There is nothing that we know more intimately than conscious experiences, but there is nothing that is harder to explain. Many have tried to explain it but the explanations seem to always fall short of the target. Consciousness is a very difficult aspect in life to understand and or explain. There hasn’t been a concrete definition set for the term, but when it comes to defining consciousness either you understand and comprehend what it is or you don’t. If not then it could possibly be a hard concept to grasp. Consciousness is both blatantly obvious and undeniably elusive all at once. The integrated information theory states that consciousness corresponds to the capacity of a system of integrated information. Information and experiences are the basis of consciousness.
For the purpose of this paper we will define consciousness as an immediate experience that is private to the individual which occupies the present moment and manifests in many different forms. Furthermore,
“Consciousness is defined differently among psychologists. No particular definition of consciousness stands out or is widely accepted in the field of psychology. However for the purpose of briefly introducing and explaining a complex phenomenon like consciousness it is the awareness of external events, internal sensations, the self, and thoughts about experiences”.
Let’s understand that consciousness has no apparent location in space. It can’t be weighed, measured in length, weight, or height. It does however involve all five senses at any given time. “Functionalist theory of consciousness is the integrated information theory according to which the level of consciousness of a system at a time is a matter of how many possible stated it has at that time and how...
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...y described in many different ways that range from any type of feeling to experiences of imagining, thinking, remembering, or even questioning things. The brain needs information in order to process things. Without the information we would be a computer with no hard drive. Our brain uses the information received to produce a feeling or conscious to make a decision.
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Neuroscientists claim that due to unconscious brain activity, we are “biochemical puppets” (Nahmias). Through experiments conducted by neuroscientists like Itzhak Fried, neural activity is shown to occur before a conscious decision is made. Fried concluded that this was a predetermined occurrence
Chapter 4 discusses the several states of consciousness: the nature of consciousness, sleep and dreams, psychoactive drugs, hypnosis, and meditation. Consciousness is a crucial part of human experience, it represents that private inner mind where we think, feel, plan, wish, pray, omagine, and quietly relive experiences. William James described the mind as a stream of consciousness, a continuous flow of changing sensations, images thoughts, and feelings. Consciousness has two major parts: awareness and arousal. Awareness includes the awareness of the self and thoughts about one's experiences. Arousal is the physiological state of being engaged with the environment. Theory of mind refers to individuals understanding that they and others think,
theorists attempt to develop a mode of consciousness and cognition that breaks the identity of
There is almost no doubt that there is a relationship between psychology and philosophy. Indeed, many people actually considering that the philosophies related to and concerned with the mind and thought are the precursor to modern psychology. Of course, most of these philosophies were decidedly western, or popular in the west. However, the problem with our western views of consciousness in philosophy and psychology is that often times the way we view the conscious process leads to a so-called "infinite regression." That is to say, if we see consciousness as a set of rules guiding our experiences in life, there must also be another set of rules that defines how we know when to use those rules, and so on and so forth. (Kurak 2001, 18-19). In this paper, I will attempt to show how we can turn to Buddhist principles to help us gain a better understanding of human consciousness.
Kanske, P., Heissler, J., Schönfelder, S., Forneck, J., & Wessa, M. (2013). Neural correlates of
To conclude this essay, I like to emphazise that Rosenthal's HOT is more of an empirical hypothesis, rather than an analysis of the term ‘consciousness.’ His aim is precisely to explain the phenomena of consciousness in relation to other mental states, such as thought and perception, and while achieving this, he has elaborated a theoretical structure for comprehending the functions of our mind.
Current research shows that mental events cause physical events, and scientists believe examining single nerves is the key to understanding how the brain works as a complete unit. Understanding the brain at the nerve cell level will allow scientists to understand how human consciousness works (Blakeslee, 1992). Furthermore, the brain's thalamus is identified as the possible sensory connector because it fires 40 impulses per second that sweep through the entire brain (Blakeslee, 1995a). These findings are a serious implication to Dualism because it states the mind is not physical. If the mind is not physical, it cannot affect the physical body, so the Dualist theory of two-sided interactions between the body and mind are false. The aforementioned argument is supported by many other scientific facts and objections against Dualism.
McGinn begins by rejecting both traditional materialism and dualism. Materialists propose that the brain and consciousness are one and the same: thus, brain waves not only correlate with consciousness, they are consciousness. McGinn faults this position for ignoring the very nature of co...
According to cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, author of “The Brain: The Mystery of Consciousness,” he responds to consciousness being very difficult to define and explain how or why any physical state is conscious rather than being unconscious. Another primary issue of consciousness is the issue of having experience. When one thinks and perceives, there is a whir of information-processing, but there is a subjective aspect. A majority of people assume that all mental states are conscious, but none of us know that for sure, and so the problem of describing or explicating consciousness collapses into the problem of explaining mentality. Even though perception can give someone access to knowledge, obtaining your personal perspective cannot only seek knowledge as well, but it can show the spiritual or personal aspect towards
Renner, T., Feldman, R., Majors, M., Morrissey, J., & Mae, L. (2011). States of Consciousness. Psychsmart (pp. 99-107). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Vithoulkas, George, and D. F. Muresanu. "Conscience and Consciousness: A Definition.” Journal of Medicine & Life 7.1 (2014): 104-08. Print.
The cognitive revolution in psychology was a period during the 1950’s and 1960’s which involved radical changes to two major concepts in psychology, consciousness and causality. It was also a period that saw the abolishment of traditional science values of dichotomy and the worship of atomisation in science, replacing reductive micro deterministic views of personhood with holistic top-down view (Overskeid, 2008). The aim of this essay is to give an account of what constitutes the cognitive revolution, and also assess the contributions that the cognitive revolution has made to the scientific study of psychology. The cognitive revolution represents a diametric turn around in the century’s old treatment of mind and consciousness in science, such as the contents of conscious experience, whose subjective qualities were being discarded as mere causal epiphenomena (Sperry 1993). This paradigm shift brought with it alternative beliefs about the ultimate nature of things, thereby bringing forth new answers to some of humanity's deepest questions.
"Artificial Intelligence and Consciousness." Encyclopedia of Consciousness. Oxford: Elsevier Science & Technology, 2009. Credo Reference. Web. 26 April 2011.
In his experimentation with the unconscious mind, Freud discovered three levels of consciousness. The first is consciousness. This i...
“Consciousness is defined as everything of which we are aware at any given time - our thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions of the external environment. Physiological researchers have returned to the study of consciousness, in examining physiological rhythms, sleep, and altered states of consciousness (changes in awareness produced by sleep, meditation, hypnosis, and drugs)” (Wood, 2011, 169). There are five levels of consciousness; Conscious (sensing, perceiving, and choosing), Preconscious (memories that we can access), Unconscious ( memories that we can not access), Non-conscious ( bodily functions without sensation), and Subconscious ( “inner child,” self image formed in early childhood).