Deck 14: The Consciousness Problem

Question 1

Which of the following would NOT result from damage to the pons?

A)blindsight
B)locked-in syndrome
C)vegetative state
D)death

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Core consciousness is turned off by lesioning which intralaminar nuclei (ILN) of the thalamus?

A)left
B)right
C)both left and right
D)neither left nor right

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Compared to a novice, a chess grandmaster is more likely to be using their ________ when playing chess.

A)left cortical hemisphere
B)right cortical hemisphere
C)left cerebellum
D)right cerebellum

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The scaffolding to storage framework was proposed to account for the movement from ________ to ________.

A)conscious; unconscious
B)unconscious; conscious
C)conscious; awareness
D)awareness; conscious

Question 5

Which of the following comparisons between someone experiencing somnambulism (sleepwalking) and someone experiencing locked-in syndrome (LIS) is true?

A)Both are similar in terms of their automatic behaviors and conscious awareness.
B)Both are opposite in terms of their automatic behaviors and conscious awareness.
C)Both are similar in terms of their automatic behaviors and opposite in terms of their conscious awareness.
D)Both are opposite in terms of their automatic behaviors and similar in terms of their conscious awareness.

Question 6

Which structure is responsible for extended consciousness?

A)thalamus
B)brainstem
C)cerebral cortex
D)cerebellum

Question 7

Which system processes novel task demands under the scaffolding to storage framework?

A)scaffolding
B)storage
C)both scaffolding and storage
D)neither scaffolding nor storage

Question 8

Which of the following findings would violate the principle of multiple realizability?

A)A creature that had only one architectural layer of information processing.
B)A creature that contained the same number of neurons as observable behaviors.
C)A creature that had only one combination of neuronal activity for each behavior.
D)All of the answer options are correct.

Question 9

Which psychologist would be most likely to agree with the statement, "I attend, therefore I am conscious."

A)Steven Pinker
B)Stuart Sutherland
C)Christof Koch
D)Stanislas Dehaene

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT thought to be an evolutionary pressure that gave rise to access-consciousness?

A)cost of space
B)cost of time
C)cost of resources
D)cost of prey

Question 11

Which aspect of conscious experience is NOT well understood from a cognitive neuroscience perspective?

A)representing contents of conscious experience
B)accessing the contents of conscious experience
C)the subjective conscious experience itself
D)All of the answer options are well understood.

Question 12

Which of the following properties is NOT true of layered architecture systems?

A)Each layer has its own specific protocol for processing information.
B)Each layer processes information received from the previous layer.
C)Each layer must be privy to the protocol of the previous layer.
D)Each layer can be a single module or group of modules.

Question 13

How would theorists who follow Pinker's perspective label your subjective experience of viewing the colors of your textbook?

A)qualia
B)sentience
C)self-knowledge
D)access to information

Question 14

For people with blindsight, "blind" can be considered ________, with "sight" reflecting ________.

A)perception; sensation
B)sensation; perception
C)visual field; neglect
D)neglect; visual field

Question 15

Patients in a vegetative state are evidence for which of the following statements?

A)Wakefulness depends on consciousness.
B)Wakefulness does not depend on consciousness.
C)Consciousness depends on wakefulness.
D)Consciousness is the same as wakefulness.

Question 16

Which of the following pieces of neuroimaging evidence would best support the conclusion that a patient was experiencing locked-in syndrome (LIS), as opposed to a vegetative state (UWS)?

A)The patient's fusiform face area was activated when the patient was shown a face, but not when he was shown a house.
B)There was activation in the patient's visual cortex when he was shown a picture of the Eiffel Tower, but not when he was asked to imagine the Eiffel Tower.
C)The patient's auditory cortex was activated in response to music suddenly playing.
D)There was activation in the patient's visual cortex when he was asked to imagine the Eiffel Tower, but not when he was asked to imagine music playing.

Question 17

Which of the following of Damasio's categories is most associated with the brainstem?

A)core consciousness
B)core awareness
C)extended consciousness
D)extended awareness

Question 18

Which of the following is NOT a form of unconscious processing?

A)autonomic responses
B)motor control
C)language processing
D)short-term memory

Question 19

Employing subliminal perception by quickly flashing an angry face before an image of someone could __________ the participant's attitude about the person.

A)improve
B)not change
C)worsen
D)remove

Question 20

Without the brain's "interpreter" system,

A)it would be impossible for us to act on incoming stimuli.
B)we would not have our own personal set of beliefs about the world.
C)most of our conscious processing would be subcortical.
D)we would not have any conscious awareness.

Question 21

Regarding layered architecture, "abstraction" refers to the phenomenon that the processing of each layer is hidden from the following layer.

Question 22

The work of biologist Andrew Barron and neuroscience philosopher Colin Klein suggests that subjective experience may be present in animals as evolutionarily primitive as

A)nonhuman primates.
B)non-primate mammals.
C)non-mammal vertebrates.
D)invertebrates.

