chapter 3 consciousness and the two- track mind. syllabusexam2 8, 9, 10 consciousness 8, 9, 10...
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Chapter 3Consciousness and the Two-Track Mind
Syllabus
Exam2 8, 9, 10 Consciousness18, 19, 20 Sensation & Percep
Syllabus
Exam329,30,31,32 Intelligence11,12,13 Nature/Nurture46,47,48 Personality
Chapter Topics
1. Defining ConsciousnessDual-track mind
2. Sleep and Dreams
3. Drugs and Consciousness
In the text, consciousness is defined as: “our awareness of ourselves and our environment.”
Aren’t animals aware of their environment? If so, is our awareness different?...Possibly…because we have (uniquely?) a narrative experience of that awareness.
Consciousness is… alertness; being awake
vs. being unconscious self-awareness; the
ability to think about self
having free will; being able to make a “conscious” decision
a person’s mental content, thoughts, and imaginings
To explore the nature of consciousness, it helps to first choose a definition.
Are animals “conscious”?
2012 Cambridge Declarationon Consciousness
“Convergent evidence indicates that non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical and neurophysiologial substrates of conscious states, along with the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviours.”
Forms of Consciousness
http://jezebel.com/5859785/watch-the-worlds-first-movie-of-the-female-brain-during-orgasm
Forms of Consciousness
Psychology’s Relationship to this TopicPsychology was once defined as “the description and explanation of states of consciousness.”Now, consciousness is just one topic among many for psychologists.
Cognitive neuroscience allows us to revisit this topic and see how the brain is involved.
Brain and Consciousness: Findings and Debates
FindingSome rare
“unconscious” patients have brain responses to
conversation.
ImplicationDon’t judge a book by its cover when it
comes to consciousness.
DebateWhat is going on in the brain that
generates our experience of
consciousness?
One ViewSynchronized, coordinated
brain activity generates consciousness, or at least
is a sign that conscious activity is occurring.
Conscious vs. Unconscious Activity: The Dual-Track Mind
Conscious “high” track:our minds take deliberate actions we know we are
doing Examples: problem solving, naming an object, defining a
word
Unconscious “low” track:our minds perform automatic actions, often without being
aware of themExamples: walking, acquiring phobias, processing sensory details into perceptions and
memories
Conscious:
“I saw a bird!”
Unconscious:
Think before you act? Libet (1985) Brain activity BEFORE conscious
of wanting to push the button
Think before you act?
Why Have Two Tracks?Benefit? SLOW Thinking Action controlled processing FAST Perception Action automatic processing
Examples You can hit or catch a ball without having to consciously
calculate its trajectory. You can speak without having to think about the definitions
of each word. You can walk and chew gum AND carry on a conversation.
Unusual Consequences of Having a Dual-Track Mind
Blindsight
Selective Attention
Selective Inattention
Inattentional blindness
Change blindness Choice blindness
Case StudyA woman with brain damage, but NO eye damage, was unable to use her eyes to report what was in front of her.BUT, she was able to use her eyes to help her take actions such as putting mail in slots.
What are the two mental “tracks” in this case?
Blindsight
Judging size and distance well enough to put the mail in the slot: the “low road,” or unconscious, automatic track, in this case known as the visual action track
Describing the mail and the slot:the “high road,” or conscious track, in this case known as the visual perception track
Blindsight
Hollow Face Illusion
Perception versus Action
Kroliczak et al. (2006)
millions of information bits every second.
Selective attention e.g., Cocktail Party Effect
Selective Attention
Selective Attention and Social Conversation
Good news: focus on a conversation
Bad news: Inattention blindness to serious threats
DrP’s “wasp” story
Cellphones and Texting
Distracted driving: huge problem….
Selective Attention
Texting Is Really Recent: 2008
Texting instantly became
Huge
Peak Texting Frequency (UW)
Peak Texting Frequency (2013)
Typical day: Receive (2013)
Texting While Driving
Texting While Driving48%
16%
Texting While Driving36%
12%
Texting While Driving
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz90K20Dufk
Texting While Drivinghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz90K20Dufk
Selective inattention refers to our failure to notice part of our environment when our attention is directed elsewhere.
Selective Inattention: inattentional blindness change blindness choice blindness
Selective Inattention:what we are not focused
on, what we do not notice
Selective Attention: what we focus on,
what we notice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkrrVozZR2c
Inattentional Blindness Various experiments show that when our attention is
focused, we miss seeing what others may think is obvious to see (such as a gorilla, or a unicyclist).
Some “magic” tricks take advantage of this phenomenon.
Change Blindness
Two-thirds of people didn’t notice when the person they were giving directions to was replaced by a similar-looking person.
The Switch
By the way, did you notice whether the replacement person was in the same
clothes or different clothes?
Choice BlindnessIn one experiment, people chose their favorite among two jams. But when the jar’s contents were deceptively reversed and tasted again, people described the same jar’s contents as their chosen jam.
The researcher flips the divided containers, so that the next taste from that jar is actually the other jam.
And now, to SLEEP--
perchance, to Dream
How Do We Learn About Sleep and Dreams?
We can monitor EEG/brain waves and muscle movements during sleep.
We can expose the sleeping person to noise and words, and then examine the effects on the brain (waves) and mind (memory).
We can wake people and see which mental state (e.g. dreaming) goes with which brain/body state.
Sleep as a State of Consciousness
Consider that: we move around, but how do
we stop ourselves from falling out of bed?
we sometimes incorporate real-world noises into our dreams.
some noises (our own baby’s cry) wake us more easily than others.
