It Is The Greatest Mystery Of All

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.

Daniel Bor, a psychological researcher, and author, wrote an article titled “When Do We Become Truly Conscious” published on September 4, 2012 and in this article he discusses the idea of consciousness. Through use of deductive reasoning Bor refers to early opinions viewing consciousness as magic and discusses the science behind demystifying consciousness. Bor also discusses the ethical arguments behind learning for about consciousness. Bor also lists some of the emotional arguments centered on human awareness. Bor’s use of rhetorical strategies is designed to state his opinion in a simple and easily read way.

Consciousness refers to an individual’s self-awareness, both internally and external stimulus which include your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations and environment. Your consciousness can constantly change from one conscious to another. The constant change in consciousness can also be referred to as “stream of conscious”. Awareness- its mechanism and function has

However, as the article, and time frame the article occurs in, progresses, the indirect observation of the conscious mind becomes more deliberate. It becomes the aim of the research rather than a secondary result. For instance, the work of Weiskrantz and Bisiach indicates an intentional and deliberate studying of consciousness, through scientific processes involving “blindsight,” (31-32) and “inattentive,” vision (33), respectively. The correct responses in the studies yielded by individuals who have been rendered incapable of consciously correctly answering the questions provides solid, scientific evidence of unconscious processes that enabled their behavior, and also indicates a shift in the article toward a more objective take on the scientific method. However, the work indicates not only an evolution and advancement of the scientific discoveries highlighted—that is, the discussion of consciousness—but also an evolution of the scientific process itself away from the antiquated practices of pseudoscience that the piece highlights near its start, and toward the scientific method as it is known

The term consciousness refers to "your individual awareness of your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations and environment” (Kendra Cherry, http://psychology.about.com). Our unconscious contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of awareness but that nevertheless have a great influence on behavior.

Consciousness is a pivotal element in human existence. According to Max Velmans and Susan Schneider The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness: "Anything that we are aware of at a given moment forms part of our consciousness”. As important as it is, scientists have trouble in coining the exact definition for consciousness. Even more shockingly, there have been studies that claim human do not make conscious decisions as we have always believed, such as the article Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain published by Nature Publishing Group in 2008, and in the BBC documentary The Secret You by Marcus du Sautoy.

The brain develops a sense of consciousness as well as a sense of self through this constant updating and reanalysis of experience.

Dr. Anil Seth combines cognitive science, neuroscience, psychiatry, brain imaging techniques and mathematics to explain why consciousness exists at all. He talks about the distinction, which is passed from Descartes, between the “easy problem” and the “hard problem”. The easy problem being to understand how the brain and the body give rise to perception, cognition, behaviour and learning. The hard problem being to understand how and why we have phenomenal experiences or qualia and how all of this should be associated with consciousness at all: why aren’t we just machines, without any inner world/experiences? It is intriguing to think that solving the easy problem would get us nowhere in solving the hard problem, which leaves the brain basis

Consciousness, from an existentialist standpoint, is defined as awareness of how no life has inherent meaning or importance, and how one’s life is defined by how they are viewed by others. Though many pursue a synthetic purpose in life, in the end, their life is only defined by others' perceptions of their efforts and character.

Consciousness is a physiological function, such as behavior. Our self-awareness and ability to communicate with one another through sending and receiving messages in a complex social structure, giving us a great capability to learn. These abilities have evolved.

Consciousness is being aware of one’s surroundings. In order to be conscious you must be aware, alert, and have emotions. Some people think machines have the ability to be conscious, but can they be conscious? The answer is no. A machine doesn’t possess the qualities that humans and animals have, nor will we ever have the technology that enables machines to be conscious. Machines can’t be aware because they have to be programmed to function properly. They might respond to your questions, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are aware. For a machine to be conscious it needs to have emotions. Again machines are programmed, and can’t be programmed to show emotion.

For starters consciousness is a mystical network. It has several different extraordinary characters. One David Chalmers says it has a “unified and a differentiated character”, that he feels defines consciousness and makes it simple. But is it really that simplistic?? I mean consciousness is something everyone is aware of at every waking moment of life until death. Never has it been something

Consciousness allows a person to recognize their existence, and subsequently, to form their essence. The

Consciousness has historically laid beyond the confines of science. Rene Descartes, a French philosopher, laid down the foundation of the study of consciousness by reflecting on what it meant to be conscious. Descartes was the one who introduced the idea of the mind as separate from the body, otherwise known as Cartesian Dualism. Descartes’ several theories sparked major controversy and discussion about consciousness. During the twentieth century, consciousness was seen as a taboo because usage of the word became overused and there was no precise way to describe it, so the word was ‘banned’. Consciousness is a psychological construct because of its difficulty to be observed and measured, which is why it can easily be seen as a taboo. Consciousness has gradually became easier to define, and because it is now accepted in the world of science, it has begun to address some of the most challenging questions of our time.

Psychologists may not agree on a specific definition of consciousness or of the psychology behind it, however there is to a large degree, a general understanding of the topics and problems that persist within the domain of the psychology of consciousness. Some of these