This is a take-home exam. It is "open book". You are free to use and reread our previous readings, but you are expected to work independently of the other students.
Please submit your answers through Blackboard. Please indicate by number which questions you are answering. You don't have to retype the question.
Part One: Short answer. Answer four of the following questions, in one to a few sentences (worth 10 points each)
- What is the difference between the "hard question" and the "easy questions" according to Chalmers?
- What are panpsychism and panprotopsychism?
- What can EEG measurements tell us about what is different in an awake versus unconscious brain?
- What is a "neural correlate of consciousness" supposed to be? (That is, what is a search for the NCC a search for?) Provide some disambiguation if needed.
- What are the differences between a zombie as Chalmers defines it and the automatic processes described as the "zombie within" by Koch and Crick?
- What are some practical reasons why doctors need to understand the neural correlates of consciousness?
- What is the "no report" paradigm and why do Koch et al. think it is important?
- What is blindsight, and how does it differ from normal vision?
Part Two: Essay. Answer two of the following, in a few paragraphs. Be sure to provide arguments for your view when the question asks you to do so (worth 30 points each)
- Would you classify your own view of consciousness as materialist, dualist, panpsychist, or something else? Defend your view.
- What does it mean to say that we're phenomenally conscious of more than we are access conscious of? How plausible is this view? Describe and evaluate some of the evidence for and against it.
- Adrian Owen (in his TEDx talk) claims that he can prove that apparently vegetative patients are actually conscious. How does he claim to prove this? Argue either for or against his claim. What is it about consciousness and about his data that either do or don't support his view?
- What is the relation between consciousness and attention? Defend your view, making sure you discuss attentional blink, inattentional blindness, change blindness, and any other phenomena you think are relevant.