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A blog on consciousness by Janet Kwasniak
Janet Kwasniak
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- December 16, 2011
- 02:25 AM
- 1,152 views
Fusiform Face Area again
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
In a previous post (here) I remarked on a pair of papers that I had not be able to read in full but only had the abstracts. A kind reader, G. Marchetti (http://www.mind-consciousness-language.com), has let me see these papers (citations below). I am relieved that I did not make any ‘oopses’ in understanding the abstracts. [...]... Read more »
Tong, M., Joyce, C., & Cottrell, G. (2008) Why is the fusiform face area recruited for novel categories of expertise? A neurocomputational investigation. Brain Research, 14-24. DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2007.06.079
Bilalić M, Langner R, Ulrich R, & Grodd W. (2011) Many faces of expertise: fusiform face area in chess experts and novices. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 31(28), 10206-14. PMID: 21752997
- February 21, 2011
- 12:50 AM
- 1,017 views
different aspects of the default mode network
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
The default mode network is not as simple as it seemed. There are probably several configurations. A recent paper (by D Stawarczyk and others) has looked at the difference between the default network when the subject is not attending to a task and when the subject is ignoring sensory stimulating from the outside world.
Here is [...]... Read more »
Stawarczyk, D., Majerus, S., Maquet, P., & D'Argembeau, A. (2011) Neural Correlates of Ongoing Conscious Experience: Both Task-Unrelatedness and Stimulus-Independence Are Related to Default Network Activity. PLoS ONE, 6(2). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016997
- September 9, 2010
- 04:22 AM
- 996 views
Lamme model - less emphasis on introspection
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
According to Victor Lamme, the reason that the study of consciousness is so difficult is that it gives priority to introspection and behaviour so, as a result, we are fooled into thinking that we know what we are conscious of. By adding evidence from neuroscience into the mix, he hopes to [...]... Read more »
Lamme, V. (2010) How neuroscience will change our view on consciousness. Cognitive Neuroscience, 1(3), 204-220. DOI: 10.1080/17588921003731586
- October 21, 2010
- 07:39 AM
- 880 views
Hearing shapes
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
Perception of shapes is possible by touch and by sight. Kim and Zatorre have been using a coding of shape information into sound information to examine the nature of shape perception. They use boards with 2D drawings on them have textured surfaces giving visual and tactile targets. These are coded to give matching ’soundscapes’ where [...]... Read more »
Kim, J., & Zatorre, R. (2010) Can you hear shapes you touch?. Experimental Brain Research, 202(4), 747-754. DOI: 10.1007/s00221-010-2178-6
- December 11, 2010
- 11:11 AM
- 876 views
Motor bias
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
Eagleman and Sejnowski report a series of experiments that go a long way to pinning down the nature of our conscious perception of movement. A number of illusions were used in experiments showing that they shared a common process: flash-lag (moving object aligned with flash is offset), flash-drag (flash is offset as result of nearby [...]... Read more »
Eagleman, D., & Sejnowski, T. (2007) Motion signals bias localization judgments: A unified explanation for the flash-lag, flash-drag, flash-jump, and Frohlich illusions. Journal of Vision, 7(4), 3-3. DOI: 10.1167/7.4.3
- April 10, 2011
- 04:26 AM
- 864 views
How is the world represented without vision?
