Page 101 - 2024-bfw-MyersAP4e-TE

Module 1.5a

match our conscious beliefs (I am not prejudiced) (Greenwald & Lai, 2020). At other times,
we’re motivated to avoid thinking, especially when careful thought (How much sugar is in
that dessert?) conflicts with temptations (I want that piece of cake!) (Woolley & Risen, 2018). TEACH 1.5-2
Yet most people, most of the time, mistakenly believe that their intentions and deliberate
choices rule their lives. They don’t. Teaching Tip
Although consciousness enables us to exert voluntary control and to communicate our Students might confuse parallel
mental states to others, it is but the tip of the information-processing iceberg. Just ask the
volunteers who chose a card after watching a magician shuffle through the deck (Olson processing with multitasking. While
et al., 2015). In nearly every case, the magician swayed participants’ decisions by subtly parallel processing is one of the
allowing one card to show for longer — but 91 percent of participants believed they had amazing things about how our brains
made the choice on their own. Being intensely focused on an activity (such as reading about
consciousness, we hope) increases your total brain activity no more than 5 percent above its work, multitasking is impossible. What
baseline rate. Even when you rest, activity whirls inside your head (Raichle, 2010). most students call multitasking (such
This unconscious parallel processing is faster than conscious sequential processing, but as studying while checking social
both are essential. Parallel processing enables your mind to take care of routine business. parallel processing processing
Sequential processing is best for solving new problems, which requires your focused multiple aspects of a stimulus or media) is actually serial tasking, where
attention on one thing at a time. Try this: If you are right-handed, move your right foot problem simultaneously. a person jumps from one task to the
in a smooth counterclockwise circle and write the number 3 repeatedly with your right sequential processing other, which is highly inefficient.
hand — at the same time. Try something equally difficult: Tap a steady beat three times with processing one aspect of a
your left hand while tapping four times with your right hand. Both tasks require conscious stimulus or problem at a time;
generally used to process new
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Not for redistribution.
attention, which can be in only one place at a time. If time is nature’s way of keeping every- information or to solve difficult CLOSE & ASSESS
thing from happening at once, then consciousness is nature’s way of keeping us from think- problems.
ing and doing everything at once. Exit Activity
(10 minutes) Ask students to write
®
AP Science Practice Check Your Understanding a postcard to an adult in their family
explaining one main point or concept
Examine the Concept Apply the Concept they learned from this module that
▶ ▶What is dual processing? ▶ ▶Explain the concept of the two-track mind.
▶ ▶Explain blindsight. ▶ ▶Compare and contrast parallel and sequential processing. they did not know before. Before
Answers to the Examine the Concept questions can be found in Appendix C at the end of the book. students take them home, check for
misconceptions or confusion. Bonus:
Remind students that a component of
Module 1.5a REVIEW metacognition is the ability to recog-
nize what you have learned.
1.5-1 What is the place of consciousness in 1.5-2 What is the dual processing being revealed
by today’s cognitive neuroscience?
psychology’s history? Copyright © Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. CLOSE & ASSESS
• After initially claiming consciousness as their area of • Scientists studying the brain mechanisms underlying Exit Assessment
study in the nineteenth century, psychologists aban- consciousness and cognition have discovered that the
doned it in the first half of the twentieth century, turn- mind processes information on two separate tracks, one (15 minutes) Use a “think–pair–share”
ing instead to the study of observable behavior because operating at a conscious level (sequential processing) and activity to ensure that students under-
they believed consciousness was too difficult to study the other at an implicit, unconscious level (parallel pro- stand the following terms:
scientifically. cessing). Parallel processing takes care of routine business,
• Since the 1960s, our awareness of ourselves and our while sequential processing is best for solving new prob- • Consciousness
environment — our consciousness — has reclaimed its place lems that require our attention.
as an important area of research, such as in the interdisci- • Together, this dual processing — conscious and uncon- • Cognitive neuroscience
plinary field of cognitive neuroscience. scious — affects our perception, memory, attitudes, and • Parallel processing
other cognitions.
First ask them to write down each
Sleep: Consciousness Module 1.5a 91 definition in their own words, without
notes or the textbook. Then have them
pair up and share their definitions.
Remember: Take time to address any
03_myersAPpsychology4e_28116_ch01_002_163.indd 91 15/12/23 9:23 AM
misinformation that comes up in this
assessment activity.

Sleep: Consciousness Module 1.5a 91

03_HammerTE4e_47547_ch01_2a_163_4pp.indd 91 07/02/24 5:24 PM