Complete the gaps in the following summary by using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS taken from the passage Expanding Consciousness.
Expanding Consciousness
A brain-damaged patient suffering from prosopagnosia cannot recognize familiar faces although her vision is otherwise intact. She has awareness without recognition. A patient with blind sight is blind in parts of his visual field, but if asked to guess the location of objects in those 'blind spots, he is more than likely to guess right. He has recognition without awareness. Are both these patients conscious?
How the brain produces consciousness is a question that has puzzled philosophers and scientists for millennia, and many of them have looked to brain-damaged patients for the answer. Consider a patient with Parkinson’s disease who wants to move his legs but cannot. His thoughts have become severed from his actions, and that dissociation seems to be related to the lack of a certain chemical, dopamine, in one area of his brain. But why dopamine should perform that particular function in that particular area nobody knows.
What studies of brain damage reveal is that consciousness has many facets. But it can be a dangerous approach because it rests on the assumption that each part of the brain that contributes to consciousness does so consistently over time. Yet, if consciousness is dynamic rather than static, if the conscious functions performed by a certain body of neurons in the brain are transient, then the functions lost when a brain receives a blow at a specific point in time could differ from those that might have been lost a moment later.
In the past, scientists have searched for discrete switches at the neuronal level — singular, all-or-nothing events which when put together give rise to a global sensibility. But how and where the translation from physical to mental takes place remains a mystery, not least because those on/off neuronal mechanisms seem so incompatible with the diffuse and indefinable property of consciousness.
In Journey to the Centers of the Mind, neuroscientist Susan Greenfield suggests that the underlying physical processes are no less complex and diffuse than consciousness itself. Consciousness is not located in one region of the brain, one neuron or one molecule, and it does not necessarily go hand in hand with stimulation of the senses. But each conscious experience is singular in time. She describes shades of subtlety in the activities of neurons: they can be biased to respond in certain ways and in the sense that their behaviour is shaped by past experience; they even have memory. The action potential, the firing of a cell in response to stimulation, might be an all-or-nothing event, but the threshold at which a neuron produces an electrical signal can be lowered or raised incrementally.
By the same token, consciousness is better viewed as a continuum rather than as an all-or-nothing phenomenon. Greenfield suggests that it is the product of large interacting groups of neurons which form and reform rapidly around a triggering stimulus like concentric ripples on the surface of a pond. And the size of each neuronal assembly or “gestalt” is determined by the brain’s level of arousal at a particular moment in time. Arousal is, in turn, controlled by chemicals called amines (neuromodulators) that are produced in the most primitive part of the brain. According to Greenfield’s theory, fountains of these neuromodulators diffuse upwards and outwards from neurons in the brainstem, and it is these chemicals which bias the firing threshold of neurons in the rest of the brain — even in the sophisticated outer cortex. By so doing, they dictate the number of neurons that will be incorporated in each gestalt, and so determine the depth of the emerging consciousness. In this way, each conscious experience is qualitatively unique.
The idea of neuronal assemblies is not new. But the concept of consciousness as something that shrinks and expands, growing in depth as the brain grows physically, is a new departure. Very young children have no sense of other people’s thought processes — their consciousness is egocentric But by the age of about four they have begun to project mental states onto others. And brain-damaged patients, whose brains have effectively been reduced in size, have something in common with children. Both function at a shallower level of consciousness because stimuli trigger relatively small gestalts in their brains.
Greenfield docs not pretend to have uncovered the secret of consciousness. Her theory cannot answer all the questions, but it may have brought us a small step closer to a physical explanation of what it is to be human.
Consciousness is a slate of mind that has interested philosophers and scientists for thousands of years. However, our understanding of it has remained fairly basic. For example, scientists do not know whether the of a prosopagnosia patient means the same as consciousness and whether dopamine in the brain is linked with dissociation of the thoughts and actions of someone with disease.
Susan Greenfield’s theory has added a new dimension to our understanding of consciousness. She feels that consciousness and stimulation of the senses are not attached to each other and the responses of which are closely related to a global sensitivity of the body, have patterns which may have been conditioned by . Consciousness is not a yes-or-no state of mental and physical condition; it is a that has a range. Within this range, there is a chain of interactions between the quantity of amines and between gestalt and the depth of consciousness. These interactions ultimately the level of consciousness.
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Question Focus: Synonym match - summary asks about meaning compared to consciousness
Correct Answer: awareness
Why this is correct: The summary asks whether something in a prosopagnosia patient means the same as consciousness. The passage clearly says "She has awareness without recognition", so the missing word is awareness.