When sleeping, are we fully unconscious and “dead to
the world”?
Or is the window to consciousness open?
Sleep and Biological Rhythms
24 hour biological “clock”
90 minute sleep cycle
.
Understanding Biological Rhythms
Biological rhythmsA periodic, more or less regular fluctuation in
a biological system; may or may not have psychological implications
EntrainmentBiological rhythms are synchronized with
external events such as changes in clock time, temperature, and daylight
Circadian RhythmsOccur about every 24 hoursExample: The sleep-wake cycle
Infradian RhythmsOccur less often than once a dayExamples: birds migrating, bears hibernating
Ultradian Rhythms greater than 1/day, e.g., about every 90mineg: stomach contractions and hormone levels
Circadian Rhythms
"Circa" (around), "-dias" (day)
Human cycle=24-25 hours
Controlled by: "biological clocks"Suprachiasmic Nucleus (in hypothal.)
Light--Optic Nerve--SCN-->hormones
Adapts body to environment cycles
Light > retina > suprachiasmatic nucleus > pineal gland > secretion of melatoninMelatonin regulates circadian rhythm
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51
Which bird are you?
A Night bird ( OWL )B Morning bird ( LARK )C Odd bird (Ardvark)
D Big Bird
Circadian Rhythms
Your degree of alertness depends where you are in your circadian rhythm.
Are you are morning person or an evening person?
Morningness-Eveningness
Alertness is correlated with temperaturetemperature average peak/trough:
Highest at 8pm, Lowest at 6am
Individual differencesLark (morning) vs Owl (evening)very stable over timechanges with agewide individual differences (16-50 hr cycles)
Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire
-0.50 correlation with daily body temp peak
Watts (1982): match improves relationship quality
Monk & Leng (1986): test time matching improves mental performance (reasoning, serial search tasks)
Morningness-Eveningness
Bodenhausen (1990)mismatched showed higher stereotypingcognitive load is higherless cog resources = schematic thinking
Kruglanski & Pierro (2008)Tested Freud’s concept of transferenceFreud.Unctrans= deep emotional activationCog.Unc trans= simple memory screw-up
Morningness-Eveningness
Kruglanski & Pierro (2008)Cog.Unc trans= simple memory screw-upOwl/Larks can help test which is correct.
Prediction: Higher “transference” when tested
during mismatched time of day. (i.e, opposite to Owl-Lark score)
Morningness-Eveningness
Kruglanski & Pierro (2008)
Time1: “List traits of a signif. person in your life.” “ SO Traits”
Time2:Test Evening OR Morning.Given description of testing partner (traits) Memory quiz: Which were traits of partner?Prediction? Mismatched group will show
more false alarms for SO Traits
Kruglanski & Pierro (2008)
Cunia et al. (2014)
Cunia et al. (2014) Honesty requires self-control Self-control is related to alertness
Q: Does chronotype affect honesty?
Time of day ethicality ? Time of day x Chronotype ethicality ?
Cunia et al. (2014) Study:
Online questionnaire (Owl-Lark) ALSO “Roll dice” to enter a lottery Self-report dice result (might lie!) Actual dice result recorded secretly.
Results: Chronotype x Time of Day interaction !Lying? Larks in evening, Owls in morning.
Fig. 1. Results for Study 2: mean reported die roll as a function of session for morning and evening people.
Gunia B C et al. Psychological Science 2014;0956797614541989
Copyright © by Association for Psychological Science
Menstrual Cycles and Mood Does the menstrual cycle influence
women’s mood at certain times?
Yes, physical symptoms are common No, emotional symptoms are rare
Irritability and depressionFewer than 5% of womenPremenstrual dysphoric disorder
(PMDD)
Cause? Leading theory= Serotonin drop From changes in progesterone, estrogen, and
testosterone changes in late luteal phaseVariants in the estrogen receptor alpha gene
that are associated with PMDDVariants in COMT gene (mood regulator)Abnormal sensitivity to their own natural
hormone changes.Symptoms do correlate with drop in serotonin
precursors (in brain) as measured by PETSSRIs work, supports serotonin theory
Research Conclusions about “PMS” No gender differences
exist in monthly mood
No relation between menstrual cycle and mood !
No consistent “PMS” pattern exists across menstrual cycles
No connection exists between “PMS” and behaviour
Why Women Overestimate “PMS”Selective attention: Notice depression or
irritability when occurs premenstrually but overlook times when moods are absent
Selective attribution: prementrual irritability to mentruation but attribute it to other things at other times.
Influenced by normative beliefs about PMS
CONFIRMATION BIAS
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) Depression that is seasonal (winter) Fatigue as winter approaches Depression onset in winter Spring… symptoms go away
Cause ?Hyper-reactive circadian regulation of serotonin
Darkness MelatoninMelatonin lowers serotoninLow serotonin depression
SAD Treatment Time outdoors Brighter illumination in home & workplaces Exercise, (particularly outdoors) Fruits and vegetables Light therapy (phototherapy) Anti-depressants Cognitive therapy
Phototherapy
Night Work, Sleeping, & Health
Jet Lag stressful, cortisol is elevated
Rotating night shifts are much worse than constant night shift
As study of railroad engineers found 60% had dozed off at the controls during night trips.
20-30% of traffic accidents per/year are associated with driver sleepiness or fatigue
Effect of napping or coffeeHorne & Rayner
(1996)Driving Simulator 15-min breakCaffeine vs Nap
vs Placebo
RESULTCaffeine & nap both significantly reduced line crossing (compared to placebo)