuli—like the
square above—but are able to process aspects of a
visual stimulus, such as location.
 Consciousness
The Brain and Consciousness
Dual Processing
Selective Attention
Everyone knows what attention
is. It is the taking possession by
the mind, in clear and vivid form,
of one out of what seem several
simultaneously possible objects
or trains of thought. Focalization,
concentration, of consciousness
are of its essence. It implies
withdrawal from some things in
order to deal effectively with
others, and is a condition which
has a real opposite in the
confused, dazed, scatterbrained
state which in French is called
distraction…
- William James
Selective Attention
Selection attention is a
mental “spotlight” that
focuses conscious
awareness on a very
limited aspect of all that
your experience.
Selective Attention
Selection attention is a
mental “spotlight” that
focuses conscious
awareness on a very
limited aspect of all that
your experience.
Selective Attention
Selection attention is a
mental “spotlight” that
focuses conscious
awareness on a very
limited aspect of all that
your experience.
Selective Attention
Imagine trying to study
for this course in a busy
coffee shop. Selective
attention is what allows
you to concentrate on
what your trying to study
and to filter out irrelevant
sights and sounds.
Discussing the War in Paris Café,
Frederick Barnard
Inattentional Blindness
If we are distracted, we
can even miss things that
happen right before our
eyes, a phenomenon
called inattentional
blindness.
Inattentional Blindness
In one experiment,
participants were
shown a video in
which people in white
shirts and black shirts
were passing a ball
back and forth.
Inattentional Blindness
Participants who were
asked to count the
passes of the white
team members didn’t
even notice when a
research assistant in a
gorilla suit passed
through the circle of
players, pausing for 5
seconds to beat its
chest!
Change Blindness
While a man (white hair) provides directions to a
supposed construction worker, two experimenters
rudely pass between them carrying a door…
Change Blindness
During this interruption, the original worker switches
places with another person wearing different colored
clothing. Most people do not notice the switch.
Selective Attention and Accidents
Research by psychologist
David Strayer indicates
that driving while talking
on a cellphone is as
dangerous as driving
drunk.
Selective Attention and Accidents
Research by psychologist
David Strayer indicates
that driving while talking
on a cellphone is as
dangerous as driving
drunk.
http://www.psych.utah.edu/lab/appliedcognition/
Selective Attention and Accidents
Research by psychologist
David Strayer indicates
that driving while talking
on a cellphone is as
dangerous as driving
drunk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=yCD-brlpy7o&vq=medium
Selective Attention and Accidents
Research by psychologist
David Strayer indicates
that driving while talking
on a cellphone is as
dangerous as driving
drunk.
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=113035255&m=113088199
Selective Attention and Accidents
Research by psychologist
David Strayer indicates
that driving while talking
on a cellphone is as
dangerous as driving
drunk.
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=113035255&m=113088199
Selective Attention and Accidents
Selective Attention and Accidents
If each saw the clown,
counted as 2.
 Consciousness
Sleep and Dreams
Soft embalmer of the still
midnight…
From To Sleep by John Keats
Credit: Meena Kadri
 Consciousness
Sleep and Dreams
Biological Rhythms and Sleep
Circadian Rhythm
Occur on a 24-hour cycle and include sleep and
wakefulness. Termed our “biological clock,” it can be
altered by artificial light.
Light triggers the suprachiasmatic nucleus to decrease
(morning) melatonin from the pineal gland and increase
(evening) it at nightfall.
 Consciousness
Sleep and Dreams
Biological Rhythms and Sleep
Sleep Stages
Measuring sleep: About every 90 minutes, we pass through
a cycle of five distinct sleep stages, which researchers
identify by measuring brain activity, eye movements, and
muscle tension.
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Sleep Stages
Measuring sleep: About every 90 minutes, we pass through
a cycle of five distinct sleep stages, which researchers
identify by measuring brain activity, eye movements, and
muscle tension.
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Sleep Stages
Awake But Relaxed:
When an individual
closes his or her eyes
but remains awake,
brain activity slows
down to a large
amplitude and slow,
regular alpha waves.
Sleep Stages
Stages 1-2: During
early, light sleep the
brain enters a highamplitude, slow, regular
wave form called theta
waves. A person who is
daydreaming shows
theta activity.
Sleep Stages
Stages 3-4: During
deepest sleep, brain
activity slows down.
There are largeamplitude, slow delta
waves.
Sleep Stages
Stage 5: After reaching
the deepest sleep stage
(4), the sleep cycle starts
moving backward towards
Stage 1. Although still
asleep, the brain engages
in low-amplitude, fast and
regular beta waves, much
like awake-aroused state.
Sleep Stages
Sleep Stages
Dreams can occur in any
sleep stage, but the most
vivid dreams are reported in
Stage 5 (REM). During this
stage, you are essentially
paralyzed. The brain stem
blocks messages of the
motor cortex.
The Knight’s Dream, Antonio de Pereda (1655)