Consciousness as a
Physical Process Caused by the Organization of Energy in the Brain
. To explain consciousness as a physical process we must acknowledge the role of energy in the brain. Energetic activity is fundamental to all physical processes and causally drives biological behavior.
Where does the conscience come from?
The word “conscience” derives
etymologically from the Latin conscientia
, meaning “privity of knowledge” or “with-knowledge”. The English word implies internal awareness of a moral standard in the mind concerning the quality of one's motives, as well as a consciousness of our own actions.
What is the source of consciousness?
All consciousness arises from
the brainstem
, and it starts as feelings. While people with damaged or even missing cerebral cortices display many signs of consciousness, even a small amount of damage to a part of the brainstem called the reticular activating system reliably obliterates consciousness.
What causes a person to lose consciousness?
syncope, or the loss of consciousness due to
lack of blood flow to
the brain. neurologic syncope, or the loss of consciousness caused by a seizure, stroke, or transient ischemic attack (TIA) dehydration. problems with the heart's rhythm.
What is the point of consciousness?
So, our primary hypothesis is: The ultimate adaptive function of consciousness is
to make volitional movement possible
. Consciousness evolved as a platform for volitional attention; volitional attention, in turn, makes volitional movement possible.
Where is human consciousness located?
Location, location, location
Since at least the nineteenth century, scientists have known that
the cerebral cortex
is important for consciousness. Fresh evidence has highlighted a posterior-cortical ‘hot zone' that is responsible for sensory experiences.
What part of the brain controls consciousness?
The brain stem
connects the cerebrum with the spinal cord. It contains a system of nerve cells and fibers (called the reticular activating system) located deep within the upper part of the brain stem. This system controls levels of consciousness and alertness.
Do animals have a conscience?
In 2012, the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness crystallised a scientific consensus that humans are not the only
conscious beings
and that ‘non-human animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses' possess neurological substrates complex enough to support conscious …
What is the difference between consciousness and conscience?
When thinking about these two concepts, just remember that
conscious means to be awake and aware
while conscience means your inner sense of right and wrong.
What does it mean to form the conscience?
1a :
the sense or consciousness of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one's own conduct
, intentions, or character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good She had a guilty conscience. b : a faculty, power, or principle enjoining good acts guided by conscience.
What are the signs of unconsciousness?
- Amnesia for (not remembering) events before, during, and even after the period of unconsciousness.
- Confusion.
- Drowsiness.
- Headache.
- Inability to speak or move parts of the body (stroke symptoms)
- Lightheadedness.
What happens to your body when you lose consciousness?
A drop in blood flow to the brain causes fainting
. The most common causes of fainting are usually not signs of a more serious illness. In these cases, you faint because of: The vasovagal reflex, which causes the heart rate to slow and the blood vessels to widen, or dilate.
What are the stages of unconsciousness?
- full consciousness with some impairment.
- a minimally conscious state.
- a confusional state.
- a vegetative state.
- a coma.
What are the 4 states of consciousness?
Mandukya Upanishad
For example, Chapters 8.7 through 8.12 of Chandogya Upanishad discuss the “four states of consciousness” as
awake, dream-filled sleep, deep sleep, and beyond deep sleep
.
How does consciousness affect behavior?
Consciousness seems especially useful for
enabling behavior to be shaped by nonpresent factors and by social and cultural information
, as well as for dealing with multiple competing options or impulses. It is plausible that almost every human behavior comes from a mixture of conscious and unconscious processing.
Is consciousness a spandrel?
Instead of an adaptation,
consciousness might
be a spandrel (in the sense of Gould and Lewontin Reference Gould and Lewontin1979)—a by-product of some other trait that has adaptive value although consciousness itself has no adaptive value of its own (or may even be dysfunctional).