Question 23

A neural event occurs at 1:00 p.m. Libet's backward referral hypothesis suggests that awareness is assigned to what time?

A)500 milliseconds before 1:00 p.m.
B)Exactly 1:00 p.m.
C)500 milliseconds after 1:00 p.m.
D)10 seconds before 1:00 p.m.

Question 24

Which statement below is both true and suggestive that chimpanzees and bonobos might have a conscious state?

A)They share a common ancestor with humans.
B)Their brains are split into hemispheres.
C)They can develop Capgras syndrome.
D)The scaffolding to storage framework proposes these species have a conscious state.

Question 25

The principle of complementarity suggests that we can understand our phenomenal experience if we understand the firing of neurons.

Question 26

Which of the following abilities do chimpanzees NOT possess?

A)gaze-following
B)sharing intentionality
C)deceiving others
D)learning from others

Question 27

Which of the following pieces of evidence, if true, would suggest that the cortex is required for sentience in humans?

A)Human levels of sentience increase as the cortex develops.
B)People with Alzheimer's disease lose degrees of sentience as their neurodegeneration progresses.
C)The extent and characteristics of sentience in people with hydranencephaly can be predicted by cortex mapping.
D)People can suffer damage to subcortical areas without a noticeable impact on sentience.

Question 28

Which of the following is NOT characteristic of the interpreter system?

A)It is cortically based.
B)It works largely outside of awareness.
C)It creates a running narrative.
D)It processes emotion.

Question 29

Typically, split-brain patients are initially very distressed when unable to verbally communicate what they are seeing in their left visual field.

Question 30

Imagine you develop a technique to introduce language processing into a split-brain patient's right hemisphere. How would this likely change the right hemisphere's ability to make inferences?

A)Its inference abilities would improve.
B)Its inference abilities would worsen.
C)Its inference abilities would disappear.
D)Its inferences abilities would not change.

Question 31

The content of conscious experience for people with Alzheimer's disease typically changes as the neurodegenerative process progresses through various brain regions.

Question 32

A research participant fails the MSR test. Which of the following questions should be asked before concluding that this person lacks self-awareness?

A)Have you ever been imitated?
B)Do you understand the concept of self-awareness?
C)Are you under the age of sixteen?
D)Do you have prosopagnosia?

Question 33

You meet a Capgras syndrome patient who insists their spouse is an imposter. Why do they think this?

A)They recognize their spouse but feel no emotion toward them.
B)They feel emotion toward their spouse but do not recognize them.
C)Their face identification module is providing false information.
D)Their face identification module is not providing any information.

Question 34

Which of the following hypothetical experimental results would support the idea that the two hemispheres have different conscious experiences?

A)A split-brain patient's right hemisphere accesses close lexical associates of "match" and "paper."
B)A split-brain patient's left hemisphere can access close lexical associates of "match" and "paper."
C)A split-brain patient's right hemisphere cannot infer that "match" and "paper" can lead to fire.
D)A split-brain patient's left hemisphere cannot infer that "match" and "paper" can lead to fire.

Question 35

Evidence suggests that chimpanzees are unable to understand false beliefs.

Question 36

Regarding layered architecture, abstraction refers to the phenomenon that the processing of each layer is hidden from the following layer.

Question 37

Neuroimaging studies of conversation indicate that a person's brain activity is unchanged by interaction with another person.

Question 38

Multiple realizability refers to the principle that multiple combinations of neuronal activity patterns can result in the same observable behavior.

Question 39

What is the earliest age at which humans can typically succeed at mirror self-recognition (MSR)?

A)from birth
B)2 years
C)5 years
D)10 years

Question 40

A determinist would believe that free will does not exist and that the experience of free will is an illusion.

Question 41

Discuss what the characteristics of split-brain patients can tell us about conscious experience.

Question 42

Compare and contrast unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS), minimally conscious state (MCS), and locked-in syndrome (LIS).

Question 43

Describe how the ideas and perspective of Howard Pattee regarding differences between living and nonliving matter relate to bridging the gap between brain and mind.

Question 44

Explain how quantum mechanics supports free will over determinism.

Question 45

Compare and contrast the roles of the brain regions responsible for the conscious mind.

Question 46

How can mental states go on to affect brain processing? Include at least one experimental result in your answer.

Question 47

Argue in favor of, or against, the mirror self-recognition (MSR) test as being a valid assessment of self-awareness. Include the typical results recorded with human children and nonhuman primates.

Question 48

Why do we need an interpreter system?

Question 49

Discuss, in the context of consciousness, Darwin's statement, "The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, is certainly one of degree and not of kind."

Question 50

Describe neuroimaging findings suggesting that visual sensation in blindsight might be due to intact cortical tissue that was spared damage. What does this tell us about the neural basis for awareness?