Behavioral relevance of consciousness for human action: explorations with the simon task paradigm

Download
2016
Gök, Selvi Elif
The motivation of this thesis is to investigate whether consciousness has an effect on human behaviors. To this aim an exploratory approach is adopted where an experimental design with two parts is developed. In the first part, participants are first presented objects moving to the left or to the right in accordance with a rule (i.e. familiarization phase), and then transferred to a subsequent two-choice stimulus-response task for stimuli presented at the center of the screen (i.e. Simon phase). Although the stimuli in the Simon phase are presented at the center of the screen, it turns into a Simon task depending on the associations between the rule-relevant features and the movement direction of the objects. Five pilot experiments were carried out in order to devise a viable paradigm in which rule-awareness could be facilitated or hindered. The results of Experiment 6 suggest that the perceptual and action associations formed in the familiarization phase have a behavioral effect on the subsequent Simon phase whereby the presence of this effect depends on the consciousness of the rule in the familiarization phase (as assessed by the verbal reports of the participants). However, the results of two follow-up experiments (Experiment 7-8) show that declarative knowledge of the rule is insufficient but consciousness of the rule must emerge through the active seeking of the rule and predicting of its outcomes, which enables the formation and transfer of short-term associations between the rule-relevant perceptual features and spatial response codes corresponding to the movement directions. 

Suggestions

The Embodiment of the individual self: a conceptualization of body in hegel’s phenomenology of spirit
Önder, Sevi Emek; Çırakman, Elif; Department of Philosophy (2018)
The primary purpose of this thesis is to investigate and conceptualize the notion of “body” in the context of certain sections of the Phenomenology of Spirit. While investigating the notion of “body” in the thesis, my intention is to see the possibility of reading the Phenomenology as “the science of the embodiment of consciousness”. By relying on this approach, I will try to thematize and give a comprehensive account of the “body” in the “Consciousness” and “Self-Consciousness” sections of the Phenomenolog...
An Attempt at dissolution of the notion of self
Sugorakova, Daria; Sayan, Erdinç; Department of Philosophy (2014)
The purpose of this thesis is to provide a plausible approach to the problems of self and personal continuity that arise in various thought experiments and reported extraordinary real-life cases. When we approach the puzzling thought experiments and actual cases in terms of the notion of sense of self, the question of whether a person’s self continues becomes moot and inconsequential. The approach based on the sense of self provides clarity, is capable of dissolving the puzzles, while the notion of an endur...
Nested structure of time consciousness and its dependence on mental time travel competence and episodic memory
Dural Özer, Özge; Sol, Ayhan; Michaelian, Kourken; Department of Philosophy (2013)
The main objective of this master thesis is to clarify the nested structure in time consciousness, depending on mental time travel and episodic memory. Time consciousness, mental time travel and episodic memory are connected, and function depending on each other. Mental time travel ability enables us to imagine personal future events. Episodic memory allows us to travel mentally into both past and future. Similarity between remembering the past and imagining the future indicates that episodic memory system ...
Rational choice theory: its merits and limits in explaining and predicting cultural behavior
Kılınç Adanalı, Yurdagül; Turan, Şeref Halil; Department of Philosophy (2016)
The main goal of this dissertation is to examine whether instrumental rationality can predict and explain successfully human behavior in all walks of life. I have chosen Rational Choice Theory and Public Choice Theory as the focus of my investigation, since they are considered as the best models of instrumental rationality in philosophy and social sciences, and in particular in economics and politics. To see their merits and to determine their limits, I have applied Rational Choice Theory and Public Choice ...
The Understanding of nomativity and free will in games: a developmental study on 2- and 3- year old Turkish children
Tunçgenç, Bahar; Hohenberger, Annette Edeltraud; Department of Cognitive Sciences (2012)
This study investigated the understanding of normativity and free will from a developmental perspective. Being a new field of investigation, there is not much research conducted which points to different aspects of normativity. Current study, therefore, aimed to assess Turkish children’s normative development on a sample of 2 and 3 years old in the context of games. It was expected, first, that children would show more protest when there is a norm violation. Moreover, older children would show more normativ...
Citation Formats
S. E. Gök, “Behavioral relevance of consciousness for human action: explorations with the simon task paradigm,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2016.