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A blog on consciousness by Janet Kwasniak
Janet Kwasniak
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- May 20, 2012
- 02:05 AM
- 20 views
Perceiving the whole individual person
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
A method called fMRI-adaptation has been used to show a neural population that is activated by whole individuals rather than just faces or bodies. The fMRI-A effect depends on the adaptation or attenuation of the BOLD signal because of the repetition of a specific stimulus in a neural population that is sensitive to that particular [...]... Read more »
Schmalzl, L., Zopf, R., & Williams, M. (2012) From Head to Toe: Evidence for Selective Brain Activation Reflecting Visual Perception of Whole Individuals. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00108
- May 11, 2012
- 03:01 AM
- 90 views
Unconscious cognition and control
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
There has recently been a review of the relationship between conscious and unconscious processing by van Gaal and others. (Citation below) They looked at an area of common misunderstanding and attempted to clarify it. Here are the highlights of their summarizing discussion:
… we have reviewed recent studies that have focused on the complexity and strength [...]... Read more »
van Gaal, S., de Lange, F., & Cohen, M. (2012) The role of consciousness in cognitive control and decision making. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00121
- May 5, 2012
- 01:39 AM
- 113 views
Power of self-directed speech
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
If we look at how communication works we find that words and phrases have a great influence on attention. They bring into the consciousness of the listener the concepts that are uttered. This is what meaning is – the concepts that a word or phrase can steer attention towards. This is what communication is – [...]... Read more »
Lupyan, G., & Swingley, D. (2011) Self-directed speech affects visual search performance. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1-18. DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2011.647039
- April 29, 2012
- 03:04 AM
- 94 views
Neural correlates of beauty
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
“What exactly is beauty?”, is an old and unanswered question. It is one of those fringe qualia of consciousness – not a perception but a feeling, like familiarity or certainty, which is attached to a perception. But the criteria for this feeling has never been settled. A recent paper by Ishizu and Zeti (citation below) [...]... Read more »
Ishizu, T., & Zeki, S. (2011) Toward A Brain-Based Theory of Beauty. PLoS ONE, 6(7). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021852
- April 20, 2012
- 02:16 AM
- 102 views
Is personality fundamental?
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
When I was 17, I was introduced to the idea of ‘personality’ as a serious psychological concept, starting with extroversion/introversion. I did not believe a word of it – I memorized it – gave it back on the exams – but never believed it. Ever since personality has been in the ‘maybe, but probably not’ [...]... Read more »
Adelstein, J., Shehzad, Z., Mennes, M., DeYoung, C., Zuo, X., Kelly, C., Margulies, D., Bloomfield, A., Gray, J., Castellanos, F.... (2011) Personality Is Reflected in the Brain's Intrinsic Functional Architecture. PLoS ONE, 6(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0027633
DeYoung, C., Hirsh, J., Shane, M., Papademetris, X., Rajeevan, N., & Gray, J. (2010) Testing Predictions From Personality Neuroscience: Brain Structure and the Big Five. Psychological Science, 21(6), 820-828. DOI: 10.1177/0956797610370159
- April 11, 2012
- 03:28 AM
- 120 views
Process of recovering consciousness
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
There is a recent study by Scheinin of Turku Finland, his team, and collaborators from U of California. (see citation below). They looked for the neural correlates of consciousness. This is a very interesting study.