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
Vision is so important to humans that it is difficult to imagine how we can produce a conscious model of the world without it. And what is done with the third of the cortex that is involved in vision when it is idle. Kupers and others (see citation) have been comparing fMRI scans using congenitally [...]... Read more »
Kupers, R., Pietrini, P., Ricciardi, E., & Ptito, M. (2011) The Nature of Consciousness in the Visually Deprived Brain. Frontiers in Psychology. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00019
- May 1, 2011
- 05:07 AM
- 842 views
Mood affects sight
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
What affects what we consciously see? In a recent paper (see citation) Jolij and Meurs show that mood must be added to the influences. Here is the abstract:
Visual perception is not a passive process: in order to efficiently process visual input, the brain actively uses previous knowledge (e.g., memory) and expectations about what the world [...]... Read more »
Jolij, J., & Meurs, M. (2011) Music Alters Visual Perception. PLoS ONE, 6(4). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018861
- January 4, 2011
- 01:48 AM
- 838 views
Alien hand
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
A recent study of a Parkinson patient with alien hand syndrome has been published by Schaefer, Heinze and Galazky (citation below). This patient offered an interesting opportunity because his left hand made both involuntary and voluntary (but with effort) movements. What is more, a particular sort of involuntary movement could be triggered in a [...]... Read more »
Schaefer, M., Heinze, H., & Galazky, I. (2010) Alien Hand Syndrome: Neural Correlates of Movements without Conscious Will. PLoS ONE, 5(12). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015010
- March 5, 2011
- 03:39 AM
- 795 views
Embodied robots
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
Want to build an artificial brain? – try building an embodied robot. It makes sense that to embody an AI system implies giving it a body to embody in. A guide to the advantages, challenges and problems of artificial embodied cognition are examined in a recent Frontiers in Psychology article (citation below).
We are given useful [...]... Read more »
Pezzulo, G., Barsalou, L., Cangelosi, A., Fischer, M., McRae, K., & Spivey, M. (2011) The Mechanics of Embodiment: A Dialog on Embodiment and Computational Modeling. Frontiers in Psychology. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00005
- July 18, 2011
- 07:57 AM
- 779 views
Is attention part of consciousness
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
Although they usually occur together, top-down attention and consciousness are separate processes according to a review of experimental evidence.
There is too much information arriving through the senses for all of it to receive priority perception. Top-down attention selects, in light of current behavioral goals, a portion of the input defined by a circumscribed region [...]... Read more »
van Boxtel, J., Tsuchiya, N., & Koch, C. (2010) Consciousness and Attention: On Sufficiency and Necessity. Frontiers in Psychology. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00217
- March 23, 2011
- 03:08 AM
- 775 views
Dijksterhuis revisited
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
One of the easiest errors to make is to get too attached to the words you use and your pet definitions for them. I really, really try to avoid purely semantic arguments. Recent reading, and re-reading, of papers by Ap Dijiksterhuis has made me look again at how I define mind and thought.
When explaining his [...]... Read more »
Dijksterhuis, A., & Nordgren, L. (2006) A Theory of Unconscious Thought. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1(2), 95-109. DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-6916.2006.00007.x
Bos, M., Dijksterhuis, A., & Baaren, R. (2008) On the goal-dependency of unconscious thought☆. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44(4), 1114-1120. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2008.01.001
Dijksterhuis, A., & Aarts, H. (2010) Goals, Attention, and (Un)Consciousness. Annual Review of Psychology, 61(1), 467-490. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100445
- April 19, 2011
- 04:25 AM
- 771 views
What change blindness says about memory
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
In change blindness some part of a scene is changed and the change is not noticed by the observer. This can happen when the change is not happening on the retina in a stable condition. It can happen when there is a mask (a blank screen to fast to see), a blink, an eye movement, [...]... Read more »
Simons D.J., & Levin D.T. (1998) Failure to detect changes to people during a real-world interaction. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 644-649. info:/
- April 28, 2011
- 07:19 AM
- 753 views
real time fMRI feedback
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
