PSYC 103 Chapter Summary: Consciousness
Document Summary
Our awareness of ourselves and of our environment. It is impossible to be aware of everything in the world at once. The amount of information striking our sensory receptors far exceeds what the brain is capable of fully processing and assimilating into conscious experience. To deal with the impossibility of handling all inputs at one, the nervous system has evolved mechanisms that are able to restrict processing to a subset of things, places, ideas, or moments in time. Selective attention allows us to choose which sensory inputs to focus on and which to. Originally studied with dichotic listening and shadowing technique. Early results showed that people had very little knowledge of what had been presented in. Rapid toggling between activities is common today. Multitasking distracts brain resources allocated to driving; brain activity decreases average of 37 percent when conversation occurs. Crashes or near-crashes increase sevenfold when dialing or reaching for phone.