They start with some differences in what is meant by ‘consciousness’. They are looking for the correlates of the ’state’ of [...]... Read more »
Langsjo, J., Alkire, M., Kaskinoro, K., Hayama, H., Maksimow, A., Kaisti, K., Aalto, S., Aantaa, R., Jaaskelainen, S., Revonsuo, A.... (2012) Returning from Oblivion: Imaging the Neural Core of Consciousness. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(14), 4935-4943. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4962-11.2012
- April 8, 2012
- 05:31 AM
- 102 views
Juries not being swayed
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
On Neuroethics and Law Blog (here) there was reference to a paper giving evidence that scan images do not have the effect on juries that has been reported. Let us hope this is true – scans are far too new and difficult to understand in context, to be used in court if they wield [...]... Read more »
Schweitzer,N.J., Saks, Michael J., Murphy, Emily R., Adina L., Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter, Gaudet, Lyn M. (2011) Neuroimages as Evidence in a Mens Rea Defence: No Impact. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 17(3), 357-393. info:/
- April 2, 2012
- 01:54 AM
- 118 views
Feeling of agency
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
Why is it so difficult for neuroscience to identify where our self-experience comes from? It seems to involve a number of processes: memory, emotion, perception, action. Knoblich and Sebanz review some work on self. (see citation)
Action has recently become a central topic in research addressing the sense of self because there is converging evidence that [...]... Read more »
Knoblich, G., & Sebanz, N. (2005) Agency in the face of error. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(6), 259-261. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2005.04.006
Sato, A., & Yasuda, A. (2005) Illusion of sense of self-agency: discrepancy between the predicted and actual sensory consequences of actions modulates the sense of self-agency, but not the sense of self-ownership. Cognition, 94(3), 241-255. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2004.04.003
- March 24, 2012
- 01:59 AM
- 174 views
Separation of memory and belief
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
When we watch a show on stage, TV or movie, we do the little trick of suspending disbelief. We do not believe what we are experiencing but we treat the content ‘as if we believed it’ for the duration of the show. We can re-enter that disbelieved experience if we choose, as if it were [...]... Read more »
Clark, A., Nash, R., Fincham, G., & Mazzoni, G. (2012) Creating Non-Believed Memories for Recent Autobiographical Events. PLoS ONE, 7(3). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032998
- March 15, 2012
- 04:44 AM
- 175 views
Why mislead people?
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
Is it important to society that the public believes in free will even if learned scientists and philosophers do not. Apparently there are those that hold that view. James Miles (see citation) writes that this is irresponsible and a disservice.
Here is the abstract:
Over the last few years, a number of works have been published [...]... Read more »
Miles, J. (2011) ‘Irresponsible and a Disservice’: The integrity of social psychology turns on the free will dilemma. British Journal of Social Psychology. DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8309.2011.02077.x
- March 6, 2012
- 12:50 AM
- 181 views
Folk neuropsychology
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
I find the traces of old theories in our language intriguing. We still talk about heat in ways that hark back to the phlogiston theory – we talk of the flow of heat like it was a fluid. We talk of the sun rising, as if Galileo had never been, although we all know it [...]... Read more »
Rodriguez, P. (2006) Talking brains: a cognitive semantic analysis of an emerging folk neuropsychology. Public Understanding of Science, 15(3), 301-330. DOI: 10.1177/0963662506063923
- February 26, 2012
- 04:12 AM
- 183 views
Interpreting spatial language
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
When we refer to spatial arrangements in language, there are three different ways to do it. We can see ourselves as central and refer to the positions of other objects by their headings from us. So, that post is behind me or that house is to my left – relative or egocentric frame. We can [...]... Read more »
Janzen, G., Haun, D., & Levinson, S. (2012) Tracking Down Abstract Linguistic Meaning: Neural Correlates of Spatial Frame of Reference Ambiguities in Language. PLoS ONE, 7(2). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030657
- February 17, 2012
- 02:01 AM
- 265 views
Control of attention
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
Two sorts of perceived items must compete for attention: items that are required for on-going tasks and items from the environment that are surprising or very conspicuous. We do not want to be hit by a bus because we are solving a little problem, nor do we want to be distracted from our [...]... Read more »
Mazaheri, A., DiQuattro, N., Bengson, J., & Geng, J. (2011) Pre-Stimulus Activity Predicts the Winner of Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Attentional Selection. PLoS ONE, 6(2). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016243
- February 8, 2012
- 01:13 AM
- 210 views
Deaf hearing
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
A recent paper examined a patient with deaf-hearing, analogous to blind-sight, where there can be detection of a signal without conscious awareness of it. (citation below) For example, a person with blind-sight may avoid an obstacle without awareness of it; and, a deaf-hearing person may be startled and orient towards a noise without consciously hearing [...]... Read more »
Cavinato, M., Rigon, J., Volpato, C., Semenza, C., & Piccione, F. (2012) Preservation of Auditory P300-Like Potentials in Cortical Deafness. PLoS ONE, 7(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029909
- January 30, 2012
- 01:40 AM
- 302 views
Are there two types of cognition?
