Deck 9: Consciousness

Question 1

Stimulation of one sensory modality leading to perceptual experience in another sensory modality is referred to as:

A) synesthesia
B) somatosensations
C) cross-consciousness
D) cerebral replankage

Answer 1

synesthesia

Question 2

Following a car accident, I find that I now have the ability to see sounds and hear touch. I am suffering from:

A) delusions
B) synesthesia
C) hallucinations
D) cross-modality perception

Answer 2

synesthesia

Question 3

According to the textbook, which of the following is true of individuals suffering from synesthesia?

A) they have normal vision and color vision
B) PET scans have revealed that information initially arrives at the correct areas or locations of the brain
C) cross-communication appears to occur when information is relayed to the somatosensory cortex and association areas
D) all of the above

Answer 3

all of the above

Question 4

As a result of an automobile accident, I suffer from synesthesia. The car accident must have caused:

A) a cut in the neural connections in the prefrontal cortex
B) damage to the amygdala
C) a wiring error involving the somatosensory cortex and association areas
D) an apparent shift or alteration in the manner with which information is processed in the prefrontal cortex and left temporal lobe

Question 5

The most basic distinction in states of consciousness is the distinction between:

A) sleeping and dreaming
B) on drugs and not on drugs
C) sleeping and waking
D) being hypnotized and not being hypnotized

Question 6

Consciousness refers to the:

A) continuum of experiences that occur during an individual's waking period
B) subjective awareness of mental events
C) intentional behaviors emitted by an organism
D) rules a person uses to balance conflicting desires

Question 7

The idea that consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and perceptions is associated with:

A) Rene Descartes
B) William James
C) Sigmund Freud
D) Leland Thurstone

Question 8

Which one of the following does NOT apply to William James?

A) The belief that consciousness is a constantly moving stream of thoughts, feelings, and perceptions.
B) The notion of consciousness of self; you are the owner of thoughts.
C) He offered the proposition cogito ergo sum.
D) The awareness that you are the owner of your own thoughts.

Question 9

The function of consciousness is to:

A) monitor hopes and dreams
B) maintain attention and alertness
C) recognize rewards and punishments and produce guilt feelings
D) monitor the self and environment, and regulate thought and behavior

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT true of consciousness?

A) consciousness monitors the self and the environment
B) consciousness is the subjective awareness of mental events
C) consciousness regulates thought and behavior
D) consciousness can only occur when a person is aware of their surroundings

Question 11

The authors of your textbook raise the question, ìWhy do we have consciousness at all?î Which of the following is an answer to that question?

A) Consciousness monitors the self and the environment
B) It regulates thought and behavior
C) It allows people to initiate and terminate thought and behavior in order to attain goals
D) All of the above are functions of consciousness

Question 12

It has recently been determined that the _____ is activated when people exercise conscious control.

A) dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
B) anterior cingulate
C) left temporal lobe
D) right parietal lobe

Question 13

A thought pops into my head and I suddenly get up and go get some Indian food for dinner. Based on what the authors of your textbook state about the functions of consciousness, the fact that I actively chose to behave in a certain way, and not as a result of reflex action, is likely to be attributed to the activation of the:

A) dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
B) anterior cingulate
C) left temporal lobe
D) right parietal lobe

Question 14

The ability to perform the Stroop test is dependent on the:

A) amygdala
B) dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate
C) left temporal lobe
D) right parietal lobe

Question 15

According to the textbook, the ____ is involved in consciously regulating conflicting cues and perhaps in inhibiting incorrect responses.

A) dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
B) right parietal lobe
C) anterior cingulate
D) left temporal lobe

Question 16

I am trying to decide between options, as I can choose to have either the hamburger or the pesto pasta for dinner. According to your textbook, this type of conscious choice uses the:

A) amygdala
B) hippocampus
C) dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
D) hindbrain

Question 17

According to your textbook, why would we have evolved consciousness?:

A) for directing behavior in adaptive ways
B) for processing information that is necessary for survival
C) for processing sensory information
D) A and B

Question 18

According to William James, consciousness is often grabbed by things that are:

A) unexpected
B) contrary to expectations
C) likely to affect our survival
D) all of the above

Question 19

The essence of attention is:

A) survival
B) concentration
C) focusing conscious awareness
D) accommodation

Question 20

According to the textbook, attention is guided by:

A) the state of our biological drives
B) innate mechanisms
C) the manner of cognitive processing
D) external stimulation

