Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Consciousness can be defines as both internal and external awareness; the awareness of external stimuli and an internal awareness of the self as a unique being (Weiten 2007, pp. 186). The interaction between the perceived external stimuli and the sense of self is what produces many of the distortion of consciousness discussed by Pinker (2007): the patient's sense that he would recognize his family leads him to conclude that they are impostors when his brain doesn't connect the external stimuli (i.e. The presence of his family) in the expected manner.
The fact that the consciousness is not located in a single area of the brain, but rather is composed of a network of neural pathways throughout the brain, is also noted by both authors (Pinker 207; Wieten 2007, p. 187). In addition to measuring various areas of the brain to determine consciousness, EEGs can be...
All of this means that there is no central "I," but rather a network of smaller impulses that the brain later coalesces to give the illusion of a single thinker (Pinker 2007).
Consciousness is still largely misunderstood, in part because it is impossible for two people to share the same conscious experience (Pinker 2007). While progress can certainly be made, it is likely that it will never be fully explored.
References
Pinker, S. 92007). "The brain: The mystery of consciousness." Time magazine. Accessed 3 October 2009. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1580394-6,00.html
Weiten, W. (2007). Psychology: Themes and variations. New York: Cengage.
Science, Society and Environment Application of Fox's continuum values and their implications based on relationship between nature and society Science, society, and environment are three components of a person's life. No matter what part of the world an individual lives in, he or she will experience science, have a certain environment and a society all around him. These three components are also embedded within an individual. An individual forms society along with
Science and Fiction The film Moon (2009) depicts the story of a man who is on a three-year mission on the moon mining helium-3 for people back on Earth. He is residing by himself and accompanied by a robot named GERTY. A couple of weeks before he gets to return to his family back on Earth, he starts to see things that are not there, including a teenage girl that he
Consciousness There are numerous technical intricacies to neurobiological research. The human brain is a completely intricate mechanism and holds numerous neurons. This creates problems in studying consciousness particularly in comprehending how brain processes trigger human consciousness, and how the brain realizes consciousness. The major aspect of perception is that for every conscious condition, people experiences some qualitative disposition to that state of being consciousness. In this regard, this paper assesses the
Science Fiction Films On September 11, 2001, many people reacted to the news reports as if these were advertisements for another Hollywood blockbuster like Independence Day. All of it seemed like a movie, including a scene with the WASP president addressing the nation in a moment of maximum danger. Not since December 7, 1941 had Americans felt so threatened on their own soil, although in general they had been spared the
Consciousness Part 1 "What are the key challenges facing a science of consciousness?" The study of consciousness has been plagued by the perception that traditional scientific methods are not capable of explaining or exploring the meaning of human consciousness adequately. This is essentially due to the division between science and religion that occurred in the development of Western thought. As a result of this fact, the science of consciousness is faced with
SCIENCE FICTION & FEMINISM Sci-Fi & Feminism Origins & Evolution of Science Fiction As with most things including literature, science fiction has progressed and changed a lot over the years. Many works of science fiction were simply rough copies and following the altready-established patterns of prior authors. However, there has always been authors and creators that push the envelope and forge new questions and storylines that have not been realized or conceptualized before.