Now that fMRI can be presented to subjects in nearly real-time feedback it is possible to directly observe the result of subjective mental experience on neural activity (or vice versa). This is another way to look at consciousness. Kalina Christoff and group have a recent paper (see citation) on feedback regulation of the rostrolateral [...]... Read more »
McCaig, R., Dixon, M., Keramatian, K., Liu, I., & Christoff, K. (2011) Improved modulation of rostrolateral prefrontal cortex using real-time fMRI training and meta-cognitive awareness. NeuroImage, 55(3), 1298-1305. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.12.016
- May 16, 2011
- 02:36 AM
- 748 views
Knowing spontaneity when you hear it
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
You will know this feeling – listening to a radio broadcast and knowing, just knowing, whether what is being said is being read or just ’said’ without script or rehearsal. Leaving aside the differences in vocabulary, grammar and phrasing between written and spoken language, there is still a difference. This shows when even very well [...]... Read more »
Engel, A., & Keller, P. (2011) The Perception of Musical Spontaneity in Improvised and Imitated Jazz Performances. Frontiers in Psychology. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00083
- February 3, 2011
- 11:50 AM
- 736 views
Changing dominant hemispheres
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
Being left-handed, I have had a special interest in the differences between the brain’s hemispheres. However, over the years I have come to suspect much that is said about the differences. All this left-brain right-brain nonsense is just that, nonsense. Aside from language and spatial processing, there has been little evidence for hemisphere specialization. Now [...]... Read more »
Chi, R., & Snyder, A. (2011) Facilitate Insight by Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation. PLoS ONE, 6(2). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016655
- January 10, 2011
- 04:13 AM
- 734 views
Change blindness illusion
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
Jordan Suchow has some illustrations of an illusion (here) that accompany the paper whose citation is below. It an excellent demonstration of change blindness. Here is the abstract:
Loud bangs, bright flashes, and intense shocks capture attention, but other changes – even those of similar magnitude – can go unnoticed. Demonstrations of change blindness have shown [...]... Read more »
Suchow, J., & Alvarez, G. (2011) Motion Silences Awareness of Visual Change. Current Biology. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.12.019
- July 9, 2011
- 01:41 AM
- 733 views
How to get from monkey to man
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
A Japanese group have a Japanese take on the evolution of primates (see citation) and their paper has some interesting aspects: a method to train and study macaques, a view of evolutionary selection, and a history of Japanese science in this area. All are interesting.
The macaques were trained to use tools but it was not [...]... Read more »
Iriki, A., & Sakura, O. (2008) The neuroscience of primate intellectual evolution: natural selection and passive and intentional niche construction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 363(1500), 2229-2241. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.2274
- June 3, 2011
- 03:44 AM
- 719 views
Consciousness and emotion
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
Is conscious experience affected by what we feel? That is the question that Romer and others posed themselves (citation). They also looked at the role played by the anterior cingulate cortex in the consciousness of emotion. This part of the cortex is deep within the middle of the brain, wrapped around the corpus callosum, the [...]... Read more »
Romer Thomsen K, Lou HC, Joensson M, Hyam JA, Holland P, et al. (2011) Impact of Emotion on Consciousness: Positive Stimuli Enhance Conscious Reportability. PLoS ONE. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018686
- October 9, 2010
- 04:51 AM
- 698 views
Friston and Freud
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
I have liked Friston’s ideas for some time, so what a shock it is to find him defending Freudian ideas. Naïve me, I thought that Freud’s model was dead in the water. Why? It is untested, does not fit with current evidence and, further, is probably untestable therefore not good science. It fails the Occam’s [...]... Read more »
Carhart-Harris, R., & Friston, K. (2010) The default-mode, ego-functions and free-energy: a neurobiological account of Freudian ideas. Brain, 133(4), 1265-1283. DOI: 10.1093/brain/awq010
- April 1, 2011
- 05:35 PM
- 691 views
consciousness evolved
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
Edelman, Gally and Baars have published a review article detailing how they see the current state of consciousness research. One (and only one of many) interesting aspects of this review is the way they treat selection as a mechanism. First here is their abstract:
The Dynamic Core and Global Workspace hypotheses were independently put forward to [...]... Read more »
Edelman, G., Gally, J., & Baars, B. (2011) Biology of Consciousness. Frontiers in Psychology. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00004
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