Question 21

I am walking through a packed mall. Even though I am entirely involved in a conversation, I hear someone call my name. The fact that I heard my name despite all the other noise and the fact that I am focused on the conversation I am having has been labeled:

A) diffuse attention
B) divided attention
C) egotistical experience
D) cocktail party phenomenon

Question 22

Ignoring information that is causing you to be upset is called:

A) divided attention
B) informational filtering
C) selective inattention
D) maladaptive functioning

Question 23

As I take my calculus exam, I ignore the important information of what will happen to my scholarship if I get too many problems wrong. This is known as:

A) inattention
B) parallel processing
C) selective inattention
D) test anxiety

Question 24

I have had a particularly bad semester. The IRS audited me, and my cat (ìDustyî) of 21 years and my father both died. Nevertheless, I go to work and act like nothing has happened. I do a lot of work so I don't have to think about these ugly events. I am exhibiting:

A) divided attention
B) informational filtering
C) selective inattention
D) maladaptive functioning

Question 25

According to the textbook, selective inattention:

A) can be adaptive or maladaptive, depending on the situation
B) is found primarily in people with above average intelligence
C) involves the focusing of attention on emotionally relevant information
D) is a relatively rare phenomenon

Question 26

Which of the following is a function of attention and consciousness?

A) maintaining alertness
B) orienting
C) controlling behavior and the contents of consciousness
D) all of the above are functions of attention and consciousness

Question 27

Which of the following is NOT a function of attention and consciousness?

A) maintaining alertness
B) controlling motor movements
C) controlling behavior and the contents of consciousness
D) orienting

Question 28

Which of the following is NOT a function of attention and consciousness?

A) staying focused on a specific task
B) reading
C) attending to objects that should be brought into awareness
D) directing awareness toward a stimulus

Question 29

The ability of attention and consciousness to maintain alertness is believed to be due to:

A) network of neurons from the reticular formation through the frontal lobes
B) neural circuits in the midbrain, thalamus, and parietal lobes
C) frontal lobes and basal ganglia
D) corpus callosum and prefrontal cortex

Question 30

The ability of attention and consciousness to do orienting actually means:

A) directing attention toward staying alert, as when a person tries to stay awake in class
B) focusing the senses on stimuli, such as the buzzing of a bee
C) finding one’s way through space, as when a person is hiking on a trail without getting lost
D) adjusting to new situations, as when one meets new people at the start of a school year

Question 31

Of the functions of attention and consciousness, which one is associated with the idea that there occurs both neural activation and neural inhibition?

A) maintaining alertness
B) orienting
C) controlling behavior and the contents of consciousness
D) both a and c

Question 32

It is thought that the capacity I have to alter the focus of my sense organs is due to:

A) a network of neurons from the reticular formation through the frontal lobes
B) neural circuits in the midbrain, thalamus, and parietal lobes
C) the frontal lobes and basal ganglia
D) the corpus callosum, prefrontal cortex, and lateral geniculate nucleus

Question 33

Of the functions of attention and consciousness, which one leads to a paradox involving consciousness being regulated by things outside of consciousness?

A) maintaining alertness
B) orienting
C) controlling behavior and the contents of consciousness
D) none of the above

Question 34

The control of content in consciousness is thought to be the result of:

A) a network of neurons from the reticular activating system through the frontal lobes
B) the neural circuits in the midbrain, thalamus, and parietal lobes
C) the frontal lobes and basal ganglia
D) the corpus callosum, prefrontal cortex, and lateral geniculate nucleus

Question 35

The fact that you are able to participate in a phone conversation while surfing the internet, or studying while listening to the radio are great examples of:

A) divided attention
B) bi-foveal consciousness
C) diffuse attention
D) selective inattention

Question 36

I know it sounds bad but I try not to call my sister during the holidays. The reason is that she will be talking to me while simultaneously doing a bunch of things. In other words, she is displaying what psychologists call:

A) divided attention
B) bi-foveal consciousness
C) diffuse attention
D) selective inattention

Question 37

Divided attention has been studied in the laboratory by requiring subjects to perform:

A) coordinated motor actions while reading
B) a dichotic listening task
C) a task in the presence of noise or distractors
D) lexical decision tasks

Question 38

If a subject is asked to listen to two different streams of information that are provided to his or her two ears, the subject is performing a _____ task.

