Consciousness

Abstract

Though unfashionable for much of the midtwentieth century, consciousness regained some respectability in the last two decades of the century and is now a hot topic for psychological research and theory. This resurgence was driven partly by the general rise of cognitive psychology and partly by more specific developments in experimental methodology and technology. Even within science, the study of consciousness is cross‐disciplinary and diverse, and so in this chapter we present work from a variety of experimental paradigms and traditions; within cognitive psychology, topics include subliminal perception, implicit cognition, and the effects of attention. Neuroscience has also become one of the major loci of work on consciousness, and so we provide an extended discussion of the relevant experimental work and of some of the latest theories about the neural basis of consciousness. We also discuss the theoretical and methodological challenges involved in applying the scientific method to subjective phenomena, and provide a brief summary of philosophical and early scientific approaches. The science of consciousness is admittedly still fragmentary, but it is remarkable how much has been discovered in a relatively short span of time, and in conclusion we offer a few predictions about the likely outlines of future progress.

Interpersonal aspects of hypnosis: Twisted pears and other forbidden fruit.

“…Moreover, hypnosis evokes what he called "archaic authorization" (p. 393), in which the hypnotist assumes for the subject the feeling of a powerful authority figure. Similarly, Banks and Farber (2002), in a consideration of how hypnosis modifies consciousness, drew attention to the underlying mechanism by which the hypnotist acquires control over hypnotically susceptible individuals:…”

Priming effect of figures that represent external objects or human body parts.

“…One subtype of non-declarative memories is referred to as priming and corresponds to an implicit (nonconscious) effect caused by the prior presentation of a stimulus (prime) that facilitates (positive priming) or inhibits (negative priming) the processing of a second stimulus (target) (Banks & Farber, 2003;Henson, 2009;Mayr & Buchner, 2007;McNamara & Holbrook, 2003;Schacter, 1987Schacter, , 1992Tulving & Schacter, 1990;Wagner & Koutstaal, 2002). These effects do not require conscious or intentional recall.…”

“…These effects do not require conscious or intentional recall. They are preserved in patients with amnesia caused by injury in the medial temporal lobe (DiGirolamo & Posner, 2000;Kolb & Whishaw, 2003;Schacter, 1987;Schacter, Chiu, & Ochsner, 1993;Sternberg, 2008;Tulving, Hayman, & MacDonald, 1991) and occur even under subliminal presentations (Banks & Farber, 2003;Busnello, Stein, & Salles, 2008).…”