A report on Consciousness

Representation of consciousness from the seventeenth century by Robert Fludd, an English Paracelsian physician
John Locke, British Enlightenment philosopher from the 17th century
Illustration of dualism by René Descartes. Inputs are passed by the sensory organs to the pineal gland and from there to the immaterial spirit.
Thomas Nagel argues that while a human might be able to imagine what it is like to be a bat by taking "the bat's point of view", it would still be impossible "to know what it is like for a bat to be a bat." (Townsend's big-eared bat pictured).
John Searle in December 2005
The Necker cube, an ambiguous image
A Buddhist monk meditating
Neon color spreading effect. The apparent bluish tinge of the white areas inside the circle is an illusion.
Square version of the neon spread illusion

Sentience or awareness of internal and external existence.

- Consciousness
Representation of consciousness from the seventeenth century by Robert Fludd, an English Paracelsian physician

98 related topics with Alpha

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Modern biology began in the nineteenth century with Charles Darwin's work on evolution by natural selection.

Natural selection

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Differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype.

Differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype.

Modern biology began in the nineteenth century with Charles Darwin's work on evolution by natural selection.
Aristotle considered whether different forms could have appeared, only the useful ones surviving.
Part of Thomas Malthus's table of population growth in England 1780–1810, from his Essay on the Principle of Population, 6th edition, 1826
Charles Darwin noted that pigeon fanciers had created many kinds of pigeon, such as Tumblers (1, 12), Fantails (13), and Pouters (14) by selective breeding.
Evolutionary developmental biology relates the evolution of form to the precise pattern of gene activity, here gap genes in the fruit fly, during embryonic development.
During the industrial revolution, pollution killed many lichens, leaving tree trunks dark. A dark (melanic) morph of the peppered moth largely replaced the formerly usual light morph (both shown here). Since the moths are subject to predation by birds hunting by sight, the colour change offers better camouflage against the changed background, suggesting natural selection at work.
1: directional selection: a single extreme phenotype favoured. 2, stabilizing selection: intermediate favoured over extremes. 3: disruptive selection: extremes favoured over intermediate. X-axis: phenotypic trait Y-axis: number of organisms Group A: original population Group B: after selection
Different types of selection act at each life cycle stage of a sexually reproducing organism.
The peacock's elaborate plumage is mentioned by Darwin as an example of sexual selection, and is a classic example of Fisherian runaway, driven to its conspicuous size and coloration through mate choice by females over many generations.
Selection in action: resistance to antibiotics grows though the survival of individuals less affected by the antibiotic. Their offspring inherit the resistance.

By analogy to the action of natural selection on genes, the concept of memes—"units of cultural transmission," or culture's equivalents of genes undergoing selection and recombination—has arisen, first described in this form by Richard Dawkins in 1976 and subsequently expanded upon by philosophers such as Daniel Dennett as explanations for complex cultural activities, including human consciousness.

Interoception is involved in many different physiological systems like the cardiorespiratory system, gastrointestinal system, nociceptive system, endocrine and immune systems.

Interoception

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Contemporarily defined as the sense of the internal state of the body.

Contemporarily defined as the sense of the internal state of the body.

Interoception is involved in many different physiological systems like the cardiorespiratory system, gastrointestinal system, nociceptive system, endocrine and immune systems.
This graph shows the number of articles that reference the term "interoception" specifically from 1905 to 2015. A clear increase in the number of publications per year on the topic is seen in the 21st century.
This table defines many of the different facets or components of interoception
This graph shows the number of articles published on interoception vs. articles published on interoceptive facets without directly referencing the term from 1905 to 2015. The timeline starts one year before the publication of Charles Sherrington's book, The integrative action of the nervous system, which introduced "interoception".
This table illustrates the most common tasks that are used to assess cardiovascular interoception, broken down by the corresponding facets that they test. The exemplars at the bottom refer to specific studies or researchers who developed the task.
This image divides the insula into its anterior, mid, and posterior regions, with each being denoted by different colors
The insula connects to many regions in the brain and is highly involved in many homeostatic functions.
The insular cortex differs cytoarchitecturally based on its anterior, mid, and posterior regions. The posterior insular cortex is granular, the mid insular cortex is dysgranular (or slightly granulated) and the anterior insular cortex has no granulation whatsoever.
An open float pool

Ensuing models focusing on the neurobiology of feelings states emphasized that the brain's mapping of different physiological body states are the critical ingredients for emotional experience and consciousness.

Francis Crick

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English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist.

English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist.

