Overview

1
Overview

• What Consciousness is Like
• characteristics
• contents
• conceptualizations
• Consciousness in Different Contexts
• normal consciousness
• alterations in consciousness
• psychological
• biological
• development evolution

2
Characteristics of Consciousness

• Subjectivity
• Change
• Continuity
• Intentionality
• Selectivity

3
Aspects of Conscious Experience

• Sensory perception
• exteroception
• interoception
• Mental imagery
• Inner speech
• Conceptual thought
• Remembering
• Emotional Feeling
• Volition
• Self-awareness

4
First, a few words

• Broccoli
• Mystery
• Avocado
• Boyhood
• Caboose
• Anatomy
• Glacier
• Assassin

5
Concepts of Consciousness

• On what is conscious, what is unconscious, and
  what is nonconscious

6
Concepts of Consciousness

• Wakefulness
• Awareness
• Theoretical Concepts
• Executive Control System
• Active Memory
• Particular State of Activation

7
Wakefulness is Not Consciousness

• We are conscious sometimes when we are asleep
  (e.g., dreams)
• We are not conscious of all that we react to when
  we are awake (e.g. automatic behavior, like
  driving while distracted)

8
Awareness

• Consciousness is the subjective state of being
  currently aware of something, either within
  oneself or outside of oneself (Farthing, p. 6)
• Awareness is awareness of a content (the
  intentionality characteristic of James)

9
Levels of Consciousnes

• Active, analytic consciousness on a continuum of
  degrees of consciousness
• Focal awareness (the focus of attention)
• Reflective
• Primary
• Peripheral awareness
• accessible by a shift of attention
• Unconsciousness
• Subconscious (accessible by priming)
• Nonconscious (available but not accessible)

10
Unconsciousness

• Subconscious
• Not in awareness
• Not necessarily retrievable into awareness by
  will
• Influences current processing
• Nonconscious
• Not in awareness
• Not retrievable by will
• Not influencing current processing

11
On the Relation between Conscious and Nonconscious

• Freuds View
• Different information
• Active repression of unconscious
• Conscious distortion
• Cognitive View
• Same information
• Lack of activation, not active repression
• No special distortion

12
Complete these words

• _ y s _ e _ y
• _ _ g _ t h _ u _ e
• _ a _ p p _ s _
• _ s s _ s s _ n

• a l _ _ n _ c
• a n _ _ _ m y
• b _ _ c c _ _ i
• b e _ _ v i _ _
• _ o y h _ o _

13
Consciousness in a Theoretical System

• Executive Control
• Consciousness as the mental traffic controller
• Some part of the system needs to set priorities,
  select actions, evaluate outcomes