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Consciousness (Function (From the view of philosophy (Inessentialism…
Consciousness
Function
From the view of philosophy
Inessentialism
Consciousness: no function
any tasks performed consciously can be performed by an unconscious agent
Epiphenomenalism
consciousness might exist but has no real function
Provide us with an executive summary of our current situation
Primarily serve to integrate vast amount of information
Global workspace theory
consciousness requires
interactions across a broad range of brain areas
facilitates flexible context- driven behaviour
performing an integrative function
both the role of attention in providing feelings of pain, color etc and interpretive capabilities in constructing past and present events
mechanism for understanding the mental states
our own reasoning and decisions
understand out own actions
generate this knowledge to understand actions of others
Neural Correlates of Consciousness (NCC)
Aim: to find the minimal neuronal mechanisms that are jointly sufficient for a conscious percept to be obtained
Perform brain activity experiment: another mean to investigate the activities correlate with consciousness
No single experiment show 'consciousness'
Hope: collectively brain areas important for consciousness will be revealed
Binocular Rivalry
Experiment in Monkey
Easier to measure: single- cell measure
investigate wt neural brain region are firing when the level is pressed
Result: Brain activity in the
inferior temporal cortex
was related to the lever presses
(Leopold, 1996)
suggesting neural correlate of consciousness
Teach the monkey: pull this lever when seeing this image, and another image with another lever
the sequence of dominance and suppression: the result of competition between the two monocular channels
closely linked with binocular fushion and stereopsis
Each eye sees a different object
Human: only one is visible at a time
The visible image dominates the invisible one in consciousness, though both are clearly activating the primary visual cortex
Definition
to be aware of one's own existence as evidenced by thoughts and perception of one's surroundings
Problems in defining consciousness
Scientific knowledge: based on objective evaluation, third-person examination
Consciousness: subjective, first person experience
Volition
Defines as our ability to make conscious choices
demonstration of volition = demonstration of free-will
investigate consciousness indirectly through free- will
Free-will: The ability to choose, think, and act voluntarily.; a subset of conscious
Assumption function of consciousness: relate to our ability to choose which action to perform
Evidence demonstrating free-will will support consciousness
The Libert's Experiment (1999)
Participants start with their arm resting and move their arm whenever they are ready
Components
Measure readiness potential (RP) with EEG
RP
indicate brain activity reflecting the initiation of preparing a movement (unconscious preparatory)
Clock face with second hand
note the moment at which they were consciously aware of the decision to move
EMG
measure muscle activity
a faster and a direct way to measure the movement
Result
The volitional process: initiated unconsciously
Freely voluntary acts are preceded by a specific electrical change in the brain (RP)
initiate unconsciously --> [ 350-400ms) --> aware of intention of act --> [200ms] --> motor act
We become consciously aware of our movements after they have been unconsciously initiated
Attention and Consciousness
Both involve selection
Consciousness: the selected info receive privileged access to the stage of our mental life
Attention: the selected info received deeper processing
Both unattended and non-conscious: able to influence behaviour
Lamme's Model (2003)
Attention: doesn't determine if the stimuli reach a conscious state but if conscious report is possible
Without attention: conscious experience can't be reported and is quickly erased and forgotten
Conscious
Attended
Conscious report
Unattended
Access and Phenomenal Consciousness
Access Consciousness
able to report what we experience and use for plan
involve recurrent processing that links executive and mnemonic area with sensory activation
Phenomenal Consciousness
just experience
Recurrent processing in sensory areas
Recurrent process: involve cyclic processing between brain areas such that the activity at both areas is dependent on each other
Unconscious
info is processed but we don't have access to these representatives