A) dual information
B) dichotic listening
C) anti-homogeneity
D) shadowing

Question 39

Dichotic listening refers to

A) the process by which important information is ignored
B) a procedure in which different information is presented to the left and right ears simultaneously
C) consciously regulating conflicting cues
D) processes that involve a subjective awareness of stimuli, feelings, or ideas

Question 40

You are required to wear a set of headphones. Over the headphones, you will hear two different lists of words. Your task is to listen to, and repeat, one of the lists. You are performing a ____ task.

A) dual information
B) dichotic listening
C) anti-homogeneity
D) shadowing

Question 41

Research on priming has demonstrated that in a dichotic listening task the information presented in the unattended channel:

A) is completely unnoticed
B) is attended to on some level
C) occupies more processing space in the brain than the attended channel
D) enters the midbrain but never reaches the cortex

Question 42

The fact that divided attention exists can be expected since we are often required to do many things in a short period of time or to do more than one thing at once. According to the textbook, attentional dilemmas can be solved by _____ one of the tasks.

A) automatizing
B) ignoring
C) postponing
D) reinforcing

Question 43

The concept of mindlessness would be referred to in everyday language as:

A) being stoned
B) being laid back
C) being zoned out
D) all of the above

Question 44

Which of the following is a type of mindlessness?

A) placing objects in categories and failing to realize they could be perceived differently
B) behaving automatically or out of habit
C) acting exclusively from a single perspective
D) all of the above

Question 45

The study of consciousness receded from scientific study due to the ascendance of:

A) cognitivism
B) introspection
C) materialism
D) behaviorism

Question 46

Regenerated interest in the subject of consciousness is thought to be the result of:

A) a greater fusion or blending of philosophy and psychology
B) developments in neuroscience and neuroimaging
C) the failure of cognitive psychologists to accurately explain human behavior
D) the loss of behaviorism as a major theory explaining non-human and human behavior

Question 47

The notion that consciousness is one of three mental systems was proposed by:

A) Sigmund Freud
B) William James
C) David Wheatley
D) John Kilstrom

Question 48

For Freud, _____ mental processes involve a subjective awareness of stimuli, feelings, and ideas.

A) conscious
B) subconscious
C) preconscious
D) unconscious

Question 49

I have this feeling of impending doom. I can't shake it. I've been thinking about it all day. According to Freud, this feeling exists in my:

A) conscious
B) subconscious
C) preconscious
D) unconscious

Question 50

Mental processes that are not presently conscious but could be readily brought to consciousness are part of the:

A) conscious
B) subconscious
C) preconscious
D) unconscious

Question 51

One of my colleagues asked what I have to do today and I recalled that I have to write a letter of recommendation for a student. Until I recalled it, the information was in my:

A) conscious
B) subconscious
C) preconscious
D) unconscious

Question 52

Which mental processes are considered to be inaccessible to consciousness because of the anxiety they would cause?

A) conscious
B) subconscious
C) preconscious
D) unconscious

Question 53

My cat was sick so I took her to the vet. The vet told me there wasn't anything that could be done due to her age and medical condition. I am incapable of thinking about the details of that day. The information about that dreaded day is in my:

A) conscious
B) subconscious
C) preconscious
D) unconscious

Question 54

According to Freud's view, material in the unconscious is there because:

A) we have forgotten it
B) it is anxiety provoking
C) our id has removed it to protect the superego
D) it threatens the ego's domination over the id

Question 55

Which of the following is NOT one of the parts of the psychodynamic view of cognition?

A) conscious
B) superconscious
C) preconscious
D) unconscious

Question 56

Which of the following is NOT one of the parts of the Psychodynamic view of cognition?

A) processes that are inaccessible to consciousness because they are too anxiety provoking
B) processes that are not presently conscious but could be readily brought into consciousness
C) subjective awareness of stimuli, feelings, and ideas
D) processes that lead to reflexive actions

Question 57

Which type of unconscious processes refer to those instances when an individual purposefully keeps a past event unconscious so as to avoid pain?

A) intentional
B) attentional
C) dynamically
D) descriptively

Question 58

My cat was sick so I took her to the vet. The vet told me there wasn't anything that could be done due to her age and medical condition. I try to avoid thinking about that day because I get really upset. Thus, I store the information about that dreaded day in my unconscious for a reason. The processes that allow this are referred to as:

A) intentional
B) attentional
C) dynamical
D) descriptive

Question 59

Processes that hold information in my unconsciousness even though it poses no emotional harm to me are referred to as:

A) intentional
B) attentional
C) dynamical
D) descriptive

Question 60

A baseball player has no conscious idea how he is capable of hitting a baseball that is traveling more than 80 mph. There is no reason for why this information is stored in the unconscious and thus the processes involved are:

A) intentional
B) attentional
C) dynamical
D) descriptive

Question 61

According to the psychodynamic approach, which one of the following processes may be unconscious?

