I think that Gordan's weekly question to the reading tells how perception is relevant to consciousness. In order for us to be aware of something we must first perceive them based on previous theories of perception in chapter 2.
I think that consciousness is definitely a challenging topic. I would love to continue reading up on the process of problem solving. I often solve problems, but then am unaware of how I actually reached the solution.
Although this is an early theory of attention that has been rejected, I still feel at times that the bottleneck theory describes my information processing. After sitting through meetings at school I often feel that I cannot process anymore information at that given time. I am on overload, and I feel that this limits the amount of information that I can take in. Why is that?? Or is it just that I think that I am not taking in information and I really am.
Treisman shows proof of the feature - integration theory through many demonstrations. It is nice when some of these demonstrations are shown in the book because when you experience something yourself it is very believable. (EX - the Blue X)
The attention process is very important for education. It helps us understand the best ways that students learn and take in information.
If you realize that a student is not comprehending something it may be due to their attention process. Our job as the teacher would be to create the best environment that suits each child.
I think that the demonstrations and research done on attention and consciousness are the best ways to find the results we need in order to give our students the best education.
I agree that our job as a teacher is to keep our students engaged in order to learn the new concepts. In response to what you said about being overloaded in meetings, chapter 4 of the book goes into more detail with the working memory(short-term memory). Through research we are only able to 4 to 7 items in our short term memory otherwise we are overloaded. Sometimes I think if you can apply what you are hearing to previous knowledge you can be more attentive to what you are listening to in a meeting. It is kind of like placing it somewhere that it fits in your brain so to speak. I find in meetings I have to look at the person that is speaking in order to really listen to them. If I start doodling or something, I am not with the speaker.
ReplyDeleteThe chapters on metacognition are also applicable to what you described about problem solving. Being able to monitor your thinking is one sub-skill involved in metacognition, which can then be applied towards problem solving.
ReplyDeleteKatherine -- Reading ahead to Chapter 4? Great to hear. Your suggestion about applying what you are hearing to previous knowledge is a great one. Some terms used for what you describe as "Placing it somewhere that it fits in your brain" include schemas, mental maps/models, and anchors. All of which we will discuss over the semester.