Passage Reference: A brain-damaged patient suffering from prosopagnosia cannot recognize familiar faces although her vision is otherwise intact. She has awareness without recognition.
Common Mistake: Students may write recognition, but the passage contrasts recognition with awareness. This is a Paraphrase trap.
Paraphrasing: Passage: "awareness without recognition" = Summary: "whether the awareness of a prosopagnosia patient means the same as consciousness"
Tips: When the summary asks about meaning, look for contrast words like "without" in the passage.
Key Vocabulary:
- awareness = being conscious of something
Question Focus: Direct reference to a disease
Correct Answer: parkinson's
Passage Reference: Consider a patient with Parkinson's disease who wants to move his legs but cannot.
Why this is correct: The summary mentions dissociation of thoughts and actions linked to dopamine. The passage gives this example for Parkinson's disease, so that is the correct fill.
Common Mistake: Some students write Parkinson's disease, which is too many words if they include "disease" again. This is a Word limit trap.
Paraphrasing: Passage: "a patient with Parkinson's disease" = Summary: "someone with Parkinson's disease"
Tips: Check words after the gap. If "disease" is already there, do not repeat it.
Key Vocabulary:
- dissociation = separation
Question Focus: Key subject of Greenfield's theory
Correct Answer: neurons
Passage Reference: She describes shades of subtlety in the activities of neurons: they can be biased to respond in certain ways and in the sense that their behaviour is shaped by past experience; they even have memory.
Why this is correct: The summary talks about responses that relate to global sensitivity. Greenfield describes the activities of neurons, so the correct word is neurons.
Common Mistake: Students may write cells, which changes the wording. You must copy the exact word. This is a Synonym trap.
Paraphrasing: Passage: "activities of neurons" = Summary: "responses of neurons"
Tips: If the passage uses a technical word, copy it exactly.
Key Vocabulary:
- neurons = nerve cells
Question Focus: Cause shaping neuron behaviour
Correct Answer: experience
Passage Reference: they can be biased to respond in certain ways and in the sense that their behaviour is shaped by past experience; they even have memory.
Why this is correct: The summary says the patterns may have been conditioned by something. The passage states neuron behaviour is shaped by past experience, so the word needed is experience.
Common Mistake: Writing memory is tempting because it appears nearby, but it is not what shapes behaviour. This is a Context shift trap.
Paraphrasing: Passage: "shaped by past experience" = Summary: "conditioned by experience"
Tips: Read the whole sentence, not just one keyword nearby.
Key Vocabulary:
- conditioned = influenced
Question Focus: Definition of consciousness type
Correct Answer: continuum
Passage Reference: By the same token, consciousness is better viewed as a continuum rather than as an all-or-nothing phenomenon.
Why this is correct: The summary says consciousness is not yes-or-no but has a range. The passage directly says it is a continuum, which matches perfectly.
Common Mistake: Students may write process or range, but these are not exact words. This is a Synonym trap.
Paraphrasing: Passage: "a continuum rather than all-or-nothing" = Summary: "a continuum that has a range"
Tips: When the passage gives a clear definition, copy the key noun.
Key Vocabulary:
- continuum = continuous range
Question Focus: Link between chemicals and gestalt size
Correct Answer: brain arousal
Passage Reference: And the size of each neuronal assembly or 'gestalt' is determined by the brain's level of arousal at a particular moment in time.
Why this is correct: The summary mentions interactions between amines and something else. The passage explains that gestalt size is determined by the brain's level of arousal, so brain arousal fits.
Common Mistake: Students may write level of arousal, which is four words and breaks the limit. This is a Word limit trap.
Paraphrasing: Passage: "brain's level of arousal" = Summary: "brain arousal"
Tips: Shorten the phrase if needed, but only using words from the passage.
Key Vocabulary:
- arousal = alertness
Question Focus: Result of the interactions
Correct Answer: determine
Passage Reference: By so doing, they dictate the number of neurons that will be incorporated in each gestalt, and so determine the depth of the emerging consciousness.
Why this is correct: The summary says these interactions ultimately do something to the level of consciousness. The passage uses the verb determine, which fits exactly.
Common Mistake: Writing influence changes the wording. You must copy the exact verb. This is a Synonym trap.
Paraphrasing: Passage: "determine the depth" = Summary: "determine the level"
Tips: Check subject-verb agreement. Plural subject needs a base verb.
Key Vocabulary:
- determine = decide
General Tips:
- Summary completion follows passage order. Once you find one answer, keep reading forward.
- Always copy the exact word or words from the passage. Do not invent synonyms.
- Check the word limit carefully. Even one extra word makes the answer wrong.
- Use grammar clues around the gap to decide if you need a noun, verb, or adjective.
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