Basis Of Consciousness

With the definition of cognitive neuroscience in mind, it is important to consider how the body is affected by the mind. While the mind-body issue is still not fully settled it has advanced to where we know that the mind is considered psychological and the body is neurological (Solso,2008) psychologists and philosophers are still debating wether they coexist

It was the 17th century British scientist Thomas Willis who recognized that the custard like tissue of the brain was where our mental world existed. The brain is an electric organ. Now we know that instead of animal spirits, voltage spikes travel through it and out into the body’s nervous system.

The fascination with consciousness dates back to the time of Plato and Descartes. Since those times the term “consciousness” has spurned controversy in many scientific fields, including the fields of biology, psychology, and neuroscience. However, with the recent advancements in brain imaging technologies, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG), human consciousness has shifted from being a subjective, abstract idea into being a observable scientific phenomenon. As neuroimaging capabilities progress, the public interest in consciousness also grows.

My own theory of consciousness is a state of awareness of self. It has been said that this awareness stems from arousal. Consciousness, to me, is entirely internal. We experience the external world, but only through our senses. Dehaene and Naccache (2001) explain that neuroscience is beginning to investigate and understand the "neural underpinnings of consciousness." Thus, consciousness is something that we experience via our own bodies. However, there is an implied separation between experience and consciousness. Animals and plants also have mechanisms for interacting with the world, but they do not appear to have the same neural underpinnings that them to interpret the world with the same awareness that humans have. We, however, not only experience the external world, but we are aware of that experience.

Consciousness it is a state of awareness on both the external and internal actions and reaction toward different stimulus. Consciousness has greater impacts on our daily life and could influence survival of different organisms that lives on planet earth. The benefits is that it offers protection as it control the self .Consciousness regulate what we think and the reaction that we respond to the different experiences that we undergo on daily basis. Also, it allows us to either allow a thought or respond or terminating the thought as it might be not useful both the inner and outer experiences.

However, it will be shown that it does not have to do this. Consciousness, as Michael Gazzaniga ( in "Postcards from the brain") put it, is our developing thoughts distributed across our brain, rather then them competing to be acknowledged, and exhibit what is relevant (or seems to be relevant) at the time. This occurs in a way that once one thought process is complete, another begins, and then another, and so on. This is continuous and mainly correlated with humans, as apposed to non-human animals. Additionally, it cannot be described as a process, as it an attribute that in continually develops. This adds to how our consciousness cannot be an accumulation of thoughts that are trying to push their way forward, but rather, an endless stream; just like in the saying: "stream on

So does consciousness exist outside the brain? Consciousness is defined as the state or quality of awareness, or, of being aware of an external object or something within oneself. Basically being aware enough to understand everything going on around you. Some would argue that consciousness is restricted to the brain and body only. If that were true then the brain would be able to operate outside the body but in reality cannot. Consciousness however, is utilized beyond the brain without any accusations of superstition as hundreds of experiments and millions of testimonials confirm it to be true. One out of many examples include psi researchers Charles Honorton and Diane Ferrari examining 309 precognition experiments carried out by sixty-two investigators involving 50,000 participants in more than two million trials. These studies were significant in showing that people can describe future events, something that can’t be done if our consciousness was so internalized. The odds that these results were not due to chance or random luck, but by actual skill or fact was greater than 10 to the twentieth power to one. Very high odds with a very high sample size representative of the general population for just one out of many experiments and tests. Consciousness is not something contained in our brain or minds but rather it’s an infinite, immediate and omnipresent phenomenon. It’s infinite because it is not confined to specific points in time or places like the brain. It’s immediate

After Paul Churchland’s thorough reviews on several different theories on the nature of the mind, and after consideration of their pros and cons, he advocates Eliminative Materialism.

Consciousness, on the other hand, is the first person self-awareness of one’s mental states. One knows and understands exactly what they are

Newest explanations of consciousness can be done by Dennett (1991, 1996) and neurologist Restak (1994).

Questions of the mind have puzzled philosopher for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks pondered how we make decisions. Descartes questioned how the mind — an abstract concept — could interact with the physical brain. Today, questions regarding which brain mechanisms are involved in specific functions like decision making and self-deception are at the forefront of psychological and neurological studies. While different in their own respects, the disciplines of neuroscience and philosophy overlap and compliment one another in various contexts.

The article states that mental states are fundamentally different than physical states. Here, the mental state is the mind and the physical state is the brain. It describes further that, “First off, when we talk about the mind, we are referring to things called mental states. These include thoughts about something, experience, will or desire, intentions and things of this sort.”…“Things like thoughts, ideas, desire, intention, and will are qualitatively different from brain states. A thought contains content that is not physical at all.” Everyone has their independent thoughts and ideas; our ideas are created by our mind as it falls under the category of our ‘thoughts’ and the idea is recognized by our brain. It says, “the idea is independent of the mechanism by which it is delivered.” which means we function the

Wilbert’s model of “Body”, an entire organism, and “body”, separates the brain from the body, parallels well with William James’ questions of “is it me and my body?” or “Is my body me?” (Combs. 113). A common theme discussing the uncertainty of what, how, and where is the consciousness pinpointed. Kak believes “Self-awareness is an emergent phenomenon which is grounded in the self and the associations stored in the brain” (2). The Thomas theorem describes the location and the emergence of consciousness philosophically, “If something is defined as real, it is real in its consequences” (Walden. Lecture. 8/24/16). In Comb’s sixth chapter, he touches on how mind altering substances, chemicals effecting the brain, alter consciousness and mental state(s). He also concludes that the brain impacts the physical body. The example of marijuana changing one’s “…sense of time, body perception, and the senses” shows how the mind, brain, body and even self are all interconnected (52). The questions of where consciousness is located and emerges and what are, if any, the limits of consciousness in these respects are still high disputed and unresolved in my opinion.

It can be argued that the physical mind, the machine, is separated from the personal, emotional workings of the brain. However, the complexity of the brain leaves much to speculation and the unknown. Although there has been substantial advancement in research methods, scientist and philosophers alike have been unable to come up with answers to many of the questions consistently being asked. As stated by Edward O.Wilson, in the essay Our Free Will: And how the brain is like a colony of ants, “the history of philosophy when boiled down consists mainly of failed models of the brain”. Yet, the ideas, or “failed models”, of such philosophers are used as a basis for our understanding of the brain, actions, emotions and judgments. Current advancements in neuroscience, such as the BAM Project are working towards mapping out neuron activity in an attempt to connect all mental processes: emotions, judgments and reason. This technological

Consciousness is largely determined by factors outside of its control – social, historical and economic factors all contribute to an ideology which is beyond the grasp of the person who thinks ideologically. The problem for consciousness is not only its displaced relationship with its surroundings but also its displacement from its own mechanisms.