PSY100s-consciousness11 - Introduction to Psychology...

Introduction to Psychology
Consciousness

Cortex and Consciousness
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The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is activated
during conscious control tasks
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Subjects asked to name the ink color in the Stroop
task below have difficulty when the word name and
color are different
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This color-naming task was associated with
activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Attention
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Our conscious awareness is limited in capacity and we
are aware of only a small amount of the stimuli
around us at any one time
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Attention refers to the process by which we focus our
awareness
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Three functions of attentional processes:
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Orienting function toward the environment
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Control of the content of consciousness
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I will think about this issue but not that one…
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Maintaining alertness

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Notion that brief exposure to sub-threshold stimuli
can influence awareness
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Study: subjects are shown aggressive (A) or positive
(B) stimuli
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and then rate a neutral stimulus (C)