Diagram that emphasises the phosphate backbone of DNA. Watson and Crick first made helical models with the phosphates at the centre of the helices.
Diagrammatic representation of some key structural features of DNA. The similar structures of guanine:cytosine and adenine:thymine base pairs is illustrated. The base pairs are held together by hydrogen bonds. The phosphate backbones are anti-parallel.
Crick and Watson DNA model built in 1953, was reconstructed largely from its original pieces in 1973 and donated to the National Science Museum in London.
Collagen triple helix.
Molecular model of a tRNA molecule. Crick predicted that such adaptor molecules might exist as the links between codons and amino acids.
Results from an fMRI experiment in which people made a conscious decision about a visual stimulus. The small region of the brain coloured orange shows patterns of activity that correlate with the decision making process. Crick stressed the importance of finding new methods to probe human brain function.
Stained glass window in the dining hall of Caius College, in Cambridge, commemorating Francis Crick and representing the double helical structure of B-DNA.

Eventually, in the 1980s, Crick was able to devote his full attention to his other interest, consciousness.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (schematic diagram)

Transcranial magnetic stimulation

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Noninvasive form of brain stimulation in which a changing magnetic field is used to cause electric current at a specific area of the brain through electromagnetic induction.

Noninvasive form of brain stimulation in which a changing magnetic field is used to cause electric current at a specific area of the brain through electromagnetic induction.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (schematic diagram)
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (schematic diagram)
A magnetic coil is positioned on the patient's head.
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TMS – Butterfly Coils

It is difficult to establish a convincing placebo for TMS during controlled trials in conscious individuals due to the neck pain, headache and twitching in the scalp or upper face associated with the intervention.

Reentry (neural circuitry)

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Neural structuring of the brain, which is characterized by the ongoing bidirectional exchange of signals along reciprocal axonal fibers linking two or more brain areas.

Neural structuring of the brain, which is characterized by the ongoing bidirectional exchange of signals along reciprocal axonal fibers linking two or more brain areas.

It is hypothesized to allow for widely distributed groups of neurons to achieve integrated and synchronized firing, which is proposed to be a requirement for consciousness, as outlined by Gerald Edelman and Giulio Tononi in their book A Universe of Consciousness.

Wilber in 2006 with Bernard Glassman (background)

Ken Wilber

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American philosopher and writer on transpersonal psychology and his own integral theory, a philosophy which suggests the synthesis of all human knowledge and experience.

American philosopher and writer on transpersonal psychology and his own integral theory, a philosophy which suggests the synthesis of all human knowledge and experience.

Wilber in 2006 with Bernard Glassman (background)

What Wilber calls "broad science" would include evidence from logic, mathematics, and from the symbolic, hermeneutical, and other realms of consciousness.

Peter Carruthers (philosopher)

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British-American philosopher and cognitive scientist working primarily in the area of philosophy of mind, though he has also made contributions to philosophy of language and ethics.

British-American philosopher and cognitive scientist working primarily in the area of philosophy of mind, though he has also made contributions to philosophy of language and ethics.

He has worked especially on theories of consciousness, the role of natural language in human cognition, and modularity of mind, but has also published on such issues as: the mentality of animals; the nature and status of our folk psychology; nativism (innateness); human creativity; theories of intentional content; and defence of a notion of narrow content for psychological explanation.

How someone with synesthesia might perceive certain letters and numbers. Most synesthetes see characters just as others do (in whichever color actually displayed) but may simultaneously perceive colors as associated with or evoked by each one.

Synesthesia

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Perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

Perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

How someone with synesthesia might perceive certain letters and numbers. Most synesthetes see characters just as others do (in whichever color actually displayed) but may simultaneously perceive colors as associated with or evoked by each one.
From the 2009 non-fiction book Wednesday Is Indigo Blue. Note the numbers 1-12 form an upside-down clock face.
A number form from one of Francis Galton's subjects (1881). Note how the first 4 digits roughly correspond to their positions on a clock face.
Regions thought to be cross-activated in grapheme–color synesthesia (green=grapheme recognition area, red=V4 color area)
Reaction times for answers that are congruent with a synesthete's automatic colors are shorter than those whose answers are incongruent.
The automaticity of synesthetic experience. A synesthete might perceive the left panel like the panel on the right.
Tests like this demonstrate that people do not attach sounds to visual shapes arbitrarily. When people are given a choice between the words "Bouba" and "Kiki", the left shape is almost always called "Kiki" while the right is called "Bouba"

Researchers hope that the study of synesthesia will provide better understanding of consciousness and its neural correlates.