What Are the Difficulties Encountered by Psychologists in Studying Consciousness? to What Extent Have Theory and Research in Cognitive Psychology Helped Overcome These Difficulties?

The phenomenon of blindsight has far reaching implications regarding consciousness, awareness and the "I" function. These studies demonstrate that receiving and interpreting visual inputs is independent of our awareness of that input. Does this imply that there is a separate mechanism of "consciousness" which can be disengaged from our senses? Marcel proposes that this loss of visual consciousness results from the

In order to determine whether it is possible to compute consciousness, it is first necessary to define

The subject of the conscious mind has long been a debate in the world of psychology; what exactly is it and where does it occur in the brain. Unfortunately, the debate still continues as there is no concrete answer currently available. Nevertheless, it is understood what it means to be conscious. One is aware of when they are awake, sleeping, or thinking. The topic of the conscious mind was historically left to scholars in the field of philosophy and religion with little input from the scientific side (Brainbank, 2013). But the more information that becomes readily available about the human brain, the more scientists are ready to tack the controversial subject.

In the field of psychology there are many terms related to consciousness. Consciousness has three main functions, restricting attention, creating a mental meeting place, and it creates a mental model of the world around us. Restricting attention is what keeps the brain from being overwhelmed by stimulation. It does this by processing what we notice and what we think about, this process is called selective attention. The degree of selective attention that someone has can vary based on the person and their ability to focus. An example of selective attention would be, when you are hungry, you are more likely to give attention the smell of food rather than the smell of something else. The mental meeting place is where sensation combines with memory,

Overall a majority of scientists believe that the brain alone creates conscious experience. The brain is described as a genetically programmed computer whose electrical and biochemical processes produce what we experience as thought and decision-making. It is therefore no surprise that science headlines today suggest that the experience of free-will is merely an illusion, a byproduct of so-called background noise in the brain. In popular media we are presented with the black and white dilemma. We must choose between reason and rationality or superstition and blind faith. However for decades some acclaim scientists around the world have conducted consciousness research that provides a very different picture.

Visual information can control behavior without creating a conscious sensation. Blindsight symptoms suggest that the belief that “perception must enter consciousness to affect our behavior is not correct.” There are many mechanisms associated with vision one being the mammalian system that has direct connections with sections of the brain accountable for consciousness. The mammalian system is the one that gives us the ability to recognize the world surrounding us. The primitive system controls eye movements focusing our attention to movements that are abrupt that happen outside of the field of vision. When the mammalian visual system is damaged, people are able to use the primitive visual system of the brain which helps guide hands over toward an object, even though they may not be able to see it. The Blindsight proposes that consciousness is not a general property of all parts of the brain.

Awareness is achieved through masked prime, whereas attention is acquired through the target word. The processing of emotional word meanings on an unconscious level results in an amplification of cortical processing which in turn increases the chance of neuronal activation needed to pass the small threshold to access conscious processing (Gaillard, 2006). In addition, the front-parietal cortical network which is thought to sub-serve conscious access has connections to the cortico-subcortical network in order to mediate emotion. Intracranial recordings have shown that masked emotional words stimulate subliminal modulation of amygdala activity (Gaillard et al., 2006). Amygdala connections could also enhance perceptual representations of emotion stimuli after emotional information has been achieved through high-level visual areas and primary visual cortex (Gaillard et al.,

In the ongoing strive to better understand the mechanism of consciousness, the possibility of discovering the neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs) is arguably the leading agenda in its scientific research. Although the question of whether consciousness can be fully reduced to its neural correlates remains debatable, it is still credible that whenever an appropriate brain process occurs, the associated subjective experience follows (Chalmers, 2013). Thus, this essay will demonstrate that it is plausible that the minimal brain processes necessary for a conscious percept can be experimentally narrowed down to a smaller coalition of neurons. Understandably, the complexity of the cortical system that is yet to be fully deciphered, along with the technological difficulties in obtaining essential data has hindered the search for the NCCs and have lead some to doubt the possibility of ever locating it (Fins & Plum, 2004). It is also likely that there are numerous NCCs, each associated with different modalities, which complicates the task further (Chalmers, 2013). For the purpose of this essay, the possibilities of discovering the neural correlates of visual consciousness are discussed in particular. This essay aims to define the foundational concepts of the science of consciousness, outline the experimental projects in finding the neural correlates of visual consciousness, and address

Even if all the information on how the brain works is available, the question of how to understand the link between the brain process and the consciousness experience might still remain. There have been great advances in neuroscience which have shown how certain areas of the brain are associated with different traits such as emotions, language and so on, yet science has not been able to show how consciousness comes into being. This has generated two contrasting views about whether or not consciousness can ever be fully understood. This section analyses these two positions. On the one hand, Robert Van Gulick is optimistic about understanding consciousness in physical terms; he believes that empirical research may help to close the gap between the brain and the mental. On the other hand Colin McGinn claims that the problem of consciousness escapes the human understanding, thus, science – at least as currently conceived – will not reveal what consciousness is. This thesis argues that as long as science advances, our understanding of consciousness in physical terms will increase, but this scientific progress will only be possible with

Consciousness is the most fundamental facts of existence, it is what is most intimate to us yet at the same time the most mysterious. Consciousness is what makes life worth living if we were not conscious nothing in our life would have meaning or value.

The emergence of human consciousness is a highly debated subject matter. Some people argue that either consciousness existed in other human beings, or it emerged at some instance during the process of evolution. It is pertinent to note that the proponents of the idea of emergence of consciousness during evolution believe that it was one of the adaptive features developed by humans in order to survive in the changing environment. This has been the most common view. Human consciousness is an integral section defining the abilities of a human being. As an adaptive feature in human beings, consciousness has a number of roles necessary for human survival. Adaptability in human beings is an outcome of the struggle to survival in a dynamic environment. The conventional theory on the emergence of consciousness is the development of a complex neural network in the brain. This is related to the pattern of the neural networks in the brain. However, within this theory, there are subsets of thoughts that explain the synchronous oscillations in the neural networks. With evidence, this study will seek to show the superior and complex nature of human consciousness compared to other organisms (Rychlak, 1997).

• ‘Consciousness’ can be perceived only indirectly through the effects it produces in the physical matter. However, THE CAUSES OF PHYSICAL PHENOMENA ARE NOT ACCESSIBLE TO THE SENSES AT ALL. Some true causes become accessible only through DELIBERATION – ability to figure out the new causes on the basis of the cognitive base which already exists as part of ‘Consciousness’ called ‘memory’. Of course, the ‘Consciousness’ is always older than the current ‘Organism’ it temporarily resides in.

The conscious mind is a widely debated, undefined phenomenon. It can and has been simplified to three manifestations, the conscious, sub-conscious and unconscious, however, it is yet to be fully agreed upon what consciousness actually is (Corsini & Wedding, 2011).

The essential properties of consciousness have been matters of philosophical debate since the 1600s, when Descartes proclaimed that mind and brain were separate substances. But recently, scientists and doctors have started asking

The process of understanding awareness can be complex. Understanding that there are different spectrums of consciousness and that each type represents different principles is the best approach to understanding awareness. As the endocrine system regulates hormones in the body, chemical fluctuations play a major role in the physiological regulation of human behavior. Therefore, there is the physical consciousness and the psychological