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cogsci 180 final exam questions and answers
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cogsci 180 final exam questions andanswers
______: Uses techniques to cultivate a clear and stable mind so one can directly
perceive the truth - Answers -Contemplation
scientific vs contemplative approaches: name 2 similarities and 1 difference - Answers -
Similarities:
- Both are empirically-based, i.e., not based on blind adherence to belief or what
authorities say
- Conclusions must be verified through consensual agreement of investigators who are
highly trained to be considered valid
Differences:
- Science: Operates from a 3rd person perspective
- Contemplation: Operates from a 1st person perspective
Common Criticism of Contemplative Approach by Science:
- the ______ objection - Answers -- the introspection objection: sounds a lot like
introspection, which is highly subjective and unreliable
______: observing and reporting one's mental and emotional processes as objectively
as possible - Answers -Introspection
T/F: introspection is a valid method of investigation - Answers -F
Contemplative response to the introspection objection:
- difference between introspection and contemplation: ______
- introspection was discredited because ______ - Answers -- There is an important
distinction between contemplation and introspection: contemplation first requires
extensive training of the mind to become stable and clear using specific techniques
- introspection discredited bc the participants who had originally been asked to engage
in it in laboratory studies did so with minds that were distracted most of the time
A clear and stable mind is associated with ____ and brings deeper insights into the
nature of _____ and ____ itself - Answers -inner peace, reality, mind
Various mental states and associated effects are delineated precisely within _________
- Answers -contemplative traditions
,_____ figures as a criterion in the contemplative approach, just as in the scientific
approach
- There is interindividual consensus among trained contemplatives with regard to
conclusions arrived at, which is not the case for ______ - Answers -- Reproducibility
- untrained subjects
In contemplative traditions, the results can be reproduced by both _____ and ____
- the insights into the nature of reality and the mind that are directly perceived when one
stabilizes and clarifies the mind can be experienced again and again in ______ -
Answers -- the results can be reproduced by a particular investigator at different points
in time, as well as by other investigators
- other investigators
- meditation
In contemplative traditions, how do you train and how do you know that you are
progressing in your training?
- Training involves applying specific techniques to __________, and progress is
indicated by ________
- During training, there are also ______ between the student and an expert (teacher) to
monitor the student's progress:
---> The teacher leads the dialogue, asking appropriate questions and allowing the
subject to describe his or her ____ in detail
---> In the Zen and in Tibetan Buddhist traditions, for instance, the student will from time
to time report about their ______ to their teacher
- On the basis of these experiences, a qualified teacher will be able to appraise the
quality of the student's meditative practice and see whether it reflects genuine progress
or mere ____ - and guide the student accordingly
★ This is the function of ____ in the Zen tradition - Answers -- stabilize and clarify the
mind
- the extent to which you can apply the instructions
- structured dialogues
- experience
- meditative experiences
- self-deceptions
- koans
In the Rinzai school, ____ are used to test a student's progress in _____ - they are
"riddles" that a student has to solve - Answers -koans, Zen practice
The obscure riddles, bewildering dialogues, and flagrant contradictions that form the
____ help the student ______ and __________
- This is related to the idea about potential limitations of the ____ ____ self that
suppresses more _____ _____ consciousness - Answers -- koans
,- ground their thinking in reality
- break free of the conceptual mind, i.e., the categorizing, analyzing ordinary thinking
mind
- "left-brain" logical
- expansive "right-brain"
All koans must be answered _____
- Koans are meant to be pondered in _____ and throughout the day till the answer
opens the true heart of the question
- Traditionally, answers could not be found in books nor are the koans discussed _____
- each koan has many answers, both in terms of the _____ and the ____
- Once experienced, the answer is often a ____ experience, and comes with a force that
is ____ - Answers -- from within the realm of one's own personal experience
- meditation practice
- with other meditation practitioners
- actual verbal response, effects it produces on one's mind and emotions
- life changing, self-validating
Can conclusions drawn by contemplatives be verified by a third party?
- Only if the person has _____
☞ Anyone who takes the trouble to stabilize and clarify their mind will be able to find out
for themselves what other contemplatives have found and agreed on
- Lastly, people within contemplative traditions generally agree on the point of ____ -
Answers -- had training
- which meditation masters have achieved the highest levels of realization
it could be argued against contemplative tradition that ____
- counterargument:
- further, the contemplative approach supposedly works because it results in a clear and
stable mind
---> Finding that long-term "super-meditators" are ____, as well as ____, off-the-charts,
on measures of traits like _____, ______, and _____ would appear to support that claim
- Answers -- these contemplatives are all deceiving themselves
- counterargument: "It would be a bit strange if a whole cohort of people with sharp
acumen who have refined their introspective faculties to such an extent deluded
themselves in exactly the same way at various times in history and in various places." -
Ricard
- neurologically, psychologically
- attention, empathy, and optimism
Neuropsychological Research on Long-Term Meditators:
- EEG studies by Richard Davidson found that meditation practice is associated with
increased _____ activity, which is associated with ____ and feelings of ____ and ____
, ---> For instance, one meditation adept, Matthieu Ricard, showed increased left pre-
frontal cortical activity that was ____ standard deviations outside the standard bell curve
- Answers -- left prefrontal activity, optimism and feelings of happiness and well-being
- 4.5
Neuropsychological Research on Long-Term Meditators:
- Paul Ekman also found enhanced ability to ______ in meditators
---> The ability to recognize such fleeting facial expressions has been associated with a
capacity for ___ and _____, as well as openness to new experiences, intellectual
curiosity, and general reliability and efficiency - Answers -- identify microexpressions
- empathy, insight
Neuropsychological Research on Long-Term Meditators:
- ____ study in which participants were tested before and after they completed a 3-
month mindfulness retreat at Insight Meditation Society
---> ____ ______ was measured using ______ ____ paradigm
---> The extent to which people are able to minimize this "blinking" reflects a quality of
______ and ____
---> Results: Retreatants, unlike controls, showed a marked ____ in attentional blink
and a 33% greater detection of second targets
---> Followup found that significant improvements in attentional performance that
correlated with alterations in ____ were maintained 3 months after the end of formal
meditation practice
➜ Mental training can result in durable ____ changes - Answers -- Attentional blink
- Nonjudgmental awareness, attentional blink
- emotional balance and equanimity
- decrease
- brain activity
- neuropsychological
The ability to _____ in a calm, abiding manner without too much arousal or excitement
(which is developed through meditation practice) is supposedly what allows practitioners
to "see" subtle aspects of the self - Answers -focus attention
Neuropsychological Research on Long-Term Meditators:
- Study on compassion meditation in long-term Tibetan meditation practitioners showed
long-term practitioners showed high levels of activity in ______ frequencies - "of a sort
never before reported in the literature" - and increased _______
- As they went deeper into meditation (____ states), there appeared to be both a
spreading and a strengthening of ____ activity
- When novice meditators (controls) engaged in compassion meditation, they also
showed an increase in ____ activity, but the increase was slight - Answers -- gamma-
band, neural synchrony
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