Ch.4

1. What are we conscious of? What different degrees of consciousness are there?

We has humans are conscious of things that we do, see, hear, and touch. There is the conscience state of mind, where one thinks about doing, seeing, hearing and touching things. An example of conscience state of mind is choosing to wear one outfit in the morning over another. Then there is also unconscious mind where things happen automatically, as in a reflex than an action. An example of unconsciousness is scratching an itch when needed. The degrees of consciousness are coma, sleep, and wakefulness.

2. What is a “split brain”? What evidence indicates that splitting the brain also splits the mind and consciousness?

Split brain is a condition in which the corpus callosum is surgically cut and the two hemispheres of the brain do not receive information directly from each other.

In a normal whole brain the left half of the brain is known as the interpreter because it interprets every move the right side of the brain makes. In split brain cases this interpretation doesn’t happen. Such interpretations do not always happen instantly. Sometimes it takes the patient’s left hemisphere as long to figure out why the left hand is acting as it would take an outside observer. Split brain is a rare condition, and nearly all people have two hemispheres that communicate and cooperate on the tasks of daily living.

3. What changes in brain activity occur as a person goes to sleep, and how do we measure these changes?

During sleep, the brain is still active. The conscious experience of the outside world is largely turned off, but to some extent people remain aware of their surroundings, as when sleeping parents sense their baby rustling in the crib. When you’re sleeping your mind is at work, analyzing potential dangers, controlling your body movements, and shifting body part to maximize comfort.

The change in brain activity while you sleep is measured with an EEG machine (electroencephalogram). It reveals that a lot goes on in the brain during sleep.

4. What is hypnosis, and what evidence supports the claim that is an altered state of consciousness?

Hypnosis is a social interaction during which a person, responding to suggestions, experiences changes in memory, perception and/ or voluntary action. It seems unlikely that a person could alter his or her Brain activity to please a hypnotist, even if they hypnotist is a psychological researcher, and numerous brain imaging studies have supported the dissociation theory of hypnosis. Another study which involves naming the color in which a color’s name is printed it takes longer to name the color of the word red when that word is printed in the blue ink than when it is printed in red ink.

5. What is addiction, and what brain processes play a central role in it?

Addiction is the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma. Physical dependence is associated with tolerance, so that a person needs to consume more of the substance to achieve the same subjective effect. Physical dependence, psychological dependence refers to habitual and compulsive substance use despite the consequences. People can be psychologically dependent without showing tolerance or withdrawal.

Topics:

1. How the study of brain activity in consciousness might help people who are paralyzed. The study of brain activity in consciousness might help people who are paralyzed through the things that were conscious of like moving our arms without thought. In the book an example is through a monkey and the study of brain motor command signals to be able to move the parts of your body that you can’t move by yourself.

2. Blind sight and its implications.

Blind sight is a condition in which people who are blind have some spared visual capacities in the absence of any visual awareness.

Typically in a blind sighted patient loses vision in only, a portion of the visual field. For example when looking forward the person might not be able to see anything on his or her left. When the blind physician was shown a series of faces and was asked to guess their emotional expression, he had no sense of having seen anything but was able to identify the expression at a level much better than chance.

3. REM sleep.

REM sleep is the stage of sleep marked by rapid eye movements, dreaming and paralysis of motor systems. It sometimes is called paradoxical sleep because of the paradox of a sleeping body with an active brain.

4. The concept of flow.

The concept of flow s particular kind of experience that is so engrossing and enjoyable that is worth doing for its own sake even though it may have no consequence outside itself.

5. How expectations modify alcohol effects. Expectations that modify alcohol effects are through a study that was put on placebo design which allowed for a comparison of those who thought they were drinking tonic water but were actually drinking alcohol with those who thought they were drinking alcohol but were actually drinking tonic water. Separating drug effects from beliefs, the researchers demonstration showed that alcohol impairs motor processes, information processing, and mood, independent of whether the person thinks he or she has consumed it.