14.3 Conscious And Unconscious Processes And Attention Questions

Front 1

Describe the similarities and differences in the early processing of conscious vs. unconscious stimuli.

Back 1

Similarities:

-the stimulus excites receptors that send a message to the brain

Differences in the conscious condition:

-activates the primary visual cortex more strongly

-activity spreads to additional brain areas

-synchronizes responses for neurons in various brain areas

-produce more consistent responses from one trial to another

Front 2

Describe some factors that can select certain stimuli for consciousness.

Back 2

-bright stimuli

-a word from your own language, especially your name

-meaningful stimuli

Front 3

Describe examples of brain processing of attended vs. ignored stimuli.

Back 3

- As you deliberately shift your attention, you increase activity in the appropriate brain area.

-when you direct your attention to a visual stimulus, your brain’s response to that stimulus increases, while responses to other stimuli decrease

-Deliberate, top-down direction of attention depends on parts of the prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex

Front 4

Describe the implications for the role of attention in this processing.

Back 4

Confirms the importance of the prefrontal cortex in directing attention and suppressing distraction.

Front 5

Describe the symptoms and physical causes of sensory neglect.

Back 5

Symptoms:

- a tendency to ignore the left side of the body or the left side of objects

- generally ignore much of what they hear in the left ear and feel in the left hand

Physical causes:

- damage to the right hemisphere

- the main problem is loss of attention rather than impaired sensation