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
J. Evans’ 2008 paper reviews a number of proposed dual-processing descriptions of cognition. (see citation). He finds some stable divisions in the theories but a number of conflicting ones also. Calling the dual processing system 1 and system 2 appears to him to give a mistaken impression of how cognition works; he feels that [...]... Read more »
J. Evans. (2008) Dual-Processing Accounts of Reasoning, Judgement, and Social Cognition. Annu. Rev. Psychol., 255-278. info:/
- January 21, 2012
- 01:44 AM
- 249 views
Two sides of synchrony
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
Humans often engage in synchrony (as do mating birds and other animals). We sing, chant, dance, march together. We have special work songs to coordinate movement. Synchrony is enjoyable. It also takes some of our autonomy and gives it to the others that we are in sync with. This can be good and bad depending [...]... Read more »
Wiltermuth, S., & Heath, C. (2009) Synchrony and Cooperation. Psychological Science, 20(1), 1-5. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02253.x
Ondobaka, S., de Lange, F., Newman-Norlund, R., Wiemers, M., & Bekkering, H. (2011) Interplay Between Action and Movement Intentions During Social Interaction. Psychological Science, 23(1), 30-35. DOI: 10.1177/0956797611424163
Wiltermuth, S. (2012) Synchronous activity boosts compliance with requests to aggress. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(1), 453-456. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2011.10.007
- January 12, 2012
- 05:55 AM
- 276 views
A look at the dogma
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
The authors of a new paper (citation below) have doubts about some well known ‘facts’ in neuroscience. I have to admit I assumed that the numbers were backed by evidence. I may have used these numbers in posts and so I feel bound to share the doubts with readers. Here is the abstract:
Owing to methodological [...]... Read more »
Lent, R., Azevedo, F., Andrade-Moraes, C., & Pinto, A. (2012) How many neurons do you have? Some dogmas of quantitative neuroscience under revision. European Journal of Neuroscience, 35(1), 1-9. DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2011.07923.x
- January 3, 2012
- 06:22 AM
- 309 views
Possible functions of conciousness 10 - being oneself
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
Now we come to the most confusing part of possibilities of how consciousness may be useful – self. Of course consciousness does not give us our unique existence. The continuity of the organization of our physical bodies from conception to death is what defines our existence as organisms. Our awareness of our existence is just [...]... Read more »
V.S. Ramachandran and W. Hirstein. (1997) Three Laws of Qualia: What Neurology Tells Us about the Biological functions of Consciousness, Qualia and the Self. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 4(5-6), 429-458. info:/
- December 25, 2011
- 12:33 AM
- 308 views
Possible functions of consciousness 9 - marking agency
by Janet Kwasniak in Thoughts on thoughts
We have various ways of moving. Here are four obvious ways and there may be more. First, a spinal cord reflex happens without the involvement of the brain at all. We have no forewarning of it or way to stop it, but we can block it ahead of time by a sort of steeling against [...]... Read more »
LIBET, B., GLEASON, C., WRIGHT, E., & PEARL, D. (1983) TIME OF CONSCIOUS INTENTION TO ACT IN RELATION TO ONSET OF CEREBRAL ACTIVITY (READINESS-POTENTIAL). Brain, 106(3), 623-642. DOI: 10.1093/brain/106.3.623
Wegner, D., & Wheatley, T. (1999) Apparent mental causation: Sources of the experience of will. American Psychologist, 54(7), 480-492. DOI: 10.1037//0003-066X.54.7.480
Desmurget, M., Reilly, K., Richard, N., Szathmari, A., Mottolese, C., & Sirigu, A. (2009) Movement Intention After Parietal Cortex Stimulation in Humans. Science, 324(5928), 811-813. DOI: 10.1126/science.1169896
- 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
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