A) cognitive and perceptual processes
B) motivational processes
C) emotional processes
D) all of the above are unconscious

Question 62

The findings of _____ studies suggest that unconscious motives affect behavior.

A) priming
B) implicit memory
C) explicit memory
D) functional memory

Question 63

The priming studies in your textbook suggest that:

A) when people are not attending to their conscious goals and values, they tend to act on implicit motives
B) it is not possible to keep information from awareness
C) explicit memory occurs outside of conscious awareness
D) processing occurs simultaneously in multiple, relatively separate neural networks

Question 64

According to the cognitive approach, that which is unconscious is

A) hidden for a reason
B) simply a matter of reflected attention
C) outside awareness
D) representative of an automatization process

Question 65

The model of the unconscious that focuses on processes that operate outside of awareness, such as procedural memory and implicit associative processes, is known as:

A) psychodynamic model
B) information paradigm
C) cognitive unconscious
D) mindlessness

Question 66

Cognitive unconsciousness is akin to Freud's notion of:

A) repression
B) descriptive unconscious
C) dynamical unconscious
D) ego

Question 67

The distinction between unconscious and preconscious cognitive processes was proposed by:

A) Sigmund Freud
B) William James
C) David Wheatley
D) John Kilstrom

Question 68

No matter how hard I try, I cannot understand how it is that I am able to perform the seemingly simple task of walking. For the cognitive perspective, this information must reflect my:

A) unconscious
B) preconscious
C) subconscious
D) consciousness of self

Question 69

Since I heard the song, ìLonely teardropsî on the radio this morning, I can not get it out of my head. The song is in my:

A) unconscious
B) preconscious
C) subconscious
D) consciousness of self

Question 70

Which one of the following best applies to the cognitive notion of consciousness of self?

A) I am performing some action intentionally.
B) I say something to someone without ever having thought to do so.
C) I weigh the pros and cons of studying versus going to a party with friends.
D) The location of an observer with respect to his/her environmental surroundings.

Question 71

The cognitive perspective argues that there exist different types of cognitive processes. Which is NOT one of them?

A) unconscious
B) preconscious
C) subconscious
D) consciousness of self

Question 72

Which one of the following can be explained by the cognitive notion of consciousness of self?

A) multiple personalities
B) dissociative disorders
C) suggestions under hypnosis
D) all of the above

Question 73

According to some cognitive theorists, unconscious cognitive processes are speedy and accurate because:

A) they are based on considerable learning
B) of the limited cognitive load they carry
C) the majority are innate
D) all of the above are reasons for why cognitive processes are speedy and accurate

Question 74

Which is true of conscious processes?

A) They have a limited capacity.
B) They are more flexible than unconscious processes.
C) They can help provide the ìbig picture.î
D) all of the above are true of conscious processes

Question 75

In studying the neuropsychology of consciousness, which one of the following is useful?

A) split brain patients
B) amnesiacs
C) individuals suffering from Korsakoff's syndrome
D) all of the above

Question 76

In addressing the issue of the portion of the brain associated with consciousness, the authors of your textbook state that the answer is:

A) the prefrontal cortex
B) the anterior geniculate
C) the hippocampus
D) a distributed network of neurons

Question 77

If I ask what neural structures are associated with consciousness, and by consciousness I mean not asleep, then the answer is:

A) prefrontal cortex
B) anterior geniculate
C) hindbrain and midbrain
D) a distributed network of neurons

Question 78

If I wanted to make a person unconscious (as if they were sleeping), to be on the safe side, I would need to influence their:

A) hindbrain and midbrain
B) V1 of the visual cortex
C) thalamus, reticular formation, and cortex
D) all of the above

Question 79

According to what was stated in the textbook, I could lose _____ and still remain conscious.

A) the pons
B) the medulla
C) the hindbrain and midbrain
D) an entire cerebral hemisphere

Question 80

My notion of subjective awareness (e.g., that I am in control of my actions) is thought to be a function of:

A) pathways in the cortex, reticular formation, and thalamus and prefrontal cortex
B) hindbrain and midbrain
C) pons and medulla
D) amygdala and hippocampus