Question 1

What is true of blindsight?

Accepted Answer

Blindsight refers to the ability of some individuals with visual cortex damage to respond to visual stimuli without consciously experiencing it, indicating a dissociation between perception and conscious experience. None of the other options are accurate descriptions of blindsight.

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT a limitation of our introspections?

Accepted Answer

Introspections can be studied scientifically, although it may be difficult to verify or replicate subjective experiences. Therefore, option D is not a limitation of introspections.

Question 3

The term blindsight refers to __________.

Accepted Answer

Blindsight refers to the phenomenon of being able to see, but without the conscious experience of seeing. This occurs when damage to certain parts of the brain, such as those responsible for processing visual information, results in the unconscious perception of visual stimuli without the ability to consciously perceive or recognize them.

Question 4

Brain areas that control the various contents for consciousness include the__________.

Accepted Answer

Cortical structures in the forebrain such as the FFA or PPA are responsible for processing visual information and are involved in conscious perception.

Question 5

Unconscious processing tends to be fast and efficient. This raises the question, "Which of the following summarizes what consciousness is good for?"

Accepted Answer

Consciousness allows us to break away from routine and habit, which can lead to more flexible thinking and problem solving. However, unconscious processing is still important for fast and efficient processing of information.

Question 6

Which of the following represent the two broad categories or aspects of consciousness?

Accepted Answer

Consciousness can be broadly categorized into two aspects: alertness and content. Alertness refers to the level of wakefulness or the degree of awareness of the environment, while content refers to the specific thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and other mental events that are being experienced.

Question 7

Orianna has a stroke, which affected her striate cortex. As a result, she shows blindsight. Which of the following symptoms is she likely to exhibit as a result of this damage?

Accepted Answer

Blindsight is a phenomenon where individuals with damage to their striate cortex can "see" objects without consciously perceiving them. However, their ability to navigate around the objects is impaired, so they may have difficulty navigating around a new furniture arrangement in a room. Blindsight does not necessarily affect implicit memory or the ability to recall memorized information with cues.

Question 8

What is meant by the neural correlates of consciousness?

Accepted Answer

The neural correlates of consciousness refer to specific states in the brain that correspond to an individual's conscious experience. These states may vary depending on the content of one's consciousness, such as visual perception or emotional states. Researchers study these neural correlates to gain insight into how consciousness arises from the activity of neurons in the brain.

Question 9

Which of the following best describes the organization of the attention in the brain?

Accepted Answer

Studies suggest that attentional mechanisms involve the prefrontal cortex, but also involve many other areas of the brain such as the parietal cortex, superior colliculus, thalamus, and brain stem. The prefrontal cortex is thought to have a supervisory role in attention and may modulate other areas involved in the attention network.

Question 10

Early scholars, such as Descartes, believed which brain organ served as the portal between the mind and the body?

Accepted Answer

Early scholars, such as Descartes, believed that the pineal gland served as the portal between the mind and the body, as it is a small, cone-shaped organ located deep within the brain that was believed to regulate bodily functions in response to the soul or the mind. However, modern neuroscience has shown that the pineal gland is primarily involved in regulating sleep/wake cycles and the production of the hormone melatonin, and that there is no one specific brain organ that can be pinpointed as the sole connector between the mind and the body.

Question 11

A participant sits in front of a screen in which one picture is presented to one eye while an entirely different picture is presented to the other eye. What experience will the person report?

Accepted Answer

The person will experience a phenomenon known as binocular rivalry, in which the brain alternates between perceiving one image and the other. This creates an apparent flip-flop of the images, as the person may report seeing one image for a few seconds before it disappears and the other image takes its place.

Question 12

According to Descartes, how do the mind and body interact?

Accepted Answer

Descartes proposed that the mind and body interact in several ways: physical inputs can lead to conscious experiences, thoughts can initiate actions, and he specifically identified the pineal gland as the site where mind and body interact.

Question 13

A participant in a study is shown a series of buildings. Which brain area should show the most activity?

Accepted Answer

The parahippocampal place area (PPA) is a brain region that is strongly activated when viewing scenes, such as buildings or landscapes. The fusiform face area (FFA) is specifically activated when viewing faces, not buildings. The prehippocampal processing area and occipital cortex are involved in processing visual information in general, but not specifically related to buildings.

Question 14

A person reports being totally deaf, yet she gives vigorous startle responses to loud sounds. Of such occasions she reports, "I just felt I had to crouch quickly." These findings would be most similar to findings from studies on __________.

Accepted Answer

This scenario is most similar to findings from studies on people with blindsight, who have lost their conscious visual perception but retain some ability to detect and respond to visual stimuli. In this case, the person has lost their conscious auditory perception but retains a startle response to loud sounds.

Question 15

Brain areas that control alertness or sensitivity, independent of what the person is alert or sensitive to, include the __________.

Accepted Answer

The reticular activating system (RAS) is a network of neurons located in the brainstem that plays a key role in regulating arousal, alertness, and attention. It filters out irrelevant sensory input and promotes wakefulness and selective attention to important stimuli. The other brain areas listed may play a role in cognition, memory, emotion, or autonomic functions, but they are not primarily responsible for controlling alertness or sensitivity.

Question 16

A participant in a study is shown a series of faces. Which brain area should show the most activity?

Accepted Answer

The fusiform face area is a part of the temporal lobe that is specialized in recognizing faces. Therefore, it should show the most activity when the participant is shown a series of faces.

Question 17

An individual is given a placebo pill and told that the side effects of the pill may include jitteriness, feelings of apprehension, and nervousness. They are then given a series of simple math problems to solve, but during the math tests the investigator sets off the fire alarm. Compared to the people who did not receive the placebo pill, these individuals reported much less fear or anxiety regarding the unexpected fire alarm, even though their physiological measures showed just as much fear reactions as those who did not receive pill. Why might the individuals who received the pill fail to attribute their physiological reactions to the unexpected fire alarm?

Accepted Answer

The individuals who received the placebo pill may have unconsciously attributed their fear and anxiety to the pill, rather than the fire alarm, because they were told that the pill may cause feelings of jitteriness, apprehension, and nervousness. This suggestion may have primed them to attribute any physiological reactions to the pill rather than the fire alarm.

Question 18

Binocular rivalry occurs when a subject is shown two different pictures, one to each eye, and the subject reports seeing __________.

Accepted Answer

Binocular rivalry occurs when two different stimuli are presented to each eye simultaneously, and the brain is unable to merge the conflicting information into a single percept. Instead, the brain alternates between the two images, with each image dominating the perceptual experience for a period of time before being replaced by the other image. Thus, the subject reports seeing both images, which appear to flip-flop back and forth.

Question 19

Unconscious processing tends to be __________, while conscious processing tends to be __________.

Accepted Answer

Unconscious processing is automatic and does not require much cognitive effort, making it fast and effortless. On the other hand, conscious processing requires active attention and mental effort, making it slower and more effortful.

Question 20

According to Descartes' interpretation of the mind-body problem, the mind is __________.

Accepted Answer

According to Descartes, the mind is separate from the physical body, including the brain. He believed that the mind and body were two distinct substances that interacted with each other, known as dualism.

Quiz 6: Consciousness