psychology key knowlage unit 3

8/6/2019 Psychology Key Knowlage Unit 3

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Amberlee Peti

Psychology Key Knowledge-

Area of Study 1

States of ConsciousnessConsciousness-Is the awareness of objects and events in the external world

and of our own existence and mental processes (internal environment) at any

given moment.

It is:

Personal

Selective

Continuous

Changing

Rene Descartes

Descartes describes consciousness as everything we are aware of; including

our own existence (but our senses cant be trusted, so we have to rely on

thinking). Also consciousness is of the mind and can exist in the body as it does

not take up space.

The mind and body are separate and different things but interact via the pineal

gland (DUALISM).

William James

James describes consciousness as everything we are aware of; including ourown existence and like a stream: it is continually changing, personal and

selective.

Normal Waking Consciousness-

Attention: Selective/Divided

Awareness: Controlled/Automatic processes

Content limitations

Controlled Processes-Involves information processing in which the individual

focuses their attention on achieving a particular goal. (They use SELECTIVE

ATTENTION).

Automatic Processes-tasks that require little conscious awarenessand mental

effort , minimal attention and DO NOTinterferewith the performance of other

tasks .Tasks performed in parallel. (These tasks use DIVIDED ATTENTION).

Altered States of Consciousness



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Changes in self -control

Examples alcohol induced, daydreaming, meditative state, coma, sleep.

Sleep

(See power points and sheet).



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Purpose of Sleep

Sleep-wake cycle shift-is during adolescence, when there is a hormonallyinduced shift of the body clock forward 1-2hrs; making adolescents sleepier 1-

2hrs later.



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Sensory (Afferent) Neurons

To carry info from the senses TO

the CNS

Motor (Efferent) Neurons

Carries info FROM the CNS to

the PNS and the body,

The Nervous System



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A. B.ig M.an S.ings V.ery

W.ell Cortexs and Areas

The Brain

Behaviours Associated With Lobes-

The Frontal Lobe:

y (M) Controls voluntary bodily movements

y performs complex cognitive functions such as planning, initiating, evaluating

and thinking.

y is involved with attention, personality, control of emotions and expression of

emotional behaviour

y (B) Plays a crucial role in speech production as well as the meaning of words

and the structure of sentences.

The Parietal Lobe:

y (S) Receives and processes information from the body and sensory receptors in

the skin.

y is also involved in attention and spatial reasoning

(F) Frontal Lobe (S) Primary Somatosensory Cortex(M) Primary Motor Cortex

(B) Brocas Area

(T) Temporal Lobe

(A) Primary Auditory Cortex

(P) Parietal Lobe

(O) Occipital Lobe

(V) Primary Visual Cortex

(W) Wernickes Area

FPOT (Lobes)



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The Temporal Lobe

y involved in memory as it contains the hippocampus

y is also involved in visual perception such as ob ject identification and facial

recognition

y also contains Wernic e ! s area in the left hemisphere, which is crucial in speech

comprehension.

The Occipital Lobe "

y Receives and processes vision

y integrate visual information with other information

Corpus Callosum-is a bridge of nerve fibres that connect the 2 hemispheres # it

allows the transf er of information and coordination of activities between the

two hemispheres.

Hemisphere Specialisation



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The Reticular Activating System (RAS)

A network of neurons located in the brain stem that extends from the reticular

formation up to different parts of the cerebral cortex and down to the spinal

cord.

Selective Attention-the RAS bombards the cortex with stimulation to arouse

specific cortical areas when something demands attention. Neurons within the

RAS network detect and filter out weak or familiar incoming sensory

information.

Wakefulness- the RAS maintains and regulates cortical arousal. So the degree

to which we are awake and alert depends on the extent of the stimulation of

the cerebral cortex which is provided or

denied via the RAS.

The ThalamusIt sits on top of the brainstem in the middle

of the brain and in the left and right

hemispheres.

It filters information coming up from all the

major senses (except for smell) and

transmits that information to the relevant

part of the cerebral cortex.

Directing Attention: by actively filtering

sensory input, highlighting and giving more

weight to some inputs and giving less

weight to others.

Sensory Input On and Off: it closes pathways of incoming sensory information

during the sleeping state (input off) and opens them during waking state

(input on).



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Perceptual Anomalies

Perceptual Anomalies-an irregularity in perception (usually involves an

inconsistency or mismatch between the perceptual experience and physical

reality).

Motion after-effect:the illusion of movement of a physically stationary visual

stimulus appears to move in the opposite direction to the original (physically

moving) stimulus. Change Blindness- the difficulty observers have in noticing a large change in a

visual science.

Synaesthesia-a perceptual experience in which stimulation of one sense

produces additional unusual experiences in another sense.

Cognitive Process Studies

psychology key knowlage unit 3

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